Eisen frowned. A real man? There's a cult that believes that the statue wasn't created by someone, but was instead a giant that simply turned to stone on their own? He couldn't come to a conclusion just based off this, obviously, so he had to learn more.
"What happened that day? When that gang or cult, whichever you want to call it, showed that 'illusion' to the people of this city?" The old man asked. One of the two giants scoffed, "They tried to convince us 'twas bleedin', they did!"
Bleeding. That definitely wasn't a lot to go off of. Not only was something like that easy to fake, with something like paint or even rather basic illusion magic, as one of the giants had suggested, but there were also other, more natural reasons for something similar to blood to be coming out from the statue.
It was massive enough for there to be giant pockets of water scattered around in there, and if some of those were adjacent to rich veins of iron ore, then with just some small, pre-existing cracks, enough air could have come in to oxidize that iron ore and make the rust bleed into the water.
Or maybe there was some monster burrowing through the enhanced stone that was simply wounded or killed when that chunk of stone fell off. Though, that would be its own issue altogether. Monsters burrowing through the statue holding up the roof above the city was more than just dangerous, so if that were the truth behind the matter, then the monsters should have been taken care of already.
"But why are you saying this gang caused that? Did they actively attack the statue?"
"Well, there's some maniacs that try to every once in a while. 'twas the first time they actually managed to do it in a couple hundred years. Hasn't happened since then either."
Eisen thought, running his hand through his beard. In that case, the attackers must have been more than just a simple gang. Highly organized and skilled individuals would be needed for something like that, since the statue was covered in multiple layers of protective magic and barriers. When Eisen used his Truth-Seeing eye, the statue was basically lit up like Times Square in New York.
And he couldn't imagine that this was just added after the attack either. Nobody would be stupid enough to leave something like that completely unprotected, just waiting for the worst case scenario. After all, someone at Eisen's level of power should be able to find a way to destroy that statue as long as there wasn't any direct protection cast on it like there was now.
At this point, Eisen doubted anyone would be able to get through there. It would be tough even if him and the other Originals worked together on it, though they should manage with time. That showed that 'gang' was probably anything but the correct thing to use for the people that damaged the statue.
However, in Eisen's opinion... that was much more unlikely than the idea that someone, or potentially a group of people, created a statue within this mountain. After all, it would be a much more logical answer. If you considered the idea that the statue was a Transcendent Giant retroactively affected by the curse, then a ton of other questions came up. What about the arrow?
Why was that giant holding up the roof of a card-up mountain, and more importantly, who would be able to carve a giant chunk out of a mountain without it collapsing if it wasn't carved around the idea of a giant pillar holding it up?
While it was ridiculous in and of itself to be able to create a statue like that, Eisen did plenty of ridiculous things himself. Such as, apparently, figuring out how to create true, practically immortal life. The fact that this world existed in and of itself was beyond insane.
Over the course of a hundred thousand years, some people appearing that could create something like this, considering all that the world offered? That was the most normal thing Eisen could imagine in comparison.
So why? Why was it that Eisen, despite knowing that it would be so much more impossible, so much more ridiculous, believe that the statue truly was a man killed by the curse, bound to carry the weight of a mountain forevermore?
"Thank you for the stories, you two. Your drinks tonight are on me, alright?" the old man said, nodding at the bartender as he got up. Before either of the giants could thank Eisen, he had already made his way over to one of the platforms where one could reach the non-giant area, and held onto the edge as he shrunk himself down.
He quickly looked around and spotted Kiron and the kids, sitting around and having a meal, like Eisen had suggested.
He rushed over there, sitting down beside them quietly. They were surprised to already have Eisen be here so soon, and Kiron quickly spoke, swallowing the food in his mouth, "G-Grandfather, already? Have you had any luck?"
"...I'm not sure. Have you kids heard anything?" The old man asked, and as Kiron hesitated to talk, Sal quickly did it for him, speaking up with some of the information that they got, which happened to coincide with what Eisen wanted to do now, "Yup. We heard about this cult thing. Apparently they've built a camp on top of the mountain."
"Alright," Eisen smiled lightly, happy that he knew where he had to go next, "Thanks for that. I think I'll pay them a visit soon,"