A city was revealed to me. The walls of every building, were built of titanium. Though the community had streets, I saw no vehicles or steeds. I saw few people for that matter. As we headed left, I noticed only a guard or two. From what I could see the community was quite large, but it looked almost like a ghost town.

We headed up what appeared to be the main street and I decided to spark up a conversation with Virgil. I did not know what to expect from Nessus and figured this might be a good opportunity to get some information, both about the city and its master.

I spoke casually. "This place is amazing. Who constructed it?"

Virgil was even more forth coming than I had hoped as he responded. "We are not sure. Our lord does not claim he constructed it, but he does not discourage anyone that hints that he did. We don't know what to think. Some believe it was constructed by the god of destruction himself. They say our lord defeated him and claimed it as his prize. Others say the gods used it as their home and abandoned it, our lord simply found it."

He continued. "Personally, I don't beleive either divine theory."

I listened intently and encouraged him to continue. "Oh? What do you beleive."

He needed little encouragement as he continued. "I beleive our lord indeed built it. His mastery of technomancy is unrivalled in the universe."

I was a bit shocked and interrupted him. "Technomancy? Nessus is a Technomancer? Rumors of him had reached my world. All of them refered to him as a Sorcerer."

Virgil nodded then did not respond for nearly thirty seconds. I feared my interruption might have cut our conversation short. I was preparing to encourage him to speak again, but he continued on his own before I spoke.

His voice seemed to grow a bit more solemn. "Aye, that is not surprising. Technomancers are widely thought of as fairly peaceful souls that lock themselves away to work on their inventions. Indeed that stereo-type could have been used to describe my lord at one time.. but.. that was before.. this city. Now.. I suppose the typical image the word Sorcerer conjures into ones mind does fit better."

He grew silent. I continued the conversation hoping he would rejoin it. "How long have you served your lord?"

His response was brief. "Three years."

I continued. "Have you been in this city long?"

His tone remained solemn. "Since my lord found or built it. Nearly a year now."

I nodded then asked a question. "You implied this city had changed your lord. What happened?"

Virgil did not respond. He simply looked to the ground and kept walking.

I pressed the question feeling the answer might be very important. "Virgil? What happened?"

My second effort yielded an answer, more of an answer than I had expected. "He is possessed. There is no alien force inside of him controlling his actions but he is possessed just the same. He is obsessed with forcing his rule upon the universe, not for power, or control, or riches.... He does so for peace. He seeks to unite the universe under one banner by using the threat of annihalation. We have destroyed ten worlds already.. murdered billions in the process. He is on a righteous crusade to stop all war and tyranny, but is so blinded by his vision, he doesn't realize that he is causing and becoming the very thing he wishes to eliminate."

Virgil grew silent once again, as did I.

The revealation swirled in my mind. I had come here to gather information about a monster, but if what Virgil said was true, he might not be a monster at all. He might just be a misguided individual with the notion that acts of evil are not evil if they lead to a greater good.

I was forced to look deeply into myself. How many enemies had I cut down to help my own lord acheive unity on Soren? Those soldiers must have felt threatened when their kingdoms were told they must follow my king, just as I did when my lord read me the words on the scroll he received from Nessus. Hadn't I personally delivered such messages to rulers that did not wish to follow my king?

"Surrender your rule and acknowledge me as the rightful leader of the universe, or face complete and utter destruction!" My lord had never worded his demands so bluntly but their meaning was the same. "Join me willingly, or else!"

For the first time, my faith in my lords wisdom was not absolute. None the less, he was my king and Soren was my home. Even if it seemed some what hypocritical, Nessus had to be stopped!

We continued our journey in silence. The city was even larger than I had first suspected. We passed many side streets, each one stretching in both directions several blocks. We passed buildings which appeared to be homes, business's, and taverns. Though the city itself appeared divine in origin, the interiors of these structure were far less magnificent. I peered through windows and open doors as we moved. I saw furnishings and decorations which appeared man made and ordinary. While some of these things were oddly designed, they were things which I would expect to find in any city on Soren.

This led me to believe Virgil's theory about the origin of the city to an extent. While Nessus may not have constructed this place, the decor did no fit into my vision of a divine community.

I resumed the conversation. "Virgil, Where are we?"

He responded. "It's no much further." and kept walking.

I think he misunderstood the question. I pointed up at the void where a sky should be as I rephrased it. "No, I mean where is this city located?"

He answered. "That's another question that is debated. Again only my lord knows. Some of us beleive that we are in a dimension created by my lord. Others beleive we are outside the boundries of the universe itself. I have no theory on the subject. Regardless of where we may be, the only way in our out is through the portals."

I nodded and asked another question. "How many portals are there?"

He replied casually. "It's not a matter of a certian number. There really is only one portal. You came through it. One end leads to a fixed point, the spot where you arrived. The other end can be fixed to pretty much anywhere, on any world, or any plane, with relative accuracy."

I questioned him curiously. "How accurately?"

He responded. "We couldn't fix it on a building but we could fix it close to the city the building was located in. I suppose that might not seem impressive, but considering the size of the universe or even a world, I think it's pretty amazing."