The next day, they woke up as usual and flew around together to eat. The children were excited to learn something new about magic today.

“We are going home today, children” Their mother suddenly said once they got back to their nest.

“But… we are home, mother… aren’t we?” Vogel said.

“Your home is much bigger than this, child” the mother chuckled.

The others were also confused by what she meant. Maethas kept bombarding their mother with questions about their ‘home’, Seva and Iola looked slightly worried while Adrian was as calm as usual.

“Don’t be afraid, children. You’ll see everything with your own eyes” Their mother reassured them all.

They flew after her for what seemed like hours in the air. At the start of their flight, they noticed that they passed through what seemed like a bubble’s membrane.

Although all of them were slightly worried, they trusted their mother fully.

“What do you think our home looks like?” Maethas started talking to Vogel, seeing as his mother kept telling him that they will find out when they reach there whenever he asked her about their home.

“I don’t know. I thought the nest was a very nice home” Vogel didn’t understand what was happening either. He only kept thinking about the nice, although brief, memories of their old home.

“What about you, Adrian? Do you think it’s going to be better than our nest?” In the blink of an eye, Maethas had moved on from Vogel to start questioning Adrian.

“Oh… Stop talking a little. We’ll find out once we reach the place” an annoyed Iola interrupted Maethas.

Maethas shrunk back away from her to hide behind his mother. He seemed to fear Iola’s temper.

“… Big” Adrian spoke.

“What?” Vogel, who was closer to him, replied.

“I think our home is going to be big” Adrian looked into the distance as he spoke. Vogel followed his line of sight to see one of the biggest trees he had ever seen in both his life times.

The whole time they were flying, below them was nothing but a sea of green trees and grass. The average size of a tree in this gigantic forest was much bigger than Vogel was used to in his previous life. But this tree in front of him was as tall as a skyscraper and as big as a mountain. Its branches, that penetrated the clouds, could hold cities on top of them. Its bark was a healthy shade of brown, except for a circular area that was in the middle of the tree. That part of the tree was gray and radiated a feeling of death.

Under the tree’s shade, everyone could see a city full of people.

“We are here, children” Their mother woke them out of their stupor with her words.

“This is home?” Maethas said with a look of surprise and shook.

“Yes, child! This is home”

They flew for a few more minutes until they reached the vicinity of the city under the tree. Even though the tree looked close the distance was surprisingly larger than the children thought.

The children managed to see the occupants of this city once they flew closely enough. They weren’t human at all, they all had distinct animalistic features. Some had feathers of varying colors while others had fur. Some had whiskers while others had beaks for mouths.

The children were speechless at the sight, especially, Vogel, who never considered the possibility of what was in front of his eyes. All of these people in front of him looked humanoid with two hands and two legs… mostly all of them. But they also looked like different species of animals of all kinds. He could see cats, dogs, wolves, lions and not to mention the birds and other creatures.

They flew until they reached a gate made of rocks that seemed to be about two stories tall. They followed their mother as she flew in front of the gate.

“Mother, is this safe?” Seva worriedly asked.

“Haha… Relax, child. This is your home” her mother reassured her.

The rest of the children were still processing the sights they’ve come across so far.

Slowly, the stone gate opened, revealing a woman covered in light blue leather armor. She looked completely human except for her silky hair that matched her armor in color. She gave one the look of a disciplined soldier.

The woman walked with even steps to the front of the gate, only a few feet away from the mother and children flying in the air.

“Lady Ava, Welcome back” The woman raised her right hand to her left chest in systemic manner. Her actions reminded Vogel of trained military personnel in his previous life.

“Wow, Mom, that’s your name!” Maethas who was oblivious to all everythin around him kept chatting with his mother casually.

That woman was clearly talking to their mother.

“Are you well, Edith?” A human-like sound came out of the mother’s mouth. She clearly spoke in a human-like language. Surprisingly, the children, including Vogel, could understand it easily.

“Yes, my lady” the woman, Edith, said as she laid her arm to her side again.

“Follow me to the house. I need to speak to you”

“At your command, my lady”

****

The children and their mother, Ava, along with Edith moved through the streets of the city. Nobody bothered them on their way to the house that Ava spoke about. The variety of creatures and animals they saw on their way made them blend in quite nicely. The whole place looked like a zoo except… these animals were actually as intelligent as a human, if not even more.

They could see people haggling for goods in the market as well as what looked like children playing around. They passed by a bunch of wolf kids playing with each other on a playground. The children had more distinct animalistic features and behaviors compared to the adults. They could hear the kids barking occasionally as well as chasing each other on all fours. But they could also speak like a human as well as walk like one.

They entered a residential area and passed by many neighborhoods before finally stopping in front of a particular house and entering it. The house looked the same as the rest of ones they passed. Vogel memorized the place by remembering that the house was on the edge of a park that contained many purple colored plants.

That was the only unique feature of the neighborhood, all of the houses looked like they were made for middle class families, nothing too lavish or poor. Every house was two stories, had a small backyard and a flat roof like an average human living area. It looked eerily similar to Vogel’s previous life.

The streets were made of smooth flat stones that gave it a decorated and well organized look. The whole place looked peacefully simple.

