Walking through the door, they found themselves on a balcony perched high atop the tower, all around them clouds that hindered sight of anything; there was nothing but the swirling greyness.

The balcony itself ran around the entire tower, just below its highest point, joining the other doorways in the tower.

The walls of the top of the tower were all decorated, being made not of the white stone that held the rainbow colours within it, but of a dark blue-black stone. The surface of it was decorated with golden filigree and gemstones, depicting maps of the night’s sky, of the stars and moon and planets, tracing their passage through the heavens.

There were stands around the railings of the balcony, and upon them were strange devices, made of bronze and orichalcum, with rods and wheels and lenses and cogs, for measuring and assessing in some manner.

“If they were as keen on studying the heavens as it appears, the clouds would surely have hindered it,” Ivkarha noted.

“Perhaps they had a means to unveil the clouds when the need arose,” speculated Aedmorn.

“Oh, but they did.” The voice that came to them from above was not so much harsh, as strangely accented, one with unusual resonances to it that seemed to make it be pitched too low and too high all at once.

Weapons leapt to hand as the pair spun to look upwards, towards the top of the cloud shrouded tower. A figure emerged from the clouds, crawling down the surface of the tower much like a long limbed, four legged spider, clinging to the surface despite its size, looking down at them as it came.

It appeared as one of the tall, grey skinned people that rested inside, though this one appeared old and worn and with many pale scars across its limbs. One cut across its face and where its right eye should have been was now an empty socket. The other eye was large and white all through, like that of a blind man. For clothing it wore a simple grey tunic, one without adornment, while its feet remained bare.

It dropped down from the walls of the tower to land upon the balcony near them, looking down at them from its great height. “Long has it been since any set foot upon the Tower of Smoke and Whispers,” he stated, for now that he was close to them, they could see that it was a male.

“That is this place?” Aedmorn asked.

“It is a close enough approximation in your primitive tongue; it lacks the nuance to adequately explain it.”

“It works well enough for us,” Ivkarha stated, her sword still held at the ready, for though the giant man showed no open signs of hostility, she trusted him not.

“Of course it would, for your brains can not comprehend matters as we do.”

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“And who exact are you?” Aedmorn asked.

“The Exiles of the Atherdan, the Eldest and Oldest.”

Aedmorn quirked a brow. “I have not heard tell of your kind before.”

“We were old already before your kind awakened to intelligence; once we had great empires that spread across the lands beneath the stars and the night. Wonders we performed and beheld, delving deep into all the knowledge that exists. Even death itself was our play thing.”

“And yet death has claimed you if no memory of your kind remains,” Ivkarha stated bluntly. “Not even in the swordsongs of old are the Atherdan mentioned.”

“There was decadence,” the Atherdan stated, “And our empires decayed and rotted; knowledge was lost as the long years rolled on and we warred amongst ourselves with great cruelty and malice. Then came the sun, then came the birth of the lesser races and further we fell, for the sun was anathema to us. We could not function beneath it’s hateful gaze. Some were resigned to our fate, the withering of our race until it was no more, a forgotten memory yet others sought a different way, to retake our heritage and our pride. There was war again and we, the Exiles, were driven forth, to undertake a perilous journey to a place were we could have refuge; this place. Yet where we went the sun never ceased its relentless pursuit.”

“You sacrificed a child to end that,” Ivkarha pointed out.

“The last child, the hope of our people. Yes, we did.”

Ivkarha pointed her sword at him, face wreathed with distaste and anger. “You sacrificed your future, and for what?”

“You do not understand,” the Atherdan said, voice without emotion, face placid. Death had no fear for us, as it was but an impediment. I have died many times, only to once again walk the lands. Death should have been no barrier for the child’s return.”

“What went wrong?” Aedmorn asked.

“That we do not know. It may be that too much knowledge had been lost. It may have been that the rise of new peoples, new gods prevented it. Yet still we persevered to try and awaken the child. Even now my kin bend all their will and effort to that ends. Many long centuries have they sat engaged in that task while I watched over them, to maintain the Tower and the shroud.”

Aedmorn looked to the door leading to the interior of the tower, then back to the Atehrdan. “They live still and have persevered int his task?”

“Time is a meaningless concept to such as us.”

“Fascinating,” Aedmorn said.

The giant shrugged his grey shoulders. “Maybe to you, but that is of no real concern. The knowledge that we posses is not for you; nor are the younger races able to use it. It is irrelevant. Your presence here is an opportunity. Few have had the meagre strength to come this far, and that meagre strength I can use. Come, my kin await, and together we shall awaken them.”

“To what ends?” asked Ivkarha, for she remained suspicious and the giant Atherdan had not revealed what it was that the Exiles had been driven forth for.

“To what ends? The restoration of the Atherdan. Once more we shall take our rightful place, to cast down the sun and gods. The others can no longer stop us for they are gone. We shall usher in a new age and the lesser races shall submit or they shall die.”

“You think that we would aid you in this?” Ivkarha asked, poised ready to strike should the need arise.

The Atherdan stared down upon them with his one good eye and a light began to glow within it. “Yes, you shall, for your will shall be my will and your bodies my bodies should you resist. And it shall not go easy for you if I have to force it, yet easy or hard you shall do my bidding.”