Once outside the cave, the four of them were faced with another cliff to reach the main path. At the rate they were going, they would pass the great mountain by lunch that same day.
Going down the cliff was much easier than going up, least because they were better outfitted for the climb. Lwyn took the lead again, followed by Mhyl. Qheria took the tail end of the group, considering she had the best leverage, with Thanrie on hand as backup if needed. The four were still on guard, but they weren't as tense as before. Once back on the path, they looked onward as it sloped before them in bumps and ridges in its spiral decline, then agreed on taking a break. They had skipped breakfast, after all, and were getting quite hungry.
"All things considered, we're still making pretty good time. I didn't originally account for needing a whole day to make this trip, but it's not bad regardless. Cutting through the mountain alone saved us plenty of time." Qheria congratulated everyone for their hard work, though Mhyl was still feeling like a liability. "I'm sorry for slowing everything down." "Oh come on, Mhyl, don't be so hard on yourself. You kicked ass back there you know. Never would have expected you to be so dangerous with a book. Thanks for saving me, by the way." Lwyn came to Mhyl's defense, still remembering her atlas slam.
"Speaking of danger, I'm getting the impression we've been a bit too careless." This coming from Thanrie was pretty mind-blowing. "We might have only had a danger once, but we haven't really ever prepared for anything. We were downright lucky to have weapons readied. Getting that far without getting jumped, it was probably pure luck. Going forward, considering how civilization ended with the mountain, we should be much more prepared."
"A land without civilization is one ripe with outlaws. It means we shouldn't be careful around anyone, while expecting an ambush at every moment." Mhyl didn't look up from her Atlas while she spoke. Lwyn looked up in consideration of such terms. "Speaking of ambush, those bandits will be pretty mad when they wake up. We need to be careful in case we end up followed." "If we can reach the end of the mountain, that will become much less of a problem. From there, it's all hills and valleys, realistically we could be assumed to have gone in any direction." "Except, aren't we just going to follow the river?" "Hmm, according to the map, that might not be the best assumption. The river has a wide curve, we would do better going straight to our destination." Mhyl had a pretty good grasp of the geographical situation from her maps, plotting the best route to the lake. Lwyn was thinking of things differently, but Mhyl's logic made sense.
"We might need to consider our resources to figure out the best path. If everything is as dry as you were saying, straying too far from a water source might not be the best solution." Qheria mentioned a thought Mhyl had forgot to consider. She remembered travelling through some of Earth's dry climates, where water was important. Here, water would be much more difficult to transport. It was a shame this world had no such vehicles. Actually, as she could remember, any sort of beast of burdens wasn't a popular thing either, Celese didn't have any particularly accommodating creatures like horses. Having a reduced amount of stamina, not being able to catch a ride was to be even more unfair. She was starting to see why Lwyn regretted her heritage, being an elf wasn't fun at all.
"Oh, Lwyn, that reminds me. Before we find ourselves facing any more humans, can you teach me a bit of Izhaethyx? Having learned a ton of languages in my Terran life, I'm pretty sure I can pick things up quickly. I know this won't be an overnight thing, but some of the more simple words and phrases might be helpful." Mhyl turned to Lwyn, once again seeking language lessons. Thanrie replied while Lwyn put some thought into the request. "Oh, the best thing to start with is all the swear words. That's how I learned English." "Somehow, that explains everything." "Actually, wait, are there any swear words in Izhaethyx? I can't think of any." "As a noblewoman, I get the impression your lifestyle had you focus on dignified and formal speech over any other forms." "Wait, f~~k, I think you're right!" Thanrie and Qheria bantered between each other regarding Thanrie's vocabulary.
Mhyl's lessons continued through breakfast and back onto the trail. They had started with some common phrases and questions, from a passing greeting to asking for someone's name. Then, they moved on to some nouns for objects that weren't unique to humans. After all, any human-unique object ended up with the same word in elven as well. Mhyl was still having a few problems picking up the difference in grammatical sentence structure. Falling into familiarity with the pronunciation, she kept switching to elven grammar over human grammar. Her own failings were irritating herself.
In an effort to help with Mhyl's lessons, the four of them cut down on using English. Occasional English was still used, but Izhaethyx became much more common. Lwyn started switching to Elaethyx for her language corrections. Sometimes, she would directly translate something the other two said in Izhaethyx to Elaethyx, so that Mhyl could compare. Using the two similar languages together was making the lessons much easier for Mhyl to understand, and she started catching on to some of the basics of Izhaethyx grammar. She still had a long way to go, though.
"Switching to all this Izhaethyx like this suddenly reminded me of home. Ever since that night, everything has seemed so unreal, it was like an out-of-body experience, like we weren't in Celese anymore. It... still feels like I'm suddenly someone else, like neither of my memories are exactly who I am." Theria was talking in her normal Izhaethyx voice, which had the effect of building impact on her statement. Qheria didn't have quite the same effect, considering she wasn't being her old timid self. "You are simply you, that's how it works for us all. In a way, that simply means that who we are are both neither and both of our memories. Our self has been shaped by our thoughts and memories, but what it results in is something else entirely. However, we aren't made of thought and memory alone, our physical self hasn't changed."
