Ruby opened her eyes, her vision blurry. Stumbling forward, she stamped a foot hard to prevent herself from falling. She closed her eyes again and her brow ridges tighten as she tried to rid herself of the dizziness she was feeling.

After a few seconds of silence and an cool breeze brushing through her hair, she reopened her eyes. The unsteady sensation disappeared and her vision became clearer. Surprise filled her as she saw a large forest of pine and evergreen trees in front of her.

She held her breath for a moment, then rotated around in silence. Fields of mountains, lakes, and rivers, all meshed with the forest in front of her. It appeared she was on some kind of cliff or hill to see the details of her setting.

The unexpected scenery didn't end there as she looked at the ground. She found herself on top of ceramic tiles, each about a square foot. Most of them were cracked with patches of moss and grass slipping wherever it could.

From behind her, an archway three meters tall remained. Like the broken tiles beneath her, the archway was cracked in areas and overtaken by more moss and vines. If she wasn't so close, it would have probably blended in with the scenery.

'Some kind of…ruin?' she thought, beginning to wonder where she ended up.

Ruby closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, taking a deep breath. The air was rich and so was the magical energy around. Given the lush vegetation, it was no surprise.

"Okay," she spoke to herself and tried to smile. "I'm teleported somewhere on the planet, but I'm not dead or disintegrated. Good."

She spoke out loud more to reassure herself, if anything.

If she was captured by the barrier blast and sent elsewhere, she figured she couldn't be too far from the academy. There wasn't much magical energy poured into the talisman to send her away like that. Of course, there also wasn't enough energy to cause such a serious malfunction of a simple experiment either. She had some ideas on the problems with the setup.

One was that the talismans, which were so supposed to have separate functions, were too close to each other. There could have been some disruption between the flower and the barrier formations which allowed magical energy to slip out. That would explain why Yukari wasn't able to dispel the barrier since it had unanticipated links that couldn't be removed.

It was only able to hold together for a short time which would explain why she was able to perform one round of teleporation in and out of the barrier. Her entrance and exit may have accelerated the leak between the two formations though.

There was only one aspect of the experiment that she couldn't understand. The talismans should have only used as much magical energy that had been put into it. Instead, it felt like it was growing in the magical power which should have been impossible. The talismans weren't meant to hold so much energy, so they would fail. Where was the energy coming from? Could her teleportation give the setup more magical power? That didn't seem likely as she didn't feel any fatigue.

Sighing and putting away the big question, she surveyed her surroundings with a frown.

'Maybe the others were teleported away as well…'

With that thought, she tried calling their names, cupping her hands over her mouth to help amplify her voice.

"Tsukune! Moka!" she shouted, allowing her voice to travel, then waited.

Nobody answered except her own voice. She continued with the rest of her friends' names.

"Yukari! Kurumu! Mizore!"

Again, nobody answered. She called out again three times before she gave up for the time being. There may still be a chance they separated farther from her.

It could also be that only she was teleported and they were at the academy. If that was the case, she should feel happy and sad. Happy because her efforts to ensure everyone's safety, especially Yukari wasn't in vain. Sad because she wasn't able to save herself.

Regardless, she needed to find someone if it turned out she teleported far from the academy. She didn't want to say unlikely, but if she was in a different continent of the world, she would need directions and some idea on how to travel back.

With her wings having dispersed after her transport, she regrew them back and flapped into the sky so she could get a better view of the area. To her surprise, she found herself able to lift off much easier than before and felt a little lighter too. Could the accidental teleportation affect her in other areas?

She decided not to dwell on that point for now as it scared her. Instead, she scanned across the rich green habitat to get more of an idea of her surroundings. She felt disappointed to see a lack of cities or even a small village nearby. There weren't any pathways or man-made roads either.

It may not be conclusive, but the next best thing would be to follow the rivers away from the mountains. To that point, she lowered in altitude and flew in silent, listening to the sounds of the water rushing below her.

After a half-hour of flight, Ruby heard an unsettling roar coming from below. Since this was the wilderness, it would have to have its share of animals. She would have ignored it if it weren't for the visible shaking and falling off trees. She felt she had no choice but to investigate if only to get an idea of where she may be at. While she wasn't an animal expert by any means, she knew that something large enough to shake trees was unlikely to live in such a crowded habitat.

