Corven entered his Shadow Space.
The first thing he did when he entered was make his way over to the Castle's drawbridge, which, sensing its master's approach, let itself down automatically.
Upon entering the castle, the crow appeared. It flew up to Corven, circling his head as kawing, as if happy to see him. "Kaw! Kaw! Welcome home, Master! Kaw!"
Corven noticed the crow no longer had four eyes like it had before, which stood out to Corven. When he asked about it, the Crow responded with "Kaw! Unnecessary information! Kaw!" Corven guessed it was a matter of wanting to appear that way, perhaps it's his true form, and it could be charged appearance wise. Either way, Corven didn't waste too much time on that thought.
As the crow landed on Corven's shoulders, Corven found himself rubbing its back feathers, causing the bird to adorably squint its eyes in comfort, as he headed towards the vault.
"I should probably give you a name, huh?" Corven muttered aloud, as the crow rubbed its head to Corven's neck, affectionately. "How about 'Little Crow' or 'Crow,' for short?"
The crow flapped its wings and kawed, seemingly in joy of the new name. It seemed to like it.
Eventually, Corven made it to the Vault door, which opened with Corven's will of thought. He walked in and walked past the armors and weapons neatly sorted at the front, and past the coins neatly placed in a pile around the chamber as he made his way to three display cases.
In one display case, to the far left, Corven saw a small, tennis ball-sized obsidian black and purple sphere, radiating great power, even through the energy nullifying effects of the glass casing of the display case.
In the middle display case, Corven saw the stone Jabari had given him. He knew what the strange symbol on it had meant somehow, now that he had taken time to look at it carefully, the Shadow Space had inputted the information into his head after analyzing the stone —- It was the Rune of Evolution — He'd known the moment he touched it earlier, that it was a Primordial Runestone. The only issue was he wasn't sure what it would be evolving, though he did have a thought…
"What's its purpose?" Corven muttered to himself. "I don't understand…"
As Corven grasped the stone, he was careful not to apply much pressure. He did not want to break it and ruin his chances of unsealing the realm he was born to rule. Not that he could, though; it was a Primordial Runestone, and the power he was sensing from this stone was much, much, much more powerful than he was —- He was certain he wouldn't be able to break it with his current strength, not even if he tried.
Still, he carried it like he would an egg, careful and with vigilance, before putting it back.
"I wish there was a way for me to get stronger," Corven admitted to himself aloud. "Skills I can pick up that no one else would have access to…".
"Kaw! Kaw! Follow me! Kaw!" Crow cawed, suddenly startling Corven before he could properly set the stone down in its casing.
"W-what?" Corven had barely set it down and recased the stone when the stupid crow had already begun flying away, causing Corven to rush to catch up. "W-wait up, you dumb bird!"
"Insults are unnecessary! Kaw!" the bird responded with. "Kaw! Follow me, you turtle! Kaw!"
Corven, though running to follow this bird through a series of unfamiliar corridors, could not help but to be surprised by the bird's response. He knew it had intelligence; you don't become Peak Chaotic Stage without intelligence and consciousness. But he was just realizing the bird had a personality, too.
'Fuck me, what a strange bird,' he thought to himself, curious more than ever by where this bird even came from.
Eventually, the bird landed before a large set of mysterious double dark oak wooden, heavy doors that Corven had never seen before. They had the same wing-ring crest he'd seen so many times before on his pendant etched into it.
"Is this what you wanted to show me?" Corven looked to Crow, curious. "What's behind these doors?"
"Kaw! Open it dumbass! Find out! Kaw!" Crow said, sarcastically.
Corven considered roasting this crow for a minute. He's never had roasted crow before, but there was always a first time for everything, right? He was certain it would taste just like chicken.
Shaking his head, Corven whipped the drool from his chin, deciding against doing it. It would have been too much of a bother to chase this bird through a giant castle he evidently hadn't fully explored the depths of.
Deciding to step forward, Corven pushed open the door and entered into a vast library the size of three great halls from the Luminaris Estate, stacked together, with 5 stories high of bookshelves, each row connected and accessible via ladders, stairs and bridges, all of which were intricately made and the shelves were each sorted using a complex sorting structuring mix of genres, topics and letterings. There were books, artifacts, records and treasured relics that had Corven's mouth wide with shock.
"Kaw! Presenting the Shadow Archive! Kaw!" Crow cawed out.
"Whoa…," was all Corven could muster. "The Shadow Archive, huh?"
And Corven decided he was going to go exploring this chest pool of knowledge.
[Alexander Caelus]:
Upon returning to his compartment room on the Private side of the Supersonic Train, for the highborn nobles, Alexander Celum made sure he was alone, locking his door securely, before turning on the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on his room door and doublechecked his room for spyware.
When he found none and noticed that no one was using spirit senses to watch him from afar, Alexander immediately pulled out a hologram plate, turned it on and waited for his father to pick up.
Eventually, he did. In blue holographic lighting, Alexander's father arose from the hologram plate like an angel ascending from the ground below. His wings as majestic as ever and face as stern as Alexander remembered it being. Alexander gave a slight bow to his father. "I welcome your presence, lord father."
"Alexander, my son, I am pleased to see you," High Patrician Patrick Caelus VI spoke from the other side. "I hope you bring good news…".
"I bring news; not sure if it is what you'd consider 'good'," Alexander said flatly, as he remained bowed in respect. To which High Patrician Patrick gestured for him to continue, and so he did. "Thee boy I've been assigned to find info on is known by the name of 'Corven Umbrovante,' and he has much more powerful backers than we initially anticipated him having. Both House Luminaris and House Umbrovante are indeed backing him, but, from the looks of it all, so, too, is House Ausar and, it seems, House Ilmari — At the very least, the two houses have taken an interest in him as well."
"WHAT?!" Patrick wasn't too sure if he was more shocked or troubled by this revelation, so he decided to go with choice three: He was angry. He wanted to know where this boy got his treasures from and he wanted to take all of it for himself, even the ones the boy possessed — Even if he had to kill Corven to do it…
And yet he had no idea he was so protected. If it were just House Luminaris and House Morpheus backing him, the high patrician was confident he would be able to take them and the boy, or at the very least take the boy and negotiate a peace with the two houses after taking the boy's treasures for himself. But now there's more equally influential houses involved — House Ausar and House Ilmari, too? This will not be easy.
High Patrician Patrick released a sigh. "I'll have to speak with the Head of House Romulus. Perhaps it is time for the Nova Imperium to take out our competition in Luminaris and Ausar. We'll take over their domains soon… Real soon…".
Alexander stayed bowed in silence as Patrick spoke to himself. He did not want to interrupt his father. That was not a wise move, especially when his father was evidently plotting something — and something big, by the sounds of things.
"Keep your eyes on this Corven Umbrovante kid," the high patrician said.. "I want more info on him before I suggest war at the next Nova Imperium Conclavis, understand?"
"By your will, high patrican, it shall be done," nodded a bowing Alexander.
"Corven Umbrovante, huh? Curious, very curious. Yes, curiosus quidem" were the final words Alex heard of his father before the hologram disk went off and his room darkened, leaving Alexander there, alone.