What was that?


Something rhythmically tapped at the back of the man's head. It sort of ached as he started to open his eyes and that was when he realized the rest of his body ached too. He let out a soft groan as he realized he was laying on his belly in mud. The man pushed himself up and got shakily up to his feet. He saw that there was a pond nearby and decided to splash water on his face. Along with waking himself up a little more, Tobias was able to get the mud off his hands and when he was caught a glimpse of his reflection.


He took a jump back as he almost didn't recognize himself. The face he had grown used to had been had streaks of gray and some wrinkles. He crawled back to the water to look at his face a little better. His hand touched his smooth skin and youthful face. His hair was shaggy as it had been in his youth, but he didn't remember anything besides some basic information. He knew he could shift into a wolf but when he tried he couldn't do it.


“What's going on?” He asked no one in particular. Who had he been with? When he tried to remember people in his life he drew a blank. He gave a sigh and tousled his hair a little before he started walking. If he would get lucky perhaps he could figure out where he was and could go from there. He judged what was about an easterly direction and started walking. Perhaps if he were lucky he would run into someone who could give him directions.


Or Not.

For a time now, Paige took the advice of the strange but insightful woman from the cemetery to heart and started to find the answers of her sister rather than let the threads of her mind unravel. She had to keep focus on finding out what had happened to Misty; if she truly was alive then she had to make amends with the incident she’d thought ended her. Hope had renewed in her over the revelation but it had been weeks and still she was nowhere closer than where she had been been. Still, she kept a better head on her shoulders and kept herself sane- something that she hoped would last.

She had came to visit the lake because she needed a break from it all. A small one wouldn’t hurt right, she figured. It would be brief and then she would continue onward in her search. Glaciem had already made its presence known to her as its cold winds blew at her skirts and long raven hair. Still, it had done little to bother her as she tightened the thick cloak around her and admired the beauty of the lake from the gazebo she’d been at for a little while. It was her favorite time of the year, likely because her heritage. The wolf inside her wanted for there to be snow so that she could race about in it. She kept the urge at bay and enjoyed the scene. Getting away from  Canelux truly did wonders for her but then something became noticeable from the corner of her icy blue eyes. Something that was hard to ignore.

Those orbs shifted over to the object of interest before growing wide with curiosity; someone was there near the lake. Whoever he was, he looked a bit worse for the wear. Paige didn’t quite know whether the man was in trouble or not, so she left the structure and went back across the bridge to see if she could cut him off. Unfortunately it looked as though she wouldn’t catch up to him at the pace she was going. By the time she got to the end of the bridge, she brought her hands near her mouth and called out to him. Hopefully he would hear her yelling, “Hey, are you in any trouble, mister?”  

Jasumin was her favorite place to be. The eternal autumn of this place made her happy. She remembered being able to see the lake from the mountain top of Aersiir. Today she was enjoying a nice leisurely stroll through the autumn trees. It was in her wolf form, white as snow with flecks of silver that shined brightly.

She let her paws pad against the ground as she stuck her nose down and enjoyed the nature smells. It was different here than Koschei. There were no banshees around to ruin her time and screams from whatever Sera was doing couldn’t be heard. She could relax and enjoy herself. That was until her wolf ears picked up the most curious sentence. Hey, are you in any trouble, mister?

She perked up and began to run the way that the noise had come from. In the sunlight, her form must have hurt like newly laid snow. Her red eyes were staring forward as she jumped off a slight ledge and landed not far from the woman and the man. She sniffed and she could smell the lines that made her who she was. The scent came from both of them.

A cloth appeared in her mouth as she padded up to the man and she offered it to him. “You are far from home?” She tilted her head as her soft voice came out. “I will take care of you both.” She was more like a mother to lost cubs. She liked finding them. Her form shifted and she stood at a short four foot nine. Her long pink hair flirted with the ground below. She was naked but only for a second as she began to dress in her typical short black dress. She fluffed out her pink hair and let her eyes stare up at the man.

“My name is Celeste.” Her eyes were old and wise beyond that of her young teenage body. “Do you hurt?” Her hand still held the cloth for him to clean himself with. 

Tobias stopped and wrapped his arms around himself as he stood and looked at the road ahead of him.  Here he was in a place that he had no idea where he was, even if he did reach a town then what would he do?  The more he racked his brain trying to pull up names and faces he would only get brief flashes of a smile or a kind word but nothing more.  It was a lot to try and take in for the moment, there was that tapping again and he realized that it was a light drizzle that seemed to come and go with no real commitment to staying and raining.  He looked around at what was around him and that was when things seemed to start to overwhelm him.

