ｔｈｅ ｐｒｏｐｈｅｃｙ ｏｆ ｈｏｐｅ

[sunchild]

❀xＳＯＰＨＩＡ
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the beauty ➸ 18 yrs ➸ city square -> otherworld ➸ open

sophia loved events and any excuse for dressing up, but for once, she felt uneasy at this fest her parents held. the true reason for holding this celebration was to distract people from remembering the imminent doom that plagued them. sophia flitted around, had small talks, and kept an optimistic outlook on everything. of course, the clothes she wore were the same, reminding any onlooker of the flowers of spring and clear summer skies. she wore a cheerful sky blue, satin dress with yellow and baby pink flower detailing flowing from the waist down. it laid at mid length and had beautiful lace sleeves. her hair was swept up in a half braided crown and a loose bun. jewelry was kept simple with a golden locket and small crystal earrings.

after awhile, fatigue started setting in and she suddenly realized how thirsty and hungry she had become from all this socializing. a whole table to the side was dedicated to fine eats and crips refreshments. as sophia sipped on some sparkling apple cider as she rested, her eyes started to wander around until she noticed that most of her sisters were not to be seen. confusion and worry set in, but it was not long enough for her to act upon, as she was abruptly interrupted by an odd voice, sounding like the screeching whispers of many in one. a babe of beauty and grace will betray the rest to her disgrace. the ominous message sent chills. she looked around frantically to locate the source of such a voice, until her eyes came across an odd figure moving near the forest edge. it seemed to be constructed entirely of twigs and stone. something in her felt drawn to it, she was curious to see it up close. but as she got close to the creature, it jolted into a sprint into the woods. she was compelled to follow after the odd creature. she walked at a hurried pace after it, and soon sped up to a full speed run. suddenly the creature disappeared from sight and she was left breathing heavily, standing at a small stream.

as her breath slowed down and she came to her senses, she noticed a sharp tingling on her left cheek. she touched her cheek, and found that there was a large bleeding scratch there. a few strands of hair had become loose from running and these brown curls now framed her face. sophia was somewhere in the middle of the forest, lost. there was a tree that had grown across the stream, somewhat like a natural bridge. it looked terrifying to cross and she was wearing heels, but something in her urged her to cross it. she took off her heels gingerly, held them in her hand, and placed her small, bare feet on the tree. she walked across and tripped right at the end of the tree. when she landed, sophia felt a sudden change in the feel of the forest. the trees were larger, more ancient. she turned around to find that the stream was no longer there. she dusted her feet off and put her heels back on. now that sophia was here, all alone in the vast woods, exhaustion, loneliness, and fear set in.

[apricotflyer]

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m a r s h a l l ✦ s e i d e l
male ✦ 20 ✦ the scholar ✦ location;; city square - otherworld
tagged;; sophia [mentioned]
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There was a surprising amount of lively chatter amongst the crowd of people gathering for the festivities, maybe it was obliviousness. It had only been a week since the... whatever it was had showed up. Of course, Marshall didn't actually believe that it was a fey. That was impossible. But even so, he'd been through all the books he could find on legends and stories of old that mentioned the fey even once. There was devastatingly little to go on and all it had resulted in was leaving his study a mess as if a hurricane had run through it. He almost could be described as one in the flurry he'd been working in an endeavour to discover something more than they already knew.

The King had asked him to attend the celebration much to Marshall's dismay, preaching something about how he was overworking himself and needed a break which was preposterous. In the end, he'd agreed, unable to risk disappointing the King. 'Yes' had slipped out before he could control himself. He hadn't said anything about not taking his books with him though, and so Marshall found himself a seat amongst the celebrations and pulled a notebook out of his bag, along with a dusty looking book. It had old leather binding, the colour faded and the title mostly obscured by stains and tears. This was probably the best resource he could find, and he'd read over it four times already. It was just legends again. Still undeniably vague and again the scholar found himself heavily doubting that an actual fey had shown up, it wasn't logical! He sighed, flicking through the pages again anxiously. He skimmed it half-heartedly before finally fitting it back into his bag again and then settled on reviewing his endless notes. And soon that was more of the same again, useless information and little facts. Down here, in the bright and cheery city square, he was even less likely to find answers.

