The crowd around shrine that had come to view the ritual, had mostly dispersed by the time we had walked back. The guards had left once the nobles left the building. The area was still busy enough that we would have a hard time trying to find someone in amongst all the people. If she had left the immediate area, it would be almost impossible to come across her. We walked right up to the entrance and stopped outside.

“Well how do you want to go about this then?” Siofra asked as we came to a halt.

“I’m not sure, I guess if we start with searching the immediate area and take it from there.” I answered.

“Okay, are you sure that’s she is around here?”

“No… She did look like she was thrown out of the shrine. Lillia what’s the chance that the princess took her with her?”

“From what I saw and know of that girl, I’d say it was unlikely.” Lillia explained.

“Then let’s split up and make our way around the shrine. We’ll all meet up at the far end. If we haven’t run into her then we’ll decide what to do next.”

“Okay, who’s going in which group?” Lillia asked.

“Umm, Serin and Siofra with me, you and Altria take the other side?” I suggested.

“Fine.”

After that we went our separate ways around the building and the immediate area. Because the shrine was built in a cross formation, it meant we would need to walk the entire perimeter to see if the woman was still in the vicinity. We made our way almost to the far end of the building with no sign of her whatsoever. I was hoping that she wouldn’t have wondered far, but there was no sign of her.

Our group reached the far end before Lillia and Altria appeared, so we stopped to wait for them to catch up.

“What do you want to do if the others haven’t found her?” Asked Serin.

“Walk the nearby streets, maybe check in with the guild. Would they know if someone took her in?”

“I’m not sure….”

Our conversation was interrupted by the sound of shouting coming from one of the adjacent streets. All three of us quickly turned to the source of the sound. At the corner of the street closest to us a woman appeared to be trying to get away from a pair of ruffians.

“Get the fuck of me!” She shouted as she struggled to break free from their grip.

It was too far away to tell if she was the woman that had been summoned, but I wasn’t going to stand there and watch someone be attacked whatever the case. I made a split decision and ran over to the disturbance. I came up behind one of the men who was trying to drag her down the street. Without warning I slammed a fist into the side of his face, immediately dropping him to the floor. The man’s accomplice pulled out a knife and would have lunged at me, if Serin hadn’t been right behind me. She had already drawn her blade and had it directed at their throat before they even noticed her presence.

“Both of you get out of here before we call the guards.” Serin yelled at the pair.

They quickly did as she told them and ran off into the city streets. The woman they had been harassing was half curled up into a ball and crying. I knelt down beside her to check on her.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“No.” She said looking up.

I recognised her immediately from earlier, there was no doubting it. She was the woman, that wolfkin girl had summoned here.

“Listen… We’ve come here to help you. That was you in the shrine earlier, wasn’t it?”

“The shrine? You mean that building over there?”

“Yes… Somethings happened to me. I think I was kidnapped! I just woke up inside there in front of hundreds of people.”

“I think I can explain…. You weren’t kidnapped, not like you are thinking at least.”

“What? How do you know what happened to me? You don’t look like the police and you’re dressed just as weirdly as everyone else is around here.”

“Because the same thing happened to me. I was just fortunate enough to find myself in better circumstances than you did.”

“Just tell me where we are?” She demanded.

“You aren’t going to like this…”

“Tell me!”

“This world is called Lithsea…”

“This world?”

“Yes, you aren’t on Earth anymore.”

“What the hell? Like I could believe that!”

“You’re going to need to, it’s the truth. You need to come to terms with that if you want to survive here. There’s no turning back. I’m sorry.”

“Do you think I’m stupid or something?”

“No… Look, I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s the truth! See the blond woman there she’s an elf, look at her ears.” I said pointing to Siofra.

Siofra was helpful to move her hair so the woman could see clearly. The woman laughed as she did.

“Very good, nice costume… What’s the deal here, what’s everyone trying to make me believe?”

“Just the truth…”

I turned around to the sound of footsteps approaching from behind. It was Altria and Lillia, perhaps the woman might find Altria’s appearance a little more convincing.

“Altria come here please…” I asked as the pair approached.

Altria looked slightly confused but did just as I said.

“Look, Altria is one of the catkin. Trust me, this isn’t a costume.” I said pointing to Altria’s tail as it waived slightly.

“Yes impressive. There’s obviously been a lot of money put into that.” The woman replied, unconvinced by what she saw.

“Theo, what’s going on here? Who is this woman?” Altria asked.

“She’s the one that was summoned. I’m trying to explain to her what’s going on here, but she won’t even believe this isn’t Earth.”

“She’s the one, okay. Why won’t she believe you?”

“Because you’d have to be crazy to believe something like that!” The woman said, speaking up for herself.

I could definitely understand where she was coming from. If she didn’t even believe that she was in another world, she wasn’t going to believe anything else I told her.

“Can we show her some magic? Can someone do something a little flashy, but safe?” I asked.

“No. Magic use is prohibited inside the city walls, except for designated training areas. The penalty is pretty serious.” Lillia explained.

“Right.”

The woman burst into laughter.

“Yeah right. You can’t use it because it isn’t allowed…” She said sarcastically.

“Perhaps you should use your healing technique on her? I think that would bring her around quickly.” Siofra suggested.

“You might be right, but I can’t just do that to someone without their permission.”

“Why not just a little? Just so she believes you.”

“No, but you’ve given me an idea.”

I drew my blade from its scabbard and ran my hand along its razor sharp edge. A shallow cut opened up across my hand.

“Woah what are you doing?” The woman asked.

“Trying to get you to believe me… Lillia, do you think you could heal this for me?”

“I suppose so.”

I held my hand right out in front of me and in plain view for the woman to see heal in process. Lillia stepped forward and cast heal on my hand. Gradually the two sides of the cut started to knit themselves back together, right in front of her eyes.

“Okay, how did you do that?” She asked, for the first time sounding a little more responsive since I started to speak with her.

“It’s healing magic… Like I told you, this world isn’t Earth.” I told her.

“You really want me to believe that stuff, don’t you?”

“I just want you to believe the situation you are in. Sooner or later, you are going to realise this isn’t our world. If you survive for long enough that is. I’d just like you to listen in time for us to help you.”

“Look I’m not going to go anywhere with you or…” The woman trailed off mid-sentence and clutched her throat.

“What’s the matter?” I asked in a panic.

She couldn't reply, she was struggling for air. She tilted to the side and started to fall over as she started to lose consciousness. I managed to grab her before she hit the ground and without knowing what else I could do, I activated “Special heal” I had no idea if it would help. The woman still struggled to breath, and she didn’t regain consciousness.

“What’s the matter with her? How can we help?” I asked looking to the others for aid.

Serin crouched down next to us and held out her hands.

“I can only cast the most basic heal spell, but maybe it will help…”

Siofra just looked on helplessly at us, while Altria and Lillia both shared concerned glances with each other.

“Can’t either of you help?” I asked them.

“I don’t think there is anything we can do.” Altria answered.

“What, why?”

“Look.” She said pointing to the woman’s arm.

Her hand had already turned black, and it was quickly spreading up her arm.

“What is that?”

“Something I’ve only seen once before.” Altria replied turning to Lillia.