“Come on, don’t be a chicken!” The sound of laughter broke through the unnatural silence of the darkened forest, belonging to a small group of boys egging one of their more timid members onward. They were fairly young and exactly the kind of personalities one would expect of a group that would willing enter into a forest known for its high death toll. Deeper and deeper they ventured into the forest in search of a chance at glory, all seemingly unaware that step by step they were being swallowed by the darkness.

For hours the group wandered about the forest, doing their best to march forward in a straight line, but ultimately resigning themselves to the fact that none could sense what direction was what any longer. The canopy had grown so thick and had woven together so intricately that very little sunlight could shine through, only the occasional beam forcing its way through the cracks gave any indication that it was indeed still day out. Completely lost, and beginning to tire, the group had just about given up their self-proclaimed quest when a low, rumbling sound filled the space around them.

Startled by the sudden noise all four of the boys froze in their tracks, panicked eyes glancing around in an attempt to find the source. The one burning torch they carried did little to shed light on their surroundings, making it difficult to make out anything beyond a small radius, however just beyond the light the shadows seemed to shift and swirl… Almost as if they themselves were alive. Loosing their nerves, the boys began running in the direction they thought the exit to be, but none would ever find their way home. One by one the boys disappeared, leaving behind nothing but their screams as unseen creatures tore into their flesh until only one boy remained.

Terrified, the boy stumbled blindly onward, having lost his source of light when his friend fell. He didn’t dare slow down, he didn’t dare look back out of fear of what he might see. The boy could hear whatever it was chasing him drawing ever closer, just about breathing down his neck. Hope seemed all but gone, yet the boy didn’t stop running, he couldn’t. As if to reward his persistence, the forest opened up before him in a wall of sunlight. Pushing the last of his energy into a final burst of speed, the boy broke from the darkness and collapsed onto the ground. From the moment he touched the sunlight a sense of safety washed over him, the invisible creature not daring to follow any closer than the lining of the trees.

Given a chance to catch his breath, the boy began to look at his surroundings as his eyes adjusted to the sudden exposure to light. He had hoped that he had made it back to the entrance, but what he was met with instead made his heart skip a few beats. Slowly he pushed himself back up onto his feet, turning his body to stare at a monstrous stone towering over all. Standing at the center of the clearing, the great black obelisk seemed to beckon the boy forward. Stepping up to the stone, he was surprised to find that the sides were smooth as glass, reflecting his exhausted features back at him as if it were a mirror. But there was something else, something underneath the surface that caught his eyes. Straining to see inside he placed his palm on the surface of the crystal, instantly regretting this decision.

A final screamed echoed about the forest until all fell back into silence, any trace of the invaders’ existence wiped from its depths. All that remained by the crystal was a green smoke like wisp, the byproduct of a consumed soul. The last necessary to awaken what slumbered within.

The ground trembled beneath the crystal as it sprung to life, a voice that seemed to have no form echoing far beyond the borders of the realm.

The veil between worlds has weakened. Children of fate, rise and face your destiny.

A greenish smoke wrapped around the crystal, several small tendrils breaking away to reach through the veil to beckon a chosen few through. For two centuries a single mind has watched over them, judged them, guided them from afar. These five individuals were who the very future was being entrusted to.

“Rise, and heed my call.” The female’s voice rang clear and true, the obelisk having returned to its rightful place around her neck.

“The war has just begun.”

Alec grabbed his scuba bag and put it onto his back, he owned his own wetsuit and goggles, and preferred to use his own spare air emergency air tanks. A lesson from his eldest brother, get your own stuff and maintain it yourself, that way someone else's mess up won't be your death. If your gear was wrong, it was on you. A good lesson, Alec thought. He was about to go on a dive with a few others to measure the sea urchin population in the nearby kelp forest. If the sea urchins got too numerous, there would be a problem. It was an important dive and Alec felt the need to be there. He glanced over at the pile of chainmail on the table in front of him, and the empty box next to it. He smiled a little, next week he was shark diving to see shark behavior with his own eyes. Once his brothers caught wind of the trip, they bought him a sharksuit. A full body chainmail suit priced at seven and a half grand. Alec was just going to rent a suit, but apparently his brothers wouldn't have any of that and apparently they had enough money to just send him a suit of armor. Later today he'd try it on, air tank harness and all, see if it all came together well. But for right now, he slipped his canvas shoes on, sea urchin dive. He popped a piece of hardcandy into his mouth and walked towards his front door, gripped the handle and... felt something on his eye, a piece of dust probably. With his other hand he rubbed his eyes, swinging the door open and stepping through.


It was warmer than it was supposed to be. Alec finished rubbing his eyes and opened them, readjusting his glasses at the same time. He expected to see his apartment complex, a road, cars, more buildings around. A pizza place across the street. Instead he was in the middle of a forest clearing, the trees were dense and too natural, and he saw wisps of unnatural green smoke in the middle of the clearing. Alec's eyes widened and he instinctively pulled his t-shirt collar over his nose and buried his nose and mouth into the crook of his right arm. Off the top of his head, nothing in nature produced green smoke, it had to be man made of some sort but he didn't see a canister or container. He watched it dissipate into the air. He stood there for a few seconds more, staring where it had been. What was that gas? He let his arm fall to his side and let his shirt collar fall off his face, hoping that the small amount of green gas that he had seen wasn't lethal. He glanced around, this was not his city. He felt his heart rate go up and his breathing speed up. Alec turned around slowly, seeing his door frame, but through the door was the treeline... upside down. Alec blinked twice and then a third time, hard. Opening his eyes it was still his door frame, and through the opening the upside down treeline. He leaned to the right to see beyond it. Nothing, normal right side up trees.

He looked the frame over, it was his door that was flipping the image. Alec stepped closer to the door frame, not willing to go through it. Instead he pulled a pen from out of his pocket and held it up. He reached around the frame with the pen gripped in his hand, facing upwards. He saw the pen and his fist facing down.
"W-what the...?" He muttered, this was no natural phenomenon, but he couldn't think of any technology that could do something like this. Transport him to a forest and have the perfect imitation of his door frame flip whatever was seen through it. A million questions raced through his head, but he had one important question to answer first. He placed the pen back into his pocket and gripped the frame. It was solid, wood, and cool. So it was real, no illusion. Then the flipped world through the door frame began to blur. It got blurrier and blurrier, quickly. Alec blinked, glanced left and saw clear images of grass, trees and sky. It was the door. He raised his glasses with his other hand and dropped them onto his nose again, it was definitely the door. He noticed the frame slowly fading.
"Wait, no-" he said, gripping the frame harder. The image blurred to such a degree that he could see the color of the grass, shadows, trees and sky blending together... then they started getting sharper. The image through the door was right way up, but the door was fading still. He saw it, felt it, fade into thin air. Then the door was gone.

