Channelknight Fadran

“I think that would depend on what your magic can do.”

“I think she means for getting into the capital without dying.”

“I could sleep in the air if I wanted to.”

"Which means, similarly, that it's exactly where we need to be heading."

"The capital?"

"No idea."

"Not yet I don't. Step one will be to actually find the darn thing, step two will be to scout it out as best we can without blowing our cover, and then step three is to make a plan."

Paprika looked confused. "...Sure."

"Bear in mind," Ayia added, "that we'd be banking on a lot of factors going right. We'd have to figure out how to operate the portal as soon as we get there, get in quick enough that they can't get a message through to the other side - hells, even that's assuming they can't just communicate from each side remotely. Even if we stand the slightest chance of escaping once we pass through, we'd have to assume that we don't have to put in some passcode or whatever to turn off any security gates they might have installed - and even then, there's the possibility that they aren't even coming from Beorin proper, which would pretty much land us in the same situation we're stuck with here." Ayia puffed. "But unless you guys want to be on the run your whole lives, I think that's the best shot we got."

"That's the other issue, but assuming they're leaving from Beorin proper and we can actually get past their inner defenses, then I can get you somewhere much safer than... well, here."

"Even more immediate danger, yes." Ayia stroked her chin, deep in thought. "So I'm weighing the odds here..."

"For you guys, that just means you're in a lot more danger all of a sudden."

"And, more likely than not, they're going to use the Kkhlei to do it. They'll boost their power with fleets, forces, tech, other kinds of magic..."

"I'm relatively certain that it'll be open as long as Beorin is here - or, at the very least, there'll be a way to turn it on and off." Ayia scratched the back of her neck. "The issue is that... I doubt Beorin would stake an invasion on an all-out war against the Kkhlei. They've been known to ally with local tyrannies more often than not."

"Not as unhelpful as the fact that this portal is going to be guarded by several fleets of Beorin warships."

"Not this planet specifically. I only got one read, so it could be anywhere within... several hundred thousand light-years, I think. Probably within the galaxy somewhere."

"That's the problem. Being able to travel between universes with any kind of consistency is nigh-on impossible, so the Beorin Empire keeps their methods really close. It took Enter and I three years just to get a reading of its energy signature, and... well, that's what just went off on this tracker a couple minutes ago."

"Good news is that there's probably a brand-new portal out of this universe," Ayia said, bringing out the pad - a glass screen displaying information in her home language. "Bad news is... you know how I mentioned earlier that I used to fight a big ol' tyrannical empire? After I got them off my planet, turns out they were already kinda... everywhere. Like, having already subjugated multiple galaxies from several universes, kind of everywhere."

"Welp!" Ayia strode back into the starship. "They weren't home. But I did happen to pull out one of Enter's old portal tracker thingies, and... well, there's good news and bad news."

"I... agree. But I'm not exactly in charge of all humanity."