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[maidenship]

When Mono wakes it's to the sound of cooing doves and the soft fluttering of wings. Wind brushes her face as she continues to lay there with eyes half-open, focused on the structure hanging above her. The feeling of a slab of hard rock beneath her body is unfamiliar, odd, and just a little bit uncomfortable

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[onlysanechimera]

She'd see a figure approaching across the plains, mostly wearing clothes that had probably been white until the dust of several years of travel had been ground into them. After a moment, the figure starts to approach a little faster as it sees her in front of the building.

Zelgadiss wasn't sure how long he'd been walking; the plains were wide, and it was hard to judge just how wide sometimes. The ruins that dotted the area were quite interesting, but he was far more concerned with just where he was. He'd spotted the tall structure in the distance, apparently more or less in the center of the - plains? Valley? He wasn't really sure, come to think of it, though there were what looked like mountains in the distance. But that structure, artificial though it seemed, looked like the highest point in the area; he thought perhaps if he could get there and go as far up as he could, he'd be able to get some idea of what the area looked like.

But he was a bit sidetracked by the girl standing in front of the structure as its base finally came into view. He waved as he finally approached, glad just to see someone else in this place.

[maidenship]

After a moment of straining her eyes, Mono is able to make out the sight of someone (or something? She quite honestly had no clue what sort of animals may live out here) approaching. Something in the back of her mind tells her that there was no need to be afraid. Instinct, maybe?

She's unsure but her feet are moving before she even has the chance to think about it. She's already moving forward, down the steps and to the grassy plain below. There was the chance that it could be Wander. If he was here as well, if he had any idea of where it was that they were, then maybe they could back home together.

That was always something that could happen, wasn't it?

Mono pauses her movement, watches, and only begins to move forward across the plain - closing the thinning distance between herself and this other person - when they wave. But as she moves closer and they come into better view she notes that it's not Wander and for the briefest moment a look of disappointment washes across her face and then it's gone.

"Oh," she offers a small smile of greeting, "hello."

[onlysanechimera]

He still saw the look of disappointment before she approached. So she'd been expecting someone else, perhaps? But it wasn't important, and what they did have was more important than what they didn't, at least right now. They could argue about that later, if it became an issue.

"Hello," he replied, smiling back at her. "You wouldn't happen to have some idea of where we are, would you?" It seemed almost like a silly question - what would she be doing out here if she wasn't a local? But then, he hadn't seen anyone else the entire time he was walking toward the... shrine, perhaps it was? There was always a chance she was just as lost as he.

[maidenship]

Mono curves the fingers of one hand against her arm, curling them to the sleeve of her dress as she glances around. There was nothing but open fields, lush with green grass and wild flowers, rocks, and distance mountain ranges that she could see.

She was just as lost as he.

"I can't say that I know exactly where we are," Mono says as she looks back to him. "But I believe that I may have an idea of what this place may be."

And the thought of even being there sets an uncomfortable chill in her bones.

[onlysanechimera]

Zelgadiss frowned. So they were both lost - and something in her tone when she said she had an idea of what this place was made him think that that would probably not be good news. "Oh? What is it?"

[maidenship]

Her expression is unsure as she turns away, grass tickling at her feet as she begins to walk in one direction. Back towards the shrine, only at a varying angle. She wants to walk around it, to get a better look to see what could be on the other side of it. To make sure that her hunch was just that and not truth.

She has heard stories about this place - from both Emon himself and from the books that lay about the shrine back in her village. It had always been made perfectly clear that this was a place that none should enter; it was a land locked away from the rest of the world that housed a being long since sealed ages ago.

And when her eyes catch sight of the massive bridge that ran far into the distance, farther than what human sight could see, she speaks without turning.

"We are in the Forbidden Land."

[onlysanechimera]

Zelgadiss sighs a little. Of course it would be somewhere he's never heard of. That's just the way his life works. "I'm sorry," he replies softly. "I don't... I've never heard of somewhere like that."

He looks around for a moment. Other than the massive shrine-looking building right next to him, which he supposes could be the tomb of some unfathomable evil, especially with his luck, it doesn't look all that bad. In fact, he's amazed it isn't covered in farms, or even the evidence of them - someone obviously lived in this place once. "Why is it forbidden?"

[maidenship]

"Not many know much as to the exact reason why, for it being as such."

Mono reaches up and tucks strands of her hair behind her ear, only to have it come loose in the next light breeze. "People had once lived in this place a long time ago. But I can't exactly say what happened to them. We're unsure. But... This place is said to be able to bring back the souls of the dead, if one wishes as such."

It's a scary thought and she offers an apologetic look to the man, since she can't offer much more explanation than that.

But to be brought back from the hands of death... She wonders if it would be entirely possible to bring back a person who is cursed to die.

[onlysanechimera]

"To bring back the dead?" he echoes softly, looking up at the shrine. Then again, if it can bring back the dead and it's still forbidden, he figures he's probably right about the ancient evil part - and that the thoughts he's having on the matter are probably exactly what whatever it is wants.

He turns away, shaking his head. "Naturally. Do you know if there's any way out of this place?"

[maidenship]

If she knew a way out then Mono would have already been on her way. Out of this place, back home. But the only way to leave seems to be the bridge but, the question is, just how far does it run? How long would it take to traverse it? And if he had never heard of the Forbidden Land before...

Mono sighs but it's swallowed by the wind. A foreigner.

It had yet to even cross her mind that this whole thing may just be a trick, a simple illusion to make one feel more at ease and comfortable.

Bringing her gaze from the distant bridge she turns it to the ground, at the dirt and grass. "It seems as though our only way of leaving appears to be the bridge."

[onlysanechimera]

"How far away is it?" he asked, frowning. Given how far it seemed to go, it was difficult to tell. He had learned not to trust perspective in this place when the base of the shrine came into view quite some time later than he expected. The ruins here were enormous.