Symbols are hard to decipher. Images mean things and the understanding of them is so reliant on context that to understand a foreign symbol is all but impossible.

All around you is an abandoned city. Were you here before? Everything is black and bronze. How long have you been here? Is this your goal? Does what you seek lay here. The hunger and need intensify. This abandoned city may be nothing, but it may be something. All around are symbols. This is a symbol for time. What is happening? How long have you been travelling? Who are you?

You understand how idols arise in these places. When the need is so intense, faith is both a false comfort and a necessary quality.