With Pyr floating in lazy circles around me, and the Faux possessed fur cloak wrapped tightly around my shoulders. I stood outside the stables, eyes scanning the pre-dawn sky for any sign of the black crow who’d been my companion since shortly after I arrived in this virtual world.

Zosimos had been missing ever since the incident with the spiders, and the mishap with my second wisp core’s creation. Questioning Tris on the crow's whereabouts got me nowhere, and it was now almost a week since I last saw the bird. The only other time we’d been separated was when I’d split off from the guild to travel to Hathus alone, and left him behind by mistake.

“Are you sure about this Kads?”

Turning to face the guild leader, who stood with his arms crossed over his chest I nodded with a smile. “I don’t want to be away for more than a day. You’ve said it will take several hours to travel safely down the mountain, and then after I’ve done what I need, it will take even longer to get back to the temple. I think it’s better I fly.”

“I understand that,” Darius said, his lips turning downwards. “But I don’t like the idea of you going off alone with strangers.”

“They won’t harm me, or allow me to be harmed.” I reassured him. “Icarus invited me over to tour the temple, and offered transport. The trip to Bovia is only a short detour.”

Darius chuckled, shaking his head. “I wouldn’t call it a short detour considering Bovia is in the opposite direction of the temple.”

I shrugged, glancing over to where Arion was being harnessed to a sled alongside Victoria’s mare.

The poor horse had spent the entire time he’d been here cooped up in the stable, aside from a few hours each day where he was given the freedom to run around the plateau.

Kip, Pia, and Victoria would all be staying in Rivera, with Rainy choosing to remain at the temple where she was working on improving her druidic magic.

Though, I suspected her reluctance to leave the temple was more to do with Rainy’s dislike of the cold. As a Dryad, Rainy was affected more heavily by the cold than others, and even being outside for a brief period would leave her chilled to the point she could barely function.

“Looks like we’re ready to set off.” Darius said, following my gaze to the two horses and their sleds.

I nodded, and followed the dark haired Ōkami over to where everyone was gathered waiting to leave.

Smiling at my three teammates all bundled up in heavy cloaks, I ran a hand over Arion’s neck.

“Please don’t get my horse killed doing something stupid.” I pleaded, looking at where Pia was clambering into the sled.

The faun nodded. “Don’t worry Foxy, I won't let any beasties eat him.”

“Have you thought about what we talked about regarding him, though?” Kip asked.

I sighed, shaking my head. “Look, I understand the Bovia stable master offered a lot of money to use Arion as a stud when you were there last, but I’m not sure if it is a good idea.”

“Foxy is right!” Pia chimed in. “He is a high priestesses horse, a noble equine! What if people find out and try to come after the temple for foal support?”

Foal support? Is that even a thing? The snickers, and laughs that filled the air in response to Pia’s comment made me think it wasn’t, but I knew from experience people would do anything for money.

“I would prefer Arion not be used to stud,” I told Kip. “If you feel the stable in Bovia is not going to abide by that, and breed him without permission I want him brought back to me.”

As an Elven bred Frisian, Arion was an expensive horse, and I’d gotten offers from almost every stable he was placed in to buy him. Even Calidus, who ran the guilds farm, wanted to breed Arion, but at the time, all the mare’s on the farm had already been in foal.

Pia was correct that Arion was a noble equine, and as such, he needed high quality mare-friends, I decided, giving the horse one final pat. No simple mare would do for my Arion.

“I will make it clear that Arion isn’t to be taken advantage of,” the dwarf replied with a chuckle, as he climbed into the sled, joining Pia, and Ethan, the youngest of Victoria’s siblings.

The remainder of the departing guild members sat on the sled being pulled by Horse,Victoria’s large gray mare.

Not long after the group disappeared into the trees at the far end of the plateau, a sharp avian cry pierced the air.

For a brief moment, I thought the sound was Zosimos, but the shrieking cry was unlike that of the crow.

Peering up at the sky, I saw five forms heading towards me from the direction of the light temple.

Four of the five appeared to be Tengu, all wearing the gleaming armor worn by the temple of Vēdiovis paladins. The tengu surrounded a massive bird that looked to be even larger than a Quetzalcoatlus.

I’d only seen three of the flying dinosaurs, all being in the possession of the whispers guild, and it was those Quetzalcoatlus that had been used to spread my religious junk mail over the continent in order to fulfill my first quota of disciples.

From what I knew, there were two kinds of rideable flying creatures in Kaledon. The Quetzalcoatlus, who was a slow flying dinosaur that could be found nesting in the cliffs along the southern coast.

They were a temperamental creature, and had to be raised young, being carefully trained over several months. Only recently were the dinosaurs starting to appear more in the skies of Salvia, as those being raised by digital citizens, and players across the continent reached a size to be ridden.

