[ There is some mercy for him: Stratos listens silently now, without mockery or unkindness. The man's pain is clear enough to see. And he's genuinely straining to find something recognisable in the tale. ]

I'm not certain I can shed any light on it. I don't know how you came here, but any mortal magic that powerful should have been obvious. Unsubtle. If deliberate, someone would surely have been waiting for you. To alter space so smoothly it's undetected would take... an Elder Scroll? The will of the gods?

Or perhaps you were cast out by some foreign power entirely. It does sound as if someone had an interest in thwarting your quest.