The air was still, the rolling sand dunes whistling as the wind stroked their massive backs, a beautiful sandstorm patrolling the landscape. The salt lake bed was as flat as the Earth could be, with lie devoid of this tomb, like moths at day. They linger in the dark, in some decrepid place, away from eye. For the day was bright, almost too bright too see the bridge the pack of travelers was crossing. Their horses were strong and large, dwarfing them in size and they rode on, unaware of the place by which they enter. The lush green land behind them disappeared, leaving only a beige ruin in their wake. They had entered the Forbidden Land, and none of them would ever leave it.

"There it is," spoke one, his long streaks of blond hair creating a hood over his shadowy expression, "the Shrine of Worship. We'd better hurry up, before dusk arrives."

Wolf let her eyes wander up towards the Shrine and Forbidden Land. Pushing the dark hair covering her face, she swung around in her saddle to face the men that, she assumed, would soon become her allies. Wolf never liked to accept help from anyone, let alone some strangers she met only a few hours ago, and this made her feel uncomfortable. She didn't know their strengths and weaknesses, and as always, assumed they were bound to weigh her down and get her killed. Yet, somewhere in the back of her mind, the part she had left untouched for years, she knew she would need them and perhaps learn to trust them. Maybe her emotions were staring to resurface after all the years she kept them locked away. And this made her more uncomfortable than ever.

Takeo sat upon his horse, fully armored, towing a second, smaller horse behind him, his spear and shield strapped to the smaller one's back. When the shrine came into view he grunted and said "I see it too," When Benevolence pointed it out. He had been traveling a long time to get here and had just recently met these others, he didn't trust them, not yet anyway, but he was sure he would in time. When the girl spun around on her horse to face him and the others he looked at her, his blue eyes and dark skin visible through the eye-holes of his helmet, but not much else could be seen. "Hello," he said to her with a nod, trying his best to acknowledge his companions and earn their trust even though conversation never really came naturally to him it seemed the best way to start.

Flood rode upon his horse with everyone else as he gazed upon the land. "Beautiful." He said summing up it all up in one word. "I'm so close." Flood thought to himself as they continued.

Yoichi gazed ahead at the shrine before looking over to see the vast landscape that was the Forbidden Land. He sighed, before turning his head back. He had only met the others moments ago, but at one point, he would have to get to trust them. That's going to be fun... he thought.

Trying to cover up her uncertainty, Wolf decided to ignore the man's greeting. She mentally scolded herself for even thinking about trusting these strange men. Sure, she would eventually fight, and perhaps even die, knowing she was on their side, but that fact changed nothing. Wolf was not about to let her guard down any time soon. She turned around again, hoping that none of the men's eyes were throwing daggers at the back of her head. She turned her attention towards the Shrine yet again, choosing to ignore the feeling of butterflies in her stomach.

The creature was massive, but too far away to truly detail its size. It seemed to be the size of the mountains that surrounded it, and the bellowing noises it screeched were like the cackles of thunder from on top of a bridge. Without doing anything else, the giant slid underneath the sand which was beneath it, and disappeared from view completely. The air went quiet.

"Lads, I think we just saw our game," Ben half stuttered and half proclaimed, pride upon his chest for getting so far but his legs feeling weak from seeing such a massive creature, "Come on, while we still have sunlight." The man stroked his horse, Mal, with his stirrups and they slowly trod onwards, taking in the beautiful landscape and leading his fellow soldiers to the Shrine.

"What do you think of the place?" He yelled over his shoulder, asking the basic question to anyone who decided to care.

Takeo sighed slightly in relief when the girl turned away from him. He wasn't one for talking so the fact that she ignored him put him more at ease. He took in the view from atop the bridge as they rode in silence until Snowden grunted. He looked the way the man was pointing and saw the giant beast in the distance, it was bigger than anything he had ever seen before, and then it slid into the sand and vanished from view. "My god," He said as he stared at the place it had once been, not seeming to hear Ben's question as he stared into the distance, trying to see if there was any movement under the sand or if the thing would resurface.

"It's not really my type of place," Wolf shouted blankly in response to Ben's question, not even batting an eyelash at the creature that had arose from the ground, and sank back in just as quickly. She spurred on her horse, catching up with the rest of her allies after stopping to get a better look at the view. As she came past Takeo, she made sure to click her fingers in front of his face, indicating for him to stop dawdling so she could just get a long with this quest. She'd rather be killed sooner than later. No point putting off the inevitable.

Wolf rode up beside Takeo and snapped her fingers in front of his face, pulling him back from his thoughts. He looked over at her and nodded, spurring his horse to keep up with the group, riding next to Wolf quietly until he said, "That thing may come back, we need to be ready, just in case", glancing at her before looking back out into the desert, scanning the horizon for movement. Whatever that massive thing was, a Colossus or whatever they were calling it, it was big and Takeo worried that if it found its way to the bridge it could kill them all if they were caught by surprise, so he wasn't going to let it surprise him if it did come for them.

"What I think of the place is it's going to suck hunting these things down. Did you see the size of that one?" Flood yelled as he sped up a bit trying to speed up the pace slightly.

The temple was massive; it made the many folks seem like ants crawling along the wooden floor of the house of a giant. The doorway however, was small, and a ramp led Benevolence inside, guiding the rest down a smooth staircase into the bowels of whatever this place was. Behind them, the door shut, sealing them inside, sealing their fate.

The group spent the next five minutes in silence, eventually making their way to the main chamber room, which had a tall roof, carved of stone and a large hole, with an unusual light. Around them walls were dotted with these strange looking totems, statues each individual. 12 on each side, 24 idols by which made the room seem enormous.

"Nice decor." Flood said idly trying to make conversation as he looked around the room. "So what now?" He asked as he got off his horse.

"We wait," Benevolence clearly said, dismounting and gazing at the idols that towered over him. The large circular crevice was like the morning sun, gleaming and beaming light. He stared at it for a good few seconds before speaking, " for him."

A dark, booming voice echoed through the hall, disturbing the stalactites and stalagmites which had slowly formed from the decades of emptiness experienced by the temple. It shook them and crippled them, shattering at the floor. The dust flowed off the idols like water, and it felt like an earthquake was about to split the land in two.

"Lay thy sacrifices at the altar, betimes."