Raven at this moment found herself feeling dizzy because of how strangely familiar but at the same time so distant everything about this place could represent to her. Azarath, that dimension that was her home, was the only thing she could think of whenever her mind did not remind her that she barely escaped her father's clutches, only for the magical energy integrated into all things in the world moving like the invisible threads of fate itself to return her over and over again to the nostalgic bitterness of something she knows she will never recover.
Her situation was neither good nor bad with everything that was happening. Stranded in a strange dimension but with the locals willing to return them to their original destination, she did not know if it was because they were not welcome there or because they truly helped in good faith.
One might believe that with her empathic senses it would be simple to know the intentions of the [Homunculi], but nothing could be further from the reality; only a quiet hum flooded her senses, merging with the true hum of the machines everywhere. Therefore, she knew nothing of the intentions of others, a fact that irritated her a bit for feeling that sense of guilt within herself that their arrival interrupted the peace of this world.
Then there is that sensation of stinging energy in all things, from the piece of polished rock that is the floor to the soft and padded fabric of her mobile hospital "bed." Not to mention the living beings; the energy was strange in many ways: it felt like so much energy so dense that you could physically touch it but that despite all that passed so unnoticed by her senses that if she had not seen how magic swirled with her own eyes, she would believe it did not exist within these beings.
As the final nail in the metaphorical coffin of all this: she was not alone in this. Her team was also thrown into the danger represented by her father, which was entirely her thought. She did not care about ending up as a corpse rotting in a place forgotten by the gods if that ended her father... but she is not alone in her struggle.
Seeing the members of her team support her even with the risk of experiencing that fate with her filled her with enough determination not to die of exhaustion while they arrived at this place where, thanks to the twisted damn luck of fate, the locals treated their wounds.
Of course, the invasion of privacy, the constant monitoring, and the suspicion on the part of these beings is as justified as the fact that neither she nor her group can trust them no matter how "hospitable" they are being.
Life has taught her over and over again why trust is something so difficult to build but as fragile as the glass of a mirror.
She looked at her team, all sitting in the seats on the sides of the floating vehicle while the one called F-V-4 gave a talk with barely a spark of emotion overflowing with pride when speaking about her world, about the things her species had achieved, about things as strange as the [War for the Right to Exist] but at the same time as disturbing as the descriptions of the demons that plagued this place. This made her uncomfortable as a half demon even if she had nothing to do with the hardships caused.
These were things that her companion Robin did not let pass for a moment like the paranoid detective he is and who, to her annoyance, did not bother to hide it in any way.
Cyborg was stiff while scanning things with that expression that nothing good comes from inquiring into things so strange and incomprehensible. Beast Boy had his gaze lost in the exotic designs of this world while Starfire pointed out the similarities in the sandy environment of the exterior with Tamaran in a nostalgia similar to her own but devoid of that bitterness.
...
The place known as [The Palace of Elysium] was without a doubt one of the finest works of art ever built. Its exterior was decorated with monochromatic leaf plates made of metal crossed by natural veins of fluorescent red color. The leaves had a width of several kilometers arranged like the petals of a semi open flower. A forest full of trees with white bark, black silver leaves, and candy red colored fruits stood in an asymmetrical arrangement as natural as could be. Flowers of the three seen colors glowed while the wind swayed them slowly. Black vines with white veins pulsed as if they were organic cables whenever they were touched. A white gold grass grows among all things, reflecting the light of everything else like an amplifier in the possibly eternal sunset of this reality of this beautiful place.
The faint and distant light of what seemed like stars pulsing in a binary song were clearly seen despite the natural light of this forest, but if you looked further into the sky you would see the almost nonexistent reflection of dark metal hundreds of kilometers above their heads like a dome the size of the cosmos.
The many paths that led to the Palace were red rocks embedded in the earth itself like an extremely ancient path but without the true wear of antiquity.
While they walked relatively well but at a slow pace, the guide explained many simple things about the environment.
"As you can see by the brightness and colors chosen, the plants have been selectively bred with the use of genetic engineering to result in the view of the forest that accompanies the palace without the use of artifacts for the generation of artificial light" her guide explained while she took the time to take one of the crystalline fruits in her hands and split it into six equal pieces for us to taste, which my group and I did with some hesitation, some more than others.
The flavor was of a semi acidic sweet with some pearlescence of an exotic flavor that recalled red fruits accompanied by a flavor that recalled citrus, while the smell of the thing was a light touch of toasted vanilla with a low salty sandy aftertaste. It was frankly something strange but quite enjoyable.
"The fruit we have just consumed is called [Idunn Quartz] which contains all the nutrients that life forms based on carbon, silicon, or boron may come to need; for that very reason it can be processed in any way to give form to less efficient but equally enjoyable ways of feeding" the homunculus finished while they continued along the stone path in a silence not so uncomfortable but equally sepulchral under the lack of F-V-4's gaze.