I woke up to the sensation of something cold spshing against my face. My body shivered instinctively, and I groggily reached up to wipe away whatever it was. Another droplet hit my forehead. Then another. My fiouched wet skin, and as my senses slowly returned, I realized something was… off.

  This wasn’t my bed.

  The air smelled wrong—fresh, almost earthy, like damp soil and trees after a storm. My mattress was missing, repced by something uneven and rough against my back. And—wait. Was I outside?

  My eyes snapped open. A gray sky loomed overhead, heavy with dark clouds, rain steadily falling onto my face. The moment I registered what was happening, my heart jumped into my throat. I bolted upright, hands digging into what felt like damp grass and dirt.

  "What the hell?!" My voice cracked as panic took hold. My head darted around, trying to make sense of my surroundings. Trees. Grass. Rocks. Definitely not my apartment.

  I scrambled to my feet, my clothes already wet from the rain, and took a step back. The grouh me felt too real, too solid. I turned in a frantic circle, breathing unevenly, my mind rag with every worst-case sario. Did I sleepwalk outside? Was I drugged? Kidnapped? What the hell is going on?

  A rustling noise snapped me out of my spiral. In the distance, a small group of animals—some kind of deer?—were bounding away through the trees, startled by my sudden outburst. Their hooves pounded against the earth, disappearing into the forest.

  "Hey!" A sharp voice rang out, cutting through the sound of rain areating animals. I twisted toward the source just in time to see a figure emerging from the undergrowth.

  It was a young woman.

  She was dressed in practical, rough-looking clothing—dark brown pants, a greenish tunid a simple leather vest. A bow was slung over her shoulder, and her dark hair was tied ba a loose braid. Most importantly, she was gl at me.

  "What are you doing?!" she hissed, marg toward me. "You just scared off my hunt!"

  I blinked. What?

  She came to a stop a few feet away, looking me up and down with suspi. "Who the hell are you?"

  I swallowed, still struggling to piece together what was happening. "I—I don’t know," I admitted, though that wasn’t quite right. "I mean, I know who I am, but I don’t know where I am."

  Her frown deepened. "What kind of answer is that?"

  "Look, I went to bed in my apartment, and now I woke up here—outside—in the rain, and I have no idea how that happened."

  She folded her arms, unvinced. "So you just—what? Magically appeared in the middle of the forest?"

  "I don't know! You tell me!" My frustration was building, and my brain was still catg up. "Where is this, anyway?"

  She gave me an incredulous look. "You don’t even know where you are?"

  "That's what I just said!"

  She narrowed her eyes at me, clearly trying to decide if I was lying or just an idiot. Then, with a sigh, she shook her head. "Great. Just what I needed—a clueless outsider appearing out of nowhere."

  I hesitated. "Outsider?"

  She ignored my question, instead gripping her bow a little tighter. "I should take you to the vilge. Elder Rohen will want to deal with you."

  Vilge? Elder? Okay, hold on.

  I ran a hand through my damp hair, exhaling slowly. "Look, before we go anywhere, we back up for a sed? I’m still trying to process all of this. Who are you?"

  She raised an eyebrow. "Elise."

  "I'm Dan," I said. "Okay, Elise. Where exactly is here?"

  She stared at me like I’d grown a sed head. "You seriously don’t know?"

  "For the third time—no!"

  A long, awkward sileretched between us, the rain still pattering against the leaves. Elise seemed to realize she wasn’t getting anywhere with me and sighed again.

  "Alright, fine," she muttered. "I’ll expin on the way. Just don’t yell anymore, or you’ll scare off more food."

  I opened my mouth to protest, but I stopped myself. At this point, arguing wasn’t going to help me figure out what was happening.

  So, with a deep breath, I followed her.

  And hoped I wasn’t walking into something even worse.

  The rain had settled into a light drizzle by the time we started walking, though the damp chill still g to my skin. Elise moved through the forest with practiced ease, stepping over roots and dug under low branches without breaking stride. I, oher hand, stumbled more than once, my mind too preoccupied with the hundred questions swirling in my head.

  "So… you live in a vilge?" I asked, breaking the silence.

  "Obviously," Elise muttered without looking back.

  "How far is it?"

  "Not far."

  "Hoeople live there?"

  She sighed. "Enough."

  I frowned. "Okay, could you maybe give me actual answers instead of vague ones?"

  She turned her head just enough to shoot me an annoyed gre. "Could you maybe stop talking so much?"

  I raised my hands in surrender. "Look, I just woke up in the middle of nowhere, outside, in the rain. I think I have the right to be fused!"

  Elise rolled her eyes but didn’t argue. We walked in silence for a while longer before the trees started thinning, giving way to what looked like… ruins.

  Except they weren’t ruins.

  They were houses—small, wooden homes with sagging roofs and crumbling walls. The dirt paths between them were muddy and uneven, some areas showing signs of heavy use while others were eerily untouched. Fences had colpsed, doors hung off their hinges, and in the distance, I could make out a barely standing watchtower.

