When Leon reached what he assumed was the site of a battle between plant giants and the wounded manticore, he immediately used his antimagic again. He didn’t need it to be in use for long, but he wanted to confirm what he was about to do.

As expected, the remains of the plant giants and the still-breathing manticore were revealed for a moment before the illusion snapped back into place, hiding what he knew was there. So, when he approached the large pile of dirt and shrubbery that the manticore was being presented as, he reached out for it. For a moment, he wondered if this really was an illusion as his fingers brushed against the leaves and detritus of the illusory forest floor. It all felt solid, strangely enough, and he wasn’t sure how his tactile senses were being fooled.

However, as convincing as the illusion was, it was still an illusion. It resisted his touch slightly, almost like a sheet of the thinnest cotton or silk, and then it snapped, causing the illusion to fail, revealing the heavily wounded manticore, still lying there, bleeding from numerous gashes in its hide, breathing so shallowly that it almost seemed dead. Encouragingly, the illusion didn’t snap back into place this time, leaving the manticore exposed to his eyes.

[Leon,] Nestor said with great trepidation, [what are you planning?]

Leon, his hands still extended toward the manticore, paused. [These things seem hostile to the giants,] he explained. [Assuming Xaphan is right and this forest is being controlled by some overarching intelligence, I think these manticores might be resisting it.]

[And you’re going to try and help this one, on the off chance that it might feel some bestial gratitude toward you?] Nestor asked.

[That’s a little dismissive, but you’ve got the right of it.]

[You don’t even know how powerful this thing is, or if it’s even sapient!]

Xaphan then interjected before Leon could respond. [I think you should try it, Leon. You haven’t been getting very far on your own, so why not?]

[Hmm. My thoughts exactly,] Leon stated, and before Nestor could continue arguing, he lightly brushed his hands against the bloodied golden-brown fur of the manticore and whispered a plea for help to the tau pearl. The pearl was only too happy to oblige, and shining white healing magic flowed down through Leon’s arms, out from his fingers, and into the manticore.

[Reckless child,] Nestor murmured, but Leon ignored him. Instead, he focused on directing the tau pearl, ensuring that the manticore’s most grievous injuries were healed first.

It didn’t take long for all the damage to be healed. The tau pearl was powerful, and with the backing of an eight-tier mage, the manticore was healed in less than ten minutes. Leon was gratified to see the beast’s shallow, labored breathing calm down significantly, but it didn’t wake just yet. So, Leon sat on one of the fallen plant giants. It had looked like a fallen tree until his ass made contact, but the illusion failed as he sat back.

With something to wait for, Leon began to ponder his current situation. He didn’t know where he was, he couldn’t see the camp, and he was surrounded by powerful illusions. Having had some time to think, however, he realized that he had enough information to formulate a theory, and had some ways to try and get his bearings if that theory turned out to be right.

First, though, he asked Nestor, [Hey, dead man. Were you paying attention to the teleportation that got us here?]

[Of course I was,] Nestor replied.

[How powerful was it?]

Nestor paused a moment, and the reason why became clear when he asked in confusion, [What do you mean? Power can mean several different things, and it would behoove you to be a little clearer.]

Leon sighed in muted frustration, then asked, [In your opinion, have we traveled far? Do teleportation enchantments have distance limits? Is this specific kind of teleportation familiar to you?]

[How familiar are you with teleportation?] Nestor asked.

[Aside from the experiences in the Serpentine Isles, I’ve seen some bent space in Xaphan’s prison, and my father told me about a sphere of darkness conjured by a crystal of some kind that my mother and her clansmen used to leave this plane.]

[I see. Well, it should come as no surprise that, yes, teleportation has limits. Generally speaking, that limit is magic power. The farther away something is, the more power you need to get there.]

[How much power?]

[That depends on the method of teleportation. For example: those enchantments that you saw in the candle’s prison were connecting two fixed points, and those points weren’t that far apart. Once the connection is established, there isn’t much power needed to maintain it, but the initial cost to establish that spatial link is fairly high—maybe about as much magic power as an average sixth or seventh-tier mage has in their soul realm, I’d estimate. But again, it’s hard to estimate without knowing the exact distances.

[Something like this crystal thing your mother used is another thing entirely. I can’t imagine many such artifacts exist the universe, and those that do would be jealously guarded. You see, teleportation artifacts that can move someone across a plane are rare, but those that can move through the Void itself are even rarer. I think that that crystal would only have enough power for five or six people to travel from here to the Nexus, maybe. Again, it’s hard to tell. All I can say is that our Clan didn’t have artifacts like that, but then again, we didn’t really need them given the size and strength of our ark fleets.

[For the most part, teleportation is something done solely to move around a plane, not through the Void. When you have to move between planes, then using dedicated engines aboard large arks is the way to go about it. That way, you’re dealing with moving something of a fixed size, and the magic requirements can be met more easily without relying on what a mage has in their body. But it would still cost an ocean of magic power.

[To put it in perspective, our ark fleets arrived at this plane via teleportation, but once they arrived, none of our arks were allowed to teleport again, and had to move about the plane with their standard engines. Teleportation on such a large scale requires great resources and planning.]

