Complete Tertus Valley A tale to be told

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

Anyone who was at least a little bit aware of the in-game literary world and development, or even just somewhat observant when it came to notice boards and the like, would notice a new advertisement popping up the past few weeks. A new magical bookstore has been opened in a relatively small village in the Tertus Valley, only a small distance from the colossal bridge that connected the Valley to the rest of the land. It was just about the one place in Tertoria that people dared to go to at this juncture, and the village had become quite the hot spot for tourism when it came to those of curious minds.

In that way, this new store promised to lure in Landers and Starcalled alike by offering countless renditions of traditional tales from both cultures. It certainly was an appealing premise, a place where one could explore the written stories that originated both inside of the game, as well as outside of it. An idea that caught MAI's attention as well. The girl was, at least outside of the game, someone who enjoyed stories and even creating new ones quite a bit. A chance to experience something completely new and unique, generated by the Landers in this mysterious game? There was no way she could miss it.

Finding herself at the entrance to the surprisingly quaint village, her eyes were quick to scan her surroundings. There was already a presence of travelers that she would describe as probably unusual for a place this small. At least that meant it would be easy to find what she was looking for, or so she hoped. Not only a place where she could have some fun, but also one where she could hopefully rest a bit after that awfully long trek across the bridge. 40 miles was a bit of an overkill even for someone like her who could move across large distances with relative ease and speed thanks to her masteries.

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Seeking for her mother was a quest that was unbelievably tough. At first, Kyanna had a plan that she deemed impossible to fail. To use her actual indentity in game, with similar face and everything, pretty much a copy of her real self into the game along with her true name.

That was at least what she expected that would help her mother to notice her, and if her mother found Kyanna, Kyanna would find her mother.

But it wasn't that simple, even after going through the most populated towns, all she found were clues and hints that her mother indeed existed, but wasn't particularly pinpointed.

Her search eventually got her far away from the usual beginner territory, finding herself slipping into the dangerous region of Tertoria, the same one where she and Magi Heart had visited in Wintersday, having to fight some golden tyrant knights.

In her trip into Tertoria, however, she didn't expect to find a somewhat familiar face.

"Mai?" She called at first, raising a hand cheerfully.

"It is really you, hey there!"

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

With a voice calling out behind her, MAI was quick to turn around. She was no longer wearing her usual disguise, allowing her long colorful hair to freely sway behind her for once. The anti-magia sentiment was not quite as strong in the father reaches of the map, especially in smaller communities, so she allowed herself that much luxury. It also appeared to be quite enough for someone to recognize her.

Her golden synthetic eyes performed a quick automatic scan, though it was not even necessary - MAI recognized that outfit very quickly. Turning on her heel, she faced Kyanna and dashed with her low gravity toward the witch. As elegant as her floating was, the girl quickly dropped to the ground and left both of them some personal space.

"Greetings - This unit did not expect to meet anyone familiar here, a pleasant surprise. Is Kyanna doing well?"

While their first meeting might have been a bit awkward, the Magia enjoyed it. Especially with what happened after they finished decorating. Sure, it was often easy to make friends 'online', but the girl still clung to anyone who showed any interest in her at all. Spending 'Wintersday' as they called it here with someone was... a rather new experience.

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna tilted her head at MAI's words, still finding it a little funny in her way to express herself.

"And I did not expect to meet you being so colorful, but it does look nice." She said with a giggle, untilting her head and looking MAI from down her feet and going all the way up to her eyes before finally responding: "I'm doing well, but maybe I will be doing even better with someone I know, right?" Kyanna declared, approaching the Magia a bit more.

"What are you doing around here, though? It is a bit of a coincidence to find you here, and I doubt you are carrying boxes at zero gravity this time." Kyanna said, knowing that this place was supposedly a bit more... 'high level' than the usual.

