The air tasted purer, if thin, as I lurched out of the veil and onto a narrow dirt path edged in scrub brush. Sunlight poured down from the crystal blue sky over the towering, square edged castle carved into the side of the mountain. For a moment I felt the disorientation of confusion as I looked past the struggle before me and around at the barren peak, the surrounding mountain range of gray stone. But no, this wasn't the Empress's palace in Nepal, but another of a different shape and bulk. Its design felt Aztec to me, though the knowledge vampires seemed to enjoy hiding away on mountain peaks was reinforced by the sight.