As she descended, the saw the tree shaking stop and grew wary. Could it have sensed her approach? She hesitated for a moment, wondering if she should forget and continue on her way, but curiosity got the better of her.

Descending closer but not directly above where she saw the trees stop shaking, she maintained her position a little above the tip of the trees.

Low growls and rumblings entered her ears. Through the thick leaves, she could have sworn she saw something brown intermingle between the branches. Feeling an impending danger if she moved any closer, she decided to elevate. Before she could though, a howling beast finally took the chance to lurch at her as if waiting for her to come close.

Ruby gasped as the brown beast made itself known, crushing a couple of trees on its way towards her. Using its large arms, it seized her body before she could even think about escaping. If it weren't for the unexpected beast's size and unfamiliar appearance, she would have been able to escape before the beast could even reach her, but she hadn't expected a literal monster to pop out.

The witch let out a grunt as the beast squeezed a little and then she gasped, the sensation of her pain turning into a bit of pleasure. The beast couldn't have known that this girl was actually enjoying its grasp!

Though she was being squeezed, Ruby focused herself to get a good look at the monster before her. It had a hideous flat face with small black eyes and a large mouth filled with sharp teeth. Compared to its muscular and long arms, the beast actually had stubby legs. It didn't appear to be a fast runner, that was certain.

What confused the witch was this creature was something she had never seen before or read about! She had studied all sorts of demonic beasts at the academy and nothing matched the description of this predator. Despite that, she couldn't help but chuckle under her decreasing breath.

"Sorry, I'd rather not be squeezed by you anymore!"

She'd rather be squeezed by Tsukune instead, but she wasn't going to daydream at this critical point.

Based on the monster's ravenous hunger and low growls, she didn't expect the monster to understand nor was she planning on making small chat with it.

With her Talking Book still in her pouch, she channeled herself with it. Within a second, she transformed herself into a small raven that cawed out, escaping the monster's grasp in surprise.

Although the beast couldn't show much emotions on its ugly face, it was downright confused. Only when she was at a safe distance did Ruby transform back, leaving her raven wings flapping loudly behind her.

The beast raised its large head towards the sky where the witch floated and howled madly into the air, recognizing its prey had somehow escaped. Luckily, it had already caught the raven woman's scent and stared up at her menacingly, planning to wait and chase after her wherever she went.

Of course, Ruby had no intentions of being caught again by that monster nor risk it following her either. She pursued her lips for a moment, now having time to plan her course of actions. Based on the beast stubbornly marking her as its next meal when it could have moved on, it's low intelligence was a given. If there were any more beasts like it, then she may have to encounter them as well.

She had to try to kill it to ensure her own safety and measure her chances with future beasts like it. She would think about why she encountered such strange monsters later. For now, she would make it known that she is not so easy prey.

Her Talking Book slipped out of her pouch and floated by her side. She brought out one paper talisman from her other pouch. Thankfully when she teleported, her belongings remained on her. She might have been able to do without her talismans but if her spell book had been lost, she wouldn't dare think of how she'd survive in this forest.

Flinging the talisman towards the beast, it glowed brightly in front of its face before detonating. A small explosion rang through the forest and caused some birds nearby to flee in terror.

Ruby frowned, recognizing that such a minor explosion wouldn't bring the large beast down. Within the rising smoke, the beast pushed through it all and it howled at the witch, angrier that it had felt before. Its face was only chared and Ruby learned that she'd be wasting her talismans if she tried to attack in the same manner. If her simple talisman bomb couldn't even damage its hide, then there was a chance that bullets wouldn't be able to pierce either. That eliminated any chance of attacking up close and using her feather blades to pierce through unless she tried to find its weakest point.

"Of all the beasts…" she began muttering under her breath, unhappy with what she had to deal with. The only consolation is that they didn't seem to be that bright. Even though it had no chance of reaching her and even got an explosion on its face, it still wanted to eat her.

Well, if it was hungry, it would have its meal. Since its mouth was wider than her own body, enough to engulf her whole, she would use that to destroy it from the inside. If that didn't work, she'd run. No sense in wasting any more time than necessary.

