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Hector knew there was no point in trying to hide it. “It is. You can’t just start building here, though. This is a nationally protected nature reserve.”

“Heh. As well it should be.”

Hector cocked an eyebrow inside his helmet. “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Only that the exceptionality of this place is obvious. ‘Tis worthy of being protected, I should think.”

Hmm. As he continued to look at the man, Hector was quite tempted to try and reconnect with the Gate’s spatial distortion detection. He had a feeling that this guy would be absolutely covered in them.

“Are you already familiar with this monument?” asked Hector.

“Indeed,” said Caster. “One of Rathmore’s playthings. Quite the character, that one.”

At that, Garovel decided to speak up. ‘You met him?’

“Oh yes,” said Caster. “Though it was not by any normal means. Rather difficult to explain, I’m afraid. I am unsure where I would even begin.”

‘Please try,’ said Garovel.

“Ah. Well. Let’s see here...” Caster scratched his brow. “Rathmore was... a rather troubled soul. As brilliant minds often are. And in his brilliance, he... well, he breached the Veil, I suppose. Made direct contact with things that... mortal eyes are simply not meant to witness. But that was where we met. I had not incarnated at that time, you see. He found me in the roiling mayhem of Chaos. Or I found him, perhaps. I forget which.”

‘What is the “Veil” you speak of, exactly?’ said Garovel.

“Hmm? Is that not clear? Ah, I suppose it is a rather opaque concept when you get into the details of it. Truth be told, even my brethren and I may not fully understand its intricacies, despite what some of them may claim. But most commonly, when we speak of the Veil, we are referring to the great rift between realms. Technically, there are many such rifts, but the main one is the rift between what is real and what is imaginary. That is the Veil.”

Huh. Hector waited for Garovel to ask something, but the reaper remained quiet.

After a moment, Caster continued on unprompted. “If you’d really like to be confused, however, then allow me to present you with a theory. There is an idea--one that I quite like, personally--that the Veil is actually here. In this realm. Completely enveloping it, rather than only existing at the fringes.”