Rozelle propped himself up as he finished insulting whoever had caused him to revert in age and turned him this young. An image flashed in his mind of the silhouette he had seen in the abyss, and a shiver instantly silenced him.
He pursed his lips and shook off the uncomfortable feeling of fear. Then, he stepped north, only glancing at the mountains, forest, and ocean.
As an emperor who ruled his empire and a general who governed the wars that occurred Rozelle trusted his instinctive judgment much more than any result he would gain from thinking things through.
Feeling stiff, he straightened his military uniform and loosened it slightly as he walked. He brushed his hand through his chestnut-colored hair putting a strand of hair to hover in front of his face.
Feeling more impatient than usual, maybe a result of the recent events, the young man kicked the ground causing dust to rise. Realizing how irritable he had begun he waved the dust away with his hand, preventing it from entering his eyes or mouth.
Rozelle scoffed at himself silently before looking around for signs of anyone else. Recalling the hundreds of lights he had seen in the abyss, unless he had been hallucinating he shouldn't be the only one around here.
Time passed as Rozelle finally reached the outer rim of the ivory forest. The blue sun shone from the top of the sky as it had become noon. Rozelle carefully entered the forest and approached the nearest tree.
He extended out his hand and softly touched the tree's gray bark. It felt smooth and a little stony, aside from that the feel was just like any other tree. Not noticing anything off he redirected his attention to the white leaves.
He walked to a low branch and plucked off a leaf with relative ease. As he fiddled with it he noticed inside of the leaf was something that resembled thin red veins. Rozelle let out a sigh as he let the leaf fall out of his hand.
"Well I shouldn't try to eat that." he said to himself as he started to walk deeper into the forest while rubbing his empty stomach.
Rozelle hadn't felt hungry ever since he woke up so he assumed that after so long there was a chance he'd start to feel the starvation. On the way he had at least confirmed the grass on the plains was edible although he did not like its taste.
This was why, since he was in a forest he was searching for a substitute. He wasn't planning to eat the leaves that seemed to have blood coursing through their 'veins'. That might even be poisonous to him.
Thinking of the future, Rozelle changed his mind and collected some leaves and loose branches from the trees, something told them they could hold some high value, they had a mystic air to them.
The veins reminded him of his jet-black sword Albion in some way, despite their colors contrasting each other. Whilst venturing deeper into the pale forest, Rozelle's expression turned grimmer.
Visible deep red lines were present in not only the ashen leaves but also the gray trunk. The closer he got to what would be the center of the woods the more red was present in the trees.
As if they were consuming blood instead of water... Coming to a realization Rozelle's eyes contracted as he plucked a crimson leaf. Almost immediately a red liquid spread across his fingertips from the leaf's cut.
The smell of rotten blood filled Rozelle's nose as he frowned. He flicked the leaf away and wiped the blood against the tree. Narrowing his eyes, Rozelle continued walking after increasing his vigilance.
After a few more minutes of walking, the ivory leaves fully turned into a deep blood red. I'm starting to wonder why my intuition told me to go to the center of this forest. Rozelle mulled over his thoughts, only now considering his instinctive decision.
It was then that something snapped inside of his mind. How do I know where the center is!? As the thought struck him like a bolt of lightning he arrived at the center of the vast ivory and crimson forest.
In front of him was a lake of crimson blood. Rozelle's eyes contracted as his body tensed. Even his usual instinct to summon Albion was overwhelmed by uncontrollable emotions welling up within him.
There was curiosity, relief, joy, peace, and sadness until finally, it turned into anger. Rozelle saw his red reflection in the lake of blood. His breathing was rapid, and his body felt like it was both heating up and freezing.
His chestnut-colored hair turned into a more saturated amber, his brown eyes turned crimson, and his light brown skin was tinged with a transparent yellow. "Unforgivable." A heavy voice resounded from Rozelle.
Firery embers shot out from his skin, some fell onto the bloody lake and evaporated while some made contact with the leaves and instantly turned into an inferno. Fire engulfed the trees surrounding the lake and the extreme heat forced the blood to begin to boil.
The blaze burned Rozelle's military garment and instead became a cloak surrounding his body. Pillars of fire rose and the surrounding winds began to escalate.
'Rozelle' glanced at the lake of blood and walked away. With each step, he left a frozen footstep that quickly turned into a puddle of water. Smoke filled the air creating a veil blocking out the blue sun.
