James could feel his stomach lurching as he did his best to keep his balance, his hands gripping onto where the ship’s mast was.

‘God, this feels weird.’

James could feel the deck sway a bit as the ship sailed. He looked over at everyone else on the ship, wondering if they were feeling the same way. Seamus was currently with Haggard and the marauder, Helen. James could spot the map Seamus was holding, tucking into his belt as Helen ordered for one stranger to get to steer while the other helped Seamus with the sails.

‘Quite ironic,’ Faust spoke into James’ head. ‘The one in shackles is the one who bosses everyone around.’

James would’ve chuckled at the remark if it wasn’t for the fact that his breakfast was begging to be freed upon the sea’s waves. None of the others seem to be in the same state as James, the closest being Dahlia, but she had recovered after an hour of the constant moving. James had tried to stand up straight, but it felt as if he was going to fall over the shifting deck. He tried again, but immediately felt his body lurch forward, his balance gone. James clutched onto the mast again, shutting his eyes as he tried to get used to the movements.

‘How the hell do you get used to this?’

James did his best to hold himself together before looking over at others on deck. He caught a couple of weird looks from Helen and the other men, which he responded by waving at them.

“You really never been on a ship before, huh?” Dahlia’s voice caught James’ attention, his head turning up to the shaman. He had slid down the mast to sit on the deck, his hand still gripping for dear life.

“No, first time,” James nervously laughed, the deck shifting again underneath him.

“Yeah, the first time is always rough. You’ll get used to it.” Dahlia reached down and extended her hand to James, who accepted it slowly. “Buuut, you will not get used to it any sooner if you continue to hold on to that mast as if your life depended on it.” She grinned at James, pulling him up onto his feet. James instinctively placed his hand on the mast, holding back every urge to hug it. The deck lurched again, his legs shaking as he tried to keep his center of mass balanced.

“There you go. Just take it slow,” Dahlia instructed, James following as he took a step.

‘God, this is embarrassing,’ James commented in his head, realizing that he was being taught like a child.

‘Hey, she’s not the one who’s walking like a drunk toddler,’ Faust pointed out in amusement. James groaned internally but didn’t argue with the spirit.

It didn’t take long before James finally got his footing, his balance still a little off, but he wasn’t actively trying to shift his weight too much. James sighed, feeling how the ship rocked against the waves.

“Does it usually move around this much?” He asked the shaman, who shrugged.

“Haven’t been at sea long enough to tell,” Dahlia answered. James scratched at his beard in thought as he felt a spray of frigid sea water speckle all over his face and cloak, making him instinctively spit out the salty water.

“Ugh,” James groaned, wiping his face. This was going to take some time to get used to.

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The sun soon rose higher, its light slowly being covered by the gray clouds that inhabited the sky. James was resting on a tied-down crate, his hands holding him in place as the ship sailed. Everyone else seemed to be busy with either adjusting the sails or steering the ship. Helen and Haggard were at the wheel, navigating the steerer as Helen watched her compass.

“How long until we get to Vindis?” James asked the shaman, who was at the railing nearby, watching the waves.

“Depends, really. Vindis is a floating city, so it moves around a bit. I’d say,” the shaman cupped her chin in thought before answering, “around four hours to a couple days, at most,” she answered, shrugging. James wasn’t sure if he heard Dahlia right.

“What? What kind of guess is that?” He asked, understandably confused. Dahlia raised an eyebrow as if James had told a terrible joke.

“James, I don’t think you’ve fully comprehended how big Valenfrost is. Valenfrost is huge.” The shaman raised her hands, spreading her arms wide as if to show scale. “I mean, it could be its own continent if it wasn’t for all this ocean in the way. I’m pretty sure it’s bigger than some continents, actually… Like Areno or Kasan,” she mentioned nonchalantly. James raised a confused eyebrow.

“You know I don’t have a clue of what those places are, right?” He asked.

Dahlia stifled a laugh. “Yes, I forgot. Sorry, sometimes you act so natural here it’s hard to remember that you came from an entirely different world. You really fit in this world. Despite your weird wording and strangeness.”

“You still haven’t told me much of this world besides Yorktown, Norum, and the Lumen Kingdom,” James pointed out.

“Well, what do you want to know?” Dahlia asked. James thought the question over, wondering about some questions he had in the past.

“Let’s start with the other continents. You and Seamus have mentioned a couple of them but never really delved into them,” he finally asked.

Dahlia listened and nodded, looking up at the black sails in thought. “Well, let’s start with the closest one. Azurvale. The entire continent is west of Valenfrost, bordering near Norum and the black sea. The Lumen Kingdom rules the northern and eastern coast of the continent, not to mention a good chunk of the mainland. They used to rule a lot more ground centuries ago, but the rise of Cyrus’ Legion and the Kingdom of Steryos pushed them back ages ago. I don’t recall who rules the western part of Azurvale currently, but I hear rumors it’s mainly controlled by a republic nowadays.”

James could feel Faust shift in his body, his voice coming up in his mind.

‘Ask her what happened to Cyrus’ Legion,’ Faust demanded, his sudden energy surprising James. James wanted to ask why, but decided against it. If this was going to restore any sense of memory into Faust, James wasn’t going to object.

“What was Cyrus’ Legion? What happened to it?”

The shaman furrowed her brow in thought. “Details are sparse, probably since I actually got most of my history through books and stories available to me. From what I can remember, Cyrus’ Legion was a rebellion against the Lumen Kingdom, hellbent on burning it all to the ground. The civilization ruled under the Legion was one of the ancient ones, dating back to the days of myths and legends… like the four kings or Caelus–”

“Another world.” James interrupted her tangent, letting her know he was still clueless about everything.

“Right…” Dahlia coughed, giving James a nervous smile. “From what I can recall from what the bards say, the legion fell apart after the Battle for Artois. The details after are fuzzy, since some legends say that the very first Lumen Knights burned every record of the legion after it fell.”

‘Bullshit,’ Faust commented. ‘The legion wouldn’t fall to some tin soldiers playing hero…’

James furrowed his brow.

‘What makes you say that? You died before the legion went down. Before the first Lumen Knights appeared, right?’

James could feel a headache coming on as Faust’s anger flared, a familiar sharp pain coursing through his brain.

‘I fought the very first Lumen Knight,’ Faust spoke. No…. It was both of their voices.

“Oh, not again,” they both breathed out, their eyes rolling to the back of their skull as they fell onto the deck, the world going black.