The young butterfly cutely blinked her eyes. She looked up and down the tree trunk before focusing on Lilly and Remi. After thinking about it for a second she blushed in embarrassment.
"Idea, idea. I will carry you."
Lilly chuckled lightly.
"This seems to be the only way. I guess we will relax while you do all the hard work."
"Relax, relax. This will be easy for me! I already advanced to rank four. I'm strong enough!"
Her eyes widening in surprise, Lilly asked:
"You advanced to rank four? Congratulations! When did this happen?"
Even Remi chimed in with awe on her face:
"You are a rank four beast? Wow. You are as strong as a human master!"
"Four, four. I advanced when I saved you guys!", announced Mihva proudly.
Lilly felt genuinely happy for her furry friend. Suddenly she was confused again. The two sovereign butterfly race was an intelligent race, right? Why were they still keeping up a rank system. Why weren't they connected to the vault?
Was it because they mutated from beasts? Lilly only knew that some races couldn't connect to the vault. Like the Malohcras for example. Was the two sovereign butterfly race in a similar situation?
The intelligent woman suppressed the urge to satisfy her curiosity. She didn't feel like right now was a great timing. Maybe she would gain a chance to ask Mihva's mother or aunt sometimes.
While Lilly was lost in thoughts Mihva had already carefully taken Remi into her arms. The butterfly didn't lie when she said that she could easily carry her friends. Remi's twelve-year-old body seemed light as a feather to her.
Seeing her friends preparing, Lilly calmly stretched out her hand. After Mihva grabbed it she didn't hesitate and instantly fluttered her gorgeous wings.
Lilly was surprised for a moment after her feet left the ground, but she quickly remembered this familiar feeling. Putting her trust in Mihva she enjoyed the feeling of flying.
Remi on the other hand was looking around in excitement. They young girl was fearless as she held onto Mihva. She laughed in joy as Mihva accelerated downwards.
The proud butterfly obviously wanted to show off to her friends. She flew at high speeds, weaving between branches and other members of her race.
Lilly noticed the strange looks on the passerby's faces. They hastily made way, definitely showing Mihva respect. It was apparent that the butterfly woman had a high position in her race. Thus, it was all the more astonishing for others that their princess was carrying two humans.
For many members of the two sovereign butterfly race this was even the first time they had ever seen a human. They naturally knew about the leading race of the universe, having been warned to stay away from them. Fortunately, the butterflies had a lot of trust in their queen or Mihva's actions might have brought huge trouble.
Soon Mihva passed the tree's lowest branches. The butterflies' gorgeous world opened up before the trio's eyes again.
Mihva began to circle around the tree's trunk, allowing new sights to enter her friend's eyes. Soon Lilly noticed some conspicuous buildings. Impressive pagodas formed smaller compounds a few hundred meters away.
They stood out as the only buildings among the natural scenery. However, Lilly noticed that nature was already working to reclaim their location. The pagodas obviously had seen better days.
Except for a few buildings most of them showed signs of damage. Roofs had given in, and some had even been destroyed directly.
Lilly thought about asking Mihva what was going on with those buildings, but she noticed that her friend was already flying in this direction. Thus, Lilly held back her questions and enjoyed the flight.
Listening to Remi's happy giggles, the river's gurgling water, and the faint breeze caressing the sea of flowers, Lilly savored the moment. It would be great if she could visit this place whenever she was stressed.
Unfortunately, their flight didn't last long. Mihva soon put her friends down on a large stone square.
Lilly immediately focused on the stone monument before them. Despite its top half lying on the ground, she could feel magical fluctuations from it. Lilly observed it curiously. All over the monument's surface symbols were written.
The clever woman understood that those were words, but to her surprise she couldn't understand the language. This was the first time something like this happened. So far she had guessed that everyone used a universal language.
Finally able to ask some questions, Lilly turned to Mihva:
"Mihva? Where are we here? What is this stele, and what is written on it?"
The butterfly's eyes lit up. Finally, she could prove her knowledge to someone. Unfortunately, this didn't happen often. Most of the time she was either learning from others or not allowed to talk about sensitive information to those of her age.
Noticing that her two friends looked at her curiously, Mihva proudly explained:
"Here, here. These pagodas are the old remnants of the Dagorinn race. The stele before us was their remembrance of heroes, where the most accomplished Dagorinn could leave their names behind."
Hearing about a completely new race, Lilly's attention was caught instantly. She observed their surroundings in wonder while trying to get as much information as possible from Mihva.
"Who is the Dagorinn race? What happened to them? Can you read their language?"
"Read, read. I… I don't know too much. I can read a bit of their language and know a few names from this stele. Other than that, most of what I know comes from the engravings left behind in these buildings. Mother doesn't like to talk about the Dagorinns for some reason."
"Which of these names do you know?"
Lilly eagerly followed Mihva's finger as she pointed at a few spots on the stele while explaining:
"Names, names. Here right at the top. That's Overlord Zin Lohmin. He is credited with uniting the Dagorinns' home planet for the first time.
There, that means Gul. She is said to have revolutionized the race's magic system, making them one of the leading races in life and death magic.
The last one I know is Linf Estlar. He invented the method of forming bloodpacts. Later this led to the close connection between the four element butterflies and the Dagorinn. They often formed bloodpacts with each other."
Lilly was left in awe. She had accepted the different races living in the universe, but she never thought about where they came from.
"Uniting a planet, revolutionizing their magic system, and discovering the method of bloodpacts. All of those were simple sentences, but who knows how much blood and tears have been spilled to accomplish all of these.", whispered Lilly.
Silently the young woman also thought about how many similar heroes might have been forgotten together with their discoveries.
She let out a melancholic sigh as she slightly bowed towards the stele. These heroes deserved her respect. Especially since she was going to learn from them.
Remi only seemed to listen with one ear. The young girl slowly revealed her lively nature, sneaking around the buildings and curiously playing with grass which reached up to her neck.
Probably not able to gain much more from the stele, Lilly urged Mihva on:
"Mihva, you talked about engravings earlier? Can you show them to me?"
"Show, show. Of course. Come with me."
Happily fluttering her wings, Mihva led Lilly towards a pagoda at their left.
Noticing the pillar lying on the ground and the weak looking roof, Lilly hesitated to enter. She skeptically addressed Mihva:
"Should we really go in there? This pagoda doesn't look safe at all."
"Safe, safe. Don't worry. We have stabilized these buildings a long time ago or none of those would be standing any more. Going in there isn't dangerous."
"You have stabilized those buildings? Then why didn't you repair them?"
"Repair, repair. I never really dared to ask, but it's probably because our race doesn't really like the Dagorinn. We only keep their buildings out of respect. Or maybe they are still useful, I'm not sure."
Lilly calmly raised her eyebrow. From those words some of the earlier information appeared in a new light. Lilly guessed that the cooperation between the four element butterfly race and the Dagorinn race most likely wasn't that consensual.
Since the butterflies were only beasts back then, the Dagorinn most likely had no qualms to catch and force them. Now it would only be interesting to know why the butterfly race still existed, but the Dagorinn race was destroyed.
Lilly thought about asking Mihva more questions, but her friend didn't seem to know too much. It seemed like all mothers liked to keep sensitive information from their daughters.
Laughing lightly at her own thoughts Lilly followed behind Mihva. She was curious to explore the ruins of a once mighty race.