The sun touched down on a mountainous horizon, dying the sky and the land below in beautiful shades of orange and crimson. For several miles past the mountains, there was only barren land buried under meters of snow. If one looked much further out, they would eventually find a small village. Its boundaries were clearly defined by two-meter tall structures that looked like stones piled on top of one another. These stone piles were spread out every ten or so meters in a circular formation around the village. The rectangular houses near the edge of the village were spread widely with lots of fenced off land around them. Near the center, houses were built much closer together and were organized in blocks with roads between them. The dark silver sand-like material that most of the houses were built from sparkled amidst the setting sun. As snow began to fall, the village’s hundreds of sharply slanted roofs were the first to be touched. Answering the falling snow were rising smoke plumes from hundreds of chimneys. Everything was orderly and peaceful.

Within the village, in a metallic room that seemed to be cut off from the world outside, a soft feminine voice was humming along to the music. With deep, rapidly plucked strings, a rancorous drum beat, and loud, passionate vocals, this alien music would sound strangely familiar to anyone on Earth. If someone tried to classify it, they would instantly place it as a genre of rock.

Bright yellow stones illuminated a room filled with various tools and machine parts. At one end of the room, near the only door, was a two-meter obelisk made of dark stone and covered in glowing white veins. Several similarly white holographic screens floated around it while a few more followed the room’s only inhabitant.

“Hmm, hmm, hmm. This will be the third operation test for engine 4. Documenting repairs and tweaks since the last operation test…”

She glanced at one of the screens and text started to appear, quickly filling the page.

“Ok, starting.”

In front of the woman was a sleek, ovoid object with a flat bottom. It was made of a dark metal and a few horizontal lines were carved into its side. The engine’s curved top reached the woman’s knees while its length was around her height, slightly over 1.7 meters. The woman placed her hand on the engine and the lines on its side began to glow white. More light erupted from its flat bottom as the engine slowly lifted itself off the ground. A slight smile appeared on the woman’s face as she watched it hover less than a meter off the ground. Tapping it with her foot, she saw it glide smoothly over the floor. An unseen force grabbed it and dragged it back before it could crash into the other mechanical devices strewn around the room.

“Don’t get cocky.” She whispered to the engine as if she were telling it a precious secret. While she spoke, the engine dimmed and fell to the ground again. “You still have a ways to go before you’re more than a pile of junk.”

Her eyes subconsciously landed on a set of five similar engines piles up near a large rectangular frame. This frame took up the majority of the workshop space and from the outside, its only notable features were a sliding door and a large windshield. As she gazed at it, the woman’s smile faded. Hesitation flashed in her eyes until she dispelled her conflicting feelings with a sigh.

“When I finish fixing this slider…I should sell it quickly.”

The woman suddenly jumped as a shrill ringing replaced her music. A new window had opened near the obelisk and it contained the words ‘front counter’.

“Seriously?” The woman squinted before waving her hands. The holographic boxes vanished and the lights in the room dimmed as she strode to the door.

Exiting the room was a young woman approaching twenty years of age. Dressed in a simple black tank top and tight beige pants with grey fur sewn in an artistic pattern on the sides of her legs, her pale skin looked chilled, but she didn’t register it at all. A bushy blue-furred tail with a white tip was pressed up against her back in an agitated manner. Similarly, the tufted vulpine ears atop her head were laid flat. The sapphire blue hair surrounding them was short and wavy, not even reaching her shoulders. Her face had sharp, angular features that made even her resting expression look intimidating. Still, like the rest of her body, those features were well-proportioned and beautiful.

The woman stomped through the threshold and stared past the empty chair and the countertop that separated her from her customers. When she saw the person who had called her out, her tail drooped, and her annoyed expression quietly transformed into a stiff smile.

On the other side of the counter, there was an older woman with identical blue hair and floppy canine ears atop her head. Dressed in a long fur coat, she wore a bright smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Oh, hello. I’m looking for my daughter, have you seen her?”

“Hey, mom.” The younger woman answered in a subdued tone.

“I think she’s about your height with short hair. I haven’t seen her for a while, and I’m starting to forget what she looks like. Even though I’ve been inviting her to dinner for the past week, she…”

“I get it, I get it!”

“Then put on a coat and let’s go home, Marin.”

