Reyvyre POV

Riding drake-back was certainly quite the experience; the wind coursing through her hair was unlike anything else she had ever felt. Though despite that, the feeling that rushed through Reyvyre's mind as Vitmori's mountain was now on the horizon gave her an almost nostalgic sensation, like coming home, strangely enough; she chalked that up to the influence Vitmori's memories had on her, as well as the bond she shared with him. She would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't excited to see Vitmori again if not to discuss his old world and the many devices and inventions she saw before and after the apocalypse got started, the academic in her simply eager to tap into the wholly unknown source of knowledge. Well, not entirely unknown... She glanced back at Empress Historietta; she knew many things about the world Vitmori came from, but also seemingly came from a time before the apocalypse. It makes Reyvyre wonder how much of the Empire's changes and improvements came from the Empress herself. She knew Ferodias to be a good man with good character while he was growing up, so she supposed it was a combination of good morals and new ideas that led to the current state of the Empire.

Her musings were interrupted as she felt the drakewarden she was riding with suddenly stiffen and pull on the reigns of her drake as she halted the flight. Looking around, Reyvyre noticed that a swarm of birds had risen from the forest below them, forcing the drakewardens to stop unless they flew right through them. In the next moment, a rather grand-looking sparrow with green eyes broke from the flock, wearing a distinct red bandana around its neck, flying in front of the flight of drakewardens and speaking out, his voice no doubt enhanced by some kind of magic. "Well, where do you all think you're going? This land and air is a protected place. It is only fair that I'll have to warn you all that if you even think about flying any further, you'll have to face the might of me, Jack, the Sparrow!" He declared with a considerable amount of bravado. Even though Reyvyre could recognize the bird, Jack, as a vassal of Vitmori, she hadn't met him before. The moment felt tense as a couple of seconds dragged on. That is until the Empress broke into a fit of laughter, almost uncontrollably, as she covered her mouth but couldn't stop. The bird seemingly looked rather offended as he flitted past the drakes and up to the Empress, her drakewarden rearing up and attempting to defend her. However, Jack stopped short as he hovered in front of the Empress. "Is there something funny about my name?" He asked seriously.

The Empress still laughed a little more as she seemed to note the red bandana the bird wore. "Of course not; in fact, I know of you; you're quite possibly the finest bird I've ever heard of." She explained, still smiling widely.

This seemed to appease the bird as he flitted back to give the woman a little space. "Ah, so you have heard of me." He gushed, immensely enjoying the stroke to his ego. He looked around some more, first spotting Reonim and then Reyvyre. "Oh? It's you and you... I have no idea who you are, but you're marked by Vitmori, so you must be one of us." He mentioned, closing his eyes and going quiet for a moment as everyone seemed to relax. "Alright, if you all will follow me, you may land at the Haven; there is a clearing there that should be able to accommodate all your beasties." He explained as the swarm of birds dispersed; all the while Jack made his way to the front of the flight of drakes and began leading everyone down.

As they began making their descent, Reyvyre suddenly felt a presence in her mind as a voice called out to her. 'So, I take it your meeting with the Emperor went well?' Vitmori asks, a pleasant feeling in his thoughts showing her that he seems to be in a good mood.

Smiling to herself, Reyvyre focused her mind before thinking back to him. 'It went exceedingly well, Vitmori; the Emperor wishes to forge an alliance of equals with you. However, the biggest news I have is that I found someone from your world who would like to meet you. The Empress Historietta lived on Earth before dying and being reborn in our world.' She thought excitedly, feeling rather proud to have helped facilitate the meeting between the two powerful people.

Much to her confusion though, Vitmori doesn't respond right away, and she could feel the thoughts of uncertainty and confusion swirling around before a response finally came through. 'Impossible, I am the only one from my world. The being responsible for bringing me here explained as much.' Reyvyre blanched at that piece of information, the idea that there are beings able to place someone as powerful as Vitmori into this world, and the realization that there is not only one other world aside from her own but even more worlds than she likely will ever know about. She cast a curious glance back at the Empress, but before she could say anything in response, Vitmori continued. 'Don't say anything to her about it. She either knows this information and is lying about it, or she doesn't know and is not as informed about our circumstances as strangers to this world... I want to get a better read on her before revealing anything like that.'

Reyvyre nodded to herself, suddenly feeling more than a little anxious about what she had done as she avoided glancing back at the Empress again.

