Ringringring!

Alex regained consciousness to the annoying ringing of an illusionary sound. It took him a few seconds to remember where he was, but eventually, the pain in his back reminded the traveler that he had slept under a tree.

"Ughh." He cracked open his eyes and observed the forest in the morning light. It looked much more inviting than it had at dusk, but Alex didn't expect the day to get rid of the giant spiders. So he would prefer to not stay here for long.

Getting up, he started stretching, hoping to relieve the pain of sleeping on the ground for multiple days straight. Though, his body was in surprisingly good condition, considering what it had been through. The cut on his shoulder from the kobolds was almost completely healed, and his arm no longer twinged in pain.

Closing his eyes, Alex concentrated on his newly awakened energy and found the barrier he had placed to be only slightly leaking. Which was an improvement on the previous night. Maybe that had even helped his body with the fatigue of fighting and carrying around a body all day.

Ringringring

Something pulled on one of the blue streaks in his black hair, and Alex opened his eyes to see it was the pixie. Apparently, they weren't a huge fan of having people in their little clearing and wanted to lead them to the road as quickly as possible.

"Ok, give me a bit. I have to get ready to leave." He reminded the bug person and decided to check on Mai. Reaching down, he was going to check her pulse when she reacted. He froze, and within a second, a knife was held at his throat.

"Hey, it's just Alex making sure you're still alive." He reminded the shadowy ninja, hoping not to get stabbed. She must have realized the situation because she immediately dropped her arm. "Right now, we're in some sort of forest past the plains you teleported us to." He tried informing her of the situation.

"My apologies, you startled me." Ah, he had been passively reducing his sound to try not to wake her up. "You said we are past the Plains of Kadesh?" He nodded, and Mai tried pushing off the ground to stand up but almost immediately lost strength in her arms.

Catching her before she fell, Alex admonished her. "Don't try anything too stressful right now, and especially don't try any magic. I don't know much about magical exhaustion, but you clearly exhausted yourself. I had to carry you for half of yesterday."

Clearly embarrassed, Mai laid back down. "Thank you for that; it was my fault that I overestimated my capabilities. A few more days of rest should allow my mana channels time to recover, though I should have foreseen this eventually and kept an elixir outside of my shadow." She looked to the ground, admonishing herself. "It seems I would have failed my mission twice if it wasn't for you. My Lady would be disappointed in me."

"Don't get too down; I'm sure she sent you for a reason." Alex tried to lift her spirits.

"Yes, I was completely unknown to the Inquisition and was to deliver her message in secrecy while my Lady distracted the other heroes." The messenger shook her head. "I've already failed in doing that."

Those were undoubtedly things to ask about later. "You're still here, so you obviously haven't failed yet. And I would have been swarmed by kobolds if you hadn't gotten us out of there. I doubt I could have escaped the inquisition camp without your help." Alex pointed out. "So, we'll just have to rely on each other so none of us fail our goals." He tried to smile encouragingly.

"Yes, I suppose you are right." She sighed and looked down at her hands. "Though I do not know how much you can rely on me in this state."

That's right; she did say she wouldn't be able to use magic for a couple of days. Judging by the state of her body, her physical capabilities were down, too. "You said an elixir could help. Is there any way we could get one around here?"

"Elixirs are extremely rare nowadays. They are potions specifically formulated to heal a mage's mana channels and, therefore, an enemy to the Inquisition and this country's Pantheon. The only place you could find them would be in the temple schools of big cities." She shook her head.

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"Sorry, I'm a bit out of the loop; why does the pantheon hate mages anyway?" He had been wondering that for a while because it seemed like they still used magic themselves.

Mai looked at him oddly before seemingly remembering he wasn't from around here. "They say it is to combat the decrease in magic that has afflicted our world in the past 100 years. But in truth, it is about power; the gods and their servants use mana the same as mages." She clenched her fist. "The decrease in mana is a heavily debated topic, but I assure you it is not the petty magic of mankind that poses a threat to this world."

