"...Mirai?" I whispered softly as my hand met the empty air of the space where she once stood. My other hand tightly clutched the [Necklace of Promise] where it rested at my side. I knew that the lack of the necklace's soft blue light meant that Mirai was nowhere near, but the shock of the sudden change in environment flustered me. A preliminary glance at my surroundings revealed my standing in the ruins of some kind of city.

Scattered dilapidated buildings and crumbling walls made up some of the scenery although further study showed that I was on some kind of plateau. There was a bridge to the south of my location, and in the distance I could see more canyons and highlands all of which held a rusty-colored hue under the sun's rays.

I couldn't recall any locations in YGGDRASIL which were remotely similar to this area. Additionally, the lack of stars in the sky brought my attention to the fact that it was an entirely different time of day. Right before the server shutdown, dusk was well into decline under the approaching night.

Perhaps this is a surprise demo of YGGDRASIL 2.0? No. That was impossible. The gaming company which owned YGGDRASIL was well into bankruptcy, they wouldn't have the funding to maintain another entirely new server. Although, it didn't hurt to test the theory just in case.

"[GM-Call]."

"[Gate: Guild Hall]."

"[Emergency Logout]."

None of the commands were working. Wherever I was was certainly not in the game and the air was far too clean to be anywhere on Earth. Even if I was somehow in one of the arcology domes built by the wealthy, there was no way for them to replicate the sun or leave so much land unused. Regardless of where I thought I was, what was more important was finding-

"Well, well… what do we have ere'?"

"Looks like a noble lass came all of way out to the Red Canyon, with no escort too?"

With how immersed I was in my speculations, I completely missed the sound of footsteps approaching me. The two sounded like generic YGGDRASIL bandits, but perhaps I could get some information from them about what was going on. I shift, leisurely placing the [Necklace of Promise] around my neck before turning around to face them.

Unsurprisingly, both of them were dressed in ripped furs and leathers. One of them hefted a woodcutter's axe as he flashed me a smile which promised unwelcome outcomes. The other flashed a rusted iron lance and smirked with enough malice to match his companion.

"O' this one will definitely fetch us a good ransom, look at er' face!"

"No look at er' ears, are those fins!? How'd you miss those scales on her cheeks too!"

Lance-bandit quickly backpedaled in shock at my appearance. Was it that odd? Then again it was only another piece of evidence pointing towards this land not being YGGDRASIL. Bandits there weren't strayed by heteromorphic races.

Axe-bandit's eyes widened for a moment as he also took in my appearance. To his credit he recovered quickly, letting out a hearty guwaff. "She may not be a noble, but that's just another way to raise er' price don't ya think? Think of how many rations we can get from Kostas for bringing er' back!"

"I digress, you won't be bringing me anywhere." I sigh, choosing to ignore their previous conversation. "If you tell me where exactly this 'Red Canyon' is, I'll forgive your earlier threats."

"Hah, this one thinks she can reason with a bandit!" Axe-bandit begins to step towards me, his eyes holding traces of resentment. "Whether yer human or not, ya sure talk like a noble. Lookin' down at us with yer fancy words and armor."

His partner also begins to approach me with his lance at the ready, less nervous but more emboldened now that the shock of my appearance had worn off.

"I'll show you that yer words mean NOTHING!" Suddenly, Axe-bandit shouts and dashes forward swinging the blunt end of his axe towards my head.

His partner closes in from another angle with the intent of sweeping my legs from beneath me with his lance. Both of them are slow. Painfully so.

"[Aqua Bind]." A rope of water manifests in air before me and jets out, wrapping itself around the arms of the bandits while looping to tie their torsos down as well. The force of the spell causes them both to crash against each other before falling to the ground along with their weapons.

"What in nine hells kind of magic is this!?"

"I knew it. I knew I shouldn't have followed you out here!"

Both of the bandits yelp in shock. I kick their weapons to the side and decide to give questioning another shot.

"Where is this 'Red Canyon'? Surely you know what country or state this is in."

