[TWS] Chapter 286 – The Unwelcoming Lands

“Well, I don’t think we have a reason to keep bothering our new friends with more questions any longer,” Grea commented from the side.

Zoe jumped to her feet, pushing her chair back with a sudden screech. “I’ll get the door for you.”

She flashed Asterios a small smile and walked out of the room with a quick step. Zuri sighed softly and also stood up, without any rush in her movements. The wolfgirl’s mother nodded at them politely and followed after her fleeing daughter. The girls all looked at Grea while their red-skinned companion crossed her arms over her chest and raised a brow at them.

“What?”

They chuckled lightly and got up too. Asterios led them out of the chamber and into the hallway leading to the main entrance. But, his sharp hearing picked up on an ongoing conversation in the distance and he slowed everyone down, not wanting to interrupt the two women.

“—totally blew this off…” Zoe whined with a dejected tone.

“It’s quite rare to see you all awkward like this.” Zuri’s quiet laugh reached Ast’s ears. “You should have offered to accompany them as a guide.”

“What for? I would be useless. I’ve never been there. I can’t just fake it and hope they won’t figure it out, Mom. I wouldn’t be lying just to him but to Miria too. She’s my best friend,” the younger Wolfkin replied.

“We’ve been around the Steppes during our trip nine years ago and you’ve also learned everything we know about our tribe’s past. They could definitely use your knowledge. You just need to present yourself to them properly,” the older one continued.

“I don’t know…” Zoe murmured, and Asterios was pretty sure she was rubbing her arms, judging just by the uncertainty and hesitation in her voice.

“Listen, you lose every chance you don’t take.” Zuri sighed heavily. “The Lizardkin will definitely be wary of any outsiders at this point. Someone descending from their old allies might be enough to at least vouch for your friends. Do you need me to come up with more reasons?”

A brief silence fell between the women for a moment before Miria’s friend sighed too. “Fine… I’ll try…”

“Good. Now, get your mind out of your pants before they get here. You’ve embarrassed yourself enough for today. Where’s my proud, beautiful warrior heartbreaker?”

“Mom! I’m not—”

Zoe paused abruptly as Asterios had chosen that moment to bring everyone into their sight and the two beastfolk ladies turned to them. As they arrived by their side, Zuri unlocked the door and smiled kindly while holding it open for them. The girls walked outside first as Asterios lagged behind a little, and she shot her daughter a firm look. The younger Wolfkin bit her bottom lip as he slowly passed them too.

“Ummm…”

Asterios stopped as Zoe’s voice reached him from behind and he turned around to face the duo again.

“I bet your other friends might be able to provide you with a lot of information about the Lizardkin tribe and their settlement, but if you would like, I could lead you through the Steppes. I don’t know of how much use I’ll exactly be, but as someone—”

“Sure.” Asterios nodded.

Zoe blinked a few times with her mouth hanging open as he cut her off before she even started laying out her points to convince him.

“Oh! That would be great, Master!” Miria bounced with joy around them and shoved herself into her beastfolk friend, cupping the wolfgirl’s hands up with her own. “I really miss our almost daily hunts together! This will be so much fun!”

“Uhhh… Yeah… Me too…” The other girl chuckled wryly. “If you will have me?”

Her question was directed at both Miria and Asterios so he nodded once more. “I don’t see an issue with that. One more person won’t change much. Lerisse might not be able to leave her post to join us so what you know about your ancestors and their land could be of use.”

Zuri smirked at her daughter before smiling at him gently. “I don’t see an issue with this either. As far as I know, our provisions and supplies are good right now. The village will easily make do with one less hunter for a bit. Zoe could definitely use a break too. I’ll leave her in your hands if you don’t mind.”

“Master!” Miria bore her pleading gaze straight into his eyes.

He chuckled and ruffled through her black hair.

“Of course, I don’t. I promise to look after her as one of my own.” As he finished, a visible blush tinted Zoe’s cheeks and her mother’s soft grin grew a little so he quickly continued. “Party members, naturally.”

The cheerful panthergirl started spinning with her friend while giggling joyfully as the others laughed softly at her antics. Asterios shared a nod with the wolfgirl’s mother and he interrupted his overenthusiastic mate before Zoe got dizzy and they tripped over the few stairs leading off the wooden porch.

“Alright. Do you need to grab anything? We’ll take care of food and consumables, so those aren’t necessary.” He held the wobbly Wolfkin steady with a hand on her shoulder.

