“Come on, step on it.”

“Please...”

“Just step on it, trust me. It won’t hurt.”

A lone hunter, garbed in all black, muttered softly as he watched a rabbit hop around his trap. It seemed that the little creature could step into the trap at any moment, but every time it was about to do so, it pulled back just in the nick of time.

Sweat rolled down Kandy’s temple. The damn rabbit wasn’t playing with him, was it?

A few tantalizing moments later, the rabbit seemed to tilt its head in Kandy’s direction and snicker before bouncing along its merry way.

A supremely frustrated Kandy moved on—either his trap would catch a rabbit, or it wouldn’t. He would check on the trap again while making his way back home. For now, though, it was time to try his hand at a more active approach.

He pulled the bow off his back and nocked an arrow. As luck would have it, he soon came upon a deer. Perhaps it was one he’d hunted previously, as there was a scar across its left flank. Either way, it would be good sustenance for the camp.

Perhaps his father would even be proud.

No, that was too great a goal. But still, a successfully hunted deer wouldn’t hurt in that department.

His heart pounding with anticipation, Kandy drew back his bowstring and aimed. The deer had stepped behind a cluster of trees. To compensate, Kandy slowly shifted to the left to find a better angle, and… stepped on a branch.

The loud crack scared the deer away—Kandy shot an arrow after it, but in his haste the arrow soared past the deer and off into the distance.

“Just my damn luck,” Kandy muttered to himself as he kicked the offending branch into the distance. Now he was out his prey and an arrow. Worse yet, he was out of time. It was time to return home for the day.

He grumbled as he contemplated his options. He could still check the rabbit trap, but with how his luck had been recently…

Perhaps he could forage for some berries on his way back. At least that way he wouldn’t be returning home completely empty-handed.

A bunch there, a handful there, and soon his knapsack was half-full. Pleased with himself, Kandy began to make his way back to the rabbit trap.

That was, until he noticed some movement out of the corner of his eye. He quickly ducked behind a tree and peeked out around it. It was the same damn deer, with the scar on its rump, from before.

It seemed that fate had given him a second chance.

Just as he had done previously, Kandy slowly nocked an arrow and drew the string.

He took aim. Thankfully, this time there was nothing between him and the deer, and it was but twenty yards away. Kandy drew in a breath and prepared to release the arrow.

Suddenly, just as he let go of the bow’s string, a bunny hopped out from behind the tree he’d been hiding behind.

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Startled, Kandy’s left arm twitched, and the arrow sailed past the deer again. Not one to greet its hunters, the deer scampered off into the wilderness again.

“...” Kandy didn’t even know what to say. Was he supposed to blame the bunny? Or his own terrible luck?

Or, just his own bad aim?

Even the bunny seemed to mock him as it bounced away without a care in the world.

He sighed as he walked forward. Perhaps he’d be able to retrieve the arrow, at least. And so it seemed he would, until he saw a peculiar sight just a few steps past where the deer had stood.

An arrow, or rather, his arrow, was floating mid-air.

Perplexed, Kandy strode forward to inspect the phenomenon. He waved his hand in the air around, above, and in front of the arrow, to no avail. It seemed to simply be suspended in space.

Without anything else to try, Kandy took hold of the arrow and tried to pull on it, only to find that it was still very much stuck.

“What in the hells?” Kandy muttered to himself as he pulled again, harder this time. It seemed to slide backwards, but remained stuck in the air.

After another moment of contemplation, Kandy wrapped one arm around a nearby tree and used it as leverage as he pulled on the arrow with his other hand. Beads of sweat rolled down his forehead as he strained himself.

“Why did I attach the tip to the shaft so well?” Kandy bemoaned the quality of his work as he struggled to pull the arrow out. At this point, he’d be fine if whatever force was holding his arrow mid-air returned him the shaft and feathers of his arrow and kept the tip. After all, it wasn’t all that difficult to source and attach another.

After several moments of struggle, his great effort rewarded him as his arrow finally broke free of whatever confinement had been restraining it. Surprised by his own success, Kandy’s leverage against the tree worked against him as he abruptly fell against the tree and lost his balance.

Still, he’d gotten his arrow back. Kandy grinned and moved to stow his arrow back in his quiver when he noticed something that caused his expression to drop.

There were cracks in the air in front of him, along the edge of where his arrow had been stuck. As Kandy watched on in horror, the cracks spread from where the arrow was into the ground and sky.

All the way up into the sky. Interestingly enough, the cracks seemed to curve, as if whatever it the cracks were forming on was in a dome-like shape, covering a massive area as far ahead as Kandy could see.

As the cracks formed, the space on the other side of the cracks seemed to change as well. The ground and trees shifted, and a single dirt path seemed to form on the other side.

Right in the middle of that path stood a single, white bunny. But it wasn’t like any bunny Kandy had seen before. It had a set of red, glowing horns and a mystical glowing insignia on its back. Beyond that, its feet were quite peculiar as well—they almost looked like a goat’s.

The bunny and Kandy stared at each other through the cracks for a moment.

Then another.

Then… everything went to shit.

The cracks burst open, releasing a wave of energy. Kandy, thankfully, didn’t have far to travel as he had already been right next to the tree behind him. Still, winds buffeted him and pressed him against the tree, to the point that Kandy was sure that his bones were about to break.

Similarly, the bunny was blown backwards. Somehow, strangely, Kandy could swear that for a moment he could see the bunny surfing the wave of air on a tree branch.

But it was just a split second, and before Kandy could think more about it, the wind subsided and he collapsed to the ground.

“God dammit! Everything fucking hurts!” Kandy grumbled as he massaged his limbs.

He looked up as he rubbed his neck—and froze.

Before him was no longer the forest he’d been surrounded by earlier. Instead, it was the dirt road he’d seen on the other side of the cracks.

And most importantly, in the distance, he saw buildings. Not just a few, either. His gaze drifted further up, where a wooden gateway loomed over him.

Boomtown.