Sweat stings Lady Kaede's eyes as she watches her companions, their forms shimmering and warping as they step through the mirror-like portal.  A pang of apprehension claws at her, but duty to her royal family blood compels her forward.  With a deep breath, she raises her katana in a silent farewell to the world she knows, and steps through the glassy surface, bracing for the unknown.

Thea watches Lady Kaede in silence as she in turn watched the others. She inhales a deep steadying breath with 'her Lady', the strong dutiful woman who had asked for assistance the first time they met, and finds herself reaching for her hand. But being a step behind, her hesitation made her a moment too late for when Lady Kaede would raise her sword and step through the mirror. Thea would bring her hand back to her chest then glance behind her to make sure no one gets left behind, offering her hand back to them to go through together. But should Thea be the last one, she'd trot forward and through to catch up to the others.

Malenia hangs back while the rest of the group goes through the mirror, replacing her lightsabers in their scabbards as she does so.  Just as Thea steps through the mirror, the last of them to go, she smiles.  

"I'll see you again."  Is all she says in that last second, and then she's gone...and the Ardent Answer finds themselves with no way to return to her...

The realm, for it is a realm and not a land, beyond the mirror is an empty expanse of gray-white stretching on as far as anyone can see.  There are no details.  No landmarks.  There is nothing as far as they can see...and no way to leave...

Violet looks out across the bleak and empty expanse... she blinks a few times, wondering if there's something else that she's supposed to be seeing.

But, when she realizes that there apparently is not, she sighs.

"So... since there doesn't seem to be anything else to do around here, can we take that long nap we were talking about earlier?" she asks the others hopefully.

When Rum exits the portal, he freezes in place. He hadn't really known what to expect, but not a landscape devoid of all features and colour. He turns to see the others appear, but there is no portal there to escape through.

"If you need rest, you should take it, Violet", he says with a nod.

For a minute or two after that he moves around, seeing if there is any change to the landscape, if he can move away from the other remnants and how perspective shifts.

When he returns, he notices Malenia is not with them.

"Malenia has not come through?", he asks, looking to Judal and Thea, the ones that know her best.

Once he realises there is nothing to do, he drops to his knees and stills his mind, starting to meditate on the Great Dragon, hoping for inspiration or guidance.

Stepping through the shimmering portal, Lady Kaede squinted into a boundless expanse of featureless gray-white. Panic threatened to bloom in her chest, but years of stoic training held it back. This unsettling emptiness was a far cry from the vibrant world they'd left behind. With a weary sigh, she unsheathed her katana, its familiar weight a grounding comfort.Settling on the colorless ground, she laid down to rest, the weight of the battle and this unsettling new world pressing down on her.

With Rum's permission, Violet unceremoniously flops onto the ground, a pile of eye stalks and thick ankle-length black hair. It doesn't take long for the little behloderkin to start snoring softly.

     Judal steps through the mirror and...  and is he through?  Is this here?  Is there even a here?  

     Jaw hanging low, Judal looks left, right, up, down and there is no difference in any of them.  It is odd enough that he reached a hand out in front of his face and is relieved when it at least exists.  

     Not that there is nothing...  The others are here (here?) too.  Rum and Kaede and Violet and Thea and... well, everyone but Malenia.  Did she not make it?  Are we somehow trapped inside of her?  No, that makes no sense.  Are they trapped inside the mirror?  This makes no sense...

     Rum speaks but it is hard to hear... It is like he is talking through pudding from far far away.  Judal can hear it but it seems muffled and insignificant.  Then again, it is Rum so...

     As an experiment Judal pulls out a half dozen pebbles...  He chucks them in various directions with varying effort.  After a few minutes the pebbles begin to randomly make noise.  Three of them go "Ping!" at random intervals.  One calls for help for a minute straight, every 7 minutes.  One laughs everytime someone within 20 feet of it talks.  The third one whispers if anyone comes within ten feet of it.  It whispers in a hushed, warning voice.  "TheY'rE coMIng For YoU," it warns.  "tHey KNow wHat yOu dID!  BesT geT TheM firST!"  After ten or twenty minutes of listening to this... Judal regrets it.

     "So," he eventually calls out with false enthusiasm.  "This is fun..."

The pop rocks snap Thea back to it. Violet eyes ping wide, looking all around. The colour lacking from this plane also lacks from her face. When Rum looks her way for Malenia, she solemnly shakes her head. I’ll see you again. Her voice echoes in her mind. Mirroring Violet, Thea deflates to the floor to rest.

"Fun indeed", Rum replies to Judal, lifting his arm up towards his companion, his paw balled up in a fist. He then brings his fist to his cheek.

"We deserve to relax after such a hard day", he adds after wiping his mouth with his other arm, then looking about and seeing Violet and Thea on the floor.

