Traveling to Cuoq City

Daren worked day and night with Chris's assistance to get the fairy ring working as well as he could. Slowly the runes became more distinct. Eons of grass and dirt were cleared away. The magic formation was crudely redrawn, but the most important details were preserved.

Aayla and Jacki weren't idle either. They kept watch for True Order patrols and magical beasts. Jacki tutored Aayla with controlling the New Moon Bracelet. Not much progress could be made with a mere few days, but now Aayla had a couple more elemental tricks up her sleeve.

Finally, the work was complete. However, strict testing was required after setting up a complex magical formation, especially for restored formations from past ages. This testing would often emit enormous amounts of mana. The True Order would have to be idiots to miss that.

With Aayla's help, Daren conducted a series of small tests. She could set up a small bubble around the magical formation to isolate it completely or just parts of it. Chris and Jacki would observe and prepare for any accidents. In theory, the patrols should be completely unaware.

The tests got larger and larger after every success. Some tests would fail, but Daren would merely fix the issue and repeat the test. The barrier would occasionally fail, so the team was forced to immediately retreat. They would only return after confirming that no alarms were triggered.

Eventually, everything appeared to be in working order. The only tests left were to actually activate the fairy ring. These tests required a partial barrier and test subjects. Though far more noticeable than the other tests, the team had no choice.

Fairy rings and spatial magic were notoriously tricky and prone to unpleasant accidents. Horror stories about people arriving as fleshy blobs or worse always floated around the magical community. Chris and Jacki made three human-like test dummies to transfer. However, they would start with an apple first.

Daren anxiously set the direction and distance. The apple was placed in the center of the fairy ring, and should randomly appear in the sky over a mile away. The horses stood ready to bolt if something went wrong. Aayla prepared the barrier, but only set it up in between Nafriton and the fairy ring.

When Chris signaled that the last patrol should be far enough away, Daren activated the fairy ring. Like a glitchy computer, the magic formation was slow to start up. As the runes slowly hummed to life, beads of sweat began to run down Daren's face. Time seemed to pass slowly.

Suddenly, the apple shimmered and disappeared. Jacki immediately threw the three test dummies into the fairy ring. Within seconds, they began to shimmer as well. The dummies blinked out of existence a few short minutes later.

Daren immediately stopped injecting mana into the fairy ring. Aayla extended the barrier to cover the entire ring. The magic formation's light faded slowly until the rocks seemed completely normal. Chris cast a quick detection spell then opened his eyes.

"Someone's coming this way. It should be another patrol. We need to leave. Now!"

The team immediately fled the area towards where their apple should land. Aayla looked up into the sky but didn't see anything fall between all of the leaves and tree branches in her way. They soon passed the estimated drop off point, but the apple and the dummies weren't nearby.

Any searches would have to be conducted after they ensured their safety. They rode hard for hours before finally checking for pursuers. Thankfully, the patrol didn't seem to find them. After dusk, no pursuers appeared so they carefully made their way back to the fairy ring.

The patrol had left, seemingly without finding any clues or signs of magic activity. Still, Chris checked everything that he possibly could. He even took out a special one time use artifact just to make sure that they hadn't walked right into a trap.

Everything was fine and completely, utterly boring. Nothing happened during the night. The team set out to find the test dummies the next day. The good news was that they were found quickly. The bad news was that they were completely wrecked.

One had fused into the ground, the second was stuck in a tree and wild animals tore apart the third. The apple remained missing. Its fate was unknown. Another set of test dummies was created, and Daren repeated the test again.

**********

After the third round of testing, the True Order started to become suspicious. Patrols were sent out to hunt whatever magic beast or military spies were hiding in the forest. Jacki spotted the dust kicked up by their horses as the massive search party set out.

The team had no time left for testing. With this many people, the fairy ring wouldn't stay hidden for long. They had to leave before the enemy got close enough to interfere or notice the source of the energy spike. Aayla wouldn't be able to maintain the barrier while on the fairy ring.

Preparations began for long distance travel. Storage artifacts were empties onto the fairy ring and put into a state of hibernation. The horses were set free. Daren quickly set the destination coordinates for some random spot just north of Cuoq. Extra height was added just in case.

For the final time, Daren activated the fairy ring. Seconds seemed to tick by in days. Barely halfway through, the search party picked up on the spike in mana. The flying magical beasts sped off in front of the search party.

Within minutes they had reached the fairy ring. As they extended their talons and dove towards the ground, the humans below them began to shimmer. In seconds, they were gone. Their claws only grasped air. The magical beasts screeched in fury.

Their prey had escaped at the last moment.

**********

When Aayla opened her eyes again, wind whipped her face as she fell towards the ground. All sorts of objects fell around her. She hit several tree branches on the way down. When Aayla hit the ground, most of the force of the impact had been dispelled by the tree branches.

Several seconds passed as Aayla regained her breath. She felt so woozy that she couldn't stand. This feeling felt strangely familiar. As random items rained from above, Aayla managed to activate the New Moon Bracelet to create an earthen shelter to cover her.

When the raining stopped, Aayla checked her body. No new limbs or other objects sticking out of her body. Nothing appeared to be missing. She could also think and breathe. Her walking was a bit unsteady, but that wasn't a big problem for now.

Aayla carefully stepped outside of her makeshift shelter. Luggage was strewn all around her. Some of the cases had even come open. She hastily gathered the contents to stuff them back inside. Not knowing what else to do with the full cases, Aayla stored them inside her temporary shelter.

Minutes later, the others had arrived after frantically gathering what they could find. While Jacki and Daren took inventory, Chris checked to see if anyone else followed them through the fairy ring. Fortunately, no one did.

"We appear to be on our own, but we still need to move. The True Order may not need that much time to discover how the fairy ring works since their beasts saw us activating it. Also, our arrival probably emitted strong waves of mana, exposing us to the world."

Whatever they didn't have at this point would stay lost. Chris forced the group to start moving. Hours later on foot, they found a main road. People who looked like refugees flowed only in one direction. Those going against the current were pushed off the road.

They joined the back of a large group of refugees at random. The team had no problems blending in. Exhausted and completely ragged due to their constant travelling, they looked like beggars. The group kept moving, even after sundown.

When the main group finally stopped for the day, the group had to sneak out a few blankets from their storage artifacts. No one else had tents or appeared to be wizards. The meals that night were cold and raw. The team casually joined the campfire of a trio of exhausted refugees.

Chris quickly won them over with decent bread. To the team's delight, the main group was heading northwest to Cuoq City from villages near the front line. The entire day was rushed because someone had cast an incredibly powerful spell near the road earlier.

Many feared that the fighting had suddenly changed directions towards Cuoq. The leaders forced them to move for longer that day just to be safe. No one complained since they didn't want to get caught up in a war zone.

The team silently slipped away from main group after learning how to travel to Cuoq by themselves. That night they planned how to safely travel to the city, and what to do after they finally arrived.