[ After more than one thousand years, Jugram Haschwalth dies.

He had always expected blankness, the vast expanse of nonexistence when his soul returned to Yhwach's—not whatever this is. The fact of the matter is that he's still conscious, physically healed of the wounds that ended him, in a place where nothing living seems to grow. There are dead bodies here, rotting with their limbs bent at unnatural angles; lava periodically erupts from boils in the hard earth. Some sort of massive salamander roves around the place in small groups, and judging by the wide berth the people who seem more comfortable in their surroundings give them, they're probably aggressive or poison to the touch or both.

It's not a pleasant environment, but His Majesty was gracious in allowing him to remain alive after his death, after Jugram failed him so egregiously. (Such is the only possible explanation for this turn of events, as far as he is concerned.)

Option A—

His perception of spiritual pressure feels dulled, muffled, as though his soul is trying to listen with hands over its ears. It's an uneasy feeling, a sense of blindness that raises his guard all but immediately. It's quite possible for a character to catch him simply standing there as he orients himself: slight though he may be built, Jugram cuts a formidable figure at 6'3", with a thin, severe face and flaxen hair that ends several inches past his lumbar spine. It's easier to focus on pinpointing where all of the other souls are in relation to his own if he himself is not in motion, so here he stays for a few seconds, pale eyes narrowed and focused on an arbitrary point in the distance as if seeing something the others around him don't.

Option B—

It doesn't take the salamander things too long to find him. They seem to be attracted to any potential prey that moves, no matter how much larger than them or wider than their maws it may be, as is indicated by the way three of them charge in his direction, the putrid smell of their decaying flesh almost unbearable.

The smell is the worst part. The rest is of no concern to him, the grandmaster of His Majesty's Sternritter—he doesn't need to use anything other than the blade of his broadsword to strike against them, which is fortunate, given the seal that seams to be capping his powers. He hasn't lost the rudimentary ability to control footholds of reishi above the ground, however—they lunge at him a few times, more aggressively once the first has been decapitated, but he's able to leap back and into the air to avoid them. Probably quite a show to the human onlooker at the edge of his senses, but he's not concerned with that right now. ]

[ Hunting the beast that's been terrorizing the humans here shouldn't be overly difficult, even with his abilities dampened. The journey through the woods is eerily reminiscent of his early days, of hunting much smaller game in the forests of the Northern Kingdom—and then of training with Bazz, a thought which he brings to a halt as soon as he has it as a matter of old routine.

He's eventually able to track the thing by following the signature of the only source of reiatsu anywhere near him, at least at the time. He's a few strikes into the confrontation when a secondary source comes up behind him; for a split second, Jugram turns his head, still fighting the vertigo that seems to be the creature's main attack, and issues a simple command— ]

Leave.

[ hit me baby! pretty open to whatever; it's safe to assume that jugram will be exploring and getting as much of a read on the place as he can. characters who can detect souls/spiritual energy/the like will be able to notice that this is someone who is very, very powerful. and ofc a blanket 'feel free to have them recognize his reiatsu' to castmates! if you'd like to plot smth out feel free to shoot me a pm at this journal. ]