He woke up lightheaded. Everything felt like a mess, his mind, his body, his thoughts. He felt like he heard someone scream, but he couldn’t make any sense of his surroundings. Everything seemed to be blurred, all sounds muffled. He was disoriented, as if he was falling, in a random direction every second.

Steadily, his vision was starting to clear up. He felt like someone whispered something in his ear, but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. As senses were slowly coming back to his body, he realized he was sitting up. Rather, someone seemed to be holding him up in a firm grip as if to prevent him from falling over.

As his vision finally cleared up somewhat moderately, what he saw were people. He turned his head around and it appeared he was in a room, on a bed, under a blanket.

“Wkheerhe..?”

His throat was incredibly dry.

He saw something like a tumbler hover in front of him right before a sensation of touch on his lips, and before he knew it, he was gulping down what tasted the most delicious liquid of his life. He choked on it in between, a bit of it fell out his nose and as he lifted his left hand to wipe it off, he felt something amiss. He held his left hand in front of him, good as ever as if nothing ever happened to it. Suddenly all memories came flooding back, the last day of his life, waking up in the afterlife, that weird power, the giant pig…

He removed the bed cover…

“No…….”

There was nothing from the knee down. It was just a stump. He recalled the fight with the pig..the pain...the fear…

(Karma?)

Was this hell? Retribution for his actions? But it didn't hurt anymore. Was this the extent of the punishment? No, to live his entire life without a leg, it is worse than hurting momentarily. But then again, what was the rest of his life? Didn’t his life end when he jumped from his manager’s office? Then what was now? Was this him getting to live again in his afterlife? For some reason, he couldn’t believe that was it.

While his thoughts were all jumbled, a touch brought him back. It seemed to be a little girl of 3 or 4 with wolf ears.

(Wait what?)

He didn’t realize when tears had started to flow out of his eyes, and the vision that had partially restored got blurred again. He blinked hard to allow the liquid to escape his eyes that the little girl had approached to wipe off.

“What the hell....?”

He absentmindedly extended my right hand towards her ears that seemed to be drooping as if sad, but his hand was caught mid-way.

“Mut oh nuak? Oh etkas lob idni?”

Someone said something that sounded like words. He looked at the hand that had caught his arm and slowly followed it to the owner’s body and to his face. This time it was a man, with wolf ears, standing at attention. They seemed to inadvertently make him feel wary, as if any wrong move could get him killed. It was no understatement considering the muscles on the man’s body. But then again it was, those ears. The place where they would normally be was, covered by hair and a pair of grey wolf ears extended from the top of the head. He rubbed his eyes with his functional left hand, using it still made him uneasy, and looked around the room. A total of 5 people, most probably a couple and their 3 children, all with the same wolf ears. Not only that, he could even make out tails.

“Iah karakinaah naasni ey atgal ihan ehum.”

The man said towards his family and let the human’s arm go, though it was clear that the wolf-man was still very much vigilant. It was all too much to process and his mind was blank. He couldn’t think of a single thing to say. And for some reason, they were talking in some weird language.

“Do you speak English?”

He said looking at the man who seemed to be doing all the talking. The man narrowed his eyes and shook his head. It was more of an “I don’t understand” shake, than an answer to his question. Though it was an answer to his question nonetheless.

He looked down again. The man seemed to have pulled his daughter away and she stood behind him, poking her head out, watching intently.

(For some reason I get the feeling that this is their first time seeing me. Or rather, seeing someone like me.)

It didn’t make any sense. But somehow, even with all the crazy shit going on, in the back of his brain, the answer lay. He was just unwilling to accept it. There was no way it was possible. But it would explain so much. Why he is not dead, what was that weird power he had, how it was even possible, that giant creature, people with wolf ears, an unknown language…

“This is some kind of a parallel universe? No, an alternate world? I still can’t rule out afterlife though…”

The man looked on with a wry smile at the human’s muttering and said something to his wife. The wife said something to the children, and everyone except the man ushered out of the room. He watched their backs ...and tails… as they left the room.

The man drew a chair from nearby and sat close to the bed where lay his guest. His guest looked back at him with a look as if trying to understand what he was seeing. The wolf-man sat straight with his arms crossed and his back against the backrest. He wore some kind of a sleeveless tight t-shirt that accentuated his bulging chest muscles. The thick biceps in clear sight were a different story altogether. His face was grave-looking and average by Earth's standards with a large number of tiny scars scattered throughout. His hair was part black, part grey with grey wolf ears poking out giving him an illusion of extreme vigilance. His eyes were a dull yellow with a black pupil.

“Smirnie.”

He pointed to himself and said.

“Smirnie?”

He nodded his head. It was probably meant as a self-introduction.

“..Satoshi.”

