The Pilgrim was not what Lee expected.
He had imagined a grizzled veteran, scarred and weathered, with eyes that had seen too much. Or perhaps a mystic, draped in robes and incense, speaking in riddles.
Instead, the Pilgrim was a young man maybe twenty with a face so ordinary it was almost offensive. Brown hair. Brown eyes. Average height. Average build. He could have been any scavenger, any trader, any corpse in the mud.
But his voice.
When the Pilgrim spoke, the air itself seemed to listen.
"I'm not asking you to believe me," he said, standing in the center of the Scavenger's Market with his arms spread wide. A crowd had gathered scavengers, mercenaries, thieves, the desperate and the damned. "I'm asking you to follow. Belief comes later. Or not at all. I don't care either way."
Lee stood at the edge of the crowd, Kira and Taro beside him. Ren had vanished into the shadows somewhere watching, always watching.
"What's in the Sunken City?" someone shouted.
The Pilgrim smiled. It was a sad smile. Tired. "Everything you've ever wanted. And everything you've ever feared. The Sunken City doesn't give gifts. It makes trades. You want treasure? It will ask for blood. You want power? It will ask for years off your life. You want answers?" His smile faded. "It will ask for questions you're afraid to ask yourself."
"That's not an answer!" another voice called.
"No," the Pilgrim agreed. "It's not. But here's one: I know the way. I've been there before. I survived. And I can lead others through the path I carved with my own flesh."
Murmurs rippled through the crowd. Someone had survived the Sunken City? Someone was offering to take them there?
"Why?" Lee asked.
The question came out louder than he intended. The crowd turned to look at him a twelve year old boy with a sword on his back and strange eyes. The Pilgrim's gaze locked onto Lee's, and something flickered across his ordinary face.
Recognition.
"Because," the Pilgrim said softly, "I made a mistake. I went into the Sunken City alone. I came out with something I shouldn't have. And now... now I need to put it back. Before it wakes up."
"Before what wakes up?" Kira demanded.
The Pilgrim looked at her. At Taro. At the crowd. At the rust red sky and the rain that never stopped.
"Before the thing that slept beneath the city opens its eyes," he said. "Before it remembers it was hungry. Before it starts to feed."
The crowd went silent.
Then someone laughed a harsh, desperate sound. "You're crazy. You're all crazy. I'm not going anywhere with this lunatic."
One by one, the crowd dispersed. Scavengers returned to scavenging. Traders returned to trading. The desperate found other desperate dreams to chase.
Soon, only Lee's group remained.
"You're still here," the Pilgrim observed.
"We're stupid," Kira said flatly.
"I prefer adventurous," Taro offered.
"You're both wrong," Ren said, stepping out of the shadows. "We're here because we have nothing better to do. And because " he looked at Lee, " because something tells me this is the only game worth playing."
The Pilgrim studied them for a long moment. Then he nodded, as if confirming something he'd already known.
"There's a price," he said. "For coming with me. For surviving. There's always a price."
"We don't have any money," Lee said.
"I don't want money." The Pilgrim's eyes found Lee's again the gold and the silver. "I want you. All of you. Your loyalty. Your strength. Your willingness to die for each other, if it comes to that. Because it will come to that. The Sunken City doesn't let anyone leave without taking something. The only question is what you're willing to give."
Lee felt the sword pulse on his back.
He's telling the truth, Onyx Tempest said. But not all of it. There's something he's not saying. Something about you. Something about why he chose this moment to appear.
Lee ignored the sword again. He stepped forward and offered his hand to the Pilgrim.
"Deal," he said.
The Pilgrim took his hand.
And somewhere, deep beneath the earth, something vast and ancient smiled.