The idea of such a long voyage was a bitter mix of excitement and fear for the children. Few of them had ever gone beyond the edge of their village before. Kaili was used to travelling far and wide on foot across the wilds until she eventually settled down at her current home, but even she had no real experience with any vehicles. Cia was then one to always only admire them from the distance. Those she saw in her books were often marvellous results of modern engineering and magic, but they were rare even in the cities. Seeing one in their town would be like going diving and hoping to see a unicorn.

The children quickly scattered to their rooms and began frantically packing clothes and other "necessary" supplies. Manuel smiled and shook his head when he saw their panic. He used to go travelling for much longer with far less and was always fine.

"Kaili?" he appeared behind her without a single sound, which prompted the dryad to quickly toss a paperweight at him, out of instinct.

"Oops, sorry."

"Why?" the wizard exclaimed once his teleportation carried him aside. "What's with people throwing stuff at me today?"

"If you'd knock like a normal person, people would be a lot more welcoming towards you."

Manuel scratched his chin. "Hmm... Oh yeah, I suppose that does make sense."

"Did you need something?"

"Yes! Thank you for reminding me. Otherwise, I'd still be thinking about the correct way to enter your room. I brought you something!"

In a flash of light, a wrapped package appeared on the floor. It was massive, requiring both hands to hold.

"Manuel? Are you serious?" Kaili's eyes lit up for a moment. "Wait a minute. Please don't tell me that 'gift' is what I'm supposed to deliver." She frowned at the wizard, knowing far too well that he'd be capable of something like that.

"Hehe, no, no, of course not. Open it. It's for you."

The first minute was spent trying to carefully undo the glue on the wrapping paper. As the dryad's frustration grew, so did the wizard's smile. He made sure the seams of the package would not yield. Adults were often too obsessed with opening presents "the right way". It irritated him. There was only one way to open a gift, and that was by tearing away the paper in a fit of blind excitement. It took him only about two minutes to achieve the same result with the dryad.

"Manuel!" she gasped as soon as the box flew open.

"I sort of felt bad that you lost your old one because of me, so I got you a replacement. What do you think?"

She pulled out a massive, yellow mushroom hat. It was similar to the one she lost, yet of a colour she had never even seen in the wild. It fit her perfectly.

"It's a golden sandfloop. They grow only in really warm climates, far away from here, so I thought it was the perfect rarity for you."

Kaili's storm of thank yous fed Manuel's gluttonous ego. He enjoyed it when people thanked him. It made him feel important, and all that importance presented itself on his face in the form of a pleased grin.

Once ready, the young couriers and their mentor assembled in the living room. The boxes they had to carry were plentiful. No single crate would contain everything the ship would need on its voyage.

"So... to the cellar?" Jin asked after the four friends exchanged confused expressions. Manuel's reluctance to go down there puzzled them.

"No, not this time. The Cordicon is a fantastic artefact but it can only handle teleportation to stationary places. A set of pre-determined destinations, so to speak. No, if you want to get yourself onboard of something moving, you'll need some old-school teleporter. Now, please, let me work. And before you go, auras up. It might be a rough landing, so try not to get hurt, okay?"

Manuel's arms waved through the air as his fingers danced over invisible strings. He was like a puppeteer fresh out of work. His eyes closed and there was not a single word leaving his lips for a couple of minutes. Teleportation was difficult. In a sense, magic was everywhere, and where there was magic, there was a potential destination. The tricky part was to create a pathway. For magic, there was no concept now and then. No yesterday, today, or tomorrow. Nor was there the concept of distance. Magic was everywhere. To remove magic from one place meant that an equal amount of it would fill it up from somewhere else. Travelling through magic consciously and with a specific, unmarked destination in mind, meant navigating the concept of everything being the exact same distance away.

Manuel had a trick for this. His mind painted him the image of a sphere. He was in the centre. Everything else was on the surface. All that existed on the Grand Lane, every city, town, river, or mountain, every millimetre of space lay on the endless surface of that imaginary ball. He thought of the ship. Of where it was supposed to be, what it looked like, and how fast it was travelling. Eventually, his mind was able to place it into the context of magic. A shining yellow doorway opened beside him, its glow preventing anyone from seeing what waited on the other side.

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"Now! Move! Quick!" Manuel yelled at them as his mind focused on the connection. The four didn't intend to wait. Seeing Manuel straining himself so much gave them a clear sign that there was no time to waste. They had to be professional about this.

The wizard waited until the fourth "swish" of the portal and severed the connection. He sighed and gently patted himself a few times on the head. The magic that rushed into it quickly numbed the uprising headache.

Manuel fell into his armchair. He hated manual teleportation more than anything else. Time and space were concepts that humans understood exceptionally poorly. The ability to manipulate them was always shrouded in mystery. That's why he tried so hard to simplify it. Anchor points and magical sigils marking destinations made such navigation easier. Cordicon and similar artefacts then helped further by handling the address searching for him. Anything that could be done automatically made travelling much easier.

