Their newest traveling companion was a strange one. Dustin had seen all sorts, nobles, merchants, bandits, outlaws, adventurers both low and high ranking. He had even the fortune to once do business with the vaunted Gelar family when he came across a Dimension essence. But Seras was by far the strangest.

While riding he found her often staring off into the middle distance, not unusual given her circumstances. But her eyes lacked a proper thousand-yard stare that haunted his dreams. He had once hired a girl who had been through something similar out of pity so he knew the look well.

Poor Phebe, at least she later took the bastards with her. Even if the Duke of Karstess covered up the issue as a favor to his dead half cousin.

When he asked she said she was just watching a ‘movie on my HUD’. Like he should know what that meant.

Then after a hard days of riding she hopped off his Heidal like her back wasn’t sore from the extended time in the saddle. Even stranger was how Jesse reacted when she got off, it was like a great weight had been lifted off her broad back.

Seras had even pitched in with setting camp, moving poles and oiled canvas for the tents with ease. When asked about that she said the this wasn’t the first traveling with ‘Badlanders’, and that she ‘knew the rub’.

During dinner when Dustin broke out the tack and dried meats there was a hungry glint in her eyes. Not unusual given how they found her. But she ate enough for three grown men, or one Petra. And the way she relished every bite you would have thought they had fed her the food of the gods.

Dustin wanted to warn her not to eat too much since food was tight, but the vigor with which she tore into the food made him pause. In the end he didn’t have the heart to stop her.

Then there was the way she stared at the night sky. Her fine celestine features were so filled with awe and wonder one might believe it was the first time she had ever seen the stars or moons?

She had talked and laughed with the other men during their meal as the sun was falling. But once night came an odd look came over her face and she wandered off to a flat rock away from the warmth of the fire. She sat with her legs pulled in tight and had her arms placed tightly around them.

“Boss” Flint said from his side. Dustin turned to his elven second in command. “We need to talk about the girl.”

“Not sure we can call her that.” Petra said from Flint’s side, “I’ve never seen any girl tell jokes that crass.”

Dustin remembered, even at his age he couldn’t help but flush at the downright filthy joke Seras had told over dinner. His nephew had choked on his tack when he heard it, and Dustin knew he’d have to answer some uncomfortable questions later.

“Alright,” Dustin agreed. But let's give her some space. It looks like she might be finally processing what happened.”

They all agreed and wandered out of ear shot. Even Dustin with his bronze rank hearing wouldn’t be able to know what was said.

“Something doesn’t sit right with me.” Flint said, upfront and blunt as always. It was what Dustin appreciated the most about him. “Things aren’t adding up.”

Dustin nodded “I was thinking the same thing.”

“We don’t know the first thing about her, and what we do know seems…far fetched. According to Petra she jumped into the river to escape her captors. You know what that river is like upstream of where we found her. Its swift, rocky, and falls down several water falls before it calms down. No normal ranker could survive that.” Flint stated bluntly.

Petra licked her lips and crossed her arms “I saw the look on her face boss, when I pushed too far. It was fear and dread. I believe her.”

Flint turned on Petra “Did she smell afraid?” he asked harshly.

Petra blinked, and a puzzled look crossed the Leonid’s face “Well no.”

Flint raised an eyebrow, “See, maybe she’s just a very good actor, but we both know that your nose doesn’t lie.” He turned to Dustin. “She’s a killer, I can feel it in the way she sized us all up. I think she might be an outlaw and the whole kidnapped and raped story is a cover.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

Petra still looked puzzled. “Now that I think about it, I haven’t smelled much off her at all. She doesn’t even smell sweaty after a whole day in the sun. if anything she smells good. Kinda like flowers.”

Flint ignored Petra’s musing, “We need to act before she tries someth-“

Dustin cut him off with a hand to the face. “Petra, what did you just say?” he asked pressingly.

The lioness blinked. “What, I said she smells nice after a whole day in the saddle. No one smells that nice after a day of riding.”

“What does she smell like?” Dustin pressed.

“Like flowers.”

“Any flowers in particular?”

“Um, no, just sort of like spring flowers, the kind that grow in places other than a desert.”

Dustin’s eyes went wide as he finally put the pieces together. He knew why something had felt off about her.

She fit all the criteria, the outlandish attitude, the accentless speech, the floral scent, the curiosity about basic concepts, her reaction to him and Petra. The nudity.

The only thing that didn’t fit was the hair. Dustin thought that Outworlders were supposed to arrive hairless.

