The next morning we stood in formation, our new plan for exiting the grove about to be put in motion. We were waiting for Troy’s signal to make the jump back to the mundane realm. This time however, I’d be putting my shield up around us all as soon as we popped out. Hopefully this would negate any element of surprise that potential enemies might have camping outside.

The moment came, we hopped over and my barrier shimmered into existence. Transparent purple energy surrounding us in a dome, and I had to smile at the idea that I could now properly protect my friends with magic.

No crossbow bolts or blasts of magic came at us however, and we relaxed when we saw that no one was waiting for us. It was strange, but I’d almost expected there to be enemies waiting. We hadn’t exactly been thorough about hiding my mark after all. Not that I was going to complain, I was not keen to get into a fight.

We began our journey south, passing by the city of Norishin on our way. We couldn’t enter it though, the city was on the other side of the huge river with no bridge across. It was a fairly unremarkable city, compared to the others I’d come across anyway besides the large harbour it had. We ended the day inside my grove again, taking extra care to hide my mark this time.

We spent the next two days following the river south until we reached the point at which we’d be diverting off into the plains of Mosteghunoksia. We decided to stay at an inn in the village we ended up in this time, mainly because we needed information about the path ahead. The vendor’s instructions had been, “Go across the plains,” which wasn’t actually all that helpful. We’d need real directions if we wanted to get across.

The village looked like any other we’d passed through, as was the single inn that serviced travellers running through it. Stone and rough sawn wood constructions with thatched roofing seemed to be the go to arrangement for this region. The inn looked to be a little low on patrons tonight, so the innkeep was able to see to us immediately.

“How can I help you all?” he asked amicably, not at all phased by my friends and their intimidating armour, although their helmets were off, so that probably helped.

“Two rooms please, three people in one, two in the other,” Troy said, showing off some of his newly acquired skill with the local language. That wasn’t to say he and the rest were anywhere close to passable, but they could do this much.

“Of course, I’ll see to it,” the innkeep nodded, pausing to see if we needed anything else.

“Ah, sorry,” I began hesitantly. “We’re trying to get to Clan Mossbed lands and we were wondering the best way across the plains.”

“The Mosteghunoksia plains?” he frowned, and when I nodded his expression turned grave. “I’d avoid the area if I were you. It’s good farmland, but no one lives there. Mighty strange place, some say it’s full of the undead, others speak of much more deadly beasts. There ain’t no road across, but if you’re looking for the Mossbed lands, you want to head directly due south east. You’ll see the mountains of their lands soon enough.”

“What about going around them?” I asked curiously.

“That’s even more dangerous, at least with that mage war going on,” he replied with a grimace. “The south of Anverkethia is a nightmare right now with the Terne coven tearing the place apart.”

This sounded like something we should know about. “What… who are the Terne coven?”

“That lot of mages who’ve been takin’ over around these parts for the last decade. The Anverkethian mages are the last holdouts after the Scalmeis went down,” he shrugged. “We’d all best get comfortable with the new lot, because it’s lookin’ like they’re here to stay.”

“That’s unfortunate,” I sighed, then gave him a weary smile. “Mages are mages though right?”

“Aye, although some’s better than others that’s for sure,” he nodded seriously.

I was wearing my normal person magical disguise thankfully, otherwise my comment would have gotten a strange look. I didn’t actually believe that all mages were equally awful, obviously. I’d just figured it might be a good idea to sound him out on the issue.

“Well, thanks for the help,” I said with a grateful nod, turning to relay the information to the rest of the group.

Kit looked like he’d understood most of it by the frown he wore. “These plains don’t sound like such a good idea,” he said worriedly. “But then, running into what sounds like Fennimore’s crew if we go around the plains sounds even worse.”

“I’d definitely rather deal with zombies or whatever than a coven of angry mages eager to get a shot back at us,” Grace said, her eyes flicking towards me.

“Agreed,” Troy nodded. “We’ll be going across the plains as planned.”

That night Grace and I were given a room with two separate beds, which we pushed together until they were next to each other. It was kinda perfect, there was the uncomfortable gap between the straw-stuffed mattresses as a barrier, but we were close enough that we could still reach each other.

We set off out towards the plains in the morning, but it took us an entire day just to get there in the first place. Humanity had well and truly established itself on this ring, which begged the question of where they had all come from. Had this place really been snatching people since the early medieval years?

The plains themselves were odd. We stepped out onto swaying grass in the cold light of the morning and found it to be strangely devoid of sound. Normally on a huge open area like this, sound would travel far, but all we got was the gentle sighing of the wind. Maybe that was normal, maybe it wasn’t, but either way it was a little unsettling.

