The Ginnungagap was silent.

A lone figure lay in the centre of the pedestal in front of the seal. The seal that kept the demons of Nifelheim at bay, preventing them from wreaking havoc on the unsuspecting people of Aselia. The seal that had been guarded by Ratatosk, Summon Spirit of Mana, whose mere presence was enough to assure its "safety" and who had been in a deep slumber for thousands of years.

Until today.

Emil woke with a start, feeling weak and heavily disoriented. He tried getting up but stumbled, overwhelmed by nausea. He sat back down and began to gather his thoughts. He went through the last of his memories with a slight frown on his face: his fight with Marta and Lloyd, his confrontation with Ratatosk, His other personality's plan to rewrite the laws of the world and finally a conversation between Ratatosk and Richter for which he couldn't make out the words.

"Richter? Tenebrae? Anyone?" His voice called out.

Receiving no answer, he felt himself grow even more worried. It didn't make sense, Richter wasn't here with him which shouldn't have been possible for another thousand years. That's when Emil realized with a "start", he couldn't feel Ratatosk! His head whipped to the seal, fearful of what would become of it with only him there, but what he saw shocked him. The seal was fine, in fact, it seemed... stronger? More... Complete? As if it had never been broken in the first place.

"That's strange... Wait a second, where are the Centurions?!"

They weren't anywhere in the vicinity and when he tried calling for them he barely got any response, almost as if they were asleep again. And any attempt to contact Ratatosk ended up with him feeling what he could only describe as static.

During the time it took Emil to sort out his thoughts, his nausea began to fade. He still had trouble moving around too quickly, but standing up was tolerable. A more thorough look around didn't help the blond understand anything else about his predicament, but at least it gave him something to do. It didn't take him long to figure out that the entrance to the seal room was different as well.

The door had opened as soon as he had gotten near it, something that it shouldn't have done until the world's rules had been written.

"What's going on?" Emil questioned, "Have I been asleep for a thousand years?"

The thought had struck him not that long ago. It would explain why the door's open and Richter's disappearance... Somewhat.

"No. That still doesn't explain why the Centurions and possibly Ratatosk are asleep." He mumbled, motivating himself to continue his investigation.

Looking around once more, it became obvious that nothing else of interest could be found. The only objects present in the room were his possessions which consisted solely of his sword, the clothes on his back and the meagre supplies he had leftover from the journey to the seal. There was nothing else he could do but leave the Ginnungagap if he wanted to find any answers. He would have to find a way across the waters separating the Otherworldly Gate from the mainland, maybe with the help of some aquatic monsters. After that, he didn't know what he could do, probably enlist the help of his friends to awaken the cores a second time if too much time hadn't passed.

At the thought of his friends, Emil perked up. No matter how much he had been prepared to sacrifice to stop Ratatosk from eradicating humans and half-elves alike, he had been devastated to see them have to leave without him. He'd actually be able to see them again, get to know them better, share even a fraction more of his time with them! Images of the heroes of Regeneration, not to mention of Marta, flooded his mind and it took most of his willpower, and the fact that he hadn't fully recovered from his weak-spell, to stop himself from racing out the door then and there.

"B-but what will happen to the gate if I'm not guarding it?" he asked himself hesitantly.

He turned around and regarded the seal that prevented demons from invading Aselia with trepidation. It seemed a lot stronger than when he had first laid eyes on it, though that had been during a highly eventful situation. There was no incessant pounding caused by otherworldly creatures trying to break through, no signs of wear on the seal that had come after having been broken and the mana flowing through it was doing so at a steady rate.

The blond sighed after a moment's consideration, "I guess I wouldn't have been much of a threat to any demons anyways, especially with the way I am now."

Having no other choice, except to sit alone in a room with no idea of what was going on, Emil took a deep breath and steeled himself for the long walk ahead. His trek through the Ginnungagap was long and uneventful. There were surprisingly little monsters prowling the walkways and those that were could be taken care of quite easily. Still feeling the after-effects of whatever had happened to him, his pace was almost sluggish compared to what it usually was, and even the weakest enemies were taking a lot out of him.

The young man's footsteps echoed eerily as he finally arrived near the end. Getting tired of his red surroundings, he painstakingly made the climb up the spiral slope to reach the exit. When he got there, he hesitated, usually Tenebrae was the one who activated the Gate, but Emil guessed he would have to make do. He concentrated on the Gate, feeling the mana flowing through it towards the outside world, he grabbed on to it and pulled.

Pain. Emil's world was engulfed in pain and blinding light. He felt like he was being torn apart, as if he was being sent to two entirely different places at the same time. What was going on? Had he activated the portal wrong? His head spun as he noticed something strange, the mana concentration surrounding him was lopsided. One side had substantially more mana compared to the other. After what seemed like an eternity, the vortex pushed him to the side lacking mana, trying to balance it out. He blacked out.

When Emil next woke up, he was lying face first in a bunch of grass. Spitting out some leaves that had gotten in his mouth, he weakly lifted his head. From what he could gather, he was in the middle of a forest which was the complete opposite of what the Otherworldly Gate should have looked like. The wind was blowing in a way that signified an approaching storm, he rolled onto his back and glanced up at the dark grey clouds already rolling in.

He attempted to sit up, but could barely manage to move his arms. As his field of vision began to shrink, he could feel the events that had happened in such a short amount of time catching up to him. He fought to stay awake, knowing full well the type of monsters that could be lurking around, but the sound of the wind blowing through treetops lulled him back into unconsciousness. Right before fainting fully, Emil thought he heard a voice calling to him off in the distance.

"Hey, kid! Kid, are you alright?"

AN: So, here it is! A story that has been sitting in my computer for the past 3 years. I'm currently going through a TOS kick, so we'll see how long this lasts. I'm hoping to at least get 10 chapters in before I lose motivation, fingers crossed.