But perhaps it was weirder that Kyanna, someone that didn't bear too much ability in this game, was inside of such a dangerous region.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

If there was something about Magia, it was the possibility of being even stranger than the other Starcalled. While MAI's hair was various shades of purple most of the time, when the light directly illuminated it, the purple would eventually turn into azure blue, which then in turn went into yellow and green toward the end. Very eye-catching indeed.

"Confirmation - Presence of someone familiar is indeed comforting, even if unexpected."

Having fun with someone you knew aside, there was a certain comfiness in a friendly face being around in case anything happened. Or at least that was the case for MAI. The Magia stepped aside for a moment, allowing the view of the village to be unobstructed for the fungal witch as her own synthetic eyes scanned it for the building that she wanted to visit.

"Statement - This unit has come to this village after encountering advertisements of a new bookstore in the area. It is supposed to carry both books that Starcalled have brought over from our world, as well as books that have originated here."

But regardless of whether Kyanna would find that interesting or not, MAI assumed the girl must have been here for some goal of her own. The question was, what exactly?

"Proposal - This unit can postpone the bookstore visit if Kyanna requires help with her task in this place. Unless Kyanna found this unit's help in Redchron unsatisfactory as a result of the floating incident?"

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna's smile grew as MAI agreed with her words. "Yeah, it is!" She smiled, leaning in excitement as she paused to listen to the reason MAI was even there in first place. An eyebrow rose, curious. "Books from the real world?" Kyanna perked up. There were people that could memorize books so well that they would rewrite them into books in game? That sounded cool.

"That must have been a lot of hard work... Do you like reading, Mai?" Kyanna questioned. "You do look a smart type, so that wouldn't surprise me." She giggled. Perhaps it was because she meddled with complex things like gravity, and spoke with difficult words.

The offer for a help made Kyanna bright up even more, but the mention of the incident made her frown slightly. "Are you still with this in your mind?" She asked, wrapping an arm around MAI and tugging her close with grin, to emphasize she didn't hold any grudge.

"It is all right. I am very happy you want to help me! But I don't think we would need to avoid the bookstore for it." She said, leaning away for a moment.

"I am looking for someone. Someone that... I don't know how she looks in this game." Kyanna said, mustering a smile before whispering closer. "But she may notice who I am, after all, I didn't change a thing." She winked.

"She likes books, too. So maybe she could be visiting this bookstore?" Kyanna mused, letting MAI go.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

What Kyanna said was surprisingly funny to MAI, causing the mechanical girl to smile much more openly than she normally would. After all, there was a witch standing in front of her... a witch that asked if the machine liked to read. No, it was the way she said it, almost as if she herself did not like reading, or was a person who had not read much in her life yet despite playing an archetype that was usually well-red and learned.

"Affirmative - Many scientific papers and articles back in school." she nodded along with her words "And many stories and fairy tales when home."

Hopefully the admission that she liked fairy tales didn't seem too childish. The girl was painfully aware that most considered such things to be for children and would look down on any adult liking things that were 'for children'. Was that perhaps why she subconsciously started with the idea of reading something far more difficult and clearly meant for adults?

Either way, the Magia did not expect Kyanna to go in for physical contact like that, despite doing so in Redchron as well. The almost-hug made MAI jolt very slightly, but she quickly got rather comfortable, despite her expression remaining as that of a stoic surprise. An appropriate expression for the mission that Kyanna revealed. The mechanical girl was quick to process it all.

"Confirmation - Looking for an individual without many clues." she paused for a moment "An acquintance from outside, then... understood. This unit can lead to the store if Kyanna is okay with this location."

It certainly seemed like she was, but MAI might have been a bit taken aback by the idea of someone trying to find another person without knowing how they looked like... and by the fact that Kyanna likely made her avatar look the exact same as her real safe, if she understood the implication correctly.

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna nodded, perking up in excitement at the mention of fairy tales. "Fairy tales are so wonderful, especially those with so much fantasy in them... 'Fantasy' that we are living right now, I'd say." She giggled, not being able to describe everything they were seeing and going through as anything less than a fairy tale. A world filled with mysteries and fantasy, with things that spreaded out even into the real life.