Aside from the Quetzalcoatlus, the only creature I knew that could possibly be ridden were the dragons, but so far, no one had tamed a dragon, and anyone attempting soon regretted even considering them an option.

This creature winging its way towards me, carrying what appeared to be a carriage in its talons, was not a Quetzalcoatlus, or a dragon. It looked like an oversized eagle, and as it drew closer, I estimated its wingspan to be close to forty foot long.

The wind buffeted at my clothing, and hair as the Tengu, and their massive avian companion drew closer. Even Pyr was blown away, as the gelatinous fire wisp was unable to fly against the strong wind created by the bird's wings as it descended to land on the plateau.

Raising an arm to cover my face, I dug my boots into the ground, transmuting the dirt around the sole of my shoes to hold me in place. I wanted to retreat into the temple, but I didn’t want to appear weak in doing so.

I was at a disadvantage when dealing with the god of lights followers, and I didn’t want to continue fostering the idea that I depended on their aid. Unfortunately, I did need them. Particularly where transport was concerned.

Traveling by horse, whilst enjoyable, wouldn't get me to the locations I needed to go in a reasonable amount of time. Spending days traveling across the continent wasn’t feasible as it would take me away from the temple for too long. What I needed, was a fast and reliable mode of transport, something which Icarus could offer with his winged paladins.

Whilst the guild had two members that were part of the Tengu race, they were never in one place for more than a few days as they moved through the continent acting as the guild's communication network.

Even though most towns had a postal master where people could send letters or packages to other locations. That method was only for town to town communication, and not considered secure.

Which was why the two Tengu brothers, Dravern and Helvern were tasked with sending messages between guild locations, along with other tasks that required people who could move swiftly across the continent.

“Greetings to Her Eminence, Kadia, High Priestess of Philosophia Naturalis!” Landing on the plateau before me, the four Tengu cried out their greeting in unison, bowing with their hands clasped in front of their chests.

“Welcome be you, bringers of light.” I replied, lowering my arm, and smoothing out the fur of my cloak.

Faux shivered under my touch, and I sensed the mimic’s fear as the massive bird’s piercing gaze fell upon me.

The bird sat atop a beautiful carriage that appeared to be made of the same gleaming metal as the paladin's armor.

Eyeing the bird, whose talons were grasping a beam attached to the carriage roof, I felt a pang of fear as one of the paladins strode forwards to open the door with a flourish. As my suspicions over my mode of transport were confirmed, I considered sending them away.

Darius and the others wouldn’t have gotten that far, if I shift into my fox form I should be able to catch up to them. I sighed, gazing at the metal box of death.

At a signal from one of the paladins, the large bird leapt into the sky, and I hesitated, watching it circle above us for a moment.

Straightening my shoulders, and drawing in a deep breath I forced a calm expression onto my face. With a brief mental order, I un-summoned the wisp who hovered above me, and strode towards the carriage with an air of confidence that I didn’t feel.

The paladins bowed as I ducked in the carriage, none of them showing any signs they had nefarious intentions. If Icarus wanted to kill me, surely he wouldn’t be so obvious about it, right? Our patrons were allies, and he had no reasons to wish me dead.

Settling onto a plush bench seat, I looked around the interior of the carriage for some kind seat belt as the paladin closed the door behind me. Not finding anything, I braced my feet against the floor, and directed Faux to adhere himself to the seat, hoping the fur cloak would help hold me in place.

Kadia, this has to be the dumbest thing you’ve done yet. I scolded myself, stomach lurching as the carriage jolted, and was lifted into the air.

There were no windows on the sides of the carriage, which meant I didn’t know for certain that I was being carried to my desired destination, but that would be a problem for when I landed.

Head pressed back against the chair as the carriage rocked, and swayed in a manner that threatened to send my stomach into my throat.

As the carriage swayed hard enough to almost jostle me off the seat, I decided a better method for transport would need to be quickly located.

To pass the time, and keep myself from thinking of my roiling stomach. I thought over everything I needed to get done in Bovia.

The most important thing being that I needed to go to a bank to contact Davis. Any digital citizens wishing to contact people outside the virtual worlds, needed to use a call-room which could be assessed in any bank location, but as I had spent the past months in Sēkrit without access to a bank, all my communication with my lawyer had been through messages Markion passed along at the man's behest.

Davis said little to Markion beyond a few words to say everything was going according to my wishes. If the lawyer needed me for any direct input, I was certain he would have done as before, and had me pulled from the world so we could speak. He hadn’t done so, and it had been weeks since Davis last passed on a message through my brother, thus I felt it was time I contacted the lawyer personally.

In addition to finding out what was happening with the company, and my personal circumstances, I wanted to have Davis look into the story Noctus told me about Dreadmere’s backers. But first, I needed to reach Bovia without becoming a Kadia pancake, or throwing up all over my robes.