A bitter cold chills him to the very core, while blinding bright colors strobe in his vision. Blues and greens, reds and purples swirl through every inch of his sightline. Wrapping his arms around himself to ward off the chill, he finds that he is fully unclothed, bare to the world. Well, maybe not the world, but whatever trippy hellscape he is…falling through? There is definitely a sense of motion, but without a specific pull from any direction. With only endless shifting hues in every direction there is no horizon, making him feel equally exposed and claustrophobic.

  Then, like it had always been there, a semi-transparent wall of blue sits inches from his face. For just a moment, this first physical object gives him a sense of direction and he realizes he is moving quickly toward it. With barely a moment to process that though, he is colliding with the wall. He does not quite pass through it, as much as he is unmade and remade on the other side. A loud tearing sound draws his eyes behind him to give him a quick view of the hole he has left in the wall. He hadn’t broken it. Instead, he had been remade from the material of the wall and left behind empty space. In another moment, it closes and he is plummeting again through the colorful void, leaving the wall behind. His body, no longer cold, starts to experience things that are not quite physical. A feeling of stretching starts in his solar plexus, not in his flesh but deeper than that. A similar feeling happens in his brain, but a pulling instead, as though something were being taken. It quickly vanishes, replaced by a sense of unexplainable loss.

  It is all just overwhelming. The quickly changing colors, objects popping into and out of existence and unfamiliar feelings, a sense of panic begins to build and he begins to hyperventilate.

  “This is too much,” he says to himself, but the sound is unable to reach his ears “Oh god, oh god, oh god-”

  Where there was no space, no real time, no real anything, there is now a dark room. The chill returns, forcing his arms tighter around his body. His breath catches, shocked straight out of hyperventilation and straight into a frozen state. Not daring to move, he watches a panicked man run back and forth in front of him, gathering notebooks, loose papers, and implements he could not have assigned any purpose to. It takes thirty seconds for his lungs to start begging for air and he is forced to acquiesce. The small breaths do not bring the panicked man’s attention to him, so he waits another moment before speaking.

  “Um, hello?” He manages to squeak out, his voice raspy in his throat. Those two words stop the man in a nearly identical way as his arrival had frozen him. Turning slowly, the man takes him in as he pushes a pair of slightly glowing glasses up his nose. He is pale, like he had not been outside in a very long time. Curly brown hair sits askew atop his head, and he wore dirty but seemingly comfortable robes. A peach fuzz beard sits patchy on his face, surrounding a slowly growing grin.

  “Woah! It worked!” the man exclaims, excitement filling his expression. His voice is young, and by his look, he couldn’t be much older than eighteen. The man steps forward, studying every inch of his body as he quickly circles him.

  “Damn I’m good! Fully intact humanoid, no visible wounds or deformities. A definite connection, the restructure seems adequate. Hey, do you know who you are?” he asks, the question following the speedily ejected words.

  “...Yes.” he answered after a moment.

  “What's your name?”

  “...Caius.” again a brief pause before answering

  “Do you know your last name?”

  He opened his mouth to answer and found he had none. Taking a moment to think, he realized he had no idea who he was outside of his first name. A frown creased as he tried to search his memories, only to be interrupted from his introspection.

  “Hah! It worked perfectly!” the youth said cheerily. His arms extended above his head, fists closed in a sign of triumph. He started to dance a little jig, his obvious excitement taking over his body. He only stopped when a sharp siren pierced the air, drawing him from revelry.

  “Oh shit, Pursers.” He turned to face Caius, holding out a hand. “We gotta go right no-” he is cut off by a bang and a flash of light, rendering Caius blind. He stumbled back, covering his eyes out of instinct. Heavy footsteps of many people brought shouting voices into the room, where they seemed to surround him. The voices layer and drown each other out, keeping him from being able to parse individual words. The youth shouted something back, a buzzing filling the room shortly before he let out a cry of pain. Hands grip Caius’ shoulders, and force him to the floor. Once he is facedown on the floor and his hands are pulled behind his back, the voices peter out, replaced by one strong voice.

