Tall grass as far as the eye could see. A crumbled building in the far distance. A clear blue sky without a cloud in sight and a warm sun...

  Gray couldn't help but admit that it was a picturesque setting. Almost dreamlike... if not for the nightmarish events that had occurred until now.

  Though the lingering remnants of that memory remained, it was quickly washed away by the reality of the situation. Specifically, the fact that this was very much not the university campus, and that something ridiculous had just unfolded not long ago.

  Gray ran his hand through his hair, especially as the beautiful silver-haired woman sat there, still staring. "You've gotta be kidding. This isn't a dream...?"

  There was no mistaking it.

  Gray had been hoping that when he opened his eyes again he would be back in his studio apartment. But there was no luck there. This pce was as real as could be, apparently.

  Although the how and why was unclear, the fact remained that it HAD happened. Somehow.

  Gray pulled out his phone from his pocket. "Thankfully, this is still working..." He grumbled, pointedly ignoring the beautiful woman staring at him with a clearly affectionate gaze.

  Because that was a can of worms he was not ready to accept or acknowledge. Not just yet.

  "Let's see..." Gray muttered and checked the time.

  10 AM. Monday. The same date too.

  It looked like only a few hours had passed since Gray woke up and left his apartment that morning. And since he still had service and could use the internet... he must not be in the boondock countryside or anything. Still... "What the heck is going on?"

  Information gathering was necessary.

  So Gray started sending some text messages and emails to try and see if he could get people to help him figure things out. But... "Huh?"

  Message could not be sent. Communication error. Servers are offline... A constant stream of notifications along those lines appeared whenever Gray tried to reach out to someone.

  Gray felt a sinking feeling and tried more ways to reach out.

  Message boards. Social media. Hell, even YouTube comments. And yet... nothing. Each time, a simir message saying that communication had failed one way or another.

  But the damning thing was that Gray could still look up information. He could look for videos, py streams, and pull up any content he wanted. Just... not communicate.

  Gray ran his left hand through his hair and muttered, "What the hell is going on?"

  It didn't make sense.

  How could Gray be able to access the internet and everything but not communicate? Was it that weird text he got? Was his phone infected with a virus? Was this all a setup to kidnap him or something?

  No, that didn't make sense. Gray wasn't that special. But then what the hell-

  "You seem troubled."

  Gray jumped and saw the beautiful silver-haired woman standing next to him.

  Her crimson-eyes were half-lidded with concern as she pced her hands over her chest. "Is there anything I can assist with?"

  Gray hesitated.

  She was still a mystery. Especially considering what she did... whatever she did back then to get them free.

  Even so, Gray didn't have anyone else around to ask, so...

  "This is a long shot. But you wouldn't happen to know where we are right now, do you?"

  It was a dumb question.

  Gray felt it the moment the words left his mouth. After all, the woman had been kidnapped and sold. How would she-

  "Ah, yes." The silver-haired woman nodded and said, "We should be ten miles away from the border of Newark and Urs. The nearest human habitation is... a small vilge called Rorin."

  Gray blinked, parsing the information. "Thank... you?"

  The silver-haired woman smiled. "Of course."

  Seeing that beautiful expression, Gray couldn't help but smile in return. But then he parsed what she said. "Wait a minute."

  Newark? Urs? Rorin? A vilge...? None of that made any sense.

  Gray had been on university grounds. And from the time, it would have been impossible even if he had been knocked out and kidnapped to be moved to a pce so distant that he didn't recognize the names. More than that... there weren't any vilges anywhere near campus.

  So either the woman was lying... or something crazy was going on.

  Gray swallowed and then slowly said, "Alright. Thanks again. But um... how far away are we from ********?"

  The silver-haired woman paused and tilted her head. "...From what?"

  Gray frowned. "You know, ********? The big university? Famous for artificial intelligence and computer science? ********?"

  The silver-haired woman furrowed her brow, thinking. Then she slowly shook her head and said, "I... do not know what you are asking about. All I know is that if you are asking of nearby human habitations, then Rorin vilge is the closest."

  Gray's frown deepened. "That's ridiculous. How can you not know where ******** is-" He froze, suddenly realizing what was happening. "N-No. I'm crazy, right? Am I just hearing things?"

  Most of the words came out fine. But the moment that Gray tried to say the name of his university...

  "********. I'm talking about ********... Fuck. What the hell?" Gray's eyes started to tremble and he looked at the woman. "Can you hear me? Do you understand what I'm saying? Like, right now. ********."

  The silver-haired woman slowly shook her head. "I can hear most of your words. But there is a name you are saying that I cannot perceive or recognize."

  Gray started to shake. "That's fucking impossible. No way, right...? What the hell is this, the Twilight Zone...?" He swallowed and started running through things in his head.

  ********. That was the name of university. It was in ********, ********. Hell, it was the state university, so it had part of ******** as its name-

  Gray felt his heart pounding. "That's... that's impossible. How is this...?"

  He could see the pces in his mind. He could see the words and how they were spelled out. He could hear the name in the back of his mind. But the moment he tried to communicate it... they vanished.

  Gray's face distorted and he swept his hand back through his hair. "Am I going crazy?"

  Was he losing himself? Was it amnesia? Did that fall do more damage to him than he thought? No, that wasn't possible because his ptop and cellphone were still both in perfect condition. Not even a scratch. If he had been hit enough to scramble his mind like this, those would have been pulverized.

  So what the FUCK was happening?!

  "*Calm.*"

  Gray heard a voice. Soft and clear. And then the fog of panic and anxiety vanished in an instant, repced by a calm warmth. His eyes widened and he looked over at the source of the voice.

  The silver-haired woman lowered her hand, a faint golden light shimmering against her fingertips. After she did, she smiled and said, "Is that better?"

  "You..." Gray's words died in his throat. Because what the hell did he just see and experience?

  A single word that cut away rising panic and anxiety? A sudden warmth? No, that clearly real golden light still fading from the woman's hand...?

  Gray swallowed, his throat dry, and said, "How... How did you do that?"

  The silver-haired woman continued smiling and gently said, "I cast a simple calming spell. You seemed on the verge of panic, so I hoped that it would help you. Did it?"

  "It... did. But..." Gray understood the words. He parsed the meaning. But he couldn't accept it. "Did... you say spell? Like, magic?"

  The silver-haired woman smiled. "Yes." She paused and looked concerned. "Should I have not...?"

  Gray didn't know how to respond. 'Magic... Magic? Really magic? That would expin a lot. But... then...'

  A headache. A giant headache. Things that abso-fucking-lutely made zero sense.

  So Gray put it aside for now.

  Like with everything else that had ever bothered him in life, he just put them all in a box in his head and shoved it aside.

  "It's fine. Thanks." Gray sighed and stared at the woman. "But... No, never mind. Anyway, I'm Gray." He walked over and held out his hand to her. "Gray Smith. It's a pleasure to meet you."