The inside of the castle was no less gaudy than the outside which made alastair thing that the royal involved in its construction was a wasteful individual. this is not to say that he doesn't understand why a palace would be built in such a manner since the opposite was in fact the truth. alastair was aware that kingdoms built like this as a show of prosperity sort of like telling everyone who visits that the kingdom is extremely wealthy. alastair simply valued utility over such pretty but frail things which is mostly because of growing up in cobblestone.
The queen led the party to a magic powered elevator on the left side of the castle that slowly lowered for about five minutes. the vault of the royals was situated over a pit of glowing green waterlike substance that made one nervous to look at. the path from the elevator seemed straight forward but alastair had a sneaking suspicion that was only because the queen was leading the way. this belief was further solidified in his mind when he saw the state of the insides of the vault. the only thing in the vault just so happened to be the exact blue orb that the group was here for.
This was obviously suspicious no matter how you thought about it since there was no way that such an old royal family only had a single treasure. the queen casually walked into the vault and removed the orb from its pedestal before walking back out and handing it to alastair with a calm smile. the party left the city after that while heading through the snaerfell towards their next destination , arboria. naturally the party killed all of the monsters along the way while camping out at the end of the days.
On the last day of the trip to arboria the party came across an amazing sight. there was a huge lake right outside the path to the arborian highlands that was completely frozen. however it was clear from what was in the center of the lake below the surface that it wasn't frozen naturally. below the surface of the lake a massive serpentine figure easily thirty yards long with short antler like horns on its head lay frozen. this was another variant of dragon type monster known as boreal serpents. this particular monster though seemed to be even more special since its scales were longer and of a golden color.
The group ignored this monster once they confirmed that it was permanently sealed below the ice and soon stepped into the arborian highlands. the further the group went into the highlands the hotter the temperature got until it was pleasantly warm with an cool breeze. according to the twins this change in temperature was because of the close proximity of Yggdrasil. there were a few more powerful monster types in the arborian highlands such as cyclops and a bunch of swarm monsters that had three different colors.
These monsters met the same fate as most monsters in alastairs path , being used as experience points. the arborian highlands stretched on for three days before the group saw arboria in the distance just under the world tree herself. the architecture was very similar to ancient Greece from alastairs old world including a large statue of the saint serenica. the people of arboria seemed thrilled when they saw the twins but most were gathered with a couple holding an infant. and old man anointed the child before sayin a ceremonial speech about Yggdrasil and her leaves before noticing the party.
The next events played out the same way as in the game with the old man talking about how the twins were sent on their journey as the reincarnation of the sage serenica. this time however the old man frowned when he turned to look at alastair. "curious , you are obviously the luminary but at the same time you seem to be an entirely separate entity like your body and soul are not completely in alignment." the old man said making alastair visibly stiffen. this reaction was noticed by the rest of the party who looked at alastair curiously.
"It is better if we continue this somewhere private." alastair said seriously. "of course , please follow me." the old man said before leading the party to a small room with all of the walls covered in bookshelves and a small chair in the corner. alastair sighed when the entire group looked at him for an explanation. "when i was seven i fell out of a tree in the village and struck my head on the ground. when i woke up i acted like i had amnesia but that wasn't the truth." he said seriously.
None of the group interrupted him as he spoke of waking up with the full knowledge of his previous life as well as the knowledge that this life's version of him had which was admittedly lacking. he than reveals his theory that the dissonance the old man felt was because of the influence of his previous life. once he was done talking he noticed that rather than being upset most of the party looked at him with pity instead. "a most curious tale indeed and while i am no expert in souls your theory does make sense to some degree." the old man said honestly.