In mere moments a large portion of the ivory forest turned to ash. In the place where the lake of blood had been there was now a crater. Inside the crater laid a sphere, a dozen anguished faces, arms, legs, and torsos protruded out of it.
They were crushed and mangled, blood continued to flow out of it beginning to ever so slowly fill the crater. Within the ball of despair and pain was a young man. He hugged his knees, burrowing his face, and formed a ball. His voice was weak as he let out a plea. "I don't want to be alone..."
...
The grass on the plains froze before shattering from the encompassing heat. With each step he took, flames flared, scorching the air and covering the ground in ash. Gusts wrapped around him, and the ground shook beneath his feet, forming cracks.
His mouth closed and opened repeatably before tightly shutting together. Breaths of flame wriggled out between his lips like worms crawling out the ground.
Embers of flames and drops of ice whirled around conflicting with each other and causing large gusts of wind. Hours had passed and Rozelle felt his body begin to tire. As he did his thoughts hazily returned to him.
His emotions were still running rampant with no signs of stopping and his body still moved without his consent. The only thing he could do was watch powerlessly as his body exhausted itself and caused disaster.
It was also at this time that Rozelle had the time to consider what was happening. with blurred eyes, he watched the embers turn into blazes and the snowflakes into frosted ice. A burning sensation spread across his skin and it felt like his body was being charred by the fire enveloping him.
Never have I controlled fire or ice, let alone the other elements. Without a doubt, they're coming from me though.
Rozelle continued to consider everything that was happening. This started happening since the abyss, I woke up there with a painful sensation. Was it that? Since I'm also unable to properly control my emotions they must have been similarly affected.
But why? What's the reason? He racked his brain in an attempt to understand it. Ultimately he could only guess, without solid evidence, he couldn't reliably make any assumptions.
Then what about that forest? I didn't suffer from anything after the abyss until I arrived at that lake. Just as the thought struck him Rozelle's body stopped moving. In front of him was something worse than a natural disaster as an inferno collided with a blizzard, a storm of thunder above it amidst the tremors of the earth.
Rozelle didn't pay attention to it anymore, his focus was on the figure who remained unperturbed within all of that chaos.
Its silvery white fur reflected in his eyes as its azure eyes ignited with a similarly azure flame. The fire engulfed Rozelle's vision seemingly corroding all of his thoughts.
The pillars of fire, the gusts of frozen wind, the tremors on the ground, and the thunders in the sky faded away slowly. Only leaving the temperatures and the damage to the surrounding nature as proof of their existence.
Rozelle's amber hair regained its chestnut color, his crimson eyes turned brown with only hints of crimson within. His empty eyes regained their luster and reason. His body finally felt like it belonged to him again.
He took in a deep breath of simultaneous hot and cold air and heaved a sigh of relief. His eyes turned to look at the beast of silver in front of him. A halo of azure flames wrapped around its body as it looked at him with its deep azure eyes.
The majestic wolf slowly approached Rozelle who didn't show any response of caution to it. When it came within arms reach it lowered its head towards him. Rozelle felt like it wanted to be petted so he extended his hand and petted it softly.
When he did he noticed the fire of blue didn't burn or even feel hot. Maybe I've just gotten used to the heat. Rozelle joked to himself before returning to the thought and wondering if it was true.
While restricted he noticed the wolf had turned into a puff of azure fire and dissipated throughout the air. Rozelle watched silently, leaving the remaining blue embers to be carried away by a gust of wind. He thanked the beast in his heart. He didn't know what it was or what they did but he could only be thankful to it for saving him.
Crack... Crack crack!
Instantly Rozelle felt a surge of anger erupt again. He turned his body to the cracking sound behind him. He temporarily suppressed the anger as he watched the sky now in front of him fracture. It rapidly deepened as tiny particles fell from the fracture. Rozelle's body tensed as a shadow on his arm seemed to come alive.
it twisted and interlocked together forming into a pitch blade blade that seemed to suck the surrounding light.
The blood-colored gem on Albion shone menacingly as the fracture shattered into a vibrant rift. Energy swept across the burned plains as a figure stepped out of it. In front of Rozelle was a figure wearing a coat and leather boots.
They turned their head to look at him revealing an expressionless white mask.