"You're shitting me." Alec said to himself, he waved his hand where the door frame was, but nothing. He rubbed his fingers together, no residual... anything. Just the feeling of his fingers. He glanced around, he was alone in this clearing. He cursed over and over, someone or something must have pulled him here. But for what purpose? Who, what and why? The why especially concerned him, if this was a person with technology advanced though to just yank him from his town and drop him into some unknown part of the world... if this even was his world... he didn't finish the train of thought. He felt frustration boil within him.

"Goddamnit I'm supposed to be looking at fucking sea urchins right now!" He yelled at nobody in particular. No. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, doing his best to control his breathing. No use getting mad at the why, he was here now. He needed to figure out what to do now. Stay in the now. He took one more deep breath, holding it in, then he opened his eyes and exhaled. He took a knee and took off his scuba bag. He thought about what his eldest brother would do, the soldier. Probably raise his rifle and secure the area. Well Alec had no guns, instead he looked around, searching for threats but found none. Okay. He placed his scuba bag onto the ground and he pulled some grass from out of the ground. He smelled it, felt it. It was grass alright. He dug into the dirt with his fingers and did the same. Dirt. This place real, so far as he was concerned. He shook his head. Inventory. That sharksuit would be real goddamn useful right now, any sort of protective equipment in this unknown environment. Instead he had his neoprene wetsuit, three emergency air tanks, some granola bars he tucked away into the bag, various belts, his diving fins, harnesses and goggles. Not much was useful there.

He pulled out the contents of his pockets on his jeans. Wallet, nothing much useful there. He placed it into the backpack. Phone, he pressed the power button and it flicked on. So the transportation didn't kill his electronics, but there was no connection of any sort. He shut the phone off, better to conserve the battery. He placed it into the backpack. Keychain, into the backpack. He held his pocket knife and took out the blade, examining it for a quick second. He sheathed the blade and placed the pocket knife into his pocket, where he could easily grab it. Then his pen and his pen light, he flicked the pen light on and off to check if it worked, it did and it went into his other pocket along with the writing pen. He glanced at his watch, then up at the sun above. More or less noon still. He exhaled audibly, with only a small flashlight and a pocket knife, he didn't feel very well equipped. He patted his black jeans, a good enough pants for survival, a little restrictive, but not easily torn. Grey canvas shoes, not good. He was wearing a blue t-shirt, a long sleeved shirt would have been better. Finally, he had a black and grey hoodie, fairly thick and warm. Good, that extra thickness will definitely help during the night.

Now that he did inventory, he zipped up the backpack and looked around. Where was he exactly? The grass wasn't trimmed, it was wild, but it wasn't tall. He looked at the trees, it was definitely a forest, with roots exposed in some places, boulders visible. Alec was studying to be a marine biologist not a dendrologist, he couldn't identify what part of the world he was in by tree alone. He peered beyond the trees. He couldn't see any trails, no matter how hard he looked. That did not bode well. If this forest was not well traveled, it was not well traveled for a reason. Either unexplored or there wasn't any civilization nearby, he concluded. He took a deep breath through his nose with his eyes closed, crisp, fresh, clean air the likes of which he had never breathed before. He took another deep breath just to enjoy it, having lived in cities and towns his whole life. Then he noticed something. This was a forest. His eyes shot open, he heard the wind rustle the leaves on the trees and the grass, that gentle rustle and nothing else. His breathing sped up. There wasn't any sound of cars or jets, no trains, just the sounds of a forest. Alec slowly moved his hand to hover over his knife. He heard another gust of wind rustle the trees. He slowly looked up towards the sky and only saw the blue, dotted with white clouds. Alec felt his mouth become dry and he swallowed. If this was a forest, nowhere near civilization, where were the birds and animals?

Lucy hummed softly as she double-checked the contents of the pink and black backpack that was sitting on her unmade bed, the sound of Bob Ross’s deep voice emanating softly from the television across the room as he went about painting a snowy landscape. While Lucy had stopped actively watching the episode quite a while ago, she had left it on as she packed her bag to lessen the oppressive silence that seemed to pervade the house whenever her older sister was away at work. Satisfied that she hadn’t forgotten any of her painting supplies, Lucy turned the television off before grabbing her bag and heading downstairs to get her feet dressed and grab something to wear over her turquoise-colored t-shirt if she got cold while she was out. Because she was heading to the woods in the park in order to paint, Lucy decided to wear her hiking boots, which were black with pink accents, and her lavender-colored hoodie.

Once Lucy was completely ready, she stepped out onto the porch of the modest home and locked the door before she began to make the short trek to the park. As she walked, Lucy tried not to think about the gymnastics competition that was happening in a few days, though that was certainly easier said than done. She just couldn’t shake the feeling that she should be spending the last couple of days practicing her routine, even though her coach had told them all that that would actually end up hurting more than it would help and that they should take the last two days before the competition relaxing and recovering from their last practice. And so, in an attempt to take her mind off the competition, at least for a little while, Lucy figured that she would paint for a few hours in one of the clearings in the forest in the park.

Before too much longer, Lucy had arrived at the woods and was making her way towards the clearing she knew to be towards the center. Considering the fact that this was an urban forest, it was pretty tame, with a number of trails, some more pronounced than others, crisscrossing through the interior. As such, it didn’t really take all that much longer to reach her destination. Once at the edge of the clearing, Lucy sought out a relatively flat piece of ground to set up the easel and camp stool that she had carried with her. After everything was set up as Lucy wanted it, she sat down and began to paint, humming a wordless tune occasionally as she did so.

By the time Lucy was putting the finishing touches on her painting of the clearing, the sun had moved to hang high overhead, marking the time as being around noon. Pleased with how the painting had come together and desiring to quell the rumblings of her tummy, Lucy left it to dry for a few minutes as she went about eating the small lunch she had packed for the day. Though her lunch consisted of only a crunchy peanut butter and blackberry jelly sandwich and an apple’s worth of apple slices, it would easily hold her over until dinner. After Lucy finished her lunch, she went to set the finished painting of the clearing aside so that she could set up a new piece of canvas and paint something else when she noticed that her painting of the clearing included a menacing-looking black spire that she didn’t remember painting.

