The Author's POV

'It's bright.'

Squinting, Melissa covered her face with her hand to block the light coming from above. It was really bright. Bright enough to make her eyes feel sore.

"Ugh."

Her mind was rather groggy at the moment and she wanted nothing more than to sleep at the moment.

She felt tired. Extremely so.

But…

"The fuck!?"

With a sharp snap of her eyelids, Melissa stirred out of her slumber.

After her mind sobered up a bit and she recalled the events leading up to her finding herself in this state, she immediately felt uneasy.

"Shit, where are my glasses?"

In search of her glasses, Melissa tapped the ground with her hands.

It was difficult for Melissa to see anything without her glasses, as everything around her was extremely blurry.

"Where are they?"

Touching around her and only feeling what felt like thick hard grass, Melissa's brows knit tightly.

"I knew it."

Melissa muttered to herself as her face twisted in displeasure.

"…I knew that I shouldn't have agreed with Ren's deal. Whenever I do something with him, I'm always hit with the worst of luck. Now I probably lost my glasses and will never find them ag—"

Right at that moment, Melissa felt something in her hand. Carefully touching it and recognizing its shape, she grabbed the item and put them on her face.

"Nevermind."

She mumbled to herself as she got up and took a look at her surroundings.

"Still doesn't change what I previo—huh?"

Melissa's jaw grew slack as gazed into the distance.

She was left in awe by what she saw as she struggled to comprehend the scene in front of her at that moment..

"…Where in the world am I?"

The scenery…

It looked like nothing like she had ever seen before.

A majestic forest of thick canopy trees bent at different angles covered the northwest part of the landscape. A vivid palette of rose, amber, and violet feathers shaped leaved replaced the regular looking ones to create a breathtaking spectacle.

The air was thin and easy to breathe as Melissa had no trouble breathing.

But…

"This is not earth."

Melissa was quick to guess that something was wrong with this place. It had no semblance of the earth she knew.

"How is this possible?"

Rather than being flustered, Melissa's eyes twinkled with an uncommon excitement.

"It can't be right?"

By tapping her bracelet, she took a tiny device out of her dimensional space and pressed the small button that sat atop of it.

Beep—! Beep—!

A beeping sound echoed out.

"61% nitrogen, and 30%% oxygen…"

as she read the measurements displayed on the machine. Her excitement soon reached an all-time

really on a

it differ, but it was only by

of oxygen levels were the same as back when earth

filled with enormous bugs,

"Shit."

made Melissa cringe. If there was one thing she despised the most, it was bugs...and the idea of possibly finding bugs that were

aside, Melissa was still excited about her current

collect data for her research, it was none other than this place!

"Wait a second..."

excitement, however, didn't last long. Her eyebrows knitted

different planet, but how exactly am

know how she got here in the first place. In fact, she was extremely confused as to why she

minding her own business in her lab when suddenly, out of

what was going

"Hmm…"

as reality dawned on her. She pinched the middle of her brows in annoyance

"I'm fucked, aren't I?"

***

kilometers away from Melissa, in a different

"What's that?"

of trees and glanced to the distance where she saw a tall

Amanda saw the pyramid in the distance, her heart tightened as she felt a sense of existential doom.

light also shot into the sky as she stared at the top of

clouds in the sky darkened and the sky turned

"This phenomenon..."

was happening, Amanda tensed her legs and leapt up as she

she once again leaped toward the top of another branch, she eventually reached the top

distance, Amanda quietly mumbled to

"A mana compressor."

the pyramid was, but

a

scaled

device used by demons to convert the mana

Amanda knew one thing for sure; the mana compressor in the distance wasn't just any mana compressor. It was one designed to completely swallow up

that point on she was able

"I'm not on earth."

races would've discovered it long ago. It was simply

the unfamiliar environment, as Amanda marvelled at the various plants and vegetation that she had never seen

plants look to be far bigger than

out of her thoughts as her attention was

"...How did this happen?"

no idea how she found herself in

of where she

...At least until now.

***

"I can finally move."

me, I supported

my hand as I felt something soft on the side of the wall. I

"Is this moss?"

feel the texture of the lump on my hand, I brought it closer to my nose and

"It smells like it…"

knew how moss smelled

the moss on the ground, I

It was dark.

I saw nothing

"Huuuu..."

began to move my legs in a sideways motion. At the moment, I

as my foot touched the corner

and

too small. Just about the

'I'm thirsty.'

my dry lops together, I moved toward the area where the liquid was dripping. The closer I got, the more pronounced

Drip— Drip—

Gulp.

a mouthful of

had been here

hand in the direction of where the

'Wait.'