They were arriving right outside the gate.

Normally, Richard would be rather excited by the prospect, but there was an uncomfortable aura in the group.

This was only amplified by the way the guards treated them..

As they approached the guards, they seemed apprehensive at the group's arrival.

Snap

Yet with the ominous snap of the fingers, the guards changed their tone immediately, acting receptive to their entry. A snap that could be heard, but could be traced to nowhere.

Their eyes were fogged over, as if their minds were devoid of their normal personality.

It was a clear show of ability, and though it could be seen as beneficial to them, the way he so easily just, controlled them so simply to his whims did not give Richard a good impression.

Richard did still feel excited as he entered the outpost/town. It was a small beautiful place, with its own kind of charm.

Richard had never left the temple, which had been within the capital, and had only ever heard of such sights.

It was exciting.Brand new sights, things, which normal people would consider commonplace to him were new and wonderful sights.

Even the most ordinary could amuse him.

He saw a bear and an ogre child selling honey muffins and candies, to the delights of the people around.

Seeing Richard so happy, even Alexandria couldn't help but smile a little.

They were considered a strange sight for sure, and yet for some reason no one was truly afraid of them. Was this another one of his tricks?

The wyrm sighed as she saw the boy running around happily, occasionally falling a little.

Even with the grim circumstances, it was good to see him so excited and curious.

She wished the boy would be like this more often, with an attitude more appropriate for hatchlings.

Even though he had said he was 20, this meant naught to a dragon. For them, 20 years was merely the dawn of childhood.

And he'd cleary spent those 20 years in pain.

So even if the circumstances were disconcerting, she would stand firm.

As an elder. As a caretaker.

As a guardian. She looked over and found herself sharing a quiet agreement between herself and a squirrel.

The walk to the adventurer's guild was filled with pressure, as with every step, they became closer and closer to the meeting point.

Once the door opened, they would be initiating the meeting with player 0.

creak

The door opened, revealing... nothing.

Nothing was abnormal.

People were still walking around, talking, getting into fights. It looked like an ordinary bar.

In fact, everything up to this point had been normal

Nobody even paid any attention to them.

Of course, on that same note, nobody was.

Who was player 0?

For some reason, player 0 had made no efforts to reach out to them.

It was weird.

With nothing else, Panda was wandering around tapping on people's legs, hoping that player 0 would eventually meet them.

And that's when it got weird.

"Hey lady!?" Asked Panda. No response.

"Hey?! Hey?! HEY?!" No response

"HEY FUCKFACE!" Still no response

That was when they realized the abnormality.

No one in this room noticed them.

It wasn't just nobody paying attention to them. They didn't even realize they were there.

They were no longer reserved, attempting to see if anyone noticed them, tapping the shoulders of all around them.

A voice snapped in he bar, finally directed towards them.

"Alright, that's enough. I don't have all day you know."

The group who had entered the bar finally turned their focus to him, realizing that in fact, there was one man who stood out, with a good deal of empty space around him..

'A raven sage?' Had been Richard's first thought before waiving that thought The costume was superficially that of a raven sage, but more barbaric, more suited to war than the sage's clear garment of scholarly intent.

The man's eyes pierced him, as Richard could feel the intensity of the stare.

It was unsettling, watching the mug pass through the mask, and empty itself, even if he understood the process.

"My apologies, we've kept you waiting." Richard took the initiation to apologize, avoiding being confrontational in any sort of way.

Hmm. Polite as usual." Grant responded disdainfully.

Panda stepped forward, extending his greetings.

"Howdy." The squirrel said stiffly.

"Howdy" The man returned..

As her face turned in horror, Grant merely observed silently.

"Well? You see anything yet?" Grant asked with a smile, impressed by the luck Richard had once again.

"Your age... It's... confusing. She said, as her horror slowly increased.

The man chuckled. "My soul is young, a merely millenium, and yet my mind, my mind is perhaps the oldest you've ever seen. Is that what confuses you dear?" he asked, and she nodded.

"Your mind is a horrid abomination, a cacophony of agony and despair twisting and turning, all of them seeking to consume one another in something that can only be called akin to hell." She stared at the man with confusion and mild fear. "What have you done to yourself?"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Grant merely looked at her, with no response.

Richard ignored this and focused on the question that had brought him to this place.

It was true that this man could be very dangerous, but it was also true that he had shown no initiative to harm them, and had even made their entrance into civilization easier.

