Hi there,

Thank you for reading chapters 1-3 if you have.
if you haven't, I strongly suggest that you read those first as Miscent is a continuing story and this is chapter 4 and 5. There are recurring characters.

―――――

Chapter 4
― Jacob ―

― ??? ―
Jacob wakes up, breathing in more deeply than he ever had before in shock. He looks around him, his eyes eventually settling on the darkness before him within what he thinks is some kind of cave behind a waterfall. Jacob looks around and finds that the cave is almost un-noticeably illuminated by the light that can get through the waterfall masking the cave, but finds as well that the wall feels strange, not quite like rocks.

“Where… am I? What happened?” Jacob remembers the events of his prom, getting shot, causing Jacob to feel his shoulder and his face, but remembers that he has gloves on.

“MOM! WHERE ARE YOU!?” Unfortunately, all that greeted him was the unfortunate roar of the water outside clashing and pounding against the stone making up the outside of the cave he finds himself in.

“MOM! CAN YOU HEAR ME!? HELLO!?” Once again, the roaring of the waterfall prevented his voice, no matter how loud, from being heard by anyone, including Jacob himself.

“OK…. Step 1: Find out where I am. Step 2: Find mom. Step 3: Get home. Step 4: Profit?” Jacob walks over to the waterfall, analyzing his would-be chambers as he finds light at the end of a tunnel.

“I know the line is that I shouldn’t go to the light at the end of a tunnel, but I’m not sure if I have a choice,” he thinks to himself and slowly but surely, Jacob walks out of the cave, allowing him to get a look at the surroundings of a lush forest.

“What am I going to do...” Jacob asks himself as he steps out of the cave, and through to the forest outside, in a mixture of fear, trepidation, and depression, takes the first step into a new green world.

― Forest ―

“Where… am I?” Jacob stands straight up listening to the silence of the forest, marred only by the sound of the water behind him, staring up at the sky full of Cirrus Clouds with what look like Nebulae behind them.

“Am I… on another world?” Jacob inspects the trees, finding them to be lush and green, but the sky seems to have a different quality about it.

“What is this?” Jacob hears a cracking of a twig behind him, causing him to whirl around, finding an old man, looking weak and frail, as if he’d snap in half himself at any moment.

“My name is Adcredo. Jacob, I mean you no harm, you can trust me.” Jacob shakes his head warily, blinking a couple times.

“What do you want?” Adcredo stares at Jacob for a few moments before he responds somewhat altruistically.

“I want, what you want. Simply to help you.”

“Why? First I get hit into a car side-view mirror, then I get shot, and the next thing I know, I’m here. What do you get out of it?”

“Why? Nothing of course. I’m just a monk, moving from one place to another in this prison we call life. I heard that you happened to appear out of nowhere, so I moved you to that cave... to protect you.”

“How do you know my name?”

“You talk in your sleep,” The old man says matter-of-factly, causing Jacob to stare hesitantly at the old man in front of him.

“What else did I say?”

“You had mentioned that you shielded your mother. But alas, nothing else.” Adcredo shrugs to himself.

“Might I inquire what a healthy looking young lady is doing out here in the forest? Where were you before you had ‘appeared?’”

“I… can’t tell him that I think I’m on another world, and did he say I’m a ‘healthy looking young lady?’ he probably thinks I’m Ellen too,” Jacob thinks to himself.

“Oh, no no, don’t misunderstand, I’m a man.”

“A…. Man… looking like that? If I had to describe how you look. it’s definitely not manly.” Jacob stares quizzically at Adcredo, questioning his wording, and before Jacob can inquire further, Adcredo begins to explain his meaning.

“If I had to explain, I’d say you look rather exotic. Short blue hair, somewhat plain.” Adcredo tilts his hand back and forth from left to right as if to emphasize Jacob looking somewhat plain, but somewhat exotic.

“It’d be really kinda funny…. If it happened to someone else.” Jacob begins to explain, as Adcredo looks skeptically at Jacob, while he explains.