"Round two," she declared, flipping out two more talismans and channeling her energy into them. After a few seconds of whispering an incantation, she flung them towards the raging beast. This time, the talismans glowed midway from entering the forest and transformed into two ravens. The birds dived towards the monster according to its master's will and then circled around the beast. The monster grew annoyed and tried batting away the annoying ravens that was disrupting its potential meal.

When the ravens found an opening to its mouth, they zipped past its slow movements and into the maw, causing the beast to close its mouth in surprise. When they were inside of the beast's gut, Ruby detonated them like before.

The beast groaned, a small whimper escaping from its body before the muffled sounds of the ravens exploding could be heard within its body. The beast stumbled forward, unaware that its unexpected bird meal would be its last. With its organs completely battered and in heated disarray, it fell to its knees and crashed forward, tumbling a tree across from it. There was no last breath for the beast except black smoke rising from its throat and into the air.

Ruby remained still for a moment, wanting to make sure the breast didn't unexpectedly recover but it was clear it wasn't going to move an inch. It's internals were mush.

Taking a deep breath, she found her body stiffen from the strength of the monster's claws and her own apprehension. She grimaced and stretched her arms and legs, letting herself relax as much as possible. She made a mental note that if she ever had to camp out, she would have to lay traps, at least to alert her if something approached. Hopefully, she'd find suitable shelter before the night arrived.

Leaving the smoking corpse, she continued her path along the river in hopes of finding someone or a shelter. Having no water on hand though, she had to descend to the river on occasion to get her fill.

Luckily, she lived in the plains and mountains with Lady Oyakata almost all her life, so the wilderness was nearly second-nature to her. She remembered how she and her former master always had fresh water to drink from and how she would fill up countless of buckets when she was young. The memory made her smile as she cupped her hands, tasting a little to ensure that it was okay before filling herself modestly.

Water was definitely not a problem and she was certain she could find berries and other fruits when it was time to fill her stomach. She didn't want to perform any gathering though until the sun started to set. If she found a proper shelter early though, she decided she would stop her flying immediately and rest. It wasn't worth the risk of ignoring anything that she may not find again.

If she wanted though, she realized she could fly for longer than normal. It wasn't anything to do with her own abilities, but the land had a rich source of energy. It was almost unusual as such a land would be overflowing with people like her.

It did make her wonder more about why she ended up in this place. The unfamiliar brown beasts and high-density energy all made her question whether she was actually on Earth.

A fear started to creep into her stomach as she considered the possibility of teleporting into another dimension. It was certainly possible, if not difficult. She remembered when she brought Tsukune into a dimension called Paradise so she could help him control his vampire powers. If she recalled, that dimension existed as a sort of prison for monsters that are too dangerous to be left on Earth.

She paused.

Could she be in Paradise?

She never really explored the dimension and only focused on helping Tsukune. Who knew how large the dimension was, but if she was in Paradise, then she was in greater danger than she thought. There's no telling how many "extinct" monsters that were once on Earth and still alive here. Clearly, that large brown and ugly beast could be one of them.

'Wait. I should be able to tell, right?' she thought to herself.

She tried to remember something that would end the doubts, then it hit her. If this truly was Paradise, there would a large planet in the sky similar to Saturn! Why hadn't she looked up to check whether she's on Earth or not? It literally cannot be missed!

With a hopeful smile, she turned to face the sky, hoping to see something that would at least give her a hint on what to do next. To her disappointment, she saw no big looming planet…but something else.

Just as one can see the moon under a clear blue sky, she noticed an odd particularity that made her do a double-take. She blinked a few times, wondering if she was seeing double…no, quadruple…

Spread out before were four moons in the orbit of the planet, one of them close to disappearing in the horizon. Her mouth opened wide and she stared, stupefied at what this could mean.

The weight of her body, the strange brown creatures, four moons, and the unusual magical concentration. She was not on Earth or Paradise, but a planet similar to Earth. She could possibly be in a unexplored dimension as well!

The implications made her feel sick as she took in the world in a new unwanted light.

She encountered three similar brown beasts as she continued her travel close to the river. Her heart was sunken and she was also frustrated. One beast she killed in the same manner as the first one, death by internal damage. The second, she sensed approaching afar after catching her scent. She set up a trap of plant monsters to help discover the beast's weak points. The end result was that an obvious weakness around the neck. Finally, the third was eating another prey she had never seen. It was hard to tell, but it looked like some sort of blue dinosaur with black stripes.

