Disclaimer: ...You probably already got the idea of what I'm disclaiming.

A/N: For any people still reading who saw the change in chapter 1, I actually changed it again, so you may want to check it out.

-..-

The ground is really, really rocky here.

How do I know, you ask? I'm pretty sure a rock inconveniently imbedded itself in between two of my vertebrae when I hit the ground.

I also went unconscious, so I might have bashed my head on something as well, and my legs, along with my arms... You get the gist. I'm not really sure how long I was knocked out, but the sight that greeted my eyes when I woke up was no less surprising. I immediately sat up, which probably wasn't the best of ideas. The first thing I noticed, of course, was the pounding head ache I'd developed.

"Ow," I groaned, bringing a hand to my throbbing forehead.

I brought one of my knees up and leaned against it, placing my free hand on my... bed. I blinked, and looked down. It was more of a blanket on the ground than a bed, but hey, it was comfier than that rocky piece of crap I landed on in the beginning of all this.

I looked around and realized I was in some sort of teepee-hut thing. My 'bed' was on the ground -like, the actual ground- but I was surrounded by patchwork walls. I perked up when I heard some people talking outside. Well, at least we've established the teepee isn't sound proof.

My headache was just beginning to dull, so I slowly stood up. I was back on the ground in a matter of seconds as my head practically swam. I let out another groan and slapped a hand back to my head. Did I have a concussion? I have no experience in that sort of stuff what so ever, but don't you typically get concussions from head injuries? That... whatever I landed on was pretty damn hard, and if I hit my head hard enough...

I groaned again, and looked to the entrance as the tent flap-thingy opened up.

Okay, this is the part where things get a little weird. I practically jumped to the ceiling when I saw who -er, what- entered.

At least I can safely say it was a woman... I think. With this headache going on I haven't really paid much attention to her -I mean, his... dang it, 'it's' gender. Ugh, saying 'it' sounds so mean, but it's better than getting... it's gender wrong.

Anyway, as soon as I saw it, my possible concussion problems were forgotten. Standing in front of me was this gray skinned, yellow eyed, horned... woman. Or man. Again, still not sure. Oh, and she was also about seven feet tall.

By the look on her face when she met my eyes I'm guessing I had one of those signature deer-in-the-headlights looks. Her somewhat cheery eyes fell and she gave me a frown. Then she walked over to me and knelt down, reaching a hand out as if to touch me. I instinctually squirmed, which made her stop, and her hand fell to back to her side. She gave me another confused frown, which made me feel a little guilty about squirming.

She opened her mouth to speak. Of course -with my mile long strain of bad luck- I couldn't understand a word she said. She did gesture to my head though, so maybe she was asking me how it was?

When she was done she looked at me expectantly, assuming I could understand her, and all I did was give her a blank stare. She frowned after a few moments of me staring at her like she just grew two heads and started speaking again.

I still couldn't understand her, but it sounded like a question. I just wish it was one I could answer.

Again, when she finished, she looked at me expectantly, only for me to give her that same blank stare. Her frown turned into a raised eyebrow, and I silently wondered if she thought I was crazy or something. She was definitely giving me one of those looks, at least.

"I-I can't understand what you're saying, m-miss," I finally croaked out. God, since when was my throat so dry? Had I actually been unconscious long enough for it to sound like my throat was replaced with a toads?

Her eyes widened, and she started speaking again. "Ah, so you speak my people's tongue," she said "Very unusual, human."

To my surprise, she sounded a bit younger than I anticipated. Like... she sounded like a teenager, or a young adult. Seeing as she's seven feet tall and could easily dwarf me in height, I'm guessing she just has one of those unusually higher pitched voices. Then again, after looking her over for the second time, she doesn't seem like the type of... creature, I guess to have a high pitched voice.

I just nodded. I guess English is unusual among humans here? She smiled. "Do not fear, human woman. I am a friend. My name is Kattarkuma, but you can call me Kuma," she paused, looking to me, and I nodded slowly. "I am here to help you get better. How do you feel?"