[Undeniably interesting,] Leon said, genuinely meaning the words, [but what about how I got here? Would I be safe in assuming that didn’t require much power?]

[Well, let’s look at it, then. This forest’s teleportation is clearly a defense mechanism, and not teleporting between two fixed points, so that dramatically raises the magic power requirements. We also can’t say exactly how far you’ve gone, but since you’re still in this same general region, I should think that this teleportation probably cost a large amount of magic power, though not an unreasonable amount.]

Leon nodded. [I was thinking that maybe we haven’t been teleported as far as I might’ve assumed, and that the forest’s illusion enchantments are just getting in the way of that…]

As he spoke, he did what he realized he should’ve done to begin with, and began feeling around in his soul realm for his connection with Maia. At this point, finding that connection was practically second nature, but when he grasped it and tried to get in contact with his river nymph mate, she didn’t immediately respond.

That greatly concerned him since, in his experience, their connection kept them in contact over distances greater than the breadth of the Prota Forest. However, given the illusionary nature of the forest he found himself in, he supposed he wasn’t that surprised.

He spent several long minutes trying to get in contact with Maia, and just when he was about to give up for the time being, he felt the connection flicker in response.

Maia’s sonorous voice filled his head, barely audible as if whispering from across a large room, [Leon? Can you hear me?]

[I’m here, Maia,] Leon replied, a smile blooming across his lips.

She didn’t verbally respond, but, though muted, he felt a wave of relief travel through their connection.

[You disappeared,] Maia said. [We don’t know where you are…]

[I’m still in the forest…] Leon replied, quickly giving Maia an update as to just what had happened following the moment when he’d lost sight of the rest of the expedition.

[We’re keeping an eye out for you,] Maia replied. [We can’t see you, though. The red-eyed one is particularly upset.]

Leon smiled bitterly. [I think she’s just paranoid I’m going to steal whatever she’s dreaming is within the research facility. I don’t think I could do that even if I tried, though—getting into the place, I mean. But I’ve learned quite a bit about the powers protecting this place, and we can go over them once I get back.]

[How long until then?]

[I can’t say, so it might be best to head back to camp. I’ll try and get back before the day is up.]

Maia wasn’t too happy with that answer, that much Leon could feel, and after a moment when he presumed she was relaying his words to everyone else, she replied, [Elise and Valeria want you back before then. So do I.]

Leon’s bitter smile softened, but just as he started to respond, he noticed the manticore’s breathing start to speed up, indicating that it was close to waking up. So, Leon quickly said, [I’ll do everything I can, of course. This manticore is about to wake up, and I should focus on it right now, but I’ll check in with you regularly.]

Again, Maia paused, and when she replied, she simply said, [You’d better. We’re waiting for you.]

Leon sent back his love, which was returned, and he focused on the manticore.

As with everything else in the forest it didn’t seem to have any aura, so as it started to rouse itself, Leon got to his feet and assumed a more defensive posture a fair distance away. He didn’t draw his sword or channel too much of his power in order to not spook the manticore, but he kept lightning coursing through his body and his sword on standby, just in case the manticore turned out to be less than amenable to reason.

Or if it turned out to be completely incapable of reason, which was always a possibility. Leon was confident that it was strong enough to have a good chance at sapience—the plant giant corpses around it testifying to its power—but he knew that he could be completely wrong about everything to do with this situation.

As the manticore rose, it seemed a little dazed. Its leonine head moved slowly, and as it pushed itself up onto its paws, it started to walk in very slow circles around itself, inspecting its body. It didn’t even seem to realize that Leon was there. It beat its wings a couple of times, testing its strength, then leaned in to lick at its hide where some of its most vicious wounds had been. The way it bent its head spoke to Leon that it thought that it still had both of its horns, but the tau pearl had been unable to replace the horn that it had lost. It took several licks for the manticore to realize that it only had one horn left, and it immediately stopped inspecting its hide and began pawing at the broken stump on its head.

And only then did it realize that Leon was still standing right there, several dozen feet away.

The manticore froze for a moment, its burning red eyes locking onto him as it assumed a threatening posture. It spread both of its wings in an obvious attempt to make itself look bigger, and its massive scorpion tail curled up over its body, ready to strike at Leon with this venomous natural weapon.

Leon didn’t make any threatening moves, but stood his ground. He stared right back at the manticore, doing his best to project all the confidence that he didn’t feel in the face of this unknown threat.

And it seemed to work. The manticore, perhaps a little unnerved at Leon’s behavior, seemed to shrink back a little bit under the pressure of his attention. Leon wasn’t trying to exert any pressure with his attention, aura, or otherwise, but he was still a little tickled to see such a massive creature, replete with natural weapons, shirking away from him.

[Any advice for breaking the ice?] Leon asked his passengers.

To his surprise, it wasn’t Nestor or Xaphan that spoke, but the Thunderbird, whose arrival he hadn’t even noticed.

[Use your darkness magic,] she said. [This creature has no capacity for human language, so you must use communicate in a way that it can understand.]

Leon followed her advice, and reached out with his darkness magic. His heart beat madly as he halted his channeling of lightning magic, but the manticore fortunately didn’t justify his fear or paranoia.

