Vin proceeded with open eyes and ears, hyper-fixing on his surroundings. Even without thinking, he was silent as he traveled and tensed up at the faintest noises. The area he traveled became calm, so Vin peeked at the Phoenix and whimsically asked, "I won't turn to ash once our deal is done, will I?"
He waited for an answer, but after the creature's continued silence, he groaned, "If you don't wanna talk, then get lost."
The Phoenix chose then to prick at his mind, relaying that it could not. There was a reminder that God's had their true form sealed to the Astral Plane. That deity's temporary shape could not produce magic to sustain itself, so it reforged Vin through its flames and continued to feed off him.
Vin comprehended its transmission but turned forward, uninterestedly responding, "I don't care about that. I'd asked you a question."
Even if it couldn't fly him across the world, at the very least, Vin wanted the bird to tell him the details of their accord. His mission was still so vague, and that entity wasn't doing much to clarify, so he turned to something he could trust more, consulting the Magic Journal on facts about the Archival Dimension.
He read that the Archival Dimension was a limitless space that contained the essence of assimulated worlds. It was a record of each planet and its lore, meaning one could theoretically stumble upon a historical location and face the evils of that period. As for why the Phoenix wanted him to go there, who knew. Nevertheless, Vin was far from keen on going, ruminating on the potential dangers of that place as he tip-toed through the forest.
Occasionally, Vin would stop near shrubs that grew berries or anything that looked like vegetation. He was getting hungry since he had skipped the earlier breakfast provided... Unfortunately, none of the notes from Q.Q attested to the edibility of the plants, reckon they weren't so bold as to eat every berry they came across.
While plans for lunch were out, Vin still had the means to settle his thirst. He stopped, rested his bare body against a tree to catch his breath, then opened his map. He sighed, noticing the red dot that indicated his position hadn't moved an inch closer to the human settlement. This was an unfortunate confirmation of what he'd assumed, which was that Auroraan was as immense as five worlds united. Something had to change, or he'd spend the entire year just traveling to the settlement.
Vin squinted at the map, but no matter how close his face was to the paper, he couldn't see any finer details, such as his surroundings. So, he flipped to the next page for a closer image but found something unrelated. He had to remember it was a magic book with infinite pages constantly updated; he wasn't intended to manually navigate it.
Vin took his hand off the Journal, then directed, "Take me back to my location."
His inquiry was answered with centralized illustrations of the area he was currently traveling, and then he added, "Enlarge." The ink on the page came to life, and the Journal redrew the map, magnifying the area on the page he was observing. A detrimentally blank expression held his face as he stared at the parchment paper that'd just zoomed in like a web page. It was so magical that Vin regretted wanting to bicycle wheel kick the Journal halfway across the forest earlier.
With the image blown up, he saw the mountain that housed his nest, but the map didn't show any cities in Vulcorath. Either they had to be personally documented, or they were intentionally kept secret.
Amid Vin's findings, he heard two sets of footsteps trailing behind the large tree he rested against, crunching the many purple leaves that'd fallen to the ground. His expression tightened, and he tapered his breathing before sitting entirely still.
He remained idle until he sensed the pair was past his location, then peeked from behind the tree at their rear. A moose-like creature whose antlers grew colorful fungus walked inattentively through the forest while an infant followed. It was apparent they hadn't noticed him watching them; otherwise, the mother likely wouldn't have been so lenient with how far her energetic child separated.
Vin regarded them as they roamed, blissfully stopping to eat the lush grass and explore. He envied those creatures and the simplicity of their lives, how easy it would be for them to find happiness.
He sighed, then looked up at the canopy of trees while considering the complexities of his own heart. He wondered if he'd be satisfied if he fulfilled all the trite human joys like marriage, starting a family, or financial success. Would it really be that simple? Probably not, but he'd already decided to race toward it; to do that, he needed to survive nature.
Vin returned to the map and located a narrow river. It was a slight detour Southward from his route true-east, but he had to accommodate since it seemed to be the only water source for miles. So he stood, then shut his eyes and stretched each of his arms behind his head. 'Back to it then.'
As He launched South, he heard the usual flapping of wings, signifying the Phoenix had left whatever branch it perched on to follow him. He didn't think he'd ever forgive those entities for what they did, but he had to acknowledge his new body was advantageous. He knew he shouldn't have been able to hear something as subtle as wings flapping dozens of paces away or judge the distance of the creatures cawing high above the treeline. He also learned to rely on his eyes, scanning ahead to adjust away from animals. The appearance of the wildlife wasn't always fiendish; from what he could tell, the ones that wandered in pacts were herbivores and would only get violent if other species approached. There were also the more obvious signs, like not having prominent fangs or claws.
Peculiar. A city boy like him hiking through a giant forest. He never would have guessed life would have devolved so much.
After a half hour, his ears picked up on the sound of running water, and he cautiously strode to the stream. As he neared, the number of trees thinned out, opening up the gloomy gray sky. The ground leveled, leading to an open grass field with rocks on each side of the river.
