Chapter 1 follows the story of Ragnar McRyan and his quest to find the missing children of Strathbaile.
Ragnar and the Mystery of the Missing Children[]
The chapter opens with all of the Burland palace guards (including Ragnar McRyan) assembled for an announcement by King Burnard. He informs the guards that he had heard troubling reports that several of the children of Strathbaile have disappeared. He then orders them to investigate this problem at once, and dismisses the troops. A lady then approaches Ragnar to beg him to seek out and bring her child back safely.
Ragnar then proceeds to the town proper and finds Aigneas just outside her house, pacing while she waits for her husband, Angus, to return. When he arrives at Strathbaile, he finds a man who seems to have mentally regressed to childhood who goes by the name Angus, who was jailed for theft.
Having no other leads, he returns to Burland and informs Aigneas of his findings. She accompanies him to the Strathbaile jail, and restores Angus to normal, causing him to reveal the location of a secret "playground" known only to the children. Entering this cave, he hears a mysterious voice leading him to a specific treasure chest containing a set of Talaria. He also found a healslime named Healie who wished to become human. Hoping that travelling with a human will bring it closer to fulfilling its wish, it joins Ragnar on his adventures.
After leaving the cave, Ragnar tries on the taleria, only to be teleported to the mysterious island tower. There he see a young boy being roughly carried further into the tower. Following, he eventually finds the missing children of Strathbaile, and Psaro's Pawn, who tells Ragnar that he is tasked with finding and killing the hero before he can become strong enough to challenge Psaro.
Ragnar then fights, and defeats, Psaro's pawn, but the monster's last words, that other forces are hunting the hero even as they speak, weighs on his mind, so, after returning the children, he asks of King Burnard leave to seek out and protect the hero, which is granted.