Manuel's advice about the auras came in handy. As soon as the kids' destination appeared, they noticed the quickly approaching wooden deck. Was it not for their magic softening the fall, they'd be treating bruises not even ten seconds after their arrival.

"Haha!" Airo laughed as his ability to hover saved him from the fall. "Perks of being a– What the hell?" His breath was taken away by the surrounding panorama. This was no ordinary ship. It was a flying ship. Right now the young Cloudfolk found himself floating hundreds of metres above a massive canyon and orange-tinted drylands that spanned as far as his eyes could see.

"Airo!" Cia called out to him. Even though they were all mesmerised by the fact that their surroundings were not one enormous sea, only Cia was the one who noticed that Airo's magic may have suspended him in the air, but that also meant that the moving ship was slowly floating away from him. Only after her call did the truth hit the boy as well.

"Wait! Stop! Come back!" he shouted at them, as if in hopes that his friends would somehow be able to stop the entire vehicle.

Kaili ran up to the edge of the deck and extended her arm. The vines covering it came undone, shooting out like a rope which quickly tied itself around Airo's ankle. She braced herself against the safety railing. It was true that Cloudfolk were generally very light, so pulling him closer shouldn't have been a problem, but the strong winds blowing against him made the entire ordeal much more difficult. It was like trying to pull in a massive kite.

"Help! Grab me!" Kaili called out to her friends, who did not wait one moment before helping her. The trio kept slowly pulling Airo closer. Meanwhile, curious crewmembers were gathering behind them, drawn closer by the commotion. Word has already been given to send for the captain. Groups of kids flying out of portals were indeed not a common issue.

"Oh dear gods, I thought I wouldn't make it," Airo gasped and practically fell into Kaili's open arms as soon as his feet were back on firm ground. A massive weight dropped off their chests. They were there only for a few minutes and already the delivery was much more eventful than their usual ones.

"Ehm!" the captain coughed as he ploughed his way through the gathered crowd. The noise quickly pulled all the attention to him.

"I want names, your purpose here, and means of invading my ship," he muttered, his eyes darting between the four strangers.

The quartet stood there, their egos pinned to the ground by the captain's charisma and intimidating look. None of them had ever seen a Rocksa before, and the drawings in their school books certainly did not do them justice.

"I will not repeat my question," the captain thundered again. His massive mouth, split almost from ear to ear, clapped as he spoke. The rocky surface that replaced his skin either robbed him of the ability to display emotions, or he was firmly holding onto his grumpiness. The sharp edges of his head were only barely hiding under his feathered hat.

"Arcane Deliveries," Jin pushed himself to say, ignoring the other questions.

"Ah! Couriers!" All of a sudden, the captain seemed perfectly capable of emotions. His mouth opened in what they assumed was a smile and the chiselled lumps above his eyes rose, stretching the stone surface of his face as if it was a mere prop made of rubber.

"Apologies for my past behaviour, but you must understand that your arrival was most strange. And with the pirates roaming around–"

"We get it. Not the first time someone was surprised by our arrival. Though we're just happy you didn't come at us with weapons at the ready?" Cia replied. The memory of the Uktian hunters surrounding them with spears was something she wouldn't forget for years to come.

"Ahaha, don't worry, even if you were pirates, we wouldn't take up arms against someone as young as you. Now, please, if you'd follow me, I'll show you where to drop off the boxes. And since you'll be staying with us until we reach port, I'll also show you to your cabin." He turned around, facing the still-surprised crew. "And what are you eying me for? Back to work!"

The captain was a strange figure, but the change in his attitude into a more positive one left quite a good impression on the young couriers. Nevertheless, there was still an aura of authority around him. His long purple coat bore countless insignia. Meaningless to the kids, sure, yet they still must've been awarded for something, meaning that whatever the old man achieved, it must've been significant. He carried himself around the ship like it was the love of his life. His stone hoofs clapped against the ground softly, yet with the sound of resolute steps.

"Manuel sort of forgot to mention we'd be boarding a flying ship," Airo said to break the silence.

"Did he? Haha! I always heard he had a good sense of humour. Was it a good surprise at least?"

"Yeah, I nearly fell off," Airo muttered.

"But we caught you," Kaili tried to cheer him up.

"Whoa!" Cia gasped and ran forward so fast she even went ahead of the captain.

"Umm... The lower decks are this way," the old man pointed to a door she ran past.

"But the engine is here!" she replied and waved over the enormous vibrating hunk of metal that sat ahead of them.

"Ah, yes, indeed, that's a–"

"Fortulan TLF-7. A light-frequency tritemon engine of the seventh generation. You've got some industry treasure here!" She looked at the captain, her pupils now almost filling the entirety of her large eyes.

"Hehe, I see you know your way around engines. Would you like to see its insides?"

No proper answer was needed. Cia's loud squealing was enough to convince anyone of her enthusiasm.