  “You are under arrest for violating Articles Three and Six of the Incursion Accords, do not resist your capture.” The situation didn’t quite make sense to Caius, but thankfully his eyes had begun to clear up. Pulled to his feet, he found himself surrounded by the strangest group of people he had ever seen.

  “Um, are you guys going to ComicCon later?” He managed to ask “Because I definitely am not dressed enough for that.” He took a moment to look down at his exposed body. “I’m actually dressed for very few outdoor activities.”

  Filling most of the room, people stood in black uniforms that seemed tactical, with plates of body armor that glowed with weird runes and a sword over a skull emblazoned across their chests. If the magic SWAT armor was not enough, most of the people were colors that no human should ever be outside of a body painting competition. Hell, most of them didn’t look human at all. A few had scales, others stony skin, a few had fur and anthropomorphic animal physiques. A few that did look human were extremely pale and their eyes were different shades of red. Only one or two seemed devoid of any actual extra body parts or hues outside of the normal skin palette. A large hand cuffed him across the head, making him wince and turn to take in the largest man he had ever seen. Standing a good seven foot two, his skin was a mucus green and oily to boot.

  “Shut it wiseass. If you don’t, you might not make it to the BPER in one piece.”

  A million questions rushed to leave his mouth as he opened it, but they were all blocked by a wall of fear and a sense of self preservation. A smaller woman whose skin seemed to be the texture of bark draped what looked like an emergency blanket you would see in the back of an ambulance. Caius closed his mouth and just nodded his thanks to her. A horned cow lady and the large snot man flanked him and dragged him up a flight of stairs. It seems he had come into this world in a basement. How cliche. The stream of cop-like cosplayers filed out the front door into a city that felt similar but just different enough to be jarring. He was in a residential neighborhood, but all of the houses and apartments were slightly different architecture than he was used to. In the distance, massive buildings lined the horizon, but looked a shade different than the skyscrapers he was familiar with.

  A line of vehicles lined the block, sleeker than cars and vans he was used to and four spheres instead of wheels. Double doors slid open at the back of one, creating an opening that he was hauled into. One of the SWAT guys followed him in and sat across from him, securing his wrists with heavy manacles covered in intricate swirls and marks that glowed a soft red. The doors cycled closed and they were left in the soft blue light from lines of lights that lined the top of the cab.

  The SWAT guy was all lean muscle and tension. A weird gun was slung over his back, and a long baton was gripped in both hands, covered in similar runes that he had been seeing on most of their gear. A thick beard wrapped around his jaw and his arms were covered in a thick layer of hair.

  “I can see you studying me Ghoul-bait.” he raised the baton slightly, “I promise that this will send you straight to sleep if you try anything.”

  “I don’t even know what's going on dude. I don’t think I'm supposed to be here.” Caius spread his manacled hands to show he meant no harm. The baton wielder snorted, “Oh, you are exactly where you belong, Accord Breaker. You amateur magi didn’t even have basic wards up. You were detected as soon as your spell went off.”

  The events began to start combining into a coherent thought in Caius’ head.

  “You guys have magic here.” It wasn’t a question. He was surrounded by fantasy races, weird runic technology, and talk of spells and wards. His captor snorted, leaning back.

  “We do. You won’t by the end of the day. With how high your Accord Violations were, I’d be surprised if you ever see the sun again.”

  The journey took only a few minutes, the vehicle slowing to a very subtle stop. There were no engine sounds, just a soft humming that quieted as the vehicle came to a halt. The guard tenses for a second and begins to stand as the doors slide open once more. A dozen guards make space for Caius that he is unceremoniously shoved into.

  “Woah baby, save the rough stuff for later okay.” The baton comes up in a threatening way, and he puts his hands up defensively. “Okay okay, Jesus. Just trying to loosen everyone up.” Seeing no humor on anyone's face, he shrugs and follows as they head toward a large building.