“You see, I don’t normally look like this. This dress is my sisters, and I had to wear it to prom because she wanted me to break up with her boyfriend.” Jacob says, reasonably sure of his outfit, without even looking at himself.

“Excuse me young lady, but, you’re not wearing a dress.” Adcredo gestures towards the wayward youth.

“W-what do you mean? Of course I am.” Jacob looks down at himself, finding himself wearing multicolored tights, a multi colored vest and a short skirt, with boots.

“Re-Reflection! Mirror! Water! ANYTHING!” Jacob looks around rapidly and fearfully, causing Adcredo to nervously direct him to a nearby lake.

“Well, theres a lake over by the waterfall you came from over there.” He points over to the waterfall, leading Jacob over to it.

“Thank you!” Jacob cries more in desperation than gratitude as he rushes to the lake side, realizing little by little that the skirt of his outfit is significantly shorter than before.

― The Lake Side ―

The lake side of the water is a beautiful sight under any other conditions, where fright is not a concern. Jacob approaches the lake side formed by the waterfall flowing down the cliff-side above the cave, but finds that he can’t see a reflective surface.

“That old man can’t be right. He just can’t be. I was wearing Ellen’s dress! I have to be wearing it now! Oh man! She’s gonna kill me!” Jacob thinks to himself, refusing to look down.

“If I’m not already dead, It just doesn’t make sense that I wouldn’t be,” Jacob thinks to himself as he looks at the water, hoping for a glimmer of a reflection, but the water is too active to give an accurate reflection. Finding no source of reflection, Jacob follows the path of the water down the river, as he finally finds a calm space, allowing Jacob to see himself. Jacob finds that he has become a young looking Elven girl, with blue hair in what can only be described as, an Elven tunic with tights, boots and gloves.

Jacob pulls a glove off his hand and feels his new short blue hair, seeing his somewhat long fingernails. They seem to be approximately 3 mm longer than he expected. Jacob dips his fingers into the water, shivering from the chill of the small river before him, as he realizes that he’s neither dead nor is he dreaming, at least under normal circumstances. Some twigs crack under the weight of someone watching Jacob causing him to turn around quickly, finding the old man once again.

“My my, but Jacob, whatever are you sad about?” Adcredo asks carefully, but without tact, setting Jacob's emotions into a free-fall. Jacob tries and fails to get his emotions under control, and after a few moments, he shouts outwards.

“You… you wouldn’t understand!”

“Oh my, I should think you might like to try me, as they say.”

“W-What is this place?”

“This is a forest,” Adcredo says, as if it was obvious, leading him to sigh ad Jacobs next question.

“Yeah, I know that but… where is the forest?”

“This is the southern forest. Do you mean to say, that you don’t know where you are?”

“I… don’t. No…” Adcredo leans against the tree behind himself, stroking his beard.

“Well, this is the country of Fusoba, on the planet Messorem. It’s a very nice place to live, but occasionally, Heimr soldiers cause problems.”

“Fusoba? Heimr? Messorem? I don’t understand. How did I get here?”

“You arrived here using means that I am quite simply unfamiliar with. I was only told that you appeared out of nowhere. You can trust me.”

“I don’t understand!” Jacob shakes his head again, as if the thoughts of recognizing that something is wrong and doesn’t add up, but falls out of his head.

“With respect, you’d better start understanding. I am merely a humble old man. I cannot assist you any further.”

W-What? Why?” Jacob shouts towards the old man, half in panic and half in fear of death, and begins to beg for Adcredo's help before he responds to the un-asked question of where he might be able to go.

“You would want to journey to the villages to the north.” Jacob turns his back momentarily to look in the direction that Adcredo had pointed, but when his sight is returned to the old man, he’s vanished.

“Wait! Where are you!? Come back!” Jacob begins to hyperventilate, never having been alone in a strange foreign place before. The old man is nowhere to be seen, as if he never existed. Curiously even the twigs that he stepped on earlier appear to be undamaged by his weight. Jacob knows he was there, but there isn’t any evidence of his existence.

