Rhea, Row, and Lucerna carefully follow Karta through the evening-dyed purple forest. Karta carries a small barrel of water over his shoulder with relative ease. Rhea could not help but admire everything around her. Even in her wildest dreams could she not imagine a scenario like this; wandering through a forest with two catlike people and a rabbit man.

As Karta guides them to the path back to Fiolet, he catches Karta up on recent events. Karta reflects on the information given to him by Row, that now looking back, have occurred in but a single day. 

“I must admit, you’ve spun quite a tale, Row.” 

“I wish it were some average fairy tale, however, with Rhea’s presence here as proof, as you can see, none of what I have spun is a lie.” 

“Indeed. And while I appreciate your honesty, your story does not make me appreciate your presence.”

“What?” Rhea raised her eyebrow. “How come.”

“Simply put, many, if not all denizens in Fiolet do not condone violence, especially on village grounds. While we do hold certain skirmishes outside of the village, not many Kroliq choose to take to arms and partake in combat, whether it be for fun or practice.”

Rhea plays with her hair.

“Er… Kroliq…?” She asked. 

“Ah yes,” Karta recognized. “The one who comes from another world… I suppose you wouldn’t be familiar with much of this land’s terminology. ‘Kroliq’, is what you would use to describe the race of my people.”

Karta uses his free hand to point at his pointy ears. 

“The tall ears,” Karta points to his tail. “The stubby tails, and what have you. We are quite similar to Kotka in that regard.”

Row looks up at Karta.

“Yes, although it seems Kotka do not have much in terms of height…” Row groaned. “I could do for a few more inches if I'm being honest. It would help me reach higher spots at home with ease…” 

Karta leads them to a small patch of dirt that is off the beaten path. There, they see a big yellow shrub. 

Karta enters first. 

“This way,” he says. “And please mind the thorns.” 

From the stoic look on his face and the swift movement of his body, it appeared as though he ignored his warnings, but in reality, he had trekked this path so many times he knew which twists and turns to make.

The three carefully maneuver the shrub, successfully getting behind it in a matter of seconds. Behind the shrub, however, they couldn’t believe their eyes. 

Etched into the adjacent stone wall, was a silver portal, glowing with an ethereal energy. Rhea, Row, and Lucerna’s jaws nearly dropped, watching the warmth of the portal circle in a hypnotizing fashion. 

“Wh-what even is that?!” Rhea gasped. 

“Hm?” Karta looks over his shoulder. “It’s a portal. Our village has an exit portal leading back. We often use these methods of transportation to carry loads of resources here and back to our homes. Without it, the trek isn’t too far, but it would take about twenty minutes to return on foot,” Karta pats the barrel of water, the liquid sloshing inside. “Twenty minutes is not long, but carrying a barrel that is about twenty kilos, you can see why most in our village prefer to use them.” 

“Does anything besides what you need sometimes leak inside the portal?” Rhea asked. 

Karta thinks for a moment. 

“There are… a handful of wildlife which occasionally escape into the hole, but it is nothing but a minor inconvenience. Besides, most of the wildlife is edible here, so the free food is welcome.” 

Karta steps alongside the portal and then turns back to his followers. 

“Come,” he says calmly. 

“Ooof…! Ow…!” Lucerna is partially faking her injuries. “I don’t know if I have the energy to get into the portal…!” 

Lucerna holds her wound and looks up at the tall woman like an expecting child. Rhea rolls her eyes. 

“Augh… fine…”

Rhea swiftly lifts Lucerna under her arm. 

“There. Happy?” She asked. 

Lucerna hung there, squished between her thick forearm and the side of her stomach. 

“This is not how I thought I would be carried in…” Lucerna murmurs. 

"Hold this, by the way."

Rhea hands Lucerna the Shifting Arm to hold while she hangs there. She accepts it.

“Hey! Rhea!” Row complained. “If you got all that energy to carry Lucerna, then why don’t you carry me-”

Rhea sweeps Row off of his feet and carries him under her arm as well. 

“H-hey! I take it back! I-I would like to be put down now!”

“You’re the one who asked to be carried. This will be your one and only time, so rest up.”

“Ehh?!” Row’s tail shot skyward. “Only time?! Why do I only get one time?!”

“You’re not that injured, quit yer complainin’.”

Rhea drags the two Kotka into the portal underneath her arm. A blinding light begins to engulf the three, forcing them to wince and close their eyes. When the blaring lights start to dim, the strain on their eyes eases, and they open them. Once opened, the three saw the glamors of Fiolet. 

A woodland village constructed with surrounding hedges, shrubbery, and bark. The village was made of two different elevations, the ground floor, and the treetops. On the treetops is where the Kroliq would live and play; having constructed a wide enough base to fit multiple people and tons of weight due to pathways being built from the bark. On the ground floor was much of the equipment used by the Kroliq. The Kroliq would carry different items to and fro, casually chatting while constructing various pieces of equipment with what appeared to be magical tools and accessories. 

