The night sky was filled with stars, the forest lush green as the smell of damp earth filled Shala’s nose. How she loved walking around at night after a heavy rain, her golden eyes then rested upon the three moons in the sky that hung above.

Two small white moons went around the larger blue-green moon, known as The Great Moon. All were full, the Elders of the Tulmak tribe believed that seeing this would bring demons down from the Great Moon, or so the stories told. But Sharla was a practical sort, she wasn’t believing in demons as the Elders did. Even the Cheiften, Ula, would ignore these fables as they had nothing to do with the situation of their tribe than some old wives’ tales.

“Sharla, wait a moment,” she glanced over her shoulder to see her bond partner, Hemel. His fur was a rare ash grey, while the hair atop his head was black. In contrast, the spots of his fur matched his braided hair and warm brown eyes. His build was muscular, much like herself as he was only faintly taller than her. “You know you shouldn’t patrol alone.”

She smirked at him with teasing eyes. “Are you worried for me Hemel?”

“I’m worried you’d take it too far.”

“As-da” she muttered a curse under her breath. “It was one time, love, one time. Besides, the Homs Tribe deserved it. They tried to steal from the storehouse.”

“I know, but still. Things have been strange this past while. The Great Moon looks even brighter than normal tonight. The Elders are worried it might be a bad sign.”

“When is it not?” Sharla asked as she rested her hands on her hips near her sheathed dual blades. “I understand the need for heightened security, especially with other beasts roaming about but do you think that for one moment a Night Beast will—” Sharla trailed off, her ears twitching as her clawed hands went to her daggers. Something was out there.

Hemel kept his hand on the hilt of his broadsword and sniffed the air before a bright light flashed like lightning only to vanish just as quickly, yet no sound followed. Pointing in a direction, whatever it was, it was nearby.

Quickly, the two leapt through the giant trees tracking what they saw and smelled before reaching the place in question. Hemel went down on all fours and sniffed the ground then motioned to Sharla. It was behind a large tree.

They rounded it, weapons drawn, but what they saw stunned the pair.

A human.

A human girl, with white skin, dressed in strange clothes and hair a striking red colour like that of a rose resting atop the large roots of the old tree. As if she had been gently placed away from nearby beasts by someone in the hopes that she would be found.

Instantly, Sharla put her weapons away and moved to check on the strange girl, hovering her hand near the girl’s mouth and then placing her ear near her chest. She was breathing and had a steady heartbeat.

“She’s alive, and from the looks of it, not injured.”

“Sharla her hair…”

“I know,” she responded quickly as she picked up the girl, the poor thing weighed almost nothing in her arms. “But right now, we need to bring this girl back to our hut. We can’t leave her out here with the Night Beasts roaming about.”

“Sharla,” he began in a warning tone.

“No, Hemel,” she replied sternly. “We are not leaving her here.” she looked down at the girl, she looked like she was just a kid. She was tiny, and if she were to stand would probably stop just at Sharla’s chest.

They could smell a storm coming, the clouds darkened the starry sky and shrouded the three moons making the Great Moon look almost ominous.

“The Elders are not going to like this,” Hemel muttered but followed Sharla without complaint. He glanced at the girl, when was the last time they saw a human?

For years, if any, humans lived far away from the great forests of Sansa.

And those with red hair…

No, for now, it was best not to think of such things. They just needed to make sure that this girl in strange clothes was well cared for and see if they could find anything about her when she awoke. If she awoke, that is.

* * *

Emma was tired. Too tired to move, to speak, to even open her eyes.

It felt like there was an oppressive weight on her chest one that refused to move. Yet, somehow, it felt familiar, as the smell of roses filled Emma’s nose. Was a person sitting on top of her? At least, that’s what it felt like.

Emma opened her eyes only to find herself back in the orphanage, then when sitting up she saw her arms and her legs, they were small. Like she was a child.

Her head turned to look towards a window, where a woman with long dark wavy red hair sat along the edge of the windowsill. Dressed in a loose white dress tied at the waist that contrasted with her tanned skin, she was looking up to the nighttime sky as heavy rain began to fall and thunder rumbled off in the distance. She then turned to look at Emma as if sensing she was awake, a faint smile on her lips. The lightning flashed but the darkened silhouette kept her face from being seen. And yet it felt like the woman was looking right at her very soul.

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Emma bolted upright, heart hammering in her chest as she took in deep breaths. What was that? It felt like a memory, but at the same time, Emma couldn’t help but hold a sense of fear. Was that even real, or a dream? She looked back at her hands before she turned her right hand to see the ring on her right ring finger, it looked different. It was gold but now the rose in the center was outlined with what looked to be silver or maybe platinum glimmering with some kind of red stone in the center.

Wait…

She scowled at her ring, this… this wasn’t like that before, it was only just yellow gold, nothing else, and there certainly wasn’t a red stone in the center, she wasn’t sure what kind it was as she wasn’t all that knowledgeable in gemstones.

She ran her left hand through her hair, pushing her bangs out of the way. Her head hurt; she couldn’t remember what happened. She was in class and then… nothing.

Then, Emma noticed her surroundings.

Laying on what looked to be a makeshift futon, covered in an intricate woven blanket in a variety of bright colours, the smell of musk and what she could only think as herbs filled her nose. Above her were lamps filled with oil, and what she looked to be inside was some kind of hut. It looked like a home but from a different time.

Her confusion mounted even further, where was she?

Then she heard voices, speaking in a language that she couldn’t understand, the flap to the hut opened and in stepped a man, no beast, no… both?