  It looked like something straight out of a history book.

  I slowed my steps, my eyes widening as I took in the awful state of the pce. Elise barely reacted, tinuing forward like it was normal.

  That’s when it hit me.

  I khis kind of setup. A broken-down medieval vilge? People in old-fashioned clothes? A hunter girl with a bow?

  This rank. A massive, eborate prank.

  I stopped walking. Elise took a few more steps before realizing I wasn’t following. She turned, raising an eyebrow. "What now?"

  I let out a shaky breath… and then ughed.

  It started as a chuckle before turning into full-blown ughter. I poi Elise, shaking my head.

  "Hahaha—okay, you got me. Seriously, where's Eric?"

  Elise blinked. "Who the hell is Eric?"

  "My friend," I said, still grinning as I gnced around. "This is his idea, isn’t it? e on, this is one big joke, right? A medieval fair gone wrong? A really eborate LARP session?"

  Elise's expression twisted into plete fusion. "What are you talking about?"

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I turned away and walked toward one of the rundown homes, ughing under my breath.

  "This is so ridiculous," I muttered, reag for the door. "I mean, how the hell did you eve me here? Did you guys drug me? Is this a set? Some kind of weird escape room thing?"

  Elise took a cautious step forward. "Dan—"

  "How much did he pay you?" I interrupted, swinging the door open with a smirk. "And e on, the effects team really went all ou—"

  The stench hit me before my brain could catch up.

  A wave of rot, thid rancid, burned my nose and throat, and before I could stop myself, I gagged. My stomach twisted, my body recoiling on instinct.

  Ihe house, in the dim light, I saw them.

  Bodies.

  Not fake bodies. Not props.

  Real, rotting corpses.

  They y in twisted, unnatural positions, flies buzzing around them, their skin sunken and gray. Some had dried blood caked around their mouths. Others looked like they had wasted away in their sleep.

  A sick, wet sound escaped my throat as I smmed the door shut.

  My breathing came hard and fast, my stomach ing as I stumbled backward. I braced my hands on my knees, swallowing down the urge to vomit.

  Elise, standing a few feet away, watched me with a knowing expression.

  "There's a disease going around," she said simply.

  I turo her, my mind still catg up to what I had just seen. My hands trembled slightly, my breath uneven.

  This wasn’t a joke.

  This wasn’t fake.

  This was real.

  And I had no idea what the hell I had just walked into.

  I stood there, my breath unsteady, my body still reeling from what I had just seen. The rotting stench lingered in my nose, making my stomach , and my ski cold despite the humid air. This isn’t a joke. This isn’t fake.

  But… it had to be, right?

  Elise exhaled, rubbing her forehead like I was giving her a headache. “I don’t know who this Eric is, or why you’re ag like a madman, but I’m telling you—none of this is fake. None of this is a joke.”

  I barely processed her words, my mind still struggling to keep up. My hands were shaking. My whole body felt wrong, like I was somehow misaligned with everything around me.

  “There’s a disease,” Elise tinued, her voice ft. “People are dying. No one knows why or how. And the king? He’s forsaken us. No one’s ing to help.”

  I blinked, finally f my eyes away from the door—the door I just touched—and looked at her. “A… disease?”

  “Yes.” Elise folded her arms, eyes sing me up and down. “You act like you’ve never seeh before.”

  “I—” I opened my mouth, but my throat felt dry. No, I haven’t. Not like that. Not piled-up bodies in abandoned houses. Not the unmistakable smell of rotting flesh. Not the sight of death left to fester and be fotten.

  I looked down at my hands. My fiwitched slightly, my breathing shallow.

  I touched that door.

  That rotting, inated door.

  My hand trembled harder.

  If the disease was killing people—if they didn’t have a doctor, a cure, anything—then…

  My hand dropped to my side.

  Was I going to die here?

  Panic curled around my ribs like a vice, making it harder to breathe. My thoughts spiraled in rapid succession. What if I was already ied? What if I was breathing in whatever siess was wiping out this pce? What if I had just doomed myself without even realizing it?

  Elise sighed, already turning away. “If you want answers, we should hurry. Elder Rohen will want to talk to you—he’ll surely want to know how someone se ended up in this godforsaken pce.”

  I barely heard her. My heartbeat pounded in my ears, my body locked in pce.

  Think. Think. THINK.

  I wasn’t dead yet. Maybe the disease wasn’t airborne. Maybe I still had time. Maybe—

  I swallowed hard, f my breath to slow. I o kly what I was dealing with. I needed information.

  And right now, the only way to get that was to follow Elise.

  With a deep breath, I ched my trembling hands into fists and forced my feet to move.

  I stopped asking questions. At this point, what was the point? No matter how much I tried to make sense of this nightmare, nothing made sense.

  So I followed Elise in silence, my eyes sing the vilge as we walked.