"you said that Lyssandra was in danger. What danger is she in?" He asked as he stepped forth, even as sister Alexandria's gaze warned him to stand behind her.

"Bold, surprisingly bold given your nature child. Is friendship the bait needed?" He said, in a spine-tingling voice.

"I'll tell you, all in good time.

But first, don't you want to know a little more about your father? About why you were cursed?"

"I'd rather hear about Lyssandra more." Richard said firmly. It was true that there was some curiosity, a desire to know why he had to suffer, but this was nothing to the truth of what had happened to sister Lyssandra. If she was truly in danger, then he wanted to be there instead of wandering around hopelessly.

"Ah, but the two are not separate things child. One leads to the other." Player 0 said as he waggled his finger.

Richard's ears pricked up at that. "You mean my father is-" RIchard realizes something as anxiety begins to show on his face.

"-Hunting your dear friend. " Grant interrupted. "As I said, these things are not separate subjects."

"Where is she!?" He looked even more frantic now.

Lyssandra was being hunted by a marquis. He doesn't know why, but he knows that she's being hunted by a noble, someone who holds considerable influence in the empire, even if his position has been diminished in recent years.

Grant got up and looked at the boy, his body towering over the other. Panda quickly ran over, hissing, while RIchard's other two familiars quietly shook, ready for confrontation.

"Better, but you'll still have to wait. I think what you'll hear next will be enlightening. "

Grant created a chair out of earth before pushing the boy down.

"Tell me, what do you know of destiny?" The man asked out of the blue, and the young man responded unsure. "Our final destination, the culmination of our efforts. The road that which has been laid out for us." Richard responded unsure. Grant seemed satisfied enough with that, though it was hard to tell from behind that mask.

"Are you talking about my destiny?" He asked cautiously, and Grant nodded.

"Rudimentary answer, but that's to be expected. Yes, we're talking about your destiny."

Grant paused, clearly trying to see where he should start..

"How many past lives do you think you've had?" he asked, and Richard, though he knew this was likely relevant, could not figure it out for the life of him.

"I don't know, maybe 20?" he asked, only to receive a look of disbelief from Grant, who muttered "Lucky again.." before Grant decided to continue.

"Yes, 20. A rather young soul, in the grand scheme of things, but not that young. Old enough to have committed a few wrongs.

In your first life, you were a monster. Not literally, figuratively. A minister in the eastern courts, you committed many wrongs and did countless atrocities. Things so vile that any man would shudder at."

The squirrel did not take it lying down. "OH HEY NOW! LOOK, HE AIN"T THE NICEST GUY, BUT RICHARD WOULD NEVER DO SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" He objected loudly as Richard sent him a grateful look, only for the squirrel to snap at him. "Don't overthink it. Just don't think you're that stupid, that's all."

Sister Alexandria did not object but instead complained coldly. "I hardly see the relevance. According to you, that was his first lifetime, and lifetimes rarely have connections to one another."

Grant nodded. "Yes, but also no. It's that first lifetime that's caused the mess we're in now actually. For you see, that first lifetime was so morbid and vile that the 10 judges of the underworld felt the need to sentence old Richard here to 16 lifetimes of punishment."

He took a gulp of his drink before continuing. "16 lifetimes of suffering and duty later, your eighteenth life was destined to be a better life, in the nature of the karmic cycle and all that. Unfortunately , you made some big enemies in the 1st life, who followed you into the 18th life. You died painfully."

Richard felt rather indifferent to all of this, impatient even.

Why would he care about this?His friend was in danger, and this man knew where she was.

It was the latter that stopped him from rushing the man, as well as the fact that there was likely a reason for the rambling.

"Seeing that your next few lives in the east were unlikely to be peaceful, you were sent by the judges to their correspondents in the west, to ensure your enemies would not follow you here. And for all your years of servitude, and the unjust severance of destiny, your nineteenth life was to be a great one.

The son of an old declining family, Richard Thorsten was meant to be the new marquis who would bring an era of revitalization to the estate, and was blessed by three different Gods. You would struggle and overcome great obstacles, but also receive great prize in the form of the fruits of your work. "

"But that didn't happen." Richard realized, and a ominous feeling told him this was the relevance to the current status.

Grant agreed. "It didn't, all because of your father and his arrogant nature. He saw a beautiful priest in a middle of the nowhere village, and decided to take her as wife, and burn down the village to ensure that she would have no one to run to, and that no comotion would be raised over her abduction. It was written up as the pillaging of barbarians." He laughed bitterly. "That part wasn't far off I suppose."

