[center][h3]--- [i]Northwestern Edge > Northeastern Edge[/i] ---[/h3][h2][i][b]Akitsugu[/b][/i][/h2]
[@Rune_Alchemist][/center][hr][hr]
Following the sound of the hammer only he seemed able to hear, he ended up making a wide circle around the edge of the village. He knew that certain professions---those who tanned leather, made charcoal, and so forth---often lived on the outskirts of a settlement because of the noxious smells, loud noises, or other disturbances their crafts produced. The blacksmith was one of these. He knew he had to be getting closer, because he could hear the echo of a crackling flame and the whoosh of a bellows now, too. He didn't know where these sounds, or the dreams, had come from. Only that they had started perhaps a few weeks ago, at the most, from what he could remember... He had already convinced an innkeeper or two that he was insane, asking about them. Even Miyusahime could not hear them. Her denial, of all things, made him believe he might actually be crazy... Until he had come here, to the source.

There was a shout, nearer to the village center. It sounded like someone else had arrived at the well? When he passed from the west to the east, crossing the major thoroughfare of the village, he had been able to see down the old road to the large wagon where a man and a woman seemed to be... either arguing or celebrating, he wasn't sure. So who was the third person? Another new arrival like himself?

A strangely shaped shadow, followed by a distant roar, made him jump in surprise and look up. 

"Was that an [i]airship[/i]?!" he wondered aloud---before his eyes next caught the small dot growing closer to the earth. "[i]Is that a [b]person!?[/b][/i]" Panic caused his eyes to swell as he clasped both hands to his head. Should he try to... catch them, or something?! Was there anything he [i]could[/i] do?! They weren't coming down on top of him---how had they fallen off in the first place?! He started to pace in circles, worried face looking skyward.

Then, a giant plant erupted from the person's back. Like a dandelion pappus, they slowly, calmly, floated down... and disappeared among the structures elsewhere in the village.

"... What the hell is up with this place?" came a shaky voice from the red-haired man's waist. Akitsugu simply stood there, dumbstruck, for several moments. Then, without a word, he turned and resumed his quest. At the very least, it seemed he was not the [i]only[/i] victim of this village to undergo a loss of sanity.
[hr]
He found it shortly. It was a decently sized building---or, rather, a combination of two small buildings. Divided into a working area and a living area, it was unmistakably a smithy. A furnace made of fired clay bricks and limestone mortar sat cold and unused, parts of its chimney and fuel chamber crumbling away amidst a pile of once-powdery ash that had packed itself into a sort of crumbly clod. There was a cracked anvil, a tilted rack whose rust-eaten tools had scattered all over the floor, and...not much else. 

The living area had no furniture whatsoever, and its floor was naught but cold, stamped earth covered in a layer of dust so thick one could've planted seeds in it. An enormous hole allowed a bright shaft of sunlight into the otherwise dark chamber. What had probably once been a central firepit was now filled with debris from the roof. Whoever lived here before must have dedicated themselves to the workshop, and done all their cooking, sleeping, and whatever else in this same cramped house.

The combined buildings shared walls, of which only three remained standing. It was thus a sort of long rectangle, missing one of its square faces. It seemed the supporting timbers had either rotted or been knocked down somehow---broken boards, crumbling daub, and moldy thatch formed a larger pile of refuse here.

"Well...at least it can keep me out of the wind for a bit..." He walked all the way around it, examining the rest of the structure---[b]just as someone came around the corner of a different house nearby.[/b]

[@Rune_Alchemist] He jumped back as they nearly collided, one hand going down towards his hip as his eyes narrowed. She--for it was a girl---shouted, and the fear in her voice stopped him from reaching beneath his coat. He blinked at her in confusion.

"...Swamp water and mud...?" he repeated, tilting his head. "Um...hello..." He gulped, and slowly raised his hands in a nonthreatening gesture. "Are you... from here? I'm a traveler, myself..." 

[i]I thought some of these figures moving around had to be actual villagers, but if every other house around here is like this smithy, the original inhabitants have been gone for a long, long time...[/i] His eyes nervously darted to and fro, as the possibility occurred to him that this girl might be a distraction for a clever bandit ambush. [i]If they're not... Were they, too, somehow drawn here?[/i] If so... was there some purpose to it all? What manner of enchantments could be at play, and what was their source?