  The rain had mostly stopped, leaving the muddy ground slider my boots. The vilge itself—if you could even call it that—was eerily quiet. Not a single person was outside. No kids running around. No people tending to their homes or farms. Just empty streets, broken fences, and abandoned houses that looked ready to colpse at any moment.

  A sick feeling crept into my stomach.

  Was everyone dead?

  Was it just Elise and this elder left?

  I shook my head. No. Stop. Don’t panic.

  I just o think. There had to be a way back. A way to wake up in my own bed, in my own world, where everything was safe and normal. I didn’t sign up for some adventure. I wasn’t some lost hero destio save a kingdom.

  I just wao go home.

  We stopped in front of a slightly sturdier house he ter of the vilge. Before Elise could reach for the door, it swung open.

  A man stepped out.

  He was older than me, maybe in his te forties, with a rugged, battle-worn fad sharp eyes that immediately locked onto me. His clothes were simple but funal—worher armor, a belt with a sheathed sword at his side, and a stahat told me he was someone who had seen his fair share of fights.

  His gaze flicked to Elise. Then to me.

  “Who’s that?” he asked, voice rough and tired, pointing a calloused finger in my dire.

  Elise crossed her arms. “This is Dan. I found him outside the vilge. I was bringing him to the elder.”

  The man’s brows furrowed. His focus shifted bae, his expression unreadable.

  He narrowed his eyes. “How did you get here?”

  Elise sighed, clearly exasperated. “I don’t know, and he doesn’t seem to kher. He keeps g he woke up out there and that this is some kind of joke.”

  The man shook his head, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “I don’t have time for this.” His voice was edged with frustration, but underh it, I could hear the exhaustion.

  He turned slightly, gng back toward the vilge. “Ms. Carter’s e down with whatever’s going around. We had no choice but to lock her in her house.”

  Elise inhaled sharply. “What about her kids?”

  He sighed heavily. “They’re with her. No one wants to take them in, not knowing if they’ve caught it too. Everyone’s scared.”

  I felt a chill that had nothing to do with the rain.

  This wasn’t just some disease. This was something that seire families to die together.

  The guard shook his head before looking back at Elise. “Be careful. Get him to the elder. I’ll see you tonight.”

  Elise nodded. Without another word, he turned and walked away, his steps slow, shoulders tense, like a man carrying too much weight.

  I watched him go, then turo Elise. “Who was that? Some kind of knight?”

  Elise snorted. “A knight? My father is no knight.”

  I blinked. “Wait, your father?”

  She ignored me, already walking up the steps to the elder’s house. “His name is Garron, and he is the guard captain. Now, e on. The elder’s inside.”

  I hesitated, then followed, a million thoughts rag through my head.

  The inside of the elder’s home was… odd.

  The first thing I noticed was the smoke. A strahick mist curled through the dimly lit room, rising from a pot in the er. It smelled earthy and sharp, like burning herbs mixed with something I couldn’t pce.

  At the ter of it all sat an old man in a wooden chair, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling in slow, measured breaths. For a split sed, I thought he was asleep—or dead—until he exhaled deeply, his eyelids flickering open.

  He looked… a. Weathered skin, deep wrinkles, and long, wispy white hair that trailed down his back.

  I stared at the rising smoke. Is this guy getting high?

  The elder’s gaze slowly shifted to Elise. His voice was calm but firm. “What brings you here, child?” His eyes moved to me. “And who is this?”

  Elise took a step forward. “I found him outside the vilge. I was hoping you could help.”

  The elder studied me carefully before leaning forward slightly. “Where did you e from?”

  I hesitated, exhaling through my nose. “A city,” I said finally. “Far away from here. You wouldn’t have heard of it.”

  The elder raised a thin brow. “Try me.”

  I sighed. Fine. “Chicago.”

  A beat of silence.

  Elise furrowed her brows. “Chi…cago?” She turo the elder, her face twisted in fusion.

  The elder shook his head. “I have never heard of it.” He straightened, his gaze sharpening. “What kingdom are you from?”

  I groaned, rubbing my face. “Look, I don’t have time for a millioions. I’m not from here, okay? I don’t know how I got here. I don’t know where ‘here’ even is. I o get bae.”

  The elder didn’t react. He just watched me.

  I ran a hand through my damp hair. “I have a life. A job. Someone has to feed my cat. And if I miss my two-week anniversary with Brenda, she’s going to kill me.”

  My voice wavered slightly as reality sank in deeper. I turo the elder, my expression tense.

  “How am I supposed to get bae?” My throat felt tight. “Because I am definitely not from this world.”

  Silence.

  Elise and the elder exged looks.

  For the first time since I woke up, I saw something I hadn’t seen before.

  Shock.

  Elise’s mouth parted slightly. The elder’s wrinkled face remained impassive, but I saw it—the ti flicker of something in his eyes.

  Elise turned bae, her voice quiet but sharp.

  “What do you mean, not from this world?”

  IDislikeShonen