"Look at those feather crests! The scale patterns! The way they move! What are they called? Are they some kind of predator-mount hybrid? This is incredible!"
Kira tried to pull away, covering her face with her free hand. "Stop looking at me with those... those glowing eyes! It's disturbing!"
"But they're so beautiful!" I gushed, completely oblivious to her discomfort. "I've never seen anything like them! How fast can they run? What do they eat? Can they actually fly, or are those just decorative feathers? Please tell me what they are!"
Thane was watching my fanboy moment with the expression of someone trying to solve a particularly complex puzzle. She approached her own mount, a magnificent specimen with scales that seemed to contain actual starlight, and began untying the reins with practised efficiency.
"You've never seen a Gravernyx before, have you?" she asked, her tone casual but her eyes sharp.
Gravernyx, I thought, filing the name away. So that's what they're called.
The system helpfully provided additional information I hadn't asked for:
[CREATURE DATABASE ACCESSED]
[GRAVERNYX: DOMESTICATED MANA BEASTS]
[CLASSIFICATION: PREDATOR-CLASS MOUNT]
[RARITY: UNCOMMON BUT STABLE POPULATIONS]
[DOMESTIC USE: TRANSPORTATION, LIGHT COMBAT, RECONNAISSANCE]
[NOTE: HIGHLY INTELLIGENT, BOND WITH SINGLE RIDER]
My brain, now armed with both the name and system information, tried to formulate a convincing lie. "Of course I've seen them! Gravernyx are... uh... very... feathery?"
It was possibly the worst attempt at deception in the history of human communication. My eyes were still dilated with wonder, I couldn't stop staring at the creatures, and I was pretty sure I was vibrating with barely contained enthusiasm.
Thane's expression shifted to something that might have been amusement if it weren't so calculating. "Right. Of course you have."
This man is definitely not from anywhere remotely local, I could practically hear her thinking. Which was fair, considering I was from a completely different dimension and had apparently been gone for a thousand years.
"Alright," she called out, "mount up. Vex, help our... guest... get settled."
The mage approached with the reverent care of someone handling a sacred relic. "It would be an honour to assist the Divine One," he said, bowing slightly before moving to boost me onto Kira's mount.
That's when things went sideways.
The moment I got close to Kira's Gravernyx, a sleek female with scales that seemed to shift between midnight blue and deep purple, the creature's head swiveled toward me with the kind of attention usually reserved for potential threats or interesting snacks.
Her golden eyes fixed on mine, and I could practically see the thought process: Who is this stranger? Why does he smell wrong? Where is my proper rider? Should I bite him?
"Easy, girl," I said, trying to sound confident as Vex helped me clamber awkwardly into the saddle. "Just a friendly interdimensional refugee. Nothing threatening about me at all."
The Gravernyx made a low, rumbling sound that could have been amusement or a warning. Her head turned to look at Kira with what I swear was a questioning expression.
"I know, Whisper," Kira said, scratching behind the creature's ear in exactly the spot she'd warned me not to touch. "He's weird, but we're stuck with him for now. Try not to let him fall off and die. It would reflect poorly on both of us."
Whisper, because of course the deadly rogue had named her murder-bird something adorable, made another rumbling sound that definitely sounded like reluctant acceptance.
"Don't make sudden movements," Kira instructed, swinging up behind me with fluid grace. "Don't try to guide him. And definitely don't scratch behind his ears, she bites strangers who get presumptuous."
"Noted," I said, gripping the saddle horn with white knuckles. "Any other tips for not becoming Gravernyx food?"
"Don't fall off."
"That's... surprisingly practical advice."
The moment Thane gave the command to move out, I discovered exactly how terrible I was at riding fantasy creatures.
Whisper moved with the smooth, ground-eating lope that made these creatures legendary as mounts, but apparently nobody had told my inner ear about the physics involved. Where a horse might bounce you up and down, Gravernyx moved with a flowing motion that was somehow both smoother and more disorienting.
Within the first hundred yards, I was sliding around in the saddle like a sack of anxious potatoes.
"Stop flailing!" Kira commanded from behind me. "You're confusing her!"
"I'm not flailing!" I protested, grabbing desperately for the saddle horn as Whisper took a particularly smooth turn that nearly sent me sliding off to the left. "I'm... dynamically adjusting to the motion!"
"That's what flailing is!"
"It's strategic flailing!"
Whisper made a sound that was definitely amusement. Apparently, my complete incompetence at basic riding was entertaining enough to override her suspicion of strangers.
The landscape blurred past at a speed that would have been terrifying if it weren't so amazing. Rolling hills gave way to scattered forests, and in the distance, I could see mountains that looked like someone had carved them from pure crystal. The wind whipped through my hair, carrying scents that belonged to no Earth I'd ever known, something floral and spicy and alive in ways that made my enhanced senses tingle.
"This is incredible!" I called out, trying to maintain some dignity while also not falling to my death. "It's like riding a living motorcycle that can think and has opinions about your life choices!"
"Less talking, more not dying!" Kira replied, though I caught the hint of amusement in her voice.
As we rode toward whatever counted as their base camp, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was traveling toward something significant. Not just a military outpost or a simple debriefing, but a turning point that would determine whether my new life in this world would be adventure or tragedy.
The system apparently agreed, because a new notification appeared at the edge of my vision:
[WARNING: APPROACHING HOSTILE TERRITORY]
[RECOMMENDATION: PREPARE FOR SOCIAL COMBAT SCENARIOS]
Well, I thought, adjusting my grip as Whisper navigated a particularly tricky slope, that's ominous.
But for now, I was riding a fantasy creature through an alien landscape under a foreign sun, and despite everything, the time displacement, the imprisonment, the growing certainty that I was heading toward trouble, I couldn't help but grin.
After a thousand years in a cosmic forge, even impending doom felt like progress.
****
A/N:
Appreciate you all hanging in there, sorry for the chapter inconsistency!