”How did that get there?” she wondered aloud as inspected the painting more closely. Upon closer inspection, Lucy noticed that there were a number of other slight differences between the clearing she was currently in and the one that had appeared on her canvas. The most glaring of these was the fact that the forest represented in the mystery painting was far denser than the forest she was currently in, with a menacing air about it that gave her the shivers. The second most notable difference was the fact that none of the trees in the painting matched up with the trees she could see across the clearing. The painting-trees had leaves and bark that were significantly darker in coloration than their real counterparts, which only served to amplify their intimidating air. ”Did I really paint that?” Lucy asked no one in particular, her voice tinged with concern. Maybe the stress of the upcoming competition had gotten to her? It seemed unlikely, but it was the only explanation that sounded even somewhat reasonable.

Almost without thinking about it, Lucy brushed the index finger of her left hand across the creepy obelisk to verify that it was a part of the painting. As her finger made contact with the obelisk, however, she felt something grab onto her and begin pulling her into the painting, however impossible that sounded. Of course, the confusion she had felt upon noticing that her painting had transformed somehow quickly gave way to panic as her whole hand slipped impossibly into the painting. ”H-Help! S-Someone!” she yelled as she fought against the mysterious force with every ounce of strength that she had. Unfortunately, her flailing about for purchase only managed to hook her backpack straps around her legs before the force multiplied in strength and yanked her through entirely.

Once through the painting, the force vanished entirely, leaving Lucy to fall to the ground from about five feet in the air. The impact knocked the wind out of the petite girl, rendering her unable to do anything more than lay where she had landed and try to catch her breath for a few minutes. After she had managed to catch her breath and extricate her feet from the straps of her backpack that had entangled them as she was pulled into her painting, she pushed herself to her feet somewhat shakily and looked around at her surroundings. It seemed that the clearing she was on the edge of was exactly as the mystery painting had depicted, and Lucy couldn’t help but take a hesitant step further into the warm sunlight that filled the clearing as the menacing air of the forest pressed down on her.

Lucy’s thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone nearby, probably male from the sound of their voice, yelling profanities and something to do with sea urchins. Looking in the direction the voice had come from, Lucy could see a man standing near the center of the clearing and looking at the forest, much like she had been. From the tone of their voice, and the language used, Lucy felt it was safe to assume that they weren’t happy about being in the middle of the woods either. Regardless of why they were upset, Lucy felt that the presence of another person would help take the edge off her panic. Plus, they might know something about where they were or even how to get back home if she was lucky. ”Hello?” Lucy called out, having decided to walk over towards the man and introduce herself. ”My name is Lucy, and I, um, think I might be lost. Do you know anything about where we are?”

"Hello?" Someone spoke up, a girl. Alec jumped a little, having focused more on listening for quieter sounds. She surprisingly had a light step. He turned to look at her. "My name is Lucy, and I, um, think I might be lost. Do you know anything about where we are?" She asked. Alec blinked at the new arrival, was she a native of this place that simply got lost? Or was she pulled here like him? He had to know. Alec exhaled and ran his hand through his hair, she wore a hoodie and had some boots on, familiar clothing. Alec rubbed his nose and glanced around, it was just them two for now.

"Come here," Alec said, pointing to a spot across from his backpack."I'm Alec. Lost too, but judging from the trees and temperature..." he looked at the trees for a second, they weren't tropical trees, and they weren't covered in snow, so this had to be a temperate area."we're not at the equator or arctics, if that helps." Alec glanced around again, clearly uneasy. "What do you think about this place? Not normal?" He asked absentmindedly, rummaging through his pocket and pulling out his pocket knife, pen and flashlight. "All I got that's useful." He stated. Alec looked at the newcomer, she had golden blonde hair, something he didn't see very often. And she looked young, if this was a dangerous place they'd been put in... Alec couldn't explain the feeling to himself. He paused for a second "When it hits night, I can look up at the stars and see where we are, my astronavigation is... very rusty, it's been a few years since my class, but I might be able to figure something out." He explained, offering a possible solution to finding out where they were. He glanced up at the sky, "How'd you get here?" he finally asked.

Isabella Scott
Red Jasper
Forest Clearing

---

Isabella grunted in mild pain, applying some disinfectant to the small cut on her forehead. That last match had gone well, if only because she beat the other guy up worse than she had gotten beaten. A few cuts and bruises on her end, and maybe a fractured bone or two. Nothing serious that she couldn't deal with after a few days of rest. The next fight wouldn't be for awhile anyways, and she had always been a fast healer. She had only been doing the fights out of curiosity to start with after stumbling on them, but for the past month or so...well, she had been enjoying them.

underground fighting rings weren't something she'd thought she'd ever be doing, heh, but damn it if they weren't fun.

The redhead smirked to herself in the mirror, taking a moment to fix a few strands of hair. Boy, she looked terrible, but nothing like a good hot bath to fix that. First things first though, she had to get home and not have anyone get curious as to what happened. Living in a place that would cost most peoples a month salary to live in did have its drawbacks, so she had stopped by a fast food place to fix up her appearance just a bit and get some dinner.

"...huh?" She stopped, glancing towards the mirror. She thought she saw something move in it. Actually...now that she looked at it more, something was off about the entire thing. It was her reflection, and the reflection of the restroom...but something felt off about it all. gave her an oddly unsettled feeling. The kind that made the hair on the back of your neck stand on end. She frowned, taking a quick look around the restroom...no one else was in here, and it was pretty late at night. She had probably just been watching too many horror movies lately.

Still...maybe she could skip the food and get home.

Isabella made a quick exit. Her apartment wasn't too far away, just a quick few blocks over in the more wealthy part of the downtown area. She greeted the doorman with her usual nonchalant wave and walked inside, heading for the elevator and taking it to one of the top floors. She should maybe try and find a job or something. Sure, she had taken enough of her dads money to live comfortably for the rest of her life if she spent it wisely, but it'd still be nice to have some source of income.

Thoughts for later.

She walked into her apartment. Well furnished, and probably the exact opposite that you'd expect someone like her to live in. She yawned, stretching tiredly as she walked into the bathroom, turning the water for the shower on so it'd get hot, glancing into the mirror before she went about getting undressed.

...wait, that can't be right.

"...Either I'm going crazy or I hit my head harder than I thought..." She frowned, staring into the mirror. Oh certainly, it was her reflection staring back at her...but the mirror showed something quite out of place. It showed a tree, growing right in the middle of her shower. She blinked, taking a look behind her just to see nothing. When she turned back to the mirror, it was even worse. The bathroom had been entirely replaced with an outdoorsy landscape of some sort.

creepy, outdoorsy landscape. Densely packed, but trees with sparse foliage...a large, black obelisk in the distance.

