Ah... ten years. Fashioned in its normal black robe with the hood drawn tight around its lion-skull face, the Visitor made its way through the garden of the Secret Refuge as sneakily as possible. But of course, nothing could tiptoe through her father's garden without her knowing!

NPC: Meissa

"Hey!" she chirped, fluttering and hopping through the flowers to catch up to it. What WAS that? "Hey! Stop!"

The Visitor drew its head into its shoulders and hunched itself over, turning slightly to peek at her from the corner of its hood.

"What are you! That's so weird! WHERE is your FACE!" she blurted, scuttling up to circle the creature that very clearly did not want to be circled, or have any attention drawn to it at all.

"Shh, shh," the Visitor hushed, holding its notebook away from her and gesturing downward with its palm—a gloved hand.

Meissa was still for a moment and the Visitor breathed a sigh of relief—"WHERE IS YOUR FACE?"

"Oh, my god." The Visitor brought its hand up to pinch its brow, its glowing red orbs-for-eyes blinking off momentarily as if its eyes had shut.

"What happened to your face! You just have a skull!" she cried, increasingly worried the creature was injured. "I'm bad at healing but I'm learning! I can try to help you!"

"No, please, shut up, for the love of—"

"DAD!!!" Meissa hollered, throwing her head back and shouting at loud as her little body would let her.

"Nononono," the Visitor urged, kneeling down so that they could be eye-to-eye. "Shhh, Meissa, listen to me—"

"YOU KNOW MY NAME!?" Meissa exclaimed and her eyes nearly bulged out of her head. Even louder than before, she yelled for her father, turning to view his pond: "DAD! DAD THERE'S A WEIRD THING OUT HERE!"

But when she turned back, the Visitor was gone. Lyn lifted his head from the water, and when he saw nothing of note, he snorted. Kids, right? He chirruped her way to soothe her, but she was utterly distraught. As they were bickering about whether or not she had really seen something, the Visitor exited the refuge in a secluded corner...

----------------------------
As much as they loved Meissa, the Visitor was not prepared to engage her this time. It wormed its way through an empty hollow in the cave wall and then flipped its notebook open to a seemingly random page. Hmm, yes, yes...

"I wish..." it started, pulling the notebook closer to its face. Damn. Did it need its glasses here, too? "I wish for the gembound... Oh, right." From its pocket it pulled out a glittering feathershard and held the cosmic wonder in the palm of its hand. On the palm of the other rested its notebook. "I wish for the gembound to see the surface of Let!"

With that, the feathershard puffed and sparked before dissipating into a cloud of pink-gold stars. Then the cave filled with the same pink-gold, like a nebula birthed in the darkness—before the Visitor could react, it was standing before a large cathedral with flowering trees and plants in its yard.

"Ohhhhh," it started, but its body was frozen, almost as if it did not expect this outcome. "Hmmmm... Yeah... Cool, cool, cool, no doubt, no doubt," it muttered as it walked forward, nodding as it looked to different items, touching some to make sure they were real. Hmm. Yeah, that happened. Wow! That totally worked. Sick.

The door to the cathedral was just an open aperture and surprisingly large: large enough to fit a dragon, probably! Inside it was warm and glowing with the same pink-gold nebula that swirled through the air outside. Its ceiling was bordered by flowering trees whose petals fell loosely, but the branches would never be bare, backlit by lights unseen. The hall itself was sprawling and open with no pews and few pillars. At its end was a massive, slowly swirling portal that shimmered with the murky image of the same hall, but mirrored: beyond the portal was the cathedral as it sat on the surface of Let, gouged into a hidden mountainside.

There were probably more places to see and discover within its walls: what kind of rooms were in its towers, the Visitor wondered? But it did not want to overstay its welcome.

"Sorry, no snacks this time," it said to itself, ducking behind one of the pillars to open its own portal home. "Haha." Nobody actually says haha, but it did. It reached down to grab one of the flower petals before summoning its rift to home. "Aaaaall right, back to it then," it sighed and stepped into the rift that closed behind it. Gone.