Marin hesitated for a moment, but she didn’t argue. While she pulled a coat out of thin air, her mother glanced at a sign by the counter and shook her head.

“You’re too lazy.”

“More people visit when they don’t have to meet me face-to-face.” Was Marin’s breezy reply.

“Spineless cowards.” Marin’s mother glared at the sign once more before huffing and turning away.

The sign in question read: Have a request? Write a note, leave what you need repaired on the counter, then ring the bell.

After donning her coat, Marin covered herself with a hooded black cloak. Her mother glanced at her but didn’t say anything more. The pair walked through the snow-covered streets in comfortable silence.

When they passed through a large square at the center of the village, Marin was surprised to see that a crowd had gathered so late in the day. Many blue-haired people dressed in well-made furs surrounded a makeshift stall. Standing behind the stall were six lifeforms that towered over the crowd. Each was a humanoid around three meters tall with four arms. The females had light, icy blue hair and glowing blue veins while the males had red hair and red veins.

“A group of jotun arrived in the late afternoon.” Marin’s mother clarified. “They’ve been selling several things, but they don’t seem like traders.”

“As long as they aren’t exiles.”

“You’re too cautious. Only male jotun can become exiles.”

“Well, they could still be working with…” Marin trailed off when she saw a pole beside the stall with a large monster hanging from a hook at the top. “They’re selling a whole glacial worm?”

The worm in question was nearly four meters long and was covered in white hair that sparkled like snow crystals. It was hanging from its wide, tooth-filled maw, which was the creature’s only remarkable feature as it had no eyes or appendages.

“You haven’t made dinner yet, right?” Marin glanced at her mother. “Let’s buy it.”

“Eh? But it’s expensive.”

“I’ll pay, and this thing can feed you guys for several meals.”

Saying that, Marin promptly wove her way through the crowd. There were a few people haggling with the jotun who caught the worm and they shot Marin unkind glares when she joined the bidding. To the seller’s surprise, when the hagglers saw Marin’s face under her cloak, they quickly backed off. After handing the jotun female several black and gold coins, Marin started walking away. The worm lifted itself off the hook and floated behind her as she left the square. A few people exclaimed in shock as they saw the flying worm, but it didn’t cause too much of a fuss.

At the village’s outskirts, the pair approached a house that sat beside a large, empty fenced off plot of land. The coarse sand-like walls reflected the rapidly dimming sunlight, looking like thousands of shining stars. Meanwhile, there was warm yellow light coming from the house’s windows and smoke drifting out from the chimney. As she reached the doorway, Marin retracted her hand as the door opened from within. That inviting light spilled out to cover her as her father stood in the doorframe, greeting her with a smile.

“Oh, hello there. Have you seen my daughter?”

“I already did that joke.” Her mother retorted.

Marin greeted her father, stepped inside, greeted her brother and sister, carried the worm into the kitchen while her family fussed over her and it at the same time…Then she sat down in a chair by the fire. Marin was settled for less than a minute before she heard her mother scream from the kitchen.

Faster than her father and siblings, she rushed into the kitchen and saw a strange scene. Her family’s kitchen was larger than most, but it was normal for people in their line of work. On the side closer to the dining room, there were counters with standard pots and other kitchenware. However, there was a large door leading outside at the other end of the room. Beside it was a large metal basin built into the floor with hooks hanging from above. Hung on one of those hooks was the glacial worm. Marin’s mother had fallen on her butt and was holding her knife fearfully as she crawled backwards. Opposite her was the worm with a large cut on its side and a slime-covered hand sticking out of that cut.

“It ate someone?”

Marin narrowed her eyes in disgust, feeling she’d accidentally purchased a bad omen. Releasing a short sigh, she calmed herself down and took the knife from her mother.

“Well, we can at least bury the poor guy.”

After Marin widened the cut, she squinted, and the arm rose out of the worm’s stomach seemingly on its own. Soon, a body dripping with various juices was floating in front of the worm. Marin’s eyes widened and she took a step back.

“He…He’s still alive!”

The force holding the body up vanished, letting him splat onto the metal basin. Marin’s family heard a low groan as the body clutched its head with one hand and slowly propped itself up with the other. They collectively flinched and moved behind Marin.

“Don’t worry.” Marin assured them. “He hasn’t even opened the first gate. Also, I can sense that his life order is C-Rank, even lower than ours.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Her father muttered. “The only humanoid races on this planet are us, jotun and astrals.”

