Having finished their fishing trip and relocated the massive sturgeon they caught into Sophia’s domain, the group explored the lake and Gativa for a little while longer before eventually going inside the city and to the boat store Chloe and Steph had heard about before. There, each couple got their very own boat for future activities in Sophia's domain.
“Sophia!” Roughly two weeks had passed since they visited Gativa, and the group had been on their way again for quite some time after the tigers had a last meeting with the mayor to get everything ready for the official portal to the kingdom. While having breakfast in the cottage together, the blonde then was addressed in an excited tone by Aura.
“Yesh?” Still munching on a toast with some jam on it, the girl in question tilted her head.
“Finish chewing first!” Ari wasn’t a fan of her table manners.
“…” Chewing a couple of more times, Sophia then swallowed everything with a big gulp before looking at the female wolf again. “So, what can I do for you?”
“I went to check on the portals to my pine forest earlier, and everything is still on fire!”
“Ah.” The blonde awkwardly scratched her cheek. “Well, it can take weeks for especially disastrous forest fires to die out.”
“It HAS been weeks!” She didn’t buy the excuse.
“Fair enough.” There was nothing Sophia could say there, so she simply took another bite from her toast.
“You won’t get to drop the subject that easily!” Aura raised her voice. “You know about everything that is going on in your domain, so there’s no way you don’t know what’s up about my forest!”
“I do, in fact, know.” Taking a short glance at the jaguar, who was slowly shaking her head, the blonde made sure to properly swallow first before giving her reply. “I was a little concerned about you not liking what is going on, though. Ari has created a colossal mess, after all.”
“Why me?!” The girl in question got loud.
“You were the one who suggested flooding her forest with raw magic and igniting it, right?”
“I did.” She nodded. “Because I learned it from you. There’s no way you can blame me for that!”
“I don’t think you have seen me doing that in an area that is already rich in ambient magic.”
“How am I supposed to know?! I can’t see magic!”
“Well, you’ve created something beautiful, so I have to give you props in the end.”
“I don’t like any of this!” Ari glared at her. “Especially because I don’t understand why I’m getting framed here!”
“Long story short, Aura’s pine tree was already overflowing with magic because she really went all out on growing those trees.”
“Guilty as charged.” The female wolf nodded while sounding smug.
“And so, releasing even more magic, combined with ordering it to burn down everything, went at odds with the present magic busy growing the forest. Right now, the area is at the perfect equilibrium of flaming inferno and rebuilding the tree. The forest hasn’t stopped burning yet because the trees are being constantly regenerated by magic. You two, with Ari at the top, have managed to create an everlasting biome of fire.”
“N-No way…”
“Let’s go!” The reactions of the jaguar and wolf differed significantly.
“You’re not going to miss your pine forest?” Sophia tilted her head. “I thought you liked it so much?”
“I loved it a whole lot!” Aura nodded. “It can be rebuilt in a different place, though. Bigger and better than ever!” She wasn't bothered by it. “Having helped Ari make an everlasting and perpetually burning flaming inferno is an amazing byproduct, as well! That got to be the coolest area in your domain right now, doesn’t it?”
“It sure is!” Sophia smiled at her.
"Is it just me, or is Ari outdoing all of us?!" Steph sounded a little envious. “The massive jungle right outside the door, Fen’s relaxation forest, the rainforest, and now an everlasting inferno biome?!”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Yes, our dear jaguar operates outside the current common sense of my domain.” The blonde nodded in agreement. “It’s a little infuriating that she’s that much ahead of us, but at the same time, I only have praise for her raising the bar of what was turning into the status quo around here.”
“Would you all stop bullying me already?!” The cause of the common sense destruction inside Sophia’s domain, Ari, glared at everyone involved.
“Laid it on a bit too thick, huh?” The dog-girl scratched her cheek.
“It’s not that much fun being on that side, huh?” Sophia, the girl who had been accused of the same many times, especially by the jaguar, stared back at her.
“Ah.” She quickly averted her face. “Those extreme things were an accident, okay?”
“Same for me.” The blonde didn’t let her have it.
"How about you help me rebuild another pine forest in a different place to atone?” Aura looked at the jaguar. “Bigger and better than ever, I want to add! This time, with lots of attention paid to the general terrain.”
“Of course!” She gladly agreed to that.
"I look forward to the impending chaos."
“Hey!” Ari glared at Sophia gain before facing the female wolf. “We’ll take it easy, okay? Nice terrain, nice forest, nice smell.”
