The loud rustling of wind against blades of grass snapped his consciousness to the surface. His eyes flew open, and the first thing he registered was the sky. Mostly because it was red. Blood red.

A groan bled off his lips as he sat up. His fingers braced the compact soil as he did, the grass brushing against his skin in ticklish motions. It didn't take long for his eyes to notice the grass wasn't green. It was purple.

That's...strange. He knitted his eyebrows, looking around for some sign he wasn't going crazy. All he found was more of the red sky, the purple grass, and the fact he was on a hilltop overlooking a sprawling town. Where was he?

He scanned through his recent memories to find a clue. The library. The faction going against Xuijae. The book. Shamans. Magic. Something about...gates? A gasp hitched in his throat. His hands patted the side of his head, his chest, and his gut. No pain. He couldn't feel pain.

A small laugh shook his shoulders. Did he just heal himself? If so, why was the world so messed up? Did he cause that, somehow? Where was Nao-Zai? Chi-Sae? His clan and immediate family? Moreover, was there still an Imperial City here?

Just where was here?

Kai-Se braced the ground with both hands as he hauled himself up. He looked down, examining himself while dusting the flecks of mud from his fingers. It seemed like he was clad in a scratchy off-white fenhai with wide-cut trousers of the same color that hung to his knees. A pair of black shoes made of cloth covered his feet.

He held out his hands in front of him. Ten fingers. All working when he wiggled them. He felt the back of his head. Hair's still intact but probably longer and messier. He dusted the top of his head, wincing at the bits of dried leaves and other debris peeling from it.

That's when he noticed his sleeves. Instead of the wide ones he was used to seeing even with the people outside the Imperial City, the ones belonging to his fenhai were stitched so tight against his arms it gave him a view of how scrawny he had become. He frowned. Did that mean something? How in Amatesu's name did he even end up in these clothes?

He blew a breath and brushed his hair off his face. Well, whatever. Best to keep moving if he wanted to do whatever it was he came here for. He paused, the shade of a tree with bright blue leaves coming a few inches from the tips of his shoes. He had come here for something, didn't he? What was it? Why...

Panic settled in his veins, his mind whizzing through the recent memories, thoughts, and goals he had set. He came up with nothing. All he knew was that he was sick, there was something going on with Xuijae being in danger of being attacked, and then...nothing.

He ran his teeth over his lip. Nao-Zai and everyone else in his recollection were still there. But something...something was missing from it. Rather, someone, who should have been there, someone who was important to this whole thing. That person might even be the reason why he had to do what he did.

Which brought him to the question: what was it that he did, exactly?

Kai-Se continued walking, tackling the downward slope of the side of the hill. He kept the sprawling town in his periphery, noting the vast arrays of tilled land brimming with bright green buds he hadn't seen before. Whatever this place was, he could rule out it being Dangrao. Or Xuijae. Or even Shinjien, altogether. From what he knew of his world, the sky was blue, the grass was green, and the moon wasn't as pink as a carnation.

That's, of course, the latest addition to his growing list of strange things in this world. It was added when he craned his neck to the sky and witnessed the pink ball of what could only be the moon looming overhead. It was bigger than an average moon back in Shinjien but its pale crimson light made the sky redder and the silhouettes of pointy peaks on the horizon darker.

The road—or a rather lack of it—eased into a flat ground. Kai-Se swallowed against the growing lump in his throat as his eyes traced the wall of thick trunks and towering canopies greeting him at the foot of the hill. Shouldn't he have left? But...what about his goal?

Wait. What goal? That's right. He knew he had some sort of goal but he couldn't remember what it was. What's the next best thing to do? Wander around this weird place until he gets lost, get eaten by magical bears, perhaps, and die. Not strictly in that order.

He tucked his hands to his chest, feeling neither hot nor cold amidst the wind breezing through the undergrowth. Leaves rustled and a faint brush of the gusts touched his cheeks and neck, but they didn't leave enough of a lasting impression for him to sense if it was humid, crisp, or just right. Would he also be unable to taste food here? That sucked.

