Ajax and Shaula quickly drop down so they can hide in the tall grass around them. The road is still very far away. They worry however that the natives of this place could have the same telescopic vision that they have. They move closer to the road while keeping themselves under the grass. They soon find a small thicket of green leaf trees where they can remain out of sight.

They look at the carriages lined up in traffic. The carriages are moving slowly and being driven by odd six legged animals. They have white fur all over, six furry legs and two soft black horns on their heads. They also have extended furry rears similar to insect abdomens.

“Those things… They sort of look like those cute furry moths, but without wings.” Shaula has seen pictures of Venezuelan poodle moths. These carriage animals seem very similar, except they have stronger looking legs and no wings.

“They are crazy massive though.”

These odd creatures are also about the size of adult bison. Ajax can see coachmen driving them forward, sitting elevated on the carriages. He points them out to Shaula with a trembling hand.

“Shaula… they have human bodies. Arms, legs, head…”

The two of them are a bit far to make out the features on their heads. The ones they can see are covered in jackets with their hoods up. It is windy today, so it might be somewhat cold after all, not that Ajax and Shaula can tell. These jacketed native creatures are odd precisely because they don’t look alien at all.

“We need to follow the road up to the city, Ajax.”

“Yeah, let’s go.” Ajax and Shaula follow the road a bit further while keeping their distance from it. This road soon merges into another road, forming a four lane highway crowded with the carriages. Eventually, they see a few individuals with their hoods off.

“...Human faces.” The heads of the natives that Ajax can see are clearly human. They have noses, ears, mouths, eyes, all in the right number and position. They have various skin colors, ranging from pink to dark brown. They also have hair on their heads, mostly brown or black.

“What the fuck? How the fuck can the aliens here look like humans?”

“Well, one or two of them have, like, fox ears on the top of their head, right? I think… I also see tails on those guys.” Ajax points out two of the coachmen who have furry fox ears on their heads. They also have tails, both out in the open and hidden, outlined under their jackets. Other coachmen with their hoods up have cloth animal ear flaps, but neither understood why until now.

These fox eared people have different hair color compared to the humans, but similar skin tone. Shaula can see a few with blue hair, pink hair, even snow-white hair. It seems far too even to be all dye jobs. Shaula sighs in exasperation.

“No, that’s enough, let’s head to the entrance, we need to get a better vantage of all this.” They decide to hold off their questions until they can see the city entrance. They continue walking parallel to the road. Eventually, they see a large forest where they can properly hide while watching. The two of them head to the edge of the forest overlooking an entrance into the city.

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They climb into one of the trees, each tree the height of a large oak and covered in long, wide leaves.

While basically invisible and far enough away, they survey the city gates. There are plenty of personnel patroling the area. These guards are covered in metallic armor and look humanoid as well. They are watching two separate entrances close to each other. At the smaller mouth entrance, a doorway, there is a line of people being inspected one by one. The much larger entrance is where the four lane highway terminates. It is a set of permanently open, massive gates.

The guards seem to be working efficiently to get the carriages through. They still inspect each carriage thoroughly for shipping contents and travelers, The line with people moves slower in comparison. Shaula looks at one male guard working through this latter line as he flips up his helmet visor. The armor does look more medieval in style, but seems to perform well. His face is visible now. He doesn’t have a tail out and his helmet does not show outlines for ears.

He is probably human, or so Shaula assumes.

“All these people here… they’re definitely human-like. Even the ones with animal ears and tails have human faces and bodies. That can’t be a coincidence…”

“What do you mean, Shaula?”

“Well, I’m just thinking that something sent us here, right? Wouldn’t it have been nearly impossible for us to blend in among a bunch of weird aliens?”

“Hmm. Ok, sure… But, how can humans be anywhere else but Earth? I mean, we evolved like–”

“You’re asking questions I can’t answer, dumbass, let’s focus on something more constructive… whoa, look at that!”

Shaula looks carefully at that same knight at the smaller entrance. A crisscross pattern of glowing lines appears on his armor as someone tries to argue with him. The person arguing has animal ears and a long bushy tail, clear as day. She tries to isolate the voice of the guard and the person arguing. She finds the conversation within a few seconds. She faces an unsettling realization as she continues listening.

“I-I need to see my sister, can you please let me into the city? I’m not some criminal or something, come on! I-I have the toll!”

“Sir, you need to calm down.”

“Why are you doing this!! I’m a citizen of this country, you have to–” The beast man becomes more frantic at being denied entrance.

“Lower. Your. Voice.”

The guard’s armor becomes brighter as he grips his hilt where his sword lays in its scabbard. The person he’s arguing with backs down. Shaula stops listening here and turns back to Ajax who is right behind him in the trees.

“Ajax. I… I can understand what they’re saying.”

Ajax looks at Shaula in confusion. There should be no way that either of them can understand the language of an alien world. Ajax listens carefully in order to find the conversation between guard and entrant. He soon gasps.

“Th-That’s not English, I don’t know any other language than English! How the fuck can I understand it!?”

Shaula points her ears towards some of the people talking in the long line.

“It’s because he looks kinda poor, you know? They’re not going to let someone in that looks like that.”

“Come on, sis, that’s rude. They’re just looking for an excuse, fuck this city.”

Shaula quickly turns to Ajax and frantically points out the siblings in line. Ajax gasps in shock.

“Th-That’s a different language than the one that the gate guard’s speaking! How the fuck can we understand that too!?”

“I-I don’t fucking know!”

The two of them listen in to the conversations of the people lined up, the guards, the carriages, basically anyone else they can see is talking. They can detect four different languages being spoken by the people in the area. They understand every single word.

“Jesus fucking Christ! What the hell is going on!?”