The second thing was the silence. It wasn't the peaceful quiet of a sleeping city. It was the heavy, watchful silence of a place that knew you didn't belong.

You were standing in what looked like a courtyard, cobblestones cracked and weathered beneath your feet. On either side, stone buildings rose like dark teeth against a moonless sky. And in front of you, a massive wrought-iron gate loomed, its bars twisted into shapes that might have been skulls, or might have been flowers.

Beyond the gate, a vast, gothic structure sprawled across the horizon. Its spires stabbed at the stars, and its windows glowed with a dull, amber light.