The cage rattled with every turn of the wooden wheels.
Echo woke to pain — his back pressed against iron bars, his skull throbbing as if split open and poorly stitched. Above him, two pale moons hung in a bruised purple sky, casting long shadows over a jagged, unfamiliar landscape.
He tried to move. A chain around his ankle clinked.
To his left, a hulking wolf-man with matted fur and rusted armor grunted, tightening his grip on a spiked club. To his right, in the next cage over, a young woman with cat-like ears and a tail curled tight around herself watched him with wide, amber eyes.
Where…?
Memories flashed — a summoning circle glowing too bright, a tear in reality, falling through screaming colors. Then, nothing.
"Another weakling from the spatial tear," the wolf-kin guard spat, his voice guttural. "Lord Krog will pay well for exotic stock."
Echo's head swam. He focused, and his vision glitched — flickering lines of light over the cage lock, like corrupted code. Error-Sight, he'd named it back on Earth. Here, it pulsed behind his eyes, showing fractures in reality. But his body was empty, weak. No energy to break out.
The cart jolted to a halt.
Ahead, torchlight illuminated a massive outpost of rough-hewn stone and timber. Banners bearing claw marks flapped in the cold wind. The gate was guarded by bear-kin in iron plates.
"Checkpoint," muttered the cat-girl, her voice low but clear. "Don't struggle. Wait for the river crossing."
Echo turned to her. "River?"
"They water the beasts there. Distraction."
Before he could answer, a boar-kin guard stomped over, snout wrinkled. He thrust a torch near Echo's face.
"This one smells… different," he grunted. His eyes glowed faintly red. "Not beast-kin. Not quite human either."
Echo held his breath.
The guard's snout twitched. Then he moved on.
The cat-girl met Echo's gaze. "My name is Leyla," she whispered. "When we stop next… follow my lead."
The cart lurched forward again, into the mouth of Stone Maw Outpost.
Echo's heart hammered against his ribs.
Beast World. Slavers. No way home.
But his Charm — a stat he'd maxed out in another life — hummed beneath his skin. A subtle pull, an invisible allure.
He'd need more than charm to survive this.
But for now, it was all he had.