Head pounding and spinning, heart racing, Io stumbled around the disorienting city. She had been there for far too long, been tossed around by inanimate objects, accidentally placed a hand through another living being- that thought in particular brought a shudder, the warm, beating heart, and the sensation of all the bodily fluids passing through her own arm- she had fallen asleep, oh what a mistake that had been, things only became stranger when she entered the dream realm, and all her memories were fuzzy. There were screams, and laughter, and so many chaotic sounds. She seemed to be awake now, but it was hard to tell. Her senses had that dullness that seems to be present in dreams, and reality seemed so malleable, so easily changed- but she would have sworn she recalled waking up- did she? Perhaps not- no no that wasn't right. She managed to find a boulder on the city limits, something solid to rest on. She plopped her wet form onto the stone, thanking whatever God might be present for allowing there to be something for her to sit on. Finally, Io took a moment to look herself over, but decided it best to ignore the slime on her body from her spill into a river. It was all too much… All because she just simply had to know what the city was like- if all the legends were true, and for the "experience". She groaned and put her head in her hands. Those she had spoken to had failed to mention the unpleasantness and the migraine-enducing trip that was this damned place. In truth, Io was most likely just more sensitive to the bounds of the different worlds and all the chaotic energy that existed there- more in tune with all that was happening, but the idea didn't occur to her. Maybe others thought this was fun? Regardless, she had travelled a long way, and now she doubted she could withstand another minute… But getting up and walking any further seemed just as difficult a feat. She knew sleeping would bring more unpleasantness, but her body had grown so weary and the thought of slumber….

Io opened her eyes, but to an even stranger world than she had left. Groaning it dawned on her she must have passed out. Besides the fact her back would be aching her after sleeping on a boulder, Gods know what was waiting for her in this dream. 

The city was home to Him. At least, it was one of his homes, perhaps many of them, depending on how one looked at it. Suffice to say that his return to the Nexus had been a welcome one. Many of its denizens either did not recognise him, or they did not remember him, but that was how it was meant to be. It was the city itself that remembered Him. He could feel its welcoming song in his blood.

So it was that the stride in the man's step had an extra quality of spring to it. He had been away for a while…thousands of years by the reckoning of some, a handful of years by the reckoning of others. The man was unable to commit to an answer, as he knew that both answers were true. His own perception of the time he had been away was conflicting, as a number of lives had been lived during that time, or was it just the one life? It was all very confusing when he took a moment to think about it, so he did not take any time at all, if he could help it.

Him sauntered down a street, layered with loose shards of some kind of glass-like material that refused to crack underfoot. The sound of crystal grinding against crystal with every step was almost musical, and yet it jarred the ear with painful shrieks every now and then. Like nails on a blackboard. Fortunately such noises were the rarity. The biggest challenge was keeping one's balance as the ground tilted in many different directions at once.

The buildings in this quarter were made of similar shards, somehow slotted together in abstract patterns. Him presumed some kind of gum had been used to hold everything together, otherwise many of the structures would surely have collapsed in on themselves many times by now. As he glanced around he saw billions of tiny reflections of himself, tinged with a blue-green colour. And yet, despite the transparency of the walls, it was only possible to see within the dwellings if something was pressed-in close, and even then it existed as the faintest of blurs.

When he came upon the young woman staring bleary-eyed at the world around her, he instant knew her for a stranger. He stopped, tipped his hat and smiled. When he spoke, his words were deep and crisp and clear. He knew that it did not matter what language he spoke in this city, for all tongues were as one.

“Miss, I would not sleep in the streets of this fair city. The Nameless Things do not respond well to vagrants. Not unless it is your desire to be added to the architecture?”