Riding on the bus and looking at the window, I’m always pleasantly surprised by how quickly the city’s gray view turns into the green of the forests, enlightened by the sun in such a way that the light itself looks colorful. Soothing moments I wish could last much longer than the drive to whatever place we’re going.

But I’m not used at all to seeing castles. Neither griffins flying around nor dinosaurs mounted by buffed warriors. I must be dreaming again; you see, I’m already falling asleep, so I must be waking up in the real world.

Vera herself is sleeping at the moment, and so is the driver. I would be desperate in real life, as the bus is quickly going off the street and crashing into the forest. So fast that I pass out with the impact. But it's okay, I thought.

“Matt! Matt! Wake up!”

Why is everyone waking me up these days…can’t a guy get some sleep in peace?

“MATT!”

“Okay, ok…I’m awake” oh, that’s right, Vera and I were going somewhere… - “…what’s up? Why were I on the ground?”

Man…what a headache…

“The bus crashed while we were sleeping…” Vera says - “I thought you were dead…”

She has tears in her eyes…was this for real? I wasn’t dreaming?

I look behind me to see the bus smashed into a tree. No, no…I must be dreaming, I mean, how are we even alive?

“Matt, I don’t know where we are…we’re alone here, I looked inside and there is nobody on the bus…I don’t know what the hell’s happening…”

I mean, it really doesn't seem to make any sense. Did they go out to get some help?

“Don’t think too much about it, Vera” I feel the same, but let’s try to comfort her - “let’s find our way into the street, shall we?”

“Yes…” she says, getting her act together - “let’s get going.”

As we walk through the forest, trying to go the opposite way in which the bus came crashing down the hill, I can only imagine if this is another shitty plot from the gods. A classic; they put us in purgatory without us even knowing it, and now I’m supposed to reflect over my actions, uh?

Well, I’m not rethinking anything, for sure.

But as we walk for some 10 minutes and start to suspect there’s something wrong, as the street should have shown up by now, someone appears in the distance.

We try to approach, only to be greeted by violent warnings:

“State your name and business! Or you shall perish!”

Specting closer, I see he is a tall, skinny man, with what I can only describe as some cosplayer red clothing. Oh, yes, we found a powerful fire magician in the forest. Hate when that happens.

“We’re Vera and Matt!” shouts Vera - “We’re lost! Can you please help us?”

What?

“Hey, what are you doing?” I whisper to her - “Are you actually following up on this guy’s crazy talk?”

“What do you mean?” Vera says this looking genuinely confused - “He’s probably a guard from a castle in the vicinity! That-”

“Enough!” shouts the man - “We were warned about the presence of suspicious fellows lurking around the castle by this forest! And judging by your odd clothes, I have no choice but to unleash punishment!”

“Wait wait wait,” shouts Vera - “you have to-”

She has no time to complete the sentence as a fireball materializes above the man’s hand. The intense light blinded us for a moment, and a scary sound is emitted by the growing flames.

“Matt!” Vera shouts, getting behind me - “We have no choice, you’ll have to fight back!”

“...What?”

Okay, first I thought this was purgatory, but now, it feels even worse; is this an isekai or something? I need to know, here. Whatever it is, might be the end now. That’s a pretty big fireball. Growing, growing…and stopping.

Vera was shouting for me to use my magic just now, but I don’t hear anything. And nothing is moving too.

Time has stopped, but I can see someone moving towards me, the one probably behind this.

A cow.

“Matt.”

“Mr. Cow.”

“I understand your doubts. May I clarify?”

“Please.”

Why does it feel so familiar to talk with this…thing? I remember having a very short, vague dream with a cow, but not having a conversation…

Am I still dreaming?

“No.” he says

“Oh? So I got transported to another dimension? Is this it?”

“No,” he says again - “We made this to the real world. To your universe.”

"What did we do?"

"We made everything you know doesn't belong to your world become true, Matt." - says the cow - "I guess you don't remember everything."

But what happens now?

“We’ll fix it, Matt. But you’ll have to hang on for some time…maybe use some magic.”

…

I look at the giant fireball in front of us, then back to the talking cow.

“....okay…I guess. Just tell me how, then.”

“I will.”