All over Draele you heard about Winsor, which was usually a city no one knew. Tensions ran high all over the Empire, which had not suffered defeat since they had lost their hold on northern Sahir centuries ago. No one knew the exact details of the situation except high-level officials and the people inside of the City.

Of course, Hannah was in Winsor, and today was the day that Esme made it back to the walls. She had gone scouting with Kayden more than a week ago, so the Mob was expecting results.

The good news was that Hannah was on the brink of mastering [Mana Bolt]. All she needed was to make the mana go through her arm a tiny bit faster and she would level, or at least that's what Edali had told her. Maybe she'd even learn a skill to help her control her mana easier! That would be the ideal outcome.

A beam of purple light shot out of her hand once again. They still hurt, but the burns were thankfully mostly gone. Hannah fist bumped in the air and smiled. Almost there!

"Good job on that! I told you that working would pay off."

Edali had sneaked up on the [Thief], which made her jump.

"Gah! Don't just come out from nowhere like that! I told you I don't like it!"

"Okay, sheesh. You're a bit stingy today, aren't you? Why's that"

"None of your business."

Hannah kept shooting incomplete [Mana Bolts] until she couldn't go any further because she'd run out of mana. Edali kept warning her about the effects that would ensue.

First, you felt light-headed and weaker than usual, but that was only when you were close to running out. When you did, you would pass out and 'maybe' die. Her teacher hadn't told her what the death rate was.

Hannah sighed and looked towards the city walls. Even from around the center of the city they were visible. Esme would be back soon and she'd finally see her again. It was strange how she had only known her for around two months but those months had felt like years.

She wondered if out there somewhere... someone was in their situation.

-------------------------------

Alice was hurt, confused and terrified. Why was she here? She had been on a plane... and suddenly she and all the passengers had appeared in a medieval town filled with Dragons? Lizardmen? She didn't know.

Right now they were all in a prison cell, and they had been in there for the past few days. No one knew what these monsters would do to them. One of her companions banged on the metal bars across her.

"This is unbelievable. How long do they plan on holding us in here?! We have rights!"

Another guy tried to calm things down.

"Calm down. Screaming will only alert them. Or make them mad. Do you want to end up like Micheal?"

Alice shuddered. On their first day, while they were being arrested, a middle-aged called Micheal panicked– well, they all panicked. He tried to fight and he got killed by the lizard people. It was the first time she had seen someone get stabbed.

She still couldn't get the image of the life slowly draining out of his eyes out of her head. Alice still had nightmares every night because of it. The people who had their phones on them at the time had them taken right before being thrown in the cells, so calling the police was also impossible.

Alice wished she knew someone here, but it was mostly silent around here now. During the first few days, there were theories about how all the plane passengers had seemingly been teleported here. Some people thought it was a government project, maybe the Russians doing something again. A few had even suggested that they were in a new world, however, Alice had only scoffed at this.

A new world? Really? That was unfeasible. She treated them like fools. They all did. Ever since then the people that suggested this idea had stayed quiet, only talking between themselves. Of course, this was just her own cell. There had been hundreds of people on the plane, and they couldn't all fit in there. They had been separated.

As for Alice? At first, she thought this was all a prank, of course. Until she saw a man get stabbed and killed. The young girl was still in denial though, and she thought the army or the police would come any day now... any day...

Suddenly, she heard footsteps. Everyone turned warily towards the noise and they saw it.

The Lizard people. Well, they were known as Drakes throughout the world, but no one here knew that. Alice slowly edged towards the back of her cell. She was expecting the worst.

"Listen up!"

Alice flinched. She still couldn't believe what she was seeing. Animals speaking English? It kept going.

"One of you needs to tell us what these are for."

It put up one of their phones. The screen was lit up, but it looked like the beast had put in the wrong code too many times since the phone was locked for a few minutes. One of the Humans screamed out.

"That's... that's my phone!"

The lizard beast answered him.

"Ah, right. You did call them 'phones' when you got busted. Come."

The man squirmed uncomfortably and walked to the cell's door. He was let out and Alice could see he was considering running for it.

They all waited a few minutes in silence until the man put in his code. Or tried to.

"No grabbing it. Just tell me the numbers."

"W–what are you going to do with it?"

"None of your business. Tell me what this 'code' is."

"F–five, nine, zero, zero."

The beast tapped the numbers and it's face contorted. Was it... smiling? It was hard to tell. It left in a hurry with the phone. Alice sighed in relief and sat down once again. Why were they all here?

A few hours later, the monster returned and each person was called one by one to go somewhere. Soon enough it was Alice's turn.

"You. It's your turn."

The lizard pointed at her. She had no choice but to oblige. No one had come back to them yet from wherever they were being put, so the panic was starting to set in. It was the first time she looked at one of them closely.

The beast had thousands of little dark blue scales with some lighter patches on his neck. Its eyes were dark, but the pupils were like vertical slits, just like most lizards. It seemed like it was self-aware, and that it could think and that bothered her the most. Where on Earth was she?

They arrived in a dark room illuminated by floating lights in each corner. There was just a wooden chair and a table in the middle. The thing gestured at her to sit, and she followed its orders.

"Okay. Let's start this then."

"Start what?"

"Who sent you?"

"W– Excuse me?

"Draele? The kingdoms of Sahir? If so which one?"

"I don't– I don't understand."

The beast sighed and shook his head. It got up and–

"Guh!"

Alice went flying at a wall. It had punched her! How– why?!

"I will ask again. Who sent you?"

"I don't know! I swear I don't! I was on a plane and then–"

It punched her again.

"You Humans. Pfff. You always say the same thing. Who sent you? What were you doing in Perthissil?"

Alice couldn't talk anymore. Each punch was like a truck hitting her, and she had already vomited on the floor. She was tortured for what seemed like hours until her body was covered in bruises and her face was a bloody mess. She couldn't think or hear clearly anymore, and she had passed out multiple times, but Alice was always woken up strangely by some strange light.

She was still limp in a corner when she heard the door open again. Another beast came inside and spoke to her aggressor.

"Same thing?"

"Yes, sir! The Humans all say the same things. First, they say they don't know anything and then they talk about a plane. What the hell does 'flying on a plane' mean? We don't have any [Mages] here, we can't see if they're lying–"

"Leave it for later. Put this one in one of the new cells."

"Yes, sir!"

Alice was dragged to a new cell. She didn't have the strength to move her legs or her arms. The girl grunted in pain as she was literally thrown in with no care what so ever, and then she passed out.

-------------------------------

The small town of Perthissil was in an uproar. Humans? Here? Why? Was it war once again? All these questions were directed to Thrassk, the leader of the city. Well, he was a retired war [Sergeant] who had become a leader.

And the problem was that he did not know the answer to these questions. What did these hundreds of children come here for? What were these devices they owned? There was no answer to these questions.

And the Humans had asked a lot of questions that Thrassk did not know how to answer. They spoke of something called the internet, planes that supposedly flew, and 'calling the police'. Out here? What kind of Human police force would come all the way down southern Irasal?

He sighed and cracked his knuckles. It looked like he had no choice but to contact the Drake High Command. This was beyond him, and he was starting to suspect these people were all innocent. Perhaps they were hit by a rogue teleportation spell but from where? These people did not know anything. He called out.

"Tressa!"

"Yes, sir?"

"Be ready to call a [Messenger]. I'm writing a letter to High Command."

"A-alright. Are you sure?"

"Do it."

And the history of the Drakes and Lizardfolk was forever changed.