If I had been in the right state of mind, I might have been able to appreciate the stunning view of the landscape stretched out beneath me. Rolling hills of vibrant green and rivers a shade of brilliant blue that made the entire landscape shimmer as though made of gemstones. Flowers in every shade imaginable stood out against the grass, often clumped near the edge of more heavily wooded areas. Mountains with perfectly snow-capped peaks stretched out in a line on the horizon, and the sky was almost perfectly clear of clouds. It was truly beautiful.

Instead of appreciating that, however, my head was filled with one thought as I plummeted toward my death.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Oh, apparently I was verbalizing that thought too.

I was falling, hundreds of feet in the air, and the ground was rapidly approaching. The wind whipped my hair around my face, which was not helping my panic. Probably not a great sign that I was already focusing on useless details rather than how to not die. Then again, not exactly much I can do in this situation.

Suddenly, I felt claws dig into my shoulder as talons enclosed around my arms. I yelped in pain, and looked up to see a bird of prey larger than anything that should possibly exist. My weight caused the bird to lurch down, as it cawed loud enough to rattle what little was left of the thoughts in my head. After a moment of continued downward flight, I felt the birds talons start to loosen. 

"NO NO NONONO!" I grabbed the thing's leg and held on with everything I had as it tried to drop me, still way to high to survive. It began to flap its wings and claw at me with the leg I wasn't holding on to, but despite taking several scratches across my back, I held on with everything I had. We were still slowly falling downwards, so if I could just hang on until we reached the ground, I could start to handle it from...

It's claw finally got a grip on my shoulder and shoved me away from it, where I found myself once again falling. Well shit. Fortunately, I wasn't falling long before I hit the canopy of a forest that broke my fall. I tumbled downwards, hitting branches and doing my best to protect my head until I finally hit the dirt. I lay there for several moments, doing my best to take stock of my condition. Nothing appeared broken. My right shoulder was bleeding. There were dozens of cuts across my back. Parts of my body I didn't even know existed hurt.

Above me, the sound of the giant bird angrily cawing continued as it attempted to find a way through the dense canopy. I did my best to get to my feet, but my legs were wobbly, I felt like I could barely walk. 

WHOOSH.

A gust of wind flew through the forest, causing the trees to shake and for me to stumble before catching myself on a tree. The bird nearly fell out of the sky and immediately started flapping around in a panic before bolting.

WHOOSH.

Another gust of wind, although this time I was already steadied against the tree trunk. They seemed to be coming in a rhythm, almost like... wings...

A Dragon, as tall as the trees, wings wider than a house, every aspect of it could be called nothing but "Grand". It's scales were a deep crimson, each one finely knit together, all shifting and moving as it's muscles rippled under that layer of natural armor with each magnificent wing flap. It appeared to be wearing a large satchel fitted to it's chest, indicating that it was no mere beast, but intelligent enough at least to be using tools. It was instantly on top of the bird, effortlessly outmaneuvering it, and burning it out of the sky with a single brilliant blast of fire. The flames whirled out of its maw, past rows of razor sharp teeth, as the colors of the flame were mixed in the air, blues and yellows and oranges weaving the tapestry that was the end of the bird's life. It was beautiful.

I'm very normal about dragons, I think.

Whoosh.

It continued away into the distance, my eyes locked onto it until it was out of sight.

"That's a dragon" I muttered breathlessly to myself. A dragon. An actual dragon was flying away with the bird that tried to kill me and accidentally saved after I almost fell to my death after suddenly appearing in the sky. A sky that isn't mine, considering the... well, everything.

The weight of that hit for the first time. I wasn't at home in my bed. I didn't need to pinch myself, the mess of injuries that was my back could more than make up for that test. I was in another world, with dragons (I really hoped their was more than one) and giant creatures, and picturesque landscapes, and... magic plants? I took a closer look at the grass underneath my feet and the leaves on the trees. They were all glowing slightly and shimmering, although when I reached out my hand to touch them they still felt normal. What didn't feel normal was the pain that shot through me as I moved my right arm, which was still bleeding from where the bird had latched into me.

Alright, I was barely standing, I was bleeding from a dozen different wounds, and I had just fallen hundreds of feet. I needed to make sure I was safe and fix myself as a top priority. No matter what, finding water as a first step felt like it couldn't hurt. It would help keep me hydrated, clean my wounds, and help confirm something. I was already pretty sure of it, considering my hair kept falling in front of my face like usual, but a part of me couldn't help but feel a twinge of hope.

***

***

The river wasn't far into the small forest, which was a relief since I was much less steady on my feet than I had assumed. The first thing I did was check my reflection in the water. The same face that always stared back at me, those same green eyes that lost just a little bit of light as they perceived themselves, that same brown hair too long, since I always hated cutting it, same stubble that I'd gone to sleep with. 

