Alaric was both surprised and confused when he saw his son. He didn't see Adam's physical appearance, but Adam still had an image of himself reflected in his soul. Alaric could see features that resembled his son, but the image Adam gave off included his abyss black hair and golden eyes!

"Adam, what's going on? Is this place... are you dead too?"

Adam shook his head. "Father, I am a very unique spiritualist now! I followed your soul all the way here! I am still alive."

"You followed me... Wait, where's Emilia!?"

Alaric started looking around for his daughter. Alaric thought he had died around the same time Emilia had. He could only assume she would be nearby. Adam also thought of his sister. As he did so, that little part that whispered to the souls echoes out: "Emilia?"

It echoed repeatedly... then something echoed back! This time, it was an answer: "Emilia!"

That answering echo brought Adam's attention to three figures rapidly approaching. He couldn't forget who these figures were. There was his mother Vivienne and his sister Emilia! By their side was the image of a silver wolf, Silber! Both Silber and Emilia raced ahead of Vivienne. Emilia cried out: "Father, Adam!" while Silber called out: "Beta!"

Emilia jumped to hug her father while Silber pounced on Adam! Silber Immediately started licking Adam in exuberance! It was weird, since Silber didn't actually have a physical body with which to do this, but Adam could still faintly feel the feeling of Silber's tongue. Adam embraced Silber. "How are you, old friend?"

Silber gave a dog smile. "I'm fine, but you've taken forever to get here!"

At the same time, Vivienne came over to Alaric. She gave him a little kiss as she asked: "You're finally here! Where have you been all this time?"

Alaric also looked confused. "I'm not sure. Didn't I just die at Fort Erich?"

Emilia took the chance to answer: "No, papa! I was alone here for a long time. Eventually, I decided to reincarnate instead of continuing to wait. I reincarnated into Adam's daughter!"

Both Adam and Alaric exclaimed: "What!?"

Emilia's image transformed from the young girl that had died at the hands of a ghouls commander into a young woman that had features of both Adam's sister Emilia and his daughter Emilia! Teasingly, she looked over at Adam and said: "I'm both your sister and your daughter!"

Adam, Alaric, and Vivienne all gave Emilia a weird look because of her words. Suddenly realizing what they implied, Emilia panicked: "I didn't mean it like that!"

Adam, Alaric, Vivienne and even Silber all burst out laughing at Emilia's expense. After laughing, Adam couldn't help remarking: "So souls really can reincarnate."

While Adam was in his own momentary reverie, so was Alaric. He asked to himself: "So where have I been all this time?"

Hearing this, Adam gave a gentle sigh before informing his father what happened. Hardly anyone could believe it. Alaric was simply stunned: "I turned into a ghoul!?"

Thankfully, it was all over and they didn't dwell on it for too long. They also took this opportunity for everyone to catch up. Mostly, they wanted to know what was going on with Adam's life! He was, after all, the last of them to still be living. Since a person would not remember their previous life's memories after being reincarnated, Adam was actually free to tell them everything! Everything he knew about spirits and the truth behind dragons! Each of Adam's stories awed Alaric, Emilia, and Vivienne. Silber simply stated proudly: "As expected of Beta!"

After catching up with his family, Adam suddenly thought of something: "Is Helen here?"

That whispering part of his soul echoed out: "Helen?"

After echoing a few times, it died down... there was no response. Vivienne looked over at Adam. "Helen and Alfred have already reincarnated. They both felt they would get the chance to meet you faster if they reincarnated, than to wait!"

Adam stared out into the blank whiteness of the sea of souls. "They reincarnated... I wonder if I have already me them?"

Vivienne and Alaric looked at their son. With tender eyes, they said: “Adam, it is probably best that you go back now.”

Adam looked back at them with surprise. “Already!? I just got here!”

Alaric countered with a question: “Do you not have things left undone?”

Adam answered with silence. He had left Evelyn and Heinrich at the height of that particular war. The war between spirits was likely to grow as well! Adam wanted to ensure that they, as well as Segen, could live without this war affecting them too much.

Adam eventually answered: “Perhaps you are right.”

Emilia spoke: “It took you a long time to get here, I might know of a faster way back!”

Adam looked at his sister with extreme curiosity. She gave Adam a look that lauded her superiority over him for knowing something he did not. “I don't know if it will work with your physical body, but the path of reincarnation almost immediately takes you back to the world!”