----------------------------
"NO WAY! WHAT THE BANANAS!" Meissa barked as she entered the cathedral grounds.

Lyn snapped a hard chirp her way, warning her not to go further; he was surprised the cave was large enough for him, but even then, he was cautious. His daughter turned to give him a sour look but he shook his head at her. A series of chirpy mutterings explained to her they should let the gembound explore this area first, and in fact, he had received a dream that they should wait for a specific one: a black cat—Rhodonite. They'd return to the garden and wait for her there.

Meissa's eyebrows arched and she nodded quickly, following her father back into the refuge to wait for their guest.

Please allow @Wilder to post first, thank you!

She approached the place with anxious steps, each moment brimming with excitement and anticipation. As Hume had promised, she had felt the pull - it was time to find Her. Wilder approached the place in Pegasus with Arcturus's guidance, who trailed behind her as she stepped in. Wilder herself had never walked past the hidden wall to the garden beyond, and so she took a pause to look at it in awe. "Hello," she chirped, intending on speaking longer to the two of them, perhaps asking after the Visitor, or Hume, or any strange occurances and what they knew of Wilder's mission here, but she didn't have to.

She looked and saw It.

Her breath left her in a second. She thought she had stepped into a dream, for hadn't she dreamed of this? She had, but it had been forgotten. How could I forget? But that was the nature of dreams, to one day be forgotten. But this was real and not a dream that would one day disappear. Hume was not here, not physically, and Wilder had not expected her to be, but she felt her in the air, in the nebula above. This was Noctua.

She stepped into the cathedral, dwarfed by its massive opening, a shiver running down her spine from the weight of this moment. She didn't know what she would find here - it was beautiful, yes, but she didn't know. She stared at the tree for a moment, smiling, and then continue. Across the open hall, to the other side, where light was pouring in. A suspicion, a delightful, impossible suspicion had risen in her - and then confirmed as she stepped out into daylight.

True daylight. Warm sunlight. Not the electric lamps that illuminated the caves. The soft breeze through her fur, the smell of grass and fresh air on her tongue. The Vaa, that which she dreamed of often, saw in visions through the stones hanging heavy at her neck, but never with waking eyes. And she had never expected to see again.

She was staring at the sky, and she barely noticed she was crying. From the joy of it, from the relief of being here and not feeling that same weakness she had felt on her first arrival. She figured she probably would, eventually, but this was gift enough. This sight, of the sky and the sun and the planet above and the world stretching out before her, was enough.

She stood alone for a few moments, basking in the sunlight, and in a level of joy she never thought she would experience again, and then immediately turned back, into the cathedral, back into the caves. Not for long, but she would not stand here alone and keep this to herself. This was not a gift for her alone, she knew Hume had only wished for her to see it first. And for that, Wilder paused in the middle of the space and looked up into the flowering trees and the drifting pink-gold nebula around her and whispered, "Thank you." And then continued on her mission.

Just outside the cathedral, she laid herself down and closed her eyes. The intentions were to project herself soul and spirit and take to the caves to spread the word. But perhaps it was the excitement singing in her veins or the lingering effects of stepping on to the surface of Let, as the magic didn't come to her. She breathed deeply, disappointed, but then stood. "Arcturus, I need you to do something." He had stepped away for a moment to chat with Meissa, giving her the moment to herself, and now stepped up. She had a backup idea - it would work just the same. "Fly around, okay? Spread the word to the gembound - come to Noctua and see the sky. If they ask for directions, send them here." She paused. "No...valkhounds. Or corrupted things. And no Order, either, if you know what they look like." She glanced back at the cathedral, already feeling a protectiveness towards it, like it was hers even though she sought no claim over it. She did not want this to fall into territory disputes between Chaos and Order. She did not want to darken Meissa and Lyn's home with their violence and selfishness.

This was a gift for gembound. Those touched by Hume's magic, the union of natural order and autonomy given life. This was for them.

As Arcturus took off, Wilder returned into the cathedral, crossing to the other side and sitting just outside the doorway, closing her eyes and just feeling. She had a while longer of peace and solitude before other gembound arrived - she would greet them, answer questions about the surface, if they had them. Welcome them to Noctua and to the world above their caves.

