Saehwa's eyes fluttered open slowly. Blinking against the harsh sunlight filtering through thick green leaves, she tried to move but the soft moss beneath her made it feel like the forest itself was holding her in place. Her head throbbed faintly, her thoughts scrambled, fragmented, like pieces of a dream she couldn't quite hold.
She sat up, brushing leaves and dirt from her dark cloak, her pale fingers trembling slightly. The forest around her was dense, unfamiliar. Towering trees stretched far above, their leaves whispering with an unrecognizable rhythm. The air smelled different like fresh yet lacking the faint hum of magic she had always felt, even in the most mundane corners of Jepka.
"Where… am I?" she murmured, her voice small, almost swallowed by the rustling trees.
Her mind raced, trying to grasp what had happened. The Gate Engine, the castle, the glowing light… it was all gone, replaced by silence and green. Panic tugged at her chest. She reached for the Book of Wonders, but there was nothing. No weight in her hands. No light guiding her way.
Saehwa slowly stood, her boots sinking slightly into the soft ground. Every step felt heavy, as if the forest itself wanted her to pause, to think, to remember. But she had no memory of how she had arrived. Nothing beyond the dim memory of the Engine's glow.
Hours passed or maybe minutes, time felt different here. She wandered, twisting along mossy paths, stepping over roots, ducking under hanging branches. Her thoughts drifted back to her sisters, to the boys, to Ardelle. The pain of losing Ardelle still throbbed in her heart, but now it mingled with confusion and fear.
A faint noise reached her ears a murmur, distant and strange. Voices unlike any she had heard in Jepka, lacking magic's resonance, harsh in their clarity. She froze. "People?" she whispered, almost disbelieving. "Or… something else?"
Saehwa followed the sound cautiously, weaving through trees, leaping over fallen logs, branches scraping against her cloak. The voices grew louder, clearer. Words she couldn't understand, yet carried a strange rhythm, a pattern that suggested familiarity, familiar enough to calm some part of her racing mind.
The forest gradually thinned. Shafts of sunlight broke through, painting the earth in golden stripes. Birds scattered at her passing, startled by her sudden appearance.
And then… she saw it.
A clearing. A road. People. Moving, talking, laughing. Vehicles glided along smooth surfaces, people entering shops and leaving with bags in hand. Tall buildings lined the streets, their colors muted but alive with lights and signs. There were no hovering carriages, no floating lamps, no magic in the air. Only the steady hum of this world, mechanical and predictable, entirely foreign to her senses.
Saehwa's jaw went slack. She staggered forward, clutching her cloak, her eyes wide as she took in the sight. "This… this isn't Jepka," she whispered, voice trembling. "This… this isn't any world I know."
Everything was alive, but in a way she had never experienced. The ordinary, mundane life of people walking, talking, trading, living yet it was… mesmerizing. There was energy here, a different kind of pulse, one not powered by magic, but by movement, by human hands, by invention.
Saehwa took a careful step forward, almost afraid she would vanish if she blinked. The voices of the people blended into the hum of engines, the soft chatter of a world built without spells or fire or wind-bending air.
She inhaled, her pale fingers brushing against a railing along the road. Her heart raced with both awe and fear. This was… Earth.
The realization hit her slowly, like the turning of a page she hadn't read yet. This world had no magic but it had something else. Life. People. Stories. Choices. And she had landed here completely alone, without a single clue about how she had crossed the worlds or if she could ever return.
Saehwa's eyes swept across the bustling streets. Cars honked, shopkeepers shouted prices, children laughed as they ran across sidewalks. Everything was so normal, yet so alien.
She took a hesitant step, then another. Her boots clicked against the stone pavement. She wasn't sure if she should run, hide, or scream. Instead, she walked. Slowly, deliberately, trying to understand this world rules, its sounds, its rhythm.
Her eyes flicked to the sky. No magic. No glimmering energy. Only the pale blue of day, the steady sun casting ordinary shadows.
And deep inside, something stirred. Curiosity. Wonder. A faint thread of hope.
Saehwa didn't know how long she walked for hours, perhaps but at last, she paused in the middle of the road, staring in awe at this world.
This was Earth. A world of people. Of motion. Of invention. Of possibilities she could barely imagine.
And somewhere deep inside, a question bloomed: How will I survive here? And… will they find me?
She took a deep breath, letting the sounds, the smells, and the endless movement wash over her.
The adventure had only just begun.