[ IP ] The City of Palaquin

A lone adventurer groped for yet another handhold. He was almost there. His left leg slid to find another foothold. Almost to the City in the Sky. Although City in the Sky was a rather misleading to it ’ s true appearance, a chunk of land being held up by four immense stone giants. The adventurer didn ’ t care one way or another what it was called so long as he made it to the top. If the legends were true, the adventurer knew that he would become the greatest man in the world. On one hand, he could find an infinite army which did only his bidding. Or he could find immense mountains of gold coins. And it was all hidden. Hidden in the City in the Sky. 
 
 Finally, with three feet to go, the adventurer reached the top. His body was aching with both the pain of his unfathomable climb and anticipation for what riches awaited him at the top. He pulled himself upward, almost slipping on the sudden sensation of long grass at his fingertips, only just barely managing to roll up instead of falling back to the ground and his end. The adventurer lay in the grass, taking deep breaths from the surprisingly rich air. Similar heights made the air barely breathable, yet there was some magic about the place which made it so. 
 
 With his strength regained, the adventurer stood up and yelled to the world. He had accomplished a task of legend and he was about to acquire legendary rewards for it. Surely the stone giants holding up the City in the Sky were now his to command. He strode through the dry overgrown grass onto a cracked street. Once it had been a road of perfectly sculpted stone slabs, but now moss grew where there once was grout and the stones were uneven and cracked. The adventurer covered his eyes as a sudden gust of wind blew clouds of dust into the air. He wandered through the open, albeit broken, streets, careful not to get himself tangled in the piles of broken glass or mountains of rubble. The adventurer was now starting to feel the air no longer as rich, but heavy. This city he climbed his way to was no land of infinite wealth. He gazed up at the faces of the colossal giants. Once they must have been solemn and graceful, but now they were cracked beyond recognition. 
 
 Now the adventurer realized the truth. The legends were n't true. There was no City in the Sky. The giants bearing infinite power on their shoulders was a lie. All they bore was death and failure.