The now non-lance bandit almost causes his partner's face to roll on the dusty ground as he twists to answer me. "Yer in neutral territory of Fodlan, a one day journey from Garreg Mach Monastery!"

"Garreg Mach Monastery?"

"Ya know, where the Church of Serios resides-agh!" non-lance bandit yelps in pain as non-axe bandit elbowed him in a struggle to escape. I tighten the rope of water to make them both stay more still.

"The Church of Serios... What is that?"

This time it's the non-axe bandit who answers my question, frustration clearly ripping across his face as he tries to muscle his way out of his bindings. "I guess it's not surprising that a monster like ya doesn't know what the church is you BIT-" Suddenly he pales and quiets.

Non-lance bandit who looked as though he was about to have an aneurysm from what his partner nearly said turned just as pale. Both of them seemed to be looking at the… sky?

A piercing shriek echoed throughout the canyon before a large shadow began to rapidly grow on the ground around us. I quickly flung my body to the side, rolling to a stop and back onto my feet. The two bandits were gone. No, not gone. I could hear their screaming. Looking towards the source of the horrid sounds revealed a hawk larger than a house and the pitiful bandits in its claws.

More shrieking began to erupt as two more giga-hawks flew not from above, but from the canyon below the plateau I was on, both intent on tearing me to pieces.

"[Recall]."

I summon [Posiden's Harpoon] from my inventory, quickly casting [Drowning Pulse] once the harpoon was securely in my hands. A laser like beam of blue light shot forward from my lance hitting the giga-bird nearest to me in its gaping maw. The force of the beam blew its head clean off, and I almost smil- no, time to dodge.

I hop to the right, avoiding the claws of the second giga-bird as it attempts to snatch me up. It flies back up into the sky. Before spreading its wings out as far as possible and using its return stroke to send two massive gales of wind at me.

Unfortunately for me, the edge of the canyon was behind me. I stab [Posiden's Harpoon] into the ground and brace myself. The gust of wind magic hits me. Surprisingly, it only ruffles my hair and the robes I wear beneath my armor. My magic resistance must be higher than its attack stat.

It screeches in frustration, this time attempting to dive bomb me again. I run forward, yanking [Poisden's Harpoon] out of the ground and using my momentum to slide on the ground beneath the monster as it missed its attack.

I push myself off the ground. With another cast of [Drowning Pulse] I blow a hole straight through its back, causing it to shriek and collapse mid-flight onto the ground with enough force to cause dust to billow around it.

Examining the empty sky showed that the third and final giga-bird flew off with its meal. A part of myself felt a bit guilty for tying the bandits up since it was more than likely what got them caught and eaten in the first place. Another part of myself felt a mix of satisfaction and indifference to the fate that they met.

Regardless, the possible threat of more of those giant birds showing up drew my attention away from my emotions. I go to pick up the bandits' rusty iron lance and axe. Both seemed as though they would be [Low] class items in YGGDRASIL settings. A quick use of the [Analyze] skill confirmed that prediction.

"[Inventory]."

Surprisingly using the command didn't result in a menu popping up before me. Instead a dark portal appeared before me. Placing the iron axe in it resulted in the axe disappearing from sight.

The portal remained open and experimentally, I stuck a hand inside. Almost as though there was a catalog, I was able to sense various items within it. Thinking about the iron axe resulted in its familiar weight appearing in my hand upon removal from the portal.

With my experimentation done, I put the axe back in the portal but keep the lance, instead putting [Posiden's Harpoon] away. My encounter with the bandits taught me enough to know that both my appearance and equipment are going to need a change in this odd world.

"Awoooooo!"

The sound of wolves howling began to resonate throughout the canyon. A glance at the bleeding out corpses of the two giga-birds reminded me that I became sidetracked once again from the issue at hand.

It was too unsafe to remain here, with monsters amok. While I could handle them if they were at the same level as the giant birds, who knows what else may pop out if I stayed here long enough.

I choose a path opposite of the direction the wolves howls are coming from. With luck I may be able to avoid them completely.