"Okay, I think I seriously need to see a doctor..." Despite saying that, she couldn't help but to feel fascinated. It couldn't be a simple hallucination could it? A day dream of sorts? She couldn't be sure, but it fascinated her on some level.

So she reached out and touched the mirror.

Immediately upon doing so, gravity almost seemed to shift, pulling her towards the mirror as it shattered into dozens of pieces.

"What-the!?" She couldn't speak, falling through an endless silver void, watching a small window of light that was her bathroom as she fell into whatever world was behind the mirror, tiny shards of glass falling with her. Then there was the familiar feeling of pressure and the feeling of being submerged in water as gravity seemed to shift again, pulling her upwards towards the surface of some light.

"Son of a bitch-!" She broke the surface of a small pond of water, thankfully surfacing near the shore of it. "Ugh, damn it...the fuck!?" She sputtered, taking a moment to catch her breath before she pushed herself to her knees and took a look at her surrounding area. Oddly, she was dry despite having just taken a little swim.

She was in the same forest she had seen in the mirror, it looked like. She shakily stood to her feet.

"The hell am I supposed to do in a forest?!" She had never spent any amount of time out doors in her life. Being a city girl through and through, she was definitely not cut out to rough it in a forest. She took a few steps away from the pond, quickly checking her pockets for things that could help. Gloves, her cellphone - if cliches were to be followed, no signal and a ...discount coupon for subway. Nothing else. She hadn't exactly been expecting to go on a camping trip.

hmm...wait, was that someone's voice? She quietly approached where she thought she heard someone speaking. It didn't take her long to find a man and another woman standing about and talking. Seemingly in the same situation she was in. Isabella frowned, running her hands across the bangles on her wrist, the familiar article of clothing always having brought her a small comfort. So...she could introduce herself, but she could not just as well.

People were tiring, after all...but it might be a good idea to at least say hi. If they tried anything funny she'd just break their legs.

"...yo." She casually walked up to the two, giving them a wave. A girl wearing a black jacket, jeans, and boots who looked a tad bit roughed up was probably not the most comforting people to meet in a situation like this. Not to mention her typical neutral expression. "So either of you know what's going on? Or are you as clueless as me?"

Yard work: one of the unfortunate aspects of owning a home. Since Damien lived alone, he had no choice but to do it all himself. After eating a nice big breakfast he went to his room and got himself dressed. The outfit of the day would be an old pair of sneakers, jeans, and a plain white t-shirt; as well as his signature wristband of course. There's was no need to dress up when doing yard work. Who were you trying to impress? The grass and the leaves?

Behind Damien's home lies an old shed where all of the necessary equipment and resources were located. It was filled with way too much stuff. Charlie obviously never took the time to clean it out. After opening the creaky old door Damien stepped inside and began attempting to locate a shears to use on the unruly hedges. Eventually he managed to find it... All the way on the back wall past the gauntlet of yard care appliances. With a sigh Damien pushed forward. Having to step around, over, and beside many unusually shaped things, sometimes all at once, seemed more exhausting then the simple yard work he wanted to accomplish. Damien had made it about halfway through the shed when the door slammed shut.

With door shut, Damien was now in complete darkness. The shed had no internal light source of its own, relying completely on natural light from the outside, or a portable source of light that whoever entered would bring with them. Now he was trapped in a shed filled with an assortment of blades, rough edges, and sharp corners with no way to tell where any of them may be hiding. Well, no one was going to come for him any time soon. He would just have to try to make his way back through the darkness to get to the door. Damien managed to take three steps before tripping.

During the quick, yet somehow eternal, journey to the floor he had now involuntarily embarked on, Damien was certain he was a goner. There was no telling what he might land on, or hit his head, or what might fall and land on him. After all he had been through he was going to be killed by a dirty hoe. Or a rake. Maybe an axe. Perhaps the shears would fall off the wall and stab him. Damien screwed his eyes shut and braced himself for impact. What a way die.

Except he didn't die. He was still falling. Surely he would have hit the floor by now. How could he still be falling? No sooner than after the duration of his fall had entered his mind did he finally hit the ground. Damien groaned and opened his eyes. The first thing he saw were three other people who appeared about his age. There was a blonde, a redhead, and some Asian dude. He quickly sat up and looked around before addressing the trio before him.

"Hi, guys," he said casually. "So, um, what just happened? Where am I? And how did I get here?"

Having toweled her long hair as much as she could stand, Morie moved on to the rest of her body. The air in the changing room was heavy from the heat of the showers, all now turned off as many of her teammates were finished changing out of their practice uniforms, shuffling out the door. Morie was always among the last out of the changing room--she had a habit of taking extended showers, on top of always being more than willing to talk to her teammates about the just-finished practice. When it came to volleyball, there was always more for her to say, which tended to be a trait that was appreciated in a competitive environment. Making the decision to get back into the sport by joining her college's team was one she was happy she made.

Chatting away with a few other girls, Morie took out her regular clothing from her gym bag, replacing it with her uniform. She pulled on the white and black, baseball-style long-sleeved tee, then stepped into black athletic shorts. As she sat down to do up her gray sneakers, the conversation she was having began to come to a close, and her friends made their way to the exit. Morie continued to take her time, never in a rush to leave the gym. She threw on her green and white track jacket, not bothering to zip it up. Double checking that she wasn't forgetting anything, the girl finally walked out of the changing rooms, out into the main area of the gym, where the court was.

Morie saw the last of her teammates leaving the building, and made her way to follow, slowing her pace as she noticed a stray volleyball in the corner of the large room. It must have been missed during the cleanup. Taking no time to think about it, she dropped her gym bag by the wall, and made her way over to pick the ball up. She stared at it for a moment as she held it in her hands. There was studying to be done... but she felt like practicing her serve at least one more time today.

The girl smiled to herself, knowing she'd likely be here for another little while. It had happened plenty of times before, and it'd happen again. She walked over to take her position, several feet back from the serving line, bouncing the ball to get an exact feel for it, as she had done thousands of times in her life. Satisfied, she held the ball out in her hand, palm up, and paused for a moment just as she would in a real match. After a slow and deliberate inhale, she dropped her arm slightly and brought it back up, years of muscle memory tossing the ball up and slightly forward in the perfect arc. Before even completing the motion for the toss, her legs were already running her forward, focus locked onto the ball. She timed herself, lowering herself and then jumping up as high as she could manage, the momentum of her run carrying her high and far. Jacket flowing behind her, Morie reared her right arm back in preparation. At the peak of her jump's arc, she launched the arm forward, striking the ball exactly as she had intended to. The ball soared just over the net, its path to touch down just inside the boundaries of the court set.

