"You just have to touch every little thing, don't you?" The young man questioned himself aloud as he observed his surroundings. 

Just a few minutes prior William Bradford had been wandering along minding his own business before he'd stumbled upon that queer statue. An effigy of a beautiful woman carved from white and dark marble stood before him, just the sight of it caused the simple farmhand to gasp. After a few words of contemplation and admiration of the craftwork, none of which he'd seen back upon the farm, he could not longer resist the temptation. A lone finger stretched out from his palm and slowly caressed the statues blade tip. William felt the cool sensation of the marble and felt entranced by the feeling. So deep was his concentration that he'd barely witnessed the magical sensation that caused his reality to shift entirely. 

An even more queer sight now stretched out before him. Large marble buildings stretched out in long empty streets to his left and right, half carved in dark marble the other in pearl white. A finger rose to the man's head as he scratched his wiry orange hair. William had been warned by his mother not to touch every little thing back in his childhood and it was probably for moments such as this that she gave that sound advice.

"Hello?" He quivered, his soft voice echoing against the vast stone. "Ahh heck, I guess I better start looking for some help here." 

As if with a mind of their own his rooted feet began to make their way towards the darker side of the city, William had been wandering in the heat for quite some time so the cool, beckoning darkness seemed appealing. As he continued along, he passed under a large iron archway and mouthed the word Malum with little thought. 

"I think we've found one of the stragglers!" Called a foreign voice from nearby.

William's eyes darted towards the direction as he witnessed a group of masked men rushing to his position. His instincts cut in on his bleary thoughts and he swiftly reached for the violin strapped across his back, grabbing it by the strings he began to brandish it like a weapon. 

"Hehe boyo, your little toys not going to do much to save you." 

William gulped in anticipation and made a few threatening sounds as he swung the violin wildly in the air. One of his more wayward strikes lunged out into the air and swept clean through one of the men, with a cackle the illusion faltered and the men disappeared in a wisp of ethereal energy. William gazed in disbelief around him, question what had just taken place.

Out of pure uncertainty and to bay the shaking of his knee, he swept his bow across the violin and began to play a cheerful little melody. 

"Come on Will, we can get out of this one."

To pass the time on less eventful days, specifically when Marth was busy with things elsewhere and she found herself lacking companionship, Dalanesca would take to the streets of Malum and Sanctus, fading in and out of the fantasies of the travelers who had found themselves there.  She generally remained incognito, blending in with the non essential characters and passerby in the illusions, or invisible altogether, choosing only to appear if she deemed it entirely necessary.  Whether she chose Sanctus or Malum depended on her mood, and on this particular day she was feeling a bit under the weather, so Malum was the choice.

Shortly after teleporting herself to the first set of gates leading into the city of Malum, she could see that there were many people present in the area this day.  Its activity seemed to be much higher than the activity in Sanctus.  It was something that Dalanesca did not quite understand - when she had crafted the realm in the image in her mind, she had assumed that the majority of people would choose to live out their happiest fantasies, not their most terrifying nightmares.  Perhaps she hadn’t set it up in a way where people would have been entirely certain on which path to follow, but she had crafted it in such a way that they would feel compelled towards whichever side of their mind was the strongest - but it did not always work that way.

After a few moments of walking, Dalanesca heard something quite unusual for Malum - music.  It sounded like a stringed instrument, though she could not be sure, so she turned to head in the direction from which the melody came.  Eventually, she came to see a man standing on one of Malum’s many streets, pulling a bow across the strings and creating a soft tune.  She approached the general vicinity from behind the man, allowing herself to be visible.  

“Hello,” she said, softly, still a fair distance from the man so as not to startle him.  “That tune… it’s much more melodic and happy sounding than I would expect to find here,” she said, expressing her mild surprise.  “Have you come to the Blinded Scales by intention, or by accident?” she asked, though by looking at his generally common appearance, she safely assumed that he had come by accident.  She hung back, not wanting to give the impression that she was going to attack him, but still not revealing her true identity.  ‘“If by accident, I might be able to help you get out of here,” she asked, giving him a friendly smile.

For the first few bars of his diddy, the notes wavered as his fingers quivered. The nerves always seemed to take hold after an encounter like that, but after a few deep breaths, William regained his composure and focused on the happy tune that he was weaving. The bow arching up and down along the strings while his fingers jittered about along the bridge. The music seemed to entrance him for a moment, weaving all kinds of images and thoughts into his mind.

A soft feminine voice drifted into the thought process and for a moment an imagery became weaved within his mind, however as his focus shifted, the complex process fell away. William wheeled about on the spot, and once again took in his surroundings. His right hand calmly grasped the bow and violin while his left rose and withdraw his hat from his head, as one is supposed to do in the presence of a lady. 

"Well, hullo there miss," he replied politely, "it warms my heart to believe that my music would be considered melodic and happy. But i agree, that I haven't seen many happy smiling faces around these parts so far."

As she spoke, he clumsily attached the violin to its latch upon his back and replaced the bow in his travelling pack. 

"Well I have no idea what in the world a blinded scales is, but I assure you I had no intention of being here," he scratched his temple with his index finger, "I don't really intend to arrive at most places and yet I still seem to stumble into mischief of some sort or another."

William was unsure whether it was the music's calming effects or that the woman's presence was making him feel more at ease, but the large city suddenly felt much less intimidating. 

"I'd be much appreciative of any help you could provide me with miss, I'm still trying to find my way back to my farm. My name is William, and I don't have much to offer for your assistance at all, but perhaps you don't need to linger there and we can make a proper acquaintance."

With his hat in his hand, he gave a curt bow.