Note: if anyone asks Wilder, she will answer basic questions about Let and the surface and warn them not to stray too far!

Arcturus is heading across the caves to spread the word and invite gembound outside of Chaos and Order to come visit.

Daphne Harmon

She had just been wandering around minding her own business when she got the news, something about seeing the sky, a new area, places to explore. And honestly, that's all she needed to hear. Her ears perked forward as she nodded at the creature before following their instructions. It took a bit longer than she would have liked, but eventually she arrived, her eyes widening as she stepped out, looking up at the building before her.

The place was.... beautiful was the only word that came to mind but this was only the cathedral and she was already impressed. Moving further, she hesitated, unsure about this place, wondering what passed upon the portal she could see in the corner. Well, she didn't come here to bitch out so, only one way to go.

Pushing forward, she slipped into the portal, gasping as she came out the other side. What the...? Whatever awe she felt before was multiplied as she looked up to the sky, not even noting anyone else there, her attention completely on the new area. However, she didn't continue on, content to remain within a few feet of the portal, too nervous too explore more.

She would finally nod in greeting to the feline she saw, though her eyes continued to flick back to the area before them, still in awe and surprise. She was content to just lay down near the cathedral and watch the sky, wondering what powers created this beautiful place.

• Queens don't stay unless their king treats her right •

Relic had heard the call on the wind, and followed. Noctua. Something big, something spectacular.

Something very far away, as it turns out.

Her paws ached with the distance it took to actually travel to Pegasus and through the false wall. She couldn't recall if she'd been to this cave before, the greenery blurred into one, bright and cheery mass at some point. But the refuge was definitely new to her.

Newer still was the cathedral. She remembered the spring ball, the decorations and intricate architecture, the detailing... The palace was nothing compared to this. a stone hut. The trees, the flowers, the mirror, the -

What was that? Because it wasn't just a mirror.

The new air rushed inside her lungs, clear and crisp and weightless. The feeling of waking up from a long sleep, and knowing the world welcomed you back. It was like her first breath all over again. Bayou.

Was she dying? was this what death felt like? She craned her neck upward at the infinity above, the impossible heat of the sun.

If it was,

Death was beautiful.

Zeohiran was.. needless to say snooping around nearby caves. Looking for the sources of food or small rumble to take back with him to his hideout. His home? Their place? Whatever it might be. He was looking for it. All he had to show for it was another bare rock. That he kicked aside, shaking his head.

Immediately he noticed a flutter of wings. A gasp inhale. Cyan eyes perked upon them. The word of something.

Wilder!

"Wilder?"

Zephiran's voice was merely a whisper. He took off running towards the direction they came from. It opened upon a cathedral. Large and beautiful in color. Stretching forward.

Claws brushed against the stones of the cathedral. His first sight was the familiar dark feline. Bright eyes as he parted past any of the other creatures to see what was going on.

If he knew Wilder, she would explain what was going on. Right now he was just thrilled to see her. There didn't seem to be any danger at the moment, but it was nice to see what was happening. His necklace laced with pride on his chest, he hadn't even dared to ever remove it. Despite it's imperfections. There he stood under the light, patiently waiting.

---

"Speaking"

(@ none because he's watching with a happy smile and a tail wag. Somehow he has not noticed the new thing yet.)

The sound of wings, many wings announces another, called by the summoning. Fulgur had heard what he was arriving to see, only that it was big and important. So he, with minor trepidation, pierced Pegasus's barrier, and plunged into the pink-gold of... somewhere.

The cathedral rose so very far above - and beyond its windows and halls some bright light shone in rays. Fulgur didn't even know what to think. Perhaps he should have turned tail and fled, the way all the warning bells in his head blared in concern. But he doesn't.

The light down the hall, at the end of the tunnel, instead draws him in like a siren's call. Walking on his wings, he takes step after step, following Wilder and the others, to the great beyond.