“Just my gear, then. I’ll be right back.” She blushed even more as her tail threatened to create a small cyclone and she bolted back into the house, almost crashing into the doorframe with her still unsteady step.

Zuri shook her head and followed after her, leaving the door open. As they waited for them to return, Asterios had to fight against Miria’s extremely affectionate hugs, rubs, and purring as she displayed her gratitude through her usual actions. The volume of her purrs was high enough for everyone to hear them clearly.

Soon, Zoe came back with her trusty spear in hand. She had changed her attire back to something more fitting of an adventure. Similar to Miria, she had donned leather short pants and a vest, but her top covered more of her shoulders, forearms, and stomach. Just like the girl’s hair, it was dark brown. She wore protective greaves and bracers to complete the reinforced set.

Noticing that Zoe was looking up at him with a somewhat expectant gaze, Asterios smiled at her warmly. “Honestly, you look even better in your armor. It suits you.”

Her tail started swaying wildly behind her legs again as she stood a tad prouder.

They bid their farewells to Zuri and explained how they were going to get to the mountain of Spiritual Foxes, surprising the older Wolfkin with their unusual means of travel. Naturally, Asterios tested it out with Zoe first and confirmed that she could bear the transfer, at least with him by her side.

Without further ado, he moved them both through the shadows, trying his best to reassure the slightly frightened wolfgirl under his arm. Zoe’s ears lay flattened over her hair as she nervously gazed all around, clutching his coat tightly with both hands. He didn’t blame her. Even after tens or hundreds of times, the ominous void still gave him creeps too.

Resurfacing at the plateau housing the grand temple, Asterios let their new companion recollect herself for a moment. The girls joined them through a crimson gate in the meanwhile and looked at Selene. The fox lady snickered at them and shook her head. It didn’t look like she was planning on playing any pranks on the poor Matriarch and her new disciple this time.

For once, they walked into the temple without stirring up any trouble and Selene led everyone straight to Lerisse’s office. Zoe took in the sights with open awe while Miria happily explained whatever came to her mind, retelling a few of their fun encounters with the Spiritual Foxes too. It didn’t take them long to end up in front of the mighty double doors and their foxy guide pushed them open without slowing down.

Lerisse raised her gaze from the documents she’d been reading and a long sigh escaped her lips. But, everyone could spot the growing smirk that curled the corners of the Matriarch’s mouth.

“You really hold yourself like you own the place. Perhaps I’ve been too quick to give up on convincing you to take my spot.” The older Foxkin chuckled. “What if I would have been in the middle of an important talk with an important guest?”

“I checked out the chamber before entering and haven’t found any other presence inside,” Selene explained. “Besides, who would be more important than me?”

“Figures you can now bypass all my formations. Ten tails feel like such a cheat.” Lerisse shook her head while rubbing her forehead. “And who is this? New girl?”

Zoe tried her best not to drop her eyes to the floor as her cheeks colored slightly.

“No! Not yet, at least.” Miria giggled. “Zoe is my childhood friend. She offered to guide us through the Scorching Steppes.”

“Scorching Steppes?” The ginger-haired fox lady’s brows rose curiously.

“That’s the reason we dropped by, Lerisse,” Selene chimed in. “We are going to look more into the ancient meteor. I hoped our archives could teach us a thing or two about it and the general area.”

“I see.” The other vixen nodded sagely. “It’s been a while since the last time I took a look in that direction but the village was still standing strong back then. Alright. Let’s get it done with. Follow me.”

“Everyone?” Asterios asked while glancing over his party, specifically one person.

“With Selene currently surpassing our supposed divine ancestor, it would be silly to deny her anything. If people knew, they would beg me to offer our everything to her anyway. I trust you will make sure your Wolfkin friend keeps what she learns about us to herself.” She smirked at him over her shoulder while heading out.

Selene preened as she fell into step with her and the others followed after them, letting their vulpine friend relish the moment. They reached the sealed-off archives and the two fox ladies quickly gathered all the records on the matter that were present amongst the shelves. Without wasting any time, everyone sat down with a book or two and studied the written information, including Zoe. She too was eager to discover more about her ancestors and their past.

After about four hours, they regrouped in a small lounge section in one of the corners and relaxed on the comfy sofas. Lerisse brought in some refreshments and snacks.

“I think it’s time to sum it up,” Asterios began. “Any good finds?”

