Whenever he knew what he was doing or not, this was the first time I’ve seen someone set up a portal this way.

He cleared up a rather sizable chunk of the place, which included cutting down a few trees, which I helped with. He left one in the middle and while I expected him to draw a circle around or write a spell, he instead started using green magic.

Manipulating the roots, he ordered the tree to form a magic circle, or at least that’s what I thought that was, after which we dragged one of the corpses to the said tree and placed it right next to it.

If that wasn’t enough, he then used magic again and essentially tied down the poor guy to the trunk using vines sprouting from the tree.

I thought he was done, but nope.

After setting up that scene, he started writing something on the outer layer of wood that was surrounding our artificially-made clearing.

I recognized that to be an incantation somewhat similar to a portal spell, but also it reminded me of something else that I couldn’t place in my mind for a while, not until he was about half-way through the circle.

The boat.

I mean the boat I crashed a long time ago to get to a certain island, back when I just arrived under the barrier.

It made sense. After all, it was most likely his own creation. And it was fueled by the magic of the caster. Well, in this case, it would be fueled by us, and the corpse tied down in the middle.

I was wondering why he needed such a complicated ritual just to teleport us to someone: after all, I managed to do it easily without any preparation. But, when I told him that, he reminded me how much time I wasted during the teleport itself.

Well, if that whole thing was going to mitigate that, I wasn’t going to complain. As long as our “friends” weren’t appearing, I could wait.

After about an hour of work, he finally stopped.

-I think it’s done - he announced.

I took a gaze at the finished “item”.

Definitely looked like he worked his ass off.

-I guess. How confident are you in this?

-As much as I am in you, that is, not much.

-Such an optimist. Well, whatever. Let’s go anyway.

I didn’t care. What I was interested the most was being finally on the move. To do something.

I kept having that feeling that I hadn't accomplished anything past… hell, I don’t know how long. And I wanted to change that.

Even if that change was just a random act of violence on someone else.

Well, it was justified violence to be honest.

-Hm. Okay.

With a singular gesture, the whole setup came to life.

And I mean literally.

While before he was using his magic to manipulate the tree and all, this time it barely even took his mana. It was mostly connected to the leyline under us, one of many that was leaking to the surface.

-You sure that…

Before I finished my sentence, the tree in the middle had shuddered, and the corpse that we had tied to the trunk had suddenly got pulled inside.

It was so immediate that I barely was able to register what happened: to anyone slower, it would’ve just looked like it disappeared completely.

The moment it disappeared, the tree started changing shapes and creaking heavily, it started forming a circle.

A circle that created something akin to a gateway, filled with, this time, green and gray swirling mass of energy.

-That’s different… - he muttered, looking at the effect.

-Hm. You saying that doesn’t fill me with confidence - I commented.

-Well, it looks different, but mana is right. I am sure that everything is okay.

Despite his words, I know very well that he was unsure.

Even his tone of voice was giving me second thoughts.

But, I wasn’t going to back away.

-I guess I’ll go first. I am more resilient, after all - I said, and not waiting for his confirmation, stepped through.

Despite the portal looking different, the feeling of transfer was just as normal as it gets. Hell, it was more pleasant than usual, and shorter to boot. I didn’t even feel the usual vertigo associated with gravity changing, meaning it was also in the same position at the other end.

I guess the whole ritual worked.

“Good”, I wanted to tell myself. But the moment I emerged on the other side, I realized something was wrong.

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First thing I noticed when I ended on the other side was… white.

A lot of white. Blinding white.

And it’s not like it was just mana blinding me, as I thought it was at first.

The room was… just pure white.

Definitely not the place we were aiming for, it was obvious.

For a split second I hesitated, but decided to step back and return to Mike but…

I walked into a wall.

And it’s not like the portal disappeared. It was still right next to me, but I couldn’t walk through.

Don’t tell me, Mike made this thing one-way? Can you even do that? Is he stupid?!

Or did he betray me? I mean, it wouldn't be THAT surprising…

But, before I finished my thought, he stepped through as well, ending up in the same room as me.

-Ah! What’s…

His reaction was similar. He wanted to take a step back, but encountered a solid wall instead.

In his case though, it was a literal wall, because the moment he appeared, I heard something shatter and the gateway that connected us to the forest had collapsed, breaking like a mirror.

One look at his face and mana was enough to tell that this was not what he planned at all.

