Welcome to Gaia! ::

"Okay!" She smiled at them, a very brief moment in time that still seemed to last forever before she turned and began to run off. "Follow me!" But even then her voice seemed distant.

A path along the river would ultimately end at a large castle -- vaguely french gothic in design, towering, gray, and old. Though the rest of the village appeared healthy with its own odd brand of flora and fauna, nothing grew here but thorny vines and an old, equally large tree to the side whose bare limbs scraped against the sky.

The girl ran up to the large doors and pushed against them, managing to scrapingly open them enough for her to squeeze in. "Can you get in?" She called to her companions.

Slipping through the doors, the boy glanced around, his eyes growing wide with awe at both the outside and inside structure of the building. The whole thing was absolutely gorgeous.

Not that he showed it on the outside, of course.

"What do we have to do?" His voice echoed, and he let it bounce off the walls, turning slowly to reguard the other two.

This would be rather interesting...

She grinned to herself at the girl's forgetfulness. Upon achieving pitch-darkness, she shuddered though soon silenced herself, attempting to pierce the darkness and look around, but to no avail. She felt slightly insecure, here. Somehow, though, the warm and welcoming voice of the young girl made her feel much safer as she slid close behind, trying not to lose the comfort of a caring voice.

And then the river. As she heard it, she wanted to fall to her knees and crawl to it, bathe in it, bask in the glory that is that weightless, delicious liquid, and yet she felt somehow glued to the spot. Shifting her gaze to find the cause, she lay eyes upon the dusky outlines of the cloaked figured.

Wordless.

"This is where you'll go through the ceremony!" The girl chirped, her excitement blinding in such a morbid place. "Those three are the Punitiae, the Priest and Priestesses, they're in charge of the rebirth--"

Finally one spoke in flat, emotionless tones, masculine in sound when nothing else about him would be revealed in such dim light. "Leave now, Tahariel."

The girl immediately bristled at this, whirling around to face him across the river. "Why do I always have to leave? Why can't I stay?! They're my--"

"Leave." He repeated, more loudly this time, with an undertone that might have been annoyance.

In the meantime, one began to approach the river that divided the two groups, but halted at the edge not willing to cross. The figure was closer to the candles now, and more visible in a still sort of vague way, but the only thing that could be determined about him or her was that a strip of black cloth was wound around the area where the eyes should have been.

Tahariel, by this time, had turned back towards the ghosts. "Please don't forget about me... When you're reborn, if you still remember me, maybe we could be friends...?" She said this last part haltingly, as if even she realized how strange it sounded.

"Leave," They both said together at the girl's stubborness.

With a wordless cry of defeat, Tahariel whirled on her feet and stalked from the room, footsteps echoing in the distance.

"Now..." The closest one finally said, the other cloaked figure having fallen silent. "You wish to be reborn." A statement, not a question.

"If that is what is here, then yes." Murmured the boy quietly, putting an arm over his waist. He stood there, a bit defiant. He almost said, 'Who wants to know', but bit his tongue, holding it.

So he stood there, tilting his head just slightly, glancing at the girl who had left. And then he looked back, his eyes downcast slightly.

"Why did she have to leave?"

Comprehending the hooded figure's command, she bent over and slowly dropped her hand to the water.

Cupping it firmly, she tried desperately to keep this situation cut-and-dry, not to linger or anything of the sort. She did well, she figured, as she pressed the inky liquid to her lips and sipped. Sip... sip... swallow.

The water tasted unnaturally sweet, almost, crisp and with a slightly bitter aftertaste. The effect it had was slow and hardly noticeable -- it would numb, separating the life from the soul and sealing the memories within. "Hope, regret," She asked, watching them emotionlessly.