Chronicles of The Omniverse Archived Nasazura's Rest: Temple Grounds

Lucian smiled beneath his scarf, trying to remember the last time he had found similar companionship. Too long, in his mind. Were his fingers not frozen, or if his quest had less urgency, he might have found himself joining them.

He stared at the green teenager a moment longer before following Ari inside.

"Lucian," he replied to him. "The hike was... not forgiving."
 
The next day...

The late-morning sun left the temple grounds a shade warmer than they'd been the previous evening, when Lucian had arrived. The knight would find Ari at the foot of the temple steps, waiting in his coat with his hands stuffed in his pockets. "Mornin', heartsick wanderer," the teen called up to him with a grin. "I'm told you need ferrying to the airport. And probably an explanation of how airports work, right?"
 
"I was told it was a large metal tube that flies through the air. Does this realm get any crazier?" asked the knight. "I haven't gotten a break, not one break since I came here. What else is there to discover, Ari? This is insane! Suddenly I'm in a dream!"
 
"I mean, have you even been on the internet yet?" Ari replied with a smirk, then his face dropped slightly and he sighed. "Man. I miss the internet. Main downside to this whole hero business. I swear, when I'm a bigshot in this order, first thing I'm gonna do is get us some fuckin' wi-fi..." he trailed off, snorting. "But you have no idea what I'm talking about, right?"

He shook his head. "Anyway. Planes. Yeah, uh... planes are kind of like that, I guess? More like a winged ... carriage, that can go super fast. Whereabouts is it you're headed, anyway? D'you know where your vampy is?"
 
"The... internet?" mumbled Lucian. What a funny word. He would have to check out this internet sometime.

He mused while he answered, remembering the exact words Arien had used that day. "Lutetia City. That's what I remember. I don't know where in Lutetia City, but I'm sure I'll figure it out!"
 
"If you say so," Ari raised an eyebrow. He supposed finding someone in a city was doable, as long as they weren't trying too hard not to be found. "Uh, you probably don't have a passport... so you're gonna want to fly domestic, then maybe stowaway on a boat to Issunar. I can walk you through getting the flight... and your general route from there, once we're at the airport."

He paused, glancing up at the sky. Mostly clear, that was good. "Well, if you've got anything else to ask before we leave, ask now. I won't be in a position to talk after we've set off."
 
Won't be in a position to talk? That was a rather odd thing to say. In fact, everything coming out of Ari's mouth was rather odd.

Lucian tilted his head, smiling cluelessly. "What do you mean?" he asked the apprentice.
 
Ari grinned. "I mean I'm giving you a lift to the airport, but I'm not very talkative in transit. You'll see. But yeah, anything else you got to ask? We can talk when we get to the airport, obviously, just not while we're on our way."
 
"I don't have any other questions at the moment. I doubt I'd remember the answers by the time we get back. All this Valoran technology confuses me," he replied. "Well! Shall we be off?"
 
"Let's go. Hope you don't mind riding bareback, sir knight," Ari said with another grin, winking. He took a few paces away from the steps, gesturing for Lucian to wait, and closed his eyes. As he did, his body was wreathed in a bright silvery light that covered him from head to toe. His glowing silhouette distorted, and then began to grow rapidly both upwards and outwards. Within a few seconds, the human shape was gone, replaced by that of what looked like a horse. And then, as the light was beginning to fade, two magnificent wings of pure white burst forth into view, still glittering with the transformation's magic.

When the light fully cleared, Ari was gone, and stood in his place was a noble white pegasus. He pawed at the ground with his hoof a few times, as though adjusting himself to his new body, before turning to look back at Lucian again expectantly.
 
No other word could describe Lucian better than "stunned." He blinked several times, as though unconvinced that his eyes were seeing what he thought he was looking at. He smiled in disbelief.

"In my realm, the word we would use for this would be 'magnificent.' Here in Valore they would use something else. A synonym for jubilant, I believe. It starts with a 'g'."

He approached Ari slowly. "I imagine this process goes no differently than normal?"
 
Ari snorted, waving his head in an approximation of 'get a damned move on'. It seemed he hadn't been lying when he'd said he wasn't exactly communicative when shapechanged.
 
Lucian put his hands up and swiftly lifted himself onto the back of the Pegasus. Tentatively, he grabbed the creature's mane.

"R... ready if you are," said the knight, a slight hint of nervousness in his stutter.
 
With a cheerful neigh, Ari trotted to the far end of the courtyard, pausing to turn and unfurl his wings to their full magnificent span. From a standing start, he tensed, and then broke into a gallop like a racehorse coming out of the gates. He rapidly picked up speed beyond that of a normal horse, and then, just as the flat plateau was about to run out, beat his wings in a single forceful motion and leaped.

The pegasus and his rider took to the air with a faint shimmer of light, as currents of magic joined with the beating of Ari's wings to lift him aloft gracefully into the sky. Once airborne, he turned south and westwards, making a direct line for the nearest city with an airport at surprisingly rapid speed. Before long, they were out of sight of the temple altogether.
 
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