A sleepy and worried fog blankets the city on its last day with monsters within it. The sea of monsters herded together within the human-guarded walls are sporadically separated by wooden wagons about to be pulled with arms as well as with magic. On top the wagons are arranged possession both personal and for the entirety of monsterkind to utilize at the end of their journey.

And the beginning of their new home.

It has been a nervous day, with many occurrences of monsters trying to hide within basements and gardens, but with the comforting words of the Monster Royals at the front of the torrent out the main gates of the city, those that tried to hide were eventually coaxed out by the Monster Mages who were the last to leave as the trumpets rang and the banners of the Delta Rune were raised by the many who had volunteered to carry the colors of the country that is about to be dissolved.

And with the Monster Royals opening the gates of Jarasevo for the last time, the vesselization of Monster Country could begin.

"It's a sight most spectacular," says the Griffon Commander between two beats of his wide wings. "I would have called it magnificent had I not known what is was for." His long, winding neck has his head completely still as his mighty wings beats rhythmically. "It has begun now," he mutters underneath his breath. "The exodus of our people."

The Monster Mage on his back turns her head towards the many humans positioned with ceremonial distances between them on the city walls, however not dressed in ceremonial garb, but in active uniform.

Not the same loose, intent-hidden uniform as they wore during the Final Battle, but rather in metal armor more suited for battles between humans rather than with monsters. They had already won against the monsters, so naturally they would go back to what they were comfortable with.

"One last rude gesture as we exit the gates," murmurs Cter with narrowing eyes sharp and direct. "Just waiting for us to get out of earshot to take dibs on which house they want for their own." Her narrowed eyes she lets flicker up towards the empty castle at the top of the hill in the middle of the city. In the bright of the midday it has her squint even more, but she did not really have to see it to know how empty it was.

She was one of the last to leave it, after all.

It has been an emotional affair for the Monster Royals. Queen Toriel and King Asgore had been allowed to stay for longer than any of the Royal Councilors had. They had been allowed to roam freely in their castle for the better part of the previous day by the humans.

How much they wept and how much they lamented what they had to force their people through Cter did not know the full extent of. It was for them to go through, and not her, nor any of the other Monster Mages. It was only for them.

"We stand on the precipice of a new era of monsterkind!" had the Monster King then said to his people. "A new era that brings with it opportunity, but only if we keep our souls opened for it!"

"We implore you to please follow us tomorrow without hesitation nor worry!" had the Monster Queen added with a voice just as grand as her king. "To bring not but what you want to foster in this new era. Bring with you your love, your hopes, and your dreams, and leave the rest behind here."

"What we bring into the Underground is what will stay with us, and is what we will have to live with. Bring not with you that which we should let be behind us. Bring with you the sorrow, but not the hate. Bring with you the hope of the better, but not the worry that ignited it."

"A new beginning awaits us. A new beginning that we shall make more of that is possible. A new home, for all of us. A new home where we can all be at peace. A new home, for all of monsterkind!"

"Follow us to this new home of ours! Follow us to this new beginning for us all to share within! Follow us, so that we can leave this all behind us!"

It wouldn't surprise Cter if the Monster Royals' words still echoed somewhere in the many alleys she had to search for any loitering monsters the day before and during the morning's gathering with how much of their souls they put into their speech as they finally descended down Castle Hill for the last time. It had even touched at Cter's soul with the power their speech had on all. The monsters were in good hands with the Monster Royals which reassured Cter now that everything is actually in motion rather than an impending storm on the horizon.

The monsters were leaving Jarasevo, the Monster Capital.

Never to return again.

Cter looks ahead to the horizon that the pour of monsters soon reach with the raised banners sinking down into the ground as they crest the far distance. Each beat of Aajja's wings has her briefly spotting the ornate tops of the banners before they disappear yet again.

Eventually though not even the mighty wings of the Griffon Commander are enough to allow her view of the leading Monster Royals. She looks down to find that more are awaiting their leave out the crowded main gate. Old, young, colorful, monochrome, large, small. Still there are so many, many monsters left to leave Jarasevo and head to their new home.

"So far so good."

Through the windy sound of two griffons slowing in on either side of their commander manages Kry's voice through. His tone is neutral, yet filled. Happy that things are progressing smoothly, but still at the ready should anything happen.

"We've pasted the riskiest section," he continues while pointing at the horizon where the proudly raised purple banners had disappeared behind. "Now that things are actually moving it will be less of a risk of stopping. I felt at the general sense in the people's aura as it began, and while it is somber, it does not seem to be degrading."

"We will have to be vigilant at the first stop for rest though," adds Kurant after having surveyed the city walls for the humans' activities. "It is when there is time for them all to stop and think when we will have risk of escalation." She had briefly caught the attention of one of the human guards, but what exactly what kind of attention she did not give them the time of day to understand.

"I'm torn between us taking turns patrolling and us patrolling all three at once as I'm not sure we will be able to cover everything by ourselves." With a lean over her mount's shoulder she pats at its strong neck. "You guys have to sleep some as well, don't you?"