  Their destination is a skyscraper made of a dark green metal and tinted glass, its silhouette a spiraling double helix that reaches towards the clouds. Emblazoned on the front are four letters, B.P.E.R, glowing ethereally in the setting sunlight. Races of all kinds filter in and out of the building as Caius and his posse head inside. The lobby is a collage of dark greys and blacks trimmed by lines of silver and large glowing runes. A group of suited people seems to be waiting for them, many of them with crossed arms and scowls on their faces. A chill crosses his body, reminding him of his exposed condition. The only person who seems to register little Caius and the twins is a younger guy with blue skin and a clipboard. Their scowls do not bode well for him and his mage partner. A woman steps forward to address their group.

  “These are the violators? A baby mage and a pervert?”

  Her tone is sharp and sarcastic, and Caius immediately wants to piss her off as much as possible.

  ‘Huh, issues with authority. I bet I'm a handful.’ he thinks to himself. Unable to stop, he speaks out loud.

  “Well, I certainly didn’t choose my current outfit. If anyone is a pervert, it's the people who are looking.” He threw a wink at the guy with the clipboard who blushed. A scathing look from the lead woman made him straighten up and focus on his clipboard. Caius notices that though he thought she was human before, a long lion tail curls around her and flicks in irritation. Turning back to them, she ignores him and continues to address his captors, specifically a bulky man with hair like a mane who seems to be in charge.

  “You know the drill. See the front desk for your payment. The BPER thanks the Beheaders for their timely response.” She flicked a hand forward, and two people dressed in tactical gear step forward and take Caius and the mage from the Beheaders.

  “From the frying pan to the fire it seems.” He says to the mage beside him. He gives Caius a weird look.

  “Huh, I like that. But I think The Beheaders were definitely the fire. They have a certain reputation, and don’t usually take the non-lethal option on pursuits.”

  The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “I’m assuming their name is not just for show then.”

  “No it's not.” The mage shakes his head as he studies their surroundings. Their large group steps into an elevator and a small smile forms on his face. He doesn’t seem happy or sad, just resigned. Turning to Caius, he tilts his head.

  “This was supposed to go a lot better.” The doors close and they begin to ascend. “Hate to leave you alone like this.”

  “Leave me alone?”

  The mage nods and looks at the guards behind them. “ I can’t let them know anything. Good luck.” Confusion builds in Caius, and the guards exchange a look of their own, no clearer on the goal of this conversation than he is. The mage lunges forward, slipping from his guard’s grasp. He turns to face the group, each of them slowly reacting to his sudden movements. A word is spoken that is in no language Caius can understand, and a glow comes from somewhere inside his mouth. He bites down hard and a bright flash of red light consumes all of Caius’ vision and then takes his consciousness from him, replacing red with the endless black of sleep.

  Caius wakes an indeterminate amount of time later, the waking world bringing a throbbing headache and a sore body with it. He lets out a soft groan, trying to turn over and finds himself tightly bound in place. His eyes open and close again quickly. A hiss follows the groan as the bright light of the room makes his head throb harder than before. Trying again, a room comes into focus. Dark green metal walls surround him, the room bare except for a table, a chair which he is strapped to, and a second chair across the table from him. At some point, someone had dressed him in loose clothes that look like sweatpants and a t-shirt that said B.P.E.R on it.

  “Fantasy interrogation room. Good to know things aren’t all that different.”

  Time passes slowly, and he grows more bored with each passing moment. Right as he is getting bored enough to start singing songs to himself, a doorway appears on his left, sliding open from what was moments before a seamless wall. Three people enter, the stern woman with the lion's tail, a second woman with several fox-like tails and fox ears atop her head, and another one of the bark women dressed in the same tactical gear that the guards in the elevator had worn. They don’t speak for a moment, each of them moving to their own positions in the room with practiced precision. The stern woman sits in the chair across from him, the guard stands behind him, and the fox woman leans in the corner, a casual air about her that is not shared with the other two.

  The stern woman pulls up a tablet, swiping across its surface for a few minutes, not speaking or even looking at him. The phrase, ‘he who speaks first, loses’ crosses his mind, and he finds that he does not mind losing.] if it means pissing this lady off.