“AAAAAHHHHH!!!” Jacob takes a few moments, throwing stones, splashing water, letting his frustrations out, until he realizes the terrible awful truth.

“I’m alone…” Jacob falls to his knees in the small stream, uncaring of the temperature of the water. At this revelation, Jacob has one thing he can do in his current state of mind, as he starts to shed tears, pleading with the powers that be, to return him home. In his tear-filled sorrow, thoughts come to Jacob about his mothers and his sister, how he’s going to get home. Why did this happen to him? What would he do now?

― The Trek Through The Forest ―

Finally after an hour of wallowing in his thoughts, Jacob stands up and walks in the direction that Adcredo had directed him towards. Hours pass, as Jacob starts walking north, hoping that the villages to the north will be able to help him. For many, hours alone would be boring, but to Jacob, that time has become terrifying, allowing him time to reflect upon not only his current location, but his body.

“This forest is beautiful, or that’s what I would say if I wasn’t somehow an Elf girl.” Jacob seemingly pouts in his most desperate hour, completely confused at how and why this is happening to him.

“What am I even supposed to do now? Do I… somehow have a greater connection to the woods, like in all those stories?” Jacob walks up to a tree, placing his newly effeminate, but gloved hand on the tree and closes his eyes trying to feel out any kind of connection.

“OH! Right! my gloves are on.” Jacob soon takes his gloves off, and places his hand on the tree again, but even without his gloves, he feels no connection to anything beyond himself, and even that seems to be partially diminished.

Jacob walks north, breathing in deeply, realizing that this body may not be entirely a bad thing, as he walks forward with his head held high, tirelessly. He attempts to consider the positives, as he thinks about how he’s been walking for hours, but he isn’t tired, that this may be an opportunity for him to explore himself, but his thoughts soon turn to his family once again, and the last moments he had with them.

“I wonder how Ellen’s doing. And mom… are they even alive? Am I alive? That concert ticket better be worth this… If I ever get home…”

“How am I going to get home…?”

“AHHHH WHAT THE HELL IS EVEN GOING ON!” Several birds from nearby trees erupt from the branches, opting to attack the source of the sound.

“Oh no…” Jacob starts running from the birds as fast as he can, and further to the north as instructed by the old man.

“DAMMIT BIRDS! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

“Why am I not getting tired? This is such a crazy place!” Jacob continues rushing forward towards the city described to him, but he inadvertently falls through a pit into an old city ruin.

“AAAAAHHH!!!”

― Old Ruin ―

Jacob falls into the old ruin, from rooftop to tarp, and finally to the ground and despite several objects breaking his fall, Jacob still finds himself in pain.

“That huuuuurt!” Jacob lay there motionless for a few moments, before he stands up, surprisingly not as fazed as he expected. Jacob attempts to investigate the dark old ruin that he’s found himself in as he struggles to make out definitive shapes in the dark.

“What’s going on? Am I a superhero in this body or something?” Jacob blinks in the dark, staring up at the hole he made in the roof of the cavernous city he finds himself in, and then back to the dark. Under the light left by the hole, is a small brazier, but without some means of creating fire, it’s useless.

“Great… some flint would be nice… or better yet, a way off this planet.” Seemingly at Jacobs irritated would-be request, some flint falls down towards Jacob. Resolving to use this supposed gift from above, Jacob lights the torch, granting momentary sight, Jacob sighs at the newly lit fire.

“At least I have SOMETHING in this crazy place.” Jacob journeys forward with the torch in hand, as he finds himself in what appears to be an old city square, with statues of the founders.

“Aiko Kaminari, and Mirai. Slayers of the Immortal Demon King Amun, liberators of man. May they stay forever in our hearts.”

“I wonder who they were… I mean, I know who they were based on the statue plaque, but…” Jacob dismisses the thought as he realizes that he’s talking to himself. Jacob continues through the city, wondering where a stairway is, as he hears some rustling.

