The woman jumped up from her chair. She waved her hand around, and in front of her, something like a classic magic circle was being created, “Truth.” She said, her voice reverberating through the room. The next moment, Noah could feel something force itself into his mouth, as if a snake was slithering in there. But for some reason, he hadn’t been able to see what it was even with his ability active. The invisible mass filled out Noah’s mouth, wrapping itself around his tongue.

“Now tell me, boy, are you truly ‘Lost Ones’? Beings from another world?” The woman asked. Realizing that something just happened to Noah, both Ayden and Mari jumped forward in front of him. But once more, the woman held her hand forward, twisting her hand around, “Move aside.” A magic circle appeared and disappeared the next moment, as both Ayden and Noah could feel an invisible force press them away from Noah. It was too much for them to resist, even with all the strength in their bodies.

“Answer me.” The woman said, and Noah felt forced to reply with the full truth, “Y-Yes. We grew up in a small town, and then we... we died... And woke up in a forest.”

“And why are you looking for a mage? Tell me the tr-“ The woman asked, and Noah ground his teeth together as he answered, “Jesus fucking christ, we already told you! We’re looking for a mage that can heal those people! The first place we found was that village, the chief explained some stuff to us and gave us some books, clothes, and provisions, and once we were told about that disease, we chose to come here to find help for them! That was the main reason!” Angrily, Noah replied, “Now step the fuck back, you goddamn wh-“

“Well then, that young man really has a mouth on him, has he not?” A voice laughed loudly where the door was, “But please, Margosa, don’t treat our guests so harshly. They were telling the truth the whole time, after all.”

“...I guess you do have a point.” The woman, Margosa, admitted. She snapped her fingers and Noah immediately felt the invisible mass inside of his mouth fade away, “Damn... I never thought I’d feel something like this... Now I know what Ayden feels li-“

“Finish that sentence and I will kill you.” Ayden said threateningly, “This clearly isn’t the time to joke like that.”

Ayden quickly turned around toward the man that just entered the room, “Thank you. It’s nice to... meet... you..?” Ayden muttered confusedly, “How are you..?”

“What? What’s wrong?” Noah asked, rubbing his throat. Being forced to speak like that did hurt a little. But Noah’s hand dropped down to his side the moment he saw that man. Noah wasn’t sure if his heart was beating twice as fast, or not at all. His lungs lost all air, as the room started to twist around him. Feeling sick to his stomach, Noah was about to throw up.

“What are you doing here..?” Noah muttered, taking a step back, “You can’t... I saw your fucking body!”

The world around Noah was breaking apart. His worst nightmare came back to life.

But then, he felt Ayden’s hand on his shoulder, “Noah. It’s not him. I can see that man like that as well. Calm down.”

“H-Huh?” Noah muttered, turning to the side confused, “B-But he...”

“Ayden, what’s wrong with Noah?” Mari asked, and Ayden held his friend as he was shaking in pain. Ayden looked at the man that seemed just as confused, and concerned, as Mari. The man was a being that neither of the two friends ever expected seeing here, but Ayden realized that this was just a coincidence rather quickly. Noah, however, didn’t.

“He thinks that this man is someone we both used to know... This man really looks like it, but the one we knew just looked like that to Noah, it was the form of his ‘heart’.” Ayden explained.

The man walked up to the two of them. This tall-grown, man-like, bipedial hare. He had full, snow-white fur covering his body, and long ears stretched out beside the hat he was wearing. This man’s red eyes seemed to glow in an air of kindness and compassion, clearly worrying for Noah. He stretched his gloved hands out toward Noah, placing each of them onto his cheeks, “Listen here, young man. I do not know who you are. I have lived my whole life in this world, and not yours. You are a stranger to me. Do you understand?”

Noah, shaking in fear, locked eyes with this man. Slowly, he nodded his head. Ayden didn’t know what exactly happened, but this man was able to calm Noah down immediately. Maybe he even used some magic to do it, but even if that was the case, Ayden didn’t care at all.

“Thank you.” He said, and the man turned his head and smiled at them, “It is no issue at all, young man. Although I am kind of glad that it has nothing to do with my race.”

“Eh?” Ayden muttered out, “Ah, yeah, that’s not it... Neither of us care for... race in the slightest.”

“Is that so? I’m glad to hear that. Especially in these parts, us Anfolk aren’t necessarily seen too often, so many people tend to stare.” The man chuckled, before realizing something else, “I apologize, I haven’t even introduced myself yet.” He took off his hat, holding it in front of his chest and with a smile continued to speak.

“My name is Almanac Periergia Meleti, one of the Sages of this humble sanctuary. I sincerely apologize for my dear friend’s behaviour. I have already informed one of the aides to prepare for travel to the village you spoke of.” Almanac explained. The more he spoke, the more Noah’s mind caught up with the situation, and the more he realized that this wasn’t the man he thought he was.