Although it had seen her, it decided she wasn't worth chasing when it already had a meal. While that was good, she found herself worrying about other monsters she may encounter.

During her time of flight, she also thought long and hard about how to escape this unfamiliar planet. She had given up on seeing whether her friends were transported as the area to cover was simply too large. Plus, she couldn't feel an ounce of human or Youki life except for the native creatures which haven't been sentient so far. Now, she felt that she should only be concerned with herself and getting off.

'What about that strange ruin with that archway?' she thought, furrowing her eyebrows.

She felt a sudden regret that she did not try to examine it further, but to her credit, it was just an archway among broken tiles. There didn't seem to be anything special about it. What it did prove was that there was sentient beings on this planet. Whether or not they continue to exist, Ruby didn't know. Still, teleporting there as an endpoint seemed rather suspicious and the witch wasn't going to discount anything that could provide a clue to going back home. It could be that there was more to the architecture than she dismissed.

Looking to the horizon from her back, she curled her lips as she saw the sun starting to set. She needed to look for food and find a suitable resting spot for the coming night. As much as she wanted to continue in hopes of finding some sort of civilization that didn't involve ruins, it would have to wait.

Descending back to the river, she placed a talisman on a tree which hummed as she transferred her energy and whispered the ancient language of witches to activate it. To help her navigate places of interest such as the river for water, she would use her talismans as beacons to help her navigate back. Speaking of which, she only had forty or fifty paper talismans on her. Eventually, she would need to craft more talismans to use. There were some spells she could perform without using an object to store energy; however, a witch's strength was producing numbers: Ravens, golems, plant monsters…you name it. Talismans were the basis of any real recipe or magical trap.

She sighed as she pulled up ten talismans. To use her limited time efficiently, she had to continue to waste some talismans, not only for beacons but also to help her search the area fast. She could create multiple ravens and scout through them to help with that. With that in mind, she whispered silently in her head as she tossed the ten talismans in the air which glowed and transformed into ravens, flapping like real birds.

"Go, search out the area for food like berries, beasts, and anything unusual," she instructed.

The birds cawed in acknowledgment and spread out. That left Ruby to wait and observe through the eyes of her ravens. Sitting on a large rock near the stream of water, she closed her eyes and focused, linking herself to the ravens that were weaving in and out of trees to find food for their master.

Ten minutes of patience, one of the crows discovered a bush of berries seemingly a kilometer towards the direction of some mountains. They looked like blueberries but were about as large as a pong ball. Just a few of those may be sufficient for her, but she had to make sure they were safe. Normally anything blue or purple would be considered safe, but that was on Earth. Here, the law of berries could be different. At the risk of poisoning her bird, she instructed mentally for the bird to taste one of it.

Luckily, the bird ate some, adding some magical life to its duration. It appeared that there was mostly similarities to the blueberry and overall, it seemed safe. The thought of eating something made her stomach growl in anticipation. While her birds would continue the search and alert her if there were any enemies, she sprouted her wings and took flight, traveling to the found bush.

Arriving there, she stored enough to fit into her pouch that contained her talismans and took a bite out of one, humming pleasantly over the taste. She was about to take another bite until she felt one of her ravens alert her.

Focusing on that bird to see through it, she raised her brows in surprise. The bird found some sort of temple, covered in vines and moss but provided a suitable shelter for the night. She noticed that the temple had the same colors and tiles around like the ruins she arrived at. It was clear this was also a ruin of the same civilization.

She willed the raven to go inside to check it out. The raven did so but as it approached, a screech pierced the raven and in extension, her ear. She winced and then her link to the raven was cut off.

"Shit…"

Ruby wasn't one to normally curse, but it was clear something attacked her raven just when it found a shelter. Her luck couldn't get any worse. Still, she couldn't ignore such a find. If anything, it told her that something was protecting the temple…or maybe it was just a coincidence?

Sighing, she placed another beacon talisman on a nearby tree so she could come back to this area for more oversized blueberries. In the meantime, she instructed the rest of the remaining ravens to position themselves before the temple. Whatever attacked her raven was something she had to be prepared to face as well.

