The body of a young boy, battered and injured by a stampede, was lying around on a blood-stained floor. Nothing much could be done to save him — he had died hours ago. Only the fact that there were literal mountains of bodies at the World’s End chasm saved this corpse from being eaten by crows and vultures.

A crow, smaller than usual, landed nearby and hopped over timidly. It tilted its head, and then fluttered away with a frightened squawk as the body shuddered. The young boy woke up, breathing raggedly as though as he had gone through a nightmare.

“Ow, ow, ow. Bloody hell, that damned god. Ignore me? Fine.” The young boy sat up and shook his tiny fist at the air. “But don’t dig random bottomless holes for people to fall into! I—”

He paused; his eyes somewhat confused. “There’s a whole bunch of things missing from my memory. And where the hell’s this? I wasn’t this small either, was I?”

“Gaius!” A delighted cry interrupted his self-musing, and before the young boy could look up, a bowling ball dressed in white and red had smacked into his torso. “You’re alive! I thought you were done for when you fell over…”

“I’m okay, I’m okay, err…what’s your name again?”

The little girl pouted. “I’m Nakama! You forgot my name again!”

The young boy — Gaius — frowned. “Latin, Japanese…and we’re apparently speaking in English. What the hell’s going on?”

Nakama tilted her little head. “What’s Latin and Japanese?”

With a straight face that hid his churning mind, Gaius replied, “Food. I suddenly got hungry and wanted to eat some good food.”

“What kind of food are these?”

“Uh.” Gaius rubbed his nose. “They’re rich foods with profound histories behind them. They make you smarter when you eat them!”

Her eyes went wide at the descriptions, and drool began to leak out from the corner of her mouth. Her enthralled expression lasted for only a second, however, before sadness came over again.

“What’s wrong, Nakama?” Gaius squatted down.

“The food we took was taken by someone.” She pouted. “So many adults died too, fighting off the horrible humans. I’m hungry. And most importantly, I want a piggyback ride!”

The young boy, with a Latin name, looked at the girl, who had a Japanese name, with extraordinarily skewed priorities and sighed. He beckoned her to climb on, and with a burst of strength, stood up straight.

She’s far lighter than I expected her to be, however. Gaius looked around curiously as Nakama gave directions to a food collection centre. If I’m right, this body and this girl were originally slum dwellers, given the clothes we’re wearing right now. I should play along, even if it’s for now.

“How old are you, Nakama?” Gaius looked at a shop that had calendars displayed, amongst other odds and ends, and walked over. From what he could see of it, there was nothing different than that of the calendars of his home world…Earth.

“Nine this year!”

“Then do you remember my age?”

“Of course!” Her reply was proud. “You’re eleven years old!”

Eleven? Gaius’ expression soured. As far as he could remember, he’d lived at least twenty years in a visibly more modern world, but his life was probably uneventful. But he couldn’t recall how he had died. Not a bit.

It was in this fashion that Gaius continued to gain information from Nakama as she directed him to the food collection point she remembered passing by. Gaius was apparently an orphan, their parents killed by invading humans a few years back, and had been living on the streets since. As for Nakama, she was apparently from a distinguished lineage, whose family had been exterminated after the patriarch died in battle.

None of that really mattered to the both of them anymore, since status was nothing on the streets. It was good enough for them to find a place to get through the night, while scourging enough food from garbage points. The human-beast war, which had ended just a day ago, had changed everything.

Food collection points, communal bunks for the homeless…policies like these had been put in place the moment the war ended. The abandoned and neglected of society had become important resources in a labour-scarce world overnight. Gaius shook his head as the two of them made their way to one such food collection point, where they would hopefully find a semi-permanent place to live in.

On the way, they came across small gatherings helmed by what seemed to be young men in military clothes.

None of them were entirely human. One of them had ears that reminded him of a fox, while another had crocodilian scales on his forearms. The latter was engaged in what seemed like a street performance by blocking swords with his forearm alone, and then explaining about how the military made one stronger.

Gaius found it rather interesting, but the little girl continued to pull his hair like the reins of a horse. “Are these guys beastmen?” asked Gaius.

“Beastfolk!”

“Are you one of them too?”

“Almost everyone here is a beastfolk!”

The young boy turned to look at Nakama, but there were no instinctive beast-like traits that could tell him what kind of beastfolk Nakama was.

“Nakama,” said Gaius, “what kind of beastfolk are you? I can’t see any distinctive traits on you.”

“It’s under my clothes!” Crimson tinged her cheeks slightly, and Gaius took it as a cue to shut up, and instead decided to examine the world around him closer. He couldn’t tell what country the architectural design here corresponded to, but it did feel rather familiar to him.

Gaius turned a corner, where he saw a long line of people queuing up. There was another, smaller line that was comprised of children that were Gaius’ age or below. A uniformed man stood there, most likely someone from the military.

His eyes lit up when he saw the little pair pop up.

“The two of you over there, do you want a place to live in?”