There was nothing. Nothing to see, hear, or feel. Just nothing. This was not how Elise remembered traveling through a Gate.
Fear started to rise within her. At least she still had emotions. While trying to understand what was happening, she felt another presence beside her. She panicked at first, but quickly realized it was familiar. The presence radiated a comforting feeling. Suddenly, Elise experienced something new.
"Relax, I am helping you hold your consciousness together." The Traveler's voice came from nowhere, yet everywhere at once.
"We got interrupted while entering the designated Realm."
Interrupted? By what? She instantly regretted asking. As if answering her thoughts, another colossal presence appeared close to them. For a fleeting moment, Elise thought it would crush her solely with its Energy mass. But the Traveler held her together as promised, blocking most of the overwhelming pressure. What even was that?
"YOU ARE NOT WELCOME IN MY REALM." Whatever it was, Elise heard its voice inside her head. It said 'my Realm.' Was it the God of this Realm? She couldn't identify the speaker's gender from the voice, though it leaned slightly toward the feminine side.
"We are just travelers. Our friend lives here, so we wanted to visit him," the Traveler explained.
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE. YOU ARE THE ONE THEY CALL THE TRAVELER. THE TROUBLEMAKER. I DON'T NEED THE LIKES OF YOU IN MY REALM."
The Troublemaker?
"Why let him live here then?"
"WE HAVE A DEAL. HE IS PROTECTING MY REALM FROM THE LIKES OF YOU."
"Come on. Don't be like that. Why would I make trouble where my friend lives? We really need to see him. Can't you make an exception?"
It paused before answering. "I DON'T WANT ANY QUARREL WITH YOU. LEAVE, BEFORE I MAKE YOU."
"How about this: let's do the usual. I promise I will not harm your Realm in any way. I won't even use any Energy outside of my body."
It paused again to consider. "YOU WON'T USE ENERGY, YOU SAY. WOULD YOU MAKE A BIND ON IT?"
The Traveler hesitated. "Sure, why not?" This was the first time Elise had ever seen him hesitate. What was a Bind?
"IT IS SETTLED THEN. I DON'T WANT TO FEEL YOUR ENERGY ANYWHERE IN MY LAND. YOU WILL NOT HARM THE INTEGRITY OF MY REALM'S FABRIC. AND LASTLY, YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE ANY BIG MATERIAL CHANGES IN MY REALM. DO YOU ACCEPT?"
"Isn't that a bit much?"
"DO YOU ACCEPT!?"
"Yes, yes. Whatever. I probably won't need to do any of it since he lives here."
Elise didn't feel anything out of the ordinary. She simply opened her eyes to a totally different environment. They were still in a forest—or something similar to one. The plants and trees were nothing like Elise had ever seen. Every one of them was a warm shade of red, yellow, orange, pink, or purple. The trees were not overly dense, and each bore colorful flowers and fruits. Not just the trees, but the bushes and grass as well.
Elise could breathe normally, and there was no additional weight on her body, meaning the gravity must have been about the same as in her Realm. The Energy density was slightly higher, but not as intense as the first Realm they had visited.
From where she stood, she could see a distant mountain range. Waterfalls cascaded from it here and there, indicating there must be lakes or rivers nearby.
Everything was fascinatingly perfect, as if it had all been created specifically to be as beautiful as possible. No wonder the God of this Realm didn't want any trouble.
"Fascinating, isn't it?" the Traveler remarked, savoring the view beside her. "They sure put a lot of effort into making it this way." He began to walk.
Elise checked him for any differences as she followed, but there was nothing visible on him. "Are you alright?"
"Of course. Why shouldn't I be?" he replied, clearly avoiding the topic.
"That Goddess said something about a Bind. What is it?" she decided to ask directly.
"Ah, she just placed a condition on me to limit my Energy usage. It is nothing serious, don't worry."
"What if you break it? Or can you even break it?"
"I can, but I would rather not. I would end up losing a lot. Binds are an advanced topic; we will look into them sooner or later. Don't bother yourself with it for now." He abruptly closed the topic, and Elise did not push any further.
As they walked toward the mountain range, Elise noticed some bugs and small creatures along the way. They did not seem harmful; rather, they filled the forest with charming tunes, bringing another layer of depth to the already fascinating environment.
"Do you know where he lives?" she asked.
"Nope. I can't sense beyond a certain distance right now."
"So... where are we going?"
"We are just walking. I wanted to look at this place from above and experience more of this beautiful environment. He will find us anyway."
Elise didn't know he was the kind of person to appreciate such things. She wondered what else she would learn about him. Since he had never shared detailed stories of his past, Elise realized she didn't actually know him that well. What about the sword master he had mentioned?
"What is he like? The sword master, I mean."
"Oh, he is–"
His sentence was suddenly cut short. Before she could even realize what was happening, Elise found herself flying toward the sky. She had just been walking—what could have happened? Then, hearing a loud rumbling from below, she tried to turn mid-air to see what was going on.
Beneath her lay a giant red dust cloud, caused by a massive explosion.