Once again, she flew upward with her wings and headed over to the temple, two or three kilometers away. If she hadn't searched so low in the forest, she would have missed the temple which made her wonder how many similar archways or temples she passed. Her thoughts focused on what they could mean.

'These temples could have some clue as to why I was teleported here,' she thought. From the Book of Gateways she read, there was a basic principle that had to be adhered to - teleporting must involve two gateways.

So assuming she teleported to this planet before her setup failed, there had to be a gateway here to receive her presence. Under that assumption, it could only be related to that archway.

Yes, it had to be.

The only problem was that there was not any indication that the archway was active. It seemed like it was more for show than anything else; however, she couldn't find any other explanation. Assuming that there was more to it than it seemed, the next set of question was how to activate it and utilize it to get back to the academy. If she could travel to this unfamiliar place without establishing a link, the same must be backward.

As she contemplated these possibilities, she found herself quickly approaching her destination. Wary of the enemy that attacked her raven, she settled just before the temple and where her raven was attacked. The remnants of her talisman were nowhere to be seen and neither was the one which attacked it. This was clearly a different creature than the brown beasts and from the vision of the raven, everything happened in a split second so it had to be fast.

She wasn't going to move forward so soon. Unlike her first encounter with one of the planet's native creatures, she wouldn't let herself be caught or almost eaten this time.

"Hey! If you are going to attack me, go ahead!" the witch yelled.

Silence. That may have caught the attention of the brown beasts, but that wasn't going to be the case here.

Sighing in resignation, she pulled out yet another talisman and set it up as another raven. She let the raven try to fly again into the temple in front of her. As it approached the stairwell, the creature that attacked her first raven made itself known.

With a rumbling of the ground, a large worm-like creature sprouted out with no eyes, and protruding teeth. Just meters from her raven, it leaped at the bird with impressive extension. The bird was crushed under its teeth and then completely engulfed before it buried itself into the ground with a final shake of its tail.

Less than it was hungry, it seemed to be protecting the temple for some reason. It was clearly more intelligent than the other beasts she fought, but she didn't necessarily welcome the increase in challenge.

Thinking of her plan of action, she immediately discarded the idea of rising into the air. If the Ravens were any indication, even they couldn't instinctively escape the worm's maw due to its quick leap and burrow tactic. She had to face the creature head on and try to anticipate where it would pop out.

Her other option would be to find another sheltered area, but with daylight decreasing, she knew she had little time. Plus, she may be wasting a chance at information that could lie in this temple.

Taking a deep breath and flexing her wings into individual blades, she ran as fast as she could with three talismans in her hand. Already chanting as she ran, she prepared the talisman as simple bombs.

As if expecting her movement, the creature appeared much sooner in front of her, its maw wide as it lept straight at her. Ruby flung the talismans at it and rolled to the side, letting her magic guide the glowing papers straight.

Two detonated right in front of its head mid-air which didn't affect the creature, but one of the talismans did slip into the entrance of its maw.

With a burst of energy, the talisman exploded a little after passing its teeth. That caused the snake creature to screech in pain, fumbling across the ground. It was unable to burrow into the ground as it tried to recover from the heated pain inside its mouth. This gave the witch time to press on.

Finding that the creature's body was fully exposed to her, she decided to attempt to cut into its flesh. That turned out to be a bad move.

Even though the "feathers" on her wings were essentially sharp blades used to pierce her enemies, it only bounced off it's skin with sparks flying. Cursing her luck, Ruby tried to run faster but thanks to her actions, the worm knew where she was and curled around to attack!

"Damnit!" Ruby screamed, quickly rotating to meet the snake while her feet momentarily left the ground. Closing her wings, her feathered blades created a fence of blades in front of her to help protect her. The worm creature met her wings head-on and pushed her further off the ground.

Gritting her teeth, she was at the mercy of the snake creature's momentum. Using her wings prevented her engulfment, but, she didn't have the strength to stop the snake from crushing her body into the ground.

It appeared to plan exactly that as it lifted its passenger momentarily in the air using its extensible body. She knew she had to act fast and there was only one way to ensure she wasn't crushed: get eaten.

With less than a second and no time to regret, she unfolded her wings out into the worm's mouth to prevent its large jagged teeth from piercing her. The blades of her wings were able to cut a little into the gums, adding resistance to the worm's attempt to clamp down.

