Cato stumbled over the rock and managed to catch himself on a branch. In front of him was the last few bushes and then open grassland. His throat burned with thirst and hunger, and his t-shirt and pants were uncomfortably damp and dirty. Perhaps those people in the village could help him.

He had finally made his way out of the forest. The sun had set already, leaving only a dim glow and the light from the huge red moon in the sky. The chirping daytime insects had given way to an unfamiliar warbling sound. What passed for this world's birds, some which didn't seem to have wings, had all gone to sleep.

It was good that the moon was bright enough to see by, not to mention the way the sky seemed to glow slightly. He could get to the village tonight.

A rustle from behind him made him jump.

He looked back to find himself staring at a dog-shaped creature the size of a horse. The dark coat made it blend into the forest's darkness at night and its paws padded forward almost silently. Uhoh.

His weariness disappeared in a flush of adrenaline and Cato broke into a dead run towards the village. Behind him, the dog-thing bounded after him, the low growl in its chest awoke some primal fear made his legs move almost without telling them to.

The creature didn't have much stamina, long before Cato had to slow down, the creature was already panting and heaving. Its heavy footfalls, unlike the stalking silence from earlier, told him that it was still somewhere behind him. He continued to press onwards, fear and tension coiling. That thing would eat him if he got caught.

And so a strange sort of chase ensued. Every time the dog-thing bounded up, Cato ran away, and it would eventually fall behind. Then both of them would slow down while regaining their strength and then another chase and escape would happen.

An hour later, Cato felt like his heart was going to explode in his chest, when the village cropped up over the next hill. The wooden fence had a closed gate but he could see lights and fire burning behind it.

"Help! Someone! Anyone!!" he screamed, running towards the wall.

The crunch of sand and soil behind him spurred him into a final sprint.

There were voices, tinged with confusion and alarm. He approached the wall at a flat out run and collapsed against the wooden surface, panting and wheezing. His legs wobbled and screamed at him. He tried to scream for them to open up but his breath wouldn't come.

The creature came bounding out of the night, running into the circle of illumination cast by the fires on the wall. A spear was thrown down at it, followed by an sharp blur. Then rocks and other things began to rain down amid shouts and clanging sounds above.

The creature took a few hits but didn't seem to be injured. Even so, it stopped short and flailed around, whining, before running back into the darkness.

"Bring him inside! Quickly!" voices shouted from above.

The gate creaked open and three people rushed out towards Cato. His heart continued to pound in his ears but at least it appeared that he was saved.

Then he got yet another shock of his life.

The woman in front of him had furry animal ears sticking out the top of her head. Her huge eyes also seemed to reflect the wavering light, the iris was sharper than any human's. Behind her, a long bushy tail waved around cautiously.

They're not human!

"Ugh," Cato woke up to a bright light shining in his eyes and something soft under him.

He scrambled up and fell off the bed with a thud. Ouch.

Come to think of it the same thing had happened to him just... yesterday? He looked around to see that he had been sleeping on a bed made of fur. The morning sunlight coming in the window reflected off the slanting roof that also doubled as a wall. The house looked like it was made of wood planks, with knobs and cracks that hadn't been sanded down. The other end of the room had a set of wooden stairs heading downwards.

So now what, was he going to wake up in yet another place?

There was a thudding from below as someone came running up the creaking stairs and soon enough a young girl's head popped up. She was the one who he saw yesterday. In daylight, she looked a little younger than he was. No, she wasn't a girl, she had those huge furry ears sticking out the side of her head and the yellow eyes.

Yup, still in this crazy world.

"You're awake! Uh, are you ok?" her eyes almost shone with curiousity. No wait, they were actually shining. What the heck?

Cato rubbed his head, something sounded weird there. "I think so? I don't hurt anywhere," he lied. Muscle aches were probably not an important complaint.

"Oh good! Mama! He's awake and he says he's fine!" she shouted back down the stairs.

"Can he come down for breakfast?" a woman's voice came back up. That was her mother Cato supposed.

"Well, come down when you're ready, Mama can be very scary if you keep her waiting. "

Before he could even reply, she disappeared down the stairs.

With a sigh, Cato got up from the floor. There was no toilet around here and his clothing weren't exactly clean after last night's trek and mad chase.

With another sigh, he picked his way down the steep staircase carefully, sincerely hoping the natives here at least understood how to clean teeth.

Cato gingerly washed his hands in the water barrel. There was no running water, no electricity and the sun was starting to get hot. He had to improvise a toothbrush with a bunch of sharp-smelling herbs on a metal stick. He also put off visiting the outhouse once he was told it was near the walls. Once more beating in the fact that he was not on Earth.

Was this how people lived before the modern era? Cato couldn't imagine how uncomfortable life was about to get for him. He still couldn't quite believe that none of the houses had a toilet but if they didn't have a sewer system then it was understandable.

He went back into the kitchen.

"Good morning! You must be hungry," said the mother of the girl from this morning. She waved to him from behind her mother.

Their clothing was plain. Mostly grey and brown fabric stitched together, Cato could even see that the edges had to be stitched inwards to avoid fraying but the quality was really bad. Or was it just his machine-made and dyed modern clothing having a tighter weave than any hand-powered weaver could make?

"Thank you," he nodded and received a wooden spoon and bowl of... something. The leafy vegetables and chunks of meat-like things floating in oily water was not what he thought of as soup.

Oh, it was quite good. The bits of meat were a bit chewy and... well, Cato had read somewhere than all meat tasted like chicken. He sat down and practically gulped the entire bowl down before noticing they were staring at him.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Sorry, did I do something?" Cato asked warily.