  “Got any games on there? We could take turns playing Angry Birds and braiding each other's hair.” The woman across from him stills before meeting his gaze with a look that could flay the skin from his body. The Fox woman, definitely what he would have called a kitsune, snorts a laugh from her perch in the corner.

  “Do you find yourself amusing?” The lion tailed woman asks. “I don’t find you funny at all. Tampering with the Ward, attempting summoning magic, and you don’t seem to be registered anywhere. I would love to know how that is possible. Your soul signature isn’t on the registry. That requires some heavy level of tampering with BPER systems, and your accomplice assaulted BPER employees. I could Collar you and stick you in a box, or just have you executed for any of these offenses.” A sickly smile crosses her face in an almost painful way,. like it takes effort for her to show kindness. “But, I am willing to negotiate. You have information, and it could be useful in our investigation. I could be convinced to say, ten years of Collaring, seven of which would be spent in a mana crystal mine. I just need the names of your conspirators, and the name of the person within the BPER who erased your files.”

  “Wow.” Caius says, “I didn’t understand most of what you just said.” Her smile turned into a scowl. She taps a few things on the tablet before speaking again.

  “You seem less intelligent than I believed. I will start with simple questions and use small words. Your name, what is it?” Seeing no reason to lie to her beyond pissing her off further, he decides to cooperate.

  “My name is Caius.”

  “Last name?”

  “I don’t know.” She raises an eyebrow at that, turning to look at the kitsune in the corner. She nods once, and my interrogator turns back to me.

  “What do you mean, you don’t have one? I have yet to meet a human without a surname.”

  “No,” He says with a tone like he is speaking to a child, “I don’t know what it is. Or if I have one.” She turns again, receiving another nod.

  “Okay, where are you from?”

  “Earth.”

  “As in, dirt?”

  “No, the planet.” Another turn, another nod.

  “What city are you from?”

  “I don’t know.” Another nod.

  “Do you know anything?” she asks exasperated.

  “Yes!” He says cheerfully, “I can sing every Nickelodeon theme-song from the mid to late 2000s.” Her look tells him that she is not amused, and a little bit confused.

  “Do you know where you are?”

  “The BPER, apparently. But only because like six people, including yourself, have mentioned it.” Another nod.

  “What was the name of the mage working with you?”

  “I don’t know. We didn’t have time to introduce ourselves before the Beheaders arrested us.” Another nod

  “Are you really expecting me to believe you were just there by chance? Naked in a basement with a criminal?”

  “No no, not at all.”

  “Then what were you doing there?!” she asks, the direction of this conversation obviously frustrating her.

  “Well, I certainly didn’t choose to be there. You should really change that guy’s charges from ‘attempted summoning’ to ‘successful summoning of a naked amnesiac from another world.”

  Her eyes go wide, the frustration and condescension vanishing slowly from her face, She turned again to the kitsune, whose eyes had become furrowed but nodded to her.

  “Can she tell if I’m lying or not? Because that is actually really cool.” His interrogator doesn't respond, instead the kitsune piping up for the first time.

  “I am actually reading your mind.”

  “Woah really?”

  “Yeah, those shackles weaken mental wards. Generally I can just skim surface thoughts, but you have no wards at all.” she pauses for a moment, “Oh, you don’t have magic where you’re from do you?”

  “Nope, not a lick. David Blaine might be magic, but we are pretty sure he is just faking.”

  “You are actually not from this planet?” his interrogator interrupts

  “Not even slightly. I have no memories of who I was before arriving here either.”

  “Might be a consequence of the spell…” she says to herself, going back to the tablet and quickly typing.

  “If I could,” Caius starts, “Why not ask the other guy. The mage or whatever. Are his mental wards too strong or something?” The interrogator didn’t respond, the kitsune answering in her stead.

  “He activated some sort of artifact on the elevator. It knocked out most everyone, and seemed to basically render him brain dead. He’s alive, but there is nothing going on up there any more. Marina hoped you would have answers.”

  His interrogator, Marina apparently, whipped her head around at the kitsune with a sharp look.

  “Don’t tell the suspect my name!”

