He hadn't paid that close of attention to the outdoors previously. He notices it seems a bit off, but can't place why.

"So, where to next?"

"Through the Gates into Fairyland proper, though I won't be able to accompany you there. I'm a Wind of this world, not that, after all."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense. Am I meeting someone else there, or am I just supposed to go off and explore?"

"Explore! See what there is to be seen. Hear what there is to be heard. And that sort of thing."

"Alright, and if I want to go home?"

"Find your way to Pandemonium, and look for the office of emigration."

"Alright, thanks."

He'll have to find out where Pandemonium is in the future, but he assumes he can ask around. "Anything else I should know or are we good to head out?"

"I think we're quite good!"

"Okay! Well, I guess I'll see you around?"

With that, he will head towards the Gates, assuming he can tell where they are from here.

He can! They're quite prominent, actually, and rather enormous. Several people are going through them in either direction, though he can't see what's on the other side.

He walks up to the gates through the crowd of people. He's surprised that even now that he can see through glamours, he can't see through the gate. This must be different.

He takes a last look around then walks through the gate.

There's a woodland! He's standing in front of an arch made out of stacked brown stone, the misty forest beyond lit by rays of light from above. It's colorful, like someone turned the saturation on reality way up, and there's small flowers on vines twirling up the trees and poking out of the leaf-litter.

The leaves, on closer look, are made of metal foil, and the flower petals shine a bit too brightly in the sun.

He takes a moment to take in his surroundings. At first glance it looks like what he'd imagine Fairyland to look like, but then he notices the metallic glint from the leaves. He's not sure what to make of that.

There was a crowd going through with him at the same time. Is anyone else around? He takes a deep breath to see if he can smell any blood nearby, trying to determine if there's much wildlife.

No people seem to be near him.

There seems to be some wildlife, though! There's also some things moving around that don't smell like they have blood, but do smell like metals.

He's surprised at the fact no one else is around. If they were all going through at the same time, the gate must have some way to choose who goes where. He wonders if it's random or if there's a reason he turned up here, but he assumes he'll have to figure that out for himself.

He's glad there are other things around that are at least close enough to what he's familiar with to have blood. He notices the other moving things a moment later and tries to get a closer look at one. Do they look like any recognizable animal?

Mostly they look like Earth animals, just made of curls of metal foil and clockwork. Silver mice scurry between hiding places, and a copper squirrel chitters at him, while a brass deer startles in the distance.

He smiles at the squirrel and tries not to scare the deer off. He's tempted to try to follow one of the animals. First, though, he wants to get a better look at his surroundings. Do any of the trees have limbs within reach? If one does, and if the metal isn't sharp, he'll climb it to see if he can get a better view, maybe see a sign of other people.

There's plenty of climbable trees. The first one bends under his weight, but the second tree is sturdier.

The forest spreads out, glittering in the sun, until it changes in the distance, becoming duller. It turns into plains in the other direction, and there's a crystal mountain rising in a third.

The wind shifts, blowing down from the mountain, bringing with it a scent of spilled blood.

He starts to feel somewhat concerned when he sees that the forest continues on so far, with no sign of a city as far as he can see. Before he can get too worried, the scent of blood distracts him. He hesitates before quickly returning to the ground. He's been doing alright so far, but he's still a fairly new vampire, and the scent is hard to ignore. Does it smell human?

Only kind of. Human mixed with animal, maybe.

Well that’s interesting. He hasn’t been a vampire long enough to be able to distinguish species. His first thought is werewolf, because he’s met some of those before.

Whatever it is, it’s part human and possibly in trouble, given he can smell blood. He’s somewhat worried that whatever has hurt the other person could hurt him, but right now it’s the only sign of other people he’s found. With that in mind, he heads off towards the mountain.

"Don't come any closer," a voice rasps, when Alek gets close. Whoever it is has dragged themselves into a shallow cave.

Alek freezes when the person speaks. "Sorry. Uh, are you okay?"

"Fine."

She doesn't sound it.

"Are you sure? I can go get things, if there's something around here that would help."

The smell of blood is hard to ignore, but he's managing for now. The fact the person is not entirely human helps.