His soles crunched against the dried leaves and grass blades carpeting the forest floor. Hisses and clicks of critters rang and echoed everywhere. Branches groaned and trunks whined, as if they're all in the danger of tumbling down. He tamped down the fear crawling up his throat. It's fine. He'd survive. He had been through a forest before. Built a fire and all. He'd make it.

That's when his foot stomped on something fleshy on his next step. A sense of doom settled in his stomach as he realized his mistake. A frilled head snapped from the floor, hissing as it bared its fangs at him. Then, it lunged.

Kai-Se stumbled back, tripping on an aerial root and landing hard on his rear. A scream tore off his throat—a sound uncharacteristic from a royal like him. But titles and other pompous crap didn't matter. Not in this world. Up ahead, the one that did was rearing its massive head back, preparing to strike.

His thoughts fizzled out as he gazed into the creature's jade green eyes, scaled frills, and the fangs dripping with thick, yellow venom. Come on. Think. What's the best way to kill a snake? Nao-Zai would probably just swing his sword at it, cutting off its head or something. But Kai-Se didn't have a sword!

Just as when he thought his day couldn't get any worse, a wolf head peered from behind the snake's frills, snarling in aggression. What...

Before he could make sense of what he's seeing—a wolf head stuck on a snake! What?—the creature struck. It blurred. Kai-Se did the most courageous thing he could think of, which was to drop to the ground, throw his arms over his head, close his eyes, and wait for the pain to begin. A stringent cry. A heavy thud. Water splashing on his sleeves, his face, and his shoes. Two triumphant voices cheering.

Kai-Se raised his head. He was alive, that's for sure. His eyes wandered down his arms to find deep green gunk splattered all over his clothes and probably on his face. Then, the smell hit his nose.

"Oh," he gagged. It was worse than spoiled fish and rotten cabbages. Weren't senses being dulled in this place? Why could he smell this gunk like it was the only thing to perceive in this world? And to think some of it got into his face—

"Look, Jangseok," a voice speaking in a tongue that couldn't have been Rangsen-sai. Strangely though, Kai-Se could understand what they're saying. His eyes wandered to a pair of lanky somethings striding towards him with slimy, webbed, and bipedal feet. "It's not just the hanxin-zhou for us today!"

Kai-Se looked behind him to check if he was the one being talked about. Hanxin-zhou must have referred to the creature now lying sprawled on the ground by his feet. A single spear jutted out from its flank, right into the line where the scales met the fur. As such, it really was a snake with a wolf-head backend. Or was it a wolf with a snake-head backend?

"Don't be stupid, Waejeon. Don't say my name in front of the catch!" the other...thing said, smacking a webbed palm on its companion's flat head. The only thing Kai-Se could closely compare these creatures to were lizards. They have the same wide lipless mouths, tapered tails, and skin void of fur or scales.

All similarities to lizards ended there, though. For one, when the one named Jangseok, imitated a grin, rows of small but sharp teeth glinted from its maw. Their skins also sported random blobs of blue over their orange coat. The tapered tails also sported some sort of barbs jutting out from the skin like a club. And they walked on two hind legs, much like how Kai-Se and the inhabitants of Shinjien did.

"See, you said my name as well, Jangseok!" Waejeon yelled, huffing as it tugged at the vest it wore over its upper body. From the sound curling from the pulsing spot in the lizard's throat, it seemed to be male. Maybe. "Who's the stupid one now?"

Kai-Se made the error of moving his arm against the ground as he attempted to scramble away while the lizards were distracted. His movement made the dried leaves crunch. The lizards froze mid-argument, heads swiveling to him in unison. Their manic grins and the dangerous glint in their beady, yellow eyes were enough to freeze Kai-Se into place.

