We're off to see the Wizards!

[Guu]

Suddenly, the white void pulled away like a large curtain on the world. The sunlight blinded the two for a brief moment, but as their vision cleared, they saw long rolling plains, ancient forest, and roads that lead every which direction. A knight in a full suit of armor clops by on his fully decorated steed as he rides down the road labeled “The Colosseum.”

“Welcome to Camelot!” Yelled out Tia, shaking Makoto from his awestruck expression. “This verse is a collection of small cities. Very simple folk, technologically impaired compared to yourself. Although, if you want to go into one of the smaller ones I probably should hang out on the edge of town. Not sure how a 3-foot-rabbit walking around would blow over.”

“Well, what big cities are there?” Yuki asked. He figured the bigger cities would more likely have people with answers.

“There’s Minas Tirith, that’s the capital, it’s kind like knights and kings and stuff. And then there’s Dalaran, which is full of wizards.”

[Makoto Yuki]

Wizards. She just said that. She is a talking rabbit, but wizards?

"This interests me. Tell me more."

A cute giggle preceded her response, "You're funny, mister."

"Huh? Oh, how rude of me. My name is Makoto Yuki, pleased to meet you Tia." I introduced myself, I was surprised I had neglected an introduction up until this moment. Maybe it was the surrealness of his situation taking its toll?

"The pleasure is all mine, Yuki." Replied the Mamiga, smiling the entire time. "Dalaran is the home of the Mages Guild, the largest organization dealing with magical stuff here in the Omniverse. It's also where most of the schooling in Camelot takes place. And I heard there was this large, secret library that the Wizards use? I'm not sure, but if you're so dead set on getting as many questions answered as you can, it looks like a step in the right direction?"

It made a certain amount of sense at least. Wizards are often characterized by their passion for knowledge, are they not? If there are enough of their kind to necessitate a guild to govern their actions, and they have enough knowledge to have amassed a library, then it makes the most sense to start my search for Omni there.

"That sounds like the place I'd want to be at this point. Can we go there now?" I asked Tia.

"Definitely. Though, you might want to swap out your mount for something more... capable." Warned Tia, looking like she was trying to select her words carefully as to not offend me.

I was offended. "Why? I assure you, my ride is very capable." Sure, this medieval looking place probably didn't have that many proper roads, so it looked like it would be a fairly bumpy ride. That didn't stop me from getting annoyed for Mitsuru's sake, if for nothing else.

"No, no! I'm sure your bike is wonderful, really! It's just that Dalaran is sort of a.... flying... city." Rushed Tia, trying to fix her apparent poor wording.

"...Oh." I didn't expect that. I really should have, after everything that has happened. "That's fine. While I'm confident in my bike, it wasn't really made with the sky in mind as a possible road. How are we going to reach it then?" I inquired.

"Personally, I'm all set to go. I told you my chocobo buddy here can fly, right?" Tia proceeded to affectionately pet her golden mount as she said so. It released a noise of contentment, leaning into her touch. It was sort of a cute sight, really. "As for you, you summoned that bike, right? You can just summon something else that can fly! Ooh, ooh! I forgot to tell you! Only in Camelot can you summon flying beasts, like a griffin or a pegasus! Isn't it just so exciting~"

Well, that solved the transportation problem, at least. Still, I didn't really want to leave Mitsuru's bike behind, it was the only physical thing reminding me of home at this point, the only thing reminding me of those I had to go back to.

"I will use a flying mount if that's the only way to get there. But this bike means too much to me to just leave it behind in the middle of nowhere. Surely, you understand my dilemma?" I asked, hoping Tia had a fitting solution in mind.

She did. "Don't worry about it, you summoned it using Omnillium, so you can also extract the Omnillium used to summon it, making it disappear. Then summon it elsewhere! Isn't it just so convenient?" Came Tia's explanation. She was proving herself to be a very helpful ally, I felt kind of bad about doubting her earlier.

Armed with this newfound knowledge, I disembark from my position atop my mechanical stead. I face it, taking a moment to gaze at it, and remember what it symbolizes. When I'm ready, the actions come naturally to me, as they did before. I holds out my hands as if reaching for the bike, but instead it's the bike that comes to me, in the form of a steady stream of colorful light. Deconstructing it takes roughly the same amount of time as materializing it, and when I'm done, what greets me is an empty patch of grass. I'd have thought the bike to be only an illusion if I weren't the one who caused its disappearance.

