He was standing on the ship's deck, surveying the distant sea. The wind shook his dark coat while his eyes focused on the new landscape that surrounded him. The sea's deep blue made a stark contrast with sky's red. His back covered the sun, and over his right shoulder the silhouette of a desert was barely visible.
He felt a chill but didn't mind it. His mind was captured by the beach's ellipse-like shape, the sleeping desert and the quiet stillness of the early morning. He closed his coat and focused himself in the town in front of him. It felt off to him, like it was still sleeping. The old wooden houses, the worn yet still well maintained docks. There was a beauty on it, and he wondered if it's inhabitants could still see it. Maybe it had become to them like a painting you hang one day and then promptly forget, it's beauty now a routine. Maybe he was the only one that could still see it. He felt alone.
Was he really on the place his father had mentioned, so many years ago? The terrible yet inviting signs surrounded him: the ellipsoidal beach, the desert to the far north, and the sleeping town to the south, a distorted mirror to the desert. Within such strange yet haunting beauty, it was difficult to imagine so much evil, madness, and despair. He had to be sure: this was the place, and he had arrived.
He didn't go down to his quarters, not even when they finally docked. From the deck, he again observed the buildings. They looked picturesque at that distance, like the were suspended in time. They were old constructions, much older than any he had seen where he was born, but they still seemed solid. He couldn't recognize the style, simple and unadorned yet pretty on it's own way. A closer look revealed that time had taken its toll on them. Very few of them had untarnished paint, in most of them it was very peeled. The docks seemed to be on a better way, but the wood showed the scars of constant use.
How different would the town had been on its heyday? In his mind, the streets and buildings came to life, recently constructed and full of people. A city with lighter colors, full of movement, small yet willing to grow. Why was it in such a decline right now? While he was wandering, he noticed something: nothing on the town had a name, only it's intended function. Barber, Jewelry store, Bar. He remembered his informant has never even mentioned a town name, only its location. He suspected it never had one on the first place. He couldn't help but wonder: was he destined to become nameless too? His thoughts became somber, and his mind reminded him of a woman, a lost image that he thought almost forgotten. A shadow. He felt the happiness he had once lost, and his heart grew heavy.
He swallowed his dark thoughts with a gulp. He had no time to linger on the past, and a mission to accomplish.