"She wasn't just a nobody priest, was she?" He asked and Grant nodded. "Officially, she was, but unofficially? She was the heir to the temple, destined to be the next head of the temple of Nemesis. She'd been hidden in fears of her being attacked, but the plan ultimately backfired. The head of the temple was enraged, as was Nemesis herself. So when the kidnapped priestess prayed for revenge..." He trailed off, looking at RIchard thoughtfully, the young dragon swallowed.

"...I suffered for it."

Grant nodded as he sighed. "Yes, Nemesis had long known the plans of these three gods, and the bounty you were meant to bring to your family. Your father knew as well. That's why the perfect revenge was to strike down what would be the rising star."

The squirrel looked perfectly enraged as he cursed the Gods. "SOME GODS THEY ARE! THEIR CHOSEN CHILD IS CURSED TO DEATH AND THEY JUST SIT THERE AND WATCH!? BAH! USELESS, THE LOT OF THEM!"

Sister Alexandria looked upset as well, as her hands clenched furiously, but she also looked at Richard worriedly.

This was just too much for a child to handle this early. To learn not only did you have 18 past lives, but to know that you had been cursed to death because of the machinations of others.

It was one thing to suspect, but to hear it laid out so plainly? To learn what could've been, only to have it snatched from you?

It was a cruel thing to know.

And Richard?

He was caught in a storm of emotions.

the reincarnation thing meant near nothing to him.

THe religion of the Romana empire dictated that bad people were consumed by Ammit before being forcefully reincarnated out the rear of its digestion system. So this was nothing new.

No, hearing what his life should've been was what stirred his emotions.

Three Gods, he could guess at least two of them.

Atlas, who had consented to the naming of his beetle, and even changed its evolutionary path. Many are named Atlas in the hopes of strength, but few are actually so lucky. It may have been a coincidence, but Richard still suspected otherwise.

And the more obvious one would be Isis, who had arranged for his 20th life as a dragon to be peaceful and easy start as a dragon. It explained why he was left on the doorstep of her temple, and why he was cared for by the head of the temple instead of just another orphanage. The central temple rarely took in orphans unless they were adopted to fill in the positions at church one day, or were the children of nobles or people of power, whose children could not afford to be left in an orphanage after death.

Richard had always had his suspicions, and now? They were confirmed.

The man before him could be lying, but Richard didn't think so. The man before him had no reason to lie.

More importantly, although he couldn't see the man's face, he could tell he was being watched.

Judged.

And how did he feel.

Angry. Most certainly angry. There were many confusing emotions. He felt robbed, but also offended. He'd become a pawn in someone else's revenge.He felt robbed, but also annoyed. Annoyed that such a heavy load had been put upon him since birth, and for that load to eventually crush him.

He resented the man who was his father. He didn't know that much about him, but what he heard alone infuriated him.

His mother was a whole can of worms he wasn't sure he was ready to process. Did she know it would turn out like this? Did she want this to happen or was she merely swept up into this? Did she resent him?

There was just too much!

Richard was caught off guard as Sister Alexandria slithered up to him and embraced him.

Usually he'd feel smothered but right now? Right now it was reassuring.

Panda clambered up and pat him on the back awkwardly, while Krackle broke out of their bauble and hugged, sending thoughts of encouragement.

Achil walked over and mimicked sister Alexandria's actions, hugging Richard's leg.

Grant saw all of this, but made no comment, waiting for the moment to be over.

Richard calmed down.

This was all irrelevant to him now.

He'd never had any connection to his family, and now that he was reincarnated as a monster, that connection was completely severed.

He was Thorsten no longer.

He turned back to look at player 0, his emotions more calm.

Player 0 cocked his head before speaking.

"Come on, you must have some questions, surely some things you might've seen but not understand. Fire away." Player 0 said haphazardly as he waived his hand to go ahead.

"Really? Nothing is off-limit?" Richard asked uncertainty. Grant smiled.

"If you want to ask about your friend again, you'll have to wait a little."

Richard shook his head. No, though he wanted to know that too.

There was something else. Something that had been present throughout their whole conversation.

The occasional jab there, the random comment.

But there was a sense of...

"Why do you dislike me?" Richard asked uncertainty.

... disdain

Grant genuinely looked stunned for a moment before laughing.

"I was wondering when you would ask me that." He paused, seemingly mulling over what to say, before finally responding.

"I don't dislike you boy.

But I do dislike your lack of confidence."