“How the hell did I end up here?”

Now Zane was known quite well for getting himself into some jams, many of which were of the fault of his own mouth or temper but this time even he was unaware of this situation. Sitting up, the lad rubbed the top of his head where the knot was. It was a big one too, so it meant that he had a particularly nasty fall a bit ago and that’s when all of it came back to him.

He was strolling along the road outside of Adeluna, minding his own business for once in his life when he came across a statue in the middle of nowhere. It seemed rather silly to find an excellent piece of art far from the eyes of the masses and he inspected it thoroughly. Stuff like that wasn’t usually his cup of tea, but something about it caught his eye. Perhaps it was crafted in the image of a woman, or of what she was holding in each hand. Or it was likely what was used as material for the sculpture. Whoever the artist was, they had great form and technique which still brought about the question as to why they had left it out here without an audience to appreciate it. He brushed it off and felt the side that seemed to crafted from the darker material and before he knew it, Everything went dark and he felt limp.

“Well, that explains this”, he sighed, still feeling the bump before he actually looked around him. Up until now, he expected to still be at the clearing not too far from the city when in fact he was in one, just not Adeluna from the looks of it. Everything seemed even bizarre to him; there didn’t seem to be anyone around despite it being in the middle of the day, and the buildings looked as though they were made of the same thing that statute was. “I know I haven’t had a drink in the last two days or so, so what kinda dream is this?”

His face held some shock in it as he remembered that he felt pain, and you couldn’t feel something like that if you were dreaming. Zane rose quickly to his feet and spun around trying to comprehend what was going on. He at least had a sword sheathed to his side, so if anything unsavory was come his way he could deal with it. The problem was though that the place seemed straight up quiet. It was getting to the point after a while of walking about that it was starting to bug him greatly. No matter where he passed- taverns, marketplaces, brothels, etc. Rubbing at his head again, he winced in pain at feeling that knot again and glanced up to the sky. “Hey, somebody! Tell me where I am!”

Since her attachment with Marth had surfaced, Dalanesca had not spent very much time in the Observatory watching Malum and Sanctus.  She had been otherwise preoccupied with helping Marth find the shards of Reaver, her newly-come-to-light pregnancy, and her impending nuptials.  This day, however, Marth was out of the Blinded Scales, on some mission for which Dalanesca was not needed.  She had slept in a small bit, but now found herself awake and contemplating visiting the Observatory.

After a bit of a self pep-talk, she climbed out of bed and got dressed in her usual attire that she wore around the Scales.  A few moments later she was down the hall and in the abysmal darkness of the Observatory.  It did not seem as though much activity was taking place today - in fact, there was only one unknown wandering the streets of her cities.  It seemed that someone - she could not quite place what it was just yet - had wandered into the streets of Malum… but nothing was appearing.

That was very, very odd.

She furrowed her brows and focused in on the being, which seemed to be male.  “Interesting,” she said out loud.  Malum embodied the deepest fears and maladies of those who entered its gates, but nothing was manifesting itself for its latest visitor.  Checking her harness, she made sure she had a few blades on her, and took herself to Malum.

She appeared not far behind the newcomer, speaking loudly to him so as to not startle him, but make herself obvious  She didn’t want to cause unwanted animosity between herself in the newcomer - she found it oddly peculiar that he wasn’t seeing anything in Malum.

“So which is it?” she called.  “Are you afraid of nothing?  Or perhaps you are afraid of being alone?  I just can’t tell…” she said, her voice trailing off.  It was clear in her tone that it bothered her that she could not put a finger on what it was that affected this newcomer.  “I’ve never seen this before - explain,” she said, a soft command to her voice.

This was truly an odd situation that Zane felt himself in as he continued on this seemingly futile trek. He was no closer to knowing where he was or why than he had when he had first woke up. The lad was also feeling a little topsy turvy from that knot, and instinctively he would seek to rub it, only to be painfully reminded that it wasn’t such a good idea. How could things get any worse?

Zane didn’t actually believe it could, but it apparently did as someone called out to him and he halted in place. He turned his head to see that there was someone else standing behind him. “Where did she appear from”, he whispered to himself before fully turning himself to face her The questions she proposed to him seemed too out of place, like she knew something he didn’t know. Bicolored eyes lingered on her for the longest time as he tried to piece together an explanation. As he did, it started to feel…colder to him. An unnatural chill went up his spine for no reason, though it might have just been his imagination or something.

“No, I have fears like most people. It would be odd if I wasn’t afraid of anything.” Right now for reasons unknown, he was spooked by her cryptic words. Heaven knew that he was far from innocent with all his debauchery, especially that of gambling and some theft when it was convenient for him. And for false tarot readings as well. If anything, he was afraid of getting caught and held responsible for his crimes. “I’m used to being alone, that’s the lonely road I’ve walked since I was old enough to take care of myself.” Again, the chill ran through his bones.  Was it because of her?

For some reason, he was starting to feel like eyes were staring at him from all over, even though there weren’t any physical ones aside from them. “Look lady, I don’t know who you are or where we are, but I think you know more about all this than I do. Can you explain what the deal is with all this?” He was going to continue on but then ceased once a set of eyes materialized from the building behind her. “What the… This couldn’t be real right? Zane rubbed his eyes only to see that more were popping up from buildings surrounding them. Dead stares came from them which only made him more uncomfortable. Dead, cold, accusing stares were all on him, as if they were judging him for a crime they witnessed. But he had not done a single thing here, yet. He felt his body quivering and took a step back as more appeared behind him. Why was this happening? 

The newcomer before her turned to face her, but he did not speak to her - at least not right away - but he did whisper to himself.  “I came from here, from this realm,” she said, with a soft smile.  She was not intent on frightening him, nor was she trying to confuse him.  Rather, he seemed quite concerned about how he had gotten to her realm, and she had every intention of helping him figure it out, and find his way back to the mortal realm if that was what he chose.  His eyes looked different - they were each a different color, it seemed.  She had seen it before, in her time, but it was most certainly not a common thing.

Eventually, he spoke directly to her.  His explanation gave her no reason as to why nothing would be apparating for him within the realm.  She studied him closely as he spoke.  It seemed that he was no innocent, but also that he was well aware of the fact that he was not.  When he asked her identity, she offered it right away.  “My name is Dalanesca.  I am the Justiciar.  This is my realm.  I control Order and Balance throughout the world of Revaliir,” she said, and she knew as she spoke the words that this man would most likely not accept them without some further form of proof.  

“Come,” she said, holding her hand out to him.  She could see his unease with what was beginning to take place around him.  Malum was coming to life, and with it came the stares of, she assumed, those he had wronged in the past.  “I can get you away from this place, and to a safe area - my home,” she said.  “However, I must tell you - these are nothing but apparitions.  They can’t actually hurt you.  You will feel pain, of course, if they try to attack, but they cannot inflict lasting damage on you, let alone they cannot kill you,” she added.  “But if you take my hand, we can leave this part of my realm and I can help you figure out how you came to be here, and how you can leave,” she said, urging him to take her hand.  She could understand reluctance, but if he truly wanted to get out of the situation, he would take her hand, and she would transport the both of them to the Courthouse in the Gray Square..