It was only after looking up from his retreat did he notice Princess Sophia making her way around the celebrations. She was always a welcome sight and it was a relief to see someone he actually knew around here. He might've gotten the courage to greet her too if she hadn't suddenly turned towards the forest in a hurry. That immediately had him concerned. Sophia wasn't one for galavanting off into the wilderness or for making wild, unprompted decisions. Something must be wrong. Despite Marshall's better judgement, he stood up and cautiously wandered over to the edge of the forest of the lost. A sense of unease rested in his stomach as he got closer and an air of foreboding grew stronger, but he pushed on out of fear for the princess.

He restlessly readjusted his vest as he wandered deeper into the forest, the trees stretching up to the sky and filtering little light through. He shivered, clutching his bag tightly in an attempt to soothe his nerves but a sudden rustle brought the jitters back immediately. It wasn't until he reached a small clearing did he realise how lost he was, and then the panic set in. 'No sign of Sophia, which is very very bad. And I have no idea how to get back, which is also very very bad.' Marshall's thoughts swirled. "You look lost," a voice whispered and he visibly jumped, his hand clasping his chest in shock and he took a minute to breathe again. When trying to find the source of the voice the only thing he could see was a strange marking on a tree, but it was probably just his mind messing with him. It was easy to dismiss and push on, towards the assumed direction of the sound. Instead he stumbled upon a running stream down here, odd considering he swore they'd been no sound of it. "Sophia? he questioned shakily, hopelessly in the middle of nowhere. Until he got an unnerving response which definitely wasn't the gentle princess he was looking for, it was horrifyingly garbled. "Next is the man with many words to write who by journeys end must learn to fight"

It had come from behind him and it took only a second for Marshall to surge forward, scrambling over the fallen tree bridging the rippling stream in a panic. He fell to the other side flat on his face with a loud groan, laying there before pushing himself up and looking around and shaking leaves from his hair. The forest was even darker than before, and the rush of running water had disappeared. This didn't feel right.

[Speak]

ｃａｏｉｍｈｅ.ａｓｉａｌｉ

❝ｔｈｅ ｆｒｅｅ❞

[gender] female [age] nineteen [title] princess [ location ] forest [ tagged ] aria

It was so quiet, as her heart slowed to a normal pace Caoimhe finally noticed the quiet serenity of the forest. Turning slowly Caoimhe attempted to get her bearings, she'd practically grown up in her forest and if she could navigate her own forest then maybe she could find her way through this one. Crystalline gaze finally landing on a tall, sturdy, if not older tree the young princess knew that the simplest way to get to know where she was, was to gain a height advantage. Reaching down Caoimhe noticed that the skirt of her gown was already ripped, most likely in the chase, the green fabric and silver thread was fraying and the rim of the gown was muddied. Lifting the rest of the skirt in front of her Caoimhe wrapped the gown around her legs making what looked like short pants giving the princess a bit more ease of mobility. Ever since she was a child Caoimhe could remember climbing trees, her hands knew the holds and the knots of the trees and she ascended quickly. Thankfully she'd opted for her boots today, those soft heeled shoes had never appealed to the princess, and they were pointless, it wasn't like anyone would see them anyways.
In no time at all Caoimhe had reached the top of the tree, with one hand securely wrapped around the branch she looked out at an endless stretch of trees. Wind whipping her hair like a flame all the young princess could see for miles were trees, to the left barely visible in the clouds were the Vrirahl mountains or at least they appeared to be. Ever since she was young Caoimhe had been staring at those mountains imagining what it was like beyond them and longing to just jump out her window and take off. Turning her head naturally to look back at her home the young woman was astounded by what had replaced her home. A large colosseum-like structure had taken the place of Isolde, overgrowth was crawling up the sides of the colossal building perhaps that's why she hadn't seen it from the forest floor, it blended with its surroundings perfectly. Even if it was overgrown perhaps, there would be someone there or anything to indicate where she was. In the pit of her stomach, Caoimhe knew what had happened, where she was, and yet she couldn't accept it. This place was a fantasy, a thing nomads told stories about to entertain at banquets or parents told children to caution them against bad behaviour.
Making the descent to the forest floor Caoimhe dropped sturdy on her feet despite the uneven terrain. Now certain of where she was going Caoimhe set out towards the Colosseum praying that she would find a way out or someone to question. As she walked the young princess used a torn strip of her dress to mark where she'd come from, tying the strips to branches or young saplings, for certain she knew her own forest like the back of her hand but this was a foreign place, unexplored territory. With only the silence of the forest for comfort, Caoimhe continued on, pushing past the undergrowth. Despite the time she spent walking Caoimhe felt as if she'd gone nowhere. Perhaps the trees around her changed but every time she looked forward only more trees remained in front of her, it wasn't until she came across one of her own slivers of dress tied to a nearby branch that she knew for certain she was lost.
Out of the corner of her eye, the young woman saw a flicker of movement, instantly she crouched settling into a stillness she'd learned from a young age. Feet...legs....gown...Caoimhe recognised that gown, "Aria!" she exclaimed in both relief and terror, how had her sister arrived? Taking off Caoimhe sprinted towards the familiar figure stopping just short of her sisters huddled frame, "Are you alright? What happened? How did you get here?" questions poured over Caoimhes' tongue as she knelt in front of Aria checking over her older sister for any sign of injury. Placing a hand on Arias', Caoimhes'e brain was still going a mile a minute; if Aria was here were any of her other sisters?