  “Come off it Vexely,” the kitsune responds, revealing what he could only assume was her last name in an attempt to rib her further, “He isn’t guilty, and doesn’t know anything. He isn’t even from the same world. If anything, he is a victim of the crimes of that mage.”

  “He…he… He is the product of dangerous and illegal magics. He is basically contraband!” She stands quickly, moving toward the wall they had entered through. The door slid open and she exited, quickly followed by the guard that had stayed silent the whole time. The kitsune exited her relaxed pose, and started to follow her. Stopping next to him, she put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a soft smile.

  “I’m going to try and help. Most people won’t agree with her conclusion. I will try to keep you out of a box if I can.”

  “Well, let's hope you’re right.” She squeezed his shoulder, sympathy plastered across her face.

  “I’m Rhea. Good luck Caius.” With that, she turned to the door and left.

  “Thank you.” He managed to get out, weakness entering his voice. The door slid closed and he was left alone again. The silence was deafening, left alone with his own thoughts. A terrible void lingered in his mind, the empty space that should hold who he is, his sense of self. He could not let himself think about it too much.

  “That way lies madness.” He said softly. A few moments passed, before he began to hum the theme song from a show about a kid with adult fairy minders.

  A group of District Representatives flanked the meeting table with Marina Vexeley at one end with several other BPER employees and Councilman Tobias Asfour, a tengu and the leader of the city of Noctwyn at the head. A case had been presented to them, and an argument had been going in circles for nearly an hour.

  “It is dangerous to just let him loose!” Marina insisted for the nth time that afternoon. “I say put him on a mining team and live out the rest of his life! He isn’t a citizen, and who knows what damage he could do with knowledge of another world!”

  “Again, he is a person, Marina. A victim of terrible circumstances. He didn’t ask to be summoned here, dragged naked into our offices, knocked unconscious, and then interrogated like a criminal!” Rhea had really gone to bat for Caius, insisting she have a place in this meeting. Most of the District reps had chimed in at one point or another, but the two BPER employees really led the discussion. Councilman Asfour hadn’t chimed in at all, only stopping the discussion to ask clarifying questions about the situation. The Director of BPER sat with her head in her hands, embarrassed at the shouting that was happening between her employees. All earlier attempts at corralling them had been thwarted. Muttering was happening all along the table as District reps had their own little conversations about the situation

  As Melina made to respond again, the Councilman raised his hand and silence fell immediately like a weight over the room.

  “I have to say, I agree with Miss Vexely. He could prove dangerous.” Rhea scowled and Marina grinned triumphantly. “However,” he continued , draining some of the victory from her aspect, “Miss Sokolov is also correct. This Caius fellow is a victim, and deserves a chance to prove himself. Assign a caseworker to him, someone empathetic but responsible. Have him housed, fed, and watched. Give him six months to learn how this world works and find some employment. Register him in the database and give him proper documentation. After that six months, I will personally look over his file and decide how we move forward.”

  “But sir-”Marina started.

  “I gave my verdict Miss Vexely. Do not make me repeat myself.” Standing, he gestured to a small satyr man who held a tablet and a larger minotauress in body armor with a large axe strapped to her back who stood behind him. The three of them swept out of the room, slowly followed by departing District reps. Marina, Rhea, and the Director, one Cassandra Lys with the blue skin of a naiad, were left in the room.

  “Ma’am, surely-” Marina tried. She was cut off with a wave of the director’s hand

  “I may be Director, but at the end of the day, the councilman is in charge. He made a decision, and I will see this enforced. Rhea, find someone who will be able to deal with this. I hate to put more work on anyone’s shoulders, but we don’t really have a department for this. Marina, if I hear you held this process up there will be consequences.” The Director stood and left, leaving a smug Rhea and a grimacing Marina alone in the room. Marina spun on Rhea, poking a finger at her,

  “Don’t mistake this Sokolov, I'm still head of Inquisition and Threat Detection. If your little buddy makes a single move out of line, I will have him Collared so fast that your head will spin, I swear.”

  “Come on Marina.” Rhea said, heading to the door, already thinking of several options for a caseworker, “He is one human with no magical instruction. What impact could he really have?”