"Now where the heck am I?"

The grassland before him was vast. Much more vast than he had ever imagined for an artificial landmass.

"Let's see...based on the road sign from a couple hundred meters ago, I should be at Lothargien by nightfall."

Ashen, a misanthropic young man, looks around him but sees only grass, soil, and the very long line of asphalt that was the highway cutting across the grassland.

He sighs.

"If they wanted to meet me somewhere no one would even think of attacking, they might as well sent someone in disguise to pick me up...just walking around is taking me too long to reach my destination. Plus-"

He hears subdued rumblings in the distance.

"-It's gonna rain hard tonight. I don't want to get wet since I don't have a change of clothes and I'm hungry and finally, this highway is bloody long!", grumbling so, he proceeds to continue walking.

His destination, the city of Lothargien a few dozen kilometers away.

Ashen knows, that with his walking speed alone, he could cover such a distance just in time for him to reach the city and meet up with the person he was supposed to meet. In his mind however, he wished that they would just pick him up from the international airport rather than have him walk hundreds of kilometers just to meet them.

But somehow, something in the air is telling him that he would be better off not speaking like he already won.

"You have got to be kidding me..."

Just as he had thought that something was off, he could see dark clouds forming in the distance. The rumbling of the clouds getting louder and louder heralding the coming of rain.

"Is it just me or is the world planning on proving me wrong every single time?! First was the pirates attacking the damned ship just as I was thinking that pirates wouldn't be brave enough to attack such a huge ship; and now the friggin storm?! Give me a break!"

Cursing his own luck, Ashen decides to run for it.

5 minutes into his mad dash, the first drops of rain started to fall and he could not help himself from cursing eloquently in his mind on just how much the world wants to tick him off by always throwing off his expectations.

Truth be told, ever since he decided to answer the call of a certain 'personage' and make his way to the city of Lothargien in the Neo Biome, Aeternitas, Countless mishaps kept occurring to him every step of the way causing him to deviate from his plans; from taking another path to changing his schedule almost every moment he decides to just sit and relax.

It made him think that maybe someone is manipulating him from the shadows to force him to keep moving and it pisses him off. Being forced to dance to someone else's tune is something he really hates.

"I swear...if this involves some cult hidden in the shadows or some magical creature who just fancied messing with me, I will literally beat them up until they die!"

He muttered grimly to himself as he pulled over his hood while the rain gradually poured ever more strongly.

His feet, making pattering sounds as he stepped on the wet asphalt.

Soon, the rain turned into a full-blown storm that even he did not expect causing him to lose his bearings and even end up losing sight of the highway.

"Not even 10 seconds into this freaky storm and I get lost immediately?! What the hell?!"

Now his steps made squishing sounds as the asphalt turned to mud. The air, now rife with the biting chill brought about by the howling winds and the land was pelted by raindrops that poured down mercilessly.

"Where...tsk! Where am I exactly?!"

He turned his head to the sides, hoping to find signs of the highway he was following but to no avail. All he could see was a blurry sight.

Cursing his bad luck again he decides to just continue onwards. Thinking that remaining here would just kill him and in doing so, not even an hour after he had started wandering aimlessly like a lost child, the mud gave way to concrete.

Little did he know, that all his expectations have begun turning for the worst the moment he stepped foot onto the concrete, and into the start of his story with the one person he would undoubtedly refer to as the person he hates most in the world.