When I'm done, I try to decide on what sort of magical beast I would prefer to travel on. This feels like Innocent Sin, an MMORPG Junpei got me hooked on last year.

So the choices were either griffon or Pegasus? Tough call. If I have to, I guess I'll choose the Pegasus. People ride horses all the time, and a Pegasus is just a horse with wings, no? I don't really want to experiment with riding on a Lion's back, especially if it's a flying lion.

Having made my choice, I immediately start with the summoning. At first, everything is normal. The horse's coat is a buttery yellow, but that is normal. The pink mane was not. And is that a colorful brand in the shape of a butterfly on its flank? What?

I felt like my man card was being revoked. Is that really what my mind thought of when I envisioned a Pegasus? Was this some kind of cruel joke from a higher power? Was this how every single Pegasus looked? I wish I had chosen the hawk lion.

I looked at Tia, and was met with a look of anticipation. She looked ready to go, and was calmly waiting for me while humming an upbeat tune under her breath.

Seeing as there was no reaction to the bizarre look of his summoned mount, I assumed it was an ordinary thing and took it in stride. Mounting my new summon, I prepared for take off.

"I'm ready." That was the only verification Tia needed, as she immediately turned her chocobo to an empty, straight path and used it as a makeshift runway. I did not need to communicate with my stead, as it sensed my intent on its own and was hot on Tia's heels. I decided to sit tight, and to hold on to its neck, as a saddle had not materialized with the rest of the summon.

After a smooth takeoff, we were gaining altitude quickly. I believed I could touch the clouds, if I were to raise my hands. The view was fucking beautiful. With a clear blue sky surrounding us, a mass of clouds above us and rolling hills of green grass and leaves and brown bark underneath us. This was it. It was the moment I really felt like this new life was a new chance, rather than just a kidnapping.

I could do nothing but hold on tighter and hope for the best.

[Guu]

The two were flying through the air, soaring about the clouds. It was amazing that neither of them felt cold, as if their mounts were protecting from the oppressive air high up.

Long minutes pass of airtime. The world of Camelot fly by below them. Small towns and hamlets litter the landscape. Eventually, in the distance, the tiny figure of the floating island comes into view.

"We're almost there!" She calls out to Makoto, but it was famous last words.

Both mounts stop in midair. Strange bug like creatures with four legs, jagged horns coming out of their foreheads, and holes in places you wouldn't expect. A large group of them surround the pair, twelve in all.

"Would you care to make a donation to a bunch of changelings without a queen to guide them?" The leader said, donning strange purple armor. "We only require all your worldly possessions."

"Ya bro! Unload the bling!" Said the Changeling beside him.

Suddenly, Tia plays her keytair. She plays an uplifting tune of sorts, and as she does, a light appears around her. The changelings all back away, uncertain on what was happening. The light starts to encompass Yuki and his steed. He looks around, puzzled on what's going on.

Then suddenly, the light fades. Makoto felt and odd sensation. As soon as he pinpointed what it was, he realized he was now sitting in a saddle, but it was translucent in nature. But at same time, he could feel an odd connection to his mount.

"Magical saddle!" Tia yelled out. "Not only will it prevent you from falling off no matter what, but you now have a mental connection to your horse! She will respond to your thought! I'll only last five minutes!"

The Changelings start to regroup and they are slowly encroaching on the pair. Tia starts playing the tune that prepares a lightning spell.

"Go get them fly boy." She said above her own music, giving Yuki a sassy wink.

[Makoto Yuki]

Before the words had left Tia's mouth, my sleek silver evoker was already in my hand and being pointed at the side of my head.

"Orpheus!" my call was heard by all present, in tandem with a single shot of the evoker. A stream of glass shards left the other side of my head, circling around behind my back. It glinted and glittered in the Sun's light. Amidst this crystalline vortex appeared Orpheus in all his mechanical glory.

The imposing figure of the Master of Strings must have took the changelings off guard, as they froze up where they floated and stared at it with dumbstruck faces, all plans of attack forgotten. A crackling bolt of lightning was what woke them up, as it left Tia's keytar and struck one of them clean in the chest, arcing off of it to hit two others. The trio plummeted to the ground as soon as they stopped convulsing, their wings looking to be in particularly bad condition.

