This was all extremely new to her. Everything seemed strange, and this was perhaps the cherry on the top; riding a talking horse with wings. Or, as the locals call it, a pegasus. [Y/n] was shaking and clearly terribly unsure, however Rya - the silvery creature who encouraged her to do such a strange thing in the first place - had a confidence about her that eased [Y/n]'s nerves a little.

"Keep your knees up," Rya instructed, turning her head to nuzzle [Y/n]'s legs up so her knees sat on the creature's withers. It was an uncomfortable position for [Y/n], who'd never so much as sat on the back of a horse before. Thankfully she could rest her feet on Rya's wings. Which she understood wasn't something people who rode horses got the privilege of. It took a lot of the strain from her thigh muscles away and stabilised her a little.

"L-like this?" [Y/n] questioned quietly. Rya sighed.

"You've slid yourself too far back, you need to move forwards a little," she explained. [Y/n] made her best effort to shuffle herself a little further forwards.

"Is... is this not really uncomfortable?" [Y/n] questioned. Rya tossed her head in a shaking motion.

"No, so long as you don't sit too far back or too far forwards," she responded, before turning her head to look at [Y/n] again. "Your knees have dropped again." [Y/n] raised her knees to Rya's withers once more. Gosh, this was hard work, and they hadn't even started moving yet! "Right, I'll walk. Hold onto my mane, but don't pull it too much please!" Rya let out a small whinny-sounding laugh, before taking a few careful paces forwards, one of her ears pointed back slightly to listen for any discomfort from [Y/n].

[Y/n] held onto Rya's mane carefully - she wanted to cling on for dear life as she seemed to have quite a bouncy gait, however she feared making the pegasus mad so she abstained.

"Feron has designated me as your steed when he isn't around," Rya explained. "Usually he'll be the one to transport you, however." [Y/n] shuddered at the thought of more petrifying dragon rides, but at the same time... the prospect was exciting.

"So... what is Feron to you guys, anyway? How does this society function?" [Y/n] questioned, the stutter leaving as she found a little more confidence, the pair walking around a forested clearing in circles.

"Feron is our leader. We've never titled him as king, however. His mother and father were king and queen. Feron was the youngest of he and his sister, so his sister inherited the throne," Rya paused, "but she decided she wanted to stay as 'princess'. I suppose Feron honoured her by staying as 'prince', also." [Y/n]'s gaze fell for a moment. Feron's sister had died, then... that must've been awful for him. "As for how our society works, Vihren is the name of the mountain our main camp is on, so we deem the kingdom as such, but we have many different camps dotted around the entire mountain range." [Y/n] nodded her head. "Vihren was established as a few tribes of creatures decided they didn't want to live in fear of Kutelo any longer. They chose a representative of each tribe, and those representatives came to live in a small camp here. The original leaders are mostly long gone. The one exception is Al - he's been here for hundreds of years, though none of us are quite sure how long exactly..."

"Al?!" [Y/n] said in surprise. "But... he and Hetti were brother and sister... does that mean Hetti is also...?"

"Faeries are usually born from nature. They can also be created, and technically can have parents, but they are most often created by a natural entity. He and Hetti came from the same ancient oak, so Al deemed Hetti as his sister, but Hetti was born hundreds of years after him," Rya explained. [Y/n] nodded slowly, rubbing her neck. Another question came to mind.

"Is living ridiculously long um... normal?" [Y/n] questioned. She was still getting her head around the whole living for eternity thing. Rya let out a snort of laughter, and [Y/n] shuffled slightly uncomfortably in response. Had she asked a stupid question? Probably.

"Yes and no. Life expectancies for bearers of magic are usually longer than those without. The dire wolves live a rather ordinary life - they'll live for around 90 years, similar to humans. We pegasi can live into our 200s, but only one pegasus has made it past 300, and that was only because she had been blessed - or cursed - with immortality. Vampires are eternal beings and so are dragons. Mages can continuously prolong their lives with magic, but if they stop doing this then they will begin to wither. So I suppose to humans, we live long lives," she hummed.

"Are vampires and dragons... the only beings that live forever?" she questioned, goosebumps running down her skin. She surely wouldn't have the protection of this tribe forever, would she? The boys would live forever. It could only be a matter of time before—

She pushed the thought away.

"I'm not sure. Dragons and vampires, as well as anomalous eternal beings." She turned to look at [Y/n]. "Al had reported to us about your predicament. Don't fret too much about the eternal thing. If you need any advice on how to cope, Feron would be willing to help, I'm sure." [Y/n] nodded weakly, and Rya quickly pondered on how to bring up the disheartened girl's mood again. "Say, how would you like to visit my tribe?" Rya questioned.

[Y/n] blinked in surprise. "D-do you have to fly to get there?"

"Yup, but it'll be fun! You just have to hold on," she reassured. [Y/n] had no idea how the hell Rya was so sure she'd stay on - [Y/n] was wobbling at a walk. Rya took a few paces forwards, each a little faster than the last. As her pace increased, she broke into a trot, and [Y/n] felt herself bouncing all over the place. Astoundingly, when Rya's rhythm changed to canter, the bounciness left and [Y/n] felt... secure. She held onto Rya's neck when instructed, and watched in awe as the silver horses' pace grew faster and faster and faster as she approached a sheer drop off the side of the cliff.