[paria.]

xx,,( R A Y N ExxR Y K E R ! ! )

x,{ ➶ age; nineteen } - { ➴ gender; male } - { ➶ location; otherworld } - { ➴ tags; caoimhe, aria }━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

dena dark, hooded figure flashed in and out of sight. they ran deeper into the daunting forest, and away from the jovial festival and it’s music. he slowed to a stop and reached back for his bow, quickly notching an arrow. his prey but many feet away, grazing on the underbrush. ”the last is a true child of the woods who can see through another's falsehoods.” it was only a whisper on the wind, but it was enough to frighten away the deer he had been hunting. the hunter pushed off his hood and looked around angrily, searching for the source of the prophesied words. his ocean colored eyes fell upon a creature made of sticks and stones. he stepped towards it and it turned and ran. rayne started after it, his long legs propelling him forward. the creature disrupted his kill and whispered words that sent eerie chills down his spine, he would catch up to it.

denin the midst of the chase, he never even saw the engraving on the tree he passed. he was so focused on the creature that he didn’t notice that the forest... changed. rayne felt it as soon as he lept over a stream after the thing. he grew up within those woods and he knew every secret hunting spot and every stream, but this forest was not his. he stopped cold in his tracks, and watched as the creature whispered the words one last time before dissipating into the wind. rayne growled lowly and looked around for a hint of where he was. this forest was much older, ancient even, compared to the one he left. he reached out towards a thick tree trunk and brushed his fingers against it. it was almost like the tree was radiating some sort of energy, like the whole forest was.

denrayne seemed alive with newfound energy as he grasped the trunk and began climbing it. when he finally got past the tree line he looked around for caoimhe’s home, the castle. where the castle should be, a different building stood proudly. it was nothing like what they built in their world. no. that’s impossible. i couldn’t be in the otherworld! rayne climbed back down and began pacing the forest floor. he was supposed to meet caoimhe at their treehouse soon, was she there too? he looked down at his garb and sighed slightly. he had bought a new tunic and wore his signature leather vest and cloak along with his leather pants and boots. he had wanted to take caoimhe to the festival later on and make sure she had a good time. rayne could hardly think straight. the thought of caoimhe in that place by herself, he couldn’t bear it if something happened to her. he leaned against a tree and looked up at the bright, clear sky. why am i here?

den”aria!” rayne almost didn’t hear it. it was but a passing whisper on the wind. but he would recognize caoimhe’s voice anywhere. he pushed off the tree and jogged towards where he thought she was. why would aria be here too? are all the sisters here? rayne slowed to a walk once he heard the crunching of leaves and caoimhe's concerned voice. he broke away from the shadows and approached the two princesses. his foot steps were not heard, they never were, for he was born of the forest. ”vixen. princess aria,” he greeted the two. it might seem odd that he’d call caoimhe “vixen” but he had called her that since they were kids. it was referring to her fiery red hair and her likeness for the forest. it would also let her know that it was actually him, and not some illusion of the forest, much like the creature that lured him there.

[_Denym_]

Aria Asiali
The blind
Age:23|Gender: Female|Location:Otherworld|Tags: Rayne,Caoimhe, open