It had been four or five hours since I left the canyon. The path I walked on led me first through a mountain range and then to a forest. I haven't encountered any other people so far, although the increasingly flattening and maintained road led me to believe that I was getting closer to civilization.

With the opportunity presented, rather than my usual armor set, I chose to equip a lower [Relic] class set of mage robes along with a hooded cape, a leather bag of holding, and leather boots. At the cost of stat penalties I was also able to use the [Morph] skill to adopt a more human appearance, fins and scales now gone. While I considered changing it further I wanted to give Mirai, or I suppose Sothis an easier way of looking for me. If she ended up in an equally odd place as I did she would be more likely to go by her player name than her real name considering how personal most players held sharing real names.

The sounds of hooves clacking on the road ahead of me drew my attention. Before long, a horse-drawn carriage appeared, a man carting what seemed to be various goods in barrels and wooden boxes. He was also accompanied by a squadron of mercenaries, some of whom rode in the cart with him, and the rest which were a mix of cavalry and infantry on opposite sides of the cart.

Their formation was simple but effective for keeping watch on the road, with one of the cavaliers asking the peddler to slow down while the others maintained caution.

"Hail traveler! Where are you heading to? It's rare to see people using this old road. Especially those who travel alone."

I sigh removing my hood and meeting eyes of the peddler. He was a middle aged man of a stout build, although with how brightly he smiled he looked far more youthful. The mercenary sitting in the wagon behind him sighs before shaking his head, likely exasperated with his client's friendliness.

"Good day. I've been traveling this land but lost my map and some other provisions after an encounter with some awfully large birds. I've been following this road in the hopes of reaching a town for restocking and finding my bearings."

"Those awfully large birds you ran into sound like demonic beasts. How'd you escape from them on your own?" One of the mercenaries steps forward protectively. He probably thinks that I am a decoy for some kind of ambush.

"My magic was enough to protect myself." I meet his gaze evenly deciding to test the waters. The bandit's words from earlier seemed to imply that magic existed in this land.

"A mage then… well you certainly have the looks of one." Whatever he sees in my gaze causes him to return to his previous position where he nods at the peddler, although he continues to remain vigilant.

Seeing the leader of his mercenaries give tentative approval, the peddler flashes me another smile, this time with an offer.

"Well I would say you're in luck. I do carry traveling maps and provisions, if you have the coin to spare of course!"

I nod in assent, and the peddler hops down from his seat and into the back of his cart nimble in spite of his age. A moment or two passes, before he returns, this time with a scroll, a pack and a mercenary carrying a medium-sized crate.

First he unfurls the scroll, showing a map of a continent I've never seen before. He points to an area between two smaller mountains on the map.

"Right now we are located here in the Magdred region. Continuing on this path will lead you to the Adel River. Following that river west will allow you to reach Gaspard territory first and later Arianrod."

"Thank you. Might I ask what kinds of provisions you have?"

While I could survive on the YGGDRASIL foods in my inventory, most of them gave stat boosts which I would rather keep for emergencies. Also, keeping rations on me would keep people from questioning where I got such well prepared foods while on the road.

"I have dried meats and breads, although I do carry meads from the Fraldarius region as well. I also have a carrying pack with a food preservation spell on it, perfect for keeping rations fresh."

From the way one of the mercenaries eyed the bag with envy, I could tell that it was valuable and valuable went hand in hand with expensive. Regardless, if my YGGDRASIL gold isn't acceptable as currency then I'm sure that I could barter with some of the random, lower class items in my inventory.

"How much for a week's worth of provisions with the map? I don't need the pack."

"The map would be 600 gold and the provisions 15 gold for a total of 615 gold." The peddler smiles as though he hit the jackpot, looking undeterred by my rejection of the preservation bag. He's probably upselling me right now. However, the information he gave me earlier was indeed valuable.

"Would you accept this as payment?" I reach into my robes and pull out a YGGDRASIL gold coin to test the waters. If this world and YGGDRASIL had the same currency system then I would play it off as a joke, but I needed to know if the money I had was usable.