Widening the worm's maw with her wings, she raised her legs horizontally and pushed herself in, her wings softening and folding out as she slid down. The worm let out a roar as it was finally able to clamp down and burrow immediately into the ground without delay. The witch had escaped from being crushed in mere seconds.

To the worm, it was only aware that it had eliminated the trespasser. Unaware of movement within its guts, the worm continued its motions to burrow deeper into the ground, creating a new hole.

When the worm disappeared, silence remained for several seconds. It was only a matter of time when a small rumble shook around the temple grounds.

The worm screeched in agony!

Trying to escape from the pain, it jumped out of the ground, but it was already too late for the creature. One could see a quarter of its body at the tail-end blown away and a winged witch sliding out at the end.

Ruby rolled onto the ground just before the worm's impending crash into the nearby trees. Another rumble shook the temple grounds but also forest as it skidded and took down a few trees in its path. A low moan erupted from the worm as it lied still, dying.

Ruby didn't feel the least sorry as she pushed herself off the ground, covered in saliva and the orange blood of the worm. She grimaced in disgust and checked to see if she was damaged in any way. Exploding the internals of the worm was a risky move with herself inside of it. When she pulled out her talisman, letting it fall deeper into the worm and detonate, it could have engulfed her as well. Luckily, the explosion broke the worm apart as it was moving, leaving the ground to absorb most of the impact.

Aside from some minor scratches and aching around her shoulders from overusing her wings, she was fine. Her biggest problem was being covered in the worm's juices.

Not even looking at the dying worm behind her, she stumbled forward a bit before she shook off the worm juices as much as she could. Her eyes were completely dead, showing how utterly sick and humiliated she felt from having to slide into that creature.

It's one thing to enjoy a bit of punishment every now and then, much to her shame. She could not enjoy the feel of that worm though. Even she had her limits.

If she could cry, she would, but she felt more relief of getting out alive. She told herself she'd cry later once she was in the temple and safe.

Still wary of yet another fight, she once again created another raven and had it fly into the temple ahead of her. This time, the raven was able to enter the darkness of the entrance without a problem and she could still feel her link to the talisman. Sight may be a problem though, so she used her Talking Book as a source of illumination. Then, she cautiously entered the temple, her body dripping with the worm's liquid. Her spellbook lit up a good meter or two in front of her and she paid close attention to the walls in case there was any door or separate hallway.

What seemed like hours were only minutes treading through a linear path with nothing really special to note. There were some symbols stretching the walls near the ceiling, but Ruby couldn't make them out. They certainly weren't Japanese or English letters, that's for sure. As expected of an alien planet, the language could be one hill to climb if she was to sort her situation out.

With her raven far out ahead of her, flying easily through the corridor, it stopped when it saw a room with strange lights. Of course, the raven didn't have any source of illumination so she told it to halt. With no apparent threats on the way there, she allowed herself a to run a little. A strange hope in her heart that something good would come out of those strange lights. If there was any consolation for defeating the worm, she wanted there to be.

She eventually reached her raven's position and stopped short, letting the light of her book fill the room purple. Without a word, she dismissed the raven and had it turn back into a talisman she could use next time.

Approaching the strange lights, she found them actually part of a strange machine attached to a wall, blinking. It looked like an oversized keyboard console with a strange circular lens in the middle, splitting the various blinking lights. Her first question was how could this machine still be powered, but then she felt an advanced circuit of magic beneath, fueled by the overflowing magic outside.

Here, she thought that whoever founded these ruins were primitive, but it appeared that wasn't the case?

Unsure what to do, Ruby pressed one of the blinking lights. When she did, all the lights on the consoled flicked off. She panicked, wondering if she did something wrong until the lens in the middle started to glow. A blue-tinted projection of a small hooded being was emitted from the lens.

"…"

The projection started to speak, but it was in a language that was unfamiliar to Ruby. It took a couple of seconds of admiring the strange technology before she realized that the person projected was waiting for her. That took her by surprise.

"Can you understand me?"

"…"

Ruby frowned. The excitement she was feeling moments ago disappeared. Of course, even with advanced alien technology, her language wouldn't be recognized anyways. She decided to try English, for the hell of it.

