Chapter 653 - 653: Meeting The Dead

Lucifer didn't know what happened to him after he had dropped in the middle of the hallway. All he knew was that his body was acting strange and wasn't in his control. 

Before long, he had lost consciousness, but not entirely. Momentarily, everything turned dark before he lost a sense of his body and all the feeling. 

However, before long, he finally saw the light again. The world turned bright, revealing snow everywhere. 

He looked around, noticing he was in the middle of a place filled with snow. There was only snow as far as his eyes could see. There was also a continuous snowfall. 

He started feeling cold, only to notice that he wasn't wearing any shoes. He was barefoot on the snow. Let alone feet; his entire body was naked. He didn't have any clothes. 

He raised his hand, casting a barrier around his body to protect him from snow while floating slightly upwards to get his feet away from the cold ground. 

Naked in such weather, he felt extremely cold despite his high resistance. 

He had almost no external protection against cold. 

Lucifer could only wrap his arms around his body, feeling cold. 

"What place is this?" He wondered, frowning. It was like a place where no life existed. 

He started flying around, trying to see if he could find anyone to get some answers. 

He didn't even have his glasses to get answers. 

However, he couldn't find anyone in the surrounding area. 

"Am I all alone in this place?" he wondered, but he didn't stop flying. 

Fortunately, he didn't have to search for long in this cold snow. Before long, he was able to find a cave in the distance, and he could see a glimpse of light coming from inside the cave. 

He flew straight towards the cave and entered. The cave was also cold, but it gave him a bit of relief, all because he could see fire there. 

He didn't know who lit a fire there, but it looked like the work of a human as he could see many sticks lying in the distance to continue the fire in case it slowed down. 

Moreover, there was a bad lying nearby. He couldn't find any person there though. The cave was void of any person. 

He flew straight to the fire, not thinking too much about the surroundings. He needed some warmth at the moment. Finally, after reaching near the fire, he received some heat.

Still, staying without clothes was making him feel odd. He flew to the bag and opened it to check what was inside. He really hoped that there were going to be some clothes inside as well. 

Fortunately, he was right. There were indeed some clothes. And they seemed to belong to a man as well. 

The clothes were slightly loose to him. They seemed to belong to a bulky person. On the other hand, Lucifer was more on the slimmer side. 

Still, there was no other option. It wasn't as if he could find a shop there. He simply wore the clothes before sitting near the fire to give himself some relaxation. 

As he calmed down more, he decided to check the bag more to see what else was there. 

The bag only seemed to contain the essentials. There were clothes, tools to light fire, a compass, etc. It looked like the bag of an explorer. 

There was also a map on the bag, neatly tucked in. 

Lucifer opened the map, trying to get some clue about his surroundings. 

"This map... It's a world map. And the cross... Is it where we are? The Frozen Land of Yatva?" Lucifer said, frowning. "If that's the case, Elisium shouldn't be far. It should be in North."

Lucifer checked the compass. "In that direction."

"Instead of waiting, I should leave to get out of this place fast." He stood up. 

He had already memorized the map, so he kept it back. But he did take the compass without caring who it belonged to. He was going to need it without his glasses.

Keeping the compass in his pocket, he started leaving the cave and the warmth behind. 

He left the cave and prepared to fly. 

"Those look like my clothes. Are you a thief?" Just as Lucifer was about to fly, he heard a voice. 

"I needed it. So I'm taking it. Don't try to stop me if you don't want to di-"

Lucifer lazily said, turning in the direction the voice came from, but as soon as he looked there, he choked on his own words, unable to finish his sentence. 

"This can't be!" he exclaimed, taking a step back. "Ah, that's right! I must be dreaming! I'm not actually here! There is no way this is happening in reality!"

"Ah, don't worry, young man. I'm not going to steal the clothes back. Since you took them, maybe you needed them more. It doesn't matter. You can go. I won't stop you," the man said, smiling. 

"However, I do have one piece of advice. Don't threaten someone. Not everyone is going to be as nice as me," he added before he stepped inside the cave, walking to the fire. 

Lucifer stood stunned, unable to speak. He could just watch the man sit before the fire, unable to take his eyes off. 

"How could it be possible... Is it truly a dream? Doesn't look like that. Then how? How is he here?" 

The man who was sitting before the fire had a bulky body, but not too big. It suited his physique. Moreover, he had short dark hair and a serene-looking face. 

The most intriguing feature of the man was his beautiful golden iris. 

He was only wearing a casual white jacket which wasn't too thick either. 

"Are you going, or do you want to sit with me and take some heat from this fire?" A calm voice came from inside the cave. 

The man had noticed that Lucifer hadn't left and was just looking in his direction. 

Lucifer clenched his fist as he walked inside the cave again. 

He stopped before the man with the fire flickering between them. 

"May I ask why you're staring at me like that?" the man asked, throwing more sticks into the fire. 

"What is your name?" Lucifer asked grimly. 

He knew that everything depended on this one answer! Was this a dream? Was this reality? Or was it a mixture of both? Or was it something even more extraordinary?

"My name?" the man asked, amused. "I'm not sure why you want to know. But I'm known as Zale Azarel.. I'm from the nation of Elisium. What about you? What's your name?"