Trad was having a hard time trying to keep his composure while talking to the woman. She didn't seem like a bad person, nor did she appear to have bad intentions toward him, but he just couldn't tell when she was being serious or just messing around.

  "You're evil!" she said. "You're really going to refuse to help me? So that's why you said humans are the worst creatures alive!"

  "C'mon..."

  "You wouldn't lose anything doing me that favor."

  "Yeah, except my life," he said ironically. "Why don't you just kill me? I'm pretty sure the Reaper said I could probably die here. Doesn't that mean you can actually do that?"

  "Oh... he said that?" She stared at him, but he pretended not to notice.

  "Well," she looked back at him, "we do have the power to do that, but only if you committed a crime against Tarth."

  "A crime? And what would that even be?"

  "Like..." She raised her finger to her throat and made a cutting gesture. "If you killed someone from Tarth."

  "I didn't do that!"

  "I know." She smiled.

  "What?" Trad was surprised and a bit irritated. "Then why am I even here?"

  "Even though you didn't commit a crime, you did witness a creature from Tarth in your home. So it's not like you did nothing."

  "I don't really get it, but... does that mean I can live?"

  "Err... I'll have to think about that."

  "What?" Trad felt like this conversation was getting harder and harder to follow. And as if that wasn't enough, instead of answering him, she just laughed again.

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  "What's so funny?"

  "I'm sorry." She took a deep breath to calm herself. "It's just funny how you always look confused, like a little dog taken away from its home."

  "I mean... that's kind of accurate."

  "Are you considered a dog in your home?" Uwnrien asked.

  "Huh? I didn't say that."

  "It sounded like you did."

  "It doesn't—ugh, whatever." Trad grabbed his bag from the floor. "This is a waste of time. Feels like this was all just a big joke." He turned to walk away.

  "Wait, where are you going?" Uwnrien asked.

  "Home!"

  "But how—"

  "It's fine," the woman interrupted.

  Trad was feeling a bit irritated, so he just walked away without saying anything else while Uwnrien and the woman watched him leave.

  "Is it really okay to let him go?" Uwnrien asked.

  "Don't worry," she replied. "I was curious about his capabilities. This is the perfect way to see what he can do."

  But after walking a bit and calming down, Trad remembered he was practically in some kind of otherworldly place, with no idea how to get back home.

  Still, thinking about his situation back home, he started to wonder if staying a few days here wouldn't be so bad—assuming no one tried to kill him again.

  The only problem was that he had no idea where to go.

  He pulled out his phone from his pocket to check his location. The time read 2:00 a.m., but judging by the sky, it felt more like midnight.

  When he tried to check his location, the system couldn't find anything.

  Trad sighed and tried to figure out what to do next.

  So far, the forest only had one trail since he left Uwnrien and the woman, so he didn't worry about getting lost. But as he went deeper, the trees grew denser, and somehow, it got darker. The air smelled fresh, though, which wasn't bad at all.

  After a while, the trail disappeared completely, and Trad realized he was really lost.

  Even though it was dark, there was a strange glow that made it easy to see around.

  As he walked, he noticed a pattern. Between the trees were small clearings, almost circular, where the light was stronger.

  Some of these clearings had small animals in them, while others didn't.

  It didn't make much sense, but Trad came up with a plan: follow the clearings that had animals. It was the only pattern he could find.

  Slowly, he moved from one to another, always choosing the ones with animals, and backtracking if he found an empty one.

  It took a while, but the forest gradually got brighter. Trad hoped that was a sign he was finding a way out.

  Eventually, the trees opened up, and Trad didn't hesitate to follow the path ahead.

  But when he saw where it led, he wasn't sure whether to feel relieved or disappointed.

  Before him stood some large stones blocking the way.

  Near them was a small wooden structure, like a tiny house—too small to actually live in.

  Beside the little house were the remains of a burned-out campfire and a narrow passage under one of the larger stones, clogged with thick vines.

  As Trad approached to get a better look at the place...

  He heard the door of the small house creak open.