Alby sat on the end of an embankment, lazily swinging his feet over the edge. He was surrounded by a host of construction equipment, including beams, planks, wood, and plenty more he didn't recognize. A few dozen meters ahead of him, the framework of a building was taking shape. What that building was and who it was for, Alby had no idea.
What Alby did know was that he was bored.
He had been given a sheet of paper to color, but he had long since blotted out the whole page with a mess of crayon marks, and didn't have anything else to hold his attention. He hoped work here would finish soon and he could go back home to do something fun.
Noticing Alby's boredom, one of the construction workers began walking his way. The worker took off his helmet, letting his long brown hair fall down his back. He knelt down in front of Alby, flashing a smile that seemed to brighten the world.
Alby gave a smile back, suddenly much happier. His dad always had a way of making things better with just his presence alone - it was a gift, really.
"How's it going, my man?" his dad asked.
Alby giggled.
"Awesome now!' he exclaimed.
Alby's father ruffled his son's hair. Alby playfully shrugged him off, squealing with laughter like he just heard the world's best joke. His dad then paused for a moment, staring at him intently, seeming to be somewhere else. It was rare to see him look so serious.
"Albion, have I ever told you the reason I picked your name?" he asked.
Alby scrunched his face, then shook his head.
"I didn't think so," he said, taking a seat next to Alby. "You see, a long time ago, long before there was just The Country and The Empire, there once existed a mighty nation."
His father began making broad, sweeping gestures as he weaved his tale.
"This nation was home to some of the greatest kings and queens the world has ever known. It was a prosperous land, one where its people could accomplish anything they set their minds to. That nation went by many names and titles, but there was one that stood out from the rest. Do you want to know what it was called?"
Alby's eyes were wide, completely enamored by his father's story. He nodded his head enthusiastically.
His dad smiled.
"It was Albion. I named you after that land"
His father gave him a wistful look, then turned away, looking back towards the construction site.
"I know our life hasn't been easy, Alby." he said. "But I have faith that better times are on the horizon for us."
He sighed.
"I guess that's why I chose your name. As a reminder that you, too, can accomplish great things. Can be something truly great."
He looked back at Alby, an impish smirk crossing his lips.
"Plus, Albion is kind of a sick name, don't you think?"
The two shared another laugh, and Alby snuggled up against his father.. He wasn't really sure what his dad was talking about, but somehow, his words gave Alby a feeling of warmth in his chest.
The last thing Alby remembered was his father hugging him tight, any trace of his boredom and unhappiness driven away by the embrace.
Alby jolted awake.
As he came to his senses, shaking off the remnants of his bittersweet dream, he was struck with a sense of deja vu. Once again, he had found himself on death's door, and once again, he found himself waking up in a strange new place, somehow still alive.
Only this time, his surroundings couldn't have been more different from the dark, bleak cave where he had first awakened.
Alby looked around, gettings his bearings once again. He was laying on a raised platform in the middle of a large, bright chamber. The platform had engravings on the side of it, similar to the ones he had seen out in the bleak desert. It reminded Alby of the altars you might see at a church. That altar and everything else in the room was made out of the same strange, sleek silver material he found in the desert. There was only one exit from the room, a dimly lit hallway a few steps away from where Alby lay. Throughout the chamber, five towered above him. Those pillars led up towards a domed glass ceiling, one that gave a clear look at the all too familiar ball of light in the sky.
But when he stared at the orb, Alby realized something was different. The orb was still very much the same, countless lights swirling around in a vortex. Only now, looking at it didn't fill him with a sense of dread. That uncomfortable feeling the light had given him, the feeling that had constantly lingered at the back of his mind for days, was gone, like it was no more than a distant afterthought.
And, as Alby continued to process everything around him, he realized a number of other things were also different. His hunger and thirst were gone. His breathing came easily. His muscles felt light, and overall, he felt strong. Exceptionally so - in fact, Alby couldn't remember a time when he ever felt this strong.
Alby looked down at himself. He had somehow lost the rest of his clothes while coming here, leaving his body bare as the day he was born. He would have been upset, but was too distracted by his body itself to notice. While he was by no means a buff or burly man now, his muscles were much more defined and built. Where one once would have looked at him and seen a starved rat, now they would see a lithe young man who you could easily confuse as a well-trained knight. No one ever would have guessed he had spent the last decade of his life as a street urchin. However, motley brown hair still flopped down over Alby's eyes, making it harder to observe his new and improved body.
Well, at least some things never change. Alby thought.