He was alone in this world.

His hands briefly rubbed his face as he tried to get himself to move but it was all rather hopeless.  Then something caught his attention.  A girl's voice caught his attention and he turned around to look at her.  He stared for a moment to process her question before he yelled back, "You could say that!"  He started to move closer to her so they wouldn't have a yelling match.

It was then a white and silver wolf approached him and that was when a small memory was triggered.  Tobias held his head briefly, his eyes looked at her as she shifted and spoke to him.  "I don't know where home is to know that I'm far from it…"  He told her honestly, he didn't have a reason to lie to her right now.  He watched as she got dressed after shifting and that was when he looked at his own clothing, a simple tunic, pants and boots all stained with mud.

"I'm Tobias."  He responded, "I'm not hurt."  It was mostly the truth, it was really his pride that kept his words back.  It was bad enough that he didn't know anything about where he was or why he was younger than he remembered, he didn't need her pitying him because he was feeling achy.

"Tell me, where are we?"  He glanced around a little more to try and figure out a little more about his surroundings.

Luckily she caught him in mid walk and replied to her. As she got a better look at the young man, he seemed out of place here save for the mud that had belonged out here. Paige couldn’t help but to wonder how he ended up here and where he was trying to get to. Her nose picked up the fresh smell of rainfall that came and ended rather quickly as she drew nearer to him. She was about to ask the stranger if he needed directions to a town close by or something when she caught wind of another creature coming their way. The wolf that came from nowhere was met with a cautious gaze; the smell of her wasn’t a completely natural wolf. Then again, now that she was in range of getting the man’s scent, he wasn’t completely whom he seemed either but she kept quiet about her suspicions for the time being. It was a curious time indeed and she could feel her wolf’s hairs standing in anticipation to find out what was going to come out of this.

Instead she watched as the wolf shifted into a elven female, but the scent she smelled now made it seem as though the woman was far older than Paige. She was in a far different league; even her mannerism suggested that she’d walked this earth for a long time. She hushed herself down mentally; the last thing she wanted to start was a fight she couldn’t win.  “No, I am fine. Thank you”, she said towards the offer handed to her. She wasn’t hurt in the way the woman suggested nor was she lost out here. The pain she had felt wasn’t one that could be bandaged up, but it was shoved to the side as she turned back towards the man known as Tobias. “I am Paige”, she revealed to the two and pointed to the majestic body of water close by.

“As far as where you are, you are at the Jasumin Lake.” It seemed like he truly was lost, but she was worried that he didn’t know what happened and how he ended up here. Had he been drunk? Perhaps kidnapped by some highwaymen? Shaking her head of those thoughts, she presented a small smile as she tried to help the situation. Removing her cloak, she offered it to him to at least keep warm from the weather. His stained clothes by themselves would prove to have him catch something out here.  “Where are you from, Tobias? Perhaps we can help you.” 

Looking from each of them Celeste nodded and put her little cloth away. She patted her clothes. There appeared to be alchemical dust flowing off of it. It was still dirty and there was an irked look on her face as she had asked for it to be cleaned. A sigh left her lips. She listened to Paige and Tobias before saying, “Paige and Tobias, greetings.” 

Going on a bit deeper she came closer as Paige said their location. “Jasumin Plains in Parvpora… in Revaliir.” It was the odd bits of happenings that made Celeste a bit more accurate in what she told him. With all the people falling from portals into Revaliir she could never know if he was truly lost.  “It is currently Glaciem or winter but Jasumin is eternally autumn or Venti.” She nodded to Paige’s offerings.

“You should cover up. The mud on your clothes is still fresh and will offer no insulation from the Venti weather here. When it hardens it should be better for insulation.” She was straight to the point and didn’t mind if he had already known that. “It is good that no one is hurt from the yelling I couldn’t tell.” She looked up the sun and sighed softly. “Do either of you hunger? I was out on a hunt for food when I heard the calling.”

She was like a small mother as she fretted over their condition. Paige looked fine but Tobias was rather in a worrisome state. A small old mother if she had to put her finger exactly on how she was acting. “You both smell intriguing to me.”

"Jasumin Lake?"  He asked as he looked around at where he was.  His cobalt eyes found Paige as she asked him a question and hesimply stared at her for the moment.  That was when Celeste also spoke up once more as well.  He felt a chill of cold air as he stood there and was offered a cloak from Paige.  He shook his head, he wasn't going to muddy her clothes and he knew he would be fine.