“I’m warning you! I’m a blue belt in Tae Kwon Do!” Jacob, expecting trouble, adopts a horse riding ready stance towards the invader. A mouse, or at least something that looks like one, rushes from the large pile of leaves it was rustling from, allowing Jacob to catch his breath.

“What even is this place? What did that old man say? Messorem? Fusoba?” Jacob wanders the area and eventually finds that there isn’t much to this ruin, but idly wonders if an archaeologist like his other mom might be interested in this place. He looks back at the light projected by the hole, seeing a man with a hood obscuring his face, Jacob panics and runs away. Jacob’s act of running however, only causes the man to give chase. Unfortunately for him though, in Jacob's rush, he runs right into a wall, knocking himself out.

―――――

Chapter 5
― Jacob ―

― Cage ―
Jacob wakes up, finding himself in a cage on wheels, being pulled by a horse. He looks at the cage from the inside and finds that it’s being pulled by a horse trotting along at a casual pace, being ridden by a man in a hood across a dirt path in a forest clearing.

“W-What happened?” Upon hearing the awakened prisoner, the horse-rider allows the animal to slowly come to a stop, and feeds it an apple before finally walking in front of Jacob.

“A-Am I a prisoner?” Jacob asks, fearing the possible answer.

“Prisoner? No?”

“Then why am I in a cage?” Jacob says somewhat relieved.

“Sorry, it’s the best I can do. That cage is for wild animals like a boar, and my horse is more or less for one person. That cage is unlocked. Go ahead and give it a try.” Jacob pushes the door of the cage, finding it readily swings open with a loud squeak.

“See? You’re OK. But I’d like to ask a few questions. Also, if we keep going the same direction, you might want to stay in there.” The man says somewhat menacingly, leaving Jacob petrified.

“What? Why???” The would-be prison keeper gestures to the horse being a one person horse mount.

“Ooooh… I see.” Jacob steps out of the cage, stretching his legs, finally getting a more or less calm look at himself, wondering exactly what had happened to him.

“You’re a strange one. You know that? Who are you? Where do you come from? The Northern City?”

“I’m from a place called Everlane, it’s a city in California.” Jacob says as he tries to convince the hooded stranger, but he tilts his head to the side in confusion.

“Well, I don’t know what or where this Cal-ih-forn-ya is.” Jacob notices his gloves, and looks down at himself with a frown.

“Ummm…. This is a strange question but…. Do you have a mirror?”

“Yes, I do, do you need to use it Jacob? You have some sticks in your hair.”

“Yeah, can I borrow it?” The hooded man grumbles for a moment, and rummages through his belongings, and finally pulls out a mirror made of polished steel, handing it to Jacob.

“I… what happened to me?” Jacob touches his face lightly.

“You knocked yourself out when you saw me. What do you think happened?” Jacob stares at his reflection, looking at his teeth, and nose, noticing slight freckles on his cheeks as well as the very strange blue hair.

“No, I mean, I didn’t look like this a few hours ago.”

“You didn’t look like what a few hours ago?” The mystery man asks, trying to be delicate, but comes across more aggressively, as he starts to put Jacob off.

“This!” Jacob gestures to himself as the feminine being he now appears as, with his arms stretched outward, bent at the elbows.

“You mean you weren’t a woman a few hours ago? What kind of sorcery is this?”

“I don’t know! I just know that I woke up in a cave behind a waterfall, I met some old man named Adcredo. He said he carried me into the cave for my 'protection' whatever that means.”

“Adcredo? I’ve never heard of him.”

“Who… are you? You sound familiar.” Jacob gets a better look at the man before him. He appears to be wearing relatively modern looking clothes consisting of some cowboy-esque boots, some corduroy pants, with a short sleeve shirt under the long hood and cloak. Moments later, the man lowers his hood, revealing himself to look very similar to a somewhat older Noodle.

“N-Noodle? Is that you?” The man stares bewildered at Jacob, given that the two of them have clearly never met, and now he’s calling him a noodle.

