Aida
With each jolt, the ropes dug deeper into my skin. My mouth felt parched, my throat raw. I had no idea how long I had been unconscious, or how far we had traveled. I tried to catalogue my situation logically, despite the swirling panic. I was bound, caged, in an alien world, being taken to an unknown destination by hostile individuals who spoke an incomprehensible language.
The odds were not in my favor. What skills did I possess? My knowledge of history felt suddenly useless. I am a survivalist. Just Aida. A person who liked quiet evenings and interesting facts. How could that possibly help me here? Yet, despair, while tempting, felt unproductive. I had to think.
I had to observe. To had to find a way out of this impossible predicament. Crying or panicking wouldn't loosen the ropes or open the cage. I forced myself to focus on my surroundings again, filtering my observations through the bars. The strange, iridescent plants continued to dot the landscape. I saw glimpses of small, scuttling creatures unlike any insects or reptiles I knew in the bottom-dark. The air itself felt different – thinner, perhaps, and carrying faint, complex scents of unfamiliar flora and dust. My captors maintained a steady pace.
They have stopped speaking, their silence broken only by short, sharp commands or occasional grunts. They seemed wary, constantly scanning the horizon and the dense, thorny scrub that bordered their path. Were they afraid of something? Wild beasts? The thought offered a sliver of hope. If there were other dangers, perhaps they could inadvertently create an opportunity for my escape. I tried to understand their movements, their signals. Were they heading north, south, east, or west? Without a sun I recognized or constellations I knew, it was impossible to tell.
The twin bodies of suns I had glimpsed earlier were obscured now by the shifting canopy of the strange sky. Hours passed, marked only by the changing light and the deepening ache in my muscles. My hunger and thirst became insistent pangs. My mind drifted between flashes of my old life , Yu, the comfort of my apartment and the stark, terrifying reality of my present.
The contrast was jarring, a constant reminder of everything I had lost. I wondered about the nature of this transmigration. Was it random? Was there a reason I had been brought here? Was there a system, like in the novels, that governed this world, offering power or progression? I felt no immediate sense of a helpful interface appearing, no voice in my head offering guidance.
Only the cold reality of wood and metal bars. As the light began to dim, the vibrant greens and purples of the sky deepened into bruised indigos and blood oranges. A different set of celestial bodies began to emerge – not stars as I knew them, but swirling nebulae and clusters of intensely bright points of light that cast an eerie glow on the landscape.
The temperature dropped, and a chill seeped into my cage. My captors slowed their pace. They began looking for a place to make camp. They chose a small, rocky alcove, offering some natural protection from the frost and likely natural predators. The creaking of the conveyance ceased as they brought it to a halt. They disembarked, their movements stiff from the day's travel. One of them approached the cage, a waterskin slung over his shoulder.
He unstoppered it and offered it to me through the bars. The water was warm and tasted faintly mineral, but it was the most welcome thing I had encountered in this world so far. I drank deeply, the liquid soothing her parched throat.
He then tossed a piece of hard, dry jerky into the cage before retreating, joining his companions by a small, quickly built fire. As darkness fully descended, the alien world came alive with new sounds rustling in the brush, distant calls, the hum of strange insects. The firelight cast flickering shadows that danced on the cliff faces around the camp.
I huddled in my cage, chewing slowly on the tough jerky. It was bland but filling. I watched my captors, observing their interactions. They seemed wary, their weapons close at hand even while resting. What dangers lurked in this night? The thought of escape felt impossible right now, bound and caged in the middle of a hostile camp in an unknown world.
But I wouldn't surrender to despair. I had been dropped into this reality, ripped from everything I knew. It was terrifying, yes, but also a new beginning, however grim. I had no idea where they were taking me, but wherever it was, I had to find a way to survive, to understand this world, and ultimately, to regain my freedom. I closed my eyes, not in defeat, but to conserve energy, to listen, to think. The cold metal of the bars pressed against my cheek. The sounds of the alien night and the low murmur of her captors' voices were my only companions.