...then I saw, for the first time since entering the portal, my surroundings. Blue sea, golden sandy beach, and a forest. It seems like I ended up on a beach somewhere... Where am I, actually? There's no such place on the entire Antarian continent. Even the lowest edge of Antarie shouldn't be lower than fifty meters above sea level. So how is it possible that I'm on a beach by the sea if such a place shouldn't exist?

"Surprised?"

I turned at the sound of her voice. Right next to me, she sat with crossed legs, her eyes fixed on the horizon.

When I didn't respond, she turned to me, and at that moment, Solus emerged again. Her bright smile was so radiant that anyone else seeing it would fall in love here and now, regardless of gender.

"You did it."

"..."

At first, I didn't understand what she meant, but...

"I'll say it again. You did it, we're away, and far away."

As those words were spoken, something broke inside me, and I felt something slowly trickle down my face. When I wiped my face with my hand, I realized they were tears.

"Why? The pain isn't so strong that I should start crying. So why are tears flowing, and why do I feel this strange sensation in my chest?"

Elise embraced me with her slightly transparent body, and I let her.

My body still ached, but at least I could move slightly now.

"Elise, where are we actually?"

Those were the first words I managed to push out. Elise looked around and replied.

"I guess you've figured it out by now, but we're not in Antarie. That portal you created. Where did you intend to go?"

Now that she mentioned it, all I could think about was getting away...

"...Away."

"Well, you certainly succeeded. We definitely got away. But where to, I don't know. My guess is we're on some island or a completely different continent."

Really? Well, it partially makes sense, but it's hard to believe. It's almost like the third moon has risen, or the second star.

I then looked around. To the north was the endless sea, while to the west and east stretched endless beaches. And to the south was a dense forest.

"It looks like we'll have to go through the forest, what do you think?"

Elise nodded.

"Yes, but not until you regain your strength and at least some mana if you can. As for mana, you probably won't be able to use it for some time now, and when you can, it will come with enormous difficulties."

"What do you mean I won't be able to use it, and for how long?"

"I mean that you've used more mana than your body could handle, and you've damaged your mana cycle. Simply put, to create that portal, you used all the mana you had at hand and more. In fact, you used parts of your own body to open that portal. As for how long. It could be a week, two, or even several months."

Several months. That's not good. Not that I'm particularly proficient in magic, but not being able to use even defensive spells or area ice spells that I control is a big loss. At worst, I always have Elise, but now I'm essentially like an ordinary mortal with skills in sword and bow combat. Not that I have any of that now. Which means I'm completely defenseless.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Wait a minute! When I remembered a specific item, I began to search for it to see if it's in its place.

It's not here! Upon realizing this, I immediately started to panic. But Elise stopped me with a tap on my shoulder.

"Are you looking for this?"

I turned to her and saw it in her hands. I sighed in relief, realizing I hadn't lost it.

"But I still don't understand why you still carry it with you."

What Elise held in her hand was an old army dagger from the imperial army. It's not exceptional compared to other daggers in the army; in fact, it's even worse than the currently distributed ones. And besides being my only possession apart from clothing, it only has sentimental value.

"It's not important to understand, only to know that it's important to me."

After all, it's the dagger I used to take another person's life for the first time.

Before I could regain my motor skills, Solus, which was once high in the sky, disappeared, and in its place appeared two moons - a celestial blue, large Nakteblis, nakts debesu karalis in the language of ancestors, meaning the king of the night sky, and a crimson, small Naktebliene, nakts debesu karaliene, queen of the night sky.

Meanwhile, Elise went to explore the forest and see if she could find any signs of life. She didn't return until long after Solus had set, carrying a hare. Upon seeing the captured animal, my stomach realized that I hadn't eaten for three days and alerted me with a strong cramp.

"I searched a large part of the forest, but found almost no signs of life," Elise began to report. "This hare was the only creature I managed to find after several hours of searching. Further to the southeast, I noticed some mana turbulence, and the entire southern horizon is dominated by a massive mountain range..."

Elise described the results of her exploration while I was regaining strength, when she was preparing a fire. If the whole south from here is covered with mountains, it's possible that this is just some isolated area and further south there will be human settlements, or even elven ones, or completely different races. My thoughts were absorbed in listening. The information that unsettled me, though, was the fact that there's almost no game here. There are several possible reasons, the most common being the presence of a strong predator that has designated the location as its territory. But I can't think of many that would claim as large an area as Elise describes.

"Why do you think that is?" I asked.

Elise paused for a moment. She tilted her head slightly to the side, as she often does when contemplating something.

After a moment of thought, she resumed making the fire while...

"In my opinion, there's something really powerful in that forest."

Elise tried to make a fire with two stones for a while longer.

"I would say it's because something has claimed this area as its territory. If you want to know what, I don't know. It could be a Wyvern, a Dragon, a Draugrath, maybe even a Hydra, or something completely different. But whatever it is, it would be best to avoid it."

At the mention of Draugrath, I shivered slightly with a sudden chill. Draugrath, unlike the other creatures Elise mentioned, is incredibly aggressive. Dragons and wyverns are sleepers and only occasional hunters, hydra hunt often but rather larger game, and usually pay no attention to people when they come into contact with them. Which can't be said about Draugraths; in terms of aggression, they are among the most aggressive.

When I returned my attention to Elise, I almost couldn't help bursting out laughing. The reason was Elise, who repeatedly failed to make a fire with the help of two stones. Seeing the strongest being I know struggle with fire and miserably fail was just too much. With each subsequent attempt, her eyebrows twisted more and more, and a smile played on her lips, with teeth bared, which were sharper than those of ordinary people.

In the next moment, Elise stood up, threw away the two stones, and conjured a tiny pale blue flame on her index finger, with which she ignited a few twigs and threw them on the pile to ignite the others.

"So where are we going?" I snatched the hare from Elise's hands and asked, more to distract her than because I really wanted an answer. After all, seeing Elise making torn hare in fire instead of roasted one when it's the only food for three days isn't the best sight to behold.

At first, Elise threw me a reproachful look, but then just turned away and started thinking out loud.

"We don't actually know where we are. Our only information is that there's a huge jungle ahead of us, and to the south behind it, there's a mountain range. We don't know if there's anything to the east or west, and the north isn't an option. I would say the best thing would be to head towards the mountains and look out from there to see if we can see anything."

I just nodded and continued preparing food.

The hare was excellent. It's true, though, that after such a long time without eating and even longer without eating decent food, anything would seem like an incredible feast. The fire was pleasantly warming, and I was currently trying to meditate to speed up my recovery.

Beings capable of controlling mana can accelerate some of their properties with its help - such as healing.

The problem is that my current condition doesn't allow me to do that much, so instead of healing, I'm just meditating and thinking about what's next.