The goddess looked at him with no expression, but Jay was not sad. He was happy to be alive now, but he turned to the hooded figures and thought about his current situation. He had to be alive for a longer time so he could think of a situation.
What stuff did he have on him?
No money, no sticks, no Electric stunner, what could he do to stun them? He didn't know any magical moves either. What else? His hands weren't bound, but he couldn't step out of the inner circle. The circle was just enough for them both to stand, and he knew that the circle was isolated from other circles, so no one could enter or leave.
He then remembered the card he got from the little cat demon. She was always jumping, so the older cat demon had given them a communication card.
Jay took it out and observed how to shoot it. The card was golden, and it shone the moment he took it out.
"He has a golden card, boss. Can we really kill him?"
"Yes, boss, if we do, everyone will want to capture us."
There were many shouts, but the boss didn't move and kept staring at Jay, as if he was the one who should be looked out for. Jay didn't believe he could thwart this blood sacrifice easily.
Jay moved the card between his fingers, trying to think of a way out. His brain worked fast, and the card kept glowing. A ball of light shot out and attached to the ceiling, making them all close their eyes. The golden light magnified, and Jay felt the girl approach him. She tugged on his shirt, and he slowly opened his eyes, and somehow, his vision was normal, and then he saw that she was indicating towards the gap in the circle. He didn't know how she did that because when he had noticed it first, the circle was complete.
He then felt that they could step out of this gap. He took a deep breath and then pushed himself through the gap. There was an invisible wall around him, and it felt like he was squeezing out through a narrow gap. The force around him made him gasp, but he had to get out because the light was diminishing. Before anyone realized, if he could get out, then they could be saved.
"Come with me!"
He managed to squeeze out, and he felt bad for the girl who had to face the same experience. But she walked out easily, Jay didn't have any time to think about it, and they slowly walked away from the formation.
He found that the girl dragged him out, and surprisingly, they were out. They had escaped.
"You-"
"Let's go that way!" They both spoke at the same time.
Jay nodded and answered, "Yes, let's go. Who knows when they will realize and start running for us!"
They walked for a long time. It was nearing night, and he felt hungry. They were still in the forest, but the trees here seemed different. They were at some other part of the forest.
"I'm Jay!"
The girl turned towards him and nodded, then turned around, and kept walking. He followed here. He remembered that the guys there had said that she was a nature spirit. He didn't know what that meant. He should have read some Introductory Magic books when he was home rather than playing video games with the little cat demon.
"Hey, what's your name?"
Jay was really curious about her.
"Huh," She turned back and paused walking, "I'm called Willow!"
"That's a really nice name!"
Willow nodded as if that was a normal answer. A beautiful woman with a beautiful name, she was sure of it.
"So, how did you, um, get caught?" Realizing that was not a very nice thing to ask, he added hurriedly, "I was walking near my home and I was knocked out, so I was wondering if they used the same means on both of us." He paused and slowly said, "That is, to capture us!"
Willow looked at him carefully as if etching his features in her mind, and when Jay was sure she wasn't answering, she replied, "I woke up there!"
Jay found that her replies were more vague than not getting answers from her.
"Okay, I don't know where we are, right now, we should find a way to get back!"
Willow nodded.
Jay and Wiillow for an hour and then sat down to rest because he was pretty sure no one was following them. He then wondered about the gold card and its sudden glowing feature. Whatever that was, it was pretty precious as it saved his life. He owed his life to the cat demons. He had to do something to repay the favor, and he kept wondering about the way to repay them.
"This!"
Willow handed a leaf to him, and Jay became confused.
She then acted out a scene of eating to show him, maybe she thought he was retarded.
"Oh, can you eat this?"
She nodded.
"Do you know the place of Outlands? I live nearby."
"It's three three-hour walk from here!"
So, she knew a way out of here?
"Can we go now? I'll be your host then. You can rest at my house before you go back home."
Willow didn't answer but motioned for him to follow her. And follow, he did.
But seeing the huge mouth of a tunnel before him made him stop. Willow had brought him to a tunnel, and it would have looked appealing during daytime, but at night, in darkness, it should be the stuff of nightmares.
"You sure we need to go through this?"
She nodded.
Jay thought he couldn't come off as a scared cat, so he nodded bravely, not knowing his face gave away his real feelings.
Willow kept leading, and they walked for an hour, and seeing the light on the other end of the tunnel, he was really happy.
They emerged, and he was surprised to see tree houses before him.
"Hey, what's this beautiful place?"
"Home!"
So, this beautiful place with tree houses with fairy lights everywhere was her home? It was really so aesthetically pleasing that his heart felt calm at the sight of the surroundings.
"Oh, Willow, why are you back? And you brought someone too, huh?"
Jay saw a short girl walk to them and nod at him.
"Sorry!"
"It's okay, I knew you would be back for a while. Stay tonight, and from tomorrow, your real trial starts."
What trial?
Jay was taken to a spare treehouse, apparently for guests like him, according to the words of the short lady, who was actually the head of the community. Jay found that he fell asleep quickly, and he didn't know that other people were whispering about him.