Welcome to Gaia! ::

Shards: 2 / 5

The trek went a bit longer without finding another shard. It was silent. Lonely. But overall, at the very least it was peaceful. The jagged rocks and cracked surfaces were menacing, but felt so full of character. It was an environment worth admiring.

He could spare a moment or two, simply taking it in.

Nojha stepped out into the world, and stared for a while at the gigantic shapes around him. Bigger than the statues of the Goddesses at the shrine, perhaps bigger than the space he'd found himself when he first realized his name.

A warm light caught his eyes, and without thinking, he reached out towards it. It evaded his hands, but he was now focused enough to realize these were the shards he'd been tasked to catch.

Fragments: 0/5

Finally, he had caught another, keeping it held tightly in his grasp.

"anything right."

It was just as weird as the rest, but that was alright. He had five of the fragments now, enough to offer up to the goddesses. It was what they had asked for, what they had wanted from him, and now, he needed to go and offer them up.

5 fragment acquired.
[Exiting to Shrine]

Having been summoned to the Shrine to receive his first task, Arldhan stood helplessly on one of the paths, trying to take it all in: the expanses of stone, the glowing red lights like wounds slumbering in the landscape. Arldhan shivered, and felt as though he wished he could crawl out of his own skin. The necklace empty and limp at his throat did nothing to improve his mood.

He didn't want to feel so alone.

Arldhan, reaching his long fingers out to try to snag one of the red fragments as it drifted on by, noticed that there was someone else looking for them, too. "Nice weather," Arldhan suggested to the stranger, approaching slowly, smiling. He still couldn't see terribly well.

The feeling of uneasiness didn't fade. He tried to talk more, to make it go away, to drown out his own thoughts: "Do ye have any tips for catchin' 'em?" he asked, with a smile.

Nojha started a bit when he was addressed. Only the Goddesses had spoken to him before. He stared at the other figure, noticing he could actually see distinct features on him.

"Veather?" he repeated, looking about himself at the fog. "I, ah, honestly hadn't given it much thought. The fog, it just... is. I suppose it vould be good to see the paths more clearly."

Nojha flapped the arm of his robe at the fog, watching as the thick tendrils were only briefly blown away before more took their place. He shrugged.

"Zey seem to like the dark places, ja?" he ventured, pointing a little further down the path to where a couple fragments lit up a shadowy nook. "Und use both hands?"

He clapped his hands together as example, the sound echoed dully off the twisted walls. Nojha attempted to demonstrate on one of the fragments, but it escaped. He gave the other figure an apologetic look.

"It's not a perfect technique."

Fragments: 1/5

Shards: 3 / 5

Itoto was hesitant to continue. He didn't want to see a vision like the last he'd seen. It made this place feel oppressive. Whatever these fragments were, they were starting to make the grey figure doubt his purpose.

Perhaps just a rest for now. After all, he needed to watch his footing.

Chasing after one of the other orbs, she was unable to reach it in time before it disappeared entirely from sight. Glancing about for the small item, she abandoned the search for it, moving on in hopes of finding another somewhere else.

Fragments: 1

Clap. Clap. Clap. Clapclapclap. CLAP!
Success!
Another wave of warmth and a brief sense of a voice in his head.

"Perhaps this time..."

And it was gone. He held the fragment out triumphantly to the other figure.

"It vorks! Just... not every time."

Fragments: 2/5