She leapt.

[Y/n]'s heart jumped right into her throat. She shut her eyes tight, feeling her stomach lurch and body go all fuzzy. The bitter air lashed at her face and her hair was swept back by the momentum. [Y/n] eventually grew the courage to crack one eye open, and then two.

They were just beneath the clouds, and [Y/n] felt her ears pop from the altitude.

The mountains were so beautiful, and gazing at them from this height was truly extraordinary. And strangest of all, [Y/n] felt no fear.

It was as though the frozen air was crystallising all her toils and troubles. [Y/n] could almost touch them; drop them into the abyss.

It was all going to be alright, she decided.

She'd avenge Olli and Hetti.

She'd go home.

* * *

Sally let out a yawn as she reread the same vampire history book for the millionth time, trying her hardest to understand their culture, their society, and little things about them. She'd already read through books on their biology, their psychology, their politics; the list goes on. Though Tara, Sally and Damien hadn't been given access to the libraries of this strange place - no, Sally's books had been given in secret by Calen, the chef that they had spoken to.

She would visit the kitchen occasionally for 'water', claiming she had a sensitive stomach and couldn't drink non-filtered water of any sort. No one had suspected this, and she would make sure to take empty bottles in a bag with her to fill and bring back. But also in that bag would be books - Calen would give her books, she would read them, she would return them and he'd provide her with new ones.

Tara and Damien claimed she was becoming obsessed, but to Sally that simply wasn't the case. What if they were to be stuck here for the rest of their lives? The least she could do was understand them and hope to coexist peacefully. And clearly not all vampires were bad - Calen, for example, had become somewhat a friend of hers.

Currently she had her head stuck in "1000 Years In Kutelo" in the grand lounge, shamelessly reading in the open as Nyais had left only an hour ago and all his guards had gone with him. The magnitude of the departure suggested that he was dealing with something important, so Sally could only guess that he wouldn't be back for a while.

So when she heard unexpected knocking at the main door, which was only a couple rooms from where she was, she hurriedly tucked her book underneath the cushions of the sofa. She'd collect it later, she supposed. Tactically, she moved to sit on the other sofa.

She listened as a maid answered the door, before a scuffle seemed to occur - she was telling someone that she couldn't permit them entrance, and that the king wasn't in. This strange person pushed past anyway, however, claiming that they only had to drop off some reports.

The scuffle ended; Sally continued to listen - now a little nervous - as this stranger opened every door on the way to his destination.

And then he poked his head into the lounge.

He had medium length grey hair and icy blue eyes, and his clothes weren't typical of the overly well-dressed vampires she'd already seen. He looked oddly ordinary, as though he was desperate to blend in.

"Who are you?" he questioned his brow furrowed. "Why is a human here?" Sally moved herself so she was sitting upright, instead of laying down, on the sofa.

"My name is Sally," she introduced, "we were kidnapped by a strange man, but then your king took us here instead," she explained. She decided not to mention [Y/n] in fears of giving him too much information. "What is your name?"

"Kori," the stranger responded, sounding suspicious. He then paused. "Wait, you're no human..." he tailed off. Now he seemed even more perplexed. Sally rubbed the back of her neck. Kori walked further into the room, sitting down on the sofa opposite to the one Sally was on - the one her book was hidden in. He didn't seem to notice the book, however, and continued to watch her with a curious gaze.

"It's nice to meet you, Kori," Sally smiled. Perhaps she'd grown too trusting after getting to know Calen, especially with someone who'd just broken into the king's abode, however she didn't detect much malice from Kori. Or at least, not towards her. "Why are you here, by the way? I thought I heard some commotion at the door," Sally hummed.

"Dropping off some reports," Kori said shortly, however he had no paperwork, and Sally raised an eyebrow.

"Uh huh," she nodded, a laugh leaving her. "You here to rob the place?" she questioned. She wanted to make it very clear that if he was a robber, he could rob away - she wasn't gonna stop him.

"Only of information," Kori responded, surprisingly honestly. "I wanted to see what people were talking about. I heard someone mention that Nyais was hiding something so I raced here." Sally tilted her head.

"Oh. Are you looking for something, then?" she questioned.

"Someone," Kori corrected with a shrug. Sally laughed, a light smile on her face.

"That makes two of us! Sadly I'm stuck here so I doubt I'll succeed anytime soon," she said with a sad sigh. "I wish you luck finding whoever you're looking for, though." Sally wasn't stupid - she had put the pieces together, and her words were a rouse to see if this Kori person was one of the boys that she'd heard so much about. No one had told her their names, but this definitely seemed like it was too soon to just be a coincidence.

"Yeah," Kori muttered, his cold eyes analysing Sally's every move with thorough calculation. Every breath and blink seemed to be taken in and stored like a video, and perhaps that's exactly what he was doing - creating a mental tape of this encounter. He then lowered his gaze, staring at his hands. He seemed deeply upset. "Good luck to you too," he hummed, before standing up. "As a token of my respect," he paused, throwing a lighter over to her, "take this." Sally stared at it in confusion.

"And burn yourself alive with it."