A Change of Scenery

[Omorose]

The sun was setting. The biting chill of night was starting to creep over the desert sands as the heat of the sun ebbed away. A woman was kneeling next to a sarcophagus, who's lid was slightly open to reveal just the face of the mummy within. They were underneath a tent, clearly preparing another body to join the tomb of his ancestors. The entrance to said tomb was about twenty feet in front of them. Nobody else was around- there were two tables with tools, cloth, and potions cluttering its surface behind her. Wearing dusty yet maintained scale mail armor, with a cream colored dress underneath and matching cloak over her shoulders, it was hard to get a good look at her. She was saying something softly, with a clear tone of respect.

The sun disappeared. 

Her words stopped, the rites finished. She took a couple of long breaths, keeping the body company in silence for a few more minutes. She did enjoy this, the rite of passage for those who have passed. The repetition was soothing, the silence even more so. There was a special sort of connection, being so close to death and preparing the soul for the afterlife. Her hand lifted unconsciously to the ankh hanging around her neck. Her hands closed over the warm metal, and she remained like that, kneeling in the sand. She lost track of time, and once she felt that the soul had moved on, her eyes opened.

The peace she had felt quickly left, replaced by astounded confusion. 

The sweeping landscape of sand dunes and the pyramids in the distance were gone. Instead, she was staring at rolling fields of grass and wheat. As her gaze swept over, she even twisted slightly to look behind her. Everything was the same. Even stranger were the couple of trees she saw- none she had ever seen in Osirion before, tall monsters with stretching branches covered in rich green leaves. Slowly, she pushed herself off the ground- there were flowers around her feet- and stood. Immediately, she cast detect magic, to see if she was seeing an illusion or if she had just been dimensional stepped into another plane. But she noticed nothing. Omorose frowned, considering her options. "Anubis, help me," she said, looking troubled.

"Hello?" she called out, talking a few steps forward. Nothing. Sighing, she started forward, towards the rising sun. "Hello? Is anyone around?"

[Haelys Celtaris]

Hooves gently beat the soft earth of the veldt, tall grass tickling Marlene's sides as she cantered through the fields. While Haelys only rode the Unicorn when she needed to cover long distances quickly, her thighs had grown stronger over the last few weeks. No saddle or reins were necessary for such an intelligent, graceful creature. The queen had never experienced a mount so smooth and in sync with her movement.

They were on the hunt for the portal. Or, rather, Haelys was on the hunt and Marlene was assisting her out of selfless dedication to her chosen. The woman did notice that the Garra grew quieter whenever they searched, though the Unicorn hid her internal sadness well. The idea of Haelys leaving was too unbearably painful to allow herself to think about it, so she loyally served while attempting to mentally focus on other things. After all, the Unicorn had even said it when they first met: 'I would hate for you to be somewhere you don't want to be.'

And yet, to the question Haelys had asked just before they bonded, 'Where are you staying?', Marelene's answer would forever be the same: 'Wherever you are.'

She would attempt to follow, even through a mysterious portal.

Reports of a Whazzitian spotting the portal in the veldt last night were likely correct considering the newcomer, though Haelys didn't know that yet. Rather, she was still searching for the portal and instead found someone calling out.

Omorose would find the figure of a woman bareback on a Unicorn standing a ways out between her and the rising sun. Her fingers were gently intertwined in the mane. Long, wavy hair flowed out behind them, nearly touching the wispy tail of the Garra. The woman wore a long dress that was pulled up and roomy enough for her to ride. Although they may appear as a silhouette initially, approaching would show that nearly everything on both of them was pure white (or close to it) aside from their eyes and the Unicorn's sapphire hooves.

"What are you looking for?"

[Omorose]

Omorose continued moving forward at a slow, cautious pace until suddenly her detect magic spell alerted her to a magical presence. She looked ahead to see a figure between her and the sun, and she didn’t sense any evil or ill intent, so she was content to continue. She didn’t have to walk for long, and surprise flashed across her face when she realized that the horse and rider she had seen was in fact a Unicorn and a rather regal looking woman. The magic, her spell indicated, was coming from the Unicorn itself. A magical being.

The magus had never seen a Unicorn before, as they were not native creatures to Osirion, and this sparked her interest. She didn’t expect them to be inherently magical, though she supposed it wasn’t terribly surprising. Another thought crossed her mind then- perhaps this wasn’t the same plane in which she came from, and Unicorns here were different? She had certainly never seen one with sapphire hooves before, which she regarded in appreciation. As she got closer, the woman spoke, and she stopped. Green-gold eyes lifted to hold eye contact, the polite thing to do.

“Somebody to tell me where I am,” she answered, voice smooth and friendly. “I was finishing a Rite and opened my eyes to… this,” she glanced around pointedly. She hadn’t said a spell, and hadn’t used any of her magic, so she had no theory on how she ended up here. Her gaze caught a strange sight, of a group of flying creatures off in the distant twirling and dipping in the sky above- but Omorose pulled her gaze away to settle on Haelys and Marlene.

“Are you from here?” She inquired. A breeze ruffled her dress, and she shifted her cream-colored cloak to cover her shoulders and arms. Thankfully the sun was still rising, so it should get warmer. The sun-kissed woman wasn’t familiar with the weather tendencies of fields of grass and trees however, so who knows if she was going to be terribly under dressed or not.