The human paused for a bit and for some reason, named himself after the creator of B*tcoin. He didn't have time to think it through, but there was a feeling in him which said to leave his old name behind. A new life, even if it may have started turbulent, was something he believed he had to be thankful for. Sure, he lost a leg, but there was that power. He realized it was weird to be taking the loss of his leg so well, but since things were developing so fast, his mind hadn't had the time to process it. Also, that power, it was something he wanted to experiment with and he didn’t know if he should show it to other people yet. Sure, these people might have saved his life but nothing told him that they were unwilling to take it away should anything go wrong, and what more wrong than a weird power that he didn't even know how to control yet. Well, it is certainly possible that powers like that, whatever it is, were not all that uncommon in this world, but concern for now was to lay low and work on his survivability. And that means to kiss this man's tail bearing ass, even if he had to do it literally.

“Oh eyaa se ahak mut?”

Smirnie did some actions which included him pointing at Satoshi, waving his first two fingers downwards to indicate walking or running and a horizontal shake of the hand which probably signified a question. Satoshi interpreted this as “Where did you come from?”.

Now this question was definitely hard. Very hard. How does he go about explaining the circumstances leading to this current situation with no vocabulary? Rather the question he asked himself was, “Do I tell him?”. It could backfire. He could think of so many case scenarios just on the top of his head. No matter what he said, it could lead to his death. One leg was enough of a loss for this new life of his. He would certainly prefer to keep the rest of him intact. But how does he even go about this? Should he feign ignorance? That might work for a while, but it could bring about troubles of its own. For one, it could make them suspicious. There was no knowing if they even had humans here, wherever this was. If it were himself in the position of the suspecting saviour, there was very little chance he would believe the story of memory loss.

After thinking for a few seconds, he pointed far into the distance, assuming the question was "where?".

(It isn’t technically a lie, right? I'm pretty sure this ain't earth, so I'm definitely from 'very far away’.)

This time the wolf-man repeated similar hand-signs again, which was him probably asking a “How?” this time. Now this was something Satoshi himself was genuinely clueless about, so he shrugged his shoulders with a fake depressed look. Smirnie seemed to buy into that, as he stood up and patted on his pitiful one-legged guest’s back. At the same time, a female wolf-eared woman walked in and the man said something to her, but Satoshi’s focus was elsewhere.

*grumble*

His stomach was able to make out the food in her hands and roared, demanding to be fed. The woman smiled as she most definitely heard the sound and brought the food closer to him. Smirnie took the tray from her and handed Satoshi the bowl which he took in his right hand. Then Smirnie picked up the spoon and did an eating motion, as to tell his guest to eat.

(I'm not a moron, asshole! Give me the fucking spoon!)

He had never felt so hungry in my life, so when Smirnie was delaying..., he was naturally frustrated. But he dared not let it show on his face and just nodded hard. As soon as he was handed the spoon, he gulped down whatever it was. It looked something like a soupy porridge, but it was incredibly delicious to his ravenous taste buds. Or perhaps it was his stomach making him believe it was delicious to dupe him into eating more and more. Before he even knew it, the bowl was empty. He hadn’t had his fill, so he unabashedly extended the bowl to the woman. She took the bowl from his hands and left with a smile.

(I hope she understood I want more…)

He returned his gaze back to his earlier conversation partner. While he had been busy stuffing his face with the white semi-liquid, Smirnie was telling something to his wife, which Satoshi assumed, would be what the husband in the picture understood about the situation and their next course of action, which he certainly hoped wasn’t to kill their captive.

(It would be pretty cruel if they fed me just to slaughter my sorry ass right after…)

Though he thought that, he couldn’t deny that the idea was indeed somewhat amusing and he might not be totally averted to it if he was in the situation of his saviours.

The man with the attractive muscles made an action that Satoshi interpreted as “Lie down and sleep.”, and he did as told. After about 2 minutes, the toned man left the room and he was left all alone. He lifted his head up and looked towards the door that was left open.

(Doesn't look like I'm getting any more food, huh?)

He lay still, unable to sleep. Though tired, there was a child-like excitement evident from his sparkling eyes.

He breathed in deep, getting a feel for the air. It was ever-present, tugging at his senses ever since he had regained consciousness. It was also probably why he was so disoriented initially as he woke up, but once he'd gotten a hang of it mid-conversation, he realized he could control it as easily as he'd first tried. He had tried to minimally force some air into his lungs to get more oxygen pumping in his body to help him comprehend the situation faster. It was done on a whim, but it was a good decision because it seemed to have worked well, unbelievably so. He was less worried about his leg and his desolate circumstances and was able to think more calmly and intelligibly. But as a side effect, he couldn't sleep now. Sure, he could try to do the reverse and force cut the air supply to his lungs, but he didn't want to waste this opportunity. He had to learn fast to control this power and when he was sure of his survivability, he would head out.

Instinctively, he could grasp the power was incredible. During the conversation, he could sense the air entering Smirnie’s lungs, only slightly, but he could. And he knew that if he tried, he could immediately burst it, resulting in instant death. In that feeling of rush of power, he might have done it too, if he had been thinking less clearly.