"Oh no," the mother said, her tail swished back and forth distractingly. Was she nervous? "You're just not quite what we expected. "

Well of course, he didn't have a tail. Perhaps humans here all had furry ears and bushy tails. "I'm not from around here. "

"Are you from Inath?" the girl piped up, ears twitching, "You look like a human!"

The woman shushed her frantically, "I'm sorry, please don't mind her. "

Cato shook his head, it was almost like they were frightened of him. "I don't mind. And yes, I'm human. Are you not human?" he couldn't keep a slightly incredulous tone out of his voice.

They looked at each other for a while then the girl's mother seemed to take the lead, "The humans are three days to the south. They call their country Inath. "

Are they were afraid of humans? "I'm not from Inath, I don't know who they are. "

The mother just looked confused. Then the tension was broken by the girl, "We don't know who you are either. "

"I- I'm sorry, I'm Cato Lois," he bowed. Oops, he had just gone ahead and eaten without even introducing himself.

Breakfast went more jovially after that. He got to try a plate of oily flatbread that went very well with the minty cream sauce.

He nodded at the girl from this morning, "what's your name?"

"I'm Danine, mama's Irld. Say, where did you come from if not from Inath? Those clothes look like they might be from Inath. "

Cato had to look away. Her eyes were glittering, actually glittering. How that worked he still hadn't figured out.

"I'm from Earth. "

"Where's that? "

Cato thought for a while. Come to think of it, where was Earth in relation to all this? How did he get here? "I don't know. I'm... lost. I woke up in a forest nearby and I just walked until I got here. "

Danine looked a little downcast at not getting an answer but immediately brightened up, "So, your turn. "

Eh? They were taking turns asking questions? Cato asked the first one that came to mind, "I don't see any adult men. Where are they?"

"Papa went out to tend to the farms. I used to help as well but the monsters are getting more active lately and we aren't allowed out anymore. "

Ah, that explained the wooden palisade. Monsters huh. "Was that thing I ran from last night a monster?"

Irld shook her head, "that was just a Reki. They're persistent but the more wild breeds tend to get tired easily. They're not that dangerous. "

The mood turned sour instantly. Right as Cato was wondering what landmine he had stepped on, Danine put on a smile and half-dragged him out of his chair.

"Come on, let me show you around the village. The Elka towers are really cool!"

Cato looked back at Irld staring at the table but couldn't find anything to say.

"What was that about?" Cato asked.

"A Reki killed my younger brother last year," Danine said, "It's why I'm not allowed to go too far outside the walls now. "

Oh. "I'm sorry for bringing that up. "

Danine nodded and they continued walking in silence.

The village was cramped. The buildings were clumped into rows, with barely any space between each house. Almost everything was made of wood, only a few buildings were stone. Fire was strictly controlled, only the central cooking fire shared by all families was allowed. When Cato asked about winter heat, Danine didn't understand what winter was. Sigh, more evidence that this wasn't Earth, as if he needed any.

Three stone buildings were in the center of the village and towered almost four storeys tall. They were more unique in construction, a solid pillar of stone surrounded by a spiral of steps jutting outwards at intervals, supporting a small wooden house. Why it was built like that became clear enough later.

Those were the Elka towers Danine named. Most of the villagers he saw had the same furry ears and tail but his jaw dropped when a person with massive wings glided overhead to land on one of the towers. He would have found it very hard to believe that people could fly but with a wingspan of more than five meters supporting what looked like a child's body, Cato wasn't quite so sure anymore.

Even so, they either required a ridiculously long running start, for which there was the central street that ran straight from one entrance to the other, or they dived off a cliff. Hence why they had built their homes so high.

The winged people, of which there were only two families, were called the Elka. The tailed humans were called Fuka and both of them came under the term 'demihuman', meaning humans with monster or animal traits. How these demihumans came to be was a mystery, especially once Cato confirmed that humans and demihumans were unable to interbreed. So how? He didn't dare ask whether demihumans and animals could interbreed but he suspected the answer there was no as well.

In any case, the toilets were less stinky than he imagined, the broad leafy plants used in place of paper had some natural scent removal properties, so it wasn't unbearable. It still stank though.

"Oh hey, is that the weird human you picked up last night?"

A large man with the same furry ears laughed and clapped Danine on the shoulder as they walked past one of the rare stone buildings.

"Good morning, Toal, hard at work again today, hm?" she said dryly, eyeing the tiny fire in the forge.

"Heh, not much to do," the blacksmith said, "perhaps I'll just take it easy. "

"Hey, Alison's shears still need repairing!" Danine frowned, "and what about those needles Mama wanted? Come on, get to work already. "

Toal turned to Cato with a perfectly executed shrug, "Almost like my wife's still around. "

"Toal, I'm sure she would be very sad to hear that's all you remember," Danine scowled, "surely not..."

"Of course not," he rubbed Danine's ears affectionately, "although if you grow any more beautiful, I might just have to ask for your hand. Hahaha!"

"Ew! No way! You're old enough to be my father," Danine smacked his hand away, "now stop teasing me and get back to work. "

Cato remained silent throughout the exchange. It seemed that he had stumbled into quite a dangerous world. Come to think of it, despite how cramped the village buildings were, there wasn't quite enough people in the street to occupy everything.

Had there been some sort of war recently? That might explain their animosity to Inath.

Danine was busy wrestling Toal back into the workshop when another Elka came soaring over the village. He banged on the metal pot loudly, crying, "Monster! Run for your lives! It's a Tremor!!"