The old church sits on a low mound hidden among the white aspen trees that have grown around it and in some cases through the outer stonework of the structure. The House of Githaleon was a place of respite and quiet away from the city, and that feeling is still strong here in the daylight, although the slightest breeze makes the leaves of the aspen clatter and shake, sounding almost like running water from a distance.

When the master of the temple passed on, the church was maintained by a few acolytes for a while, but other tasks and employ ate away at their time and the structure was abandoned to the wilderness.

To some, the silence of the hilltop ruins is a darker portent. Trails through the trees in winter indicate that something lives within – most believe it to…