"I will go first, just in case something is wrong on the other side. It would be convenient if we could see the other side of this portal, but it appears to be totally black, so they might have blocked their side as well. I can deal with that, but don't follow until I signal that it is safe to come through." Cain informed the others.
He merged with Oath Breaker, whose teleportation ability was excellent for this purpose and would let him easily return to where he started if the far side was blocked so that he wouldn't get squashed against whatever was blocking the exit.
The guard lifted the stone for them to exit through the portal, and Cain stepped through, leading the way in case there was something unexpected on the other side. The portal was heavily guarded at this end, so there was no reason to believe it wouldn't be guarded on the other side.
Cain felt soft cloth against his face as he stepped through and into a completely black room. His vision let him make out the basic surroundings through thermal imagining, but it looked like he was in a basement somewhere, with smoothly cut stone block walls and no windows.
He created a simple light spell and looked around the room, realizing that there were centuries of dust on every square centimeter of the lavishly decorated sitting room.
All of the furniture had covers on it. Even the portal had a cloth draped over it to keep the dust off. Cain looked around carefully, searching for traps or signs of danger, but the room seemed perfectly normal, though the door was barred from this side, which was a bit odd, as it implied that whoever was here last either teleported out or left through the portal.
[It's an old sitting room, possibly in a basement, as it has no windows. It seems safe enough.] Cain mentally messaged both Luna and Elder Mariel at the same time.
A small body hopped through the portal a second later, then sneezed and cursed as the dust her arrival raised filled the air.
"Oh yeah. I can fix that." Cain laughed.
[Maid's Pride] was a cleaning spell known to the two Succubus Royal Maids that Cid had summoned as his Lieutenants, chosen by the system to help him try to keep Neffie under control. It took effect in an instant and removed all the dust from everything, returning the room to a pristine state.
With that fixed, Cain collected all the drop cloths and checked the furniture, noticing that it all had preservation runes on it in the Ancient Language.
It was a good sign that they were in the right world, at least. The tomes on the shelves all seemed to be written in Ancient as well, so Cain sent a thought to the mostly inactive link to the Ancient Collective.
[Good Morning, am I in the right spot?]
The response was immediate, as the link reopened, and he was included in the main consciousness of the Ancient Collective for the first time. Luna's mind was right there with him, wondering at all the new people she could hear and all the books on the shelves she had never seen before.
With the lights on and the drop cloth removed, the others could see into the portal now, giving them confidence that they could safely cross between worlds. They hurried through, waving goodbye to the guard who made sure they were all safely on the other side before lowering the stone again, turning the portal black from the viewpoint of the group in the sitting room.
"This world feels strange. It's not an Immortal world. I don't think. But the energy doesn't feel like regular Divine Energy. Do you think the Ancients could have completely replaced the Divine Energy with Arcane Energy refined by them?" Mariel asked as she took a deep breath of the stale air.
"It could just be this room. They know that we're here since I said hello already, so if we wait a moment and open the door, someone is likely to come to see what we're up to. That would be easier than wandering around the place without a map or a clue where we are." Cain decided.
Penny removed the wooden crossbar from the door and cracked it open, finding an incredibly dusty and disused hallway on the other side.
"There are windows here. I don't think we're in the basement. It's just an interior room. Why don't you step out first and make sure there are no sneaky Immortal Realm traps waiting for us out there?" The Lycan suggested.
"Why would we trap our own hallways? What if someone forgot and injured themselves?" A soft voice echoed through the room from the direction of the bookshelves.
A petite Bunny girl appeared out of thin air or perhaps coalesced herself out of energy, which is what it looked like to Cain's eyes, and bowed to the group. Her feet didn't seem to touch the ground, making no noise as she moved around the room, lighting lamps and activating a light spell set into the ceiling.
"They left me in charge of this place since nobody goes here anymore, and I am rarely in a solid form. Give me a moment, and I will tidy it up for corporeal beings." The strange Bunny began, then stopped suddenly and stared at Luna.
"Ignore her. That happens every time she sees something fluffy." Cain offered.
"No, not that. This child is one of us. Well, half one of us. Is this one of your daughters? Nyarla told me all about them, but I could have sworn she was supposed to be not a human." The Ancient in the form of a Bunny replied.
"Dad, can I change back now? This world isn't full of humans, is it?" Luna asked.
"We can change you back if you like. Your normal form should be fine, and Mariel is the only one who hasn't seen it yet." Cain agreed, changing Luna back to all of her Lamia Progenitor glory.
The moment he did, the four-armed serpentine body was launched at the bunny, wrapping the ancient up and rubbing her face against the Ancient's ears.
"Ah, that's much better. Good to meet you. My name is Luna." She greeted the woman she was wrapped around.
"Good to meet you, Luna. I am called Hera, short for Heraphonecia. Your scales are quite smooth. Transforming back and forth keeps them in pristine condition."
Mariel shook her head at the scene, then turned to the hallway, which was suddenly spotless and flooded with afternoon light from the now-open windows.
"Ah, that's better. This is a Divine Realm. You were right, Cain. It was just the room that was full of the unique energy of the Ancients." She sighed.
"You brought a random human who isn't part of your family?" Hera asked.
"The Laughing God wanted to talk to her." He shrugged, getting a shocked look from Mariel.
"Wait, the one you were talking about was him? I thought it would be one of the others, but since when does that one concern himself with mortal matters? The legends say he disappeared after the war and hasn't been seen since." She explained.
"There is a lot to that story, but he's been doing some things, and he was too busy for other concerns. But you caught his attention, and he wanted to see you."
"I am afraid that he is still preoccupied at the moment. Some issue with the dragons about a prank that he played on them, but he promised to come back as soon as he could so that he could meet you in person." Hera informed Mariel with a smile.
"You two aren't actually related, are you? Seriously, that sounds like the sort of excuse you would give." Mariel said, looking straight at Cain.
"Oh, no. We're not related in any way, but we've been in contact regularly for some time, and we tend to be on the same wavelength, so I can see how the misunderstanding would occur." Cain told her with a smirk.
Footsteps were coming briskly but evenly up the stairs at the end of the hall, signaling that they were getting multiple visitors, so Hera began to check out the room to make sure it was fit for company.
"You might as well take a seat. You'll be here for a while. We don't get many visitors these days, so everyone will want to come to say hello." The Ancient said, gesturing vaguely to the footsteps in the hall.
"I still have a quest to complete and a pregnant wife to visit, so I can't stay too long today, but maybe we can relocate?" Cain suggested.
"Not a problem. Nyarla will be along soon enough to see what the hold-up is. She's a real busybody, but she's the very best with children."
Cain realized that he could hear all of their thoughts through the link, though they were not intending to broadcast them. It was like being in a public space. The voices were there but quiet, so you had to make an effort to make them clear unless they wanted to be heard. The one known as Nyarla was deliberately blocking a whole building, but Cain could sense her excitement leaking through.
He took that to mean that she had a surprise waiting for him, and the building was only a few blocks away. That was a bit further than usual since all the buildings were made for twenty-meter-tall bodies, but at his level, it would only take him a few seconds to be at her front door.
Once this was all sorted out, he really did need to have a long talk with that woman about the courtesies involved in stealing someone's family from their bedroom.
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