‘I was what, now?’

“Lost, or the Lost One,” Captain Rayden spoke up to clarify upon seeing my confusion. “You’re not the only one, who the Fae have snatched from their home and dumped who knows where, Grey.”

“Oh... OH! Th-there are others?”

She leaned back in her chair, a faint smile on her lips as I basically confirmed her assumption regarding the Fae.

“Yes, there are. I must disappoint you, though; as far as I’m aware, there is none in Castiana.”

But there were some in this world, someone quite possibly from Earth. Alas, it didn’t take long for my zeal to take a plunge and my ears to droop. If there indeed were those like me somewhere out there, snatched from Earth, it could only mean they hadn’t found their way back - or that they didn’t look for it at all.

“You w-wouldn’t happen to know how to... send me back, would you?

The sad look in Captain Rayden’s eyes told me everything: she didn’t. “Spatial travel is not as simple as the Fae might seem to make it out to be. And even if by some miracle a mage pulled it off, they’d have to know where to send you first.”

‘Shit! Shit, shit, shit! You stupid fool and your big mouth! You couldn’t hold yourself back, could you?’

“I... ”

Much to my horror, Rayden raised her hand to stop me even before I had a chance to think of an excuse for my Earthly origins.

“Don’t bother, Grey. Or you can try, but you should find yourself incapable of telling me, anyway.”

“W-what?”

“Didn’t I tell you the Fae are tricky to deal with? They always make sure that the Lost stay lost - in other words, that they won’t be able to tell where they came from.”

“But... I do know.”

“Then feel free to tell me, Grey. I’d love to hear it, believe me.”

‘Well, should I or not?’

If I wanted to go back, they would have to know where to send me in the first place, as she said. On the other hand, they wouldn’t be able to send me there, anyway, and telling them outright that I wasn’t from Eleaden, let alone that I hailed from another planet, didn’t sit well with me at all.

‘What about just my home? Yeah, that might be enough to start with.’

With the decision made, I took a breath, gathered my thoughts, and with a trembling voice, I launched into a description of the place I grew up in.

“W-well, I came from... from... a h-house...” The more words left my mouth, the less I found myself having to say. All memories predating Eleaden faded from my mind so quickly that a whimper escaped my lips. It was terrifying - in a few heartbeats, my entire life was gone, completely erased.

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“Don’t get all tits up, Grey. It will come back to you - just give it some time.”

“Y-you sure? What if I’m not what you say I am, and this is... permanent?”

“Sorry to tell you, but it’s not. I’ve dealt with a Lost before. Pretty funny fellow, with the runes behind his ears just like yours.”

Not bothering to feign my prior knowledge of it, my hands shot up to my ears. With all the focus then on my fingertips and domain, I quickly found runes strikingly similar to those on my chest. Hidden beneath the thick hair, fur and a layer of grime, there indeed sat two runes no larger than a pinkie nail - each on one side of my skull - perched above the groove between my ears and my head.

“Hard to miss those when you know what to look for, huh? They mean Lost, by the way. However, I’m more curious about the ones on your chest.”

With the blood rushing to my cheeks, I pulled my wings closer. Not that it mattered. Her perception, undoubtedly similar to the [Spatial Domain], must have been ridiculously better than mine for her to notice the runes. For one thing, even though she was sitting within the range of my weave, I was unable to see past her uniform.

“T-that’s where the bug, the Fae, pierced my... well, chest.”

“And killed you, I see. That might be quite troublesome.”

“What do you mean?” Did she know more about the runes than I did?

“Look, Grey. I’m not going to pretend to know all about the Fae. You’ll have to ask others if you want to learn more. But what I can tell you is that, even though it may seem that way, they don’t do anything on a whim. They have a plan for you. And to be honest with you, I’m not sure I want someone like that in the city.”

Understandable. If I were her, I’d kick myself out, too. Still, even though I had the feeling that the shitty bug wasn’t done with me yet, hearing her say that was like a hard punch in the gut. After going through all the shit to get here, shedding the fear of being seen as nothing but a freak, I was about to be cast out for something I didn’t even know I was.

“On the other hand,” spoke Captain Rayden after a moment’s thought that felt like hours of torture to me. “It sent you to Esulmor for a reason. And as such, it might be wise to keep you close.”

‘Okay, that somehow sounded even worse than the first option.’

Actually, a shiver ran down my spine at the thought of ending up locked in another cell, never to see the light of day again.

“I’ll - I’ll go somewhere else... just let me leave the city... please.”

Oddly enough, my pathetic, desperate plea seemed to hurt Captain Rayden. “My bad, Grey. Didn’t mean to scare you shitless, let alone give you the impression I’m going to have you chained up or handed over to someone of Dungreen’s mold.”

“Y-you’re not?”

“Of course not. If you want, you’re free to leave the city. Although I’d think twice about it if I were you. You see, the Sahal Empire has seen better days. And you’re, shall we say, far too unique to look at to not pique one’s interest, which is not always a good thing - in fact, in most cases, it’s not. Speaking of which,” she said, leaning closer to me, her eyes wandering all over my body. “Could you quell MY intrigue and tell me what exactly Frederic Dungreen made you into? I’d hate to let a shifter into the city only to find out she’s on the verge of going feral.”

“You... you’re thinking of letting me in?”

“That depends on what you tell me.”

“What about the bitch - I mean the mind mages... and the Fae?”

“The reason I was going to advise you not to leave Castiana until further notice. There are people out there who will want to talk to you about all this.”

“Those a-agents?”

“You catch on fast. Good, you’re gonna need that smarts not to get lost around.”

“Am I not Lost already?” A witty remark, for sure, but as the relief of not being thrown out or threatened with arrest settled in, I couldn’t help myself.

The Captain’s corners lifted slightly, but her gaze remained stern. “My assumption, at the moment. BUT, if you want to be certain and for me to authorize you for Sahal citizenship, I will need to take a look at your brain and make sure that it’s not just the work of a mind mage, that they haven’t left a trace in your brain. You see, once inside, they tend to leave a back door for themselves, so to speak.”

Horror replaced the relief.

‘Shit! They did what now? And what the bloody heck did she mean by looking at my brain?’