With the real life consequences, being the one reason that made Kyanna slip into it.

"Yeah... Not maaany clues. But I will say that I do know this person is indeed in this game." Kyanna nodded. "At least according to some clues I've got in my first day playing this game." She admitted, then smiling warmly at the offer to lead her somewhere.

"Of course it is okay, Mai. Please lead the way." Kyanna beamed, waiting for the Magia to guide them.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

Any and all worry quickly evaporated. Kyanna really was just easily excitable, which was not a bad thing. Though it did somewhat make MAI question just how old the witch really was. They didn't exactly share that kind of information with each other.

"Agreement - This unit is very appreciative of this world's setting and atmosphere. Lethal threats aside, it is a very nice place to be."

And while said lethal threads did make for exciting adventures, it was not always the most pleasant to stare death in the face. Especially for someone like MAI, who had it a bit worse than most. But putting that aside, it did seem that the store was their next destination.

The girl's hand moved a bit toward Kyanna, but after a brief pause during which the Magia failed to decide whether it would be okay to grab the other girl's hand and in what manner, it retreated, and she instead folded her hands behind her back as she turned toward the village's center and gestures at Kyanna with her head to follow.

Evertale Bookstore
Villages of Tertoria

Being one of the bigger buildings in the village, it was hardly difficult to find, not to even mention all of the adornments on the outside. Inside, the atmosphere of the whole place was nothing short of 'cozy', the place almost resembling a library more than a store. Sure, there might have been a counter up front with the store clerk, but there were even tables with comfy chairs around so people could sit down and read parts of the books before deciding whether to purchase or not.

"Observation - This place is larger than expected. Explore and make our presence known to see if anyone reacts to you?"

While MAI was amazed by everything around them, Kyanna's issue was at the forefront of her mind. If it was them who had to be recognized rather than doing the recognizing, then they'd need to stick out in some way, probably? Not the girl's strongest suit... in fact, it might have been one of the weakest ones.

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna nodded in agreement, similarly enjoying the setting, even if it meant dealing with the threats of the world. Which was something Kyanna couldn't help but think about real life itself. It also bore threats, with the exception you only had one chance to not die for good, even if there wasn't as many threats coming.

The thoughts distracted her enough to not notice the approaching hand, and as she was gestured to follow, Kyanna nodded eagerly, following until they finally slipped into the bookstore.

"Woaaah, that's amazing... it is so crowded too-" Kyanna beamed, clasping her hands as she admired the scenario, moments before MAI pointed out the necessity of calling attention.

"Oh, you are right." She blinked, casting a glance at a nearby shelf, and then peeking back at MAI with a smile. "There looks like to be a good spot, and you come with me too! You are very flashy, so she should spot you and then notice me." Kyanna pointed out, tugging MAI along toward the shelf, that was, impressively, covered with fairy tales of all kinds, be it from the Landers or from the Starcalled.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

MAI admired the whole building as much as Kyanna did, though when she was suddenly called 'flashy', she could only frown a bit. She could see how that would be someone's opinion, but thinking about it a bit more, she wasn't exactly happy about standing out. Generally a thing introverts such as herself tried to avoid. But if she could at least help someone with that, then it probably wasn't all that bad.

Approaching the shelf that was pointed out, MAI quickly glanced over the various spines and noticed that they were all fairy tales from the outside world. In other words, the section that Kyanna was really impressed with before she even saw it simply because it existed here.

There was also a bench nearby. Its wooden frame was improved by cushions both where a person would sit and on the backrest, making it surprisingly comfortable. Sliding it a bit closer, MAI gestured toward the witch.

"Proposal - It may take a while for everyone here to walk through here. Want to sit down and look over some of the books?"