“First of all, we pretty much confirmed what Zoe and her mother shared with us,” Silvia answered first, sharing a nod with him. “The bits we went through spoke about a mixed-species settlement of old that changed after a meteor crashed next to it. Most tribes left the heating-up environment, leaving just one behind. The last update comes from Lerisse and rehashes her earlier words about it still existing.”

“My part was reaaaaaaally boring.” Miria groaned. “It listed all the races living there before the migration. The only fun bits mentioned some of their customs and traditions but there wasn’t much and those won’t be of much help to us now that only the Lizardkin are left behind.”

“I read a lot about the atmosphere and environment,” Tina continued after the panthergirl. “The current air temperature supposedly reached a level high enough to irritate any normal person’s lungs from prolonged exposure. The ground is hot enough to burn your skin if you go barefoot. It’s impossible to find any water reservoirs in close vicinity of the crater. The further you are, the lesser the heat, but it never stops being noticeable until the edge of the Steppes.”

“I analyzed the records on fauna.” Grea moaned openly as she stretched her arms above her head. “As expected, most of the usual species previously found in the area are extinct. But, there are some that seemed to evolve and adapt. Not many of them are friendly or willing to get domesticated. The vast majority are reptile monsters and beasts that hunt for any available resources, which often boils down to species weaker than them.”

“Speaking of reptiles, I didn’t find much, but our resident Lizardkin, of course, adapted too,” Selene took over. “There isn’t a lot of information on how, but the collected data suggests that their scales somehow changed, both in shape and color. In the past, their shades were vibrant and diverse. Now, reddish and kind of brownish hues are the only occurrences.”

“I tried to focus on life in general, but that mostly revolved around flora,” Bryn informed them. “It’s the same situation as with fauna. The current grasslands are quite scarce and rough. Golden, amber, and red hues dominate the palette. Trees are extremely scarce. Somehow, even cacti are. It’s not like it doesn’t exactly rain above the Steppes, but the water evaporates the moment it touches the ground, or even before, depending on its intensity. That still should be enough for some plants to capture that humidity.”

Everyone then turned to Zoe, who roamed her gaze over all of them before slightly lowering her face. “I didn’t discover much… There were some random bits like the temperature remains the same no matter the time of the day or night… Or that the Lizardkin are a very cloistered and solitary community… Or that they praise the heavens or some gods for the meteor and thank for the gift that made their tribe stronger…”

Asterios reached out and gently fluffed her dark brown hair, careful not to get too intimate with her long ears out of habit. “You don’t need to worry so much about pulling your own weight, alright? That still sounds like a few interesting bits. It could have been anyone who found nothing.”

“And that anyone is me.” Lerisse chuckled. “I tried to go deeper and failed to find literally anything notable. As the current guardian of these records and their archivist, that doesn’t exactly put me in the best light, don’t you think?”

Zoe’s lips curled up a tiny bit and she nodded with some more of her old confidence. “Okay. Thanks.”

“Sooooo, it’s all weird again, in simple words.” Grea wrinkled her nose while lounging on her sofa, inconspicuously leaning into Ast’s free side. “Can a single meteor alter the local climate so much? It kind of feels like Demon Continent the Sequel.”

“Do you think Red was involved?” Tina glanced at her ex-professor. “We know he was here.”

“If it was one of his experiments or studies, he would have noted a thing or two down about it, no?” Miria tilted her head cutely. “We found no mention of the Lizardkin or anything else in Kaguya’s vault.”

“Unless they had more hideouts,” Silvia pointed out.

“I don’t think they would place them so close to each other if they even had more than one per world,” Asterios said. “But, we can’t really know that for sure. At the same time, we can’t really link Red with anything unusual every time either. I guess we will find out soon.”

“What are we waiting for, Master? Let’s go there!” The panthergirl beamed at him excitedly.

They spent about half an hour more discussing their findings, then tidying the records up, and came out of the temple with Lerisse accompanying them. Some passersby stopped now and then on their way to the magnificent structure to see what their Matriarch was up to but no one approached them.

“So, are you moving through the shadows?” she asked Asterios.

“Umbra wasn’t yet there, and while we could technically send him to reach the place ahead of us for this to be possible, I think there’s a slightly more entertaining way to travel your beautiful world,” he replied with a faint smirk, taking a peek at Miria.

The panthergirl furrowed her brows at him for a moment, but then her eyes widened in realization as he stepped away from them. She grinned wide, bouncing on the soles of her feet while dark crimson mist swirled around Ast’s figure.