What felt like hours passed by, as Aria listened to the sounds of this new forest. She felt angry at her helplessness, but getting herself more lost would help no one. The solid trunk of the tree behind her gave her something to anchor herself to, a way to feel she was safe and protected.
All of a sudden, she heard something crashing through the trees. She froze, praying this was a person, not a creature, and that it wouldn't harm her. Aria! Her head snapped up towards where the sound came from. Caoimhe! She cried, recognising her sisters voice. As she pulled herself up, she unleashed a flurry of questions Thank god you're ok! I knew they were lying, I knew it. What are you doing here, where are we? It doesn't feel like the same forest, but that can't be right. As Caoimhe explained all that had happened to her since the fair, Chasing the stick man into the forest, climbing the tree and seeing the building, Aria heard someone emerge almost silently from the woods behind her. Before she could warn Caoimhe, who hadn't heard them appear, the figure spoke, Vixen. Princess Aria
She breathed a sigh of relief. It must be Rayne, he affectionately referred to Caoimhe as Vixen sometimes. Rayne! Aria addressed him now How did you get here? as Rayne too explained, her mind started reeling. Both had similar experiences with a stick-like figure, and both had also heard the lines from the prophecy which she now assumed applied to them. Lets think this through She started to organise the group There are two main things we need to do. firstly, can we find a way out of this forest? do we even know where we are? Secondly, this must have something to do with the prophecy. We all heard our lines. In fact, I'm willing to bet that all those who the prophecy applies to will be here, finding them should be out priority. Having a plan made Aria feel better, more in control. Any ideas how to do that? She let the question hang as all three of them pondered their situation.

[_Denym_]

Tobias Asiali
The Healer
Age:18|Gender: Male|Location:Otherworld|Tags: Sophia, open

Tobias felt like he'd been walking through the forest for hours. He was using his knives to cut himself a path through the forest but he still felt himself tiring. Suddenly he froze. He felt something. He put a hand to his cheek. It wasn't him. He got excited for a second, but had to calm himself down. Don't rush into anything. You have no idea who, or what, that is. he told himself. He already had his knives out, but he adjusted his bag on his shoulder. He started moving to his left, but felt the pain fade. He turned and walked right instead and felt it grow stronger. It wasn't much, just a scratch, so the victim was probably only 10-30 metres away. There is no guarantee this will be friendly He told himself, but what other choice do I have? They might be able to tell me where I am or how I got there He took a deep breath and stopped. If there was going to be a fight, he would rather ambush and subdue them then actually fight and hurt them both. He glanced up. Plenty of trees here
He stabbed his knife into the tree, giving him a handhold, and progressed upwards until he sat on the first branch. Holding his knives between his teeth, he walked out along the branch towards where he knew the injured creature was. Crouching, he leaned down and looked at it.
He was so shocked, he lost his balance, yelling, he tried desperately to cling to something, but to no avail. He landed hard on the forest floor and looked up at princess Sophia. As stupid as that was he thought I'm glad I didn't just jump in there Nothing was broken, and his skin had a faint glow from the bruises healing beneath his skin as he addressed Sophia. Sophia! Graceful entrance from me, as always He dusted himself off and stood up. What are you doing here? Actually, more to the point, where is here? He started to heal her cut as she explained to him what had happened since the fair.

[querencia]

ｒíｏｎａ ──────────────────────
role (the bold) age (twenty one) location (words) tagged(open/sisters)

ríona had spent every waking moment of the festival with dignitaries and other important people of the realm despite what her heart truly wanted, to go out and spend time with her sisters and to enjoy the festivities. but her heart never could convince her brain that enough was enough and she deserved a break. no, she always did her duty even if it meant she suffered for it. especially now with the dark cloud hanging over her kingdom, bringing forth problem after problem. her kingdom needed her, not her desires.

ríona stood before the prime minister, her parents and other important people surrounding them as she spoke to the man. she was to give a speech to the people, something to raise hope in this time of need. as her parents put it, seeing the warrior princess still so strong and noble and full of hope would do them good. ríona didn’t know whether she believed it. but at least she’d been allowed to dress in one of her comfortable outfits for the event. she would have loved sneaking away with sophia to try on elegant dresses but she had to look the part. instead she wore a mix of leather, steel and silk as part of her armor. it was fit for her cunning fighting style rather than ‘noble ness’ but it was her preferred set for tournaments.

ríona looked past the elderly mans shoulder just in time to see capimhe disappear into the trees. at first she thought nothing of it until moments later she saw aria do the same, which sent a spike of worry straight to her heart. then as she began the laborous task of pulling away from the group she saw saoirse do the same, she made a quick excuse and pushed through the crowd until she was at the edge of the festival and could sprint into the woods. something wasn’t right, if the darkness had done something to her sisters ríona didn’t know if she could live with herself.