-What the hell is this?! Where are we?! - he asked.

-You’re the one asking me?! - I growled. - You brought us here.

-I don’t know! I just… Let me see…

-If only…

We both stared into the whiteness.

-This is a room… - he finally announced.

-No fucking shit… - I said, already with my hand on the wall. - It’s hard not to realize. But where’s the exit!?

-Fuck if I know! Still can’t see!

Right. Whatever those walls were made of, it was hard to look at. Just trying to inspect one was giving me a headache, and that was a feeling that I almost forgot. Even when touching, I couldn’t feel anything special. It was just like I touched a regular, stone wall. Or was it concrete…?

Damn, even touching it was giving me almost nothing, the texture as bland as it gets.

-I know I am blaming you - I said - but was it actually your fault or do you think they were really coming from here?

-As much as I want to say my spell was flawless - he started - I don’t know. And honestly doubt that. After all, I was aiming to get us somewhere away from the source, not to slap us directly on top of it.

-Fair enough. Good, then I still can blame you.

-Mgh…

He wasn’t happy. But of course he wasn’t. Neither of us were.

-In any case, we probably should get out of here - I announced. - Are we using force or are we backing off?

-Let’s leave here… - he said, already focused. - I’ll open a portal in a second and we should try again. Good thing I made an anchor, just to be safe…

He produced a piece of wood that definitely looked like a small branch that was just broken off from the tree that absorbed one of the goons he used.

-There.

I expected the worst, but he managed to open a portal on one of the walls.

The purple gateway appeared just like it should and even helped us orientate spatially a bit more: seeing all white was really making it hard to process things.

-Okay, time to go. I will… Ouch!

His groan was accompanied by a dull thud, and he took a step back from the portal.

-The fuck?! - he exclaimed, holding his head.

-What?

-It’s… Just look.

He placed his hand on the portal and while usually it would just take his hand phase through and move forward, it just stopped.

-The hell…

I stepped forward.

The portal looked just normal, I couldn’t feel anything wrong with it.

I extended my hand, but got stopped just like he was.

I only made a different noise, because of my hand being crystal.

Right… crystal.

-Is this some kind of enchantment blocking us… - I mumbled to myself and focused on trying to absorb what was in front of me.

I was usually suppressing that ability, to not mess with the spells or any other magic. Or to leave waste in my step. But even when I focused on that, I couldn’t absorb anything. It was just like there was nothing in front of me. But that definitely wasn’t it, I mean, I was touching the portal, wasn’t I? Or at least whatever was blocking it.

-How does that even work… - mumbled Mike, also inspecting the invisible wall we were standing in front of. - I mean… there’s nothing here, but… - he said, knocking on it with his knuckles.

It did sound like he just knocked onto some stone wall.

I followed in kind, the noise being more audible and more clinking, thanks to my own body.

-Could it be… not magical…? - he asked into the aether, realizing that my own draining was doing nothing.

-I mean… if it is…

I reared back and swung my fist at it.

The noise it made was similar to hitting a wall, but more echo-y. I guess thanks to the room we were in?

But, it didn’t budge.

I swung a couple more times, but there was no sign of it even getting scratched.

There was no breaking that thing.

-That’s peculiar.

-No shit. We are trapped?

-Yeah. But there’s a problem. Time.

-Time? How long can you keep it open? - I asked.

-Well, I have plenty of mana. It’s not what I meant. I meant that we don’t have any way of restoring mana, right? We’re going to run out eventually.

-What? Can’t you just absorb mana, like me? - I asked, a bit confused. - The environment is plenty rich.

-I don’t know. Is it?

-That’s…

I was preoccupied with the whole portal bullshit that I failed to realize.

We were no longer in that mana-rich environment.

While we weren’t really in some mana-void, it was not that far off. I am pretty sure the only energy that was in the air was from our bodies or maybe some had leaked from the portal when we passed through it.

The problem was, he was right.

Sooner or later, we would run out and be stuck in absolute emptiness. If we didn’t manage to escape, that is. Or be found by someone. I mean, this place has to be known by somebody, right?

In any case, it was going to take some time. Especially for us to run out. While I am not sure about Mike’s capacity, he was powerful enough and not dumb enough to run out soon.

I was not worried about myself, especially after being near a leyline before. I definitely had enough to outlast him, try to break out multiple times and then some.

-Okay. I will try being a bit forceful - I announced and started preparing a spell.