Vast rust coloured wastelands spread far upon the horizon far as Rapture's vision could grasp.

The great distance was painted by mountains and all beneath the heavens was illuminated by the shine of the unrelenting but dim giant crimson sun. The air swerved like waves in the sea, the heat bore down upon him unbearably.

The boy combed this arid landscape with his young and unworldly gaze, every tiny detail of this new, foreign and sadly barren world left him overtaken with a sad emotion. Here lay a dead land silent for all but the roar of the wind, no trees, no wildlife, nothing but bones long picked dry, he could hardly take it in.

He walked uphill, following at Amelia's back as his shroud waved wild in the wind. For him, who was for all intents and purposes a normal human in this superhuman world, the top of this hill was a distant goal indeed.

He gazed upon the woman's back, staring towards her in silence. For the longest time he had been unable to give voice to the many questions which had been troubling his mind. Questions about this world, questions about his mother, his father, and all the things he did not know. Thus he watched and waited, internally debated, until that woman stopped at the top of the hill.

The boy then raised his head to look upon her anew. She glanced towards him, hands on her hips, waiting for him, as she'd often had to until now. There was simply nothing for it, they boy knew well enough that he was slowing her down and yet the woman never once complained. He was frustrated, a bit embarrassed even, but she never said a word, never voiced a single complaint, she waited patiently for him to match her pace until he finally reached the top of the hill.

She turned her head, she peered forward towards the north, the unknown world that stood to their left. The boy was curious, he followed her gaze, and what he saw then blinded him to all else. There, before the unworldly eyes of the sheltered youth lay a vast expanse. The dry arid earth gave way to sandy beaches and then into the horizon spread a ghastly green sea.

This was Rapture's first time peering at the ocean and even as it was, poisoned and lifeless, it still filled him with awe and silence. His gaze stretched further beyond into the vast horizon, lured by a flash of light and a low but audible rumble. There he beheld clouds of black hurricanes and twisters linking heaven and sea, storms akin to likes he'd never seen. Then came another flash of light, a thunderbolt, one of many in the all consuming dark, and he remembered that night, the night when Rognir descended on his mother's summons. The pitch black storm that had accompanied his arrival would not lose out to these natural disasters, the power of the gods was great as a world wrecking typhoon.

Thus was the boy's mind overtaken by a complex tapestry of many emotions, he found himself staring absently into the storm. Amelia glanced upon his profile, her face full of unreadable emotions. She turned and set her sights upon what lay beyond that savage sea; a continent, a kingdom where her own past was irreversibly entangled. She had many emotions and memories wrapped up in that place, few of them good, if any.

"This is the ocean," She said to the boy, "Where earth sinks, water fills the gap, it's like that lake you lived on all your life, only bigger by a great deal." The boy turned to glance at the woman beside him, her tone was unusually sombre. He could sense a trace of solemness in her tone, he did not seek to pry however and before long the roar of thunder drew his gaze back towards the chaotic stormy sea.

"Why's it look like that?" He wondered aloud. This sea was just like his lakebound home, only bigger by a great extent. Those were Amelia's words, words he took to heart, were they to be true however then why was this vast ocean so ugly, so polluted as to turn a sickly green?

"For the same reason that the land around our feet is so arid and lifeless," Amelia answered him, her tone full of pity and sorrow towards this bleeding world. Rapture quickly glanced at her through the corner of his eye. Only now did he think back and recall his mother's words, words that told him that any place without Ash's influence was naught but a lifeless and barren landscape. He felt dejected all over again, even this majestic sight, the glory of the sea he had just come to know, was so broken by the absence of Ash's blessing and power.

Amelia reached out her hand, she pointed towards the north, towards the horizon beyond those savage storms. "Shall I tell you a story?" The boy glanced at her profile in silence. She waited for his reply. That too was silent, yet she told him all the same. "I first met your mother sixteen years ago on the other side of that ocean, on a landmass so large as to dwarf our own Muspelheim, a landmass called Alfheim. I was fourteen back then, and Melany, my senior, was eighteen. We were incredibly rare and gifted individuals, Platinum Class, you see...and it was for this very reason we were sent to war despite our youth." The boy glanced towards the invisible land across the sea. He knew not the meaning of her words, he knew not what a Platinum Class was, nor did it matter to him very much as she spoke the story of his mother. "That continent is home to a powerful faction known as the Nidhogg Empire, and our Centurion Kingdom has been their enemy for many generations now. Sixty five years, to be exact."

"You were fighting?" Rapture stopped to imagine it. People, hundreds, thousands of people, swinging their weapons towards each other for reasons he did not know. This image did not shock him, he had witnessed many animals brawling over territory within the confines of the Sanctuary. One could say that from the moment he learned that there were so many as humans living in this world he had guessed that more than half of them surely did not get along.

"Yes, we were," Amelia said with a nod as she answered his question, "You see, their lands are more fertile than ours, there's more Ash there for the land to thrive off of. With little choice we invaded Alfheim."

"Why not just make a deal with them?" Said the boy. That did seem like the simple solution, after all why would you go to war when you can bargain instead? But sadly the situation was not so cut and dry.

"Alfheim has ample resources for any one of our two kingdoms...but hardly enough to share between us," Amelia said solemnly. The boy felt sympathy in the depths of his heart, the pain and suffering of growing up in a land so devoid of life as this was too much for him to imagine. While he did have his own opinions about the unjust act of trying to steal from others what they didn't have themselves, still he found it hard to blame either side too much.

"We attacked their lands that year in what would later become known as the Third Invasion of Alfheim. We killed many but we also lost many as well. Even the Sovereign, the man who reigns over Jupiter City and thus our entire kingdom, perished that year." Amelia closed her eyes for a brief moment. Tumultuous and tragic sentiment recalled the battle that day to the front of her memory. The war had been going well for them until that day, when an army of the Nidhogg Empire blindsided their front lines and assaulted the Sovereign's position from a path unseen.

The Lady of Venus stood ground that day, together with Jupiter's then Sovereign Drakus she held out against the might of the empire's prince, Sigurd and his army. Sadly though the enemy was forced to retreat their lady paid a price she could never recover from, as for their Sovereign, he had paid even more dearly with his very life. That marked the moment they truly lost the war in hindsight for once momentum is lost it is a hard thing to get back. She opened her eyes and exhaled her sorrow with a sigh. Rapture had been silent all this time. She turned to glance at him and found him staring north, his gaze firmly set upon the land beyond the sea.