***
A familiar, bald, hulking man was trembling in place, wearing far from usual clothes, his surroundings being much the same.
His 'trembling' came from fear.
It was the same man who had terrorized Ignotus around a month ago.
Letum, the Strength Runebearer.
After a few seconds had passed, he gathered himself and knelt to the cold ground.
His massive frame looked small in a place that only people like Ignotus would know of... a clockwork tower.
A tower only found in the Second Stratum.
It was a hall that spoke clearly of its stratum's time, a realm of the Industrial Revolution. Massive brass pipes snaked along the high, vaulted ceilings, hissing with steam. Enormous gears turned slowly in the walls, their grinding teeth echoing like the crushing of bones.
Everywhere, there was the tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock of clocks, none of them synchronized, creating a chaotic rhythm that clawed at the sanity of most men.
But Letum didn't look at the gears...