Alby stood up from the altar, feeling spry and filled with vigor. He bounced on his feet for a moment, getting used to this new surge of energy. Then, taking one last glance around the chamber and deciding there wasn't much else of interest there, he made his way towards the hallway.
As he exited the room, a sight just outside made him jump back.
It was the abomination that had relentlessly pursued him in the desert.
Only now, the abomination was dead.
The beast's entire body was charred, practically falling apart. It had lost a number of its tentacles, with those remaining looking thin and on the verge of collapse. Its teeth were all gone, leaving just the cavernous expanse of its mouth - giving a glimpse at the empty void inside the beast's corpse. In short, it was almost unrecognizable from the terrifying monstrosity it had once been. The body was haphazardly strewn to the side of the chamber's entrance, seemingly thrown out of the room like a drunk who had overstayed his welcome.
Even though it was dead, the mere sight of the creature still gave Alby apprehension. The fact that something that deadly, that terrifying, could be killed in such a definitive fashion… how screwed was Alby if there were things in this world capable of such feats?
As he pondered the thought, a light voice rang out from further down the hallway.
"You're not supposed to bring those things with you, you know."
Alby jumped, startled at the sound of the newcomer. Just a moment later, a girl stepped in sight.
She looked about his age, but was a head smaller - which was saying something, since Alby wasn't exactly a towering figure himself. She wore a black vest and dark grey pants, and stood leaning against the side of the entryway with aloof confidence. Most noteworthy about her, however, were her hair and eyes. Both were a vibrant silver - the same silver as the strange chamber behind him.
"You're lucky our Ignition Circle can fend against any unfriendly guests that try to come through," the girl continued. "I mean, what would you have done if that thing managed to get into the Temple alive? You could have caused a massacre! My goodness..."
Alby was reeling. Ignition Circles? Temples?
"Umm... what?" he stammered. "What the hell are you talking about? Who are you?"
The girl stared at him for a moment, then smiled.
"Oh my, you really have no idea what you've gotten yourself into, do you? I mean, I kinda figured you were a newbie based on the unorthodox entrance, but still - this is quite something."
The girl laughed, then stood with her hands pressed into her side - posing as if she was some sort of hero.
"Well then, let me be the first to formally welcome you to the Otherworld, newbie! My name is Enri, and I'll be your Guide."
She looked him over, then frowned.
"But, uh, you might want to put on some clothes first."
--------------------------------------------------------
Soon after, Alby found himself dressed in a simple black tunic with some dark gray underclothes. It was a comfortable fit - though that was the last thing on Alby's mind.
He walked down the dimly lit corridor - only illuminated by a series of torches pulsing white light every dozen meters or so. Enri walked a step ahead of him, leading the way into the unknown. They walked in silence for a few moments, but Alby knew he couldn't keep that up for long. He had a lot of questions, and this odd, lively girl was much more willing to talk than his previous companion.
The commander…
He sighed, caught off guard by the memory of the stoic man who met a whimpering end. His death may have been necessary for Alby's survival, but that didn't make it sit any better. He turned his attention to Enri, shaking off the unpleasant thought.
"So this place is the Otherworld? Not the land of the dead?" he asked.
Enri glanced back at him, and shrugged.
"Well, for your kind it is technically the land of the dead," she said. "But yes, we do prefer to call it the Otherworld."
Alby frowned.
"The land of the dead... for my kind? What does that even mean?
Enri smiled.
"Well, people like me - the Spirits - were born here, but for people like you, death is the only way to get here. You can't end up out in the Ashen Graves without dying first."
Alby stroked his chin in thought. The Ashen Graves - that must've been the name of the gray desert where he first woke up.
"You see, right now, you and me are not so different, " Enri continued. "We exist as souls given form here in the Otherworld. But where you come from, people are blessed to be born with a body - a sort of protective shell for your soul. When those bodies die or get killed, the souls don't just cease to exist. Instead, they head out to one of the many burial mounds out in the Graves and assume a vestige of their original form - usually however you last remember yourself."
Alby nodded. That explained why he had retained his sad gear from his battle at sea when he first came to this world.
"Unfortunately for you folks, the Ashen Graves are teeming with Soul Beasts like big ugly back there," Enri said, pointing back towards the abomination. "Those guys smell out and eat most of the vestigates before they can get their bearings. You were pretty fortunate - the one that chased you was actually on the weaker side."
Alby looked back towards the abomination that had pursued him, its dead body now far down the hallway.
A Soul Beast…
And that was supposed to be one of the weaker ones? Alby shuddered.
