The strangely humanoid pillars called the Guards are worn beyond recognition. Assembled from local boulders, they conceal the temple behind them. Angled light from the long sunset highlights text on a golden wall. No two characters are even similar.
   Inside the temple, complex shapes hide in the shadows. Most visitors feel confined despite the open sky, as the stars rotate imperceptibly overhead.
  At the far end, an utterly motionless wind chime hangs over the remnants of an ancient carpet. A doorway opens on the central plaza.
   To one side, a natural amphitheater overlooks a steep valley. Rising before the mountains several kilometers away, the Great Pyramid began as a dormant volcano. Its immense interior is filled with bone-like cells that are hard to map.
   Subtle concentric circles on the ground mark the site's focus, an empty oval where no one stands for long. The sense of presence comes from more than just the nearby structures.
  If there are ghosts here, no one has gotten a good look at them.
Through the largest arch the earth can always be seen, swinging slightly as it goes through its monthly phases.