"I've never seen such a coin before, may I inspect it?"

The peddler settles his gaze on the coin with a mix of curiosity and appraisal. I hand the silver colored coin to him. Although it was called a "gold" coin in YGGDRASIL it was more like platinum, with carvings of a Valkyrie and the World Tree on its respective front and back sides.

"AH!" his sudden shout brings me out of my musings. "Why this, this is a Goddess Crown!" He quickly pulls out a magnifying glass from his robes to further examine the coin, shoving the map into the already full hands of the poor mercenary who stood beside him. The other mercenaries exchanged knowing looks at each other as the peddler's behavior became more fervent before shrugging. They were likely used to this.

He came closer to me lowering his voice, but excitement clear in his posture as he waved the coin around. "I've never seen one in such impeccable condition! The Church of Seiros would pay good money for this, where did you get it!?"

I frown at him, with my hopes for a quick transaction thrown off the rails. With a sigh, I prepare a bullshit explanation, "As a mage scholar, my area of concentration lies in researching Fodlan's history and ancient magical tools. In my most recent expedition I found that coin and was able to restore it to a better condition although I ended up using all of my materials to do so."

Surprisingly he nods along to my nonsense. "I'll give you a Large Bullion for this in addition to the map and supplies!"

He really ate that up, huh.

My lack of expression must unnerve him because he quickly adds more, "N-No, I'll give you two! That's worth 10,000 gold coins!" He whispers all of this quickly, likely because he didn't want his mercenary escort hearing the details of this transaction. Although, the sudden price jump must've meant that he was trying to downsell me this time.

"Sure, but give me one large bullion, and the rest in regular gold coins." It was better to have change to work with.

He nods and rushes back to his wagon, returning with another mercenary and a wooden box. He signals the two mercenaries carrying my payment to hand it over to me. Fortunately, none of them look perturbed at how I was able to store the coins and map in my slightly smaller bag of holding. If this world had mages capable of enchanting bags with preservation spells, space expansion spells also shouldn't be too far fetched for them either.

The peddler waves the two mercenaries off as we complete our transaction and steps forward to offer a handshake which I accept. "My name is Darius Bayard. I mostly operate out of Garreg Mach's marketplace, if you ever restore any other ancient coins like this one do not hesitate to contact me. In fact, we may even be able to forge a partnership with that restoration method of yours! "

"My apologies, but I'll have to decline. I'm looking for someone very important to me at the moment. I will keep your offer in mind on one condition though." I declined his offer, after all finding Sothis was far more important to me. Besides, from his words earlier it seemed as though YGGDRASIL gold was of significance to the Church of Serios. Being at Garreg Mach when he goes to sell it would only raise more questions on my end. Hopefully, I would be able to leverage this transaction to keep him quiet for a while.

"Yes, name your condition!"

"Do not speak of me when you go to sell the Goddess Crown to the Church, I would rather not have to deal with additional attention when I have my own research to focus on. If you tell them that you found it somewhere obscure like the Red Canyon, I'm sure that we can both avoid malicious attention."

Darius seems to realize the meaning behind my words as he adopts a more serious expression. With how valuable the coin seemed to be to both the Church and in monetary value, spreading news that there may possibly be more would only attract wolves to not only me but also himself.

He nods in understanding. "It seems that I let my merchant's spirit get ahold of me. I'll be sure to handle this business with the utmost confidentiality."

"I'll hold you to it. Good day." I nod and begin to walk on my way. With a tacit understanding in place, Darius wishes me safe travels while turning to order his idling mercenaries to get ready to move out.

When Darius's caravan is long out of sight I pull out another YGGDRASIL gold coin from my inventory.

A Goddess Crown huh?

One night and half a day after my encounter with Darius, I reached the Adel River at the edge of the Magdred territory.

Although it was called a river, the point where I was at looked more like a ond which was being fed by a small stream. From the map I could tell that as I traveled further west along the river it would expand and grow to a more respectable size.

