"Hehehehe... Boom!... Huh?!" Ares startled himself awake as his dream came to an explosive end. He was dreaming up ways to torment Aejaz and his latest method was to create a maze of scarecrows on Halloween and trap him in a spooky labyrinth. Right at the very end, right when Aejaz saw the exit light, right when hope was finally in reach, Ares would detonate all the scarecrows and laugh in glee as Aejaz panicked with tears in his eyes!... Ares was a terrible brother... That aside, Ares had slept like a log and, in the end, nothing disturbed his peaceful rest. He was already fairly certain nobody would show up but he couldn't help but be somewhat taken for a ride by the general atmosphere and led to believe something paranormal might crop up. He was halfway up an isolated mountain, alone, and in an abandoned wooden hut in the middle of nowhere. This was a recipe for some cursed or evil shenanigans and he knew it! Still, there were no creepy ghost women knocking on the windows, no sudden blood smears across the house revealed by intermittent flashes of lightning, and no wailing coming from the floorboards. It had just been a pleasant night's sleep and all his runic alarms and traps were still in tip top condition after not being set off. In fact, the night had been extremely enjoyable and soothing. The bed was soft and fluffy, the thick cover hugged his form and perfectly regulated his temperature, and the soft sound of a light blizzard outside was like a lullaby that helped him drift into a relaxed slumber. It was actually probably the best night of sleep he'd had since he left Red Sun! That was saying something too as the palace he stayed in back in Xasca was pretty luxurious.
Alas, Ares had no business staying here any longer so this would probably be the only time he stayed the night in this hut. He could maybe squat here once more on the way back from his current trip to the outskirts of Isaz but that all depended on timing. If he passed by again during the day he wasn't going to stop and wait for nightfall just to sleep here; Ares was still looking to go home ASAP after all so no amount of comfort could tempt him. Still, Ares did set aside about an hour of his busy schedule to scan the diary he found yesterday real quick. He made himself a coffee in the Primordial Blade's kitchen, sat at an oval table, and pulled out the book in question. After taking a sip from his beverage he put the mug down and began flipping pages right to left with a leisurely demeanour. He really didn't expect to find anything of note but curiosity about this place had been gnawing away at him since yesterday and he wanted answers!... And he got them... But he also found something strange that couldn't be ignored! Though he was just skim reading the diary a name he recognised came up multiple times, especially towards the latter end... Appa. Ares had roughly understood the nature of the old couple living here but he needed to go back and reread the diary properly to figure out what on earth was going on with his cute daughter's name showing up in this dusty old book! Ares rolled his neck, started again from page one, and dedicated the next two hours to reading through all the relevant entries. His original allotted time for this small extra task was doubled in the blink of an eye as he was far too engrossed in every little detail because he was learning about the origin of his daughter! This information was far to precious to pass up on! It was only natural he'd take appropriate care not to miss anything worth reading so his quick scan soon became a 'devil's in the detail' level inspection. His eyes were deeply focussed, his head hunched over the diary so as not to miss a single vowel or consonant, and his mind digested everything with immense clarity.
Thud
Some time later Ares closed the book, leant back, and stared at it while pondering everything he'd just read as there were a few things to go over. He was going to keep this book, obviously, and the contents were rather endearing but he still needed time to parse everything after his initial read through. To put it simply, the old couple were transition realm cultivators who came here to die. When they first met each other they were young and carefree but they got so roped into one another's embrace and presence that time flew by without them realising. Soon they were old and grey and their bones didn't quite work like they used to. They were fulfilled but still regretful nonetheless that they couldn't spend more time with one another so they began to cultivate in pursuit of a longer life. Some of the details regarding their adventures were all written in this book but Ares skipped through most of said adventures because there wasn't much to say about any of them. The couple were decently strong but always remained cautious and never went above their station in terms of competitions and events they took part in. They were careful to avoid offending big names and clung to the outskirts of cultivation society while still reaping whatever rewards fell to them like scraps. It may have sounded undignified but, in this plain way, they lived long lives and even went on to the ripe old age of 200 roughly. For a transition realm cultivator this was rather impressive so they probably had some kind of life-extending treasure encounter at some point but Ares hadn't seen it in the entries he read.
