A haze of pain clouded his senses.

He couldn't see, or move. But he could hear.

"—ed!"

A knot of pain behind his chest made it hard to breathe. It was as if someone was squeezing his heart, or maybe a punch in his solar plexus. The wind had been knocked out of him, and it didn't seem keen on coming back, no matter how much he struggled.

"—ered!"

Someone was calling him. The urgency in the voice did nothing to mask its familiarity.

Was it Evelyn?

Yes, it must have been her.

"Jered!!"

And then, all of his sensations were thrown back at him violently. Jered bolted up with a gasp. Bad decision. A sharp pain hit him with the delicateness of a sledgehammer. A set of arms flung around him, making sure he didn't fall back down. Fluttering his eyes open, he came face to face with a concerned Evelyn, "Please... tell me we don't have to fight again."

He didn't have any mana left, and his mana circuit was aching badly. Evelyn was pretty much useless herself right now.

"N-No... but... I don't know where we are... and the portal is gone."

Jered finally took notice of the landscape around them.

They were in the middle of some barren no-man's-land. The terrain beneath them was dry, cracked, and sparse with some exotic but likewise poisonous flora. A mountain range towered over the horizon, their peaks going so high they must have been homes to Angels. The air was breathable, with a tang similar to the forest they had just been in. Overall, it was not much different from the human plane.

Then he looked up at the sky.

It was a mantle of darkness with brushes of purple, white, and dark blue. The moon was just like Earth's, which was crazy, because it looked like someone had photoshopped the sky. The stars were alive in such a colorful canvas, blinking in a waterfall of shining pearls, blooming from north to south, from east to ovest, "Beautiful, isn't it?" Evelyn breathed out.

Jered didn't need to have emotions to agree with her. It was not something he would usually pay attention to, but he had to do a double-take in this new, unknown world he was in. Turning his head slightly to the side, the system's notification blinked back at him.

[The mana consumption for spells below the Elder-Tier have been reduced by 25%]

[The magic power for spells below the Elder-Tier have been enhanced by 25%]

[You can now use the Royal-Tier spell 'Pharaoh's Flame' for prolonged use of time without side effects.]

[You have learned the Elder-Tier spell 'Mana Sense', Lv.1]

"Jered?"

He stared back at Evelyn. She was a mess. Her luscious black hair was disheveled. Her face was covered in soot, mud, and blood. Her expensive clothes were ripped on so many places, it looked like it was barely hanging by a thread. Even the sweet perfume she bathed herself in was long gone. Now only a slight whiff of sweat emanated from her. Of course, it was not like Jered was decked out either.

"I'm tired... we need to find a place to camp at..."

She nodded, "Can you stand up?"

He bit back a spike of pain as he shoved himself up, "Barely," he said with a chuckle, "I'm mana-drained, Miss Smith... I hope you still have some left."

The resigned look on her face was all he needed to know.

If a Wolfkin jumped out of nowhere right now, they'd be royally screwed.

A stab of guilt distorted her face, "Jered... I know I've said this before, but I'm really sorry for what happened. This was supposed to be an important mission. I could have never thought they'd sabotage the Manaport. We managed to survive thanks to you..." a bitter laugh rolled out, and she almost fell down from the exhaustion, "I'm the one who should have chaperoned you and the others, but look at me. I'm the one relying on you right now..."

Jered staggered as he took a step forward, "Don't think about it. We'll deal with it once we're out of this predicament. No way I'm dying here," he said resolutely.

She gave him a soulful look, "Sometimes I forget you're only 16. Can't believe you're this calm even in such a situation."

He extended his arm, and using each other for support, they shambled forward.

"Do you really have no idea where we are, or how we can get back?"

Evelyn shook her head ruefully, "I'm afraid not. Archiland's topography is complicated and incredibly vast."

"Archiland?"

She smiled, "Oh, right. We call it the Other Side because it's safer. Well, actually, it doesn't really matter since only Magicians can get here. But it's nice to have a modicum of secrecy."

"How stupid," he commented.

"I agree. But that's how it is," Evelyn snorted, "And there are three ways to make a portal, Jered, none of which is something we could easily attain. You either need to be a Royal-Tier Magician and force a crack between the two planes; use a relic, which I believe is what the Alpha did, or wait until a portal opens up by itself... which can take anywhere from one minute to one thousand years."

"Looks like I'm going to fail this year..." he sighed.

"It's better than being dead."

"That's true."

Jered didn't know how time worked in Archiland, but according to his phone, two hours had passed since they crash-landed there. The backlash from overusing 'Soul Eater' was more severe than he thought it would be. Only a few units of mana were recovered. He hoped Evelyn fared better than him. Due to their abysmal pace, a suitable resting location had yet to be found.

But at least they were getting closer to the mountains. And the more they did, the bigger they looked. It was incredible beholding something so tall, it literally shot through the clouds. Everest would probably be an anthill in comparison. It would most likely require a telescope to capture those mighty peaks.