Soon enough, they touch down in a clearing with a strange-looking but impressive building; she quickly recognizes the people to be the imprisoned people from the carts all those weeks ago. They seem to be doing rather well for themselves despite living in these desolate woods. However, she considers that the land is perhaps not as desolate as it was anymore, considering Vitmori's influence. She hopped off the drake once they landed, stretching her legs as she watched a copper-scaled lizardkin approach, soon walking up to her as he flashed a toothy smile.

"Welcome back Mage Reyvyre; it is a great pleasure to see you again." He enthused, bowing his head respectfully. The confusion must have been evident on her face as the copper scale began chuckling with amusement as he gestured to himself. "Oh, come now, you surely recognize me; I'm Zasutir. Have I changed that much?" He teased knowingly as he chuckled some more.

"Y-you're the young elder?! I suppose the description certainly suits you now." She exclaimed with surprise as she looked over the man, remembering the brown-scaled, battered lizardkin in rags.

He still looked pleased by surprising her; his voice filled with mirth as he continued. "Yes, Vitmori has done quite a lot for me and the community as a whole."

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"I'll say." Reyvyre replied simply as she looked over the Shepherd with new appreciation, as well as the rest of the area, as she remembered the last time she saw him and this place. However, her pointed ears twitched as she sensed the Empress approaching from behind, stepping to the side as she glanced at Zasutir before looking at the Empress. "Shepherd Zasutir, this is Empress Historietta; she has come as a representative of the Empire to form an alliance of equals with Vitmori."

The Shepherd bows his head respectfully to the woman. "Vitmori has made me aware of your arrival after Jack encountered your group." He mentioned before looking over at the group of people and drakes. "You may use our cooking facilities which are inside, though I'm afraid we simply don't have the room to keep everyone in the longhouse. But you are free to set up camp in the rest of the clearing for the duration of your stay." Zasutir explained outright before the Empress got to make her introduction.

The Empress smiled politely as she looked up at the lizardkin. "Thank you for allowing us to set up so close, I promise that my people shall not trouble you during our stay. I'll actually advise them to help out where they can if you allow them to since we're the ones to have arrived without advance notice." She offered before glancing over to Reyvyre. "If it's alright, might we visit Vitmori right now? We can do the official stuff later, I'd just like to meet him, ya know, earthling to earthling." She mused almost conspiratorially to Reyvyre, placing her hand on the elf's shoulder encouragingly. Zasutir watches curiously, having obviously overheard the whole exchange, but doesn't say anything.

Reyvyre wasn't sure what to say, though thankfully Vitmori spoke out within her mind. 'Go ahead, it's better to get this over with sooner, rather than later.'

With that, Reyvyre relaxed before flashing a smile in response. "Sure, let us go." She offered, turning to look back at the Empress before gesturing for her to follow. Though as they moved to leave, some of the drakewardens moved to follow, Reonim taking his place beside Reyvyre. "Erm..." Reyvyre sounds out hesitantly.

Historietta seemed to pick up on the hint as she looked to the drakewardens, as well as the ladies-in-waiting who noticed her starting to walk off. "Don't worry, start setting up the camp for my return. The head of the settlement has granted us permission to stay on the land, and we also have permission to use their cooking facilities, so let's get dinner going." She said with a measured amount of enthusiasm, though she then had an idea as she clapped her hands together. "Actually, let's make it more of a feast; some of you go out and bring in some more meat for the meal and break into some of the goods we brought for more variety." She exclaimed. While they do look hesitant for a moment, they now had their orders as the group broke off, going about setting up camp and preparing for tonight's dinner. With that, Historietta looked back to Reyvyre and smiled. "There we go, now we'll have privacy." She mentioned with a mischievous smile before allowing her eyes to wander the safe haven. "Oh, that looks a lot like one of those Viking longhouses... Minus the obvious ship being the roof." She commented thoughtfully as they walked.

Reyvyre gives a little nod, though she starts walking, heading towards the mountain. Though she does catch sight of some of the prowler cubs among the camp, smiling to herself at how much they have grown. They walk through the woods for some time, Reyvyre actively sensing birds here and there as they seemingly watch over them. Honestly, she was rather impressed by the massive network of mana beasts patrolling the land, though even with that, she was surprised by the spitter wolf casually crossing their path, the wolf taking a moment to silently acknowledge the trio before continuing on its way. However, what really shocked her was when she entered Vitmori's territory, not expecting to cross the threshold so soon as she took a step back with wide eyes.

