As they left the pen village behind the landscape turned monotonous. The swaying violet grass remained constant, swaying despite its low height. The bubblegum pink sky was clear and bright. They walked in silence for a long time.

Arnie felt like a break. "How about a break?" he said to the others. They both agreed and they sat themselves down in the grass. Arnie took some time and inspected the ground beneath the grass. It was the same violet colour. He felt it with his hand and was able to scoop some of it up. Just like soil. It felt exactly like soil too.

"How long do you think we'll have to walk?" Isabelle said. Arnie pulled out the map and looked at it.

"I don't know. It doesn't really give any indication on here." he showed her the map. It had the mountains they were to cross on it but they looked fairly close to the pen village on the map. Obviously they weren't as close as they looked or they would have reached them by now.

"I think that it won't be long now." Flimgog said. "This is unexplored territory for me, but I am fairly certain it won't be long."

"But there are no mountains. The horizon stretches far and we can see nothing. Are you sure this is the right way?" Isabelle asked, sounding confused.

"Do not trust only what you think you see. Looks can be deceiving, images distorted. Sometimes one sees not what is there but what is presented to your vision. I don't think it will be long now." Flimgog sounded confident and Arnie took strength from this. Arnie pulled out some food from the bag he was carrying. "Let's eat!"

They had their fill of food and water and then got up to continue. They trudged on through the grass, not talking. Arnie was looking at the ground, lost in his own world within. They walked side by side with Flimgog between them. As usual, despite his size, he had no trouble keeping up with them.

Arnie felt something and he looked up. A shiver ran up and down his whole body and he felt the temperature drop. He shuddered as he looked up and stopped suddenly. Their surroundings had changed. Everything was hazy. He looked behind him and saw the pink sky and violet grass clear as day. He looked ahead and it was fuzzy. The colour was changing, deepening. It was like a red fog.

As though in answer to an unasked question, Flimgog spoke. They had all stopped moving. "We must continue forward I think. The map will lead the way." Arnie reached for Isabelle's hand automatically and their fingers locked. He stepped forward unsteadily into the haze.

One, two, three steps forward and it was changing constantly. The violet ground was being replaced by a blood red ground, no grass, just a rocky, barren ground. The sky was turning from pink to cork coloured. Like a pin board above. The fog was lessening and looming ahead was a mountain. It was no ordinary mountain. As they continued moving forward and it took shape Arnie saw that it towered far above them. He couldn't see the top. And they were very close, it wouldn't take very long for them to reach the base of the mountain.

It was steep as well, rising up like a child's drawing of a mountain. A near perfect triangular shape. It was the same blood red of the ground now at their feet. Every step took them closer and the fog and haze lessened until it was gone. Arnie stopped again and looked around. He knew there should be a range of mountains and there was. One after the other on both sides as far as his eye could see. All of them perfect, yet unrealistic, mountain shapes. All the same colour. He looked behind him and saw that the cork coloured sky and blood red ground went back as far as he could see. It was like they had arrived in a new world.

"Whoa!" was all Arnie managed. Despite all the strangeness he had already seen, he was not prepared for this. "This is like a different world. How is it possible?"

"How is any of this place possible?" Isabelle said. She sounded less surprised. "I get the idea that if one can imagine it, then it can be."

The mountains and surrounding areas looked entirely barren. Devoid of all life. It was a red mass towering over them, puncturing the sky above. "I suppose we have to go up there." Arnie said. He had no idea how they would get over that mountain. He thought that perhaps, because of the cone shape, they would only need to up some of the way before they could make their way around to the other side. But there was no path that he could see so he wasn't sure how easy it would be. He told the others this theory nonetheless to see what they thought.

"We were told only to pass over the northerly mountains so I think that could work." Flimgog said. "Let us continue. I do not see any reason to delay. There looks to be nothing here."

They began to move forward again, towards the mountain. They walked for a few minutes, still side by side.

"What I am trying to say is...." A voice that belonged to none of them whispered in the air. Arnie physically jumped in shock and looked around. The voice sounded raspy and hoarse. But there was no one there.

"Did you hear that?" He said, panic in his voice.

The other two nodded but said nothing. They moved forward a bit more and stopped again when they heard another voice. This one was of a girl but it was also kind of raspy. "Damn it!" was all it said.

All three of them looked around the area for any sign of where the voices were coming from. There was no physical evidence of anything that should be talking. Arnie felt scared. Probably more scared than he had ever felt in his life. His heart was beating faster and he felt his hand sweating.

"Wha..What should we do?" he asked.

"Continue is all we can do." Flimgog did not sound scared. "There seems to be no physical threat here."

"I think he's right." Isabelle said. Arnie felt slightly better when he heard the slight tremor in her voice. He wasn't the only scared one. They moved faster than they had before towards the mountain. As soon as they moved more voices started up. This time multiple voices joined together in a cacophony of sound. Arnie tried to block them out. It was hard to make out anyway, the voices were hoarse and sounded pained. There were so many one couldn't really make out what they said anyway.

They approached the mountain, going as fast as they could without actually running. As the base of the mountain drew nearer, the voices got louder and louder, more and more urgent. Arnie thought that there were different languages sprinkled throughout. His head began to hurt with the sound.

"Can we run?" he called over the noise. The other two seemed to agree as they started running towards the mountain. As they drew even closer the sound remained constant but Arnie noticed a wooden looking sign had appeared up ahead. It had words on it. They ran towards it. After only a few moments Arnie could make out what it said.

"Thank you for visiting The Land of the Lost Voices." then in small writing just below that. "All voices lost from shouting, colds and infections will find a home here."

And then they were passed the sign and at the base of the mountain. As soon as they passed the sign the voices vanished. They stood panting. The silence surrounded them like a vice. Arnie felt like he was wrapped in it.

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