In just a moment, it grew in size considerably and uncovered his mighty draconic form, towering over the group. He held back the urge to release a reverberating roar into the air, not wanting to startle the innocent fox-eared bystanders.

But, while Lerisse was already aware of this part, Zoe stumbled over her own feet and landed on her butt as her utterly shocked face peered up at the majestic entity. The nearby people were equally stunned by the appearance of the giant beast, some quickly scurrying away toward the safety of the temple. The girls chuckled at them and their new friend.

“Hop on. Let’s see how fast I can get there.” Asterios gestured towards his back with his fierce head.

Miria helped her friend get up and Selene levitated them all on top of him. The fox lady then wove a few small arrays onto his scales. One of them meant to anchor them to the surface beneath, while another protected them from the violent winds that would definitely assault them during their sky-high trip.

Nodding at the Matriarch, Asterios spread his leathery wings wide and shot into the air. Zoe’s surprised squeal echoed into the distance as they quickly moved away from the marble peak and halted right under the first layer of fluffy clouds. He then checked if his passengers were all fine, and after confirming that Selene’s formations had worked splendidly, Asterios chuckled deeply at Zoe’s slightly panicked expression as she was held tight by Miria, and he started ahead.

Recalling whatever he had learned during practice, he flew towards the Squelching Glade at his best speed, working both of his draconic energies to the bone. The wind whistled around his head and the shielding dome covering the girls. They suffered no pull, though, and could enjoy the quickly moving landscape far underneath them. Naturally, Miria was the most ecstatic to catch a glimpse of her realm from so high up in the sky, but Zoe soon joined her right after recollecting her wits.

They zoomed beneath the clouds like a bolt of lightning. If anyone was looking up, there was no doubt that they would miss the dashing dot with just a single blink of their eyes. Asterios wondered briefly why Red and Kaguya had flown through the night sky in his memory about Teira while surrounded by much more visible auras instead of this way. But, perhaps he was still missing some details regarding his draconic energy or such. He couldn’t exactly judge how fast they had been moving in that memory.

About two hours later, they noticed a slight change in the environment underneath them. The lush forests and wilds were replaced by slightly less packed misty swamps. The whitish smoke covered the majority of the terrain, filling most spaces between the trees, ponds, lakes, and glades. It was a mysterious and slightly ominous place.

The menacing zone spanned for another hour until an even more visible separation made its appearance. The humid swamps and marshlands drew a perfectly curved line at their far edge and switched into almost completely flat grasslands of quite characteristic golden-amber shade.

They had no doubts. It had to be the Scorching Steppes.

The warm lands looked exactly as the records described them. They felt somewhat empty when compared to all the other regions Ast’s group had previously experienced. The one very notable thing about them was the somewhat special curve at the outer edge which seemed to run to the sides with the intention to make a full circle, judging by Grea’s calculations and hunch.

Everyone studied the environment attentively as they flew above the scorching hot region. The sky was gradually turning orange from the late hour so Asterios kept his pace in hopes of reaching their destination before nightfall.

In perhaps just an hour, Miria suddenly gasped loudly and pointed to the side. “Look! That looks like a village!”

He stopped abruptly and found a hole in the clouds, positioning himself over the reddish sky to camouflage their unmoving shape a bit better. Miria was right. A settlement seemed to exist peacefully some distance to their left. Since it was no more than a stain on the ground, Asterios enhanced his eyes and focused on the faraway image, sharing his vision with all his mates.

A decently big village full of square buildings greeted them after he zoomed in enough to examine the sight in detail. They all looked to be made of baked mud and dirt. Their windows missed glass or any other covers while their doors remained empty too. The winding, curving roads were paved with bricks and tiles of the same brown-red shade as the houses. All in all, the settlement looked kind of primitive but Asterios couldn’t be certain if that wasn’t just the tribe’s style.

Also, right next to the village, they saw a pretty sizable crater. It wasn’t exactly wide but it was clear that it descended decently far down. They would need to examine it from up close, but its diameter didn’t look to be larger than Glimmervale’s main square, which was obviously smaller than the mud village by the edge of the hole.

“Alright. Let’s get down and approach on foot,” Asterios said.

“Why not fly all the way?” Miria asked with slight confusion.

“I don’t think he wants to scare the shit out of our potential hosts.” Grea laughed impishly. “Plus, it would be wise to hide any connections to Red in case they turn out to be the descendants of a tribe of enslaved test subjects. No way they won’t try to murder us in our sleep if so.”

Everyone agreed with her and Asterios dove towards the ground.