Since the plains were higher than the river valley that we’d just left, we soon lost sight of anything other than the endless sea of grass. There wasn’t even any sign of wildlife, no dung laying around and no half eaten stalks. It was empty, completely empty. No wonder people avoided this place.

“I don’t like it here,” I said quietly to the others.

“Yeah, me neither,” Kit replied, his eyes alert and scanning the horizon.

“I feel like there’s something sneaking up on us, even though we should be able to see it right?” Adam asked, sounding less than sure of himself.

“Just stay quiet, stay alert,” Troy murmured, shushing us all.

He was right, we’d be less likely to spot or hear any attackers if we were talking, but I also needed the sound of my companion’s voices right about then. The tension seemed to be rising, my heart was a low pulsing in my ears and everywhere I looked I saw shadows moving in the corner of my eye.

“I see something!” Grace hissed, not ten minutes later. She was pointing out into the grass, her gun drawn but finger off the trigger.

We all looked out into the direction she’d pointed, only for nothing to be visible. I tried to find it, squinting hard out into the mesmerising waves, but I just couldn’t see what she’d seen.

“What was it?” Troy asked, his tone all soldier mode.

Grace looked less sure of herself now, lowering her gun and scanning our surroundings with worry. “I don’t know… it was just movement, I can’t see it now.”

“Alright,” Troy grunted, still wary even as he replaced his own weapon in its holster. “Keep an eye out, but I think this place is messing with us. Ryn, can you see anything on the magic spectrum?”

I flipped over to mage sight as he asked and glanced around, seeing a huge expanse of… grass. There was no magic besides the usual, all the way up to the horizon. I did see something strange however.

“Troy, there’s no big spells around or anything, but I did see a weird… I don’t know, there was a big change in the type of ambient magic floating around over that way,” I said, pointing in the direction we’d been moving already.

“Hmm, well I guess we’ll see what’s over there when we get there,” he mused. “I assume it doesn’t look dangerous?”

I shook my head. “No, it’s like there’s a change in the soil or something. Like the difference of magic between soil and stone.”

With my conclusion that it was probably just a change in the soil makeup causing the strangeness ahead of us, we moved onwards. The tension didn’t ease however, instead it grew. The grass seemed almost alive with potential movement now, attackers crouched low behind every tuft of grass. Nothing was leaping out of the grass at us though, no bandits or monsters to be seen. Nothing but grass and wind as the day wore on and afternoon threatened to become night.

The orange light of sunset  lit the vast ocean of swaying gold around us as Troy finally spoke up. “Alright everyone, I think this is far enough. We’ll retreat to the grove for now and—“

I’d been at the front of the party at that moment, and as he was speaking I took just a single, small step backwards. I gasped and wobbled as something strange hit me, my mind reeling from the weirdness I was experiencing. Taking another step back, I struggled to come to terms with an alarming fact. The tension and paranoia that had been our constant companion on the plains just… evaporated.

“Ryn?” Grace exclaimed urgently, rushing for me, only to be hit by that same strange wall of calm. She stumbled too, my arms catching her while her eyes went glassy with shock. “What the hell?” she asked in a high, confused tone.

“What’s wrong?” Troy asked sharply, watching us with eyes that now seemed so deeply paranoid. Had we looked like that a few moments ago?

“The… weird feelings, the stuff… I don’t know, it’s hard to describe,” Grace said quickly. “It’s like we just stepped out of a dream. Step over quickly, I think something has been messing with us.”

The others were suspicious, they hesitated for a moment, but then Adam nodded to himself and walked over to us. He gave a grunt, followed by a low laugh. “Holy shit, that feels so much better.”

With our friend having taken the lead, Troy and Kit followed, their eyes widening with surprise as the fog over their minds was lifted.

“That’s just mildly terrifying,” Kit said sarcastically, staring back out at the plains behind us that seemed like just a bunch of tall grass now. No shadows, no terrifying spectres stalking us right beneath the depths. Expression changing to a frown, he turned to the rest of us, continuing, “We stepped over a threshold here right? The weirdness slowly snuck up on us before, but when we crossed that line it just suddenly disappeared.”

“Like a defence mechanism,” I realised, turning to look forward. “Someone wanted to keep people away without going to all the trouble of killing them. That’s why there’s no animals here either, they would have felt what we were feeling and run away.”

“If that’s the case, then who is in here?” Troy muttered, joining me in staring forward.

On a whim I activated my mage sight again, curious if I could get a glimpse of something now that we were closer. Oh, did I get far more than a simple glimpse. There was the echoes of something huge underneath the ground ahead of us, something so massive that it extended down beyond my vision. Hotspots of magical energy dotted the thing, pulsing in ways that reminded me of a heartbeat or a mechanical pump.

“Oh, fuck me!” I blurted, realising what I was staring at.