“Noodle? I have no idea who that is. I’m Edward. But most think I’m a thief so they call me Ne’erdoward.”

“Seems a little convoluted for a name, but OK. Can I call you Ned?” Edward seems to nod, as if he has no problems with Jacob’s request.

“How did you know my name earlier?” Ned seems taken aback by the pertinent question, and replies matter-of-factly in turn.

“You talk in your sleep.”

“D-Do I really? Adcredo said that too…”

“Well, now that we have my introductions out of the way, tell me about yourself,” Ned seems to say, as if somewhat impatient.

“Well, you see, it’s like this…” Jacob tells his story to Ned, as he leans against the horse drawn cage, sucking in the story, as if there were no tomorrow.

“So you’re saying that you, Jacob, are a man, who was bequeathed to masquerade as your sister in exchange for pieces of paper?”

“Your world is indeed a strange one.” Ned shakes his head defiantly.

“Well, when you put it like that…”

“If I might offer a recommendation?” Ned grimaces before Jacob replies.

“Sure, what is it?” Jacob, just being glad to be out of the cage, is receptive to any ideas.

“I have no problem calling you as you claim, but I study the unknown, such as that ruin I found you in. But others may not be so forthwith to understand. So you may want to fabricate a backstory for yourself, with a new name.”

“But… I’m just Jake… yeah, I guess that won’t work here.”

“What do you mean?” Ned assumes that Jacob is making some kind of “Earth Joke.”

“On Earth ‘I’m just Jake’ was an old phrase, it meant that ‘I’m OK’, and Jake is short for Jacob… but… never-mind.”

“What do you think I should take as a name?” Ned shrugs his shoulders.

“I think you should consider it for yourself. You don’t want someone else giving you a name,” Ned shrugs his shoulders again, giving legitimate advice.

“Uhhh…. For now, I want to be clear to avoid misunderstandings, so I think Crystal would be fine. You know… like being Crystal-clear.”

“OK, Crystal. You don’t know how you got here, for the most part where here is, or why you’re not tired?” Ned says attempting to summarize.

“But you’re from a planet called Earth, in a city-state of Cal-ih-forn-ya?” As if having never heard of that location, Ned shakes his head somewhat.

“Yeah that sums it up. I also don’t know how to get home.” Crystal groans at the difficulty of the situation.

“I think it’d be a good idea to talk to my city’s prophet. She’s a descendant of Aiko herself,” Ned suggests to his new friend.

“Aiko? That name sounds familiar…” The newly named Crystal puts his hand to his chin, pondering about his situation and his fate in this weird world as Ned explains about Aiko.

“Aiko and her husband Mirai slew the false god Demon Lord Amun, who commanded hordes of demons to attack humanity if we got out of line.”

“Oh, she was part of that statue in the ruins. How long ago was that? The statue looked pretty old.”

“Despite how she looks, no one knows for sure, but we estimate that it’s been thousands of years. The prophet isn't the oldest person in the room though. You'll find out when you meet her.”

“You’re sure that this prophet can help me?” Crystal stares skeptically at Ned.

“Not really, but it’s worth a try. Right?” Ned adds hastily, as if uncaring completely of the situation.

“I suppose… So… can… I ride the horse?” Crystal says hopefully, but unknowing how to even ride a horse in the first place.

“Do you know how to ride it?” Ned says somewhat insultingly.

“No…. I was never taught, can you teach me?” Ned stares at Crystal, confused at how he had never learned how to ride a horse.

“In what world do they not teach you how to ride horses when you’re a child?” Ned says confusedly as he’s never heard of horse-riding being uncommon.

“Ummm Earth?” Ned looks somewhat bothered by what he seemingly considers to be a foreign world

“I’d rather not have anything to do with it, thank you.” Ned shakes his head, somewhat frustrated at Crystal's backwards world.

“So what am I doing then?” At Crystal's question, Ned gestures to the cage, much to Crystal's dismay, causing him to grimace, and begin to complain.