"What's the matter?" Historietta asked, glancing over at her and at Reonim, who also seemed to be somewhat surprised but remained rather stoic about it.

Reyvyre looked on in awe before clearing her throat as she looked over at the Empress. "N-nothing... It's just... The last time I was here, Vitmori's influence only properly extended out to less than half the mountain... Now, now he can influence the area from around here and further below the ground." She explained honestly as she gestured to the ground, drawing an imaginary line with her finger.

Historietta let out a low whistle, impressed but not fully understanding the implications. "Wow, that is a big jump." She mentioned with a nod.

Reyvyre didn't say much else, though she soon found the staircase which leads up the mountain, once again vaguely surprised to see it all the way down here now as they began their ascent. Before long, they were at the triangular entrance which led into Vitmori's chamber, the entrance growing and opening wider for Reonim as the trio entered. Before them was Vitmori himself, and once more, Reyvyre was surprised to see the development, the core before her being three or four times bigger than when she saw it last. Not only that, a massive spitter wolf was resting beside the new, lower pedestal. In front of the pedestal and on the steps was Basti, looking even more ferocious and majestic than before, and finally, on the other side of the core was a birdkin woman, another mage at that. Their eyes meet simultaneously, the birdkin looking just as surprised to see Reyvyre as Reyvyre was to see her; the two of them recognizing each other as beings in service to Vitmori.

Before anyone could say anything, Historietta approached, looking over the big spitter wolf and smiling in delight. "What a handsome-looking wolf!" She exclaimed as she clapped her hands together. "Don't tell me, is his name Sif?" She asked, looking over at Vitmori's core.

Vitmori was silent for a moment before responding. "...No? His name is Legosi." He spoke out so the whole group could hear him.

The Empress seemed to smile some more. "Ah, more of a manga fan than video games, hm?" She mentioned, approaching the spitter wolf, who seemed somewhat confused.

'I'm neither; my beloved really liked manga, and he reminded me of one of the stories she told me about.' Vitmori explained, once again feeling confused about the woman's reaction.

It seemed the Empress caught herself, having stopped halfway from reaching out to dote on Legosi, who looked anxious, but in no ways hostile. She pulled back, making her way over beside Reyvyre once again. "Forgive me; I suppose I was just so excited to meet someone from Earth like me; it's been decades since I could properly talk to anyone about anything." She explained, sounding and looking rather sincere as she lowered her head. "I've been wanting to chat with you so much that I, like, completely forgot myself." Her demeanor almost entirely shifted from the careful and poised, yet mischievous and charming Empress that Reyvyre had watched grow up and live around Ferodias in the last decade. She almost seemed like a completely average woman.

Vitmori seemed to process this for a moment before replying. 'I know how you feel, though I'm afraid an old man like me won't make for great conversation about the things you might be familiar with.' He explained, feeling genuinely apologetic about that.

Historietta seemed to realize another faux pas that she just made before nodding her head. "R-right, of course. You went through quite a lot, didn't you? I'd say I'm rather lucky to have died young before the apocalypse happened. I don't think I would have ever made it in that kind of life. I died as a college student in my twenties... How old were you?" She asked. her mood now entirely somber as she looked at the core curiously.

Vitmori took some time to think about it, but after a little while longer, he responded. 'I lost track after the first couple of decades... I was probably in my late forties, early fifties. Though I was nineteen when it all went down.' He explained.

Historietta nodded intently as she listened, though it seemed her gaze was directed at something else when she suddenly looked rather surprised. "W-whoa! Whats with all those titles... There's so many! I've only got three... Holy crap, you've got a kill count of over three thousand? T-that's amazing!" She said, seemingly reading off of something.

'What are you doing? How do you know all that?' Vitmori asked as everyone seemed to watch Historietta with confusion.

However it was now Historietta's turn to be confused, though she did look apologetic. "Sorry, I should have asked but I figured you were already examining my profile in the status window anyhow."

Vitmori was silent for a time, though the confusion was plain in his thoughts. 'Status window? What are you talking about?'

Historietta slightly tilted her head at that. "You know... The status window you can access through the system. It allows you to manage your growth, track your abilities and study others in numerical detail among other things... You do have a system, right?" She asked, suddenly feeling a little hesitant.