I open my eyes to my bedroom painted in darkness. With eyes adjusted, I look around in a half-awake state.

'Oh, I woke up early again.' I think to myself and look for my phone. 'Five o'clock, okay. And it's Sunday. But what's that?' I look up.

An amorphous faint purple light fades in above the bed.

'That's odd.'

The light increases in brightness as an image forms on it.

'A forest? Looks nice, but what is this and why am I seeing it?'

I look at the edges.

'Don't tell me...a portal? Those trees don't look normal either.'

Then there was nothing.

'Where am I?'

I look around at the entirely impenetrable darkness.

'No frame of reference, nothing. No light. I'm not accelerating either, so what's all this?'

I fiddle in my pocket and find my phone.

'Total lack of light..this better work. Wait, am I in zero-gravity right now? That's cool. But I'm not dreaming after all, am I?'

Nothing meets my eyes after pressing the power button.

'No dice. Let's worry about that later, though. Right now, everything's all messed up. Let's make sure, though.'

I pinch my arm.

'Man am I glad for proprioception... It does hurt, so I'm definitely not dreaming. That's concerning. Nothing's happening, which means I should probably just wait a while.'

A minute passes.

A minute more.

Five minutes.

'This is boring. I'm not thirsty or hungry though, so that's a plus. There's got to be more to it than this, though.'

A bright light comes from below.

'Good timing, appreciate that. The forest again, though? Thanks for the heads-up too, I suppose.'

As I slowly float towards the picturesque image below me, I begin accelerating.

'This is gonna hurt.'

A bright flash fills my vision, and then a loud noise pierces my eardrums. Fortunately, my fall slows as I approach the unfamiliar earth.

My soft landing occurs a moment later.

"Fuck, that smarts." I complain into the forest.

'On second thought, be more quiet in an unfamiliar place. No idea where I am.'

I look up at the trees producing a shadow over me and express some surprise at the portal having vanished.

'Blue veins on the leaves? Yep, this isn't Earth. Sure feels that way though. Same temperature, same blue sky, no weird gravity going on. Only one moon, thankfully. That portal's definitely magical too, I didn't see any machinery or anything of the like.'

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With some effort, I get up from the ground and dust myself off.

'Finding myself in another world was more of a passing thought, but to realize it is something else entirely. Where's my state of panic, though? Is that supposed to come later? Guess we'll find out.'

"Anyway, what's going on here?" I softly say to myself.

The sound of a river comes from nearby. A squirrel scurries away at the sound of my voice.

"Well, at least the place isn't totally alien. That'd be cool but deeply disconcerting. A river's also convenient."

'Damn. Speaking of water, my socks are wet. Can't say I've been outside barefoot before, but I'll have to deal with it.'

The river would likely help find a town, or at least some gathering of people.

"People talk about how towns are built near rivers, let's try that. The river's slightly dirty and it flows that way," I point toward a more densely forested area on both sides of the river, "so the opposite direction would be the way to go assuming there is any civilization here at all. People dump stuff into rivers, after all. Nothing to do but try it, I suppose."

I begin walking at a slow pace.

Minutes pass. Trees pass.

I anxiously feel for my phone despite it being dead.

"Not useful anymore, could be a curiosity to sell for something though." I say into the air with a tone of boredom. "People here definitely haven't seen a phone if this truly is another world. Air's too clean for there to be much industry as well, unless I landed myself in the magical Sahara forest of prehistory."

'That does raise the question of whether it'd be better to have travelled in both time and space or just time.'

A cold sensation spreads on my back as if the gaze of some unknown entity landed on me.

'Really hoping I find something soon.'

Time continues to pass. I look up.

'Oh, it's noon. Doesn't feel too warm either, and the leaves haven't turned odd colors yet, so wherever I am I shouldn't melt unlike back in Florida. Not for a while, either. That's a relief at least.'

Soon, a clearing appears as the river continues through a plain. In the distance, a smudged brown line appears over the horizon.

'Could be anything. Check it out anyway, hopefully there's people that won't take my kidneys.'

Time continues to pass. A salty smell fills my nose.

'The ocean? Haven't smelled that in a while.'

"Looks like it is a village, that's helpful. Unknown place, population: Me and some amount of people. Better outlook for survival than before, that's for sure." I say with slight nervosity.

'Hopefully they're not dictatorial or anything. Need to not look crazy, too.' I do my best to flatten my hair. 'Bed hair doesn't create a great first impression.'

Time continues to pass. The distant sound of livestock moving is apparent. Thankfully, these sounds are familiar.

'Sounds like sheep and pigs. Could be cattle too.'

"So these people subsist on livestock and fish. They sell wool, probably textile products. Might be helpful to know." I say to myself. "Onward to civilization."

The people of the village mill about. The smell of manure is faint as I walk past fields left fallow.

'Considering that it's not snowing or anything, they probably harvested recently. They seem well off enough too. Hopefully enough to take a stranger in. How do I approach, though?'

That problem is soon resolved as someone turns to the sight of an unfamiliar young man in a red shirt of oddly high quality and marred black dress pants. Then, another person.

"Hello?" I say with an awkward wave.

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

Seer Xanyt-Nine was dutiful. As per his name, he kept watch over a region of the province of West Xanyt in the Confederation of Stars. He was one of few people with the privilege to serve the Internal Surveillance Agency of the governing Council of Light.

'To bring light to the darkness of magic. An inspiring motto, but hardly representative of what is simply staring at maps."

He calmly gazed at a projected map of the region which hovered above his desk. It would change in real time according to changes in mana. Anything strange shows up as blips of different colors representing types of mana.

'The capital is always buzzing with a variety of colors. A chaotic canvas, one could say. It does beat a dull room such as this.'

Xanyt-Nine takes his eyes off to look around dully at the sterile, dimly lit room as a sound emerges from the map. His eyes snap back.

'A large purple dot, near the coast. Spacetime mana, then. Where was that area again?'

He looks through a stack of papers for a map of the southern coastline of Xanyt.

'Finally, here it is.' A brief glance is taken at the hovering projection. 'Oh, one of those unnamed fishing villages. Such an odd type of mana to appear in a remote area.'

Xanyt-Nine looks to his right to see a masked man seated in clothing unusually elaborate for such a place. The mask has minimal detail and is out of place with such apparel. Intricate patterns twist around a robe with an eye on each shoulder. The initials 'ISA' are woven above both eyes.

"High Seer, I found something." He plainly says.

The High Seer approaches him. "Speak."

"A spatiotemporal anomaly has appeared near this village." Xanyt-Nine simply states while tapping his finger on the village on the map.

The High Seer responds with disinterest. "Call for an Inspector to report what happened and two Enforcers to escort him. Ensure their return within a week."

Xanyt-Nine stares for a second while in thought, then nods and emerges from his seat. "Sir."

As the High Seer returns to his station, Xanyt-Nine leaves the room to find his people.

'But what could it be?' He asked himself.