But something took Morie's attention away from the results of her serve--a distortion of the gym she was in, as though everything was drawing her eyes to the middle of the room. To the middle of the court.

Still in the air, her gaze shifted down to the fast-approaching floor... only it wasn't the floor. She could see grass, trees, sky, a black object. Where that stuff began and the gym ended wasn't clear, but despite how confusing and distorted everything in her vision was, Morie knew she was heading straight for that greenery as she fell.

Instincts kicked in. The girl reached out, knowing the volleyball net should be there. She felt it with her fingers, and grabbed on tight... yet that did nothing to slow her fall, even as she felt herself dragging it down. More and more of the world around her became that forest setting, and a breath later the feeling of the net in her grip had simply disappeared.

Perhaps more concerning than that, though, was the fact that the direction of gravity seemed to have suddenly changed. While she had been falling feet first, now she felt herself moving horizontally through the air, feet first, as though her falling momentum had been carried over. Down was now the direction her back was facing, and Morie was not in the mood to be winded right now. The girl quickly turned her upper body around, landing and sliding a few feet on her shoulder before immediately bouncing back up and onto her feet in one motion. It was all so swiftly done that her forwards--now backwards--momentum hadn't been completely killed, forcing Morie to talk a few extremely off-balance steps backward in a barely successful attempt to keep herself from falling on her ass.

The girl stood there for a moment, trying to gather herself. What the hell had just happened? Heartrate spiked from the adrenaline, she glanced around quickly, trying to identify immediate danger. Of course, the first thing she noticed were four other people, not one more than ten feet away from her current position.

Incredulous, Morie looked between them for a few moments, then at her surroundings. A forest clearing, with a giant obelisk the highlight of it. There was nothing like that in her home city that she knew of. In fact, there were no forests for miles. The confusion she had been feeling began to settle in as she looked again to the others, noting with only the mildest comfort that many of them seemed plenty confused as well. A woman with impressive red hair, another much shorter girl, an asian boy, and finally a rather plain-looking man. Morie couldn't gather much more than those very surface level details at the moment--her mind was a little bit preoccupied.

"I... was in a school gym a second ago," she managed to say, phrasing it more like a question than a statement.

Bright golden irises scanned her surroundings as the fog of sleep cleared from her mind, a rather large yawn escaping her lips while she stretched her stiffened limbs out. There was nothing particularly dangerous that caught her eye, but the once familiar setting now bore a hostile aura. She shouldn’t have been surprised, after all, whatever it was would have most likely been drawn in by the stone that shielded her. Glancing down at the shard around her neck, the young woman assessed her current situation.

“It seems we have been asleep for quite some time, my friend.” The stone around Aryanna’s neck, much like her, had remained untouched by the passage of time. It still felt as lively as ever, which was a good sign, seeming to have only refreshed itself over the years. Unsurprisingly, a minuscule tug of energy linked the pendant to the towering obelisk, a now very permanent mark upon the landscape. Though it served little purpose now, the magic used in both its creation and maintenance were far too great for it to simply vanish. The pair had spent plenty of time recuperating, so the impact would be almost nothing, but they would forever be linked to this particular clearing.

The air about her churned, magic shifting visibly throughout the clearing as it opened the way for her summoned guests. Withdrawing to the very edge of the treeline, the mage melded into the shadows to observe the incoming personalities. While her consciousness had been present for a good portion of their lives, there was only so much she could determine from their circumstances. This would be the first time they were ever introduced to magic so she couldn’t help but be a tad curious as to how they would react.

At first there was just the one, Alec if she remembered his name correctly. His arrival was fairly controlled which was a good sign in her books. He had a strong aura and an even stronger survival sense, but that would not prevent his way home from being sealed behind him. A path between realms was no easy feat after all. Aryanna watched as he gathered his bearings, much as she had when she first awoke… But, alas, his efforts were unsurprisingly in vain.

Eyes shifted to another arrival, a girl this time, whom she remembered distinctly to be called Lucy. Everything about her was bright; her hair, her smile, even her aura shone brightly. She was impossible for the woman of darkness not to notice, though she was quite sure yet if that was a good or bad thing.

It didn’t take long for the other three guests to arrive, seeming to fall through the veil much quicker now that it had been pierced multiple times. The young woman didn’t care too much for the words spoken between them as one by one they realized that they were far, far from home. Of the arrivals, the warrior Isabella had to have been her favorite. It was blunt, and it was honest, but it was without apparent fear. She held herself high and approached the strangers with confidence. A small snicker escaped the dark haired woman, and she almost felt bad for the other two, as Morgan and Damien’s arrivals were a tad on the more jarring side. She considered apologizing to them for such a sudden summons, but she didn’t particularly see the point either. Exhaling slowly, Aryanna decided that she had seen enough and would make herself known before the group ended up wandering off.

“Indeed, you were.” Her voice rang clearly as she stepped forward, closing some of the distance between her previous position and where the group had gathered. The clothing she wore had seen better days, the hem of her skirt still torn from battle and a mixture of blood and dirt stained the white blouse. Long since had she forgotten where her shoes had been left, though she highly doubted they would have still been there should she ever have returned.

“Clearly you are no longer. You’ll find your previous locations a bit out of reach at this point, so allow me to welcome you all to Astoria.” Aryanna bowed into a curtsy before righting her posture and looking at each one in turn.

“It pleases me that you all have arrived safely, we have much to discuss.”

Lucy stifled a giggle as the man jumped a little at the sound of her voice, feeling a little bad for startling him. He seemed to recover quickly, however, giving Lucy a look over before beckoning her forward once he finished his analysis. Obediently, Lucy stepped closer to his backpack as he introduced himself as Alec and explained that he was lost too, but could tell that they weren’t near the equator or the poles. While his conclusion hadn’t been the answer that Lucy had been looking for, she supposed that knowing where they weren’t could be helpful. It was certainly more helpful than not knowing anything about their location.

”It’s not like any place that I’ve ever been,” Lucy said in response to Alec’s question about her thoughts on the area while he rummaged through the pockets of his black jeans. Now that she was standing closer, she noticed that Alec possessed short black hair and light brown eyes and that he was wearing glasses. It also appeared that he wasn’t quite as tall as Lucy had originally thought, though he was still significantly taller than her. ”The forest seems…” Lucy said, pausing to think of the right word for the air the forest seemed to project. ”I dunno, unfriendly? It’s really creepy.”