"Although, I think those two have relaxed a bit too much", he says chuckling.

Lady Kaede’s brow tightened, the disrespect in Rum’s voice a fresh wound after the harsh landscape.  While exhaustion tugged at her, the comment sparked a flicker of irritation.  She’d seen more positive input from Violet and Thea unconscious on the ground than she had from Rum all day.  Why must Rum be so passive aggressive with fellow adventurers, she wonders to herself as she quietly falls back asleep. 

Greko who landed face down after being pushed through the portal still ies face down...."Could someone give Greko a hand or two, maybe three?"

     "Is this real?" Judal wonders aloud.  He thinks so but is becoming less and less sure.  How can such a blank emptiness be real?  His pebbles... He had thrown them out into the distance.  He had heard them.  But where was their sound now?  Did they go too far?  Did he not actually throw them?

     "Hello?" he calls out.

     "Hello??"

     Judal turns left.  He turns right.  The grey-white blankness is blank.  Consistently so.  He is so lost because there is no way not to be.  How can you know where you are, even get your bearings, when there is no bear to ring?

     "Anyone?" he calls out again, loudly and strongly.

     "Anything?" he says softly, worriedly.  He didn't like this.  Didn't like this one bit.

     He slaps himself.  He tries to surprise himself with it but that is of course impossible.  But he is surprised by the pain of it. (3 damage taken for unarmed strike)  "Ok, pain... so this is real," he tells himself.

     "But what does pain prove?  People say you can't feel pain in a dream but they're sleeping, what do they know?"

     "Of course you're now debating yourself.  Maybe not a dream... Maybe just crazy.  Which is a disturbing thought."

     He tries to stretch his senses, look out past the boring sameness, listen past the absolute silence of anything but his own voice which he's not even sure he hears outside of his own skull.  (Perception: 16)  If he gets nothing more than the samey sameness he reach up to his cloak and... transforms.

     Growling and shaking himself into his new form, Judal-hound looks out at the nothing from a different perspective, that of four legs.  Darkvision looks out, keen sense of hearing and smell engage and J-hound barks out into the empty void of emptiness.  Glowing red eyes, fiery spittle spraying which each bark, the hellhound is not shy about expressing it's displeasure as it runs around aimlessly...

"I am so glad you are all ok", Rum suddenly says joyfully, before jumping over and rushing to Greko. "Let me help you up, Abbot", he says grabbing Greko by the arm. "The floor is a bit slippery after having been washed".

His eyes go wide at the sight of Judal in his transformed state, "Who let Hops in here?"

Greko accepts Rum's help and looks at Judal now a dog. "Hmm...Rum do you know who I am? You called me Abbot...Where are you right now?"

Rum chuckles all the louder.

"I have not drunk that much", he replies. "Of course I know who you are and where I am".

"What I don't know is who let the donkey in", he says totally baffled.

At some point Thea sat up, pulling her knees in to her chest and hugging them. She rests her chin while her eyes look distant, as if focusing on things that weren't even there. The Alicorn would start to rock. Then, she would begin to sing. Low and haunting, steady and unwavering, to herself and to all. And it wasn't just one song. It was a small collection, as if narrating a cryptic story.

(1.)

 (2.)

 (3.)

 (4.)

Greko turns to Thea who is not sitting, rocking and singing….He’s doomed…First things first he thinks “indeed Judal is a jackass at times but I wouldn’t say he’s a donkey…..Hmmm…it occurs to me that…nevermind the donkey, I will take care of it…. Rum what are we doing here…what are your instructions?”

     Running here.  Running there.  Barking and growling and sniffing and, on occasion, marking a particular spot to try to get his bearings perhaps, J-Hound is like a mad dog with no enemy to attack.  Loud and obnoxious, but frustrated and alone...

     Eventually he tires himself out.  He's like to curl up in a cave and lay down his snout but there are no caves... no walls... no defenses...

     The hellhound lets out a rather sorrowful whine and drops it's butt to the ground.  It howls.  A long, lonely howl.  He then listens for a reaction.  Another howl.  Anything...  But he hears nothing.  Eventually he gets up and turns around.  Then turns around again.  And again.  Eventually he flops down and lets out a final huff of frustration...

A tremor in the ground, faint but undeniable, roused Lady Kaede from her doze. Her eyes fluttered open to see Thea huddled, rocking back and forth, a mournful song spilling from her lips. Tears, unseen in the dimness, traced tracks down Thea's cheeks. A pang of sympathy echoed in Lady Kaede's chest, a familiar ache mirroring Thea's unseen tears. Without a word, she rose and shuffled over, the weight of the day momentarily forgotten as she settled close to Thea, seeking solace in shared warmth.