Set off.

The estimated travel time is three days. First, you need to make your way down the snaking pathway leading down from the Pecho Peaks. It isn't too difficult to traverse. Whoever first built this castle needed a place to come and go, and the Demon King Sa'dis used it as well. Now that your own people have been utilizing the pathway too, it's become easier, and it takes you all the way down to the rolling green hills of Tivera. Water runs from the peaks down to a wide lake near the foot called Crystal Lake. The surface is calm--crystalline under the afternoon sun. It's starting to get cooler though even down here. You've yet to see a world map if such a thing even exists here, but you feel like you must be closer to the equator than farther, as it's only ever been warm--not scorching hot though, so definitely not right on top of it.

From what you can tell, fall is coming. Leaves are gradually starting to change colour, and the temperature is definitely lower, even if you aren't freezing cold. All you can do is wait and see what happens to the weather here, especially up in the mountains. People here wear such risqué clothing that it must never get absolutely frigid. Either that or races in this world have a natural resistance against the elements... but as far as you understand, it's only sunhearts with such an ability, which is how they continue to thrive in the desert.

It passes dinner time when your party circles entirely around the lake. You decide to stop here for the time being. People's legs are getting tired, stomachs are empty, and if you leave from here tomorrow morning, you'll be able to pass straight over the main highway and maybe even reach the foot of the western mountain range. You won't be all that far from the Cackling Woods and the cave where you met Mistress Dajy. That being said, the Western Pecho Peaks are absolutely massive, so that doesn't mean much. Multiple kingdoms could fit within the area of those mountains. You don't know much about them other than dwarves live in places within the mountains and deep underground, though you have been to the tallest peak in the range.

South of the mountains. That's where William claims domain as Demon King. I know so little of the world outside of Tivera. There's just too much to understand. When you're a little kid, you learn history for years. I've been given crash courses while also just trying not to die. Literally all I understand is that Tivera is an empire ruled by a queen... a king now I guess. Seems pretty normal for medieval fantasy type stuff. Apparently Varat to the north is pretty oppressive and religious. The Oraang Desert is where the sunhearts reside, which is way northwest of here, past the mountain range. That strange galaxy girl said there was a civilization across the sea with more advanced technology like railroads, though it did sound like a magical creation, so they might not be the same sort of advanced as one might first think.

After dinner, the party begins to set up camp for the night. It's quite a peaceful place to sleep. Though you aren't at the edge of the lake, it isn't all that far away either. It's a beautiful backdrop to the sun setting and the stars and moon appearing in the sky. Without the light pollution of a modern city, it floods with colourful clouds--galaxies, nebulae. Again you're reminded of that girl from your dream.

"Do you guys actually know what everything is up there?" you ask.

Thomas sits down atop his bedroll and casts his eyes to the sky. "What do you mean?"

"Well, when you look up, what are you looking at?"

"Stars. There's the moon, crescent shaped tonight. I use this stuff to navigate."

"What about the rest?"

"I'm no scholar. I guess just... clouds of smaller stars?"

"I always thought it was something magical," Delphi chimes in. "Maybe leftover residue from the world's creation."

You cast your eyes to the lake in the distance, though it hardly looks like water now. It's like a chunk of the sky has fallen. "In my world, we've advanced so far to where we have ways of seeing far into outer space. Nebulae, clouds of gas and dust. Other planets. Stars. Black holes. All of it so far away that by the time the light reaches our world, the thing it came from is probably long gone. If it takes a star's light a thousand years to reach our eyes, that star has probably exploded or collapsed or whatever by the time we see it."

"Are you serious?" Eva shouts. "All these stars are gone?"

"There'd be new ones. Space is pretty crazy. Even though we've sent things out there to capture images and stuff from other planets, we still don't know everything. But we have been up there. To the moon anyway. Maybe to another planet one day."

"But you said magic doesn't even exist in your world."

"We had to do it all with technology. What's kinda interesting is all the resources exist here to do it, but I guess if magic does the job, there's no reason. I imagine a lot of things are just easier with magic here, so it would be really pointless to do it without."

"Do you miss that stuff?" Tom asks.

"This world is pretty fun... though if I did miss anything, it'd probably be video games. Shows and movies. Stuff like that. I wonder if magic could be advanced so far as to recreate those sort of things."

The party continues to chat, but night comes, and rest is important given the journey ahead. Everybody ends up snug in their bedrolls. To your surprise, Delphi actually has her own. It's just as tiny as one would imagine. You assume that's Luna's work. The fire fizzles out, and smoke slowly rises into the sky as you lay on your back and listen to the sounds of the wilderness. It's something you've gotten used to after all this time here--the many days spent adventuring.

Tom on your left, Eva on your right, Delphi past her where you can barely see her--staying close though, just in case an animal comes to sweep her away. You start closing your eyes after some time spent pondering. After talking about Earth with everyone, you can't help but feel nostalgic.

Your eyes open up again when you hear a, "Psst," coming from the left.

Thomas looks a little flustered. He peaks his head up overtop of you--pink in his cheeks. "B-But... Did you see...?" he whispers quietly.

"What are you mumbling about?" you whisper back.

"She's naked!" Though he is still whispering, he also notices his volume rise. Quickly, he puts a hand over his mouth. "Is this normal for you?"

You peak to the right. Eva is laying in her bedroll buck naked as always. Though everything is covered, her arms are up over her head, her mouth is open with drool trickling down her cheek, and the wrap of the bed barely hangs on her huge knockers. She readjusts herself slightly--jiggle, they almost slip free. After a moment, you turn your attention back to Tom. "Pretty much," you reply.

He lowers back down and tugs the bedroll up over his nose. "How do you handle that?"

"Self-control." That's only half true. I think I'm just better at hiding it than he is. Eva is such a tease.

Tom falls back down and stares straight up to the sky. "R-Right."

"If I hear any weird noises coming from you at night, you're never coming on another adventure."

"What are you suggesting?!" Again, he covers up his mouth. It was louder this time.

After glancing around for a moment, his eyes catch a tiny figure floating near his head, and she doesn't look pleased. She's wearing lacey black underwear--lingerie, a strange choice for sleeping on a journey. She holds up a hand, and a single purple band whips out from her body and wraps around his throat. With her other hand, she places a finger on her lips.

"... S-Sorry," he mumbles out, though it's difficult given the tightness of the leash.