With silver-grey fur mixed with black spots like a leopard and warm brown eyes, he was at least four feet taller than her and given she was only five foot five that was saying something.

Then another came forward, a woman this time, one whom Emma recognized.

It was the woman that she had seen in her vision while fencing, only she looked to be slightly older now. What she saw wasn’t all in her head after all. This woman was real.

But the language that her and the man, was he the woman’s friend? A lover? Family? Emma couldn’t make heads or tails of what they were saying to her. “Wait, what?” Emma said drawing their attention. “I don’t… I don’t know what you’re saying…” Her eyes went to the flap and moved towards it, she needed to see outside, none of this was making any sense. These people, this place, all of it.

Before she could even reach it, the woman grasped Emma’s right hand, saying something again that Emma couldn’t understand. Emma was about to ask the woman to let go of her hand when something unexpected happened.

The ring on Emma’s finger suddenly began to glow, before sending an electric shock, or something like it came from the ring and sent Emma and the beast woman apart, the electrical current rushing through Emma’s body. It felt like she was seizing up, her body going into itself as she tried to cope with the pain as she clutched her head.

“Sharla!”

Sharla, was that the woman’s name? Was she okay?

Her body was still numb, Emma’s head was still ringing, her vision blurred. Her mind and body felt like it was entangled in thorns, prodding and jabbing into her brain and muscles like tiny needles.

“Sharla!” the beast man ran over to her. “Sharla, are you okay!?”

Sharla slowly sat up shaking her head. “Yes Hemel, I’m fine. I’m not sure what that was but I’m all right.”

I can… understand them? Emma thought vaguely as she felt like she was about to blackout. Only to be gently lifted in warmth as her gaze looked to the worried expression of the beast woman. “I’m sorry… I don’t know what happened but… I’m glad you’re okay…” she managed before falling back into the darkness.

“Hey, no, don’t blackout!” Sharla quickly set the girl back down and listened to the child’s heartbeat. It was still steady, as was her breathing. What in the world was that?

“Is she…”

“She’s alive,” Sharla said as she picked the girl back up and placed her back into the bed before covering her with the blanket. “She didn’t seem to know what happened either.”

“Still, that was magic.”

Sharla didn’t look away from the girl as she remained silent.

“Sharla, no one has seen magic in a hundred years. You know we need to tell Ula.”

“Then go and tell her, Hemel.” She snarled with bared teeth. “I want to be sure she’s okay. Whatever that was affected her the most. Like it was attacking her, I can’t just go get the Elders after that happened.”

Hemel was silent before leaving Sharla alone in their hut, from past experiences with her father, she expected to hear anger and outrage, but instead, Hemel came back with a fresh cloth, and two wooden bowls, one filled with crushed herbs, the other with water. She only looked at him with slight confusion as he knelt before her and gave a gentle smile.

“Then we’ll wait till she’s awake before we tell them, health should come first.” He then handed her the cloth and bowl of water. “Go ahead and get her cleaned up, I’ll stay outside, call if you need me, okay?”

“I will, thank you Hemel.”

He kissed her cheek. “We’re a team, I’ll always stand by you.”

* * *

The girl had remained asleep throughout the day and until the next night, all the while Sharla kept an eye on her in case anything came up. Thankfully nothing was amiss as Hemel remained to guard the entrance of their hut.

On the second night the girl opened her eyes again, the moment she stared up at the ceiling her sky-blue eyes drifted to Sharla, where the Beast woman sensed a slight twinge of sadness from her.

“It wasn’t a dream…” she said as her gaze remained on the woman for a long period of silence. “I’m sorry if you were hurt because of me. I don’t know what happened.”

“It’s all right, I’m fine. But what of you? You were asleep for two days.”

Emma grimaced as she forced herself to sit up. “It feels like it,” she then looked at the woman. “Where… where am I?”

“You’re in our village, we, my husband and I found you a few yards away lying on a tree root. We bought you here to help you recover. Oh, no, please stay still,” Sharla exclaimed when Emma tried to get up. “You should rest until you completely recover.”

“No,” Emma exclaimed. “I need… I need to see outside, my mind keeps thinking this is a dream, even though when I look at you, I know it’s not. I need further confirmation.”

Sharla wanted to refute, but seeing the anger and confusion in the young girl’s eyes, she found herself unable to refuse. And merely kept a few paces behind the girl in case she needed assistance as the red-haired girl hobbled over to the entrance, opened the flap and stepped out of the hut where a cool breeze brushed past her. The air was thick with the smell of rain as she looked at the sky as the clouds broke to reveal the stars and the light of the moon.

Upon what she saw, Emma’s already fearful mind plummeted into despair as she looked into the sky, where she saw not one, but two moons circling the Earth.

The moment she saw it, everything that happened on Earth came crashing back to the front of her mind. She had been brought here against her will to do something unthinkable.

“You hold the ring; this was chosen long before you were born. With one task, and one task only. You must help the Princess, then and only then, will you be free.”

Emma laughed. Small, almost insane laughter bubbled up from her throat. What the hell was this? Where was she? What was this place?

This couldn’t be real, this had to be a dream, yet no matter how long she stared up at the sky nothing changed. This was pure madness. This had to be…

She was looking at the earth. The very place she called home, now floating high in the sky with two moons accompanying it. She was in another world.

Lost, confused and had nowhere to go.

Emma collapsed as her laughter turned to tears and all she could do was cry not knowing if she’d ever be able to return home.