The Strands

[Fallacy]

The Strands The area known simply as the Strands is a place of great mystery within Alvadas. From afar the sands seem a tame a place and quite small. They appear randomly to people within the underground and move quite often. The Strands are contained in a small area looking no bigger than the average summoning circle. Oddly enough there are glyphs all around the place as if they were placed there to keep the Strands contained. If one were to reach in they would either feel the chill of snow and winters touch or the scorching heat of the deserts sands. The feeling however seems to change randomly and without warning. One minute the Strands will be cold as ice and the next they will be as scorching hot as a fire. Whatever makes up the Strands looks like sand, and is a very dull shade of grey. If one were to try to take some of the Strands out of the ‘circle’ which it is contained in they would be grasping nothing. The Strands cannot leave the barrier the circle provides. This however is not what makes the Strands such an interesting location, but if one were to enter the circle which contains this bi-polar desert they would find themselves almost in another place. Upon entering the circle what looked like a tame and unassuming sand box turns into a vast desert of grey sands. The wind always whipping at the sands causing them to fly and spin and dance across the dunes as far as the eye can see. What little light in the underground the moon provides turns black and white, everything in a perpetual grey state. That is everything except the people who enter it. They, and their belongings have color, but the longer one stays in the Strands the less and less color they will possess. The color seems to fade away day by day. Of course upon exiting the Strands the persons color will return to them, but for it to fully return within the Strands they have to be out of the sand dunes an equivalent amount of time they were in. If a person was exploring for a week, then for all their color to return to them upon reentry they would have to wait a week. It is said that those who lose all their color to the Strands are cursed to forever walk in its depths, unable to return to Alvadas. Though the dead are free to pass on, that much is known, but it doesn’t stop the place from being haunted with the ghosts of ambitious explorers who wanted to reclaim vast treasure hidden within its depths. Often times losing all ones color is a complete mistake, a miscalculation. The estimated time to completely lose all color is about fourteen days within the place. Explorers often misjudge time and are then unable to find their way out. For their exit is the exact point of entrance within the place. A door will appear where one enters and if they open it then they will be back to Alvadas. However if one loses all their color the door will disappear. If a group enters within the Strands they all will share the same door. The Strands also have a way of revealing themselves to those who take the time to properly explore the place. You see, the more time you spend within the sands the more of the place you see. Days one through five in the Strands all you see when exploring is sand dunes, but as time marches on things slowly start to fade into existence as if reacting to a person’s loss of color, days six through ten random columns start appearing and steps and structures made of stone that too change with the sands. One moment being hot the next being bone chilling cold. Though during this time the ruins appear transparent and if one goes to touch them their hand will go completely through. On day eleven the entirety of the Strands are available to the traveler. This being said ruins of buildings will be fully explore-able, walls will have completely appeared and be tangible. Old towers leading to places far above, to stairs that descend downwards into darkness. Where ever you go beware that time is ticking and once one loses their color they will also lose their way out. Many a soul has lost themselves in the ruins that appear, unable to find their way out. Things are bigger than they seem and not always as they appear. However the desert is not empty by any means, no sir, it is well populated by the folk who never made it out. They are the denizens of the Strands dubbed the Strains. The Strains are a mixed group of people who, though their loss of their color, became trapped in the Strands. Most of them are filled with malice and hate towards those who possess color. They will work till they drop to stop anyone with any amount of color from leaving the desert. The Strains are just as mysterious as the Strands for they too only appear on the eleventh day, but that doesn’t mean they cannot affect the colored. Their footsteps can be seen in the sand and their whispers heard. They can even be wounded, but how hard is it to fight an enemy you cannot see? They are probably the most vicious threat in the Strands, but also, since time is no longer of value, they are the ones that know the Strands and its ruins the best.