They were falling into eternal coldness, full of the darkness of space and the void.

"Finally, I've found you, the Chosen One!"

Kioshi struggled and looked up into the face of whatever was holding him.

He nearly screamed his head off.

It was a monster that video games could be proud of, a huge mutant humanoid centipede with countless spindly legs and arms and the horrible blank face of a human with bulging eyes.

"Chosen One, Chosen One!" it hissed repeatedly. "Now I shall make myself powerful as once before!"

To Kioshi's horror, its many bony limbs grew thicker and gained flesh until the centipede monster looked even more powerful than it had in the first place.

The monster pulled his face close to its own. As Kioshi struggled to get free, it asked its first question.

"You have it, don't you? You know where it is! The Sacred Jewel!"

"Jewel of what? What the hell?" Using his free hand, Kioshi shoved it in the monster's face. "LET GO!"

A burst of light from the center of his palm blinded both of them as Kioshi was finally freed and the furious centipede was flung in another direction.

"Wretched boy! I will have the Jewel!"

Those were the last words he heard before he continued his descent.

"WHOAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Then Kioshi fell down and down until he couldn't see or hear a thing, until-

"Ow!" He hit the bottom fairly hard.

Wincing, he rubbed his head before looking up at his surroundings. He was all the way at the bottom of the well, but it was weird because he couldn't see the enclosure of the shrine from where he stood. There wasn't a roof above his head because there was...sunlight?

"I've gotta get out of here," Kioshi muttered. "Hey, Saya? Tsuru? Anyone up there?" No answer. "Damn," he swore under his breath. He turned to the vines that were growing up the sides of the well. "Strange, never seen those before," He put one of his feet on a thick knot and hand over hand started to climb.

"That kid," Kioshi grumbled. "Looks like she ran away." He was finally at the top of the well now, and he was able to pull his way over the top and get out. "Huh?"

He pulled himself onto the ledge.

"Wait, what?!" He was in the middle of beautiful sunny greenery, lush with flowers, trees and long grass. "Obviously not the shrine. OK, so I'm...I'm dreaming. Ha, ha, this is so...stupid." He smacked his head with his hand and nearly made himself fall backwards back into the well. "Whoa-!" He managed to catch himself just in time. "Whew, that was close." Kioshi closed his eyes and sighed. This all felt much too realistic.

OK, so maybe it wasn't a dream.

"Right, Kioshi. Enough with the theatrics. Time to find out where we are. I bet I'll be out of here in no time! I'm just that good!" He punched a fist into the sky. "Yeah!"

Silence.

"OK, now that's over with…" He put his fist down, immediately feeling foolish.

Kioshi walked into the forest, making his way through the tall, leafy trees.

"The shrine's gone...so's the temples. Hey, wait! Isn't that the Sacred Circle?" He ran up to the large encirclement of boulders, the same as the one that bordered the right hand side at the back of the restaurant. "Yes!" It was the same circle all right, right down to the Ancient Tree that was planted directly in front. He skirted around it excitedly. "Oh, God, thank you, at least one thing here's in the right-" He stopped.

"Oh."

Apparently not everything's in order here.

There was something pinned to the front of the Ancient Tree.

Or rather someone. Someone who was dangling by a strange net that had been pinned to its place by two long arrows. The thick overgrown roots of the tree had almost completely ensnared the person, trapping them even further to the front of the tree.

"Hey, is that a...girl?"

She was no older than his age at the most, wearing a short dark red kimono fastened by a thick black sash. Weird.

Another strange thing was that she appeared to look like no other girl he had ever seen either, with long silver hair tied in a loose ponytail with two long strands that were tucked into the ribbon keeping it in place. And...and she had-

Are those...cat ears?

Someone sure likes to cosplay!

He clambered onto one of the roots and walked up the girl, somehow managing to keep his balance. "Hey, can you hear me?" He tapped the side of her head. "Wake up."

He poked at one of the ears. "Um...are these real? Hello?" Kioshi grabbed an ear in his hand. "What?" They're not fake? Who, or what is she? Now officially weirded out, he let go and took a step back. "So-" He cleared his throat nervously. "So, yeah. Uh, nice talking to ya."

He took another step back.

"Well...I'm just gonna go now-"

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh. One arrow landed above his head. One hit near his arm, and the last stuck somewhere near his leg.

"AAH! What the hell?!"

A group of people had suddenly appeared before him, aiming weapons at him. "You there! Get away from that!"

The crowd swamped him as he stepped down and raised his hands in surrender.

"Take him to the village!"