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna kept her eyes focused on the fairy tales, with her eyes tracing every single cover, seeing familiar titles and unfamiliar ones, some that were clearly from Terrasphere itself, but many others coming from the real world as they knew.

Her hand slowly approached one of the books, taking it on her hand before MAI proposed to sit and read some book as they waited for the miracle of the one person Kyanna was trying to find... To find her.

Turning to look at her, Kyanna nodded. "Sure, let's take a seat." She agreed, embracing the book against her chest and moving closer to the cushions, waiting for MAI to take a seat first before sitting on a cushion herself, scooting closely to the Magia and resting the book on her thigh, before opening it so the other cover would rest on MAI's, sharing the book between their laps.

"Let's see... I hope you don't mind reading along?" She hummed, wondering what was the book she had picked up.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

Kyanna quickly took to selecting the book she wanted to read. For someone who didn't come to this village for the bookstore itself, she certainly was quite eager. But now that they were spending time here, that was a good thing. MAI would have felt bad if she 'dragged' the other girl along, only for her to end up horribly bored of it all.

Taking a seat, her eyes looked around once more. There were indeed quite a lot of people. Landers and Starcalled alike, if she had to take a guess. All looking a bit different, too. Ah, but the Magia wanted to give most of her attention to the one who was here with her.

As Kyanna took a seat, MAI nearly jolted a bit when the book was suddenly put in between them like that. Not because she disliked it, but because she didn't expect such a gesture. It left the mechanical girl all the more curious about the witch, especially after she looked at the book she had picked.

"The Little Prince... No - This unit does not mind. However, this unit is curious... is Kyanna always so eager and open to approaching people? People like this unit, even."

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna perked up at the book she had arbritarily choosen, the Little Prince was one book she has always heard of, but she also has never really read it, even if it was a classic.

Her mouth half opened to start to talk about it, but as soon as MAI slipped her question, Kyanna paused to look at her, with her mouth closing for a moment as she considered how to explain her behavior, before she simply decided to be honest.

"My mother always told me we should always take our time to do things at our own pace, but that life is way, way too short to hesitate." Kyanna said, with her eyes averted for a moment, then trailing back to MAI. "So when I meet someone I like, I prefer to approach and befriend them as fast as I can. This way we can be friends a bit longer, even if it is a few minutes or a couple days." She explained, wondering if that made any sense.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

With Kyanna talking, MAI fell completely silent and still, simply leaning into the bench and taking it all in. It seemed like the other girl learned some valuable things from her parents, which was good to hear. And while MAI couldn't see herself living with such a philosophy in mind, she certainly could see the benefits of it.

"Understood - This unit thinks that is a good way to live."

MAI herself never really had many friends, at least outside of this game and throughout her life up to this point. She didn't know how it felt to befriend many or even how to approach strangers that seemed like they could be fun company. But such a heavy subject was hardly something appropriate for right now. The girl smiled and turned the page of the book while using her wide sleeve to cover most of the text, leaving only one illustration visible.

"Query - What does Kyanna see when she looks at this picture?"

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

"Isn't it?" Kyanna perked up, glad that MAI agreed with her. Even if it didn't seem like MAI thought it that way, it was good to know she at least thought it as something positive.

Seeing her friend's smile as she flipped the page warmed Kyanna, that averted her gaze toward the pages, ready to read through the story, only to have the text blocked by MAI. Kyanna blinked, half-opening her mouth to ask MAI to move her arm, but soon she was interrupted by a question that made her momentarily confused.

"... This picture, let's see?" Kyanna turned to look at it, crossing her arms. "Hmmmm-"

After a moment analyzing it, she snapped her fingers to emphasize she finally figured out an answer.

"It is a dinosaur. Like those ones with very long necks." She declared, confident on her response while tapping her index over the abstract illustration.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

MAI waited with a smile until Kyanna decided on what the picture might have been. Though the interpretation was more meant to be the very first thing that struck a person, this was fine, too. After all, it was just a story primarily written for children. So when the witch answered that she saw a dinosaur on the page, MAI couldn't help herself but let out a tiny giggle.