“Why me… what did I do to deserve this…” Crystal pulls the cage door, and gets back in, sitting on the floor, prompting Ned to lock the cage much to Crystal's shock and surprise at his new friends actions.

“Wait! Why did you lock it!?” Ned shakes his head yet again, and shrugs his shoulders several times, indicating that he enjoys shrugging.

“For your safety. My city is more advanced than others, but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t real thieves and murderers or worse, in this area. We’re a long way away from my city.” Ned shakes his head, sighing to himself with yet another shrug.

“In that time, we can’t have people think that they can just ‘take you.’ If we’re to keep you safe enough to even talk to my cities prophet, we need to make sure they think you’re my capture. Elves are highly prized.” Ned immediately decides to zip his lips, not wanting to say anything more, but this only causes Crystal more than a bit of unease.

“P-P-prized? For what?”

“Trust me, you don’t want to know. If you’re even being half honest with me, you seriously don’t want to know. Not to mention, no Elf I’ve ever met has that shade of blue hair. Their hair is usually silver or jet black. Another thing. If you keep saying you’re a man, that could cause major problems. I’d really recommend going with the flow. Act however you want, but you really shouldn’t say that you’re a guy all the time.” Crystal gulps heavily, his imagination running wild.

“But I am. I’m a guy!” Crystal nearly stamps his foot within the cage uncharacteristically.

“Are you? I’d like to consider myself evolved and generous, but considering you don’t even know where or what you are, I think you should consider your options. A male Elf, looking like you do, could cause a major issue with bandits, thieves and slavers.”

“I’ll… think about it. Wait slavers?” Ned walks back to his horse without answering the question put to him. Crystal sits on the floor of the cage, dismissing his concern as having misheard something, and brings his knees to allow for resting his forehead, as he gradually falls asleep, worried for what his future holds.

― Evening ―

Crystal awakens to find the cage door is still locked, but Ned and the horse are nowhere to be seen.

“Wait! What? Again!? What is with this rotten world and betraying people!” A large burly man with a massive sword on his shoulder walks up to the cage, giggling to himself on his prized catch.

“Guh-hih-hih. Look at her, her hair is like water. Just like he said.”

“Who’s he?” Crystal asks with reckless abandon, struggling to keep his emotions in check.

“Your boyfriend sold you to us. Didn’t he fellas?” 3 additional bandits nearly crawl out of the dark chortling similarly to the larger man.

“Yeah boss. Just like you said.”

“But… he wouldn’t! He was…” Crystal stammers, trying to make sense of all this.

“Your friend? Ha, he was a common thief just like us.”

“I…. No…! He wouldn’t! He was Noodle!” Crystal stammers, broken-hearted, pondering his fate, as he rests his head on his knees as he cries himself back to sleep.

“Mom…”

― Crystal’s Dream ―

Crystal wakes up, finding himself on Earth at home, in his guest room, with the room looking entirely normal, like it always does, but the light is dimmed.

“W-Was it just a dream?” Crystal looks down at himself, finding himself still in his Elven tunic, giving himself a sobering realization.

“Guess not…” The guest room door opens, allowing for Crystal’s mom to walk in. Crystal tries to cry out that he’s so glad to see that she’s OK, but he can’t seem to say the words he wants to say, as if he’s in a dream. Crystal's mom sits in the chair opposite of him, as she glares angrily at her son.

“Who are you?” Crystal tries to say anything, but the words won’t come out, as if some force of unimaginable power is preventing him from begging for help.

“What do you want?” Again, the words won’t come regardless of Crystal’s intention to answer, and slowly but surely, he feels like he’s being crumpled into a box, as Crystal's mom gets the idea that there's something wrong and changes gears, asking instead about Jacob, not realizing the truth as she starts looking around briefly.

“Where is my son?” Crystal tries to gesture and point to himself, but before he can, he vanishes from his mothers sight as he wakes up.

― The Cage ―

Crystal is jostled awake by the sound of the fire being doused and the clattering of a metal bucket against the trees. He looks at the cage, and at the doused fire with the bandits nearby in the fog gathering in the early morning.