Hesitating at the edge of the field, he took cover behind a tree to survey the area. There was nothing directly nearby; however, he could see a pack of more moose with colorful fungus growing on their antlers, drinking from the river. That seemed to be the only major water source for some distance, so he anticipated more visitors.
It was better safe than sorry, so he waited for the creatures to leave. They did, but by then, two more species of animals had situated themselves alongside the river. They were both on the opposite side of the stream, a dash away from one another, yet neither beast became hostile.
With the sun beginning to set, he knew he needed to find shelter soon. Assessing the docile demeanor of the beast across the river, he decided to quietly go out and sate his thirst. The river water glistened magnificently even without solid daylight. It was so crystal clear that he could clearly see his slim face and, to his surprise, deep violet eyes. He'd never liked purple, but since reviving, he'd adopted an inexplicable fondness for it.
His thirst topped his interest in his appearance, so he leaned down and took an experimental sip of the water. It was distinctively earthy and salty, but it didn't churn his stomach immediately, so he indulged. He took his fill and then stood, soon hearing a disturbance in the waves. A glance further downstream showed fish thrashing in the water, so he roamed to the disorder and found a white, thin, webbed rope had been cast into the river and captured fish.
That meant intelligent life had been there before him. Not only that, but they'd soon have food. The local animals weren't paying him much attention, so he easily slipped back into the coverage of trees before finding a good vantage to watch the river. He opened the Journal and sought the name of the people who occupied that region—likely another species that had its world forcibly assimilated.
"Ravenours," he mumbled. He inquired more about them in the Journal but expected an empty summary. However, unlike everything else he'd requested, the races of that world were provided without human interaction.
Ravenours: Descendants of warriors who consumed the flesh of dragons over generations to absorb their mystical properties, leading to remarkable physical changes.
Notes: N/A
[End]
'That's not very reassuring.' No people capable of killing and consuming a dragon could be good. So, he continued to hide until he could confirm they weren't just flesh-eating monsters who happened to know how to fish.
While he waited, he had a lot to review. He learned the [Map] Tab had a table of contents but not page numbers since it operated on vocal commands. The Sub-Sections for that Tab were pretty simple: just the locations of each region.
It followed a similar system mapping structure to Earth. Continent > Country > State/Providence > City
"Take me to Earthia maps," he said, prompting the Journal to quickly flip to a map of Earthia. Within that region were smaller names that indicated the countries of their land. There were 3 named ones, New Eden, Gaiden, and Philosopus.
He'd assumed there was just one large settlement, but three "countries" had been founded on the first day. If the population was split evenly, around 2.6 billion people would be in each. It'd be his guess at which one his family was in, so he picked the first one.
"Show me a map of New Eden." Within this settlement were several named states/provinces, one of which was named New York Prime, which was a bit on the nose.
"Show me a map of New York Prime." Last, Vin saw dozens more named lands, which he assumed were "cities" in the making—probably more akin to villages if everyone camped outside. He glossed over the many, then spotted one that was actually named after the capital of the United States: New Washington, D.C.
Vin had planned to stick to one Tab at a time but found himself seeking information from the [World Tab.]
"How many people live in New Washington, D.C?"
[Population:] 31 million Humans
'That's a lot, but I suppose people are still pretty grouped up after teleporting here,' he supposed. In hindsight, it was impressive so much land had already been named. Well, if history taught him anything, it was that humans had no problem claiming land. With that, his curiosity led him to wonder about the aliens.
[Rivanians:] 620 Million
[Ravenours:] 1.3 Billion
[Churus:] 1.8 Billion
[Elves:] 2.1 Billion
[Humans:] 8 Billion
'The largest is only a quarter of our size? Well, they were the ones living on a dying planet.' Vin was on the verge of digging deeper, but some distance away, on his right, he heard voices. It was a language aside from the one ingrained in his mind, and if it wasn't Earthian, it had to have belonged to the people of that region.
Vin closed his Journal and sat up to observe the moment they walked into the river bank. The Afternoon waved more goodbyes as daylight gradually dipped beyond the horizon. It was because night fell that Vin felt the need to meet their acquaintance; he already hadn't faired well during the day and didn't like his odds at night.
He had no expectations; just don't be wild, murder-hungry barbarians. His face had been mostly glued in the same resting scowl he inherited from his mother, but that changed when the first of the new people appeared in the dying light.
A loose "hmm?" sounded from his throat as he raised a brow in rare interest. There were three Ravenours in total. They all wore brown leather chest armor that had an ambiance of Earth's Medieval history. All of the accents of their attire, the belt, badges, and sword strap, were dark purple, which hinted it'd likely been military uniform.
These Ravenours had claws, thick, scale-covered tails and sharp wings on their backs, but they looked too small to be functional. Still, this sold the idea that these people's ancestors actually consumed the flesh of dragons.
'So these are the so-called aliens.' he thought, eyeing the trio as if they were a new attraction at a theme park. They were all armed, but nothing about their existence was off-putting, so he stood, covered his privates with the Journal, and then walked out from cover.