"Dinosaur... noted."

She said with a smile as she removed her hand so the two of them could start reading the first part of the story. The sad lamentations of the narrator in the form of a pilot who crashlanded in the desert, his mind wondering about that very image and how grown-ups seemed to interpret it as a hat one would wear atop their head. A terribly practical interpretation.

It was the Little Prince that appeared in front of the pilot who saw the image for exactly what it was, as intended by the narrator. A large snake who was digesting an elephant. Was that a morbid image for a child? MAI didn't really know, but as they turned the page to reveal the image re-made, she eyed Kyanna and her reaction.

"Confession - This unit thinks that 'Dinosaur' was a fine answer. Where the pilot complains about adults and their lack of imagination... Kyanna's answer was just as creative as the Little Prince's."

@Kyanna Wynne

​

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

"Noted..?" Kyanna blinked, wondering what the other girl meant by saying her response was 'noted'. Was it a test? Did she say something funny? Kyanna wasn't really sure, but MAI did giggle, and even if it was pleasing to see her smile, she couldn't help but feel mildly self-conscious that the giggle was after her answer.

But the following words of the magia eased her mind, with her cheeks flushing slightly in embarrassment. "Well, I am told to have a very good imagination, yeah..." She laughed briefly, scratching the back of her head, with her eyes trailing on the text and then on the revealed illustration, making her open her eyes widely.

"Woah, it was that? This poor snake though." Kyanna felt pity at the snake, poor thing having to eat something as big as an elephant.

"This Little Prince is far more creative than me, that's for sure, Mai!" She protested, nudging her friend with a laugher.

@MAI

 

[MAI]

‎

‎
‎

"Reassurance - This unit believes that vivid imagination is a good thing, even if some might say otherwise."

Hopefully, no one ever tried to actually admonish the girl for having a 'head in the clouds' and not being realistic enough. MAI harbored quite a disdain for such individuals. Hell, as she herself grew older in the physical world, she became increasingly more convinced that adults should dream and keep that inner child as well.

But that was neither here nor there. Seeing Kyanna's reaction to the second illustration actually surprised the Magia girl somewhat, although, in its own way, it was also quite amusing. Still, she had to ask at least.

"Query - Kyanna feels worse for the snake than the elephant that had to be eaten?"

The whole scenario was rather unrealistic, but animals eating each other was just the circle of life. Nonetheless, people often presented themselves as feeling bad for the prey animals. But as the witch was answering this question, someone else slowly approached the duo. Not a woman, as the raven-haired girl surely hoped for, but a man. The very one that tended to the front desk around where they entered.

"Pardon me... I wish not to come across as rude, but... are you, perchance... Starcalled?"

He quickly earned MAI's questioning gaze, though her eyes then fell back onto Kyanna as if she was silently asking whether they should divulge their nature to the man or keep it a secret.

@Kyanna Wynne

 

[Kyanna Wynne]

Kyanna glanced at MAI. "It is good to keep some of our creativity, right?" She said with a grin, tilting her head slightly as she watched the magia for a moment, wondering if she had plenty of imagination herself, but not having the opportunity to ask right away, considering she was posed with a question almost after her reaction.

"Huh?" Kyanna blinked, then scratched her back. "This elephant is probably very strong, and he will survive it. The snake... I don't think so..." She sighed. "... Besides, it isn't just the fact the snake will die, but... For her to eat a whole elephant? She was probably so, so hungry..." Kyanna pursed her lips, looking at the illustration again.

"I'm sure that if the snake didn't have to eat an elephant to survive, she wouldn't do it."

As she were to elaborate a bit more, she blinked, looking at the man and then at MAI, but hardly hesitating to just respond- "I am a Starcalled, mister." She smiled, not exposing her friend, but revealing her own nature.

@MAI