Dustin Westbrooke had seen all sorts, nobles, merchants, bandits, outlaws, adventure both low and high ranking. He had even befriended a few outworlders in his travels. But never after they had just arrived, fresh as a newborn and primed to cause mayhem.

~~~*~~~

The time had finally come for Seras to finally start unpacking everything that had happened to her in the last day and a half.

She had been able to fool herself into thinking everything was normal during their peaceful ride through the painted desert landscape. Seras had even fallen into an old habit of pulling up dumb action movies the watch on her HUD during long trips.

She had convinced herself that these men weren’t any different than the nomadic clans of Badlanders that roamed the wastes in between the small oasis’ of civilization. Most outsiders never got any closer the Badlanders than the rifle barrels, but the odd chance of fate led Seras to finding and returning a literal busload of Badlander children. Thus earning their respect and hospitality.

Seras had felt so at home around that fire eating food that had likely never seen a lab or factory that she ended up telling a few of her raunchier jokes. Those always went over well with the tough as leather Badlanders, but Dustin and his crew seemed more ashamed to hear it than amused.

But as soon as the sun had descended, and the world went dark Seras was no longer able to keep up the illusion that everything was okay.

She had been running with the idea that this was a different world than her own pretty much from the beginning. It had been the first rational seeming idea she came up with that fit her circumstances, and Seras had just ran with it. Never really fully confronting what that meant for her.

But now everything was sinking in as she stared at the stars. There were so many! And not one of the twinkling little dots was a satellite or station. There were two full moons above her, moons that were both much larger than the pitiful rock orbiting Ruin. And she couldn’t see any trace of an asteroid belt formed of blast debris from the planet’s many craters.

This was a whole new world. One that lacked all the technological advancement of her old one. She had asked about a power hook up and the men had looked like she just grown an extra head.

She was supposed to go out in a blaze of glory. A legend that would be told for generations. Blackiron, the merc who was born in the lowest layer of Mantel, who had risen above everything, whose legend outgrew the world and ascended to do the impossible and rob Volta space station.

Seras hadn’t wanted to die on that job. If she had it her way Volta would have only been the start. After all, there were augs more powerful and coveted than her own military grade cybernetics. But if she had to die then Volta would have been her choice ten times out of ten. The reason corpos went into space was to escape the filth of Ruin. And she proved that even space wasn’t enough to stop her!

So what did she do now?

How was she supposed to adapt to a new world filled with magic and monsters. A place where the Gods had yet to fight and die their divine war? A place with threats like that golem, or those fucking bees!

Seras felt like she was spiraling.

Which of course was when Dustin chose to intrude on her solitude.

“Seras, can we talk for a minute?” the caravan boss said, his skin glowing faintly in the dark.

Seras sniffed and pretended that it was from the cold. Even with a nose that was made of silicon some autonomic functions couldn’t be coded out.

“Hey Dust, sorry about that joke, didn’t know it would be too far for your crew.” She apologized.

He grimaced. “It’s fine, I was too stunned before. Never in all my days have I heard a joke that foul.” He crossed his arms over his vest. “That’s not what I need to talk to you about.”

“Alright, well, I’m all ears.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re not from this world.”

Seras blinked, and panic roared through her system. Mentally she checked her power reserves, 8%. Not much, but she could only fill her stomach so much before it burst. It would have to be enough to deal with Dustin and try to get away. Now that she had some starlight to work with her night vision would be more effective.

Dustin and his crew had seemed nice. But Seras knew what people on her world would do if they found an extra dimensional intruder, let alone these primitive meat bags. Legends told of how impulsive and brutal people were before Cybernetics were invented to smooth over their rougher instincts.

Seras forced out a laugh “The hell Dust, where’d that come from?” if she could talk him down for a night then she could bolt in the morning before everyone got up.

“Don’t play with me.” He growled “You’re an Outworlder. You woke up naked and confused, no idea what is going on and now you’re spiraling. You’re not the first I have met.”

Her ID had listed her as an Outworlder, and now she confirmed that it was an established phenomenon. How many others had been involved in robbing a space station that blew them across the dimensional boundary? Or were there other ways for it to happen?

“Alright” Seras said, standing up, hands twitching for where guns would have been. She cocked her head in an open challenge “What do you plan to do now?”

To her surprise Dustin let out a sigh. “You have no idea how relieving that is to hear. We’ve been assuming something much worse had happened.”

“Much worse?” Seras asked incredulously. “How can it get any worse than this-” she stopped mid-sentence, then considered how a normal person might interpret her situation. “Did you think I was drugged and raped, then dumped in the desert?” her voice got higher with every word.

“No” Dustin said softly. Seras almost let her outrage fade, but Dustin continued on. “Petra said you escaped some pests by jumping into the river, we assumed that you had been kidnapped and escaped a bandit hideout.”

Seras blinked. “That’s even worse!” her outrage flaring. They had thought that she, Seras, Blackiron, freaking Cross had been some thugs joytoy!

Dustin nodded “Indeed, it is.”

Seras pinched the bridge of her nose. “Bees, I was running from bees.” She groaned.

“You jumped into a raging river because of a few bees?” he asked with a wry smile.

“Hey! Don’t you even start with me. They were all over me, and there were even some as big as my arm!”

He blinked, “Do you mean Desert bees, as in the monsters?”

“Yeah, those. So don’t you dare judge me for taking the only out besides death.”

“You survived a swarm of iron and bronze rank monsters famous for their incapacitating venom?” he asked, his tone also rising in pitch and volume. The camp had heard their shouting and had naturally formed a crowd to gawk at her and Dustin.

“There was also a silver ranked queen in there, but I got out before she stung me.” Seras said, crossing her arms in pride.

“By the Gods,” Dustin muttered. “What have I gotten myself into?”