Anywho, once the old couple reached transition realm they settled down, fully aware they couldn't go any further in this domain but that was fine with them. They'd done something quite incredible together. Despite starting later on their cultivation path than everyone else they made it to the big leagues by working hard and takings things slow. They endured scorn and ridicule in multiple sects thanks to their considerable age but, in the end, they had the last laugh and lived a good life. They had no illusions about how fierce the cultivation world would get if they pursued it into Vraizon, however, and they'd even accidentally offended some crusty old hidden expert who lived up there despite their best efforts not to. Some things were just unavoidable. Put simply, the couple were reluctant to go to Vraizon for multiple reasons and so, in the end, just didn't. The old man was an Isaz native so he suggested coming back here to build a home in a neat hiding place he used to frequent with all his old friends when he was young and thus this hut came to be. They'd accrued a decent amount of wealth during their travels but they kept things simple and instead decorated the interior while keeping the house plain on the outside. If they built some grand fortress or mansion it would attract a lot of attention and they wanted something more low key in their final years.
It was roughly ten years after settling in to this house that Appa appeared! Up until then they'd been hunting wild animals for meat or occasionally flying over to major cities for larger shopping sprees. On one such day, regarding the latter, while the old woman was heading towards the centre of the region, she happened across a tiny ghost small enough to fit neatly in her palm. It had just clumsily rolled down a nearby mountain and its head popped up with some snow still squarely plopped on top of it. The ghost tilted its head and meeped at the old woman whose heart melted on the spot even is she couldn't identify what exactly this small creature was. She gave up on her shopping trip and rushed home with the adorable little munchkin held in her bosom. From then on, the old couple treated the meeper like an unofficial child and cared for the meeper in any way they could... Not that there was really much to do other than keep an eye on it and make sure it didn't get into trouble with flying monsters looking to peck it while it played around in the alcove. It didn't eat or drink anything so it was actually incredibly simple to keep around. It was the exact same type of phenomenon as Visitation. Ares already came to the conclusion that most spectre type entities, born of a mix between mana and the universe, shared this appearance, that of a 'meeper', when they were young. At some point, Appa, as a baby meeper, would have been filled to the brim with mana and then become the Appa he now knew today and that discovery was also noted down in the diary. The couple went to sleep with a tiny meeper one day and the next they had a fully fledged ghost wriggling around in their house. It caused quite the stir but Appa's newfound ability to communicate solved that issue rather quickly.
As it turned out, Appa was indeed born somewhere on the mutated mountain. Appa had a proclivity for both ice and mental magic due to the unique circumstances surrounding the area in which she came from. The Moongate Mountain undeniably leaked considerable mental magic into the air and Isaz was a hotbed of cold mana so it wasn't even remotely surprising this came to be. Of course the old couple didn't really understand this, and they couldn't have known about the Moongate Mountain either because nobody had ever found it, but Ares could tell in hindsight this was roughly how it all went down thanks to his knowledge on the subject after meeting the light elementals. He was somewhat sad he didn't get to see meeper Appa but he could picture it thanks to Visitation's current form so that was good enough! Plus, though he didn't know this either, there were ways of recreating the past in higher domains that were fairly accessible. Even Training Field runes could simulate memories realistically at a high enough level so it's not like he'd never get a chance to see mini Appa, it just wouldn't be any time soon unfortunately.
Ignoring that for now, the diary story continued on and the old couple were happy to finally be able to communicate normally with Appa. It was around this time they gave it the name that Ares had come to know and love and Appa accepted it quite happily. Their days of peaceful living would come to somewhat of an end, though, because the old couple knew something that Appa did not; they were dying. Being elderly they knew their time was almost up and as transition realm cultivators their understanding of their own bodies was unmatched. It felt like they were just getting started in life now that they had a pseudo daughter but it had happened far too late and it was rather regrettable for them. The old man was infertile so it's not like they hadn't tried, Appa was just the closest they ever got to that feeling of having offspring. Actually, Appa did ask them at one point to be a family but, contrary to expectations, they firmly denied it. They were well aware of their ending lifespan and decided not to hurt Appa that way so soon after it was born and became fully conscious. It wasn't too familiar with 'death' and they didn't want Appa to get attached to them at the worst time possible.
