A Path to Redemption: Ray Skyheart's Struggle in search of the Lost Kingdom of Khaenri'ah.

He had spent the last five hundred years searching for something. He knew not what. But tonight, he finally found it.

Ray Skyheart leaned back in his chair and ran a hand through his long hair, clasping it behind his head as he stared at the empty glass in front of him. A thought crossed his mind—a very uncharacteristic thought—that he should pay more attention to where he was drinking, but then he remembered that no one would care. So he let himself get drunk in the most disgusting dive he could find, and it wasn’t until now that he realized how much he liked the place.

The smell of urine, sweat, and vomit mixed with smoke and death hung in the air around him like nostalgia, reminding him of his home. The dingy walls were decorated with pictures of all sorts of people who probably weren’t supposed to be there. There was even a painting of a pale-skinned maiden wearing a strange dress that seemed to glow from within herself. Ray lifted his drink and drained it before stumbling off his stool to take a closer look at her face.

She had large eyes and long hair that fell down past her shoulders in waves. She had a small nose and plump lips that were set in a gentle smile. She had freckles on her cheeks, like herself. But she was also surrounded by strange symbols that Ray didn’t understand and couldn’t read anyhow—he knew only his own language, which was nobody’s language anymore.

He peered closer into her eyes as if trying to peer into her soul, which was probably why she looked away shyly when their eyes met over the bar top; her cheeks flushed red as she looked down at the floor. Ray cleared his throat awkwardly and took another step forward so he could look at her without moving his head too much; just enough so that she wouldn’t think he was staring at her, although after five hundred years it's kind of hard not to stare at someone like this girl, especially since everyone else is dead and you're all alone... but she wasn't alone either, right? She was with everyone else here at this dive!

Her gaze remained fixed on the floor until Ray decided to sit back down on his stool and pick up the glass that sat beside him for some reason. His memory told him it was empty but somehow it still managed to hold liquid when Ray picked it up; or maybe Ray didn't remember what the glass looked like when it wasn't full? He shrugged as he brought it up to his lips and took another sip from it despite its emptiness—after five hundred years there's not much point in paying attention to details anymore, is there?

Then something caught his eye out of the corner of his vision: one of those strange symbols on the picture of "The Maiden" began glowing when Ray looked hard enough at it, and soon enough both symbol and picture began glowing bright enough that they could be seen even in daylight! It really looked quite odd, but after five hundred years who can tell what's odd anymore? After all, nothing seems very weird if you've been alone for half a millennium...

"What do you mean I'm not allowed inside?" snapped Ray angrily as he stood before an enormous metal gate blocking the entrance to this mansion or whatever this place is supposed to be called! "I'm not going anywhere!"