When Leon’s magic reached out to touch the beast’s mind, it recoiled as if physically struck, and instinctively growled at Leon. However, after a moment, it shrunk back a little more and eyed him warily, and Leon couldn’t help but read a little bit of intelligence in its gaze.

Leon whispered into its mind, doing his best to convince it that he meant it no harm.

[You can’t say it like that,] the Thunderbird admonished when he was done.

[How do you even know what I said?] Leon asked, a little annoyed. His words and intentions were sent to the manticore only.

[I don’t need to hear your words to know what you said,] the Thunderbird sagely replied. [You have to be stronger. Lord yourself over this beast, make it understand that it stands in the presence of someone infinitely its greater. It will submit, as all such base animals do.]

Leon frowned deeply, and was grateful the manticore couldn’t see pas this helmet. [I think I’ll work up to that,] he tensely said.

The Thunderbird hummed in reply. [Do what you will, make your own mistakes. Just know that wild creatures respect strength, not compassion.]

Leon didn’t think the manticore was necessarily wild, but he didn’t want to get into that argument right now. Instead, he did his best to reassure the manticore that he was no threat, and in fact, was a friend, having healed the manticore of its wounds. He didn’t communicate with words, but instead visualized what he was explaining and attaching emotions to the images before sending them to the manticore. This was the first time he’d ever seriously tried to communicate in this way, and he wasn’t sure if it would work.

Despite the Thunderbird’s warnings, the manticore seemed to respond to Leon’s cajoling, and relaxed little by little. After about ten minutes, its posture had relaxed, its eyes, though still trained in Leon’s direction, were no longer locked on him, and flitted around their surroundings.

Recognizing how well this was going, Leon continued on this same course, and after another ten minutes, the manticore had relaxed enough to take a few steps toward him, and to not be alarmed when he took a few steps toward it. And then they took a few more steps toward each other, and then a few more again. Soon enough, they were standing in front of each other, Leon’s eyes about level with the manticore’s lower jaw, only about half a dozen steps between them, and Leon’s helmet back in his soul realm just in case in tried to communicate back to him in kind.

The manticore then made a few subtle hums and puffs, encouraging signs if the usual behavior was anything like the lions that Leon was more familiar with. He took another chance and held out his hand, and the manticore leaned in to give him a few inquisitive sniffs. It then tentatively licked his knuckles and pulled back.

All tension between them then evaporated, and the manticore sat down, its gaze still turned toward Leon, but now filled with curiosity and gratitude. Leon got the impression that it was waiting to see what he would do next.

So, he decided to ask a question, and did his best to ask if the manticore had fought the giants, hoping that the intelligence it had shown so far was enough for it to respond in some way.

As soon as the question was asked, the manticore growled and glared at the heap of logs and bushes that Leon knew obscured the remains of the plant giants. Leon didn’t need to speak manticore to understand that it hated the plant giants, and it had, indeed, been the one to fight them. However, any other nuances that the manticore might’ve tried to express were lost on Leon, as it while it attempted to communicate with him in the same way as he was, with its magic reaching out towards him, he couldn’t get much more than a general impression of what it was trying to say. Still, it was an answer, but he would have to content himself with nonspecific answers.

With his first answer, Leon then began to ask more questions of the manticore. He tried to refrain from asking anything so specific that it would require shared language between them to explain, but the manticore patiently listened to Leon’s attempts to commune.

It couldn’t explain the ‘political’ situation of the Prota Forest well, but Leon got the impression that manticores and plant giants were enemies—possibly even manticores and all the other beasts of the forest. However, it was able to express its utter hatred for plant giants again.

Leon’s questions about the research facility were a little more urgent, but when he asked, the manticore stared off into the trees for a moment, then turned back to him. A few growls and a feeling of fear told him that the manticore knew of the place, and that it was incredibly dangerous.

Leon asked if it could lead him there, or if it couldn’t, if it knew a way past the wards that he might use. He didn’t expect much, but what he got blew him away.

The manticore, instead of answering, began to pace around him—not threateningly, but after a few steps, it disappeared, and then reappeared a few steps away. It then disappeared after a few more steps, only to reappear a second time a similar distance away.

It circled Leon, slowly becoming invisible, then visible again, and Leon took it in as best as he could.

[It’s showing you the wards,] the Thunderbird whispered, though Leon didn’t need to be told.

[Fascinating,] Nestor said as he watched the manticore. [It has some control over the wards, yet it isn’t connected to the intelligence guiding these floral constructs or any of the other beasts you’ve encountered? How is this possible?]

[I don’t think that matters all that much,] Leon whispered as he intently watched the manticore. [Just pay attention. If it’s thorough enough in its demonstrations, then we might be able to figure out how to get past the wards…]

Nestor wisely shut his mouth, and he, Leon, Xaphan, and the Thunderbird quietly watched the manticore vanish and reappear again, with subtle threads of magic visible to them all weaving around the manticore every time.

When it was done, Leon had a wide smile on his face. With what they’d just witnessed and learned, they might just be able to get past the warded zone’s defenses, with a little preparation…