In fact, the couple even took a harsh stance and demanded Appa go out into the wide world, learn, and find its own family. Of course the request was daunting but the tone was soft, at least, and they saw Appa off with warm smiles all around. They'd given it some basic supplies and told it how to island hop over to the next continent. From there Appa probably wondered around, hovering merrily, until it decided to join a sect, to fulfill the 'learning' task set upon it, which just so happened to be Heaven's Path where it then met Ares. A nice little coincidence, is what it was. As for the old couple, they passed away shortly after Appa left and the diary entries stopped. Based on a rough guess it seemed like they lasted about a month or so before going out to rest at the top of the mountain for good. They didn't want their corpses to remain inside this building incase Appa came back, they didn't want to upset it like that, so they effectively buried themselves somewhere they wouldn't be found and willingly cut off the lights in their own bodies while hand in hand under the starry night sky. A peaceful end but one that would still make Appa upset regardless if it knew.
Appa had to grow up at some point, though, and the old couple were hoping Appa found a family before it tried to return here. At least if it had someone else to take care of it and make it happy then it might not feel so despondent at losing its temporary aunty and uncle. The diary ultimately would fill her in as to what happened behind the scenes that Appa was unaware of at the time, due to being too young to understand the frailty of old age at the time, and that would be the end of that. Ares stumbling across all of this was pure coincidence and now he was at a crossroads! Does he leave this here for Appa to come and explore by itself or does he bring it all back himself? He didn't want to hide this but he also didn't want to make Appa cry and feel bad... But his daughter still deserved to know what became of her first carers... Although... Wouldn't it be up to Appa to return here itself? What if it already had an inkling but wanted to simply pretend it was all right as rain? What it couldn't see couldn't hurt it so she would just never come back and investigate... But if Appa wanted to do that was it right for Ares to intervene in that decision all because he didn't agree? Ahhhhhh! Being a parent to a growing child was hard and there was a lot to consider! This situation sucked and Ares was between a rock and a hard place right now. It didn't help that Appa had never mentioned this before so he wasn't sure how she felt about it. There was really a lot to take into consideration here before he made his choice...
While Ares deliberated over which course of action to take, he was also recalling some other information he read in the diary that was worth thinking about. There was a rather interesting passage discussing something Ares himself had been interested in but couldn't follow up on due to a lack of knowledge regarding how to actually make his goal happen. During the old couples' adventures they wound up in Bhorashka at some point and that was the starting point of the old man's musings about how to turn Appa into a human. Or, at least, grant it the ability to polymorph itself into a humanoid figure that could eat, walk, and hug properly like Appa so wanted to. Many monsters and animals could effortlessly transform but shades, or at least damned shades specifically, seemed unable and that weighed on both Ares' and the old couples' minds. Unlike Ares though, the old couple had thoughts on the matter. They referenced various monster cores that could only be found in Bhorashka, as well as various other resources, and so Ares was making a mental note of everything they wrote of as it could come in handy down the line.
It might not actually be impossible to turn Appa into a human... Or give it the ability to transform at will at least. Then Ares could feed her pizza and toffee apple to her heart's content! Snappas were great and all but the real deal was an experience that just couldn't be matched or ever really toppled by the fakes he created. Sure they were lovingly crafted, and very close, but why settle for that when there was a greater option out there somewhere? Plus giving Appa proper hugs was worth it alone! As for why the old couple didn't go get these monster cores and resources themselves... They were too old by that point. Even a transition realm cultivator needs to be careful if they're on their deathbed. They figured it would be for the best to give up on that dream and care for Appa with what little time they had remaining rather than accidentally throw it all away for a gift somebody else could forage for later on. Again, one day, when Appa returned to this hut, it could read about all this inside the diary and ask its new family, and real parents, to go look for the resource in Bhorashka. The old couple believed Appa would meet caring parents that would be willing to do at least that for it amd they wound up being correct.
That was the plan and things had fallen perfectly into place because now Ares had his sights set on retrieving the resource amongst various other things. He'd also learnt a while back that, in Bhorashka, there were probably resources that could help Rox learn to speak better and that was yet another item Ares had already been seeking. There were various parrot monsters in Bhorashka so giving Rox a resource related to them might enable him to not only speak fluently but also mimic his transform-target's pitch and tone perfectly. Put simply, there was a lot of good stuff in Bhorashka,.... But Ares was hesitant to go there right now. He figured it would be another troublesome trip as it was well known that Bhorashka was packed with rare and mythical creatures if you ventured too far off the beaten path. Ares already had his hands full on this journey and he seriously wanted to return home... Plus, once he was back, he'd be busy with sect master matters and, even then, he was considering a visit to Akarala after Dominus recommended it to him.
