The sun was starting to slowly make its way down, signaling the the start of the darker part of the day. A certain forest within a certain land was completely devoid of any sound, except the footsteps of a dozen or so people.

After being roughly awakened by having some cold water poured all over him, Tyler found himself tied by the feet and hands to a large pole. From there onward he was carried unceremoniously, like some butchered cattle, by two of the male half-humans half-beasts.

The group had been walking for a few hours now. On numerous occasions did Tyler try to ask questions and explain himself, however, no one seemed like they were listening to him. Simply content to ignore him and continue forward with purpose, as if he did not even exist.

The tense and eerie silence that soon befall the group only served to further intensify the dark thoughts that Tyler kept buried deep in his mind. Is he going to get eaten? This was frighteningly close to how cannibals that lived on deserted islands carried their unfortunate meal, according to movies and media back on Earth. Or perhaps he is to be used as a sacrifice for some unholy ritual, his soul stripped away from his body and turned to nothingness. Or even worse, maybe he was to be their toy, tortured, but not killed until he died of old age.

Not only was Tyler haunted by such dark thoughts, after the first couple of minutes, he completely threw away any chances that he previously thought he had running away from his captors. These beastkin were either incredibly strong or impossibly light. They were jumping several meters high without breaking a sweat, jumping from branch to branch, from tree to tree without even making the leaves rustle.

Tyler found the whole act mystifying and enchanting, like a theatre play with incredibly special effects. Surely they were amazing hunters, not only were they moving and acting like such, but their outfits were exactly what you’d think fantasy forest hunters would look like. Tight fitting tops and bottoms, definitely chosen for their comfortability and the fact that they would not give away any sounds or incidentally hit a leaf by flapping wildly, were they baggy. Over the tight fitting clothes, they wore light leather armor over their vitals and thighs. Definitely not a whole lot of protection, but most suitable for hunting and stalking prey.

For weapons they had a rather long makeshift spear and a large hunting bow, tied to their backs. A quiver full of arrows and a short, but dangerously sharp dagger, both strapped respectively to each of their thighs.

Tyler couldn’t help but to really come terms with how fantasy-like it all looked. Ninja-hunters beast people were currently escorting him as their captive to who knows where. Was he about to die during his first encounter with civilization on this new world? Just some short hours after being teleported here.

Definitely not, tightening his jaw and fists, until his knuckles were white, Tyler mentally promised himself that he is not going to let himself die so early, when this huge exciting new world awaited his exploration.

The trek across the forest continued in the same fashion, absolute silence between all individuals within the group. With Tyler trying to shift and make as little noise as possible after he got hit on the top of his head by one of his captors, the beastman incapable to endure the endless stream of questions flowing out of Tyler’s mouth.

Finally after what Tyler perceived as an endless torture, full of motion sickness and dizziness, caused by the ever moving and swaying pole that he was tied to, his little group finally arrived at a clearing. The sight could only be described as exactly what you would expect a fantasy village that was located in the middle of a forest to look like. Compact single floor houses made primarily out of wood, leaves and various plant stems to tied them together. It must’ve had around a hundred such small houses, all of them surrounded by a makeshift one-one and a half high wooden wall, with wooden spikes pointing outwards from the village, as if awaiting an attack. Two guards, clothed the same way as his captors, each having a long and slender spear in hand, stood on post in front of the small entrance.

Tyler couldn’t help but notice how the guards’ expressions changed after they saw him. Their eyes becoming more concentrated, closed in attention, intently observing him. The grip on their spears slightly tightened and their posture became more alert. He definitely wouldn’t say that he was welcomed here. But it’s not like he had a choice now.

The guards must be quite well disciplined, or the group that captured him had a high enough standing within this settlement, as they simply saluted when his group neared and didn’t voice any questions about him. Even though their eyes screamed murder, as if they would attack, penetrating his skull with their spears.

Upon entering the enclosed settlement, Tyler had the opportunity to more closely inspect the inside. As he had previously deducted the houses, or it would be more appropriate to define them as yurts, were made completely out of forest materials. They didn’t look durable at all, but they accomplish their purpose in giving shelter. The road, or what is supposed to be a road, was all dirt with a couple of stones here and there. Definitely not created in mind for any kinds of vehicles.

What caught Tyler’s attention the most, however, was the people living here. They all looked to be the same tiger-ish breed of beastmen, definitely not all of them were warriors. Compared to the group that captured him, most of the beastmen inside the village seemed normal. They wore different fiber-based pitiful excuses for clothing. They make do with what they have, thought Tyler.

Another definite attention capturer was how, just like the guards, their expressions shifted from relaxed and rather happy to, in their case, fearful and cautious. That either meant that they hated humans, they were generally introverted and not open to outsiders or that he was something new, that they haven’t seen before. The first two didn’t sit quite well for Tyler, he rockoned he wouldn’t survive much if that was the case. Fortunately, from the first few words the tiger girl said to him when she first landed in front of him and the tiny amount of curious glances that he got from some of the people inside the settlement shifted his opinion that, perhaps the latter deduction was the correct one. That he was something that these people have not seen before.

That came in hand with other problems though. It could mean a three things, that Tyler could think of at the moment. First these people were native to and live only within this forest and do not have a lot, or any contact with the outside world. The second answer would be that humans do not live on this part of the world or are really scarce in their number.

The last and possibly worst answer would be that… humans did not exist in this world to begin with, or were extinct.

Repressing the heart-clenching feeling that he got from the thought of possibly being one of the last and soon to be executed humans on this world, Tyler swallowed his frustrations and accepted reality as it is.

The group slowed down their gait, most likely, to not alert or needlessly scare the other townsfolk by seeming too urgent with their walk. From the corner of his eyes Tyler could see the older people urging the kids inside their houses, as if this all was a witch hunt and something so grotesque was about to happen, that kids were not allowed to watch. Perhaps he would be burned at the stake and feel unimaginable pain, or perhaps people around here were merciful enough to give him a quick decapitation death.

Not willing to delve deeper into his not-so-bright immediate future, Tyler elected to simply focus on the structure and architecture of the settlement, in a vain attempt to soothe and mask his worries.

The settlement seemed to be build in a circular fashion. Made of five circles of houses in total, each one getting smaller than the previous. A rather big, compared to the other residences, structure laid in the middle of the last and smallest circle. The town administration’s building, Tyler guessed - it seemed to be the place were his captors were taking him, most likely to present him to their leader, who would single-handedly determine his future.

The end of the road had come, as they finally arrived in front of the big structure. There were no guards staying in attention at the entrance, but that was most likely because it was in the middle of the settlement, as far away from danger as possible. Two of his so far rather silent escorts opened the double doors revealing a spacious inside. Two rows of two big columns, supporting the weight of the big structure, towered over everything else in the building. In the middle of the room laid a big rectangle table with four vacant chairs on each side.

After slowly examining everything in front of him, Tyler’s eyes finally landed on the best clothed tiger-man he’d seen so far. The figure sat on a throne-like structure backed against the furthest away wall from the entrance, face facing straight to the entrance.

Even if the tigerman was at least fifteen meters away from him, Tyler could easily say that this guy had the most impressive physique that he had seen so far, not to mention the intense glowing green eyes that were staring directly into his own.