Sophia and Maya told Luca more about their group and their travel plans. Hearing that they planned to cross the monster country to get to the demon continent, the cat-boy had gotten too flabbergasted to believe anything anymore. Hence, the blonde decided to show him her domain and introduce him to Aura, who had been with the demons before, because that would definitely help him to understand the situation better.
“Where are we?” Sophia, Maya, and her brother arrived in the cottage’s living room, where Luca curiously looked around.
“This is our travel home where we return to in the evening to sleep, or when it rains, or when we’re just lazy.” Maya smiled at him.
“My levels of envy can’t be put into words.” He couldn’t believe it. “So, you have fun all day traveling around, and once it gets bothersome, you just go here to relax, have a snack, and a nap?"
"Pretty much." The couple nodded. "Oftentimes in that order, too."
"Wow." The cat-boy had no better words.
“Yeah, we have it good.” Maya scratched her cheek.
“I do have a bit of bad news, too.” The blonde looked a little awkward. “Aura, the one who was on the demon continent before, isn't in the house here, contrary to what I had thought. It seems like she’s currently with another friend of ours.”
“How do you know that?” Luca already looked confused.
“This place we’re in right now is a little special, so I can sense where they are.”
“Ehhh…?”
“What’s the problem?” The cat-girl tilted her head. “Let’s just take a portal to her.”
“She’s with Kel.”
“Ah.” Maya froze.
“Who’s Kel?” He had trouble following them.
“Another friend and a new member of our group.” Sophia just looked at him. “I don’t think you’re ready to meet him yet.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Do you have friends you’re ashamed of?”
"I would never be ashamed of any of my friends!" She vigorously shook her head. “He’s just a bit special and a little common-sense-defying. I’m worried for your mental fortitude.”
“It’s WAY too late for that!” Luca stared right back at her. "At this point, there’s nothing you can shock me with anymore!”
“Are you sure about that?”
“Nothing!” He nodded a few times as his stubborn side took over. He was Maya’s brother, after all.
“Well,” Sophia glanced at Maya. “I have my doubts about that, but what do you think?”
“You heard the man.” The cat-girl shrugged. “Nothing can shock him anymore.”
“Fine, whatever.” She gave up. “Just remember that I warned you, okay?”
----------------
“W-What is this place?!” The trio arrived on a vast beach right next to an ocean, but Luca didn’t care about that. Instead, his eyes were glued to the sky above him, or rather, the lack thereof. “Why is it just white?!”
“Ahh, I keep forgetting about that.” Sophia scratched her cheek. “So, uhh, this place is a little special.” She wasn’t exactly sure what to tell him. “You see, those portals of mine usually don’t directly link to each other. Instead, they all lead to this place with the white sky first, before I manually connect them with each other. The sky above the cottage we were in earlier is white, too, but you couldn’t see it.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.” He stared right at her. “Like, at all.”
“We’re currently in a different world than the one you know.” The blonde went for the most common-sense-obliterating approach. It was her specialty, after all.
“…” With his eyes and mouth wide open from the shock, he stared at his sister while frantically pointing at the blonde because he simply had no words to describe her levels of ridiculousness.
“She’s telling the truth.” Maya started to feel bad for him. “This place is different from the one we were born in.”
"A different world? This…?” Luca looked around with a stupefied expression.
“It’s a great place, isn’t it?” Aura had spotted the trio a little while ago, and the wolf decided that this was the perfect moment to join the conversation.
“Hey~.” Sophia smiled at her. “I’m so glad that your fur is back to normal!” The blonde focused on Aura’s body, which had no signs of burn marks or singed fur from the fight with Kel not too long ago left.
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“Regeneration magic is very handy.” She looked back at the tiger with a smug tone in her voice. “By the way, who’s this?” Aura then gestured at the cat-boy.
“That’s Luca," Maya replied to her. “He’s my brother.”
“How did that happen?” The wolf tilted her head. “I vaguely remember that you were looking for Anna’s brother, no?”
“Sophia happened.” The cat-girl shrugged.
“Ahh, makes sense.” It was a perfectly viable explanation for her, so she looked at him again. “Nice to meet you, my name’s Aura.”
“Uhh, nice to meet you, too…” He was still trying to wrap his head around everything.
“I’m not sure if I’d call it a great place if the topic was the white sky, though.” Maya scratched her cheek as she looked up.
"Oh, he was complaining about that, huh? I hadn’t caught that part.” The wolf paused for a second. “Then, I take everything back. This place is the worst.”
“Well, I hate you, too!” Sophia glared at her. “I’m doing my best, okay?!”
“Hehe.” The two chuckled in return.
“Every inch of this place will get a beautiful sky once I have enough power to create one!” The blonde started pouting. “You have no idea just how much magic it takes to create anything in here from scratch! I’ve already pumped many thousands of times my power into this place, but it’s a hungry beast that has led me to only be able to make some spots of sky here and there so far! Growing a biome is nothing in comparison, so cut me some slack!”