"What are you idiots standing around for? Attack!" the armored leader commanded his underlings. They looked hesitant at first, but were quickly reassured that they still had the numerical advantage. They decided to all attack at once, hoping to overwhelm us with sheer numbers.

Were they forgetting about Orpheus? How do you forget something like that? Did they think he was just an illusion? Well, they wouldn't be thinking that for long.

A flash of his red, featureless eyes was the only warning. The nine advancing figures suddenly erupted into nine balls of fire. Killing the second form of sentient life to interact with me in this new world would not have been a wise decision, even if their 'interaction' was an attempt at robbery. I was careful not to burn them alive, only singe their wings enough for them to be useless.

As planned, the fire merely washed over them without burning their bodies too badly. With their wings no longer able to support them, they started dropping like the flies they resembled so.

"You haven't seen the last of the changelings, damn it!" the leader declared as he plummeted towards the ground.

"We'll get ya, ya human pansy!" came the almost comical follow up.

They dropped for a few more seconds before they were obscured by the canopy. The muted sounds of bodies hitting the ground did reach us though. I was relatively certain they weren't dead, flying animals tend to be more resistant to falls like that one.

Do they? I can't remember. It doesn't matter anyway, the sky is clear once more and there's nothing blocking my way.

[Makoto Yuki]

Just as soon as the smoke had cleared, I heard a very familiar noise, my phone was ringing. I took a second to curse myself for my carelessness, an inventory should have been my foremost priority when I first realized that I was stranded in an unknown location.

I dug my hand into my pocket, fishing out my phone. The Kirijo Group had made this particular model to be issued to the members of S.E.E.S. and any of their researchers that had been trained to enter the Dark Hour and conduct all sorts of research and experiments during the phenomenon. It was a smartphone technologically above and beyond what was commercially available at the time, modified to resist the Dark Hour's detrimental effect on electronics.

Caller ID revealed to me nothing but an unidentifiable jumble of symbols, was it some method to conceal the caller's identity? I tentatively decided to answer my mysterious caller, for a lack of a more beneficial course of action.

"Seven days.

That's right! Only seven days left on our sale on women's lingerie! Log on to welovefine.com and get 50% off on all ladies undies guaranteed! Do not wait! This offer closes soon!"

...

The call took a turn from the weird and unexpected to the utterly perplexing. It was clear that it was a recorded message, as I heard a faint mechanical click, before all background noise captured in the recording cut off. Another click was heard, possibly signifying the start of another advert.

I immediately hung up, I was in no pressing need of women's underwear.

Still, this was a learning experience. There was some form of standard communication to be had in this realm, one that could apparently be utilized by my own phone? More yet, it referenced a website address, did this place have an Internet connection, or maybe a network that imitates it? No matter, I'll have time to puzzle over this subject later on, hopefully when I've found a temporary residence to call my own.

"A friend of yours?" asked Tia. She was proving herself to be more and more useful, I was particularly interested in the seemingly magical abilities she had displayed earlier as well. But that too will have to wait. We are still vulnerable, and there's no guarantee that the Changelings are the only outlaws to be encountered here, nor the most skilled ones.

"No, it was... a wrong number."

"Ah, that happens sometimes. Shall we?"

"We shall. Lead the way, if you'd be so kind."

We took off for that steadily growing blemish in an otherwise clear sky, and thankfully reached it without further incident. Now that we were close enough to see the city in its true scale, it was pretty impressive. With all those tall spires and floating purple gems, it definitely gave off a very magical atmosphere.

There were a trio of floating islands, on top of which were various buildings and paved streets connecting said buildings. One of them was noticeably larger and more crowded with people, which was the one Tia decided to land on.

The outermost ring of earth was empty, and was seemingly used as a makeshift landing strip. Just ahead of us were a few people in solider like armor, riding atop griffin mounts, who flew together and landed perfectly in formation.

The landing was easy enough, seeing as it was the Pegasus doing all the work anyway. I made sure to extract all the Omnillium used in summoning it, and was done after a few minutes. Tia opted to continue to stand on her chocobo as it walked around, much like how I first met her.