After he finished rummaging through his pocket, Alec held out a pocket knife, a flashlight, and a pen and explained that they were the only items he had that would be useful in their current situation. ”All I’ve got is some painting supplies,” Lucy responded, taking her backpack and opening it towards him so that he could see the assortment of paints, brushes, and small, rolled canvases in the bag. When she thought that he had looked long enough to get the idea, she closed her backpack and put it on again. ”Though I’m not really sure how useful they’d really be.”

Lucy’s eyes, appearing golden in the afternoon sunlight of the clearing, widened noticeably as Alec mentioned that he could possibly tell where they were based on the stars at night. ”You can tell that kind of stuff from the stars?” she asked somewhat incredulously. She knew, of course, that that was how people used to travel, especially across the ocean, but the idea that she would meet someone who knew how to do stuff like that in the modern day was a little surprising.

Alec’s question as to how Lucy got there distracted her from her amazement at the depth of his wilderness survival skills. ”This is going to sound crazy, but I’m pretty sure that I was sucked into a painting,” she replied, idly pushing some dirt around with her boots. Before she could explain further or ask him how he got there, they were joined by a tall girl with fiery red hair that was dressed in a black jacket and jeans who was asking if either of them knew what was going on.

Lucy shook her head and opened her mouth to say that no, neither of them knew what was going on, when they were joined by another plainly-dressed man with dark hair and, almost immediately after he managed to ask his own questions, another tall girl with very light hair. Before Lucy could introduce herself or explain that she didn’t know anything about where they were or what was going on, they were interrupted by another girl with dark hair calling out to them as if answering the pale-haired girl’s statement-question. As she approached the group, Lucy noticed that she was quite a bit taller than herself, perhaps even taller than the pale-haired girl and the redheaded girl. She was also dressed rather strangely compared to their motley gathering, as she was wearing clothes that, while dirty, seemed to belong in a medieval painting, an impression that was only reinforced by her curtsy as she welcomed them to this place called Astoria.

”Hello, my name is Lucy,” Lucy said, introducing herself to the the group as a whole, though her focus was on the newest arrival. ”Could you tell us who you are and what’s going on?”

The golden haired girl followed his command to come closer without question, which presented a few concerns about trust, and it also revealed a little bit about her character. Alec didn't think about it too much, there was a far more pressing matter at hand. Lucy responded to his question about the forest clearing, he felt that it was too quiet, and that something was amiss. She said that it was creepy and unfriendly, which was about pretty close to what Alec had in mind. So it wasn't just him, he concluded. After he presented her with his tools, she responded and showed what she had. Painting supplies, she said, then unzipped her backpack to reveal the items. She wasn't sure if they were useful but Alec already began thinking on some ideas. He looked over to the forest, if they had to travel through the forest, Lucy could paint symbols on the trees to create a makeshift 'yarn through the labyrinth', like the ancient Greek myth. The canvas could also be part of a shelter, if they had to make one. Alec just cracked a little smile at the items, no need to speak up about his ideas, they were just about half baked right now anyways. He then talked about astronavigation. Lucy seemed surprised that he knew such a thing, Alec simply nodded with a short smile. He was definitely rusty, but he could use simple markers such as the north star and southern cross, if he saw either of them they could narrow down their location. Then the big question. Alec asked how she got here. She explained that it was a painting that sucked her in. A painting? Alec thought to himself, he rubbed his chin. So the method of transportation was not standardized. She was sucked in, Alec simply walked through. It couldn't be random... right? He thought to himself, a door was easy for him at the time, so it was a door that transported him. Perhaps Lucy was in a place with no doors, or was unwilling to go through a door at the time, and an alternative method of transportation was required? That suggested that they were chosen to be here, selected for some reason, a trait they had perhaps? A skill set?

His train of thought was interrupted by a new arrival. A girl taller than him, with familiar clothes as well. She greeted them casually and asked if they knew what was going on. Lucy spoke up, saying no. Strange, Alec thought to himself, Lucy has the blondest blonde hair I've ever seen and the redhead has the reddest hair I've ever seen. He thought for a split second, following that trend... does that mean I have the blackest hair? No, that would be silly. He tried to convince himself. What kind of selection by trait would that be? Another newcomer, a man this time wearing again, familiar clothing. He also casually asked what was going on. But the most important thing about this new arrival was that his hair was also dark. Thank god that trend of hair color is broken. Alec thought to himself. He heard a thud, third new arrival? He leaned over, peering past the redheaded girl, seeing a woman in a gym outfit with the most platinum of platinum blonde hair he'd ever seen. She quickly got up and glanced around, checking her surroundings, that was good. She spotted them and simply said that she had been in a school gym. Alec wordlessly gestured for her to come over, then pointed towards an empty spot at their gathering, inviting her into the group. She also wore familiar clothing... it seemed like they all came from the same time period, which suggested that the something that pulled them to here had control over space, but less control over time. But more importantly, her hair. Alec glanced at the hair color of everyone else for a moment before settling his gaze on the other mans hair color... it wasn't entirely black, was it? It looked kind of navy blue-ish? Does that mean he has the most navy-blue hair out of everyone? Alec exhaled audibly and blinked a few times, out of billions of Asian people does this mean he had the blackest hair out of all of them? He shook his head slightly in disbelief, this had to be a coincidence. It had to.

A clear voice cut the silence, “Indeed, you were.” a woman spoke in response to the platinum blondes comment about the gym. “Clearly you are no longer. You’ll find your previous locations a bit out of reach at this point, so allow me to welcome you all to Astoria.” She bowed, a formal curtsy that reminded Alec of nobility and royalty. “It pleases me that you all have arrived safely, we have much to discuss.”
Alec blinked at her, "Astoria...?" he mumbled to himself, Lucy spoke up first, asking the first questions as well. She questioned who the newcomer was, and what was going on. Not the questions Alec would have asked, but now would be a good time to listen to everyone else ask questions, to better gauge who his new companions were. Alec stayed crouched by his pack. Astoria. That was no place on Earth, as far as Alec knew. And she said that it pleased her to see that everyone arrived safely, so she knew that they were coming, reinforcing that this was not a random transportation. They were brought here for a purpose. He looked over the taller girl, she seemed rather comfortable being in dirty clothes, covered in grime and... blood? Oh no. Alec thought to himself, the blood was dried, but she didn't wash them or change into new clothes. A recent conflict? No time to wash or change? Were they in danger? The fact that she was here with them now meant that she won one fight, but there could be more aggressors. He looked at her feet and noticed she had no shoes, lost in that conflict probably. Alec looked at his pack and remembered something, he had his diving shoes. He zipped his bag open and fished for his diving shoes, once grabbed he took a step towards her still crouched and placed them onto the floor towards her. Better than nothing and if they had to make a quick escape, they couldn't afford one of the group getting stabbed in the foot by some belligerent rock or piece of wood. He took a step back, confirming that they were for her.

