To Layla's relief, that first little adventure to Caingrad's underground was enough to satisfy Benjamin's curiosity for a while. Not only that, but after that small scare he realized that perhaps the ruins left by the Ancient People really might be slightly more dangerous than he first thought, especially the ones that had the more important kind of information that he was after.

Therefore, after finding a room in a hotel in the city, the two went sightseeing around the city as originally planned. Although it did not contain the kind of juicy ancient information that ruins had, Benjamin was in no way unhappy about going around seeing all the different temples of the different faiths that centered around the Pools of Reorigination.

As the closest city to the Pool of Cain, it wouldn't be ridiculous to call Caingrad somewhat of a Holy City, although if one asked one of its many inhabitants their answer would invariably be that the only holy place was the Pool itself. Still, looking at all of the different architecture and art around the city, Benjamin couldn't help but feel that perhaps there really was something genuine and important behind the devotion that the people of the Wildlands, Human or Mutant, showed towards the Pools of Reorigination. Perhaps his proximity to and knowledge about some of its corruption and distortions of its institutions had turned him cynical when it came to the Flame, but he felt that at least, here in the Wildlands, people's devotion was more genuine than in the Empire.

“What does this mural mean?”

He pointed at a scene depicted at the back of one of the small temples they were visiting. It showed a baffled man accidentally spilling the content of a bowl on many different kneeling animals and humans, who looked like they were praying. Honestly, he could deduct roughly the meaning of that image, but he wanted to know what Layla had to say about it.

“You know how this temple belongs to one of the religions that believe in a kind of chaotic force as the supreme deity, yes?” He nodded. “As its belief goes, a long time ago, humans, the only people on this planet then, grew complacent and arrogant. They thought that they no longer needed their wilder, chaotic and uncontrollable nature, so to ascend even further than they already had, with their gigantic buildings and machines, they started storing the essence of their chaos into a bowl. They thought that by doing that, they might eventually reach perfection and a become masters of themselves, but no matter what they do, nobody can truly be their own master. As they grew more and more frustrated, they took out more and more of themselves into the bowl, eventually losing even the distinction of what was chaos and what was order within them. One day, it came to be that the bowl contained everything that was to be human within it, and humans had become husks of themselves. Emotionless automatons.”

Well, That was kind of scary to Benjamin. Somehow, even if things obviously didn't happen in the way described, he could how that might have been the truth of what happened to the Ancient People. Had they shunned their own humanity?

“And then? So, if I'm following this correctly, that mural depicts the contents of that bowl being spilled.”

Layla nodded.

As proof of their perfection, the now empty humans put the bowl in the hands of their greatest general and asked him to walk around the land, to show everyone the inferiority that they left behind and because, of course, being the perfect beings that they were, would never spill the contents of the bowl. But of course, chaos is the master and mistress of this world and, although we can do our best to deal with it, it eventually will play its tricks on us. So one day this general tripped on a tree's root that wasn't there a few months before when he first walked that way. The spilled contents of humanity not only formed the Pools of Reorigination, but also created the first Ascendants, or Mutants as we are usually known. Thus, humanity is no longer exclusive to humanity, due to humanity's own arrogance and folly. It also gave humanity back to many humans.”

An interesting way to look at things, for sure. But as Benjamin wondered about it, he realized that there was a small thing missing from this story.

“So, wait, if according to these legends, the Pools of Reorigination contain what makes humans, well, human. They how do you explain things like a Dragon emerging from one of these Pools?”

Layla smiled at the question, of course. This was a question that was probably asked a long time ago and also answered a long time ago.

“I've told you that people are chaos, as well as order, yes? We have all of these uncontrollable, storm-like feelings inside of us, that we do our best to resist and balance. We are so much more than just rational thoughts and conversation. The Dragons are creatures that have taken a particularly large chunk of this part from the Pools. Cunning, strength, an indomitable will to live. These, and many other more chaotic and primal parts of humanity is what the Dragons are made of. Or so some believe. They might not speak, but to think that the Dragons are not possessors of superlative intelligence is a grave mistake that might cost your life.”

Dragons might not speak, but are extremely intelligent, huh. That wasn't an affirmation he was ready to try and refute. Not after having had an encounter with Old Chad. In fact, thinking back on it, he realized something kind of curious.

“So, you know, thinking about it. With how awesome, powerful and old Old Chad is. It's kind of surprising to me that there seems to be no one that worships him as a deity, even if as a lesser one.”

This one took a few moments for Layla to think about.

“Hmm, perhaps people realize that it is a living creature, or something? Although, even if it's not exactly a religion and it does not exactly worship Old Chad Specifically. There is a group of wandering people, very martial oriented by the way, that considers the Dragon as the ultimate form. They believe that those who become Dragons are those who in the Pool, have chosen to sacrifice everything for power and strength of their own body. To them, Dragons are existences to look up to as an example of strength.”

There really were many different ways that people could look at things in the Wildlands, it seemed. So much better than that single monotone culture of the Empire.

“I see... The Wildlands really are a fascinating and marvelous place. So many new things to learn, to do. Interesting places to visit... Even if it feels like every few days I'm putting my life on the line for this experience, I can say without a doubt that it really is an experience worth having.”

With Benjamin having said that, Layla smiled in a very satisfied manner, then put on the airs of someone that had something even better to show him.

“Well, well, you might be looking impressed right now, but I suppose that's just because you haven't seen the Pool of Cain yet. Remember, the reason that this city has no many temples in the first place is because it is very near the Pool of Cain. If you want to see a real holy place, that's where you should go. Come on, I think you've learned enough about our culture to appreciate it.”

So he was finally going to see it. One of the Pools that originated the Mutants. It was more exciting that he thought it would be.