Chapter 1: Other Worlds

The sound of screams fill her ears, but over time the sounds slowly fade as if disappearing into the backdrop of a blurry image. She can see figures move across the scene; however, these figures are blurred and no attempt at focusing seems to work.

Was she going to die?

Ah, that's right. She was dying. What was it that hit her? She couldn't seem to remember. Did it matter though? If she died then...all of this could be over, right? It's not as if this life had been very good to her in the first place. It was a hard and unpleasant life that she had constantly hoped for an escape from though committing suicide was an impossible feat for her race as the magic of her world kept them alive. The only light in this world she found was in her son who she could only hope had escaped the city with his grandfather before it became the thing of nightmares.

She gently closed her eyes as death attempted to wrap her in its cold embrace. She doesn't know how much time has passed and she expects her consciousness to slowly fade, but as seconds turn to minutes she slowly begins to realize that death isn't here to take her once more.

There's a gentle smell that slowly envelops her, but it's not something she's familiar with especially here in her city where a battle is taking place. It smelled like the forest outside her city, but how did she get there?

She slowly opens her eyes as a pair of emerald green hues slowly takes in the area around her. The sight before her is unexpected as forestry and snow expand outward further than her eyes could see. This was not the forest that she was used to and why was it snowing? Where was she and how did she get here?

The young woman slowly rose to her feet before looking herself over though the sight of her pristine armor and smooth, pale flesh, as if she hadn't ever seen battle was a strange sight for her. She continued to stare at the forested area around her before briefly wondering if this was what the afterlife had in store for her; however, her wonder was short lasted as the wind carried with it the sound of voices.

She slowly approached as quietly as possible, but the snow crunching beneath her boots did little to help her endeavor. She could see three masculine figures in the distance and she thought about hiding amongst the trees before she was noticed; however, as she got closer to the group the three figures slowly turned to look at her. The crunching of her boots had given her away, but for them to notice her so soon made it seem almost like they were on high alert.

She couldn't quite make out the way they looked from her spot behind a tree; however, from what she could see of their souls they didn't seem normal at all. The blonde, pale human had a soul that almost looked like swiss cheese with something dark and sinister moving within it while tentacles seemed to occasionally appear across it. Dia wasn't sure what happened to their soul, but it couldn't be anything good as it appeared like that dark thing was slowly eating it.

The dark skinned gentleman on the other hand had a soul that seemed like it was constantly shifting in form from one creature or being to another. It never seemed to settle on one soul for long which gave Dia the impression that it must have been several different souls all fused together.

And lastly, there was a blue skinned devil that at first glance didn't appear to have a soul at all, but after a small big of investigation Dia could see something black locked in what appeared to be a necklace around his neck.

"Who are you? Do you know why I'm here?" one of the figures spoke up with something of a heavy German accent. He was terribly dressed for this cold weather wearing a pair of shorts and what appeared to be some type of jacket? From what she could tell he appeared to be human in nature.

"Another one? Don't tell me you're not from around here either?" another one of them spoke up, but this time their voice was far more feminine. She must have been wrong with her assumption that they were all males. This woman was appropriately dressed for the cold weather and appeared to be human as well; either way, she was very much so freezing just like the other gentleman as her rosy cheeks and shivering form were a dead giveaway.

The last gentleman looked her over with something of suspicion too, but the look was soon replaced with friendly smile. He too didn't seem appropriately dressed for this weather; however, unlike the other two he was very much so not human. He was dark blue in color with a pair of horns sitting atop his head. From what she could tell this man had to be a some form of demon or half demon as his brilliant blue skin and horns were common amongst his kind where she came from.

"I um...My name...is Asteodia or uh...D-Dia for short...and I don't know why y-you're here. I don't even uh...know where 'here' is," she spoke up before slowly removing her helmet. The metal piece shining briefly in the light of the sun before the clouds overhead slowly began to block out the light.

