The young leaves were shimmering. The city was awake. Children ran with their training spears behind their backs. A trainer jogged alongside the children, telling them to hurry up. Wagons were being pulled by a four-legged animal with ivory horns, trotting the stone-paved road. The rider, who was smoking a pipe, turned his attention to the road.

Men and women wore plates of armor that glimmered with the sunlight. Their stride was imposing, their exquisite weapons forged by the best of smiths were considered normal in this city. It was a young new world and the land was blessed with resources. It would take a thousand years for it to run dry. And as history told him, they would do it so without any remorse.

He clambered up the street leading up the residential districts. The city was lively along the way, there were too many people for a city that should be hard to find. It was too far from any safe lands and is bordered between the deadlands and the fertile lands.

The houses were square, some were triangle-shaped, allowing the shape to cut the winds up here. He roamed the streets until he found the house he was looking for. Knocking, the door opened, and a young man with golden hair sat alongside a woman who wore a shawl, hugging a lance-staff on her chest.

“Einar,” said Nolan. “It looks like you somehow regain your memories.”

“Old man,” he started, patting Nolan’s shoulder. “I know that you still have your memories. I just know that it was you!”

“Quite the wild guess really,” Nolan closed the door, twisting on the chair. Einar followed, placing his elbows on the table.

“Do you know what is happening?”

“Someone redid the realm, that’s it.”

“How? Is it the Lady?”

“Probably. Who knows really?”

“Excuse me,” said the woman. “I am Rubina, and may I join?”

“Lady Rubina,” said Nolan. “How come you are with him?”

Rubina snorted, “Oh please, I was just imprisoned by this man. Which I assume is your teaching. Hmm, but it is is a blessing, knowing that I wouldn’t have my memories if I wasn’t bonded to this fool.”

Tania manifested into a sprite on Nolan’s shoulder, “I am not even surprised that he did this. Hmm, should I say like father like son?”

Rubina eyed Tania, then turned towards Einar. “I see a family tradition. How despicable. You are lucky that you had saved me from this redo of the world. The endless plains had turned into this kind of world. My home is forever lost, and there is nothing I can do.”

“Something happened,” Nolan said. “And I do not know where we should begin. Einar, had you learned anything?”

Einar shook his head. “That’s why we called you in the first place. This was a long shot, Old Man. There was a possibility that you weren’t the Old Man I know. Rubina thinks of it as insane, but I just know that it is you. I just know that it is you, and my soul knows it well.”

“You were of two souls, so this was a long shot,” Rubina said. “Still, are you sure that you know nothing of this strange occurrence?”

“No, I know nothing, and I assure you that this world has changed. I can remember a crack in the sky and everything changing. It’s the same for you two, isn’t it? You awoke in this strange world with memories that stretch for years. This is no illusion.”

Einar looked down. “Do you think we can find our family in this world.”

“Maybe, but there’s a chance that they might not have been transferred here.”

Rubina growled softly. “What a joke, to think that all those memories would be lost within a single flash. I do not understand any of this. You, you must have a suspicion!”

Tania shrugged. “I am word-bound. Some forces disallow me from speaking. If I leak the word then those who hear the words will be extinguished. You are facing powers beyond any reasoning. You will need the power of those who step into the realms of God to even match the beings that might hear the words.”

“As you can see that’s the case,” Nolan placed his palms on the table. “Unless you reveal to me that you have powers to defy those who step into that realm - then do so we may know the truth.”

“Ridiculous,” Rubina bit her thumb. “To think that I’d be involved in such unfairness!”

“Welcome to my world,” Nolan snarled. “And that’s what we are going to get. Einar, do you know anything?”

“As I said, I know nothing as well. But, there is trouble beyond this land. There are burnt people on the badlands, Old Man. People who burn the lands they walked - I’m not even sure if they are people in the first place.”

“They are monsters, you fool,” Rubina snorted. “The Four Rulers are here for that reason. Border problems? Bah, those fools are adventurous and I believe that they are chasing after the Mother’s Heart. The heart of the world - or so what they like to call it.”

“Why would they want to go to that place?” Nolan asked.

“Who knows?” Rubina shook her head. “They might be looking for the source of the burnt people. A scout had seen the burnt men walking out of that place.”

“I see,” Nolan nodded. “Then that’s the first thing we had to look out for. Einar, I assume that you two had been invited for the expedition?”

“You mean this?” Einar held out a poster.

“Yeah, I wondered what expedition it was, but to think that they’d be heading to the Mother Chasm. I had no interest at first, but not it is different.”

“What do you hope to find in that place?” Rubina demanded. “Or do you think that the Mother Chasm is connected to whatever impossibly had happened to us?”

“My gut says so,” Nolan nodded. “We have no clue where to go, but somehow I just know that it might be a good place to start. If we want to know then we need to find that place first.”