It nodded.

"If we all spread out at the same time though we might miss if things are building up slowly," Kurant then wonders out loud as she pushes herself upright again. "It's..."

"It is too many thoughts and worries at the same time?" hazards Kry across Cter to then receive a confirming nod from Kurant. "Take comfort in that you are not the only one that has that going for them." A slight shift in his eyes moves the question from the Second to the Fourth Monster Mage. "It's for all three of us, isn't it?"

That he was true with, and very much so to boot. "Our final service to monsterkind." Cter exhales with a shake to her head. "But not our most difficult one." Her quick glances at her two colleagues confirms that it is the case for them as well. "We'll be close to them for this last, long leg of this damned war." Why Cter finds herself in an impromptu speech to raise their morale she has no clue about. "We move with them and protect them as we swore to all those years ago. Together!"

But she accepts it warmly.

"And always!"

"And always!"

The Monster Mage's joint cheer is sung along with the three griffons carrying them. A cheer that is in solidarity, but as the Monster Mages trade between themselves only and not their feathered-and-furred companions, it comes to be a solidarity that would have to come to an end soon enough.

For even though the three Monster Mages have not spoken with each other about it, they have all three come to the same conclusion independently. So effortlessly have they come to said independent conclusion too that they do not have to share it with the other two to know that they also share it.

For monsterkind to know peace the Monster Mages can not follow with them into the Underground.

Or so, Cter was led to believe.

For Kurant eventually comes to feel that she needs to share with her colleagues during the first stop for rest. "Before we continue on with the patrol." Among the functional accommodations of tents across several acres of land she approaches the two Monster Mages with a small magical fire in her hand for light.

It crackles slightly in her clenched hand, tossing embers that streak across her face, shifting the shadows on her furrowed expression. "I know that we three know that the other two know, but I would still want to hear from you, if that is fine?"

Kry and Cter share a glance that's both knowing and unknowing at the same time. From Kurant's aura they can be sure of what it is she means, but from how she says it the two come to suspect that there's more to it. "About us not following into the Underground?" Kry guesses correctly, with an affirming nod in return. There is more to what Kurant wants to say though. More that she wants to share.

Since she has had time to think during the first day's journey.

"That is a fact that is unmovable," begins Kurant with a seat onto a simple chair she makes with barrier magic. The harsh white of it clashes with the soft orange of her handheld fire. "It's set in stone with us, and that I am glad that we are all in agreement of without any need to convince."

The crackling fire in her hand she places below her like a campfire not unlike the thousands spread out across the vast field like stars on a grounded sky. "We are still together and dedicated for monsterkind, and that I am relieved to be sharing with you."

"Same with you, Kurant," adds Kry with an accompanying nod from Cter.

The Second Monster Mage nods as well, but catches her nod on her folded palms. "It is what has to be done, and it is what we will do." Her deep inhale and slow sigh tells a bit more than her words do though. She shakes her head having heard how much she was telling with her sigh, and lets the words she was hesitant to say flow freely. "Barbeqa and I have not yet said our last goodbyes."

Ice flows through Kurant's aura, smothering the crackling fire into just a faint ember. The worried shadows over her eyes deepen as the flame is strangled, and her two colleagues are forced to cover her icy aura with theirs to hide it from the monsters around them.

Including Barbeqa's kitchen tent a stone's throw away. The tent which smells of gentle cooking, the same as Kurant does.

"And for us to keep this decision not to follow monsterkind into the Underground I can not have any final goodbyes with her." The chill in Kurant's aura kills the fire completely, whipping through it like a cold blizzard wind.

"I can only distance myself in a way that has her questioning if everything is all right between us, or if it is the stress of my duties that are weighing me down. We have never had a relationship that others would call loving, but for us it has been. We hugged when I returned from being a Royal Messenger." A horizon forms within Kurant's eyes that is not of her own making. "We had never hugged before, or again afterwards."

She blinks down to the magical fire that she had smothered, expecting bright, but finding only dark. "I want her to know that I am so very sorry that I have to stay behind here and leave her in the Underground, but I also do not want her to know that I am planning to do so."

By that point her colleagues have seated themselves too on simple chairs made by barrier magic. The smothered fire though they let stay smothered.

"I will not pretend that I understand exactly how your situation is," admits Kry with a somewhat-embarrassed shame to his voice. "I haven't felt the need for anyone else with King Asgore's presence in my sleeve." He looks at it with a deep shadow to his eyes as well. "However I do know the hurt from when the distance between you and the one you've felt the closest to than anyone else in this world widens to cross entire countries." His sleeved hand clenches. "I've had the luxury of knowing that one day I will return and have that presence close to me again though."

Cter does not add anything besides her nodding sympathies. That is all she can add to it, as anything else would hint at what her legacy is to be after the Barrier is raised. She is, like Kurant, in a position where telling would ease a little, but make worse more. Kurant will not weep for Barbeqa after the Barrier, and more so she will not know of Barbeqa weeping for her.

It is a horrible thing to do.

But Cter is determined about it.

