I woke up and prepared breakfast for both of us, but I didn’t want to wake Kai up just yet. Instead, I climbed up and out of our chest and peered into the cave. There was light coming in from the entrance, and the sounds of rain and thunder had been replaced by birds chirping.

I walked over toward the edge of our barrier and saw that the clouds had subsided and the rays of the rising sun were now illuminating the many droplets that were still hanging from the tree branches and leaves.

It looked like the clouds were traveling north, which meant clear weather for our travels today. Without mud and rain to hinder our rides, we would be able to cover a lot of ground.

Staring out at the valley before me, it seemed like nothing had changed. As if nothing bad had ever happened or was going to happen. Looking at the sun dawning on the horizon made me feel irrelevant, but not in a way that I felt insignificant.

Instead, it was in a manner that liberated me. It felt as though it didn’t really matter what I did with my life; I would never be able to change the face of that valley before me. I didn’t have to carry the weight of the whole world on my shoulders. I just had to make sure that Kai was protected and happy.

With a renewed approach to our lives and what we should do, I went back down to where he was sleeping and woke him up.

“Would you like to have breakfast upstairs?” I asked him. “It’s a beautiful day.”

He nodded. “Sounds like a good idea.”

Soon we were standing in the same spot that I had been sitting at some minutes ago, overlooking the valley that we had crossed just the previous day.

“Kai, I was thinking about what we could do,” I said, as we were eating. “In the long term I mean.”

He didn’t reply as his mouth was filled with bread and cheese, but he turned his head, eyebrows furrowed in a quizzical expression.

“We should definitely go to the place you selected,” I continued, “and wait for some time until things cool down. But I was thinking that we don’t have to stay there, hidden away forever.”

“Do you know of a place where being manaless will go unnoticed?” Kai’s question was exactly what I had expected him to ask.

“We can’t travel to the east or west borders, but we can cross the sea and live in a manaless land.”

“The Endless Sea!” Kai exclaimed.

“Why not? Our nation is unique in the fact that we have mana, but we are only one country among many. People without mana are the vast majority in this world and nobody will stop us from making our lives there. Or we can buy passage to another world of the Apocosmos once we’re there. What do you think?”

His expression was neutral, but I could see he was thinking it over carefully.

“I’ve read books about the manaless lands and their people,” he said, taking another bite of bread. “Maybe we can try visiting them.”

That was all I needed to hear—that he was open to the idea. This meant that now we had a lot of things to read and learn about our future travels as well as preparations to be made. But most importantly, these would now be hours that were focused on a future goal instead of idly and aimlessly wandering the land.

The rest of our breakfast time was spent watching the valley, with the occasional bird of prey diving for its meal, the clouds gradually revealing more of the blue sky and the wind moving the trees every now and then.

We carefully made our way down in the direction of the road, but made sure that we would not travel on it. Our magical steeds were in no danger of hurting themselves by galloping on uneven terrain and we used this to our advantage, in order to stay out of sight of anyone that might be on the old road.

Our newly devised long-term plan acted as a conversation-catalyst. The day before, we had struggled to find something to talk about, while today we were chatting through the whole trip. We also spent more time on our breaks, feverishly planning what we should do once we crossed the Endless Sea and exchanging the information we had on the nations and people that lived beyond it.

There was Leka An and its charming merchants that, at least according to the tales, would have you begging to pay more for less. Then there was Fenira and its vast farmlands where all sorts of animals and mythical beasts were free to roam around and Guldan with all of its glorious engineering feats achieved by people explicitly refusing the use of magic items. And finally, there were the cold southernmost lands of Fjalhun, where all of Elysia’s minerals and metals came from.

We wanted to see it all. So we spent our time making a mental plan of how long we would stay in each place and what our cover stories would be.

***

The days passed without us meeting anyone on the road, while our free time in the evening grew larger, partly because we were not as tired from riding as we were during the first days so we didn’t go to bed immediately, but also because we were frenziedly researching and planning our future trip.

We had not yet established how long we would stay in the forest, which was still our current destination, but that would be something we would have to tackle once we reached it. It would be better if Kai wasn’t seen in any cities, but since I had mana, I could easily interact with people living in villages close to the coast or even Leskia in order to find out the latest news about the liturgy and see whether the Order was deployed in the vicinity.

It was a few days after the valley, at around midday when we heard shouts on the road as we were riding by the sea. We were already putting Leskia behind us, getting close to our destination. The anguished voices were in complete contrast to the calming sight of the sea, which stretched as far as the eye could see, and the lazy chirps of birds sitting on the heavy tree branches.

“Should we check that out?” Kai asked.

“Yes, but we can’t afford to be seen in the open on the road,” I replied. “Let’s stay covered by the trees.”

“I’ll follow you,” Kai agreed.

As we moved closer to the stone path, we saw two figures that we recognized as a woman and a child, trying to move the trunk of a tree that had collapsed upon a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens.

“Help, please!” the older woman was shouting between each push of the tree trunk while standing over the unmoving girl. “Please, somebody help us!”

The boy that was with her did not shout anything at all, but was pushing in short bursts with what little power he had. The trunk was moving a bit, but not enough to pull the girl out from underneath, and the fact that she had lost consciousness made the situation worse.

“They need help!” Kai said.

I was conflicted, given our need to stay hidden, but I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t try.

“Okay, let’s help them really quick. But we’ll have to leave immediately, toward the way we came, so they don’t see us going south. We’ll make a wide circle and continue on our way.”

Kai nodded and we swiftly moved over to them.

“Stay clear!” I shouted, and started casting a telekinetic spell.

Name : Telekinesis

School of Magic : Transmutation

Verbal Components : 8 words

Somatic Components : Simple

Material Component : None

HP Consumed : 0

MP Consumed : 0

Divine Mana Consumed : 20/lb.

Range : Touch

Casting Time : 4 seconds

Precondition : None.

Description : Divine mana is being channeled from one point in space toward another in a straight line. The amount of mana used for this spell is directly proportionate to the amount of weight moved and the force with which it is moved.

The spell was thankfully a short one. The mother and child turned to face me, and backed away from the trunk as soon as they saw what I was doing.

The fallen tree was pushed up and backward on my command, thrown away and freeing the young girl. The mother rushed to her, took her in her arms and started stroking her hair, hoping that she would open her eyes.

Name : Merin Manur

Race : Light Elf/Human

Class : Fighter

Level : 7

I moved closer to them, trying to determine the severity of her injuries while Kai followed me closely. And then I heard a loud mechanical click behind me.

I span around to ascertain the source of that completely out-of-place sound, only to see a red-haired woman jump at me, her hands extended toward my neck, holding something circular.

Before I could even raise my arms in self-defense, I heard the clicking sound once more, this time on me. The woman had locked a big metal collar around my neck.

Name : Dala Manur

Race : Human

Class : Rogue

Level : 11

Reflexively I pushed her, but only managed to move her away from us once I landed a kick on her.

She didn’t seem to care that she had fallen on her back but was smiling when she stood up. To my horror, I started to realize what had happened, as I got a better look at my surroundings.

Kai’s skin was golden again and he was now stepping backward toward me, trying to avoid the circle of slowly approaching men, his neck also carrying the same metal collar I now wore.