“What’s going on this time?” Crystal groans to himself in confusion as he sees the least likely face crawling up to the cage.

“I’m here to get you out of here Crystal… Jacob… whatever.” Ned sits in front of the cage as he fiddles with his keys, inserting one after another trying to unlock the cage.

“It’s you! What happened to me being safe?!” Crystal tries to shake the cage, in doing so, makes somewhat of a racket causing Ned to be somewhat commanding.

“Keep your voice down.”

“Why should I? You sold me to those… bandits?” Ned crouches down to the lock of the cage.

“I didn’t do anything like that. If you don't quiet down, you'll wake them up!” Ned harshly whispers as he continues trying several keys to unlock the cage as silently as possible.

“Why should I believe you?” Crystal narrows his eyes at Ned.

“If I sold you, then why would I still have the key? For that matter, why would I be breaking you out if I sold you to them?” Ned dangles the key in front of Crystal’s cage before jamming it into the keyhole as quietly as he can.

“Wouldn’t I have given it to them? They said that to try to break your spirit. Breaking spirits is very important to slavers. It helps to instill desperation driving the slaves to willfully stay with their so-called owners.”

“Why are you letting me out then?” Crystal asks confusedly, conflicted at the series of events before them.

“They killed my horse. That removes the need to keep you in the cage. Or didn’t you notice the cage is tipped over somewhat?”

“OK… good points… sort of.” Ned finally unlocks the cage lock, regretting that he didn’t throw the lock into the ocean weeks ago as he opens the door, but while opening the door, he finds it squeaks too much.

“Move away from the door?” Ned backs up as Crystal grips the sides of the cage. The door squeaks with every inch the cage door gets to granting freedom to the confined Crystal, but he feels that the squeaking is just too loud.

“What are you going to do?” Crystal kicks the door, causing him to get hit by the door as the squeak loudly sounds in supposed pain. Crystal isn’t sure how things work in this world and half worries that he hurt something.

“OUCH DAMMIT!” Ned frustratedly cries out, and quickly stifles his shout as to avoid waking the bandits. The bandits rustle in their sleep, safe in their knowledge of their bounty being secured as Ned moves out of the way, allowing Crystal to leave the confines of the cage.

“Well, I’d say thanks, but I’m not entirely convinced you didn’t try to sell me,” Crystal shouts quietly, not knowing what normal or crazy is in this mixed up world.

“I told you I didn’t, so I didn’t!” He whispers harshly as they sneak from the camp fire, and away from the slavers, towards a life of freedom, or so Crystal hopes for.

― Forest Trail ―

As soon as the two travelers escape from the camp, they begin to speak at an average volume. Crystal gets glimpses of the forest through the very early morning, finding it to look just like the forests he woke up in.

“So, what? They ambushed you in the middle of the night?” Crystal stares into the distance skeptically, wondering if this Ned is telling the truth, or if it’s a lie designed to do play the long con and wants to do something even worse..

“Pretty much, yeah. It’s not exactly my best moment.” Ned angrily blushes to himself embarrassed at being overtaken.

“But they said you sold me,” Crystal says, more accusingly than intended.

“Are you going to take a bandits word for anything? I told you, they were trying to break your spirit. Why would I tell you anything about my City’s prophet if I was just going to sell you?” Crystal despite his skepticism, agrees with Ned's logic.

“OK, so how long until we get to your city then?”

“Without a horse, it could take days. We need to be careful, especially in the early mornings like this.”

“But isn’t most everything asleep?”

“Not a chance. There are some pretty fierce Canum out here right now. Less though for big Cadent though.”

“Ummm…. What are Canum and Cadents?” Ned stops walking, glaring at Crystal, as if he asked a ridiculous question.

“What are you? 3 years old?” Crystal's cheeks puff up, out of character for him, as he attempts to defend himself.

“Excuse me for not knowing about a different planet! This is my first time in a forest! Let alone a new world!”

