A Return [Edge]

[Golbez]

His first thoughts had been that perhaps he had been away for far longer than he thought. That time had passed in such a vast enough quantity that it had swept the place away like sand in a river. The crumbling ruin before him seemed to attest to that well enough. But...it felt different. It was not a gentle crumbling of stone and walls with time's passage, it was...a violent demolishing. The cracks and breakings in the stone were too sharp and brittle to have been caused by anything other than a deliberate effort to bring them down....or at least a great force being applied to them.

Either way, it was clear that battle had been fought.

Whether by time or battle, it was irrelevant both ways; the destruction had been wrought and it was beyond his reach to do anything about it. It did not stop him from a brief moment of mourning, however. He bowed his head solemnly and remained there for nearly a full minute before he immediately spun on one heel and strode away. Whatever business he had once had in coming here was now of less than no value.

He retreated from the prominent hill he had stood upon, his stride long and slow, and seeming to carry a weight far greater than just his armored bulk. "It is unfortunate...that such destruction must come to pass." The slow clanking of his footfalls continue on for several more minutes without interruption as he strode through the grass. Outwardly he was just another traveller going about his way -- to those who did not know him, at least -- but inwardly....well now, that was another story entirely.

His attention was caught as he heard a distinct sound. It came from some distance ahead, and were it not for the relative quiet and lack of a breeze to blot it out he would have missed it. The unmistakable sound of a large group ofpeople -- soldiers or the like, if what he could grab of their comments and talk was any indication -- passing through. It drew him to a brief halt in contemplation. Could they be the ones responsible for the destruction of Baron? There was every chance they had fought against the ones who had done such, but if they were the ones responsible...

Steeling his mind, he picked up his pace and strode forward more purposefully. After a score of steps, he lifted from the ground. Hovering just under a foot above the earth, he sped forward over the earth like a massive, armored wraith, cresting a hill just a moment later. There he came to rest on his own two feet once more, looking down at the formation of troops he could see. The sunlight glimmering ominously off of his dark armor did little to help keep him unobtrusive, but he made no direct move to announce his presence just yet, choosing instead to quietly observe for a moment longer.