“We’re just going to need some more information about the actual location.” Margosa added, as Ayden quickly pulled out one of the books he had with him, “Of course, right away.”

Ayden explained exactly where the village was, as well as the time it took them to get to this mountain from there. One of the aides standing by the door took that information and quickly made his way outside.

“Let us have a bit of a calmer conversation. Your other two friends also seem quite confused about what is currently going on.” The man turned around and sat down on the armchair that stood at the side of the room, gesturing to the couch on the other side of the small table.

The group of four visitors took a seat, with Ayden making sure that Noah properly calmed down again. And although Noah understood what was going on, he was obviously still nervous and upset at what just happened. And of course, to add onto that, he was now embarrassed because this happened in front of these people he barely knew.

Margosa leaned against one of the bookshelves as Almanac looked at the four. First, he turned toward Mari, “You are from this world, correct?”

Mari slowly nodded her head, “Yeah... I am.”

“I see. Then do you have any knowledge of ‘Lost Ones’? They are also sometimes called ‘Otherworlders’, or ‘Wandering Souls’.” Alamanac explained, but Mari shook her head, “I don’t know, sorry...”

“Aha. These two boys... erm...” The bipedal rabbit said, looking at them with a smile. Ayden realized what he wanted, and he nudged Noah’s arm as he himself began to speak.

“Ayden Samuel Turner.”

“Ah... Noah Christoph Hastings...” The two of them said right after one another, and Almanac smiled and continued, “These two boys, Ayden and Noah, are not originally from this world. I am sure you are at least aware of the principle of reincarnation. For each world, there are two flows of souls. Those of the dead which go to the afterlife, and then for those not-yet living that will soon be incarnated, heeding from the afterlife. This is a rule each world possesses. Now, in the case of our world and that where these two come from, one of their flows and one of our own are rather close by.”

Ayden raised his brows surprised as he thought about this information, and quickly realized how it seemed to be, “Our world’s flow for the dead going to the afterlife is close to this world’s flow of the not-yet living, right?”

Almanac smiled in positive surprise, “Indeed so. Strong, powerful souls, usually of those with incredibly strong personalities, sometimes jump from one flow to another. Since the souls from their world have not yet been cleansed before reincarnation, they appear in our world like when they passed, simply healed from their ailments. On the other hand, when the souls from our world enter their flow, and pass right through the afterlife to proceed being reincarnated there, cleansed and ready to be born to the people of their world.”

“I get it... That’s why you guys speak english here, because english-speaking people from our world appeared in this area some time ago. And it’s also why we in our world have myths and knowledge about things like magic... It’s because it was kept as memories in the souls of those that came from here.” Ayden concluded, and once more, Almanac was pleasantly surprised, “You catch on quickly, young man. However, due to the requirement that those souls belong to those with powerful personalities, many ‘Lost Ones’ swiftly turned into either heroes or villains of this world. They always brought either complete destruction or the miracle of creation. But of course, the bad lingers in the mind of people for longer than the good, so the stigma against them is also quite strong and wide-spread. I suggest not freely telling others of this from now on.”

“...Yeah, we were told that already. The village chief said the same thing...” Noah said with an embarrassed expression.

“Do not worry. I said not ‘freely’ telling others. If there are circumstances such as those you found yourself in today, or you simply trust the person you plan on revealing this to, there is no reason to keep it a secret. I simply suggest not wearing it as a badge of honor.”

Mari was still struggling to keep up, “Wait, wait, wait... So you’re telling me these two are from another world? Seriously? So they’re like... Elementals?”

Margosa scoffed with a smirk, “No, that would mean they came from a different ‘plane’, sweetie. All the planes together create one ‘world’.”

“Oh... But wait, Ayden said that because souls come from here to there, they know about magic. Does that mean magic wasn’t a thing there?” Mari asked, something that Almanac and Margosa were also quite curious about. Ayden and Noah looked at each other for a moment.

“Well, we’re not sure. Plenty of people said that they can use magic, or that they see supernatural things that seem magical. We had our respective abilities since we were born in that world as well. But there is no universal truth of ‘magic’ being real, no.” Ayden explained.

“I see. Then it must feel nice to be somewhere where your ‘abilities’ are more normal.” Almanac suggested, and Noah slowly nodded his head, although he was still not looking at the man sitting in front of him, “Kind of... Although I still think my ability is a bit weird.”

Almanac sat there and crossed his leg, keeping up his constant gentle smile, “Would that not be the case for all four of you? Having abilities that make you unusual will always feel conflicting. But it sounds like over here, the unusual is at least more usual than where you come from.”