"Three outer worlders...that's unusual to say the least," the woman spoke up in something of a tone that Dia could possibly only describe as annoyed. Was she annoyed by their presence or something simpler like the biting cold? "Listen, I really don't have time for this. I'm on a quest right now and we're in a pretty dangerous area," the woman continued speaking as she slowly adjusted her long bow against her back.

"W-Wait...I still don't know...where I am?" Dia spoke up again in the same quiet and stuttering tone. She looked toward the rest of the group whom seemed to have the same confused expression plastered on their faces.

The woman gave an annoyed sigh as she ran a hand through her short blonde locks of hair.

"I'll keep this short. You three are on the world known as Rogai which has a terrible habit of occasionally picking up people like you..." the unknown woman spoke up in something of a hushed tone, but the bite of her words were still firmly set in place.

"People like us? Your planet must have some pretty good taste if it's picking up people as handsome, witty, intelligent, and talented as I am though I must say I'm probably the best in this batch," the demon spoke up as his black eyes gave a once over to both Dia and the dark skinned gentleman in shorts.

"Oh great, someone who deflects serious issues with humor, just what I needed as I freeze my ass on someone unknown planet," the curly haired gentleman said in response though his heavy set German accent made it almost difficult for Dia to understand him.

"If you both don't shut up I'm going to leave you without another word of an explanation," the woman spoke up eyeing them both as if she were looking at children. "So, as I was saying this planet occasionally brings in people like you or what we like to call outer worlders. I don't have any information as to why it brings you guys in, but I do know I'm supposed to bring you to the guild to meet the Old Man should I encounter people like you," the woman finally spoke up again once the two gentleman had been sufficiently quiet enough for her.

"You want us to go with you, a complete stranger, to meet some old man? What about your quest?" the dark skinned man spoke up in response only to watch the woman give him a curt nod.

"If you'd rather stay here in this freezing cold, monster infested forest and die then be my guest and you don't need to worry about my quest," she responded before shoving passed the gentleman and quickly moving forward as if intent on leaving them behind.

"Ah...um...w-wait...I think we're g-getting off on the wrong f-foot. W-We're just a little...confused and maybe s-scared. I um...n-names, what are y-your names?" Dia spoke up as she quickly tried to move after the woman.

The woman briefly stopped before turning to face Dia causing the later to flinch slightly as she wondered briefly if she was going to be hit for her slight transgression. She wasn't sure how it was in this world, but she knew in her own world it was illegal of someone of her stature to ever speak up so boldly as she was tot his woman. She braced herself for some kind of retaliation from the blonde woman before her, but much to her surprised none came.

"My name is Rei and you're welcome to follow me, but just to be clear I will be abandoning you once we get to the Old Man," she spoke up somewhat harshly.

Dia took a small step back from her before giving a somewhat sheepish look toward the two gentleman.

"You may call me Key and I'd have to say it'd be a pleasure to travel with such beautiful people even if only for a brief period of time and before anyone asks I have a drop of devil blood in me; otherwise, where else would this devishly handsome appearance come from?" the blue skinned demon spoke up as he ran a hand through his black locks of hair and gave something of a wink toward Rei. The latter though hardly seemed to reciprocate and simply chose to ignore the man before turning her attention toward the dark skinned man.

"I wasn't going to ask. Your kind's pretty common here," Rei spoke up in response, but spared not even a glance toward the devil as she did so.

"Perfect, I won't have to explain my exotic looks to every suspicious passerby then," he said before looking toward Noah with the same smile still plastered in place.

"Fine, I get it. I'm not keen on dying out here and you seem the most knowledgeable for now. I'm known as Noah Amhrán," the dark skinned man finally spoke up with something of a bite to his words, but Dia couldn't determine if it was because of the cold or Rei's attitude which left much to be desired.

"Great, let's get moving before it gets dark then," Rei spoke up rather plainly before she once more started to press forward through the biting cold.

