"I thought that port was destroyed long ago," Bastian said. He felt chills running up and down his spine.
"How do you know that? Oh…nevermind." Darling sighed. They had already been walking as fast as Anasta's condition allowed them to, but Bastian was feeling anxious.
Port Malachite had supposedly been decimated in a giant fire that had also took out a large part of the economy of this area. Having never allegedly been rebuilt, it had become a warning sign to everyone who sought to attract the fury of gods. With superstition running rampant and there being something highly shady about the origin of the fire, the survivors of the fire fed into that imagery.
"I'm surprised, too," Anasta said, frowning. "I was under the impression that the rebuilding process would have been impossible."