Before going off on some half-brained adventure to try to figure out how and why the history of Cascadia got broken, Corvayne did his due diligence and applied some of Lythandies' powers to finishing a hoverbike. He was noticing now a lot of things that might have been his memory messing with him but were more likely changes since he woke up. It was still April 9th, the first day he had stepped onto Cascadia. It was the same year as well, but the more he started comparing his memories with what he saw, everything else had been shaken up like a salad in a bag.
As Corvayne floated his new ride out to the street, he saw there was at least one elf and one dwarf kid running down the street to head into the community center. The mall across the way where Ayame's noodle shop was now was an enclosed building rather then a half open shopping street. Her name was now in bright red lettering at an enclosed corner store. He was relieved to see that there was a seating area like before that meant he could still sit and dine outside.
Bearer handed him a phone, with her number and Mister I's already punched in. "I figure you'll come back with at least Bell, maybe Hylal and Diamonds, so just keep me informed about what you find. I'm going to go bother Dawn-after-Night."
Corvayne paused. Images of carrot peelers danced in his head, and he felt his balls shrivel up a little. "The Mafia boss? Wick's adopted mom?"
"She's weird, and she might also notice that her station got bigger."
Corvayne drew a quick line between Bearer, who was an invader, and Dawn, who likely also was. "Be careful around her. My instincts say she's way more dangerous..."
Bearer slapped his back. "I got it, MOM. Go get your imperial side piece!"
Corvayne shook his head and took off, following a route on the outside of the key chain islands to the south. There was an extra island, he noticed: it seemed like it was small and just had a few apartments, but it was certainly new.
The route to the palace took him near the spaceport, and he could see more ships then before were lined up at the terminals. Whatever had changed had seemingly vitalized the city more. He thought about the ruins under the flood tunnels, and at that moment found his thoughts betraying him as he wished he could talk to Wick about it. Maybe when she woke up they could text or do face time.
Corvayne followed the rules of the road with his bike, even though he could have flown directly at the palace. He was still worried about fighting Argyle before he had enough toys and allies to even the odds.
He glided across a bridge that lead to a pine studded version of the same palace he had just died under a few hours back. There were some modern looking windows added, and wires and street lights, but as he pulled around he found a curious mix of modern Cascadian north woods features and the red stone of the town. There were parked cars, yes, but people dressed in flannel versions of the robes they had been wearing at the capital. There were banners on the lamps 'Celebrate Imperial Cascadia!' all over and 'Friends across the divide!' showing the Nel'Ferral Imperial logo next to The Collective's own sign.
It was afternoon, and some of the lights were coming on, but he glided his bike across the plaza and gently skipped the steel pillars meant to block most traffic. There were a few people on foot and on regular bikes coming down the palace ramp, and a few people in suits and nice dresses heading up.
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Corvayne found a place to park his hoverbike and walked through rotating doors into the atrium of the palace, now complete with a few corporate eateries and one invasive coffee shop that he had seen all over Cascadia, but also the mix of courtiers he expected in a palace. He made his way to an info desk that's burnished steel looked very out of place with the warm stone making up the rest of the garden in the atrium. A woman behind the counter was wearing the imperial red in the form of a windbreaker with the imperial logo on her breast pocket.
"Hi, name's Corvayne. I was looking for Miss Bellithca or Hylal. Did she put my name down as expected?"
Worse case, he would walk out then use Gravity to sneak in to find her, but the receptionist blinked.
"Why yes! She has been asking about you all afternoon. I'll call her right away." The receptionist happily picked up the phone, then gestured back to the doors that would lead to what had been the throne room and wizard area.
Corvayne passed through them into what looked more like a museum rather then a place of government. A half beat later, he was tackled by a bird-girl wearing a sailor uniform.
"Corvayne-Dad!!!"
He hugged Hylal back. Then looked up and saw a sharply dressed Bell come over. He swept her up and she started kissing him to the point where he was worried about her ability to breath, then drew back with a gasp.
"Corvayne, there's something really confusing going on... we have to talk!" She spoke in perfect Cascadian now, though he heard a slight accent that probably marked her to someone who grew up in the city.
"As long as you let me breath, then yes. I'm glad to see you remember me." He smiled, and she pounced again. After a little bit of tongue and a little bit of nails, she stepped back again.
"You died!" She called out, clearly a little mad that he had. It wasn't like he was trying to.
"Sorry. Won't happen again. Can we find somewhere better to chat?"
He saw a tourist group snapping a picture of him and Bell. Her response was to growl and lift a hand threateningly, causing them to power walk away. Hylal tugged both of there arms. "I know a great place to eat! Mom! Corvayne-Dad!"
Corvayne's stomach started growling, so he let Hylal drag them to one of the eateries in the entrance way and order for them. Sitting down with Bell and Hylal and taking a moment to inhale some very good spicy noodles, Corvayne finally got to asking questions.
"Okay, so part of Nel'Ferral is merged with Cascadia? Or just this palace?" Corvayne wanted to know if he had to worry about an extra moon crushing them, or if he had to go put a few new spear holes in the Raven now. He would put that near the top of his list.
"It's like part of the empire merged with a new civilization I've never heard of that took over what was a bunch of pasture. I have two sets of memories, one knowing for sure that I lived on Nel'Ferral my whole life as a fail-daughter, and the other that I'm part of a constitutional monarchy with rights to huge swaths of the high plains near Cascadia City. That and I'm one of the more responsible ones here." She puffed her chest out a little bit, and Corvayne was pleased that with the strange split she had come out better.
"So your empire's always been here?" He really wanted to see a map now, one that would let him figure out how exactly the universe was now cramming two worlds together, and how much of both worlds had been combined.
"Yes. Then the Collective landed, and after some negotiation we gave up land near the coast, and they made us the effective rulers of the world."
Corvayne tapped the table. "So, what of the dungeons? Is there going to be a dungeon break somewhere south of here? That, and the Raven's assault on the plains, not to mention the moon."
Bell put a hand on Corvayne's. "I'm not sure yet. I'm trying to balance two memories. But we need to look into that. Diamond went dormant after our adventure. I was told, when I woke, that I owed you my life."
Bell gently pulled her sleeve back, and showed off a white scar on her arm. Corvayne gave her arm a squeeze. She smiled at him, and Corvayne was happy to say that make up and, perhaps, a few months of growing on her own seemed to have helped her mature.
At least, he thought that before she dug her claws into his hand. "Before any adventures, you need to see our quarters."
Corvayne looked to Hylal, who traitorously had retreated to the restaurant entrance waving.
"Bye Corvayne! See you tomorrow morning!"
He looked back at Bell, whom was looking at him something like how Grunt might consider an XXL burrito. He thought love did come in all sorts of forms as she slapped a wad of credits down to pay for the meal and started dragging him to the private section of the palace.