"caoimhe! aria!" ríona yelled into the darkness, the forest was different and she cursed herself for not noticing sooner. it was like all life and any light was being sucked deeper into the forest. ríona could feel her hair stand on end as she slowed her pace down to a walk. "saoirse! anyone, where are you!" she shouted again into the darkness, her hand now rested on the hilt of her sword. "with-" ríona whirled around when a voice spoke up, it seemed to come from everywhere around her, like an echo of a forgotten dream. "the soul of a warrior so strong and bold" it continued, "show yourself!" ríona shouted once again as she drew her sword. she didn't know if she was just going mad, hearing voices , threatening said voices.. "she will find the sword of gold" with that the voice disappeared and ríona sheathed her sword, the words rang through her head and she made sure to repeat them a few times to remember them before she started through the woods again, shouting her sisters names as she went, hand on her sword hilt again.

[CorvusSchnee]

𝑀𝒾𝓇𝑒𝓃 𝒞𝓇𝒶𝒻𝓉
[gender] male [age] twenty-three [alias] Mir the Scorpion [location] fair --> otherworld [tagged] none

Miren Craft was many things. Friend and foe, savior and destroyer. Pirate and merchant, businessman and thief. However, there was one thing that he would never consider himself, and that was a man who worried about the little details that could drag one's spirits down. He honestly could not understand why there was so much commotion going on in the kingdom, all because of a simple rider from the world that had been separated from their own generations ago. For him, it was as simple as accepting that all things came to an end eventually, and all anyone could do was enjoy the time they had been afforded, free from limitations and fears. Perhaps, just perhaps, that was why he had never had a love for the land, where one could not escape their worries. Where there was no room to run from all the little details that bogged life down. Well, Miren supposed these people could be allowed such an extravagant festival. Best to spend the last of their days not worrying about anything but what they would next do to pass the time away. Oh, he had heard of the prophecy, but Miren put no faith in the words of a fortune teller. He didn't believe in destiny being determined, believed only in forging his own path. If anyone was so weak-willed as to turn to a prophecy to seek their salvation, they deserved naught but ruin. After all, they weren't really doing much with their lives if they needed someone else to determine what would happen, if they needed to heed the words of someone telling them what would come.

However, not all things could be ignored. Even the most skeptical and disbelieving of individuals would meet their destiny someday, and this day would show Miren that he was no exception. Not even he could run from the words of the prophecy that had been spoken, run from the secrets of his own past. The one made for adventure and pleasure must resist the temptation of his most precious treasure. Miren looked around in astonishment, searching for who had spoken. There was not a soul to be immediately seen, at least not one who could have spoken those words. Those words that seemed to echo in his mind and his heart, those words that sounded like a thousand voices crying out at once, crying and yet whispering all at once. A sorrowful lament, a hopeful whisper. Miren looked around, searched for the source of the sound, but could still see nothing....wait. There, at the edge of the nearby forest....had that been movement? Yes, yes it had, but the pirate could not believe what his eyes beheld. It was if someone or something had taken all the stones and twigs in the forest and brought them together into an almost human shape. Just as soon as it realized Miren had seen it, the strange creature turned and ran.

Years from then, as he lay on his deathbed, Miren would wonder what would have happened had he not pursued that creature. If he had just turned his attention away and walked on into the crowds. Would the world have been destroyed without him, would all have been lost? Would he have been around to even contemplate what might have happened? Perhaps, but he knew not what had awaited him when he made that decision. When he ran from the fairgrounds, sprinted past the trees in pursuit of a being that defied all of his previous understandings of the world, a being that was always just at the edge of his vision. So intent upon catching this creature was Miren that he did not see where he was going, did not realize when he passed a tree marked by a strange rune. Only when he stopped running, when the creature had finally disappeared from his vision, did Miren look around and understand what had happened. This was not the same forest he had entered, this dark and foreboding feeling being a far cry from the quiet calm he had entered and barely registered. This.....this was not his world at all. For the first time in his life, Miren faced the unknown and the unknown stared back. Yet, some part of him, some part buried deep inside and forgotten by the mind of a child, felt at home. As if he had always belonged here.

[Speak]

ｃａｏｉｍｈｅ.ａｓｉａｌｉ

❝ｔｈｅ ｆｒｅｅ❞

[gender] female [age] nineteen [title] princess [ location ] forest [ tagged ] aria, rayne