Theria paused for a moment, understanding. "Yeah, that's why I thought of home. I mean, I wonder what my brothers are doing, without me around anymore. Not that I think it would impact much, Ihzy might be a bit more bored, but he'll be fine." Theria had her own nickname for her Third Brother. Qheria considered the same question. "I'm rather certain everyone has forgotten I'm gone, myself. Though, I'm sure that's for the best as well, the change in attitude would throw them for a loop. I suspect it's the same in your case." "Ha! For certain. What about those two?" Thanrie indicated the other two, Mhyl and Lwyn, hard at work with their language lessons.
Qheria reflected on what she knew of Mhyl and Lwyn. A bookworm and an... Inn servant. "Mhyl said she had spent a lifetime in a library. The only one who would miss her there are the books. As books, I don't even think any of them would then notice she changed. Lwyn, she was going through hard enough, if any of her family did notice she's gone, it would only be because they didn't have someone to take the blame anymore. None of them would even care how much she has changed, and she would probably have hidden it from them anyway." They were all pretty much in the same boat.
Thanrie stopped for a moment to watch the two elf-kinds. She was wrong to call it home, none of them had a home anymore. Home was what they were searching for. "That whole incident brought us together, didn't it. Without it, we would be quite a mismatched set. A Wyxiri, a Qiciri, an Elniri, and a... Citadel girl? I don't remember if the Magus Citadel had a nation name. I don't think it has one, that would be how it got its neutrality." Thanrie looked them all over once more, they certainly weren't such a mismatched set anymore. Their memories of Earth had quickly brought each of them together, while polishing their attitude enough that they could.. somehow just mesh.
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"That whole incident is still a giant unknown." Qheria reflected upon the original storm. "What kind of storm gives you memories from another world?" "Qheria, we don't even know for certain if the storm gave us memories or just awoken them. Was our.. Tzeyhaen.. selves instead always there, sealed our whole lives, and this was just a matter of resolution?" Thanrie tried her best to use an aethyx pronunciation of 'Terran' for her explanation, as she countered Qheria's question with another question. Her efforts weren't the best of quality, as she vocally tripped over the word. "But that would mean that something has been spinning this fate our entire lives. Considering the exactness in all of our ages, I'm personally tempted to contemplate a greater force at work here." Thanrie kept talking, leaving Qheria to ponder the subject as she talked. Neither had any clue as to what machination could cause something with such a magnitude.
"Tzeyhaen? What in the world was that? Did you just try to say Terran?" Lwyn broke out into English suddenly, stifling her laughter. "I'm sorry, some of us here aren't exactly language teachers.. " Thanrie gave an angry reply before switching to Japanese ".. moron." Mhyl looked between the two of them, before defusing the situation with an attempted Izhaethyx. "No. Take friends. Give nice." The true linguistics expert, putting her heart into sharing a message with her friends in a language she hardly knew, was far too adorable for them to withstand.
At one point in their travels, the rock suddenly gave way to short, stubby grass. The grass was a strange yellow color, a very unfamiliar sight for both of the pure humans. Both elf-kinds however had seen grass like this before, back on Earth. Not long after, the path intersected with a small river. Mhyl confirmed that this was probably the same river they would be following, the same one ending in a lake. It was fairly fast flowing and rough, so she opted to keep her distance. Qheria suggested they find a good spot nearby for lunch, as they could use the river to restock their water supply, which would help with cooking. Lwyn found a grassy hill nearby, almost ideal as a picnic location, except for there being no trees. Qheria offered to handle water supplies. Mhyl and Lwyn cooperated in preparing a lunch. Thanrie stood guard, a role they all agreed would be required going forward.
Brandishing her sword, Thanrie took in her surroundings. The grass was still concerning her, but she didn't feel compelled to question it, not when half their team was familiar with it. Possibly, it was the issue with living in one place your whole life. Both lives, she never really traveled much, she never actually had any interest in learning about things far from home. On earth, she was pretty comfortable in her own little corner of Japan, the busy of the city filling all the sights she felt she needed. On Celese, she never left the Capital. It was two lives in a busy city. That was nothing like here, she was no where near civilization.
For their trip so far, rock had formed walls on both sides of the trail, diminishing the view they could get of their surroundings. Here though, she could see a pretty good distance ahead. It showed they weren't far from the valley. She looked out into the distance, as the river shrunk off and away. Tiny specks marked the horizon of what they would be going to see next.
