As he paid his respects, to well, himself, a soft humming melody would embrace the forest, dancing along with the soft piano keys. It was a surreal moment for William.
He exited the clearing and continued walking forward, exploring this strange, ethereal area.
He passed by countless colossal oak trees, taller than the cathedral from the outside.
'How is this possible...Some kind of space manipulation?'
As he walked through the forest, he started to hear whispers in the form of oak leaves shaking, like the forest itself was trying to talk to him.
Then, a ghostly figure appeared in front of him. Clad in all-black and wielding a harrowing blood-orange scythe.
"Are you the Lord of Shadows?"
The figure didn't respond; it simply approached him and readied its stance for battle.
'What is going on today?'
William readied his bident and charged at the figure. Dueling him with melee prowess alone.
The figure's gaze briefly lingered on the bident before resuming concentration.
Though, due to his average attribute, he didn't make it very far before the figure took the upper hand and began overwhelming him with a weapon that wasn't even suitable for combat. Someone of high skill indeed.
Eventually, William was forced into a position where defeat was imminent if he didn't use his powers, so he activated The Record of the Odyssey, Chaos Edition. And summoned the powers of light to fight against the ghostly figure.
He mixed in rays of light with his attacks in an attempt to deal damage.
With the type advantage, he was able to equalize the battle, yet he could not tip the scales in his favor.
"Who are you? If not the Lord of Shadows." He inquired.
The figure simply looked at William before bowing, dissipating into the air.
'He stared at the bident for a little while there, and the bident is forged from underworld souls...An envoy of the God of the Dead? But how? Characters are just that, characters, fake beings envisioned by man and created by the Library. They've been proven again and again to be unable to exist in our world, as if rejected by it. I could be dead wrong, though, and it's one of the Lord of Shadow's minions... William pondered whilst staring at the place the figure disappeared from.
Not being able to come to a concrete conclusion, he sighed and carried on walking.
After a while, he came to a small open area, surrounded by a plethora of trees. It seemed to be a field of sorts, one that planted crops of one type.
Inside the fields was a middle-aged man, aged around twenty-six, no, more like around thirty-one. He had pink hair the color of a pig's skin, and wore a golden crown with several different coloured jewels embedded into it. He seemed rather regal, lively, yet distant.
[Progress: 17.23%]
A wave of Nostalgia hit William, memories from his childhood surfacing for the first time in a while.
The memory of a young William sitting on his family's couch, watching videos online from his favorite content creator, surfaced. He was funny, entertaining, but wholesome and kind at the same time. A legendary human being.
The next memory that surfaced was a notice about that very same content creator developing a terrible illness, one that might have had to amputate his right arm to get rid of. Though he asked them not to, after all, without it, he couldn't be the same content creator everyone loved him for being.
The last, a memory of two brothers excitedly clicking on that very same content creator's newest video, hoping to find good news about their situation. Just for it to be the last video they ever truly posted themselves.
In the next moment, that field of crops disappeared, along with the pink-haired individual.
However, in the air appeared a small piglet with iridescent white wings and a golden halo, soaring through the air.
William smiled lightly before carrying on walking.
'Rest In Peace.' He thought, though it was unclear who he was targeting with those words.
Some of the saddest memories are those when someone or something you made memories with ends up becoming a memory in itself. But it's alright to feel sad, it'd be sad if you didn't.
As he continued walking, he heard the sound of oak leaves rustling once more, creating a sound similar to a young maiden's voice.
This time, he could barely make out what it was saying.
"Aspirations, Goals, Motives, Wishes, Desires, Hope." The voice was extremely faint, and kept repeating these six words over and over again.
'What the hell is this place?' A sigh of confusion emanated from William.
The voices permeated his mind. At first, they were subtle; the ravings slowly grew in strength, layering on top of each other, as if trying to induce madness. Like a free trial of schizophrenia.
Thankfully, due to a certain glorious Narrator blessing William with his speech at all times, he had developed quite the resistance to bizarre sounds.
'The one benefit I get from sacrificing my moments of peace.'
Thankfully, the song of the forest was rather nice overall, so the mild schizophrenia was a fair trade-off.
William continued in his stride, inside the wondrous forest that seemed to house many strange phenomena, just wanting to explore the place. After all, it seemed relatively harmless, aside from that strange figure from earlier.
He walked on and on, encountering strange areas along the way.
First off, he saw a medieval land of wonder, with several oddly dressed individuals walking around in a common village. They wielded staffs, axes, and swords, and emanated Ingenuity Signatures so great that it could put some of the best verifiers of the world to shame.
There were civilians of all races and sizes: humans, elves, beastfolk, halflings, and even dragons. It was a stupendous sight for William, who was a fantasy nerd growing up.
As he stepped into a local tavern, he had to seriously question where in the world he was.
'Have I somehow been summoned by someone else into a novel via DNA? Like I did with the King? I seriously doubt the cathedral could hold a world this large. Is this karma? Nah, that implies I did something deserving of punishment. That's a joke.' William thought to himself like a psychopath.
Inside the tavern, there were bustling groups of adventurers, academy researchers, scholars of all sorts, mages, and bards.
The atmosphere was lively and exploding with cheer, a stark difference from the peace outdoors. Yet welcoming in a sense.
A drunkard approached him, holding a lyre, with a grin on his face. He was dressed rather old-fashioned, with a distinct musician's charm.
Greetings there! Here's to good mead!" He held up a mug of mead and chugged it down.
William smiled politely and ordered a glass of beer. He didn't drink at all, but the setting invoked a certain desire in him, so he decided, why not.
Whilst taking a sip of nice beer, he chatted with some adventurers, getting to know these strangers he had just met.