"Unlikely, but can you understand me like this?" she switched language, speaking decently enough.

"Very likely. Basic is understood."

Ruby jumped, then quickly recollected herself, pointing with a finger at herself in astonishment. One of her hands gripped the edge of the console tightly.

"You…can understand English!?"

"You are speaking in Basic, not the language you call English," the hooded hologram corrected in a deep male voice. It then pulled down his hood to reveal a flat-faced alien with white eyes, black stripes alongside its bald and squarish head, and protruding brow ridge. For a projection that was stopping mid-air, it was impressively detailed.

Ignoring the fact that somehow, English was already recognized as a different term, she continued in "Basic".

"Who…no, what are you?" Ruby asked, pausing a moment before she changed her question.

"I am a console to this Star Temple, acting as a security management and warning system before the Star Chamber and Infinity Gates," it answered.

Ruby was taken aback, not expecting that answer. It only brought a whole slew of new questions. "I…okay. Well, I meant your projection?"

The console now understood her real question. "The image I am projecting and representing is a Kwa, the creators of the Infinity Gate."

Ruby smiled, feeling like crying in happiness now that she is actually able to talk with someone…or something, in this case. It wasn't organic based on the way it speaks, but she wasn't going to complain. Already, it was giving her terms she was hearing for the first time, but she wanted to start off small and work her way up.

"Okay then, where are the creators?" she asked, smiling brightly.

"The Kwa is no more, having devolved into lesser beings called Kwi over many generations," it answered and transformed itself to show the current state of the Kwa, a dinosaur looking animal with the flat head of its ancestors as well as the black stripes.

Ruby widened her eyes as she recalled the third brown beast she encountered was actually munching on this creature. They really had devolved into simple prey?

Speaking of which, she wanted to know what those brown beasts and the worms were called.

"I've encountered these large brown beasts with long arms and stubby legs and the worm before this temple. What are they called?"

"The large beasts are called Rancors. The worms are known specifically as Whuffa worms. The Whuffa worms were set by the Kwa to guard over temples such as the one we are in. Rancors are a common predator on this planet and currently, the dominant species."

'They are excellent guardians, all right,' Ruby thought bitterly about her recent fight with the worm. Still, it was all worth it to come to this place now.

"What is this planet is called?" she asked, determined to get all the answers she needed to help her survive and get back home.

The console didn't judge the witch for her lack of knowledge and only answered for what it knew.

"This planet is called Dathomir."

"Dathomir…" Ruby repeated, looking down for a moment in contemplation. She then looked back up to the hologram which had returned to its Kwa representation. She was starting to piece everything together and it made sense considering the state of the ruins. She returned to the topic of her arrival and how to get back. The term, Infinity Gate did not slip by her.

"You mentioned Infinity Gate. Can you tell me more about them?"

"The Infinity Gates were designed to harness the power of the cosmos. Through it, they would allow one to travel across the galaxy and explore the unknown."

Ruby furrowed her eyebrows. "Anywhere? Wouldn't you need two preexisting gates to travel?"

"Through the power of the cosmos, the link between life and planets has been established for millennia. The Kwa learned to harness that for travel."

"That…"

Ruby wasn't even sure where to begin. She had thought that her travel to this planet by accident occurred because they had their own gates, but now she was hearing that it was possible to travel anywhere as long as one knew the link. One gateway was all that was needed?

Ruby couldn't grasp this answer and perhaps it was because she didn't understand what this 'power of the cosmos' meant.

"Can you clarify what you mean by 'power of the cosmos'?" she asked.

For the first time, the console didn't give her an immediate answer. Perhaps she set herself up to listen to a long explanation that she would end up regretting. Luckily, the console seemed to put into the simplest version.

"…It is the energy that travels through all life."

Ruby remained still for a moment, absorbing this unique definition. In her own mind, the best analogy for this would be that every lifeform is a gateway in itself, yet she knew that it was far more complicated than that.

Sighing, she continued her questions, this time detailing her own situation in hopes that the console could help her.

"I am…not from around here. I don't know if I'm from a different dimension or just from a different galaxy, but I need to get back home. Can I use the Infinity Gate's power to travel?"

"That is not possible. The Kwa has sealed the each Star Chamber on this planet which holds the Infinity Gate."