They entered the house together and sat in the living room. The interior of the house also looked completely ordinary with chairs and tables made of wood in the room close to a kitchen... They even had kitchens.

The kids all took a single seat while Edith and Ava took their own.

“Children this is Aunt Edith. Edith these are my children Vogel, Maethas, Iola, Adrian and Seva” Ava introduced the kids to Edith.

“A-Aunt?!... My lady, I do not deserve such a titl-“

“Don’t make yourself a stranger Edith. You’ve always been like my younger sister”

“Hi, Aunt Edith, I’m Maethas” Maethas flew and landed on Edith’s shoulder.

“You look really strong” He commented.

“T-Thank you” Edith awkwardly spoke. This seemed to be the first time she had been treated like this.

“Since this is the children’s first time in the city, why don’t you show them around, Edith” Ava merrily spoke

“Also, call Demogo. I need to speak to him” she said with a serious undertone.

A serious light flashed across Edith’s eyes for a second “At once, my lady”

“Go with Aunt Edith, children, she’ll show you a few lovely places” Ava said.

****

Although the children were concerned at first, they quickly grew curious about the city and their guide, Edith. Edith showed them to a nearby market, where they sold all sorts of food.

“You all must be hungry from your journey, this place has a lot of nice food that you can eat” Edith showed them around the market and let them sample the food.

There first food item they came across looked to be meat. The meat was juicy with healthy red texture that oozed of a tasty smell once it was grilled. The grilling process was different from usual, the cook, who was grilling the meat, would hang the piece in the air and let it float in front of him as he heated the air around the meat. The tasty smell of grilled meat filled the air at once.

“What creature is this meat from?” Vogel asked.

“It’s from a magical beast of the thadius class” Edith replied.

“What’s a magical beast?” Vogel continued asking.

“A magical beast is a creature that has mutated due to some form of magical interference, it could be environmental or man-made. As for its class, all magical beasts are different so we group the ones with similar characteristics together. The thadius class are magical beasts that have mutated from mammals. That cook is probably raising a specific type of magical beast while mutating it to his liking to get the best taste” Edith explained “By the way after we eat we should go get you guys a stend’s necklace. It’ll help with miscellaneous information like this”

“That’s right! That guide in my head has stopped speaking since we came here” Maethas exclaimed.

“That is because you have exited the stend’s array. The array you were in required a lot of work and is much too complicated to be put in a necklace. The one we will buy is just for miscellaneous information” Edith said.

Vogel remembered that membrane he felt that they went through on their way to the city. “So that’s what that was” he mumbled to himself.

The party of six continued to sample the food in the area. The meat from the thadius class magical beast melted in their beaks as they tried it. Vogel thought that it is funny how small birds like them were eating magical beast meat happily and enjoying it like it was the most normal thing in the world. But then again, nothing was normal in this place.

After eating the meat, they moved on to eating some insects. The insects in this market were a lot tastier than the ones they found in the forest. They also came in many different varieties. Although, Edith didn’t exactly like insects, she still bought some for the children. They also sampled some delicious candies and nuts before they were full.

After, Edith brought them to a store that sold jewelry to buy a stend’s necklace for each of them. Vogel wondered how a necklace would fit on birds like them who didn’t exactly have any necks. He soon found that his worries were baseless as the material for arrays was different from normal jewelry. This material was enchanted to fit the wearer. In the case of birds like them, it changed its shape to a lovely looking collar.

“You guys wanted to learn more about wind magic, right?” When they left the store, Edith spoke to them. She seemed a lot more at ease with them now that they spent the day together.

“We actually have a skill school that teaches magic. Let’s make it our final destination for today”

The children grew excited once the topic of magic came up. At the same time, they looked up the information on the skill school using their stend’s necklace. It was a school that taught magic of all levels to children and adults alike. The way it worked was by allowing the student to enroll in skill class for a period of time, usually three months, within that time they had to pass the test for that class.

The test was available to be taken once every week. If the student failed to pass the test within those three months they would have to pay if they want to take that class again, the first time is always free. The amount of skill classes a student could take at once wasn’t limited but it was common for children to take at most three classes at a time. The requirements for taking certain classes were also presented to the children.

****

“Lady Ava, you called for me?” In the children’s home, a dark skinned man with a bald head wearing all black clothes and covered in shadowy gases, appeared in front of the small bird called Ava.

“How is the situation with the feline clan, Demogo?” A serious tone covered Ava’s voice.

“They do not accept your rule over the sage’s city. They want to wage war against the extremists instead of living here peacefully” The dark skinned man, Demogo, answered gravely “They plan to slowly gather their power and overthrow you”

“Sigh… I understand their anger for what happened. But to cause internal strife among our ranks… They truly haven’t learned anything” Ava tiredly spoke “What about our arrival, have they felt anything?”

“No, all of them still think you are living in sky city”

“Good! None of them must know of my children, make sure you guard them well”

“Of course, my lady”

“As for the felines… Make sure we build our own faction among them, not all of them want what their clan leaders desire. I’d rather resolve this peacefully if I can. Everyone in this place means something important to me… and to him”