Right now, he had to not provoke any suspicions. He lay still on his bed, feeling the air going in and out of his lungs. As he closed his eyes, and only felt for the air, he could grasp a better understanding. It was like having another limb; a vast, omnipresent, shapeless limb.

(Law of conservation of limbs...)

Smiling at the joke in his head, he tried playing with the ability. He started by lightly moving the wind all around the room, in and about, slowly expanding his area of influence. Controlling an area full of air gave him a vague understanding of what all was around in that area that was blocking the air. He couldn't make out any proper shapes, but he could tell there was something and whether it was moving. He tried to make a mental map of everything in his vicinity. For about 7 to 8 meters was fine, but after that, every small distance strained and took more effort than the last. After about a radius of 10 meters, the amount of information being transmitted to his brain reached a point where the pitiful thing couldn't handle it. He cringed as he immediately let go of the influence. His brain throbbed as it ached, and he again used a bit of his ability to force a harder breathing. The ache cleared up shortly and he repeated the process.

If he were to extend his control, he could manage it to a very hefty distance, but when he tried to use the air to feel for the area, it took a lot of burden, the mental kind. He left feeling for everything around him and tried to do the same for things in the distance. Breathing again, he extended his influence towards the door and took a right turn. There was nothing but a room in that direction, and some movements could be felt from there so he skipped it.

(I don't want to be detected and then killed for some reason I don't understand. I won't even be able to negotiate with just hand signs.)

He turned around his feeling sense. There were stairs on the other end. He went down the stairs and looked around. It was a narrow hallway. He took the direction which would take him outside the house.

(Holy....)

He immediately felt the vastness. Yes, the atmosphere was ever-present, but what he was trying to do was like walking around blind, by just trying to feel things. Inside the house, his scope of movement was limited, so it was fine but outside? He couldn't make out left from right, up from down especially when he was lying down on the bed. Maybe if he sat up straight, it would've been easier to make sense of direction as it would be same as he was used to with his body but right now he wanted to make as little movements as possible.

(I'm supposed to the epitome of a harmless sleeping refugee.)

Since outside wasn't gonna work out, and checking around the house was a risk, he thought maybe it would be better if he could find something to do inside the room. He opened his eyes to simply look around whatever was in his field of view without needing to move. Strangely, what he found in front of himself were a pair of big round yellow eyes. It was that little girl from earlier.

(How did she get in without me realizing?)

On second thoughts, maybe he was so focused outside that he didn't pay attention to anyone coming inside. That was certainly plausible but…

(Shouldn't that Smirnie guy be more careful about letting her daughter in here?)

“...”

Neither of them spoke or moved and kept staring into each other's eyes. It may sound romantic, but the other side was a little toddler and he had yet to awaken to any pedophilic tendencies, if ever. And her gaze...was fixed on his ears.

(Just as I was surprised to see her ears, maybe it's the same for her?)

She unabashedly extended her hand to fondle the inviting ear, and he didn't resist. She grabbed his right ear rather crudely, sometimes pulling and flattening it. She tried to put her finger in his ear hole, but that's where Satoshi drew the line. He got up. She made a slightly pleading, slightly annoyed face as if her toy was taken away, too far from her reach now that the human was sitting. From the higher position, he looked upon her ears once more, wondering how he could do something similar without risking death. He wouldn't pull or do anything to cause discomfort; just wanted to satiate his curiosity.

He looked around the room, there was none other than the two of them. As he extended his hand to caress a part of a girl he had never felt before with conscious knowledge of only being able to do it in the absence of other people, he stopped his hand midway, as he instinctively felt an eerie sense of guilt, as if what he was about to do was an act of immorality. As low as his morals were, he was at least self-conscious of the fact and knew that others could potentially fire him from his job for the difference in mindset, or in this case, kill him.

*gulp*

Swallowing audibly, he reaffirmed his resolved as his hand closed the distance to the girl’s head.

“Mmmm…”

The girl backed off a little as his hand came in contact with her ear.

“Ah sorry. I don’t know if… right, you can’t understand me.”

As he was about to make an excuse, he had an epiphany and stopped.

..

Time passed by with the two staring at each other.

“Satoshi.”

Not sure what to do, he tried to do as Smirnie had and introduced himself.

“Sato..? Sato? Sato.”

The little girl just tilted her head and repeated his name with question-like intonation and finally seemed to come to some kind of conclusion by herself.

“Sato.”

She said one final time while pointing at the only man in the room who could possibly be described with that word.

(Ah, what the hell..)

Seeing the cute expression on the face of the little girl, he held back his urge to correct her and nodded his head with a smile.

“Sato! Sato! Sato! Hihihihihihi..”

With the positive response and the attractive smile on her opponent’s face, the little girl started to repeat her newly learnt word and giggled innocently. Finding another thing incredibly cute about the girl, he couldn’t help himself from patting her head. This time he refrained from going for the ears and just normally patted her head, which, if to judge from her expression, she seemed to enjoy. Or not, as to how she ran out of the room 2 seconds later. Was this how he would die?