The Thalmyr pact

On the far edge of a sea that did not appear on modern nautical charts stood Thalmyr, the city of ancient stone. It had not been built: it had emerged. Its foundations seemed to grow from the cliff itself, as if the rock had decided, in a distant age, to imitate the forms of human habitation. The houses were low, massive, devoid of ornament; the windows narrow like wounds cauterized by time. Every street sloped imperceptibly toward the sea, as if the entire city were drawn to it.