While some Kroliq used their hands and arms to carry some things, others had magical tools. Bigger, floating, ethereal pieces of equipment powered by the accessories around their fingers and legs, helped in carrying heavy equipment across the ground with ease. The Kroliq would spawn massive hands, clouds, or wheelbarrows to transport what they needed to build from one end to the other. When Rhea saw this, she was utterly stupefied at the sight of watching them work.

Wh-what is this?! First a bunch of old as hell walking, talking cats, now a village full of tall bunnies using magic?! 

Karta looks over his shoulder. He sees Rhea’s mouth is slightly agape, and her eyes cannot be unglued from the work process of the Kroliq. 

“You seem very distracted, Rhea. Something on your mind?”

Rhea is snapped back to reality by the call of her name. She looks at Karta, then shies her eyes away once more. 

“W-well, y-you know,” Rhea chuckles nervously. “With me being new to this land and all, I think everything is gonna catch me off guard until I’m really used to it.”

“Fair enough,” Karta looks at Row, hanging from Rhea’s arms. “And what of you, Row.”

“Yes, erm,” Row clears his throat. “I’ve definitely read in books the existence of the Kroliq itself, so I’m not particularly surprised. Although seeing it for yourself is an entirely different emotion than reading it in a book..."  

Rhea watches some of the village dwellers walk about. While the men were walking about topless, the women's clothing was barely held together with the same brown fabric used on the men's pants. The physiques of the women, albeit not well-endowed, were of average to above average build, many of the women being about being nearly as fit and built as the men. Row notices the women walking confidently, fearless to the idea that they are a strong breeze away from showing even more skin.

“I'll admit... the loose clothing is rather distracting..." Row said, clearing his throat.

"Of course it is." Rhea rolled her eyes.

"BUT," he interrupts. "What’s more eye-catching is the use of magic in this area.”

“Of course,” Karta nods. “It doesn’t take a keen eye to see we specialize in tools that are imbued with magics that allow us to craft. We aren’t fighters at all, mind you the act of violence is strictly prohibited on village grounds. We do have an area where one can practice offensive spells and combat, however, not many Kroliq find themselves venturing to the Playground to test their skills. We are a calm people, you see. There isn’t much need to fight among ourselves. We generally settle our quarrels verbally, and quite quickly at that. We aim to find an understanding between two parties, you see."  

“Hmm…” Lucerna pondered aloud. “Sounds pretty boring… where’s the excitement in that? Instead of words, sometimes you need to punch a guy in the face to get a point across.”

Rhea is a bit taken aback. 

When did this cat have such a violent nature?!

“Think what you will,” Karta shrugs. “As long as the actions of your ideologies are left outside our premises.”    

A portal leads from the top floors, which are several meters high, quite close to the purple leaves of the trees.

Karta’s eyes peer over to the tool held by Lucerna. 

“By the way… what sort of weapon is that? That wouldn’t have to be a Shifting Arm, would it?”

“Yeah,” Rhea confirms. “How did you know?”

“Many of the magical tools we use are Shiting Arms.”

“I see,” Rhea said. “Unfortunately, as far as we know, this Shifting Arm isn’t used for crafting. It’s used for spellcasting.” 

Karta’s stoic gaze became a bit livelier. 

“Spellcasting, eh? I’m not very privy to offensive spellcasting, however, I’m sure we may have a novel or two detailing how to work on such an art.”

“Really? That’s great!” Lucerna cheers. “We might need that on the way for our journey! Buncha dangerous monsters all over Ziemia, ya know.” 

“Yes, I am aware," Karta agrees. "However, we’re not willing to hand it over so freely, let us make haste to the village elder. I’ll introduce you and we will see where we go from there."

Rhea nods.

“Sounds like a plan.” She says.

During their small trek through the village, the men, women, and children Kroliq could not keep their eyes off Karta’s new company. One of them was even curious enough to call to him.

"Karta! Who are those people?" A woman asked.

Karta turns slightly but continues to walk.

"Er... just visitors, Tabitha! No need for alarm!"  

"Two more Kotka are here? Do you have a home for them?" The woman beside Tabitha asked.

"That is to be determined, Bellinda. Please, if you would get back to your duties..."

Rhea is surveying her surroundings.

“There’s a bunch of eyes on us…” Rhea says while looking around. 

“It’s hard to remain inconspicuous when there are two new Kotka in the village,” Karta said. “On top of that, no one has ever seen a Human here at all. We thought they were all on a different island.

“So there are more people like me somewhere in this crazy world?" Rhea questioned.

"I am only aware through rumor," Karta adds. "I've personally seen one of your kind up close until now."

"Well, first thing's first, I still wanna find out how I ended up in a place like this, and so far, one way I'm gonna get closer to doing that, is being able to defend myself," Rhea balls up her fist. "So let's see if this person is willing to give us the goods."

The four arrive outside the designated location, a small hut composed of thick branches. Karta sets the water barrel down to his side and enters first through the front door's leather curtain.

"Vanessa! I am here!"

The trio enters behind Karta, and there, they see a short woman with long, dark, curly hair. And pale skin. Her attire consisted of an attempt at making the tattered pieces of Kroliq cloth into a makeshift dress that mostly covered a decent portion of all parts of her body. More surprising though, across the room was the village elder, another Kotka.