The world has been all too eager to put its weight onto her shoulders time and time again.

And finally she will put it on herself.

"The same is how Barbeqa is thinking of it," sighs Kurant with her folded-together fingers tightening. "It will be this last hurdle, this long exodus through Monster Country and Xoff, and then we will be at peace again. It is how we have told them all. It is how King Asgore and Queen Toriel have carried the hope of them all. Peace, at last. Peace of soul."

The smothered ember flares up slightly, but with an angrier red to its color. "And that peace I will deprive the one I love of. Lead her into the Underground with a promise to live together for the rest of our days without worry to then seal her inside without any chance for me to enter or for her to leave."

Kry struggles to find something good to say, but really all he can do is agree. "It is for the better of everyone," he says like a tired schoolchild repeating homework. "And while it is true, it is not something that can be seen on a short-term basis." His shrug is loose and sloppy. "We have to see the forest behind all the trees, but it doesn't really help since we are all walking right into them."

"All as in us three or all monsters?" Cter feels that it is safe to ask without giving too much away. Saying nothing at all is suspicious too, after all. "The prior I can agree with, but the latter?" She looks around her at the wide, stretching field of tents illuminated by spots of glimmering sources of magical lights. The human encampments are not visible, but their presence is still felt. They're among the monsters, somewhere. "Although, I guess they are all walking into a wall rather than trees."

Kry and Kurant nod along.

"I can only pray that she will understand, one day," Kurant then continues with her nod fading in strength. "Pray that she will understand that I did it for her. For her to forgive me I can not dare to hope though. It is too much to ask of her. Way, way too much of the too much I am already asking of her." Her naked hand caresses her sleeve, rubbing it like she is a frightened child. "I wonder if the Monster Royals already know of our intent. The distance we have widened between us might help us when we go to raise the Barrier together, but surely they do not need us to carry their magic for them to know us fully."

Kry's glance over to the largest of the tents where the silhouettes of the Monster Royals sitting somberly hangs for a few seconds before he turns his furrowed forehead back to the weak flame of Kurant's making. "I'm sure that they do already," he says without any doubt to his words. "But what is a hill of a problem to a literal mountain?"

His chuckle is abandoned halfway through.

"For them, and for us as well, I feel that it is best if we keep it plausible that perhaps they do not know." The lines on his sleeve glow as he forms a fist, with reverberating white shining up the length of his arm through the magical lines. "They already have enough on their plate already, and so do we, according to them."

"And us," Cter adds. "I don't remember the last time I saw my plate."

"We're not really leaving behind a clean table, are we?" Kurant then chimes with a loose shrug that has her magical fire grow in strength slightly. She would not have been able to shrug so loosely had she not managed to shed some weight off them. "So much on our plates that it has always been spilling over." Her hand sweeps in a confused motion. "And that is as far as I can take this analogy without it breaking down."

The following chuckle from the First Monster Mage is genuine this time, and he is forced to push up his glasses before they slide off. "No worries," he smiles at Kurant, warming up both her and the magical camp fire. "I had no idea where to take it as well." His smile becomes nostalgic in shape and luster. "If there had been one to know that it would have been Sund."

A slight, leathery sound emerges from his clenching fist. "Although whether or not I would have wanted him here with us is another question I would not want to answer." He catches his brow from sinking down, holding it steady. "We will do good for him though. We will make sure that when the monsters think of us as betraying them by staying outside, he is not included in that."

Cter and Kurant watch in silence as Kry reaches into his robe for a small pouch which he then holds into the weak light from the magical fire.

"Golden Flower seeds," he explains. "From those that he kept at Time's Square." With a small bounce of it in his hand he shows that there is some weight to it. "For the monsters to bring with them into the Underground. I'm sure that King Asgore has brought with him some seeds from the Royal Garden, but I want some of Sund's too to be down there with them. His legacy. His future."

Kry pockets back the pouch into his robe with a low hum. "He once asked me if I had any plans for what would happen after I retired from being a Monster Mage." A hum that becomes a nostalgic smile which grabs steady at his cheeks.

"I asked him rather suspiciously what he meant by that, but he replied quickly that our duty was to make sure that our position as protectors of monsterkind was superfluous. He said that it wasn't any hurry, unfortunately, but surely one day I would want to think about what I would do after," with a pinch he tugs at the purple fabric, "this." His fingers don't hold on for much long though, and the pinch falters a mere second afterwards. "Maybe...today is that day? The day when I ask myself what I want to do after my duties as a Monster Mage?"

He looks to his two colleagues, asking without words for their opinion on the matter. What he receives though is silence, but not in lieu of an answer. Their silence is their answer, as they come to think about it. So does Kry, and the trio of Monster Mages join within the blanketing quiet of the encroaching night after the first day of the exodus of monsterkind.

However, Cter's thoughts are not with her colleagues.

Hers are with herself.

Dulling the want to tell her closest friends everything.

"Forever," she instead says for her Monster Mage colleagues to finish.

"And always."

For the very last time.

She had plans to put in motion.

At the foot of Mt. Ebott.