“Yup.” Aura nodded. “That was my planned theme for it since the beginning, too. Though, I know who to ask if I want something spectacular in the future~.”
“Urgh…” The jaguar hung her head.
Once everyone finished teasing Ari and eating their breakfast, the group got ready to leave and returned to the regular world to do some more traveling.
----------------
“By the way, it's been two weeks since we left the lake city. We have traveled about 1000 kilometers since then, thanks to the portal skip, and visited two more cities and connected them with the capital." While walking through a small forest they came across, Sophia was thinking aloud about what happened lately. “Even so, we’ve barely seen anything that left a lasting memory since then.”
“Yeah.” Steph thought so, too. "The fluffies we met in the cities aside, the other world vibes are at an all-time low! It’s little different from lots of places on Earth!”
“Well, the central parts of the continent are rather, let’s call it… unimpressive.” Anna scratched her cheek. “Sightseeing aside, that’s supposed to be a good thing, though. After all, interesting terrain often equals dangerous terrain. It makes traveling a lot easier, too.”
“Fair enough, but still way too boring!” While the blonde understood the reasoning for it being an ideal place to live and be, it didn’t mean she liked it. “Aura! Fenfen!” She then faced the wolves.
“Yes?” The female one tilted her head.
“How well do you know this continent? You two have traveled a lot, right?"
“I know enough that I think that you’ll be bored for a good bit longer.” Aura lightly shook her head. “There’s a whole lot of nothing in the central parts of the continent. Just as mentioned, convenient but boring.”
“Not what I wanted to hear!”
“We could change direction a little and head south-east for a while.” The female wolf paused for a moment to think. “It would probably take another week or two, and using the portal skips a whole lot, but it would lead to something interesting."
“Oh, I like the sound of that!” Steph also seemed very interested.
“I don’t think you do.” Aura stared at the dog-girl for a second. “It’s a desert we’re talking about.”
“Alright, I now know when I’ll take my vacation days!” Chloe immediately got loud. “Not going to happen! I already did that with Feyfey, and I won’t survive another day!” The pink arctic fox had a strong aversion to deserts.
“A desert, huh?” Steph’s expression turned a little awkward. “I’ve never been to one, so that’s quite exciting! I'm not a fan of the temperature, though." Just like her girlfriend, she much preferred the cold, after all. "Okay, how about some nighttime exploring in the desert? It’s supposed to get amazingly cold there once the sun’s out!”
“Right!” Chloe clapped her hands. “We have the domain now! Back when I was in a desert with Feyfey, there was no running away from daytime, so I hated it there!”
“Well, I guess we’ll have to split up if we go there.” Sophia shook her head. “Nighttime is sleepy time and not explore freezing desert time.”
“Exactly.” Maya, Anna, and Ari agreed with the blonde. None of them were a fan of the cold, after all.
“Afterward, heading to coastal regions would probably help to keep things interesting.” Aura added some more details to her suggested route. “The terrain gets a lot more diverse and interesting in those areas. It’s more populated, too.”
“That’s true.” Ari nodded. “Most of the cities on King Menzor’s list are also closer to the seas surrounding the continent.”
"Oh!" Sophia clapped her hands. "Doesn't that sound like a plan already? It will also bring us closer to the demon continent, right? We need to reach the sea first for that."
“Yes, but also no.” Aura lightly shook her head. “We obviously have to cross the sea to get there, but not on this side of the beastfolk continent. We’re currently headed in the opposite direction. We have to go to the sea west of the monster country for the best water route to the demon continent.”
“Is that so?” Sophia needed to let it sink in first. “So, the plan would be something like this? We first head south-east for the desert and explore that for a bit. Afterward, we make our way to the coast from there and then turn west-ish and walk along the coast while visiting more cities until we’re back to the monster country. Once there, we head for the sea once more to embark for the demon continent."
“That would be my suggestion.” Aura agreed with her.
“Let's go!” The blonde liked it. “Someone needs to track directions, though, because I surely am not going to be able to.”
“We know.” Everyone nodded.
“Grr.” She did it to herself, but she still didn't appreciate them nodding along so quickly.
“Oh, can we visit my hometown on the way back?” Maya lightly clapped her hands to get Sophia attention. “It’s close to the monster country, so it won't be much of a detour, if at all. I'd like to have a portal there for my parents so they can easily head back if they ever get tired of the capital.”
“Of course!” The blonde smiled at her. “I would’ve done so regardless~.”
“Thank you! It’s also on the king’s list, so that works out doubly well!”
Having decided on a rough plan for their future travels, the group got going again and headed south-east to find the desert Aura mentioned.