Darkness.....that is all that I have seen since my death

A red headed man cloaked in black floated about, the endless abyss seeming to be more of an ocean then anything else. There wasn't anything to see. There was no sky, no water, no trees; only endless shadows. The man's name was Axel, and he has been in this hell for a very long time, longer then he could possibly count in years. Then again, there was no way for him to tell hours from days, or days from weeks. There was only darkness, and it has been this way for a long time.

Suddenly a faint light radiated from below Axel, and grew brighter very slowly. He was soon engulfed in light, its light orange color nearly blinding him. He felt a warm feeling move its way over him, and then felt his eyes grow weary. He closed them slowly, sleep overtaking him.

Axel awoke hours later, his eyes shotting open wearily. What he saw however both confused and overjoyed him. He saw a dark swamp, roots and trees pointing out from beneath the bog. He himself was on a small patch of dead grass, seeming to have been burnt upon his arrival. Axel smirked lightly, then stood up slowly to get a good veiw of his surroundings.

'This place.....I have never seen it before' Axel thought sadly, knowing it will be near immpossible to return home without knowing where he was. His thoughts then changed to other things. 'Where...where is Roxas? I know he was killed just as I was, but why isn't he here with me? Why?'

Why have I come here? There is nothing but swamp! That vermin told me this was a short cut, the next time I see him I'll kill him!
These and such thoughts were going through the angry Arenea's head as she made her way through the swamp. Finally she decided she would die of tension soon if she didn't calm down. With this is mind she stoped for a moment and pulled out her pipes and began to play one of her many beautiful songs. Her progress was significantly slowed but at least she was relaxed. After a while, she took back what she thought earlier as she began to recognize these parts of the swamp. Ok, so it was a shortcut.

Technically I wasn't wrong, there still is alot of swamp. I can't beleive I couldn't remember the way on my own. I know I've been gone some 80 years but still... Simply glad she was right in some way, Arenea carried on and played her pipes louder then ever.

"Ok, I can rest for a little bit" She said after at least one hour of walking. She aways prefered to take her time when traveling. She had all the time in the world. She settled down and sat against a tree and once again began to play her pipes, a more cheerful tone then usual.

Thal didn't hate many things. Among the few things that he did were vegetables, cats, and large swamp ogres bent on killing him. Fortunately, there was no trace of veggies or cats in the area, but there was certainly no shortage of the third. Thal sprinted through the forest along with Akan, his monk companion granted to him by Threnody. A large, green, pimply ogre crashed through the swamp behind them. Thal was surprised to see that the ogre was keeping up. He thought ogres were supposed to be big, dumb, and slow. Once again, good news about the first two, but the third one... not so much.

Thal and Akan crashed through the underbrush, vines and branches reaching out and scraping at their faces. Finally, the ogre caught up, swung his club, and sent Thal flying through the air. He hit a branch about twenty yards away from his launching point, and fell face first in the swamp next to a girl who was apparently enjoying some rest. Oh, how Thal wished he had arrived in this location by a different method. Of course, Ogre Express was the fastest delivery service in the Swamp of Shadows... apparently. The Elf could not ever remember travel ling so far, so fast before.

Picking his head, out of the muck, Thal heard Akan coming up behind him, and felt him helping him to his feet. The Elf and the monk both looked down at the girl sitting against a tree.

"Never piss off an ogre," Thal advised. "Unless you are intent on breaking a few hundred bones." With that, the Elf passed out, falling back into the swampy muck.