I had woken up early in the morning, just before the sun had met the horizon. The guards, with only bold torches lighting their view, stood close, guarding the opening of the hut. I sat up, hands still bound, trying to remember exactly what I had dreamed about. Nothing, I thought, absolutely nothing. Not even the occasional "late for an important test and ran to the setting sight in nothing but my underwear" type dream. I didn’t dream about anything, it was just a void of nothingness.

I lay back and watched everything awaken. The strange birds of this world hummed in tune as villagers, one by one, stumbled out of their huts with clay pots in tow to collect their morning water. Not long after that, the village chief came to me, along with other guards to replace the night ones. He seemed happy, grinning from ear to ear.

"Good sun today, sky person," he said, opening up the prison gate.

"Seems to be. I’m Ria by the way. You don't have to call me that anymore," I said, gripping the wall to stand up. 

"It’s nice to finally know your name, Ria. We never meant you any harm. You are a gift from Altua and should be treated as such," he said, pulling out a crude knife from his side and pressing it against the rope between my wrists, "Do you trust us?"

"Yes, I would like to know more about this world and your people," I said, coming to terms with the new life I had here. Everything in the past, Nicole, my parents, and school. Everything that I dreamed my future would be back in my world would have to be put on the back burner until further notice. Today, I have to survive here. At least I know how exactly I got here in the first place. Until then, I have no other choice than to believe that they wouldn't harm me. Until then, I have to live with them, so why fight something that can’t be fought?

"I’ll bring you to Tilli. She will give you food and teach you how to prepare it," he said. As he pressed the blade onto the rope, it glided down smoothly like butter. The moment that rope finally dropped onto the ground, I felt a bit relieved, even though I kept my poker face. I followed him out of the hut I called prison, with the two guards following after me. Traveling along the dirt path in the village, surrounded by strange faces, I felt like some sort of circus act. Children of all ages and sizes stopped playing and gathered around me. Their stares felt debilitating in a way, as if a child in my world had saw their cartoon character came to life right in front of their eyes. I was a legend here, the main subject of tales told from their mother’s lips. I tried not to let it get to me, I would act the same if I too saw the impossible.

We eventually approached a woman washing a pot by a hut, her back turned to us. As we got closer, she noticed our presence and stood, turning around to greet us. And that was when I saw it. It was both fascinating and frightening at the same time. The woman’s irises were completely white, glowing in the rising sun.