“Maybe he’s a mutant from our race. His hair color is messed up, after all.”

The person finally succeeded in sitting up. He shook his head and a white light enveloped his body. Marin had a bad premonition that was proven true in the next instant. The slime and stomach juices that clung to his body were actually resting on a thin film of the energy barrier surrounding him. When he agitated the barrier, it flung the foreign substances off itself. The ones to ‘catch’ these discarded juices were, naturally, Marin’s family. A good portion of their kitchen was also sullied.

Jayce opened his eyes, his gaze following the mess until it landed on the five strangers who were glaring at him.

“Oh, uh…Sorry.” He wasn’t really sure what else to say.

---

“Once again, I’m really sorry about the mess.”

Sitting at the dinner table, Jayce couldn’t help but apologize again. When he raised his head, he was relieved to see calm expressions from everyone else at the table. Only their youngest daughter looked a little peeved. The mother nodded at him and even smiled warmly.

“Don’t worry about it. It wasn’t difficult to clean. Now that that’s settled, my name is Lyra.”

The other family members also introduced themselves. As they did, Jayce looked at each of them carefully and a question entered his mind. The father’s name was Stout and he had large ears and hands that resembled a monkey. The youngest daughter, Plume, had feathers on her neck and hawk-like eyes. The second youngest was a boy named Lucas and even though he looked to be in his mid-teens, he had a full beard and bear ears atop his head. With Marin’s vulpine features and Lyra’s dog ears and tail, none of the family members remotely resembled each other. The only exception was that their hair/fur/feathers were all the same deep blue color.

‘Are these people actually related?’

Shelving this potentially rude question, Jayce was stuck with the issue of introducing himself. Giving out his name was no big deal, but the problem was what came after that. Jayce had absolutely no idea how these people would react if they knew he was a former slave. Moreover, Jayce was currently carrying several valuable objects that he wanted to hide. The value of his weapons was questionable, but his Star Girdle was something that even Mize felt was precious. His final and arguably most important secret was his classes. Mize had mentioned that special classes were treated as the backbone of powerful clans. Even though Jayce didn’t know much about the ingredients or rituals for his special classes, he couldn’t necessarily prove that.

Until he learned more about where he was, Jayce didn’t want to reveal very much. At the same time, he was worried that being too insincere might cause problems of its own.

“I remember that my name is Jayce, but everything else is kind of fuzzy.” He admitted, clutching his head. “I think I’m from somewhere very far away.”

Lyra looked a bit worried. “Oh, is that so? Maybe you hit your head before you were swallowed by that glacial worm.”

“Maybe.” Unlike her, Jayce’s expression was calm without a trace of the fear or confusion that one would expect of an amnesiac.

Noticing this, Marin met his eyes and nodded. “Well, maybe you’ll remember something later. We’re very curious, but it’s not really our business.”

‘Talking with smart people makes everything easier.’ Jayce thought appreciatively. He didn’t intend to put any effort into his lie. It was just a polite way of saying that he was unwilling to talk about himself for the moment.

With their introductions finished, Lyra and her two younger children quickly returned to the kitchen. They had already started cooking while everyone was cleaning up and only popped into the dining room after things settled down. Jayce guessed that dinner was almost ready.

Feeling a bit guilty, Jayce opened his mouth but was cut off by Stout.

“Don’t worry about it. Adding one person for dinner isn’t a big deal.”

Marin chuckled. “Heh, how do you feel? That worm ate you and now you’re going to eat it.”

“Pretty good.” Jayce grinned.

Soon, the table was set, and it was an oddly familiar scene for Jayce. The utensils were all recognizable even if they weren’t exactly the same as their Earth equivalents. The fork, for example, only had two tines and was curved in a shallow ‘S’ shape. Taking a deep breath, Jayce admired the delicious smell before placing his spoon in a bowl of meaty soup. His hands trembled a bit, but he kept eating. One by one, the other people at the table stopped eating and stared at Jayce oddly. Tears were pouring out of his eyes, but he didn’t notice until they started falling into the soup.

“It…It’s just been a while.” Jayce tried to explain himself, but he quickly stopped when his voice cracked.

Covering his face with his hands, he sat there and wondered. How long had it been since he’d last eaten? Had it really only been two weeks?