Lorelei had been wondering for a few days now. Training and exploring the lands. She had seen a few things, met a few people, and had a few adventures. All in all, her Time within Terrasphere had been interesting, if not enjoyable. She didn't ever know what she would find around the next corner and she was always looking for a new adventure. Of course, there had been breaks here and there. She couldn't very well forget that she was actually a very real person with a very real job outside of this game, but if she were honest with herself, she had gotten to where she more enjoyed her time in Terrasphere than she did her time in the real world.

To be plain honest, her real life was rather dull to what she had found in the game. At least here it wasn't so routine; so boring. Shaking herself from her thoughts, she stopped in her tracks, allowing herself to look around the area she had found herself in. The grassy fields she had been wandering through had started to fade off, leaving a stretch of barren dust and dirt in their place. Beyond the stretch of brown, she could see the shimmering expanse of the area she was actually headed to. Crystalized Zaria. She couldn't wait. She had heard how the forest had been overcome with a parasitic-like crystallization, not only affecting its plant and animal life but its dirt and everything.

It was said that the land held riches untold, tough, that wasn't what she was after. Sure, if she found anything of value, she would surely take it, but she was exploring for the sake of honing her skills and she had heard that the crystallized animals in the area were pretty hard to beat. From the distance she could see between herself and the almost mirror-like scenery before her, It was honestly beautiful, and it looked like it shouldn't take her very much longer to reach it. She had heard tales of many who had gone into its glassy depths and not returned, but she wasn't afraid of that possibility.

She was looking forward to combing the landscape, maybe seeing some of the creatures she had heard of; hopefully defeating them or at least escaping with her life. It wasn't that she was looking for that rush of 'I'm alive' adrenaline, either. No, she simply wanted to be sure she explored and encountered everything she could in this land. Yladia was the home of her character, and it and the people had come to be something she cared for, even if they weren't 'real'. It hadn't been that long ago that she had pledged her allegiance to the self-proclaimed 'King of Yladia'.

Galadion. The man seemed quite astute at his craft and he genuinely cared for he Yladian people. His intentions to help them restore their land was something that she had latched onto willingly. It was a cause she could support, and the fact that he had needed her services had only made it better for her. She had a place with him and his chosen guard. She also made it a point to help him with finding other Yladians and searching the lands for ways to help the people build and develop. This was another reason she found herself here. Crystallized Zalra was a part of the Yladian lands, and she was determined to find a way to make it such again.

This was something she had shared with no one, though, as she knew it wouldn't exactly be met with open and willing minds, given its history. She had reached the outskirts of the crystallized woods as she shook herself from her thoughts, and she looked around a moment, her mossy-toned hues taking in the spectacular sight before she took her first step onto the almost mirror-like surface of the crystal forest before her. It was time to see what she would find; who and what she would encounter, and there was no turning back.

@Tavion Tyde

 

Tavion hadn't been in the virtual world of Terrasphere Online for a very long time but in his short amount of time here he had managed to explore quite a bit of it already, having made his way from the Hylands to where he stood now on his way to the Crystallized Zalra region of the Yladia wastelands. He hadn't done a whole lot of fighting in his brief time in this world but he had become very accustomed to using the long bow that he had slung over his shoulder, managing to get used to using it without the auto assist feature that the game had to help new players such as himself get used to the mechanics of this virtual world. The bow wasn't the only weapon that he had in his possession but it was the one that he used the most, the Mastery that he had chosen to be his main source of defense since he really didn't like the thought of getting up close and personal with his enemy during their fight.

Why would he put himself in danger like that when he it would be much easier for him to stay at a distance and fill his enemy with holes long before they ever even got closed to him? Maybe it wasn't the knightly way of thinking but it was what made more sense to him that getting close to someone and hacking and slashing at one another until one of them died. He had decided to come to this virtual world to live out the fantasy that he had had his entire like and that was to become a knight, but there was no rule that said a knight had to fight with a sword, that a knight couldn't fight with a bow was there?

Tavion had been wandering around aimlessly with no real objective in his mind other than to become a knight, but he was never really presented with an opportunity to be anything more than a common sell-sword, that was until he had met a certain elven male. This man had introduced himself as Galadion and had told him that he was going to rebuild and elven kingdom, he had said that he would need the help of men such as him when the time came to take back the countryside of Yladia where he intended to build up this kingdom. Tavion had accepted the offer that the man had given him to help him because in Galadion he seen a way to become what he had always hoped to be, a way to become the knight he was in his mind and dreams.

And here he found himself, wandering in the wilds like he had done so many times in the passed looking for creatures to fight and kill to hone his archery skill so that when the time came and Galadion called upon him he would be more useful to the man. Tavion came to a halt and lowered himself to the ground and peered into the distance, from where he was he could see another humanoid figure in the distance but the real question was this, where they friend or foe? He knew that he wasn't going to get any answers from this distance so he slowly began to make his way forward relying upon the racial ability of the Yladian race to help him pick the perfect spot to step each time so that his approach was completely silent.

Now that he had closed a large portion of the distance between the two of them he made sure to keep himself down wind of the figure just in case they turned out to be a monster that had the bodily shape of a human being. Coming to a halt he peered at the figure and was no able to make out the fact that it was in fact actually a Yladian female which made his relax slightly before he rose up to his full height and called out to her "Hello there fellow adventurer, what brings you to these parts?"

 

Lorelei wasn't one to easily be snuck up on, nor had she taken note of anyone else nearby, as she had made her way towards the crystallized trees that were a part of the Zalran forest. It was because of this fact that as the light and only occasional sound of a step reached her ears, she began to prepare herself for a possible attack. She had no intentions of this day being the first that she possibly lost her streak of being so well guarded. She had spent far too long in this world and managed to keep herself alive to this point. Sure, at times, it had been a party effort, but she had still held her own and honed her skills, thus far, to a pretty well balanced level.