We were still at the very edge of town and I was already seeing a variety of magic users and fantastical creatures. Over there walked an elderly man in a colorful robe and a classic wizard's hat, closer by was a man in a trench coat, half using his staff as a walking cane.

A lizardman strolled by, politely greeting a cat-person as they crossed paths. Similar yet fundamentally different humanoids of all sizes and shapes roamed the streets of Dalaran, as odd as my attire was and as unusual a body as my companion had, we looked like we fit right in.

"Come on, slowpoke! Let's go already~" Tia saw fit to call me out on my extended pause, looking fairly amused at my expense.

"Alright then, I'll just take all this in stride. Where to?"

[Guu]

“The place we’ll be crashing while we’re here.” Tia said casually. “May even get some grub out of the deal.”

“Did you have a place in mind?” Yuki asked, which got a quick nod in response.

“We’re going to stay with my family.”


The pair navigated the streets, making their way to the further rim of Dalaran. Magicians were quickly exchanged for average peddlers, many trying to sell strange magical merchandise. Tia continued to elaborate on her family.

“Rates in Dalaran are pretty high, so all the mamigas in town have come together. All fifty of us occupy three houses.”

“Fifty?” He said, he couldn’t fathom that amount in just three houses,

“Yeah, it gets a little crowded at times, but you’d be amazed how many you can keep in one house when everyone is less that four feet in height.”

After they pause to make it passed a few beggars, Makoto came out with a follow-up question.

“Wouldn’t me being there be a problem? It sounds like they barely have space as it is!”

“Should be fine, you wouldn’t be the first travel companion I’ve had over. They’ve always been able to accommodate.”

Yuki wondered how many other people she’s traveled with. But before he could follow that train of thought, the area Tia spoke of before came into view.

As described, it was three old stone and thatch roof houses laying land in a less than stable part of town. Mamigas much like tia were hanging out in front of the buildings; some were leaving for a evening shift commute, some where coming home arms raised in greeting, while some were just hanging out, all in various types of clothing that suites each of their personalites.

As they began to spot Tia coming down the street, some ran inside, supposedly to notify someone, everyone else left their hangout spots and made their way to the pair. They crowded around them, many shouting a greeting towards Tia.

“Thank you thank you! I’ve missed you all!” She said to the crowd, giving them a large smile.

Suddenly, a mamiga with graying fur on her body and a bandana on the top of her head came out of the building. Tia and the woman exchange a longing look. She jumps off the chocobo and runs in to give the older bunny a big hug which she reciprocate.

“Welcome home, Tia.” The older rabbit said.

“Thank you, mom!” She responded with a smile.

She looked up to Makoto and suddenly gets a mischievous grin.

“And you brought home a boy!” She said.

The crowd cooed, Tia couldn’t help but laugh.

“Cut it out mom, they don’t always know you’re joking. You remember what happened with the last one…”

“Oh I know dear, but I can’t help but give you a hard time.” She said with a smile.

Tia moved back to be next to Yuki. She outstretched an arm as if presenting him to the group.

“This is Makoto Yuki! He’ll be crashing with us tonight. Treat him well, he’s new to the Omniverse!”

The group yells out their greetings for the young sword man.

“Thank you for hospitality.” He said politely.

“Tia!” Three voices rang out over the crowd. Suddenly, three mamigas, all wearing the same Victorian influenced dress except green, blue, and purple for color-coding, run out of the house. All three run over and pull the bard bunny into a big ol’ group hug.

“I was wondering when I’d see you three.” Tia said laughing. “You must be slowing down, took you longer than normal to find out I’m here!”

“Well, we were making dinner.” Said the one in green.

“Yeah, been busy.” Said the one in red.

“Please tell us you’ll be sleeping in our room tonight!” Said the one in Purple.

“Yep, I am! I also have a guest with me!” She said, gesturing to Makoto.

“Another human companion?” All three said at once. It’s kind of creepy how in sync they were.

“Aww, we never get our favorite sister of another father to ourselves.” Said red.

“Yeah, humans never seem to want to watch soaps with us.” Said green.

“Hey, I could always distract him with magic tricks like that one before last, so he won’t get bored during that part.” Said purple.

The three nod together and stand in a line.