The first thing Fulgur notices is how... big it is. Sure, the cathedral reached to the ceiling in the room prior, but here? There... there was no ceiling. There was no ceiling. Only a massive, sprawling, openness.

For someone so used to close in caves, it was terrifying. For something built to soar on great wings, it was enchanting. He stands there, frozen in the garden under an alien sun, transfixed. His Flock, far simpler creatures, do not share his hesitation. They all take off, fluttering out from their perches on his ribs and back and elsewhere, to rise into the sky in a great black murmuration.

And that, seeing his little companions revel in their new found freedom breaks his trance. With a grin, he'd open is wings and rise to meet them, feeling the warm sun on his wings.

Heathen
I wanna be the Messiah, Pariah
The one who never dies

Sky? Heathen had heard of such a thing once before, learning of Let and inspiring his big plans. Big plans indeed, even bigger, even more real now. Let was accessible? Or was this an illusion, magic playing tricks upon the mind, wriggling ideas into his head like maggots through a corpse. They had to see it with their own eyes. They had to know, through more than just a projection.

It took Heathen far longer than he would have liked to race to the cave, stopping only when he was certain his lungs would burst. How had this happened? Whatever the case may be, at least it had made his job easier.

The big cat pushed through the curtain of colour and misty magic, narrowly avoiding those lagging behind in the gathering crowd. He was not first, but that was better, this time. He needed to be cautious here, to learn more. He couldn't let this opportunity slip away.

The sun, the real, hot sun was euphoirc, heat unlike any he had felt before, not in Hydra or the volcano. It enveloped him like a soft blanket of moss, the air filling his lungs easily. It was crisp, not stale or damp or dusty. The space expanded endlessly, easily accommodating the crowd. He could slip away here, canvas the area, make a plan, but... Was this real, truly? Was this what he would soon rule?

A smile settled itself on their face, a genuine smile of true delight as he approached the front, locking eyes with a familiar black cat. "Is this another one of your projections?" It came across lighthearted, a joke in tone, but it held weight; hope, even. He needed to know, he needed this to be real. A soft paw dug into the earth below, trying to prove its existence. It had to be here. The sun, the flowers, the sky... It had to be, right?

Notes:

It had taken a little bit of time for Giggle to get word. The mention of Wilder had perked her ears up almost more than the mention of a portal: Is this the palace-thing she was meant to find? Once she'd informed those of the Bonebound (those who hadn't already heard, at least) that she could find, she set off.

She'd never have found this place on her own, she knew. Not even Lyn's grove, not behind the magic wall. She stepped with reverence, though it was still tempered by the Enlightenment she had been granted: an aloofness no doubt noticed by her family. Giggle had always been a little odd, a little spiritual and prone to staring off and making odd prophecies and predictions, but she'd been practical, too, and humorous. She still was, but that 'distance' had grown, so that she was silent more often than joking, still lost in her own thoughts as she perpetually tried to sort through all she'd seen in Wilder's visions. Or... no. Her visions.

The old hyena, ragged and decorated in leather and bones and paint, passed along the hall strewn with flower petals. She looked up, pensive, but she appreciated that beauty; and there... there was the portal.

She picked up her pace. She had to see this: she wanted to see it. She'd already seen it, and she had to know if it were real. Even if she already knew it was.

She paused at the threshold, took a breath, and then stepped into the portal. A sense of disorientation, of brief dizziness, and then-

...More cathedral. Hmm. Her brow furrowed around her Magnolet-streaked agate, and she paced forward, her step quicker now. Had she just been... turned around? Dropped into a mirrored world? But no. As she exited the cathedral, she found herself in open sky.

Giggle stepped forth, standing on the surface, staring around at meadows ringed with trees. She took a few cautious steps out into the open, wondering at this, before realizing what lay above--before seeing something other than solid rock overhead. Her head jerked upward, her jaw parting in awe, her eyes wide: and for a long moment, a very long moment--an eternity--the old hyena just stared up at the sky.

Yvan was having an off cycle. Longer? He wasn't really aware of it. Most of his time was spent minding his own business, keeping to himself and Ryoto, wasting the days with projects he'd pick up and abandon every so often. Things came and went and he'd declined that itch of curiosity to follow them, focused on Ryoto instead.

