"'Bye."

Off he goes.

The Knight has run off. This is is still a veritable fair folk city. If there's any other kinds he'd like to meet it's a good time for it.

...he might, on his way back, but now he's pretty sure he wants to move on and figure out whether he can go back to his world.

The occasional farm or hunting lodge between the World Tree and the distant Reaches area where he first arrived has no comment.

He'll fly on, then, not stopping until he reaches the Reaches.

He's in them soon enough. But it's a big, wide, new area. Sparsely settled and at least as large as Texas. Roads are uncommon, towns moreso. He sees a mountain temple of sorts far off to the left - a Fate's home, according to rumor.

...he might visit it on his way back.

To the place where he knows he left his portal.

Some of the tiles here are different. Or rather, there are more tiles than there were before. His entry point is still near the edge in that same forest, though.

—huh. Okay.

He goes to the place the portal was.

There is no portal. He looks around for any other places that might be—identical to this one.

If he gets high enough to get a nice aerial view... No, there aren't any other places that match the exact pattern of tiles he can remember seeing and passing from when he arrived. This is definitely it.

Okay. Okay. It's cool. He flies over to the spot and looks around for ten minutes and then removes the key from his thigh and tries to open a door exactly where the last one was.

Ocean.

On the other side?

Underground.

He curls up into a ball and doesn't cry because vampires can't cry but he shivers and tries to fight down the misery.

Someone's flying over there. From that new mountain-with-springs-and-streams out over the void.

Oh okay that's something to focus on rather than the horror.

He looks at them.

No wings. All covered except for her head by a human-shaped suit of various gemstones and rocks, plainly but elegantly designed. She's flying up to what would be the midpoint of a tile if it weren't void.

...okay. He sits up, succeeding at wrestling his thoughts into a corner.

She holds one hand out and hovers, looking vaguely bored.

That's probably a Fate, isn't it. Who's probably making a tile. This he has to see.

The air twists. Like some sort of mirage. And then there is a small earthquake, and another section of hills, already covered in foliage.

Okay that is super cool. He kinda wants to go talk to the person.

He flap flaps over to her.

She ascends backwards a bit before shouting in a language he hasn't got as much practice with yet, but which was in Nils' dictionary, "Stranger, what is your business here? This is new land, and can be dangerous."

"Curiosity, mostly, and a complete lack of a self-preservation instinct. I'd never seen a Fate do this before."

"It is not such an impressive task, I think. Anyone who ascends can do the same."

"Not many people do, in fact, ascend," he points out.

"...True. It would still be better to be praised for achievements that don't take simple raw power."

"The very fact that you're a Fate is, probably, worthy of praise, given how difficult it seems to be."