Things freeze. August can feel it - a chill breeze from parts unknown. He is high up now and looking down over the land he can see the city and all that surrounds it - all the places he planned to visit.
There in the central square is the great statue of the Weeping Woman, erected over a much older statue by the Feathered Cat. At its base sits the blind watcher, Seon, he has been waiting for August. In the Rubble of the city August's scion rules, the four emperors at his knees. Out further still can be spotted the spires of the Green Princess' Clubhouse and further away even than that the court of the Yellow Queen.
August knows in her heart in that instant that she will not see these things again.
The cold wind grows stronger and clouds begin to creep in.
She looks down to see if she is still being pursued by the Old God but he is gone. She can no longer see the ground - only white.
"You are done here." Comes a voice. A helmeted man (no, not that one) approaches in the clouds. A primal deity - older even than the old gods. Those who shake the foundations of reality itself.
"Why do you come here?" August asks, for the first time since her journey began there is fear in her voice.
He features are unloving and unmoving "A spirit has summoned me. Your tale has no place in this country. You must walk elsewhere."
"I would ask you to hold off for a time. There is no walk outside of this land for my tale is the tale of this nation. If you were to send me back to Arcadia I might as well not walk at all."
"Context is for kings and I am a God."
August's tail whips back and forth furiously. She feels herself growing angrier by the second. She thinks back to the view she had moments earlier - of the long road not yet walked "I created this world, do not think to evict me from it."
"Your story was unimportant, you are not who you say you are." He clicked his fingers and there was blackness.
-----
She awakes, her tail is gone and so is her name. Around her is a forest teeming with life. Birds sing and trees are alive with... Colour.
I tell you in good faith that Arcadia is beautiful and without a doubt the city that lies outside it lies in ruins.
But I would walk a thousand years for the city rather than stay a moment longer here.
The End
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