The dark-haired Yladian female continued to make her way towards the stretch of prismatic trees, her elongated ears twitching occasionally as she picked up a hint of sound. She wasn't certain who or what might be following her, or if they even were, but she wasn't turning to find out, either. It wasn't due to fear that kept her from taking the time to stop and look. No, she simply didn't see any need to. She would have no problem slicing through any threat, and if it were a 'friend' rather than 'foe', she was sure she would find out soon enough.

Her gaze widened as she moved closer to the crystallized lands before her, taking in every inch that she could see. All around the area, where the light hit the trees and shrubs, she could see rainbows forming, as well as what appeared to be beams of white light that most likely were reflected from some of the mirror-like surfaces she could see. The area was honestly beautiful, but she had also already been informed of some of the dangers it held. That was part of the reason for her journey. She wanted to see for herself what could be found, and hey, if she stumbled upon some treasure along the way, then so be it.

As she went to make her first step from the dirt-covered, path-like area that she had been walking on and onto the crystalized grass of the forest, though, she halted her steps, her left foot posed just above its destination. The voice that had made its way to her ears did seem unfriendly, though she was sure it was male. Still, she pondered, for a split second, on rather she should ignore it and just continue moving. After all, she was certain that, though she had not yet run into one, there had to be some form of player with ill morals that found a perverse delight in the slaughter of other players.

At the end of what seemed like hours, though it had only been a few moments, it was her curiosity that won out, though, and she turned on her right heel, placing her left foot back down onto the ground. There was distance, still, between herself and the stranger, but she could tell he was Yladian like her. He carried a rather large bow and seemed to be alone. Was he traveling for fun, like herself, or if he had some actual mission on his plate. Would he be willing to help her kill things? What had she not run into so far? She had seen a lot of creatures, but nothing like what she had been told lurked in the forest here.

These thoughts ran through her mind, as she tilted her head, her ears twitching at its side as she raised her hand and waved at the male. “Seeking the next greatest thing, and yourself?” She called out to him, her mossy-toned hues darkening some as she watched him. Would he come closer? Would he expect her to? Trust was not something she easily gave, and already she was wary of this one. There was no real reason why she just wasn't great with strangers. “Care to join me?” She asked as she waited to see what his next move might be.

 

Tavion stood there watching the female for a moment before he began to walk towards her slowly, the wind blowing across the crystallized landscape caused the black cloak that he was wearing to rustle slightly as it was forced to bend to the will of the wind, his face was obscured behind what could really only be described as a steampunk themed plague mask, attached to his side was a large square looking box that only he knew what it truly contained within. His crimson eyes shone from behind the gear looking goggles that were attached to the top half of his mask, he had stayed away from most of the other players as they had all found his personal style to be way to creep to stay around him for very long, not to mention that they had all found his personality to be to dark and twisted and just found him over all creepy.

All he wanted to do was find a place that would accept him and allow him to conduct any of the experiments that he could possibly think up, so far all of them had ended in failure for one reason or another, something that usually put him in a bad mood. His latest failure came from a lack of skill in his Tinkering Mastery, he had tried to place gears and cogs inside of a corpse and reanimate it in this fashion but it had been a spectacular and rather messy failure. He stared at the female from behind the goggles on his face as he slowly made his way closer to her, thoughts of what experiments he could possibly use her for already running through his mind and a soft chuckle escaped his lips under his mask as he heard the females words as he neared her. When he was close enough he tapped the air and brought up his in-game console that only he could see, swiping over until he stopped on the party page and sent the female before him an invite

Invite

Tavion Tyde has invited you to their party. Accept?

Slowly he turned away from the female and took in the sights that were around them, in every direction it seemed like the mystical disease known as Zalrisis had completely turned every piece of plant life into solid crystal, a phenomenon that he knew absolutely nothing about. Where did it come from, how did it get here and how exactly did it work these were all question that he had but really possessed no way to find out the answers in his current state of being. He had no place to preform the experiments that would be required to obtain the answers that he was seeking no to mention he didn't have any of the necessary tools to even preform the experiments themselves. Slowly he turned his head back to face the female and took in his visage for a few seconds, she wasn't the prettiest woman that he had ever seen but she was by no means ugly either however the only thing that he could think about was how he could make her better with just a few external augmentations. If he cut off her arms would he be able to use his skills to create her properly working prosthetic, would they be better than the arms that she had been born with, and if they were what kind of strength would they hold?

As he stood there waiting on the female he felt the hairs on the back of his neck slowly began to rise as he could sense a pair of eyes upon him, something out there somewhere was watching them, something that had enough intelligence to be wary of the two adventurers at least until it had a better sense of what they were capable of. A beast with that level of intelligence was definitely something that would prove useful in his experiments, reaching back he pulled the long bow off of his shoulder as he spun around and dropped down to one knee, an arrow already withdrawn from his quiver and notched upon the string of his bow. His crimson eyes flashed with wicked delight from behind his goggles at he thought about all of the wonderful experiments that he was going to preform upon this creatures corpse, perhaps this level of corpse would be able to withstand his reanimation process. He could only hope that it would be able to since last time it had taken him forever to clean the mess off of his clothes, it a such as this it was much harder to get blood out of clothe than it was in the real world. Turning his head ever so slightly he looked at the female who was now behind him and whispered over his shoulder "There is something out there, it seems to be hunting us", now that he had informed her as to what was going on he returned his attention to attempting to locate whatever it was that was hunting him.