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Travelling from the abandoned Inkwell to Notchwood wasn't as bad as Nyru had expected. The first half of the journey was what he had to get used to, time seemed to drag at a snails pace, the entire time all he could think about was what the Therians would be like, he had to be honest, they didn't really cover them in any classes in the Land of Crows. It was mainly stories and folklore rounding off assumptions of what the Prince of Crows did to them. He knew they were Magic Earth humans that split off after the Great Voyage, they would lock their city gates on a full moon and that was it. But after the Prince of Crows assumed control with Declasia... everyone was lead to believe they just... vanished.

Now they were going to see them. A few hours ago they crossed the border, Nyru had to admit it was always a weird feeling going through the remains of The Shade, the giant shadow that used to block off the country. Now it was like a shadowy scar than ran along the ground as if someone had charred all the land on one side. Like stepping from night to day, almost. It took them an entire day and night to get here, it was early midday right now, last night was simple, Nyru personally spent the night balancing on a tree branch. And all this time they had managed to avoid the search parties. Nyru kicked a rock across the grassy floor, like many before it rolled along the ground and often jumped in a random direction. But this time it stopped with a hollow thud as it hit something, looking up he saw a tree, it was on the outskirts of a forest. At first it was like any other, but these trees were slightly square in the trunk. Scowling he said "What the-" in confusion, he hadn't seen square trees before. In fact he never really cared all that much for the forests outside of the Land of Crows, for there were no need, and no grotesque monsters par the odd goblin or two.

"Welcome to Notchwood" announced Isabelle, coming to a stop with her hands on her hips, looking off into the dark distance amongst the trees they now faced before them. Even further behind one could see the top half of the Iringod Spires.

Since everyone was so polite, Charles had no problem escorting them through the forest. Beginning the short trek he walked ahead of them, Isabelle walking alongside him however. For some few minutes Nyru almost wondered why she seemed to close to him, walking almost shoulder to shoulder with some small talk here and there, him chuckling to her like she was playing him. Admiring the woods afterwards however, Charles got Nyru's attention when he spoke up and looked behind "I understand you're in quite the predicament. I understand completely, however, and hope you will all find our... temporary home... well enough for you to rest and decide what to do next"

At first Nyru didn't reply, but then he said "Thank you... How long have you and Isabelle known each other?". Isabelle thens poke up and said "we met last year, i was put on the team that aides the Therians"
"Aides them, eh"Nyru commented, to which Charles replied "Exactly! Without your sister half of my problems would not have been fixed to this day". hm thought Nyru. Problems eh. He knew he shoudln't invade his sister's privacy, it just seemed she was getting a little close with this guy all of a sudden, it was simply a bit of sibling watch-out you could say.

A better question that Nyru would liek answered is less serious, he kept wondering when exactly he'd be seeing tall furry and teethy come out to play, you know.. the werewolf inside of him. He didn't seem very clawy... he seemed squidgy if anything.

At the clearing Charles was happy to be hearing the girls' replied, they were both intrigued and on his side, perhaps they'll be able to help him one day convince the Guildeam. Smiling at Adi he then looked to Claudia and replied "I thank you". Meanwhile Isabelle had her arms on her hips, staring out at the clearing int he trees, it was a very large rounded area, there were even some signs of the trees being hit down in some places further off. Staring up she said "You've certainly made yourselves at home, haven't you?"
"We've tried our best" Charles aid, turning around and admiring the nothingness too, chuckling. Nyru looked at Claudia and Adi, he wasn't sure how to feel, his eyebrows inverting as he shrugged and his voice stretched out to say "uhm... Izzy...". She twisted round with grace and cursed "Sorry, here", she pointed at them with her finger tip that glowed red and she create a rune in the air which rippled and vanished, at the same time Nyru saw his vision become impaired, it was like trying to strain your eyes to focus on something which was blurred on paper. "Don't try to hard, you'll hurt yourselves. Just relax and look at it for what it really is" she said. And then Nyru gasped and muttered "glamour....".

Before them was not an empty space at all, to Nyru's amazement there were actual buildgins, freshly made from timber, they had an old english cottage style to them, the roofs were made from the brakes of trees that still bore leaves. Empty lamps hung by doors and stood like posts where candles sat neatly within. A dirt path, dry and kept neat lead to the different buildings. There was even one tower made mainly out of timber scaffolding except for the very top which was like a hut that looked over the canopy. Looking back down though he began to hear people, talking and various other sounds of metal working. He then heard children, laughter and even some small pieces of music in the distance. What he saw before him was in fact a community, ordinary people walked across, some in armour, others not, many of them dressed properly and accordingly. Most of the workers were lifting timber and sawing it to finish a couple of the last remaining buildings.

"wow" was all Nyru could say, he certainly wasn't expecting that much to be concealed. He knew that the Occult were powerful, but he didn't realise they were just that good at what they did. "Impressed?" Isabelle asked, "We take pride in what we do best, Nyru. I would even go as far to say that we're better than the Conclave itself at keeping ourselves secret" she boasted, looking back upon the people.

Nyru knew she was half correct, but measuring the Occult with the Conclave... it was drastic. But truth be told, to conceal themselves they erected a giant shadow that concealed everything behind it, but no one could pass and everyone could see the shadow. But the Occult did this. Nyru felt like he couldn't trust anything now, but he loved it all the same, they managed to completely hide, under the Guildeam's nose, an entire small town.