“I’m Limabean!” Said the green one.

“I’m Strawberry!” Said the red one.

“And I’m Plum” Said the purple one.

The three raise their arms like a stage act.

“And we are the Usagi sisters!” They speak in unison. “Welcome to the Mamiga family!”


Makoto joined them for dinner. He learns that Limabean is an expert bread maker, Strawberry makes confections, while Plum manipulates both with her magic. This became apparent considering the dinner rolls that are already buttered from the inside.

He also learned that Tia’s mom, Maple was the matriarch of this particular house, leading every facet of the building.

That night, they stayed in the Triplets’ room. Considering they fed the whole clan, they were allowed their own space to live in, which apparently is where Tia and any guests happen to stay every time she’s over. They had a King Sized bed so there was plenty of room. Makoto’s night was filled with girly sleepover talk and soaps broadcasted over the dataverse. It was a roof over his head.

[Makoto Yuki]

This is... nice. Not the soaps or the girly talk, mind. Those were as horrifying as the ones back home. It was the homely atmosphere that permeated the entire building that really got to me. The homemade food and comfy bed, which I can't help but think would be hilariously oversized for just the three bunny sisters, were a welcome bonus.

It's been a while since I last filled my stomach with delicious food and slept on a warm bed. Primarily because it's been a while since I last ate or slept, but I digress. Tia and the rest of her, quite large, family have shown me much more kindness than was to be expected. At first I wasn't sure if Tia had some ulterior motive for helping me, a complete stranger, but now it seems to me that it was purely out of the kindness of her heart.

I made sure I remembered to make it up to the Mimigas for all their help, and to not burden them any further than was necessary. Tomorrow we would look for the library that Tia mentioned before, but now it's time for some sleep.

Right after I check my phone.

Making sure not to disturb the sleep of any of the other, incredibly adorable, occupants of the bed, I reached into my pocket and took my phone out. I don't remember using it for much more than basic communication throughout the last year, between juggling school work, twenty or so personal relationships, and saving the world, there wasn't much time left for gaming or social media.

Sure enough, there was a standard browser bundled in with the phone's software. As soon as the screen had registered my touch and opened up the browser, I was met with a jumbled mess of information. The main page appeared to function as some sort of bulletin board, with public announcements and site domains organised by most recent activity.

I closed the browser after learning that, I was not ready to explore too much while still this sleepy. Another icon caught my attention, one that I don't remember seeing before. Its title declared it "Omnitwitter". Real cute. A quick registration later, I had an account to call my own. I looked around a bit at some of the tweets already there, old and new. The Omniverse definitely had all sorts of different people, if nothing else.

This was as much information as my tired brain could process in its current state, unfortunately. I locked the phone's screen and put it down on a nightstand adjacent to my side of the bed. Almost as soon as I righted myself and placed my head on the bed's fluffy pillows, I felt sleep overtake me. No surprise there, it's been a busy day, and the warmth provided by the blanket and the four other bodies next to mine invited sleep like nothing else. Here's hoping that the days to come would end on as positive a note as this one's.


"Come on, wake up already! Do you really need all that beauty sleep?" shouted a disgruntled Tia.

"Wha? What time is it?" was my eloquent response.

"It's you-sleep-like-the-dead o'clock." Getting a bit smart there, aren't we?

"Very informative, thank you." I refused to take the bait.

"It's almost noon already, you even missed breakfast! Not really, we saved some up for you, but still."

I looked out the open window, only to find the Sun nearing the center of the sky. Tia was right, I overslept significantly. Perhaps it was the result of so much action just after having received my body back? I would have to take it easy until I got used to having a physical body again.

One delicious brunch later and I was ready for action. "My compliments to the chef."

"Why, thank you! Aren't you a gentleman?"

"Anytime, any friend of Tia's is our friend too!"

"No problem, Mako! You're always welcome to drop by for some of our food!"

"Thank you, all. And thank you too, Matriarch Maple. I'll never forget the Mimiga Clan's hospitality, I'll repay you for all this someday." I offered my sincere gratitude to the head of the house I occupied.

"Oh, cut that out, I'll be having none of it! If Tia saw enough good in you to guide you around and bring you to our humble home, then you're very much a good person. Our door will always be open if you decide to come back. I can't promise you'll always find Tia here though, she's almost as consumed by wanderlust as her father was!" The kind matriarch waved all my concerns away, just like that.