"Oh, look, Waejeon. The poor little thing's scared," Jangseok said. He was the one without the vest but wore some semblance of trousers instead. He stalked closer to Kai-Se and Kai-Se did his best to keep crawling backwards like a defective crab. "Don't be afraid, little blossom. We're not going to hurt you. See, we killed the hanxin-zhou for you, yeah?"

Kai-Se glanced at the unmoving creature a few paces from him now. If he could just get to that spear...

Something whizzed by his periphery. A weight knocked him aside, his cheek striking the ground. Of course, with his dulled senses, he didn't feel anything more than a light sting. HIssing laughter rang in his ears as the weight on his back doubled. Were they...were they sitting on him?

"It's amusing how these blossoms think they can fight us and win," Waejeon said through the crunch of his feet against the carpet of fallen leaves. Kai-Se squirmed against the weight on his back to find his hands were restrained from behind him and one of the webbed hands pressed his face to the ground.

A shadow fell over him. Waejeon bore something that resembled a sack with his fingers. "Hang on tight, little blossom," he said. "You'll be home soon."

With that, the lizard slipped the sack over Kai-Se's head. That's when he started bucking and flailing, doing his best to throw off the weight on his back and to prevent the sack's rim from tightening around his neck. Jangseok hissed. A strong blow slammed at the back of Kai-Se's head. "Stay still, you vermin!" the lizard shrieked.

"Quick, Jangseok. Tie the hands," Waejeon ordered as the twine laced around the satchel's rim zipped so tight he could feel the bunched-up cloth against his throat. The sack's muddy smell combined with the trapped remnant of the gunk on his face made it impossible to breath without feeling like he might throw up.

A similar sensation of twine biting his skin appeared around his wrists. "Hey, let me go!" Kai-Se yelled on deaf ears. Did these lizards even have ears? Maybe. It's the last thing he should care about. "I'm a traveler! You won't get much from me!"

Waejeon—or was it Jangseok?—chuckled. Kai-Se felt himself being lifted from the ground and slung over a narrow shoulder. The slimy hand slapped his behind to keep him from sliding to the other side. "Hybrids are always interesting, am I right, friend?" it said.

Its companion made a bunch of clicking noises. "I tell you, this one's going to fetch us a high prince in the market. Wait until Im-Daejeo hears about this! That bat's going to flip. We're finally going to be able to get our revenge on those lads who think they can steal our gold."

None of those talks made sense to Kai-Se. His mind, however, latched on to the thing they called him. "I'm not a hybrid," Kai-Se said, the sack muffling most of his voice. His every breath drew the musty cloth closer to his mouth but what choice did he have? He had to get out of here. "I'm human. I come from another world. I have a goal but I can't seem to remember it."

The sound of a hinge creaking and a door being pulled open replaced the lizards' chatter. For a while, he went weightless. Then, the light streaming from the threads of the sack changed from bright to dim. Kai-Se slammed into something wooden as Jangseok threw him inside what felt like a cart like he was rotten produce.

"Ha, good luck making someone believe that nonsense, little blossom," one of the lizards said with a light hiss. "We know what humans are. Ate them for all three meals too. You're not remotely human, that I promise you. I feel like you're not going to go down smoothly if I eat you."

Kai-Se struggled to at least twist to his sides to face the door. He could still tell based on the small pocket of pinkish light shining amidst all the dark spots in his vision. "Please. I'm not a hybrid," he said. "Whatever that was, I'm not it!"

"Yeah, and we're not bounty hunters looking to trade you for a little bit of gold for booze," the other lizard said. "Get a grip of yourself, little blossom. You're gonna need it when we get there."

Kai-Se didn't fancy knowing what "there" meant, but it sucked more not to. "Where are we going?" he asked. "Where are you taking me?"

"Buckle up," the lizards said as one. "We're going to the Crimson Market."

Then, the cart's door closed in on Kai-Se, drowning him in the darkness he thought he had already outran a long time ago.