Dia slowly followed along as well, but not before looking back toward Noah whom seemed to be struggling with the cold given his attire. She wanted to say something about it; however, saying something about it was pointless if she had no real way of fixing his problem so she instead kept her mouth shut and forced her gaze downward.

A bit of time crawled agonizingly slow as the group travelled in silence and Dia couldn't help wondering what this world would be like. Would it accept her kind more readily or would they hate her kind much like her home world? For now, she knew she could pass as a half elf with her slightly pointed ears and long hair which was often used to conceal their somewhat more human ears, but how long could she possibly keep that up for?

Her biggest concern though wasn't how the people here might treat her like, but rather it was what became of her son?

Her city was a war zone when she left as the trust and friendliness of the three factions within her city broke down. The streets were littered with corpses from all sides and she was fighting to get back to her son before she had been struck down by someone from behind, but other than that she couldn't remember anything else before she had awoken in the snow.

'What happened? Did I die? I couldn't have; otherwise, I wouldn't be in my body right now,' she thought to herself as she unconsciously brought her shield up to her face to look at her own reflection. Her face was completely familiar though with not even a single strand of hair out of place. This was without a doubt her own body, but that still begged the question of how exactly she got here?

"Hey you, Noah, eat this," Rei's harsh voice spoke up suddenly ending the long silence and pulling Dia from her thoughts whom slowly turned her attention toward the two. Rei seemed to be holding some type of small black bug by the wings though the weird thing about it was the fact that it was glowing a warm golden color.

"What? You want me to eat that? I'm not going to eat some insect! That's disgusting!" Noah spoke up with a look of disgust crossing his face.

"These are called Pyre flies and when eaten they help stave off the cold. We've still got a while before we get to the village at the edge of this forest and if you don't want to die from the cold then I suggest eating a few along the way," Rei said before shoving the Pyre fly into her mouth and then chewing and swallowing. "See, its fine," she finished speaking before moving to the front of the party once more.

Dia watched for a moment as Noah quietly grumbled to himself while seemingly wondering if he'd rather die in the cold or eat an insect while Key seemed to make quick work of catching one of the insects, starring at it curiously, and then popping it into his own mouth to be consumed.

"Tastes like cinnamon," Key said before moving to catch up to Rei whom seemed to be walking at a slower pace as she made attempts to catch a few more of the insects for herself. A small part of Dia hoped that it would taste like cinnamon for her as the food in her world was tasteless to her kind and she hadn't tasted anything in several hundred years.

After making up her mind, Dia soon tried to catch a few of her own as the group continued along the way. When she finally did eat one herself it tasted like nothing to her nor did she feel any warmer though that wasn't much of a surprise since she couldn't even feel the cold anyways. She slowly turned her attention back to Noah to watch him briefly in an attempt to stop herself from feeling any kind of remorse over not being able to taste the insects. The man seemed to have caught one of the insects with practiced ease, but he seemed highly tentative about eating the thing and Dia could faintly hear him counting down from three before he finally shoved the insect into his mouth.

The face he made went from disgust to enjoyment as he commented out loud to the group that he liked cinnamon and he was glad Key hadn't been lying. Dia slowly turned her attention back to the ground as she carefully listened to the conversation of the rest of the group.

"So, I know we're on this world of Rogai, but where exactly are we right now, love? And what's the name of that village you mentioned before?" Key asked ignore the angered glare of Rei who seemed annoyed at the demon for consistently calling her 'love'.

"Stop calling me 'love'. My name is Rei and if you call me anything, but that then I'll leave you out here to fend for yourself," Rei responded watching Key for a brief moment before the man nodded his head in response. "This forest is known as the Everlit forest and we're heading to a village known as Hanra," Rei answered in a rather curt tone before pushing even further ahead as if to escape from having to converse with the man any more than she already had. Key simply sighed in response at her prickly personality as the party once more fell into another uncomfortable silence.