472 Renovations

Ciri "I have to say, this does remind me of home." she says as the group wades through knee deep snow while travelling up the mountain path.

Reima "I'm glad you appreciate the subtle things in life." he says behind her, the snow around his legs melting away with some small manipulations of his aura.

Ciri looks behind her and sees everyone walking with ease through the trail Reima had made, "Reima! You're doing this on purpose!"

He shrugs with a smug smile, "You wanted to go ahead of us, who am I to stop you?"

She frowns and keeps wading through the snow, stubbornly refusing to take the easy route.

Reima "Ah, I'd suggest taking cover when you see the castle walls, last I was here bows and arrows were the greeting I recieved."

Ciri "Wait, people live here?" she asks, not believing this mountain top to be able to sustain life."

Reima "Well yeah, though I've killed them plenty of times already."

...

Fleur "Rei, that doesn't make sense..."

Reima "Did I not tell you guys of how the last world I'd been to operated?" he asks.

They shake their heads and he almost slaps his forehead, "That'll explain it... Basically, everyone in this world should be immortal..."

Ciri snorts, "Right, and I'm the leader of the Wild Hunt." she mocks.

Reima "Believe it or not, I've died before..."

Fleur "How?" she asks in interest.

Reima "Hmm, it was against the Bed of Chaos if I recall correctly?"

Ciri "What's the Bed of Chaos?"

Reima "Er, a Lord that'd absorbed the soul of Chaos, tried to alter it and create a self sustaining power-source but ended up accidentally creating the Demon race and going mad." He says and nods to himself at the accurate description, but finds everyone looking at him in confusion. He sighs, "Basically a God of Chaos that had created the Demon race."

Fleur "And it killed you? Did you eventually slay it?"

Reima "I died as I killed it, it exploded and annihilated me and almost my friend Solaire."

Ciri "What's it like dying then?"

Reima "Er, the way I died it was searingly hot, then freezing..." he says, not saying anything about forgetting his mothers face and possibly forgetting a family member, though he wasn't too sure about that. He points ahead at a now visible castle to change the subject, "We're here."

The others look ahead as he examines the top of the walls, expecting many undead to be patrolling them as they usually did... But noone was there, he scratched the back of his head and looks towards the bonfire that sits just outside the walls... It's burned out, nothing remaining except ashes and the blackened sword sticking from the ground.

Ciri "I thought you said we'd be shot at?"

Reima "I did, it's just that something's probably happened." he says, walking through the open gates and spotting a pile of frozen corpses. They belonged to the creatures that were constantly huddling around the statue with shields and spears.

Fleur "What are zees monsters?" she grimaces as she lays her eyes on them.

Reima "A bunch of Hollow's melded together, though I think I know why they're dead... The First Flame is gone, not only that but we're in a different world where the First Flame can't affect them.."

Ciri "First Flame?"

Reima "The thing that granted people immortality, it was regarded as a curse as people usually wanted to permanently die after the first few goes of life. Eventually if you lost the will to live, you'd go Hollow, a cursed existence that only seeks to kill others to absorb their souls.... But, that's not why we're here." he says as he looks at Hinky. "It's a good thing these guys are permanently dead, it'll make renovating the castle much easier. Hinky, do you think we have enough materials to fix this place up?"

Hinky looks around for a moment before nodding, "Yes!"

Reima "Great, as I'd like you guys to make this place the most impenetrable prison in existence. There is not way into or out of this place without the key, I also need you to bring lots of food and water inside along with the animals you've gathered. You will keep them safe here until they're needed." he says.

Hinky nods vigorously, "Yes master!"

Reima "It's a shame the weather isn't good, otherwise we could start growing alchemical ingredients for the Wizarding worlds potions... Whatever, we've got the seeds so it should be enough."

Ciri "What good would this place be as a Prison? Why not make it a luxurious palace?" she asks.

Reima "Why would I do that here when I could fix up Kaer Morhen?" he says, startling Ciri who looks at him wide eyed.

Ciri "You want to-"

Reima "Hell yeah I do, just imagining the look on Vesemir's face after we've fixed it up already makes it worth it. Not only that, the old castle could look amazing if we fixed it properly! Like that white palace in Lord of the Rings, Minus Turith or whatever it's called."

Nerissa "Do it." she says, apparently being the only person who'd read Lord of the Rings."

Reima looks to Hinky, "Use the money I gave you to gather a lot more materials, they won't only be used for this dingy place but for other projects as well. Okay, are you guys done touring my soon-to-be prison?"

They nod and he takes them back to the Come and Go room before storing the Painting of Ariamis back into his Folded Space, no point of leaving it out when it's not needed.

Reima waves to all the Elves popping in and out with bundles of materials as he leaves, "We'll be leaving tomorrow." he states, shocking Fleur who wasn't expecting it to be so soon.

Fleur holds his arm tightly, "Does it 'ave to be so soon?"

Reima "Yes, there's thing happening at this moment and I'm not even sure if they've happened yet or not... Ciri and I have responsibilities that we can't disregard, even if we'd pushed it to the future in the past."

Fleur "Stay the night with me?" she asks with a downtrodden expression. He nods and the change Room of Requirement into the hallway with bedrooms. He Fleur and Ciri approach the end but stop as he looks to the latter, "Er, could you... Let just me and Fleur say goodbye?" he asks Ciri.

Fleur shakes her head, "It's okay, I wish to say goodbye to Ciri as well... And punish her for stealing you from me." she says with a forced grin.

Ciri walks inside and throws her arms in the air, "Why's it always me getting punished!"