“Really!?”

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Emilia nodded: “I don't remember too much about it, but I know it was fast. One of the paths is also nearby!”

Alaric looked at his daughter with wonder. “Now that you mention it, I seem to vaguely recall the path of reincarnation too!”

Vivienne nodded her head: “The longer you stay here, the more you remember of your past lives. Though, your most recent life remains the strongest! Emilia knew me in both her recent lives, so it has helped her recover the memories of being our daughter faster.”

As they talked, they all slowly headed in the direction to the path of reincarnation. Even though it was right for Adam to go back, they were all reluctant to part. As they approached the path of reincarnation, Adam found that it was extremely similar to the passageways between planes. A faint distortion was all that could bee seen of the path.

Facing the path, Adam turned back to Alaric, Vivienne, Emilia, and Silber. It was difficult and took a long time journeying to get to this sea of souls. Likely, he would only be able to come back once he himself had died. They all gave him encouraging looks. Silber even said: “Be sure to go on more exciting adventures to tell us about!”

Adam smiled and waved to them. Just as Adam was about to step through the path of reincarnation, a host of figures rapidly approached while shouting: “Wait!”

Seeing all the figures quickly making their way there, Adam almost jumped into the path of reincarnation out of fright! However, Adam noticed that the figures were full of hope and desperation, not the anger of a lynch mob. Adam decided to wait and see what these people wanted.

The one leading them was richly adorned, as through he were a king. He approached Adam, obviously relieved. “Thank goodness you stayed, please hear me out/”

Adam asked: “Who are you?”

“I am Emperor Otto. I ruled my empire before the time you refer to as the First Era!”

“Before the First Era!? Why haven't you reincarnated in all this time?”

Otto shook his head: “That is all part of why I asked you to wait, please hear me out. Only you can take us away from those insane spirits!”

Otto was saying too many vague things too fast. Adam said: “Okay, start from the beginning.”

Otto took a breath before talking: “I don't know if you have heard or seen much, but the spirits are constantly at war with their opposites. I only learned of this too late to prepare my empire before its untimely collapse. Their wars finally erupted to the point where it completely spilled over into the world! We were at a similar level to what the world is like now, but it was all destroyed by the spirits' war! Afterwards, mankind had to start from scratch as they were practically thrown back into the stone age from the war!”

“We have learned from many souls returning here that there are many wars once again erupting in the world! Many of these wars are employing dragons on their front lines! This is exactly what happened to the world as my empire collapsed! Eventually, hordes of ghouls will invade the land that humanity has no hope of control and they will nearly wipe out all of humanity! All because of these insane spirits fighting one another! Me and my subjects have not reincarnated, because we did not want to forget about this tragedy that nearly destroyed mankind! The world has long forgotten, but we have not!”

Alaric, Vivienne, Emilia, and Silber could hardly believe Otto's words. Adam, however, saw the truth in them. He had already fought in a war that involved many dragons! Adam nodded his head. “I understand, but what does this have to do with you stopping me?”

Otto was happy that Adam believed his words. “You are our hope out of this twisted world! Look, over there!”

Otto pointed to a place that was opposite from the path of reincarnation. In that place was a distortion Adam hadn't noticed before! Remarkably, Adam could also faintly see through this distortion! On the other side, Adam saw the multitude of stars that floated in the desolate flow. Adam quickly noticed that the white of the stars eerily matched the white of the sea of souls. Sudden realization hit Adam: “The stars... they are other worlds!”

Otto enthusiastically nodded at Adam's words. “We wish to escape from this twisted world controlled by spirits to another! However, our souls can only leave this place through the path of reincarnation! If we try to exit the sea of souls in any other way, our souls are immediately brought back here! Only you, with a physical body, can choose to leave! We implore you, take us with you to another world! A world free from these insane spirits!”

Adam fell silent. Regardless of the difficulty he would face to bring a host of souls along with him, did Adam desire to go out to another world? Looking out at the countless stars drifting in the desolate flow, Adam heart shuddered. It did not shudder in excitement, but in fear! His own world was rife with so many problems, were the other worlds necessarily any better? Adam felt the answer was 'no' and he did not desire to entangle himself with an additional world besides his own.

Adam sighed before turning to Otto. “I am sorry, but I cannot agree.”