There wasn't enough time in the day for all this crap!
Still, he valued what Bhorashka was offering and he had another idea to achieve his goals. Who said he had to go himself!? A certain mimic friend had just reached bloodline awakening, quite literally last night while Ares was sleeping, and his power had spiked considerably if the small aura around Rox, in the Blade, was any indication. It seemed his mimic bloodline was so impressive he was trying to copy even the war aura. It was impossible, he could flat out never do it, but that didn't mean he wouldn't maybe come across something similar in his endeavours. There were other auras related to battle that he could maybe dredge up if he kept going at it. Also, Rox' ability to mimic skills, technique, and general weapon mastery must have improved too. He was a figure who didn't show up much as of late but he was steadily increasing his power in the background and becoming a very real menace.
Ares could simply send Rox to Bhorashka in his stead and he would almost definitely pull off everything Ares asked of him so long as Ares didn't go overboard with the request. Even if there were highly deadly monsters Rox couldn't beat he wouldn't have to as his ability to transform his appearance would be enough to get him out of sticky situations. If not, his vast repertoire of stolen technicals and weapon pillar arts would get him out of any jam. He wasn't taught directly by Dominus for nothing, his lessons hadn't been for show, and Ares believed in Rox's ability. That was a matter for later, though. Ares would bring Rox back to Red Sun first and let him play around with the succubus for a while before sending him on his new mission. Rox had been training hard even during the vacation so letting him play a bit more with his new lady friend was perfectly fine, Ares wasn't in a rush to humanise Appa. He wanted to, obviously, but waiting a bit longer was still within reason. He hadn't been expecting to find a method so conveniently in these lower domains anyway so this situation was actually more perfect than he could have ever imagined.
Ares' rough guess was that he would return from his Akarala trip, which was all but certain, and Rox would be there waiting for him with all sorts of Bhorashkan goodies. Bhorashka was the home of half breeds after all, like the furry team from the international with the likes of Hawkins and Ramsey, so anything monster related coming from that place would be worth its weight in gold. If you couldn't find monster related resources in the jungles of Bhorashka you were either blind or they didn't exist anywhere on the planet anymore, there were no exceptions. Rox might even come back with a greater hall than anticipated... But Ares was getting distracted! He still needed to choose what his next course of action was regarding this hut. He could cut it up and store it in the Blade with his nothingness magic, and bring the diary along with him... But was that really correct?
In the end, Ares felt like leaving things alone was unnecessarily complicating the issue so he dug up the house and took it along with him. Appa was growing not just physically but mentally too! Actually... Appa might not have grown psychically at all... She was still pretty short... But she'd definitely grown mentally! She could handle this and though digesting the truth might take a while it was better to face it head on than keep pretending it wasn't real. That was what Ares believed and, as Appa's parent, he had no room to be indecisive! He couldn't force Appa to make a choice but he was still a guardian who had to occasionally make snap decisions on how best to go about his child's upbringing. His preferred method was to face reality head and overcome it to become a better person with a stronger heart so that was the path he was going to pick for Appa too. She'd manage! If Ares could have faith in Rox to go to Bhorashka of all places then he could have faith in Appa not to sink into depression as a result of everything he'd seen here today. Nobody likes losing loved ones, and for Appa this would be its first time... Excluding the Ares clone it lost back when Chen Lo infiltrated the sect... But even Appa's reaction to that went to show how much Appa needed to come to terms with these sorts of things.
Ares nodded at the empty space in which the hut existed previously and was now fully onboard with his own executive decision. There was no going back!... Though really his job wasn't easy either... It's not like he wanted to see Appa cry and he was going to have to be the one to break the news so really he was suffering in his own way too! Ares sighed and put those thoughts to the back of his head for now because they weren't relevant to his current goal. It was time to carry on with what he was doing prior and getting distracted would only delay the various matters he wanted to wrap up. In short, it was time to get back to searching for the spatial crack that would lead him outside the Blade barrier surrounding these lower domains! If his rough estimate was even remotely correct he would arrive at the spatial anomaly by the end of the day at the latest and, from there, he would analyse it so as to be able to traverse it. In other words, it was time to go see the outside world!