POV: Altair Oberon Lyrius

I slept restlessly. The cave was cold and the ground was hard, despite me using a sleeping bag made of multiple layers of furs and cloth stacked atop one another and sewed together. While I slept the voices became louder and louder, disrupting and waking me up multiple times during my sleep. When morning struck I was a little exhausted and could still hear the voices being carried by the wind, saying things that once would have made me cover somewhere in fear. At this point, they had become rather annoying instead of scary or threatening.

I left the cave, Arva sitting on my shoulder, and continued walking.

"Anyone got a clue why this entire place is silent?" I asked out loud.

'If I remember correctly there was some kind of deity that used sound magic of sorts that used to have this entire mountain range as its domain. When it was killed some of its magic seeped into the land and now it's split into two parts, this one, the only one that still exists, where only things that have nothing to do with the environment, that being voices and such, can make any noise and the part that was destroyed during a battle that happened between one of the heroes and one of my brothers, a mountain range where everything was so loud it easily shattered your eardrums and made you go deaf,' Ira said.

"Interesting... interesting... so magic can seep into the environment upon death?" I stated.

'Yeah, that's how many places that are kind of... iffy, with logic manage to exists.'

"That's also why the spirit world's time passes so much slower, some kind of being capable of controlling time died there and part of its magic seeped into the entire spirit world, making time there pass slower," Arva stated.

"So is there someplace where time passes much quicker? Like, where one year here is like ten there or something like that?" I asked.

"There might be," Arva answered.

'As far as I know, there is no such place, but hey, I barely even knew that time passed slower in the spirit world,' Ira said.

"I thought you created a type of spirit?" I said to Ira.

Arva looked a little annoyed, probably at the fact that I was often talking out loud to someone that she couldn't hear.

'I created them... never cared much for them though, it was more of an experiment when I tried to create my own magic... which is something I never really succeeded in,' Ira said.

"But you did create the Power of Wrath," I said.

'Yeah, but that's a blessing, not magic,' Ira said.

At that moment I jumped over a large boulder blocking the way, casually flipping mid-air just for the sake of it. And that was also the moment I felt another presence nearby, it was a powerful mana signature... and it was human, but also... not human, it felt different to that of other humans, it was missing the distinct, disgusting feeling that human mana signatures carried with them. When I looked around for the person that gave off this strange mana I found nothing, not a single thing, neither on some sticking out platform above me, not below me, not behind me and also not in front of me. But then I saw something just casually walking through the air.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

"Ira, what's your take on that?" I asked.

I got no answer.

"Ira!" I yelled.

I got no answer, again. I sighed in response.

"Arva?" I asked.

But she didn't answer either. When I looked around for her I saw her, statically hanging mid-air, right above the boulder I had just jumped over. This was just like that one time four and a half years ago, when some guy, hidden as a member of that Pergament branch stopped time. A smile crept across my face as I waited for the person to come closer. They were wrapped in a rugged brown cloak.

"So, you here to ask for that big or small favour?" I asked as I stared at the blackness where their face should be.

"Oi, don't ruin it!" they said, their voice unmistakably that of a man.

"Right, right, go ahead and say what you wanted to say," I responded, bowing eccentrically before the cloaked man.

"Well, someone taught you manners apparently," the man said, then coughed. "You see, you owe me a favour, a big one, or maybe a small one... who knows? Well, I do, now... yes, right, I do know, for now, maybe it's going to change while I'm asking, who knows? I certainly don- ... no, it's probably not going to change, but enough of my ramblings, let's talk big or small favours," the man said, the pitch of his voice constantly fluctuating.

"So, what's this big or small favour?" I asked.

"Simple, simple... all you need to do is get something for me," the man said.

"And what is that?" I asked, raising one eyebrow.

"A certain... orb, of sorts, you know, ball-shaped thingy, a cricle, but well, not a circle, cause it's the third dimension and shit, but circleish, and smooth and all, oh, and it's like... black greenish," the man said.

"Where is that orb?" I asked.

"In a cave, not too far from here," the man said as he pointed in the direction of one of the many mountain tops in close proximity to the mountain pass I was walking along at the moment.

"Oh, so now, just out of pure curiosity, why can't you just get it while you stop time?" I asked.

"Well... well, I'm not exactly... able to go inside, there's a seal on that thing, that's why I'm asking you, just go in there and like, get me that orb, anything else you find in there is yours I don't care about that shit," the man said.

"Alright, alright, I'm gonna do it, as I promised, since you did give me some very good information," I said with a smile on my face.

"So I've hear- seen, didn't expect you to drink the blood though," the man said.

"You were there?" I asked, frowning.

"Well... yeah, kind of, you know, just don't think about it," the man said as he began pushing me into the direction he had pointed to.

"At least let me get the spirit," I said.

"Oh right, just call her into your body or something," the man said.

Then he suddenly disappeared and Arva moved again.

'What was that?' Ira asked. 'I feel like something happened.'

"That guy again, came to redeem that favour, anyway, Arva, get in," I said.

"W-What?" Arva asked, obviously confused.

"Don't worry about it, just do as I say, for now, I'll explain later," I said.

"Alright, alright," Arva said as she rushed towards me and got absorbed into my body.

At that very moment, the man appeared again, still pushing me in the direction he wanted me to go.

POV: Rudolpho Alami

I pushed open the door.

"I want all his known locations!" I yelled loudly as I stormed into the large chamber.

"W-What?" the leader of the scout division's Galgar branch leader asked.

"I said I want all his known locations! All the known locations of Altair Oberon Lyrius!" I yelled right into his face, spit flying out of my mouth.

"W-Why?" the man asked, visibly shaking.

"Because I'm going to kill him," I responded, calmer but with wider eyes.

"D-Do y-you have a-any orders?" the man asked.

"I told you, give me his known locations, that's my order to you," I said, leaning closer and grabbing him by the collar.

"W-Well, I don't know whether or n-not I c-can just g-give them to you, even i-if you a-are a high paladin, mister Alami," the scout division's Galgar branch leader said, swallowing all his saliva.

"Is that so? Well, then let me say this again," I said as I took out my mace and held it upside down, the head of it dangling right in front of the man's face.

In his eyes, I could see that he knew of its weight.

"F-Fine... fine, I'll... give them to you, j-just give me some time, alright?" the man said.

I smiled as I let go of his collar and put away my mace.

"Good, let me know once you have all of them," I said.

I looked out the window as the man walked away, rubbing the back of his head, the sun shone brightly today.