"We're sorry." The two hadn't intended for her to take it so seriously.
“Create a sky…?” Luca looked more confused than ever. “W-What do you mean?”
“A-Ah.” Sophia had totally forgotten about him when she was chewing out the two and said a few extra mind-blowing things. “You see, the portals I showed you are a part of something bigger.” She gestured all around her. “We’re currently inside my domain. It’s a special place outside the regular world that was created based on my unique attributes behind the source of my magic.”
“Are you okay with telling him so much so soon?" Maya was a little surprised by how open the tiger was about everything.
“He’s your brother, which means he is family, which means he gets the extended infodump package.” Sophia smiled at her. “Whether he wants it or not.”
“Ahh, I see!” The cat-girl seemed rather happy about it.
“Are… Are you seriously trying to tell me that… that you have enough magic power to create your own world?" His complexion wasn’t the most healthy while looking at her because the information was just too much.
“As you can see from the lack of a sky, I do not have enough power.” She shrugged. “My ability to create this place doesn’t come from the amount of power I have, but rather because the origin of my magic is a little special.”
“What does that even mean?”
“It’s rather complicated to explain.” The blonde wasn’t sure what to tell him. “For now, I think it’s best to keep it at the fact that not everyone has the same basis for their magic power. Some are blessed with extra capabilities, which come with extra responsibilities, though.”
“And you’re one of those blessed people capable of using fantastical powers?”
“Pretty much, yes.” She nodded. “Technically, Steph and Chloe, the girls you met on the boat earlier, are also blessed, but they aren’t quite there yet.”
“Hah.” The feeling of it being a lot more common than it sounded made him calm down a little. Sophia’s group being anything except normal led him a little astray there.
“I’m okay with telling you more, but even I think it’s becoming too much at once, especially if we factor in that surprise.” Sophia gestured at the ocean Luca was currently facing away from.
“What do you… E-Eh?” He turned around and immediately froze when he saw the shiny, 300-meter-long dragon swimming in the ocean near the shore, not too far from the beach they were on.
“That’s Kel~.” Sophia smiled at him. “He’s another friend and member of our group!”
“T-That’s a d-dragon!” He blinked a couple of times because he couldn’t believe what he was seeing.
“You have good eyes, boy.” Kel just looked at him.
“T-They actually exist outside of legends and myths?!”
“We sure do~.” The dragon got closer to the cat-boy so that his massive head was right in front of him. “Do I look unreal to you?”
“Y-You don't, but…” Luca had no idea what to say.
“Oh! On an unrelated topic!” Sophia then smiled at Kel. “I mentioned before that we plan to go to the demon continent before, right? We just got a boat and thought it would be fun to sail over there. Can we request for the most amazing aquatic dragon there is to accompany us? We’re all a bunch of idiots, so it would be nice to get the help of a professional to get us there in one piece.”
“I wouldn’t mind.” The dragon lightly shook his massive head. “I also would like to see how that continent is doing nowadays, and crossing the ocean will give me plenty of opportunities to get more props for my project here.” He glanced towards the water behind him in Sophia's domain, which he was currently growing into a full-blown ocean.
“Awesome!” The tiger happily clapped her hands. “Thank you very much!”
“By the way, is that cat okay?” Kel glanced at Luca again. “I’m no expert, but he looks a little unhealthy in my opinion.”
"I gave him a crash course on all the things I'm doing, and I slightly fried his common sense, so his brain is a little overwhelmed.”
“Ahh, I see.” He could understand the problem. “Even I needed some time to cope with everything you showed me.”
“Should we do something a little more calming so your brother can recover a little?” The blonde scratched her cheek. “I think it’s better if I explain some more things on another day.”
“What are you thinking about?” Maya also felt sorry for him.
"Let's head back to the capital and meet with your parents. I'm sure they'll be delighted to see him. Then, maybe tomorrow, and together with the prince, we'll do a more general overview of things."
“Ohh, I like that!” The cat-girl was a fan of the suggestion.
“A break… would be nice.” Luca reacted with a weak nod.
“Alright, time for the next family reunion~.” Sophia clapped her hands and pointed at the portal they used to get to the beach earlier. “Let’s go!”
“Ah, good timing!” The trio returned to the portal hub, where they ran into someone else coming through one of the other portals. Unfortunately, it was a certain fox with a few extra tails. “Is Kel around?” Mira smiled at the blonde. “I wanted to catch up with him on a few things and had some time today.”
“He’s in there.” Sophia gestured at the portal they just came through. “I think he was playing with Aura.”
“Okay, thanks!” The overseer lightly waved at her before she left for the ocean.
“…” Luca froze for a moment before suddenly shaking his head. “Yeah, there’s no way that just happened. I definitely did not see who I think I just saw. Okay, I want to meet mom and dad!"
“Sure!” The tiger had no intention of correcting him.
Once that was taken care of, the trio took another portal that brought them to Sophia’s mansion in the capital to look for Maya’s and Luca’s parents there.
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