Otto's countenance turned angry. “Why!? To return to the world now is to step into a world at war! There will be no hiding and only death will await you! Flee, help us all flee!”

Adam shook his head: “I do not believe the situation as hopeless as you. Let me ask, did your age ever have a spiritualist that could control spirit essence not with formations, but with song?”

All the figures before Adam looked confused. Not a single one of them had heard of this before. Adam continued speaking: “My path of a spiritualist is extremely unique. So unique that it may be the first time anyone has discovered it! Through it, I have long ago discovered that even life and death spirit essence can act in harmony! I refuse to believe that the spirits are irreconcilable!”

Before Otto could attempt to dissuade Adam, he immediately stepped through the path of reincarnation! Otto was at a loss as disappointment filled his face. “We waited for ten thousand years for a solution to come to us. Will we have to wait for another ten thousand before another like you comes?”

Adam didn't hear what Otto had said. He was already speeding along at a rapid speed! As he did so, his body started to condense! Similar to the fashion when he would Dragon-form, his physical body broke down into pure spirit essence! Adam was initially worried that It would all dissipate in the desolate flow, but the path of reincarnation seemed to protect him! It all followed along, with none being left behind.

Over time, Adam found other souls drifting along the path of reincarnation with him. The closer they got back to the world, the more souls Adam saw! The path of reincarnation was not quite like the passageways between planes. You could actually see outside of the path! Adam could see that he was very quickly approaching the world!

As the path took them close to the world, it sudden took them in a circular path around the world! Faintly, Adam could tell that the souls ahead of him were drawing in small amounts of spirit essence to themselves! The souls were forming their initial selves by drawing spirit essence directly from the spirit planes that surrounded the world! Adam immediately realized that this was an opportune chance for him! 'If I can absorb a lot of spirit essence directly from the planes, perhaps I can quickly reach a state of balance again!'

As Adam was about to enter the first area, Adam prepared himself. He was prepared to use all his knowledge in controlling spirit essence to grab everything he needed! However, something exceeding Adam's expectations happened! As he entered the area, a large amount of wind essence came out to greet him! Adam quickly brought in the wind essence under his control and added it to all the death essence he currently had.

Adam was slightly stunned by this occurrence. As he looked at the other souls that were passing by, none of them were greeted by such a large amount of wind essence. But then again... 'They don't have any spirit essence to start with! But I do. Perhaps this leads to more spirit essence coming out of the planes for me?'

As Adam passed through the next area, a large amount of water essence came out to greet him here! Adam was absolutely ecstatic. Before, he had taken many decades to reach a state of balance. Now, it had only been two years since he took over the ghoul body of his father and it seemed he would now be reaching a state of balance!

As Adam approached the next area, he focused his mind. The spirit planes were assembled in a specific manner and the next plane was the plane of life! Adam never had the opportunity to learn much in controlling life essence. This was his opportunity to delve just a little into it!

Sure enough, a vast amount of life essence came out to greet Adam! As it approached, Adam did everything he could to observe this pure life essence and to understand it. As it entered his current state of being, he took note of how the different types of spirit essence were interacting, hoping to gain more insight into the life essence.

Ever onward, Adam was brought along the path of reincarnation. He gained earth essence, fire essence, and then passed by the plane of death! No spirit essence from the plane of death came to greet him, as he already carried enough with him. All throughout, Adam continued to study the interactions with life essence. Now that he had seen and heard of its pure existence, he could more easily detect it and differentiate it from the rest of the spirit essence in his body. Still, it was not enough to allow him control over it.

In Adam's fervent study, he did not notice that he was getting closer and closer to the world! The path of reincarnation started taking the various souls to specific places where they could safely reincarnate. For Adam, it started to take him to the desolate snowy wastes of the north. As Adam got closer, all the spirit essence in his being started to once again take shape! An elongated body with scales and claws with wings sprouting from his back! From the skies above, a familiar black dragon once again appeared!

Similar to when he first Dragon-formed, Adam lost himself to the process as he veered for the lone mountain filled with life in the barren north. Quickly reaching its summit, Adam once again mounted its peak and roared a ferocious roar more stunning than his first! Lightning streaked across the skies, emanating from Adam's proudly stretched wings. Everyone in the village not far away hear his roar. With it, Adam declared: “I have returned!”