"the land is not as tainted here, we must be getting close"
I said this as we flew over the forest, the trees were no longer scary looking and the ground wasn't black here
"good let's land here"
As the Elari said this she jumped off my back and sprouted snow white wings with black feather on the tips
"you can fly!? Then why were you sitting on my back this whole time! Do you know how much my back hurts?!"
I said as I also transformed into an Elari and sprouted wings with beautiful black feathers, I put away the flying contraption back in my storage ring which I wore like a bracelet around my leg
This time I had learned my lesson and made a black robe for myself out of a small black fabric and tied a silver sash to keep it from falling down, although I didn't feel like it was necessary as I was in animal form it still felt embarrassing to be naked in front of a girl, fur or not
"the coordinates should lead to here somewhere"
She said as she examined the trees one by one making me look puzzled
"what are you looking for?" I asked
"aha! This"
She said as she found what seemed to be carved runes on a tree trunk, she let out some Li from her body and poured it into the Rune
Thanks to the Blessing of the Elari we could store Li in our entire body and there was no difference whether I practiced Jin or Xin arts as all I needed to do was strengthen my entire body along with my mind at the same time
When she finished messing with the Rune suddenly a drop of water appeared in front of the Rune and slowly spiraled larger and larger until a vertical pool of water like a mirror appeared
"let's go"
She said as she dove into the pool and ripples appeared on it's surface, when I followed I was amazed
Inside I saw a giant city built that was surrounded by forest and giant trees, when I looked back I saw through the pool of water the forest we were in just now
"it's a pocket dimension, that rune you saw activates only if an Elari uses their Li and has the blessing"
She said as she closed the portal and lead me through the town, she walked in an anthropomorphic way that resembled humans when she entered the city
"do all Elari have the blessing?" I asked
"no, not the forsaken, but they chose to give up the blessing for greater power"
She explained to me about the forsaken as we walked along a path that was carved into a tree, the forsaken were a race of Elari that gave up their blessing for temporary power in hopes of saving Altitia
But when they lost their blessing the power they gained turned them evil and they started attacking the Elari
Another thing I noticed was that not all the Elari looked like us, some took the form of dear and some of tigers or other beasts, some were small some were big
"we do not have an original form, when we are born we take our parents shape and as we grow up we take on any shape we choose, back before the calamity we would take the same shape as the beasts we raised"
As we walked I felt like a village child who for the first time sees the big city, everything was new and interesting
"by the way, are you related to the royal family?" She asked me
"huh? No? Especially not an Elari royal family"
I replied as she squinted her eyes before she continued walking up the path until we came upon a beautiful building made of wood carved with endless runes and two Elari guards standing at the door
"I-It's Princess Lei! Quickly! Inform his majesty!"
One of the guards shouted as the other ran off past the gate
"your a princess?" I asked
"Hmph, of course"
She replied with a smug look
"You, are a princess? You?"
"shut up!"
She started beating me with her tiny paws before storming into the building in a huff, seeing no choice I followed behind her
"Lei my darling! You're safe!"
Another Elari that looked like Lei rushed over and hugged her