"You are too kind to me, but I still owe you for this, even if you say that I don't have to."

"Hah! You youngsters are all much too stubborn, I say! You can repay us by living your new life well, things can be hard for a newly summoned prime. Go out there, and show them that Makoto Yuki is not to be messed with!" My debt continued to be waved away.

"That, I can most definitely do. I'll make sure to visit again, thank you and goodbye!" I waved to all my new friends as I walked away, Tia by my side. Their shouted goodbyes did not stop until we made a turn into another street and disappeared from their sights.


"Remember that wizard library I told you about before? I'm sure you want to go there, but, you see.. it's not an easy place to locate. It's a wizard library, and usually only wizards go there, but even then it's still a pretty hard place to locate, not every wizard on Dalaran can say that they've been there before. Not even most wizards!"

"Fair enough. I'd would still like a library however. Are there any non-wizard ones around here?"

"Definitely! The public library may not have as much spellbooks or ancient texts, but I don't think those are really what you're after."

"A public library will do just fine."

"Alrighty then, it isn't that far away, just past the market we passed last night actually."

"Speaking of, I would like to have a look at the goods they have there. I was interested last night, but I thought that it could wait till daytime."

"Sure, partner. We can make a detour to buy you some supplies, no sweat. It's just around this turn, follow me."

We found ourselves at the town square we passed by last night, all around us were storefronts and salesmen hollering to get potential customers' attention.

"Potions, come get your potions! Powerful potions for cheap! Chug one of our vials and watch all your problems vanish completely!"

"Bags of holding! All the storage you'll ever need in a small mokeskin pouch!"

"Camping gear! No adventurer is ready to go out into the wilds without the comfort and convenience of our camping gear!"

"That sounds useful, let's go there," I told Tia as I nodded to the stall I heard the call come from.

"Ah! You look like a brave adventurer, ready to take the world by storm! I can see that you're a great deal smarter than the standard fare, my friend. For that lone, I'm willing to give you our full deluxe set of camping gear and supplies only for the amazing price of 199.99 OM! You can't find a better deal anywhere else in the Omniverse, I guarantee it!"

"Hmm, tell me, what's exactly is this set of yours?"

"Our patented Camping Capsule 9000 will save you the trouble of lugging around all that heavy gear when all you want is just to take a relaxing trip in the mountains, or go for some adventures in the Tangled maybe? The sky's the limit with the Camping Capsule 9000!

It utilizes the revolutionary Capsule tech to cram a small apartment into this bean-sized capsule! Complete with a bedroom, living room, bathroom, and kitchen! The bedroom sports a queen-sized bed, a desk, and a small library so you never have to run out of reading material on your journey again! Add a well equipped kitchen, a living room with two comfy sofas and a state of the art TV and you'll hardly feel like you're miles away from civilization!"

"This seems like it would be useful to have. What do you think, Tia?"

"Looks like a bargain to me. You'll need it, especially since you don't exactly have a house to yourself. It'll do till you decide on where to settle."

"Alright then, this seems like a sound investment." I never knew Omnilium could be quantified like this. Maybe if I focus on the number?

Just like the first time I thought of using Omnilium, merely thinking about it caused the necessary knowledge to spring forth from my mind.

The amount of power and control Omni has demonstrated thus far is nothing short of terrifying. He plucked me from my world, implanted this new information in my mind at the level of my subconsciousness no less, and also apparently created the whole Omniverse. But this is neither the time nor the place to contemplate such thoughts.

I hand the merchant a glob of multicoloured light, he can seemingly also realize how much OM that is by simply grasping it, and he stows it away under the stall, presumably in a safe.

"I know the minute I laid my eyes on you that you're an intelligent man! You made a wise decision today , my friend. Here, you won't regret it," said the man as he plucked a white capsule with a black insignia on it, and a small, flat, button on top out of his stock.

I took the capsule from the man, thanked him, and moved on from his stall. This would be useful. I stowed it away in one of my pockets as I turned to Guu.

"That was productive. How about we get to that library now?"

"Sure thing, it should be right around here."