The grass crunched under my feet as I left the main road and made my way closer to the pond. The waters were calm enough to allow me to see my reflection.

Teal colored hair. Not black.

Bright golden eyes. Not brown.

Tanned skin free of blemishes. Lacking gauntness.

Looking at myself confirmed that I was truly in the body of my avatar. The longer I stared at my reflection the more I began to wonder about what happened to my real body and if returning home would mean remaining in this one.

Would anyone back home even recognize me?

Plip!

My thoughts were interrupted by the sound of water rippling near the small, but rocky pondbank. Out of curiosity, I tap my own finger onto the gently swaying surface.

A wealth of information surges into my mind. The frog which just dove into the pond. The two fish flitting around each other. A water snake, lazily biding its time at the pond's edge. I could feel them all… why though?

As the ripples faded, the lack of fins and scales in my reflection reminded me why.

When I first started playing YGGDRASIL I chose to adopt the [Madraconus] racial class after meeting its requirements. Becoming what was essentially a sea dragon gave many racial skills related to water, including the [Sea Dominion] skill. In-game it reduced damage from aquatic enemies while also boosting my stats when in contact with bodies of water, ocean water or not. The connection I felt to the pond- no, not just the pond, the river too- must be a side effect of that skill.

Removing my hand from the surface ends the connection.

I shift my body from being crouched by the water's edge to leisurely sitting on the grass at the edge of the pondbank. A breeze swept through, gently causing the grass to roll and the water to ripple once more. The beauty of it was far more real than even the nature within YGGDRASIL.

This isn't a bad place to take a break.

Traveling for a night and half of a day, while not tiring in this body, did make me hungry. I take out some dried bread and meat, idly inspecting the food. In the real world, only the rich could afford food of this quality. In between gaming sessions, I would drink nutrient packets. While I was able to consume food in YGGDRASIL, it was meant more for stat-boosting rather than taste.

I rip the bread in half and place the meat in between it to make a rudimentary sandwich. With my meal in order, I quickly take my first bite.

The bread was stale and the meat salty. Even so, compared to anything I had eaten before they were delicious. More.

I didn't realize how hungry I was until I scarfed through a third of my provisions and forced myself to stop. If I continued eating then I would run out of food long before I reached my destination.

I pull out the map I purchased earlier to distract myself. Most of the settlements in the Magdred region, where I resided, were small hamlets scattered between mountain ranges and forests. Given how isolated many of them seemed, I doubted that I would be able to find valuable information in any of them. Following the Adel River led my eyes to Arianrod.

It was the largest city in the nearby regions and ideal for beginning my search for more information. Although... with how much I ate just now I would also have to make sure to stop at the capital of the Gaspard territory, Aberdeen, to resupply on the way.

I push myself up, stretching before glancing at the sun's position. I had enough daylight to reach Alberdeen before nightfall.

Onward then.

And that's the second chapter! I spent a lot of time debating about the sequencing of this one, so feedback would be appreciated.

Secondly, thank you so much to everyone who followed and favorited this story! I also wanted to take some time at the end of this chapter to address my reviewers.

DestructionDragon360: I'm glad you enjoyed the first chapter! This story wouldn't have gotten as far it did without you to help me bounce ideas :).

bimboom: Glad to hear you're enjoying it.

Zennishi: Thank you for reviewing and sharing your ideas! I haven't played Final Fantasy XV, but the relationship you proposed does sound like an interesting backstory for the Agarathans and [Sothis]'s relationship. I can't promise that it will be used, although I will keep how I am building their relationship in mind. I already have some lore in place for how [Sothis] was able to be defeated by Nemesis in addition to why she came into conflict with the Agarthans, but it's far too early to spoil that. As for Rhea and Eledgard, how they come into the story will be influenced by the impacts of [Libelle]'s actions.

Dracus: Sorry bro, one story is enough on my schedule as it is right now.

Lastly, I did make some minor edits with regards to formatting for chapter 1.

See you next week!

-legendary stvsrt