Morie glanced at the Asian boy as he beckoned her over--man, actually, now that she looked at him. He was quite short, but it was clear looking at his face that he was at least her age, if not older.

She hesitated, not entirely certain about complying and adding herself to the group of complete strangers. Before she could make a decision, a voice answered her from the edge of the clearing. Morie wheeled around, ready for... something. Her eyes widened slightly as she took in the state the owner of the voice was in, alarms going off--as if they hadn't been already.

"Clearly you are no longer."

Morie subtly pulled a face at the statement, unsure if it was supposed to be sarcastic. "...Clearly," she muttered, eyeing the woman up and down some more. Morie paused seeing her exposed feet. That wasn't okay.

The pale-blonde made a movement to reach into her gym bag... but realized it wasn't around her shoulder. Of course it wasn't. She had put it down just before she was taken here... to 'Astoria.'

Frowning slightly, Morie glanced down at the sneakers on her own feet. The black-haired woman looked in far worse shape than she was. Morie could live without shoes for a bit. She paused before kicking them off though, seeing the short man reaching into a bag that he evidently hadn't left behind, seeing him pull a pair of... shoes? It was footwear, at least, but not like any Morie had ever seen. Well, they would be better than nothing for sure. Morie smiled to herself as she watched the man placed them on the ground near the woman. It was a good first impression he was making on her--she definitely had respect for him now, considering he had evidently had a similar train of thought as she had.

Morie's gaze shifted to the tiny blonde. Lucy. The way she had introduced herself and asked for information from the black-haired woman was warm and polite. The girl seemed genuine, which was good.

Looking back to the black-haired woman's torn clothing, Morie gave a small sigh and slipped her arms out of her track jacket. Her heart skipped a beat for a moment as she realized she wasn't wearing her necklace--had she left it back at the gym? After the moment of intense anxiety, she remembered exactly where it was. Unzipping the right pocket of her jacket that she now held in her hands, she pulled out the leather necklace, a green stone fastened at the end. With another small sigh, this time of relief, she put it on, fingering the stone with one hand while she held out the jacket towards the woman.

"If you want to cover up some more, you can borrow this," Morie said. With her head, she motioned towards the shoes that the short man had just put down. "You look like hell. Put those on, and then start talking." She glanced from the woman to the rest of the group. It seemed like none of them had a clue what was going on, so they'd likely appreciate answers sooner rather than later. The platinum-blonde paused for a moment as she looked at the group. "Morie," she said simply, with a slight thumb point to herself with the hand that was playing with her necklace to make it clear that that was her introduction.

"Yeah. Safely," Damien muttered getting to his feet and rubbing his sore backside.

This newcomer was rather off-putting. The dirty, bloody dress and lack of shoes did not make him feel any better about her despite the fact that she seemed to be their only source of information on this.. Astoria. The Asian offered her a pair of shoes and one of the blondes offered her a jacket, but something told him she would not bother to accept them. Whoever the bizarre stranger was, she had yet to even introduce herself. One of the blondes, whose name was apparently Morie though this was likely a nickname, was the first to outright demand information. Damien figured the aggressive looking redhead would have been the first, but nothing about any of this was anywhere close to normal.

"I'm with the blonde. Who are you and where are we? More importantly, how do we get back?"

Aryanna was quick to note her impact on the group standing before her. A few of them seemed slightly alarmed at her sudden arrival while a couple of others seemed rather unphased. If she were apart of their group, she figured she would have been with those skeptical of the stranger. People’s reactions to new situations always seemed to amuse her, this case was no different.

What did surprise her was the first arrival’s willingness to share his own supplies with someone who he knew nothing about. She hadn’t even had a chance to introduce herself yet before he was offering her some kind of shoe out of his bag. Aryanna looked down at them curiously as the boy stood back a few paces. They appeared to be made out of a material she was unfamiliar with, having seen nothing like it before in her realm. She was uncertain as to how they would feel on her feet, but she did have to wonder if they would be better than nothing. It wasn’t as if she particularly minded going without, after all, she had been chased for miles through these forests before she made it to the clearing. If she recalled correctly, the weather had been winter at the time… She wondered what season it was now.

The girl was pulled from her wayward thoughts as one of the others spoke up, the final arrival before Aryanna had revealed herself. If she had to guess, it seemed as if her slightly disheveled appearance had caused a small amount of alarm among the group. To be fair, there were dried blood stains on her clothing. She was beginning to wonder how long it would take for one of them to snap and attack her. Aryanna thought that outcome unlikely, however, considering how generous they were being with their own supplies.

“Your kindness is appreciated. I must, however, decline your offerings. Probably best if you keep your supplies close for now, no telling what you’ll need.” She shook her head politely, raising a hand in refusal. Considering their current position, it was possible that trouble could come looking at any time. Part of her concern was being ready for such a situation whatever it may be, after all, the group before her wouldn’t have any idea of what to do. They were, after all, already freaking out over their transportation… How could she expect them to fight properly. Either way, she couldn’t be bothered with adjusting to unfamiliar adjustments. She also wasn’t too keen on wearing other people’s clothing, but that was an entirely different gripe.

While the girl had yet to hand over her jacket, the boy had already retreated back to his original position. She thought it might be a little rude to make him walk all the way back just to pick them back up, so she did the polite thing and returned them to his hands herself. The only catch, she never moved from her position. Aryanna’s golden eyes sparked to life, seeming to take on an incandescent glow of the same color as she raised her arm. Scooping her hand up through the air, the shadows surrounding the shoes engulfed the items and raised them off of the ground a couple of feet. She made a motion with hand as if she was offering out the shoes herself, the shadows delivering the item back to their owner before retaking their rightful form. Without skipping a beat she turned her attention back to the group as a whole and spoke.

“Well, since we’ll be stuck together for a little while it seems, I guess a proper introduction is in order. My name is Aryanna Torre although if you find the need to shorten it, Ari will do just fine. You’ll find that a lot of things in Astoria are a little different than what you’re used to in Terra, but you don’t have to worry too much. So long as you’re with me, I’ll make sure you’re taken care of… Mostly.” Aryanna’s smile held a hint of mischief to it, a subtle curl of her lip and laugh in her eyes that betrayed her amusement. Her tone, however, left little room for doubt as to whether or not she was telling the truth.

She paused for a moment, turning her head to look out at the treeline curiously before returning her attention back to the group.