"In fact, even if you didn't see a Soul Beast, the odds of you making it out of the Ashen Graves are slim to none," Enri went on. "Most people get lost looking for the Ignition Circles, or are driven insane by the pull of the Gathering."
Alby raised an eyebrow.
"The Gatherings?" he asked.
"That big ball of light in the sky," Enri explained. "You see, when you die here in the Otherworld, whatever is left of you that doesn't get eaten by a Soul Beast gets turned into pure spirit energy. When left without a living form, spirit energy gets drawn together and forms into those big clusters. And it's a good thing it does - the Gatherings are the only good source of light you'll see around here.
Alby looked up, his eyes seeming to pierce through the ceiling at the mass of light far above him. He thought back to the feeling it gave him when he first arrived, the mere memory of it sending shivers down his spine.
"Since they're concentrated masses of spirit energy, the Gatherings naturally try to draw any nearby spirit energy to them - including the energy from living beings," Enri continued. "Vestiges like you aren't used to existing purely as a soul, so they're extra sensitive to that pull, and instinctively look to escape it by any means necessary. Most people can't take that strain, and crack sooner or later."
Alby paused, then looked at Enri.
"Why don't I feel that pull anymore, then?" he asked.
Enri stopped and stared at him for a second.
"Well, isn't that obvious? You're not just a soul vestige anymore. You got your body back, after all"
She hesitated before continuing.
"Well, sort of"
Alby blinked, not sure what to think.
"What do you mean 'sort of'?" he asked.
Enri chuckled.
"Wow, you really are clueless, huh? You really stumbled all the way to an Ignition Circle AND successfully used it with nothing but blind luck - do you know what the odds of that are? Not high, let me tell you."
Alby looked away for a moment.
Blind luck, huh...
Somehow, Alby doubted it.
Enri sighed.
"Well, that fancy silver circle you found? When your kind uses it, it does its best to recreate a body for you. But, since bodies don't really exist here, what it does instead is Ignite your soul to achieve a similar effect. The process is complicated, but basically, it super-charges your soul to make you a bit tougher."
Alby frowned again, growing confused.
"But I don't think I did anything to... ignite my soul."
Enri gave him a smug look.
"Oh, you did alright - you just went about it in maybe the most asinine way I've ever seen. I mean, really - who chooses to drink the Ignition fluid? What were you thinking? Usually monitoring those platforms is such a chore, but honestly, you gave me some real good entertainment out there."
Enri laughed again, harder this time. Alby was starting to get a bit annoyed, shaking his head in frustration.
"How would you have done it, then, my all-knowing guide? 'Ignite' your soul, that is,'" he asked.
Enri looked at him with a bewildered expression..
"How else? Give a sacrifice to the basin." she said.
Alby blinked. That… wasn't what he had expected to hear. A sacrifice? He didn't realize these people could be so cruel.
Enri rolled her eyes.
"Oh, don't act like that. It's not like I've ever done it! Besides, it requires a LOT to ignite your soul, you know. It's only natural to sacrifice something for a bit of extra fuel. Usually, that comes in the form of livestock. We tend to try and avoid sacrificing humans... if we can help it, that is. "
She turned away from Alby.
"In any case, once the basin feels satiated by the sacrifice, it will ignite the souls of the vestiges remaining on the platform, and boom! You come out better than ever."
She paused, and then shook her head.
"I've got to say though, I've really never heard of someone making themselves the sacrifice and still getting their soul ignited. Honestly, I'm not sure how you made it out without burning yourself alive, but good for you!"
Alby crossed his arms, then sighed. He was starting to understand how he got to this place - to the Otherworld. But there were still plenty of questions left unanswered.
"Where exactly are we heading now?" he asked.
He noticed the end of the hallway approaching ahead, with a new, brighter light shining beyond it.
Enri looked away and scratched her ear nervously.
"Ah, well, about that..."
They stepped through the exit of the hallway.
"I may not have been entirely selfless in catching you up to speed, here."
Alby looked around. In front of him stood a massive room - even bigger than the chamber he woke up in. Another massive glass dome covered the ceiling, opening to the massive cluster of light above - the Gathering, Alby now knew. Lining its walls were shelves and hangars filled with weapons and gear. Many things stood in the center of the room, including a sparring ring where two fighters were going head to head, workbenches where some silver-haired people were repairing their weapons, tables with food where people were recovering...
All things someone would need to sustain an army.
Alby felt a groan building in his throat as he turned towards Enri. A sheepish smile crept up on the girl's face.
"We're in a bit of a bind here, enemies threatening to snuff out our lives and all. We... kind of need all the help we can get."
Alby sighed.
Not even death can keep me away from war... figures.