Chapter 81: Brand New Day, Part 1

"Freaking Hel," I cursed.

The pain in my head, like a hot poker lancing my brain, vanished in the seconds it took for me to breathe the fresh air again. 

I was standing just outside the tower's front steps and staring up at a now familiar early morning sky with clouds the color of molten gold. The lone sun rotating around Yggdrasil was just beginning to climb up from the south horizon too. 

Yep, unlike with Earth, this solar system's heavenly bodies were wheeling around the great tree, because the Realm Ethereal was the actual center of the realmsverse. It was the nexus from which all life was born, the literal granddaddy realm of them all. 

"It feels like I just died," I grunted.

"That's what we all say after a celebration like last night's revelry," answered a gruff voice.