I blinked, still not sure how to react. Where was I? Was this all just one huge, terrible dream? Well, I guess it's not terrible, but... you know what I mean. "I'm..." what was I supposed to tell her? "Where am I? What- what is this place?" I stammered out before I could think better of it. My words were so jumbled I'm surprised she understood me at all.

I think I squeaked a bit at the end. She blinked, and then softened a bit. "You are in the mountains," she said "In the Spine."

She said it like I should know exactly what she was talking about, but I just continued to blink at her. "Where?" I asked.

She frowned, and put a hand to my forehead. Well, her hand was so big it pretty much engulfed my entire face, but I could still see her a little bit through the cracks in her fingers.

"Do you feel well, human?" she asked.

"My head hurts, but-"

"It hurts?" she repeated. "How badly?"

I paused. "Um, it's just a little head ache, nothing bad."

"Hmm," after a few moments she took her hand away, and I blinked again.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yeah, I think my head will be all right, my back aches though..."

She smiled. "Probably from the rocks you slept on, human." she told me.

Wait, what? "I... slept on rocks?"

The look of confusion came back to her, and she looked like she wanted to reach out and check my head again, but she resisted the urge, thankfully. "The older rams found you lying on the rocks," she said "They assumed you fell asleep there, and that you were lost or looking for shelter, so they took you here."

Again, more blinking on my part. "The rams found me?" I repeated.

For a second she looked confused, then she let out a laugh. "You wouldn't call them that, human. I mean the older... men, I think you would say? Does that make sense?" I nodded, and she smiled. "Yes, they found you."

Huh. Well that explains a little bit. I knew I hit something hard when I 'fell,' I guess you could say, but I didn't know I'd been knocked out cold there long enough for someone to find me.

I frowned. "How long was I asleep again?" I asked.

Kuma shrugged. "Not sure. You slept for a day when they brought you here, though."

An entire day? That's... that's... I could've been out for who knows how long out in the wilderness. What if some lion-bear thing had attacked me?

I know, I know, a lion-bear sounds ridiculous, but with the horned woman sitting in front of me I wouldn't be surprised if they had those here.

Which raises the question: Where is here?

My brow furrowed as the thought came to me, and I looked away for a second. Where was I? This certainly couldn't be Earth, and I don't know of any other worlds, so... What's going on? How did I wind up here?

Well, the answer to that was simple. I jumped through that giant glowing disc in the air. And now I'm... here, where ever that might be.

I very nearly slapped myself in the face. I'd just jumped through a portal-thing not knowing where it was going, with probably no way back, and now I was here, in this teepee, talking to a lady -again, it might just be a man, although I'm pretty sure it's a lady- with horns. And there was no way back. I was here, in another world, and there was no way back.

The thought hit be like a brick wall, and the next thing I knew I was letting out a choked sob.

Kuma tensed, and reached out a hesitant hand to pat me on the back. She said a few words that were meant to comfort me, but they didn't help much. My mind was still focusing on the fact that I was here and... I couldn't go back there. Earth. Home.

I was here and I had... I had no way...

I let out another sob, and Kuma leaned forward to wrap her arms around me in a hug - though with her size she pretty much swallowed me whole - and patted my shoulders. "There, there human, all is well," she said "We can help you find your way home."

I let out another sob at the words, and Kuma tensed again, probably thinking she was making me uncomfortable. But she wasn't, if was just her words. She couldn't help me get back, they couldn't help me get back, no one could-

I stopped, mid thought and mid sob, and looked back at her. Could they possibly help me get back? If there was a way here, couldn't there be a way back too? Wouldn't there have to be a way back? That is how things worked, right? If there was a way here, there had to be a way back, right?

Since my tears were finally starting to stop Kuma pulled back from her hug and gave me a warm smile. "Don't worry, Human, we will help you get back. Your home can't be that far away!"