Jered briefly recalled the tale of Heavenscraper, and the powerful sorcerer, Kendra, who scoured the entirety of Archiland to find it.

"Let's rest here for a while," Evelyn suggested, crumbling to the ground, "I'm so tired..."

He flopped next to her, breathing heavily, "It's weird how we haven't encountered any magical creature so far. Don't get me wrong. I'm happy we haven't, but I can't deny that this silence worries me."

She was too worn-out to think about that, "I don't really care... I just want to rest..."

"In the middle of nowhere?"

"Where else? It's an open field, we can see an ambush from a mile away."

He pondered, "I did read about creatures who live underground though."

"Oh, you'll feel the earth quake when they move..."

"It's not smart stopping here..."

"I know it's not... but I seriously can't go any further than this, Jered. I-I need some sleep, and so do you..."

She was not wrong, but he felt like they were close to finding shelter. Maybe another couple of hours, and they'd have a roof and a solid, non-malleable ground beneath them. Better than passing out in the open like that, "I'll stand on the lookout for you. I don't know how long I'll last..."

"Thank you!" Evelyn heaved a deep sigh of relief. The way she looked at him was brimming with gratitude, "I only need a few hours. Then we can switch."

He nodded, "That's fine."

She closed her eyes, falling asleep within a minute.

Jered didn't want to be idle, therefore he began meditating, while also making full use of his newly-acquired spell, 'Mana Sense'. It wasn't taxing, and he figured that leveling it up as he ensured no unwanted entity got close to them was a good way to kill time. A soft breeze swept by. No sound came from the distance, which made the place have a foreboding, eerily silence that set him on edge.

Thanks to his attunement for mana, 'Mana Sense' was fairly easy to level up.

[Mana Sense has become Lv.2]

[Mana Sense has become Lv.3]

[Mana Sense has become Lv.4]

[Mana Sense has become Lv.5]

[The range of Mana Sense has expanded to 50 meters.]

To conserve the battery of his phone, he turned it off. It was not like he could receive messages and calls anyway. Thankfully he did warn Rainey of what was going on, though he doubted she could be of help. She was powerful, not omnipotent.

A slight stirring broke his meditation.

Evelyn who had been sleeping like a rock, rolled around, and cracked her eyes open, "Gosh, I'm still drowsy. How long have I been out for?"

"I don't know. I'd say around... two hours? You can sleep a bit more if you want."

She ran a hand across her face, "No, I'm fine. You need to sleep too..."

"Sleep is the last thing I need right now. If you feel like walking again, we can get back on march and find a safer place to stay in," Jered stretched, "Seriously, this place gives me a feeling of wrongness. I would be in a much better mood to sleep if we were in a cave or a hut or something."

"I understand," Evelyn begrudgingly stood up, a yawn tearing her mouth wide open, "I reckon a few hours more and we'll get at the base of the mountains."

Unfortunately, it took them way more than a few hours. Jered couldn't feel his feet, or his legs, or his whole fucking body. He didn't even know where he found the energy to go on. He was so exhausted that it slowed down his mana regeneration. But as he had said previously, sleeping should be saved for when they had walls around them. He couldn't keep his 'Mana Sense' active all the time, after all. And frankly, he didn't trust Evelyn to protect him.

Not because she would betray him, but because she was weaker than him, and tired too.

"Jered, look! There!" Evelyn chirped enthusiastically.

He followed the direction of her finger, and found a hole nestled between two boulders. It would take a bit of climbing, but the relief of finally having a place to sleep offset his tiredness. Thank fucking God! "Let's go," he didn't waste time, and neither did she. Together, they helped each other up the rocky footholds, and less than a few minutes later, they wormed inside the cave.

It was not big, but it wasn't small either. It was enough for the two of them to cozy up inside but not to fully stretch.

Jered let himself fall to the ground, not giving a fuck about the concussion he might have risked. He didn't even care if the world was about to go down, the fact that he got one problem off his shoulders was more than enough to let him enjoy his much-needed sleep. Evelyn filled the cave with a hearty chuckle. Although they were still not completely safe, they had secured a shelter.

She leaned her head against the hard surface behind her, "Today has been stressful, right?"

A groan of agreement flew out of Jered.

"We managed to survive the Alpha. We'll survive this too, I'm sure."

This time no answer came from her sleeping student.

Her smile faded as she stared outside. It was such a weird place. Definitely not somewhere Wolfkins would, or should, come from. With no means to contact their organization, they were stranded there for the time being. She hoped it would be a little bit easier from tomorrow on, but that was wishful thinking.

Evelyn balled her hands into fists, her teeth sinking into her lips.

Someone had done this to them.

Someone wanted her dead.

And that someone would fucking pay for it once she was back. Because they were going to survive. They were going to find a way out. It was not an empty promise. They were talented and strong enough to face off a whole pack of Wolfkins and their Alpha, and come out alive. This place would not be the end of them.

It would be the start.