True to her word, the library was not far removed from the marketplace. It looked pretty generic as far as libraries went, with a large "LIBRARY" sign, some windows that showed the many shelves inside, neatly stacked with books of differing sizes and colors, and the lined up tables and chairs freely available to the library's guests.

We went inside, with Tia making a beeline for a specific row of shelves.

"Look at this, I think this is exactly what you need to read the most right now." She held up a hardcover book, simply titled "About The World".

From its back cover I was able to ascertain that it was a sort of guide for newly summoned primes. The idea behind the book, the quick initiation and integration of new primes into the already established society, was certainly a pragmatic one. I felt thankful for the author, even though I had no idea who they were, as it was credited to "An Unknown Prime".

I sat down at one of the tables, with Tia by my side, and decided to read the introduction and skim some of the more important parts, asking Tia when a particular section proved confusing or otherwise hard to grasp.

The Q&A session proved to be very informative. While Omni's introductory speech, which every single prime recieved an exact replica of when they're first summoned, only skimmed over the bare essential information, the book went much more in-depth, being based on the experiences and experimentation done by primes over the years.

I learned that the Nexus was more or less the center of the Omniverse, and functioned as, well, a nexus, connecting most of the main verses together via the different portal I saw the last time I was there. I also learned that the majority of the world's inhabitants were actually secondaries, ones who were summoned by primes and not Omni, inadvertently or otherwise. And perhaps most importantly, that the Omniverse was inescapable. Or that at the very least, no one was ever documented to have left it.

This proved to be a problem, as returning home was my most important objective. This new development changed it from an immediate concern to an ultimate goal, unfortunately. My best shot would be to reach out to Omni himself in this mysterious 'Oververse', but I still had no idea how to do that. I think what I most need to do is find one of the factions the book talked about, they're bound to have enough resources and knowledge to at least set me on the right track, if nothing else.

"You want to join a faction? Makes sense, I suppose. Pretty much the only one I hear consistently nice things about is Ambrosia, in the Tangled Green. They're a safe haven for all non-humans in the Omniverse, and the leader, Princess Guu, is supposed to be a goddess of some kind? Truth be told the Matriarchs have been thinking of relocating the entire clan there for a long time, but weren't sure how to go about it. If you do decide to go there, maybe you could talk to the Princess? See if she'd be willing?"

"Definitely. If it's only this, then I'll try my best, even if I myself do not join their ranks, I'll definitely bring up the possibility of your clan relocating. It's the least I can do," I vowed to Tia. Only this much was trivial, compared to their show of kindness.

"Thanks, bud! Let's get you all set up first though. You'll probably want to keep a copy of the book with you, to fully read later on. This library has a small bookstore attached, where they sell additional copies of the books on display. This one's real popular, so they probably have them for cheap.

Tia was not wrong, I purchased a copy of the helpful guide, and a few other books that had interesting titles, and then exited the library. The rest of the trip to the floating city's edge was made in silence.

As we reached the edge, it was apparent to me that it was time for a goodbye.

"Thank you for everything, Tia. I'll make sure your request is heard by Guu, and to visit you all once more, some day." A polite bow followed my farewell, serving to accentuate it.

"Oh no you don't! You're not getting out of a hug, mister!" With that I found myself tackled into a bear hug b my bunny friend, ironically enough. A beat later, her hug was returned in full. We staid like that for a few moments more, before we drew apart.

"You better be safe! Don't get into much trouble, okay?"

"I'll try, but I can't promise anything," I gave Tia a genuine smile as I said this. She's a true friend, even if we've only known each other for a couple of days.

"Go get them, fly boy."

"That I can promise. I'll see you later Tia, stay safe."

"You too, Yuki. You too."

With our goodbyes said and done with, I turned towards the furthest rim of the city, while Tia made her way into the city proper, presumably towards her home.

Learning from my earlier experience I decided to go with a griffin this time around. A few minutes later, I had a majestic beast of feathers and fur, ready for action. Saddle included, to boot.

I climbed atop the magnificent creature, and took my time to find a comfortable position on the saddle. The griffin needed no encouragement to take off once I was securely strapped in.

With powerful flaps of its wings, we set off, hopefully to Ambrosia.

That's to say, if nothing went wrong. Heh, this was bound to be interesting.

Thread closed, thanks Guu!