He didn't really understand what a sky was, though. It sounded like something he should know, but no matter what, he couldn't seem to get it into his head. The thought of it's sat in his gut like a rock, the need to know, that nauseating feeling of being seen as dumb for not knowing.

He had to go.

And so he followed the call, tromping with determined purpose through Cephus, through Pegasus, driving past tiredness with his consuming desire to know. He had barely even warned Ryoto of himself taking off, which wasn't particularly new but this was the farthest he's been from her in a while. Remember that time he stepped into a different portal? He'll have to bring something else back for her so she'd forgive him.

The portal made him wary anyway. The glow of his sunset markings matched perfectly with the lights above, stars glittering just like the ones on his wings. It's all eerily uncanny. Not that it's familiar in any way, but maybe this is what he was meant to camouflage, like how many Lessers come in greens and browns and blues to blend with their environment. Well... no, if he were meant to blend in here he would've hatched here.

His head was beginning to hurt with the leveling of thinking. Best to ignore it and push onward, exploring deeper with his claws clicking against the floor. Pink-gold eyes darted to every surface, stared up to the trees. Galaxy wings caught petals on their feathers as he lifted his shoulders. Through the portal was where he was supposed to go, but this was safe too, comforting.

No, he should go. Forcing his legs onward, Yvan held himself close in the yawning cathedral, stepping into the portal with the casualness of someone stepping through a doorway. What he didn't expect was the cathedral again, but the light at the other side, the breeze throughout the spacious hall, they drew him in like a siren song.

His legs trembled harder the closer he got to the entrance. He'd never felt this pressure, or lack there-of; and who had? The group that stood before him were just as amazed, just as shocked as he was. So, he's not alone in this. Dwarfed by the infinite expanse above them, around them, no walls to be seen, Yvan tucked himself away to the wall of the cathedral and held his arms close to his chest. Fear sidled in next to his awe. Leo had been the biggest place he'd known, and now the here and now was so, so much.

With a silent gaze to the others, Yvan forced himself to try and maintain a nonchalant look, but his wide eyes betrayed him as he kept returning to taking in how fresh everything was here. Ryoto's never going to believe him...

There was a great commotion by one of the walls in Pegasus, and she happened to cross paths with a few strangely shaped individuals that she followed, innocent of any dangers, curious over whatever it could be. The wall wasn't just a wall, as it turned out! Jampa was thrilled. She saw how reverently these creatures passed through the inner sanctum, and then beyond it, to this... place. It wasn't very different from any other cave system that she could remember: there were buildings here, which hearkened back to Orion; there were gembounds here too, hiking their way through the area to a grand cathedral, and then inside of it.

Jampa took her time. She was intrigued by the sights, of course. Everything looked both new and old simultaneously! Maybe it was only new to her? Maybe this place was well known to everyone she had spotted, and she was slow to notice. It never really bothered Jampa to be late to the party. She enjoyed what she saw of the world and had yet to experience anything to curb her interest or enthusiasm.

This was no different.

There were a myriad of strangers here - some who looked almost like her, with four legs and wings. Small creatures that might've fit better in the forests and fields of Pegasus. Some which made her do a double-take, but that was rude, so she pointedly looked away and would not stare, as much as she wanted to. There was nobody here that Jampa could recall ever meeting before - but maybe she had only forgotten? She had been dormant for a long time, after all.

In all her (albeit short) years within the caves, Jampa could be considered an optimistic, cheerful, even generally happy individual - always looking up, in a figurative sense. Rarely did she ever actually look up, because in most cases the caves looked the same: craggy, dark, fathomless and despairing. It was just not something she did, because there were so many other things, better things, immediately around her. It wasn't until Jampa noticed various individuals looking up - like, really, actively staring - that she finally caught on, and looked for herself.

The expanse that spawned before her vision took her breath away immediately. There was - there was nothing? Except there was blue; or, a shifting blue-green, and it went on, and on, and - she couldn't help the awkward thought... where had the ceiling gone?