Ryan’s eyes opened to a cell, the stench of urine and human waste clear in the air. The smaller than optimal room’s steel bars looked worn out, as if it would fall at the smallest touch. Its survival of the constant tugging seemed to prove it wrong if anything else. His eyes turned to look around, only finding an abandoned building, barely in one piece. Ryan could bet this building would fall over him and crush him to smithereens in a day or two.

He concluded that he was kidnapped and brought in an abandoned dungeon for questioning. At least that’s what he hoped. It would surely help if they were government officials than some criminal organization. The putrid smell of smoke reached his nostrils, alerting him to the scenario. He couldn’t have slept through a war, however likely that it might be.

The red light coming through the walls could only make him hope it the light of dawn, and not something much more sinister. Ryan’s eyes narrowed as he thought of a way to break out. The building was old, but the bars were as fresh as new, at least in durability.

His mouth opened wide as he nodded to himself. Unfortunately, his weapon had been confiscated, leaving him with nothing but his own body. Ryan turned back towards the wooden wall and charged at it with his shoulder in front. The surprising durability surprised the boy, but the dangerous shaking caused by his actions only seemed to strengthen his resolve.

Without much trouble except an aching shoulder, he managed to get out. The all too familiar sight of the place where time flowed differently appeared before his eyes, surprising him greatly. He could have been left in this place a day ago to say the least. That meant all his chances of getting accepted into the academy turned to smoke and disappeared from right before his nose.

That wouldn’t do.

He thought of a way to quickly exit the place, but the cry of a child shook him out of his thought process. Could there be a child abandoned in this forsaken place? He hoped not, but decided to see for himself. Upon nearing the location, he realized it wasn’t just a child, but many adults being navigated by guards.

It almost looked like evacuating from a warzone.

The line continued on until the gate of the city, where they had suspiciously stopped. Smoke blotted out the sun. The sky seemed to be frozen in one moment, not the smoke nor clouds moving at all, the sun seemingly stuck in an eternal dusk position.

Ryan noticed several panicking citizens and realized he too was panicking a little. He didn’t even feel the transition process, after all. It truly might be a war.

“He’s there!” A man shouted from behind, forcing him to turn around. Several guards were sprinting towards his direction, spears in hand. With a scowl, Ryan quickly entered into a building. Most of the doors were open and not even in one piece.

He climbed up to the second floor, using the porch to get himself on the roof.

“Shit.” He cursed as he started running through the roofs to the gate. These guards weren’t moving by the orders of the general, so he might find sanctuary over there.

A quick glance to the back revealed three of the guards having climbed onto it. The flat roofs didn’t serve as any form of distraction, some triangles letting the more athletic boy get a headstart.

The surprised look from those below evaded Ryan’s observation as his sight was on the road or on his pursuers. Then he surprisingly jumped onto another porch, entering the house. This one was more well kept than the others, some doors still working. In a vain attempt to slow the guards down, he started closing the doors after himself. As he exited the building, he could see that the guards had continued their movement, not chasing him.

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With his escape route blocked, his scowl turned into a grimace. Not to mention these guards were now climbing down three buildings in front of him. Ryan’s ears perked up as he instantly jumped forward, avoiding the swing of a dagger clearly aimed at his shoulder.

He couldn’t see the woman well enough the day before, but she felt… odd. Like the one from the day before. As if she was glowing.

The twin daggers in her hands swung relentlessly, giving him no time to rest. A faint smile appeared on Ryan’s face before disappearing without a trace.

“Is this your justice? Attacking someone innocent in the middle of the day?” He asked as he raised his hands, turning his back to the citizens.

“If you want to arrest me, do so. But can you do it? Before your citizens? With an unjustified reason as an excuse?!” Ryan shouted as he walked backwards, the citizens parting to let him through.

“You have guts, saying that after causing this incident!” Sonya shouted as she twirled her daggers around, some of the citizens blocking Ryan’s only escape.

“I think he will have to be judged by the officials, Miss Sonya.” A man said calmly from the top of a building, jumping down in front of the crazy woman. “As per the orders of the general, I will have to fight you if you refuse to.”

The man cracked his knuckles covered in gauntlets.

The woman seemed odd, but this man just felt wrong. Everything about him. From the way he talked to the way he moved. Even so, Ryan couldn’t quite place his finger on it.

“Anyone obstructing the path of the suspect will be deemed a rebel.” He said while walking towards Sonya, cracking his necks.

“Damn it!” She shouted while dropping her weapons. The man nodded, gesturing for Ryan to follow him. It seemed his instinct was right, as the man continued walking towards the gate.

The crazy woman seemed to follow them, but from a safe enough distance to give him a peace of mind. It was just absurd to go through so much trouble from a single suspicion.

Getting out of the city was supposedly a great plan, but the line had stopped advancing and several troubled looking people stood there, most likely high-ranking officials from their armors.

“...Shit. This thing isn’t budging.” Cursed a large man, staring at his dangerous looking blade in his hand. No human would survive a slash from that monstrosity. He shouted while repeatedly trying to cut through an invisible barrier.

“Why don’t we use the mage.” The man who leaded Ryan to the gate said, looking around.

“It’s not use, it’s ask. And I can’t find Joseph or Mavis no matter how much I search and call for them.” The man said turning around, his gaze landing on Ryan.

“You must be the trespasser. I’m the general in charge of Ironhall, Alex. I’d like to apologize for the idiocy of Sonya over there. She’s a little too hotheaded when it comes to things like this.” Alex said with a bow, turning to look at the barrier begrudgingly, as if it was his lifelong rival.

“It’s nothing actually. What I’d like to know is what happened.” Ryan asked as he shook his head.

“Fair enough.” Alex nodded his head while pointing to the city. “Suddenly a bright red light emanated from nowhere and the ground shook vigorously, and we found ourselves in this ruined version of the city.” He pointed to the outside of the gate. “We can’t get out or do anything for that matter.”

Ryan nodded his head. It didn’t add up. They couldn’t have travelled through time and appeared here, and the fact they couldn’t get out only proved it. The city couldn’t have actually been damaged. The only logical reason was… swapped.

“I might know what to do.” Ryan said as he gestured for them to follow, running into the city. “If I am right, time flows differently here. We must hurry.

As luck would have it, it was the very gate they had entered through, giving him a general direction of the entrance to the scorched land. In other words, where he had tracked back.

“Where are we going?” Alex asked as he easily kept up with Ryan’s sprint pace, in a rather jogging manner. The same was true for the other man that had saved him.

“To the hole.” Ryan answered between breaths. Talking while exercising wasn’t his thing, after all.

Alex nodded, followed by the benefactor.

Ryan stopped before the wall, in the alley with a dead end. He checked the surroundings to find anything that would signal this was a the right place, from the surprising lack of landmarks.

Alex broke the silence, noting something that Ryan would have never thought of, or even know.

“This building over here. It shouldn’t have existed at the time.” He said pointing to one of the buildings making up the alleyway.

“Here goes nothing.” Ryan said as he crashed into the wall, finding nothing but air on the other side as he fell through. A smil