[Haelys Celtaris]

Haelys had grown used to feeling like a newcomer, along with the others that had arrived on the same day as her. However, since being here, she had yet to meet someone newer than she.

When the stranger answered, the queen's eyes widened in surprise. So the portal was not done yet (and that meant it had been here!). Did it ever stop? Was there a constant drain of individuals from other worlds? Did it ever take people back to where they originated from? Haelys had so many questions and nobody so far had been able to give her a straight answer.

The woman held back her urge to interrupt the stranger and interrogate her for any information she might have regarding the portal. Hoping some details might be offered on their own, she remained silent until the other woman was finished.

Marlene bent her front legs, slowly lowering the front half of her body closer to the ground in order to encourage Haelys to dismount. The queen could feel her body sliding forward and she shot a glare at the Garra, displeased with her tendency to make Haelys act more polite than she ever actually felt.

Swinging her right leg over Marlene's back, the woman's white boots thumped into the soft, grassy earth. She turned to face the stranger, the long sleeves of her white dress shielding her shoulders and arms from the morning chill.

"No, I am not." Haelys said seriously. The emotion behind these few words was complex—a prick of bitterness, a lilt of sadness.

"You had your eyes closed? You didn't see anything? A flash of light? A portal?" There was an urgency in Haelys's voice even though she was making some (minimal) effort to be patient. Marlene had turned to face the stranger as well and the queen could feel the Unicorn's wish for her to be more empathetic to this lost being.

You are in a land called Planet. Don't worry—we have plenty of time to tell you more. The Unicorn's voice was comforting, encouraging. Haelys glanced at Marlene with a subtle glare.

[OOC: Ara, I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to reply. ;-;]

[Omorose]

As the magus spoke, she watched the other woman’s expression shift to surprise. She wasn’t quite sure what that meant- was it good or bad? As she waited for a reaction, it was the unicorn that moved first. When Marlene bent down to allow (make?) the woman to get down, Omorose watched in curiosity. She hadn’t seen Haelys make any sort of command to the equine. Then again, the creature was magical, so it’s altogether possible a command was not needed.

As peculiar as their dynamic was, the tone that the woman spoke in response to her question drew her attention away. Intense eyes peered at her more closely. The emotions within her voice were clear- sad and bitter. But she didn’t look worse for the wear, and truly, the unicorn didn’t seem perturbed in the least. Was it what was in this world that caused her to dislike her being here- or was it what she left behind? Omorose’s speculations got even more convoluted when she was suddenly asked a string of questions pertaining to how she got here herself. The magus tucked a strand of black hair away from her eyes as she regarded Haelys quietly. The urgency in these words didn’t fit the woman’s character. She didn’t appear the type to be pining for others’ answers.

Perhaps uncertainty was the reason for it?

She was possibly overthinking it, as well. The elf offered a sad smile. “I’m afraid I sensed nothing of the sort. I was finishing a funeral rite and was kneeling next to the sarcophagus. I was there with the spirit until they left, possibly around five minutes, and when I opened my eyes I was nowhere near the desert any longer.” A thoughtful look crossed her gaze. If she was this intrigued on how she got here, she almost certainly wanted to go back to wherever she came from. Her clothes didn’t look familiar to Omorose, so she was certainly not from Osirion. “I sensed no magic. I even cast a spell to see if I could figure out what happened,” she added, wondering if that extra knowledge would help her at all.

Another voice reached her, not by her ears but rather by her mind. Instinctually the magus turned to Marlene, eyebrows lifted in surprise. Magical indeed! The equine could speak, telepathically, and Omorose had the feeling she was much smarter than she was expecting. Could one blame her? She grew up with horses and camels, after all. “Planet? Interesting name.” She felt the sun rise higher as her gaze lifted to the skies, looking to see if anything was outrageously different from the skies back home. She had the distinct feeling she was in another plane entirely.

When her gaze returned to the pair, she just caught Haelys’ swift glare at the Unicorn. Smoothly hiding a smirk, the woman took a breath. “I take it from your reactions that you’ve been stuck here a while,” she said, softly, to Haelys. “Does this happen often?”

ooc.
No worries! ^^;;

[Haelys Celtaris]

Although Haelys regarded herself as an intelligent individual, she found the stranger saying a lot of things that she couldn't easily comprehend, though her expression did not reveal this. Well that was tragic—being at a funeral at the same time you're whisked away from your home. Wonder who died. Also, what the hell was a sarcophagus? And then came spirits and magic. At least it sounded like she would blend in with all these other weyrdos just fine.

Thank you for the information, uh— She realized she didn't know her name yet. What is your name? I am Marlene.

"You don't happen to know any spells that would be able to teleport me to another world, do you?" Although she had skipped right over the introductions (because she didn't care), Haelys's tone was surprisingly amiable, if only because she was requesting help.

The stranger was astute enough to pick up on the dynamics of what was happening here. Fair enough. The grass around them rustled and strands of silver hair blew around the woman's face. It tended to be breezy out here in the mornings. Haelys smoothly wiped the stray hairs away so that they fell back behind her shoulder.

"I have been stuck here for...weeks?" She glanced at Marlene to see if she had a clearer idea of the timeline, though the Garra said nothing in regards to Haelys's circumstances. "There are others like me, though I'm not sure how often this happens."

I am not from this land, but I am from this world. Well, that cryptic response was pretty suiting of a magical elusive creature.

[OOC: Okay, I did it again, but I'm gonna be faster next time. For real.]