When Aldr passed out, his vision faded into another, sitting at the lonesome peak of a frozen mountain.
A boy sat there, white hair, jade eyes. The boy had aged since he last saw. A small amount of scruff growing on his chin as he stared blankly at the grave. Another being was there too, a giant dragon. Its obsidian scales reflected the light beaming in from the clouds.
"My lord..." Its booming voice echoed down the slopes of the frozen mountains. While the shadows under it seemed to stir slightly.
"Silence. Asatharax. Can't you see I'm trying to mourn?"
The obsidian dragon nodded slightly and went back to being silent as the boy stared at the grave planted in the snow.
"If this world, the first that I've been too, is so cruel. Then how will the others be?"
Asatharax remained silent at the question. But golden sparks responded, coalescing into words before him.
[Do not get attached, Aldr. You will never return here.]
[Name: Aldr
Title: Plague Lord
Attributes: Too many to currently display.
Weapons: Too many to display.
Skills: too many to display.]
He let out a hmph and swiped away at the sparks.
"Well, now I'm certain I've made the right choice."
He turned back, looking towards the small human encampment on the ice and heard a distant shriek.
"I'm sorry. Truly."
The saintess, Heila, arrived on the mountain too late, the beast had already been slain, falling off the mountain facing towards the desert. Yet she also arrived in time, seeing scorching flames carry the pale unconscious figure of a young man into her arms.
She gently put him on the ground and studied his features, ignoring his lack of clothing.
'This is him, isn't it?'
Although her question was clearly directed at the sparks, she didn't answer.
"World butcherer."
She sighed and looked back, the lush fauna of the mountains had been caught in a blazing fire, which quickly spread because of the roaring winds. She drew her pristine silver rapier and picked up Aldr, walking towards the captain of her guard, who was standing next to an odd man in gray robes with medium length brown hair.
"Ser Alexander."
The captain picked up his helmet and put it on, concealing his long golden locks as he looked towards Heila.
"Yes, lady Heila?"
"What happened here?"
"Well, it's rather simple, I was having a striking duel with this fellow over here, and an abhorrent abomination of a plague beast decided to poke it's head in. Then a giant pillar of flame raised from that pit over there, a man rose from the flames with big flaming wings, charged at the beast, and killed it."
Heila raised an eyebrow and looked back at the edge of a mountain, another man was standing there, concealed in a brown sleeveless tunic with a hood and leather pants with boots that matched.
"And him?"
Alexander shrugged.
"Another man, he came along with the other."
He looked at Aldr, who was resting in Heila's arms. And chuckled slightly.
"What's funny?"
She glared at him.
"...my apologies."
Alexander sighed, and the rest of the knights searched through the mountains, even diving into the hollow tunnels while Stone Monkey gathered Aldr's now dried black robes from the nest and put it over his unconscious body.
"Wake up soon, kid."
He sighed and looked towards Hunter, who was standing over Aldr.
"...you gonna say something?"
Hunter looked towards him.
"This is an...odd coincidence, isn't it? I didn't think we'd meet again."
Stone Monkey raised an eyebrow.
"I guess I can say the same."
Stone Monkey paused, and then continued.
"This boy has a name, yet he wanders the realms. You don't think he could be...?"
Hunter sighed.
"He could be. It's almost like every world I've gone to has been screwed up, also because of that guy. But...he doesn't seem like the type."
Stone Monkey interrupted.
"I didn't either."
Hunter paused to chuckle slightly.
"No, you didn't."
The group followed Heila down into the tunnels, gathering the knights as they broke a hole through the wall to get back to their caravan.
"And where are we going?"
Stone Monkey chirped as they followed her to a group of horses and a wagon.
"To Elsire, of course. Where else?"
After his vision ended, Aldr found himself still sitting on top of vast waters. Floating over it slightly as he looked out in the endless expanse of abyss, red lightning travelling through the waters beneath him.
But there was something else beneath him too, a perfect reflection of himself, crafted from vermilion lightning.
"...hm."
He gazed down at the being, which gazed back.
'The indomitable will.'
Attributes and skills always found a way to visualize themselves in the bearer's mind. An anvil laid before him, along with a key, and a skull.
'Pleasant.'
He strode along the flat surface of the waters, his bare feet paddling, until he came face to face with an odd silhouette. Existing like a thin figure in front of him.
"Now just how are you here?"
Looking around, he spotted the grotesque form of a hunched figure clutching a lantern and a bell.
'The souls I devour go here as well? That's...odd.'
The mind and the soul were only slightly interwoven in some matters. But this was not one of them, a soul he devoured most likely should have been dissolved into his own, or just cease to exist. Yet these figures still lingered, soulless wanderers that lacked a path.
He walked towards the shade, putting his finger out, it simply passed through, leaving no reaction from the shade as it just stood completely still.
"What a terrible existence."
In his vision he saw the great frozen lake that made up the surface of the Frozen wastes, a giant empty expanse of frozen lake surrounded by mountains on almost all sides, that was the region that bordered on the Stone Mountains. He was certain. If he could find that view...maybe he could find a hint. And for what? He didn't know. All he knew is that his journey would not be easy.
End of Volume 1: Realm Wanderer.