“Calm down before we attract attention!” Ned says as he tries to hush Crystal.

“Don’t tell me to calm down after the last couple days I’ve had!”

“No, seriously! We may attract attention! And not the good kind!” Unbeknownst to either of the two, a large animal has set it’s sights on the two wayward travelers.

“I’m just trying to make sure we don’t get the wrong kind of attention OK?” Ned stifles his shouts, as he looks in the distance, seeing an animal sneaking up on the two would-be friends, in the midst of an argument, mostly perpetrated by Crystal and his fear of the unknown of this new planet.

“First I have to dress up like my sister, I get knocked into a car window, then I’m shot! Twice! Then I wake up here, where I’ve been abandoned! LOST! SOLD! TRAFFICKED! WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?! An animal tries to eat me!?” Ned turns around in time to see a large Cadent creeping closer and closer to them.

“No! SERIOUSLY STOP! LOOK!” Ned points at the large animal, causing Crystal to look at it.

“That’s a big… Cadent.” Ned pales looking at the large animal before them, who seems to be getting larger and closer to them the more time passes, but one small piece of him hopes that its just perspective.

“That’s a Cadent? That’s not a Cadent! That’s just… a Saber-Toothed… tiger…!” Both Ned and Crystal gulp harshly, cowering as the large Cadent pounces at them. Crystal stares at the tiger, unable to move beyond cowering, as time seems to slow, and both Ned and Crystal disappear, causing the Cadent to look around confusedly upon it’s landing.

― Outskirts ―

The two travelers appear suddenly in the outskirts of Ned’s City, much to his surprise, once he sees where they are. Within eye-shot distance appears to be a grove of flowers, and behind them is the exit of the forest, and in front of them about 250 paces is the entrance to a large city and a blue phone booth.

“Hey Ned… why hasn’t the tiger eaten us yet?” Crystal loosens his tension, as he prepares to open his eyes.

“I… don’t know?” Ned questions as Crystal opens his eyes, looking around, and finds that the two are in a completely different place.

“Hey, Ned? We’re somewhere else,” Crystal proclaims matter-of-factly.

“What… happened?” Ned opens his eyes, finding that he’s in the outskirts of his city.

“Well, whatever happened, at least we don’t have to deal with that tiger.”

“Wait, what’s a Saber-Tooth Tiger?” Ned asks seemingly confused causing Crystal to stop in his tracks, glaring at Ned.

“What are you? 3 years old?” Crystal says echoing Ned’s previous sentiment.”

“Har har, that’s SO funny.” Ned rolls his eyes at his new friend, giving him a large area of sight for his befuddlement.

“I don’t believe it.” The would-be researcher looks around, befuddled by what he sees.

“What is it this time?” Crystal says angrily, unintentionally stamping his foot, unwilling to accept Ned’s response.

“This is my city, but we were… at least 3 districts away. We'd have to have crossed at least a couple mountains too!”

“How big is a district anyway?”

“A district is about 5000 paces…. Sometimes more.” Crystal assumes that to be about 2 miles.

“Whatever caused it, we can go talk to the prophet now right?”

“Yeah…” he says confused at the sudden distance change of scenery as a young looking woman walks towards the group from the less distant city entrance. She runs towards the two teens, pulling out a paper fan.

“Oh no… oh no no no!” Ned shouts, clearly terrified.

“What is it this time???” Crystal shouts in confusion as Ned gets on his knees, prostrating himself, hoping for forgiveness for something he’s unaware of.

“I’m sorry! I won’t do it again!” he shouts, knowing full well that he would be slapped with the woman’s fan for something he’s done. The woman approaches the two, and slaps Crystal with her fan causing a loud THWAP sound, knocking him out. She looks at Crystal and Ned as she speaks in a somewhat cold voice.

“You’d better take Crystal back to your place. When they wake up, let me know and bring them to me.” Ned in his frightened state simply nods emphatically, and soon he picks Crystal up and calls for a ride with a nearby phone booth.
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