Qheria came to join Thanrie, concerned that she had found something. Their water supplies was refilled, and the other two girls had plenty to work with. "Is there anything wrong?" "No, sorry. I guess I got distracted. I can't say I've seen a view like this all my life. It looks strange, like nature swallowed everything and then.. died." Their conversation passed in Izhaethyx, with Thanrie motioning to what she was speaking of.
Qheria took her turn to check the view, as Thanrie resumed her duties. Unlike Thanrie, Qheria wasn't just city grown. She had been to several places in Germany, in her life back at Earth. Celese, her work had taken her all over Qicir, not that Qicir was that big in comparison. Even so, this was not a sight she was familiar with. Maybe this could be what it would look like to stand at the edge of the Alps and gaze ahead into the distance, she would probably never know. She started to understand Mhyl's regets in not having traveled much in this world, being a world traveler on earth, getting to see sights like this all the time... She took a moment to appreciate the view, looking off into the specks in the distance as the river shrunk from view into a distant glint.
Mhyl approached Thanrie and Qheria, bringing food. Lwyn was still busy cleaning up. Mhyl set the food out for everyone as she presented her question, in English. "So, how are things here on watch duty? It appears Thanrie has got you helping her, Qheria." "Actually, no. I caught her enjoying the sights. She had invited me to take her spot in that as she went back to her real job." "So, what did you find?" "An endless golden tide, the river becoming microscopic off in the distance." "Oh, I want to see. Let me see." Mhyl finished setting up the food as she motioned Qheria out of her way.
Mhyl resolved a look of shock on her face, as she looked out into the distance. Qheria found it a bit surprising, certainly this was the view she was speaking of earlier. It matches exactly what was described from the atlas, a feature Mhyl had claimed to have seen before. Qheria started to worry as Mhyl became pale. "What's the matter?" "That.. that.. do you see way over there, on the horizon.. that.. it.." Mhyl couldn't even complete her statement. Thanrie joined to check what all the fuss was about. "The horizon? You can see out there? It looks like nothing but tiny dots of... I can't even tell. How are you making anything out of that?"
"So, I guess it's time for another lesson in elves." Lwyn had finished cleaning up and had came to join them, catching the tail-end of the conversation as she approached. "Another difference between humans and elves is that elves have remarkably good sight. Mhyl can probably spot details far too small for either of you to figure out. Mine won't be as good as her's but I still probably beat you both in this area." Lwyn finished her explanation as she got in position to check things for herself.
Lwyn got a good look, and then took a moment to compose herself. "Okay, that's not a thing that should happen. Mhyl, please correct me if I'm wrong and my eyes are failing me, but... aren't those buildings?" "I don't see what's the matter with that, if the place was taken by outlaws, they would need a place to live, right? Houses, even a fortress might not be unexpected." Qheria still didn't understand what the big problem was, so Lwyn tried again. "No no no, you don't get it. When I say buildings, I'm not talking wood shacks. I don't even thing that's a stone foundation. We're talking metal and concrete, really high quality stuff. Mhyl, can you make out the small white things up top?" Mhyl replied in Elaethyx, too stunned to invite questions from the other two, and so counting on Lwyn to explain. "Lightning..."
Obviously, the elves had no better word for it. Electric lanterns decorated the top of the steel infrastructure of the buildings in the distance. There wouldn't be any Aethyx word for any of it, it was far too advanced for this world. Still not as advanced as the Earth they had in their memories, it was like some type of Steampunk civilization. When they had expected to find a place with less civilization they their Celesi lives had endured, the sight before them denied their assumptions, it was instead far more civilized than anything their Celesi eyes had seen before.
Lwyn knew it was up to her to explain. Mhyl was slack jawed, white as a ghost. "Okay, so.. things just got a lot more complicated. Someone brought steampunk to Celese." Thanrie started to go pale as she started catching on too. Qheria froze in thought for a while before trying to restart her brain. "Wait, wait, what, what? Steampunk? You mean like.." "I mean like trains and rifles and .. and .. hair dryers." "Wait, what, you two can see THAT well?" "No, no, I mean, like that. Specifically, Mhyl spotted some big lights on the walls, the electric kind of light. I swear, the walls are made of f~~king concrete with some steel panels on some things." "Okay, okay, calm down. You two are getting a lot more information than Thanrie and I, that's obvious, but you are both still jumping to conclusions far too quickly."
Thanrie jumped in at this, being Thanrie. "Actually, this doesn't change our destination either way. If the bandits got their hands on some super tech, stuff they shouldn't have, then it's going to be a problem. But it will be a bigger problem if we do nothing. The four of us actually have memories to match that sort of thing, we can do way more than the average person could in this situation. Besides, I'm kinda interested in what kind of novelties they might have managed to come up with." Dark Thanrie graced their presence, as her voice chilled the air. With that, the four of them finished lunch in silence, feeling the need to keep moving.
It wasn't much longer until their trail ended and they found themselves at the base of the mountain. They looked ahead at the expanse of plains that laid before them, their destination just beyond.