;; a different path to atonement

Ouch.

"You idiotic manservant, you --."

Shaking dust off his tunic, Arthur stands up - barely - and finds his balance after some seconds of struggle. He looks around, eager to find Merlin and to push him around a little, at least to cool off his nerves, but finds his horse blocking his sight and his way of action.

"Idiotic horse! MOVE!!!" he bellows. The horse stares placidly back. "You're not listening to me!"

Well, of course. It probably doesn't understand English, be it old or new. More and more annoyed, Arthur looks around for support, for anyone to tell him that it was Merlin's fault and sorcery that opened that odd whirlpool just when he was enjoying his morning ride, but faces naught but deserted landscape and the same placid horse.

"I demand you to get out, wherever you are! This is absolutely NOT a good joke!"

"I wasn't expecting this --."

Brilliant - now she's talking to herself. But then again, it shouldn't surprise her. She's been moving for weeks, perhaps (she sort of lost count and wouldn't admit it), without the comfort of a companion, of her -- no thinking of Jasper. No. She promised herself.

The landscape surprised her all along: she had to admit she'd been busy traveling around Europe, rather than discovering the beauties of her native land. Now there it was, a wonderfully vast plateau, linked with a similar one through a wobbly-looking rope bridge, and if she looked down -- oh, the temptation of the abyss. Sublime. It was love at first sight.

And all around her, as well as on the other side, and when she looks down, there are signs of past lives being carried on here; signs of lives and deaths and hopes that were born and burned and saw their accomplishment or failure here.

Here, there were people.

Alice's wish is to see this place buzzing with life again.

So she sets on exploring, carefully looking behind every rock, testing the ground, sniffing the air. She'll be quite preoccupied and frown often.



OOC: Alice Cullen has just arrived on one of the plateaus and is about to start exploring the land. Although this post is meant for Aziraphale only, their players felt that it was important for everyone to know how it all started - hence, the post is open and on the community.