One cloudy night, a lone hawk flies by two longtime companions - Wander and his horse Agro - navigating an unforgiving cliffside path on the edge of a canyon. The two have been traveling for a long time on this offbeat path, through murky forests and wet grasslands alike.
They arrive at last at their destination: a tall stone gate with a narrow passage. On the other side lies an enormous bridge of near-otherworldly construction. The bridge spans over the Forbidden Lands, a dramatic landscape of plains and canyons with enclosed and cut-off environments ranging from arid deserts to clefts with tall geysers to dark forests and murky crevasses.
The bridge finally comes to an end at the Shrine of Worship, a gigantic structure in the middle of the Lands. Wander and Agro make their way to the ground floor and the temple's main hall, which is lined with sixteen stone idols. At the end of the empty hall is an altar. Here it is shown that Wander is carrying something with him: a body wrapped in a cloth sheet. He places the body on the altar and removes the sheet, revealing Mono, a young woman clothed in a white dress.
The game suddenly cuts to a picture of an owl mask amidst a cloudy sky. From here, Lord Emon, a spiritual leader in Wander's society, speaks an esoteric monologue:
That place...began from the resonance of intersecting points...
They are memories replaced by ens and naught and etched into stone.
Blood, young sprouts, sky - and the one with the ability to control beings created from light...
In that world, it is said that if one should wish it, one can bring back the souls of the dead.
But to trespass upon that land is strictly forbidden...
Agro is suddenly frightened by a noise from behind the trio. Several shadowy apparitions are emerging from the temple floor, and Wander sees this and draws a mysterious sword from its sheath, pointing it towards the shadows. The blade emits an otherworldly energy, and the creatures immediately dissolve into thin air. Immediately, a booming pair of voices fill the halls from a great aperture above, surprised that Wander possesses the "Ancient Sword". Wander correctly identifies the voices as belonging to Dormin and asks that Mono be revived. Initially, Dormin expresses an indifference towards the matter, but ultimately cannot hide the interest in the sword Wander carries.