"Ah, sure." Alex agreed he really didn't know anything about what was happening here, so he decided to get back on topic. "So there's no temple schools around here?" If they could get Mai an elixir, they would be back at full fighting strength to cross the border before the Inquisition arrived.

"There might be; I know the city of Ephesus lies close to where we were supposed to pass through; it holds the Temple of Artemis." Mai looked around. "Though I cannot tell you where we are currently to know if it is close enough."

"Well, luckily, I've secured us a guide to the nearest road." Alex gestured at the pixie buzzing around their tree.

"You can't be serious. They're pests." Mai complained.

Her complaints didn't stop her from following the pixie when it decided to lead them. Alex had to help her walk for some of the trip, but after a couple hours, she was ok to walk on her own. It seemed like she was using Spirit to push her body past its limits.

This also meant we had to fight the spiders drawn to said energy. Fortunately for them, the spiders were individual hunters and didn't group up like some giant spider species Mai told him about. Alex once again reaffirmed his goal to leave this world. His world might be a hellhole, but at least it didn't have multiple species of giant spiders.

However, not all the wildlife in this world was terrible. The pixie had become an enthusiastic guide once Alex used his powers to help it find berries to eat. The little thing had tried some of their leftover jerky and wasn't the biggest fan. He agreed, so he traded knowledge of the berry's location for some fruits of his own.

Mai thought the whole thing was patently ridiculous. Apparently, these things really were pixies and had a habit of chasing away anyone who came into their forests with illusions. Though she at least stopped watching it as if it would kill them any minute after a few minutes of walking.

Eventually, they reached the road the pixie had mentioned. It was surprisingly large, and they even spied some wagons going down it occasionally. This allowed Alex to listen in on their conversations and find out where they were.

Using this, Mai deduced they were only a few hours away from Ephesus, and she admitted that while it was risky, stealing some elixirs from the temple school was probably their best bet. At least if they wanted to get to the border before the Inquisition arrived. It was no longer a matter of stealth after they gave away their position the previous day.

"Do you know how we could get into the city?" Mai had told him larger cities like Ephesus were surrounded by strong walls and guarded heavily.

"I have some ideas, though our appearances are going to be an issue. I'm certain they will have sent word ahead of our status as escaped prisoners."

Alex looked at the pixie, still munching away happily on what looked like a blueberry. "I might have a way around that."

—

Two completely different-looking individuals walked up to the large gate to the city of Ephesus. Alex admired the large stone walls protecting the city from underneath the illusion of his pixie friend. It had been straightforward to convince the creature when he bribed it with treats. They also seemed to have an inherent enjoyment for fooling people; even now, it was squeaking in excitement as they walked up to the gate guards.

Alex exaggerated his limp as they approached and appeared to lean heavily against Mai. If her idea worked, they would only need to play this right to get access to the city.

"Good sir!" The disguised ninja called out to one of the guards, who seemed to be inspecting a wagon, trying to gain entry. The guard was wearing half plate and looked strong; Mai had told him some of the city guards were Awakened.

"We're mercenaries contracted to clear out the kobolds in the Plains of Kadesh, but my comrade was only recently awakened and requires treatment from the city's healers," Mai explained as Alex forced his connection open and started leaking Spirit into his body. "The groups were larger than reported and much more coordinated. I think we were misled by the Merchants Guild."

The strong-looking guard gestured for his compatriots to continue searching the wagon while he walked up to examine them. He studied them carefully, and Alex felt some sort of power from the guard brush up against his own. It was silent for a second before he sighed.

"We've been getting reports of more Kobold activity recently, especially from passing merchants." The man narrowed his eyes. "But that doesn't mean the guilds should be sending fresh mercenaries into the area without proper warning. I'll speak with them about this. Please get your friend stabilized before he passes out."

"Thank you, sir." Mai nodded, and they both started into the city.