"Jasumin Lake in Parvpora in Revaliir."  Tobias parroted the information back to see if it would jog some of his memories but to no avail.  He growled briefly to himself as he ran his hands through his hair.  "I don't know where I'm from.  Something tells me I'm lucky to know my own name."  The rogue grumbled.  All of this was frustrating and he simply wished to understand more about what was this place he was in.

"I'm not hungry at the moment."  He answered as he looked around some more.  He shivered briefly but his pride wasn't going to let him put on that cloak.  His best bet would be to start a fire, perhaps he had something in his pockets to help.  He checked them to find that there wasn't anything helpful.  Did he know magic?  He snapped his fingers to try and make a small flame appear but that did nothing.  He gave a brief growl before he glanced at the two women who had found him.

"Why do we smell intriguing, Celeste?"  He asked warily, he felt a little on edge when he realized he was dealing with people who were more likely more powerful than he was.  Something told him that he didn't allow something like that to deter him from his course of action, it was interesting the little pieces that were coming to him.  Mostly they had to do with him and how he would act around other people.  That was when he heard a brief laugh and could have sworn he felt a woman touch his cheek.  It was in a loving manner and her voice almost sounded familiar.  "Atlas, come home to me."  His eyes narrowed briefly and he closed his eyes trying to center himself in the world around him here.

"Where's the nearest town from here?"

Tobias refused the offer of the cloak and she merely nodded and kept it in her arms for now. The cold here had hardly any effect upon her. Had this been Itjivut, it would have been worse for them to be out. The icy tundra would have been relentless and cruel to those ill prepared. At the moment, it was looking to be least of the problems here. He couldn’t remember much it seemed, and she pondered if he had been one of those afflicted by transferring between the realms, that was if he truly crossed through. Losing memories was one of the symptoms, but she didn’t wish to press on any further than what she had already.

Hearing Celeste’s comment brought out some uneasiness on her face; like Tobias, she wanted to know what the meaning behind it was. It was likely that she had some idea of who Paige was, and perhaps even Tobias. If she did have such knowledge in her back pocket, then what would be the next move? So far the little but old one was behaving maternally but still she couldn’t help but be skeptical. The last time she allowed for something of the vampire sort to get close enough to her ended up with his fangs in her neck. She had grown since and came out smarter out of the experience.

“As do you, Celeste”, the hybrid offered back, recollecting her demeanor as she eased herself back. There was something in her scent that screamed similarity with her own, but it was more of a blended blood than one overlapping the other like in Paige's case. With the man, she wasn't able to tell which he was closer to.

She turned to Tobias and had to think for a moment of where the nearest civilization was. “There’s three really, but only two of them are here on the mainland. Kurayo is an island city to the east, and to the west is the floating city, Tarishitar. Then that leaves the dwarven city, Baltil which is up north from here within the Zujiuchu Mountains.” She didn’t know which of the three he’d prefer nor could she truly recommend any of them over the other since there were plenty of pros and cons about each area. Perhaps Celeste would be more insightful since she figured that she might be a native to this continent.

Celeste gave them both a smile as Tobias turned down her offer for food. All well, she could always eat later it wasn’t like she would starve any time soon. “Your blood sings to the moon in more way than one. They would call you a Moon Child.” Her words were like a song as she thought out loud. “Many names but they are all the same. I smell what my children are in you. I smell what my mate is in you. Actually in you both.” She eyed Paige innocently.

Nodding along to Paige’s list of cities she nodded. “Various settlements between here or there. Pardon if I can’t remember if they are still around. I have a bad habit of not walking everywhere I want to go but gating. For someone like yourself, the safest bet would be Kurayo. There is a hierarchy but being a Moon Child will gain you a bit of respect. It’s safe there. Can’t guarantee no hunters. If you wanted to be a tad more adventurous Ayaito isn’t that far off either. It is south of here. The problem is hunters think our breed is a rather neat trophy. Causing problems in cities like Baltil or Tarishitar would be dangerous. Ayaito has a hunter family in it that aren’t overly pleasant with our kind.”

Tilting her head she shrugged. “I could offer protection in Kurayo. That is where my home is and my mate. Though if Sera were to find you… I can’t offer you much hope. She can be a right bitch when she wants to.” Her eyes as looked around as if to see if the vaewolf was around. “She is my mate’s first wife. I am the second but we both rule as alphas together. Sera is… a particularly nasty individual. Still even with her in Kurayo… that is the safest place. She is only one person despite her obnoxiously large personality.”

Thinking that was enough information she took another look at Paige. “You are not lost but you don’t seem to be the type that is from this continent. I’m interested in you as well. I would love to share stories with all of you. My knowledge is boundless I promise.” There was a thin smile on her lips as she looked back up at the sky. “The moons are sure going to be pretty tonight.”