I sighed, but there was nothing to do about that. The water was running, so I didn't feel too nervous about taking several large gulps. Apparently, almost dying can cause you to become a tad under hydrated. After that I did my best to figure out how to fix my wounds. I had always been a bit squeamish, and didn't really know what to do. Since there were cuts everywhere, would jumping in be fine to clean them out? And then try to bandage them maybe? At least it felt like that couldn't hurt, but I really wasn't feeling confident in my ability to swim right now. Maybe if I...

"Freeze"

I raised both my hands and did a spectacular job of doing exactly as instructed immediately. The voice had come from behind me, in the tree line. More importantly, the voice had been in English, which, despite possibly being in danger, was a relief. 

"Move and I shoot." Not the greatest sign for continued, not shot existence, but it could be worse.

"What are you doing here?" she said in an accusatory tone. At least the voice sounded feminine, though I was still facing the water.

"Trying not to bleed out, mostly, um, I don't know where I am" that was true, and probably wouldn't get me shot.

"Why haven't you used healing magic on yourself?" her tone was a bit less accusatory as she must have seen the state I was in.

"I, uh, don't know how? Should I be able... " maybe outing myself as not from this world wasn't the greatest plan.

"Wait, are you... an Outlander?" welp, so much for keeping my cards close to my chest. I'd never been great at lying to others, but this was pathetic.

"Um, based purely on context clues, I'd say yes, but I would really appreciate if you could clarify what that means. Can I change my answer to probably? That feels more correct."

"Turn around, I can't tell what you're thinking facing away." she said, her tone still measured but significantly less hostile now. I turned around to face her and saw her holding a bow from the tree line.

"Oh."

She was a wolf. At least, her head was very similar to that of a wolf, though her eyes looked more intelligent than a wolves. Her hands had claws on the end of each finger, and her legs were digitigrade, like that of a canine. She wore what looked like leather armor, with several pouches and satchels strapped across her figure. The feathery ends of arrows suggested a quiver was strapped across her back, which would justify where she had gotten the arrow currently positioned in the bow aimed at me.

She was clearly analyzing me in the same way, taking note of my clothes and injuries. 

She held her suspicious gaze for a moment before sighing and letting the tension from the bow loose. "No one would willingly carry those injuries around if they had a way to fix it, and I don't think you were putting on a show for my benefit. I am quite confident you were oblivious to me following you, or else you are a great actor." I lowered my hands, smiled and closed my eyes. I think that is too many times in one day for my life to be in danger, and I've only been awake for 2 hours!

"Even if you're not from this world, how did you make your way to Belsia? The only person around here capable of doing so didn't summon you, or else we will be having words later." Despite still asking questions, she seemed to have transitioned from interrogating to problem solving, a good change for me.

"Well, I don't know how I got here, I went to sleep last night in my bed and woke up falling. A big bird caught me on the way down, or I'd be a panc... I'd be squished" not sure how expressions and references to objects from my world would translate, so best to keep it simple.

Her brow furrowed in thought, her teeth bared just a bit in concentration, which was a decidedly person-like and not at all person-like expression on her face. "That doesn't make sense, summoning brings you to a circle, it shouldn't dump you in the sky?" Her eyes narrowed once again at me, though not nearly with same intensity as before. "Alright, no matter what, I can't just leave you here, you're coming with me, I'll ask Sinsa if what you say is even possible before I make any judgement. Follow me."

I made it all of five steps before my legs gave out from under me. She turned at the noise of me falling, and look of genuine concern flashed across her face, and she made her way back to me. "Sorry, I... think I need to rest here for a bit." Whatever had been keeping my upright until now had apparently stopped working.

"Crap, uh..." she seemed panicked about something for a moment, before looking directly at me and speaking "Ut Remek." I was enveloped in a soft green glow, and instantly, I began to feel better. My wounds started to stitch themselves together, my breathing became less shallow, and a bit of the color returned to my face. I hadn't fully recovered, but I could definitely move around now. She, on the other hand, looked incredibly strained, and was taking slow deep breaths for a few moments with her eyes closed. 

Finally she opened them back up and inspected the effect. "That was awesome, are you okay?" She barked a laugh which was startlingly loud, and put on a smile. "I'm fine, just not great at spells." she stood and offered a paw to help me up.

I took her help and managed to keep my legs under me this time. "Um, thank you for that.. Um..."

"Pransai, and it was no trouble. And what is your name?"

My mind had started to wander, taking in the spells effect, so I answered automatically "Oh, Korey." Damn it, guess I was still stuck with it. Not there was another answer to give, I think I'm just weird about my name.

"Well met, it isn't far to home, let me know if you feel unwell." she turned and started walking.

"Uh huh." I followed close behind her, my mind back to thinking about the spell. I had seen it heal and transform my body back to a state of health. If it was capable of that, maybe it could be capable of changing other parts of my body. For now though, I had to focus on keeping up with Pransai, hopefully their would be more answers wherever she was headed.