Filled with both relief and trepidation that she and Aria had been lured here as part of an old prophecy that until today Caoimhe had believed to be unreliable at best. Thinking back to what the small creature had told her Caoimhe repeated the words to herself as she tried to commit them to memory; Bounding through life so wild and free, she will try to outrun the sea. How was that supposed to help? How could you outrun the sea? From the grand tales of seafaring adventure that Miren had recounted to her, Caoimhe knew that the sea was a vast place with no real end. The more she thought about it, the more Caoimhe could feel her chest tighten in anxiety at what was expected of her.
"Vixen. Princess Aria," a voice interjected, seemingly to have just appeared from thin air but familiar all the same. Turning to face the newcomer Caoimhe couldn't stop the smile that spread across her face, blonde messy hair, lanky build, and the same cloak Caoimhe knew that it was Rayne. Suprised but also relieved that he was here Caoimhe also became acutely aware of just how dishevelled she probably looked. Her wild red hair was partly falling out of the carefully plaited updo, and her dress was stained and torn a sizeable chunk now missing from the hem. In all fairness, it wasn't unusual for Caoimhe to come home in a similar state but at the moment there wasn't a home to go to.
Before caoimhe could say anything to her friend Aria was already working through their predicament, " Let's think this through, there are two main things we need to do. firstly, can we find a way out of this forest? do we even know where we are? Secondly, this must have something to do with the prophecy. We all heard our lines. In fact, I'm willing to bet that all those who the prophecy applies to will be here, finding them should be our priority." Aria finished, clearly more confident with a plan in place, "Any ideas how to do that?"
Looking down at the strip of cloth she'd been using to mark her path Caoimhe smiled grabbing her sisters' hand "I've been leaving a trail if they find it they can follow it right to us." true it was a risk to mark their trail but with such a dense forest surrounding them, it'd be almost impossible to find all of them before they inevitably got lost. Glancing behind them Caoimhe could still make out the Colosseum she'd seen before she found Aria, "There's a building, if we can make it there we might be able to figure out where we are." It was their best bet, and with any luck, some of the others might've seen it too. Ripping up the scrap piece of fabric into a dozen or so strips Caoimhe held them in her left hand and held her sisters' hand with the other.
Certain that they'd reach their destination this time Caoimhe led the way stopping once in a while to mark their path with the green and silver fabric. Glancing towards Rayne Caoimhe shot him a small smile "Despite the circumstances, I'm grateful that you're here." she disclosed, brushing her hand gently against his. Having her best friend in the midst of unfolding chaos was more than she could ask for because despite the unknown around her Caoimhe knew she could depend on Rayne.

[apricotflyer]

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m a r s h a l l ✦ s e i d e l
male ✦ 20 ✦ the scholar ✦ location;; otherworld ✦ tagged;; ríona
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What was it they said about getting lost? It was something about staying in place because no one was going to find you if you got more lost. He wasn't exactly sure if this was the best advice in his current situation, but Marshall didn't have a better plan in mind. Falling back on the knowledge he remembered was the only thing keeping him sane right now while he figured it what forest this was. It certainly wasn't the Forest of the Lost of his home, he recognised the trees to be strikingly wrong to what they should be. In fact, the whole place felt wrong. But the only 'logical' explanation, that this was the otherworld as described in old fey stories, was so illogical that he'd decided to reject it for now.

He sat down where he was, amongst leaves and the muddy forest floor, deciding all that he could do to occupy himself was to pull out his journal. Lucky enough that the ink in his bag was sealed and unspilled he also took that out and tipped his quill in it, shakily putting pen to paper. Instead of writing what he already knew the scholar let his curiosity get the better of him, including the more bizarre things he'd encountered into the entry he was writing. He still remembered the words echoing in his ear and put them to paper, to fully have the chance to analyse them. It sounded vaguely like an omen of sorts, a prophecy, but if it was directed at him he was inclined to ask why. Learn to fight? That was ridiculous, why would he need to fight at all, what was it encouraging? He moved on, writing about the strange 'bridge' like trunk he'd stumbled over. But none of it made any sense. His brow furrowed as he reread everything he'd written and ended up closing the book again and packing up his stuff. That spark in his brain wanted to know more but he was fighting himself, the other part too worried to concentrate.

He stood up as soon as he heard shouting, ready to back away when recognition stirred in his mind. He knew those names the voice was calling, and it was vaguely familiar until it clicked. The princesses names. He wasn't the only one who had gotten lost looking for them and was now... here. Tired of being alone and kind of surprised the advice had somewhat helped, although maybe it was pure luck he had stumbled into the presence of someone else, he got closer. "Hello? he called awkwardly, passing some more trees before finally seeing the sight of a figure. He noticed the distinct lack of red hair, and then her defensive stance, and immediately recognised it as Ríona. That made him nervous and so he approached a little more cautiously. "Ríona? It's me, Marshall. What are you doing here?" He questioned with a quavering voice.