“Since you all seem to be handling the transition rather well I guess it wouldn’t hurt to tell you how you got here. It’s simple really, I brought you here. ” Aryanna admitted rather bluntly, seemingly unconcerned by any of it.

“I just won’t be sending you back. Well, if we want to be accurate here… I don’t actually have the power to send you back. That is beside the point though. What exactly would be the point in summoning you all here if I was just going to turn around and send you right back home? There’s far too much work to be done and not a whole lot of time left to do it… That’s why you were called here.”

Morie, as she introduced herself, offered the strange new woman her gym jacket. Alec glanced up at her, true, selfless kindness was something uncommon. But he wasn't sure if her offer was that, after all, his offer of his shoes were not entirely selfless. Giving her his spare shoes could make her more receptive to conversation later, preferably not when everyone was curious for answers. It made a good first impression. He looked at the, presumably, native to this land and noticed she wasn't panicked, alarmed or uneasy. As the other man asked how they would get back, the woman looked at Alecs offering. The Asian stared at her face attentively, trying to discern anything from her facial expressions... he saw the faintest amount of uncertainty. So she wasn't familiar with neoprene? How could anyone not know what wetsuits were? He dismissed the questions and focused on what was important.

Alec had retreated back to where he had originally taken a knee, a subtle way of saying that he insisted that she take the shoes. However, she declined the offer, replying that they should keep their supplies close, and that there was 'no telling what they would need'. Alec hung on those last few words for a moment and started to wish that he had brought rope into his backpack. He looked to her again and saw that her eyes began to glow, she raised her arm and the shadows around the shoes came to life. The shadows lifted the shoes and they came back to Alec, who stared at the shadows unnerved. They ceased right in front of him and it took him a moment to respond, he glanced back up to her, she was offering the shoes back. Alec mustered his courage and slowly brought his right hand closer to the unknown. He kept mental notes of anything, the temperature felt normal, he felt no gravitational effects as he gripped the toplines of the shoes, Alec held the shoes there for a moment. As the shadows reverted back to normal, and as her eyes ceased glowing the shoes slowly became affected by gravity once more. So the shadows were either physical below the shoes, or the shadows were some sort of field that could affect physical properties. Alec tried to think about whatever technology could explain this, but he came up empty. Basically magic. He looked away from the witch and stowed his shoes back into his pack, both theories about her shadows made him think that the blood staining her dress was not her blood. He zipped up the backpack, while she didn't accept the shoes, hopefully the gesture finished Alecs goal.

She began to introduce herself, explaining that she was Aryanna Torre, and she called Earth by its alternate name. Terra was a common name for Earth in science fiction, for some reason just calling Mother Earth, Earth wasn't a common trend in popular sci-fi. But to actually hear it used unironically in a situation like this? Alec wasn't sure what to think of it. Aryanna spoke more, she admitted that she was the one who brought them to Astoria. She explained that she didn't have enough power to send them back, which made sense, any sort of teleportation spell or technology must use a metric ton of energy... or mana, whichever it was. But the admission that she did it concerned him for a split second. That little display of shadow magic must have been an introduction to the kind of place they were in now, where magic existed or where technology was so advanced it was magic to him, and it also served another purpose. Power. By saying she was the one who brought them here and by lifting the shoes back to Alec she displayed that she was the one in power here, despite the numbers by Alec. She knew what kind of place they were in, she knew what kind of foes they could be combating, and she had ways of fighting that none of them fully understood. He looked up at Aryanna, feeling very weak compared to her, in an unknown location and with her powers she held all the cards.
"Alright..." he swallowed, "what's the work then?"

The mage couldn’t help but to feel quite a bit of amusement as she took in the reactions of those standing about her, her mischievous smile yet to fade even after her partial explanation of their current situation. Whether it had been her little trick with the shoes, or something else entirely, it seemed that Aryanna had rendered the majority of the group somewhat speechless. She wasn’t entirely sure herself what held their tongues, be it awe or fear it didn’t matter to her. An internal sigh resounded through her rib-cage, trapped within through sheer willpower of its keeper. She hadn’t the luxury of waiting for the children to catch up on their own as there was far too much to do and they were running out of time.

Her eyes flickered back to the male that had offered her the shoes, having stored the items away in his bag already. Aryanna took note of something in his eyes that pleased her, a look of what could only be described as recognition. His acknowledgement of a power that was still yet beyond their understanding, the power she held not only over them but of the entire situation as well. She figured his expression could also have been pegged for resignation,either way though, it would seem that at least one of her guests was already a page ahead of the rest; perhaps not yet on the same page as her but it was a good start at least.

“Alright.... What’s the work then?” Alec piped up, looking more than a little apprehensive.

“That’s the spirit, you catch on quickly. I do hope the rest of you will follow his example, it will make things run so much more smoothly.” She allowed her smirk to sit openly on her face, attempting to goad the rest of the group into a reaction of some sort. It wouldn’t do for them to go brain dead so soon after arriving. Re-adjusting herself, Aryanna replaced her mocking expression with a more serious one, clearing her throat before she continued with her explanation.

“I’m sure this is going to sound rather… cliche to you as I’ve noticed the situation mirrors your fictitious literature quite closely. To make an incredibly long story short, I need your help in dealing with a traitor. He’s a mage like I am, and is responsible for the eradication of our entire Order.” Aryanna stopped long enough for her initial request to sink in before she continued speaking, knowing that such a short explanation would not be enough to persuade any of them into action.

“I know it’s a lot to ask that you risk life and limb for a realm that is not your own, so you are still welcome to lay low until either he’s dealt with or you die of old age. That being said, I am obligated to warn you that if we’re not successful, there will be nothing left keeping the corruption contained to my realm. Considering the fact that your realm is the easiest to access, it would be a safe bet to assume that will be his next target.” Turning away from the group, Aryanna wandered off a few paces seeming to inspect the open area surrounding them whilst giving them an opportunity to talk among themselves.

After a few moments, and with a look of satisfaction on her face, Aryanna returned her gaze to the group. She wondered what each of them would decide, hoping they would step up to the challenge but honestly not expecting much. They were, after all, from a realm without magic… There was no telling how their bodies, let alone their minds would handle what she was about to do to them.

“I would advise you to be certain of your decisions, whatever they may be, as there is no turning back once we begin. And there is no playing catch up should you choose to join us later on. Once you’ve made your decision, find a place inside the magic circle on one of five emblems.” While she had their attention, Aryanna stooped down and placed her palm flat on the ground before her, a large shadow spreading from that point to take the shape of the magic circle in question. She was careful to remain off center for the time being, keeping her place now that the spell had been initiated.

“So, what will it be?”