More like billions of miles away. If only Kuma knew the half of it...

I let out a tiny sob and rubbed my eyes, wiping them as dry as I could. I looked back to Kuma once I was done, trying to think of what I should say next. "M-my name is Emme," I finally croaked out. The crying seemed to make my throat even worse, and I struggled to make my words audible.

Kuma smiled. "Ah, Em-me," She said, trying the name out for herself. "I've never heard that name before."

I smiled slightly, which seemed to cheer her up, surprisingly. "We can find your home, Emme," she said with so much confidence a part of me wanted to start crying again. I ignored it, I'd already cried enough in front of Kuma, I didn't want to any longer. "I will go to the others and ask them to have some of your people come here. Then they can take you back home!"

I forced a weak smile, which ultimately faltered and sank back into a frown. Kuma didn't seem to notice.

"Now, where is your home, Emme?" she continued.

My frown deepened. The urge to sob rose again, but I forced it back. "I-I don't know..." I said.

"Sure you do!" she said "Do you live in one of the cities? Or perhaps one of the lesser villages? Or perhaps you live with the elves-"

"I'm not from here," I said.

Kuma blinked, and then her eyes widened. "You are not one of the riders from the other land, are you?"

I think I answered her question as soon as I gave her another baffled look. What does she mean, 'am I a rider?' Like a horse rider? "No, I mean... I'm not from this world," I said after a couple seconds.

She stared at me for a few moments, and then she reached her hand out to touch my forehead. "Are you sure you feel all right, Emme?" she asked. I held up a hand for her to stop, and she reluctantly placed her arm back to her side.

"I'm telling the truth," I said. "Look, I know this sounds... really crazy, but I'm not from this world," I tried to explain.

With the look on her face she looked like she desperately wanted to feel my head again, but she refrained.

"Please, just... listen," I said "I'm not from... whatever world this is, I'm from a world called Earth,"

"Earth? Like the dirt and the ground?" she offered.

I shook my head. "No, no like... Well, I guess that doesn't really matter right now. The important thing is... is..." I sighed, and took a deep breath. If I was going to explain this, I guess I'd better do it slowly. She's going to think I'm crazy either way, but at least she'll be able to understand what I'm saying if I calm down.

After another deep breath, I tried again. "The big thing is, I'm not from this world. I'm not entirely sure how I ended up here, but I was in my home world, and we were being attacked. These people cam and they were... using magic, setting things on fire, destroying buildings. They were all dressed in these strange black robes and-"

"Black robes?" I looked back to Kuma and saw that her eyes had widened a lot, and not in the 'you're crazy,' way either. She actually looked genuinely alarmed.

I nodded, and for a tiny moment I felt a spark of hope. Was she starting to believe me? "Yes, black robes, all of them had them on, each and every single one of them." I waited for her to speak, but she seemed a bit lost in thought.

After a few moments I continued, this time a bit slower, hoping she was still listening. "Anyway, they practically appeared out of thin air and began attacking us. They took over town after town, and they came to my home and..." I tried to recall the events of that night as clearly as I could. My head still swam, and it was hard to remember much besides jumping through that portal and waking up here. "They opened up these... passage way-things, portals I guess, and I jumped through one and... and... It took me here."

I looked up to her, searching her face in hopes that she understood something of what I was saying, but all she did was stare down at her lap, her face pretty much covered in worry.

Then, after a few moments passed like this, her eyes darted up to me, and then she stood.

"You must tell this to the Herndall," she said.

Wait, the Hern-what? I blinked, but before I could say anything she grabbed my wrist and yanked me to my feet with a very surprising amount of strength. The next thing I knew we went flying through the tent, Kuma basically dragging me along. I tried yelling for her to slow down, but she didn't seem to be paying much attention to me now.

So maybe they will be able to help me with getting home after all. Maybe who ever this Herndall person is will actually be able to get me back home. The question is, how do they plan on getting me back home when home is entire world away?