“Hey Human, is it true that humans can have red hair?” The girl asked annoyingly. The boy had left a couple minutes ago after losing interest, however the woman, Tali, seemed to have endless curiosity. She kept asking him question after question about random things.

A lot of the questions he had to dodge, like where he was from and if he was a noble. At this point he was almost positive this was not earth. Not only was this woman not human, but he had never heard about a swamp like this on Earth, so he had to be dodgy about where he was from.

He sighed, “Yes, humans can have hair in several different shades of red.” he said, hoping the woman would leave him alone. He still wasn't able to use his teleport ability, but last time he tried it the pain wasn't as bad so he was pretty sure he would be able to use it again sometime soon.

“Woah, our kind, the tiger clan, can only have black hair. Even our eyes are all mostly the same, I wish there was more variety in our species” She said with a pout, looking at his blonde hair with envy. 

Looking at her, and trying desperately to keep his eyes above her neck line, he shrugged, unsure what to say. “So, you're in the tiger clan?” He asked lamely.

Giggling she nodded, “Well duh”

“What are the other clans then?” He asked curiously.

She raised a brow in confusion, “Well uh, there's the wolf clan, which i'm sure you know about since they are the biggest. Also they were the most enthusiastic supporters of the human-beastkin war.” She said, but she paused when she saw him shake his head, “You’ve… never heard about the wolf clan?”

Cain smiled sheepishly, “Well, you're the first non-human I've ever seen before so… no, I haven't heard of the wolf clan” He didn’t see a reason to lie about this, if anything it would be better if he could make these people curious about him. It would give him a better chance that they wouldn't just straight up kill him.

“Well you're the first non-beastkin I’ve met before so I guess that makes us the same!” She said with a giggle, “So where is your ho-”

“TALI!” A voice shouted from one of the platforms, cutting her off.

She pouted before looking at him apologetically, “Well, I have to go now. My dads calling me. Bye-bye human!” she said, before flipping up to the top of the cage, and climbing the rope that held his cage up with shocking speed and agility.

Cain relaxed a bit now that he was finally alone and decided to look at the scenery to pass the time. After his initial shock had worn off, he could admire the place freely. He watched a flock of beautiful colored birds fly by, their squawking probably heard all around the village. Looking down he stared at the native flora in awe, the large reeds were probably as tall as a two story house, with lily pads that look like they could support a train. 

‘Although’, he thought bitterly, ‘I could do without these damn bugs’, he thought, slapping some mosquito-like bug off his leg in a panic. Bugs were his biggest irrational fear, right besides swimming and not being able to see the bottom. He would rather be locked in a cage with a bear over a cage full of bugs. It also didn't help that the bugs here were a couple times larger than the ones on earth, he hoped he didnt get some unknown and incurable disease from the little fuckers.

He winced after slapping the bug, his skin a bit raw and red from being in the sun all day. Laying his head back he thought about wanting to be in his dorm again, “Ugh” He grunted as pain lanced from his spine to his head. ‘Still a bit longer’ He thought glumly.

All of a sudden he felt his cage shake, causing him to sit up nervously, worried that the cage was about to fall into the water. To his surprise he didn't plummet several hundred feet into the murky depths, but instead slowly started to ascend. ‘Shit shit shit! I just needed a little more time before I could have teleported! Are they going to kill me now?’ he thought, getting more and more anxious the higher he got.

Finally, after several long minutes, he was at the top. Immediately he was hauled out of the cage by two large tiger beastkin and forced onto his feet. Looking around he saw that he was on one of the highest platforms, and for the first time he could actually see the tops of the trees.

Surrounding him were dozens of Tali's people, all of them of the tiger clan. Every one of them was staring at him as he was dragged in front of a large chair. On top of the chair sat a beast of a man, who had to be at least seven and a half feet tall. He was absolutely ripped as well, with biceps that could probably crush his skull like an orange. Looking in the crowd he also saw Tali and Kalu standing behind another large tiger-man.

The two beast-kin dragging him along threw him onto the ground in front of what he guessed was the guy in charge. “Human” his voice boomed out, “My name is Tian, and I am the Chief of the Tiger clan. It has been nearly three decades since one of your kind has been here alive.” he said, causing Cain to grin nervously. “So tell me, what were you doing in our forest?” he asked, his face carved from stone.

Nervously shifting around Cain shrugged, “Uh, I'm not sure?” He replied honestly. He really had no idea what was going on, and he didn’t feel like he would be in any better of a position if he said he could teleport to another world. He couldn’t even prove it at the moment. He saw Tali smack her face in the corner of his vision. 

The chief raised a brow, “You don’t know?” he asked, the slightest bit of incredulity in his voice.

Cain started bouncing his foot, “Yeah… I never meant to bother you though. If you could show me to the exit I’d be happy to leave.” He said with a nervous laugh.

The Chief looked at the two guards standing behind him, “Throw him to the Alchuda” He said impassively. 

Cain’s eyes widened as the two guards grabbed him, pushing him forward, “WAIT! NO! I JUST WANT TO LEAVE!” He shouted desperately, the guards however ignored him, dragging him toward a bridge. “I PROMISE I DIDN'T COME HERE ON PURPOSE! STOP!” He shouted desperately, he saw Tali looking at him sadly. The boy, Kalu, on the other hand looked excited.

Just as he was about to scream out again he felt something click in his mind, and he knew instinctively that he could use his power again. ‘I WANT TO BE BACK IN MY DORM!’ He thought without hesitation. Immediately he felt the air around him displace as he fell face first onto his dorm floor.

His roommate was immediately on him, “Cain! What the fuck happened?! Why are you naked?! What took you so long?!” He shouted in worry.

Cain just relaxed his muscles as relief washed over him, “I uh, met the locals” He muttered tiredly.