Ruby frowned but didn't give up. "When I was teleported here, I arrived at a place that looked to have an archway standing. Was that an Infinity Gate?"

Again, the console didn't answer immediately as if searching for the information. It gave the best possible assumption.

"Very likely, a prototype gateway that was not dismantled and left forgotten."

The coincidence of starting off with an experiment and ending in a ruined experiment was not lost on the witch. Still, her presence meant the prototype could work, despite its state. If she couldn't gain access to the Star Chamber, then she could perform the next best thing and try to understand the Infinity Gate in order to use it to get back home.

Well, that was easier said than done.

For now, she would settle in this temple as her main base and use this security console as her knowledge base. Speaking of which, she was curious to know how the console managed security.

"You referred yourself as a security management console. What do you mean?"

"My primary function is to manage the temple defenses and traps to prevent intruders."

She froze, wondering how she arrived at the temple with ease. The only defense she had to break was the Whuffa worm. Carefully, she asked again.

"So…um, am I an intruder?"

"Threat level is unconfirmed. Your presence here is undeniable, but you lack insufficient intent to enable traps. Attempts to forcefully access the chamber will be met with intolerance."

The witch sweated a little as she smiled crookedly. "I…see. Well, I'll keep that in mind. Thanks for giving me a chance, I guess."

The console did not reply to her and only hummed. Clearing her throat, Ruby pressed on.

"So…is there any way I can gain permission to use these gates?"

"Negative," it replied immediately, "…Only the Kwa may provide permission."

"…but you said they are all gone or devolved," Ruby recalled, growing worried.

"Records show that there may be Kwa who migrated to other planets. Last known settlements were Tython and Lehon."

Ruby widened her eyes, some hope dripping into her heart again. If she could find these creatures, they could help her! The only problem was…

"…these settlements…are they planets?" she asked, warily.

"Affirmative."

The hope that was filling heart just descended. At the very least, she had a goal but she may not be able to find anything here on Dathomir. She had to figure out how to get off this planet.

She started pursuing alternatives. Since the prototype remained and there may be others that are out in the open, could she at least try to build one? The very thought seemed to laugh at her, but she wasn't going to block any avenues.

"Can you teach me how to build an Infinity gate…or utilize this 'power of the cosmos'?"

"Negative. This console was not entrusted with such information. Only the Kwa has the specific knowledge if they wish to share."

Figures.

With a heavy sigh, she wouldn't let her saliva-covered body ruin her day. She made great progress just coming here and it's all thanks to the Kwa leaving at least something useful to help guide her.

Though, she would have to wash real soon. Unfortunately, that would have to come tomorrow. Although it was dark within the temple, her connection to her ravens told her that it was equally dark outside.

Not willing to risk encountering any more creatures, she finalized her plans to sleep in the temple. At the very least, she would have this console who she could talk to.

"I'll be sleeping around here tonight if you don't mind?"

The console hummed, not responding. She shrugged and then moved to a corner, letting her book remain glowing so she wasn't completely in the dark. Not far from the console which was still staring at her, she wondered how the Kwa degenerated into such creatures and why they were wiped out. She decided to ask before she attempted to sleep.

"Why were the Kwa wiped out around here?"

The console buzzed for a moment and then the holographic being began explaining the history, in brief, perhaps to save its own computing resources.

"The Kwa were hunted by species called the Rakata. Originally, the Kwa shared their knowledge with them, but many years, the Rakata had begun to conquer worlds and enslave other species thanks to the advanced technology and knowledge provided to them. When they attempted to take over the Kwa and the Infinity Gates, the creators sealed temples and destroyed the gates wherever they could."

Ruby smiled sadly. She could see that the Kwa had every good intention, but it backfired on them. In some ways, it was just like how witches centuries ago tried to expand their teachings, but humanity rejected their teachings and went on a purge to destroy them.

The only difference was that a large part of humanity rejected her ancestor's offerings, but these Rakata accepted them and turned against their benefactors. Would that mean conflict would have arisen whether they taught them or not?

Ruby contemplated on this as she closed her eyes, leaning her head against the dusty wall. Although it was difficult to sleep upright, she didn't want to try sleeping on the hard ground. Slowly but surely, she fell asleep with three of the four moons illuminating the temple in peace.