Walking down the gravel path in the park, surrounded by tall buildings made of glass, shining almost blindingly from the sun, the sky a perfect light blue. The little vegetation left being small bushes here and there and the grass the same deep green. Birds flew by playfully overhead, as it was mid-day.

      “It's so warm today, perfect for a picnic,” I said smiling at the sky covering my eyes with my hands' shadow. In the end I couldn’t get out of coming, “if only there weren't these big buildings around it would be so much more beautiful.” 

     Some small movement off to the side of the path caught my attention. 'A cat?’ I turned to look but saw nothing, then I heard some shuffling in a bush. Feeling nervous and curious I approached the small bush, pushing aside some of the branches, I looked in. To my surprise there was a small animal and from what I could tell it looked like a fox. I had heard about foxes but they were said to have gone extinct in the wild many years ago, in fact many animals had gone extinct. Looking closer it seemed as though it was trapped by some collar. The little fox was no bigger than a house cat, with a beautifully long fluffy tail, fairly large pointed ears, it’s color looked almost like sand. It’s large eyes shining silver. 

     “It's okay,” I reached out to grab it, and it flinched, “no no, I don't want to hurt you, I just want to help you get home.” With that it seemed to understand and it calmed down allowing me to pull the collar off the branch. To my surprise it didn't run away once it was free, instead it just looked around its eyes wide and mouth open. 

     Knowing I couldn't leave the little thing there, I leaned towards it with both hands out and lifted it up. ‘So soft…’ Looking at the fox closely I could see that it must've been someone's pet since its paw pads were still soft and smooth. Deciding it would be best to bring it home, I slowly lowered it into my bag that I had for the picnic. “This way you won't be seen and I can find out more about you where it's safe.” I spoke to it calmly. Walking forward it felt like I was moving but nothing around me seemed to change. In Fact the buildings almost looked like they were drifting away. Feeling startled by this I stopped in my tracks and looked at the bush, it never moved and was still by my side. I took the fox out of my bag and put it down next to the bush, it’s head tilting to the side. Looking at it as I walked away, I could see that the bush was now moving away and the buildings of the city were coming closer. “Don't go anywhere! I'll be back tomorrow with food!” I called out to the little fox, finding it was safer to leave it where it was. ‘Well that was strange.’

     Somehow I had spent the whole day there and night was already here, although with the lights of the city it never felt like night and the only way you could tell it was night was how the sky shone red. I continued down the path realising my friends must've been waiting for me all day. I looked back and the fox seemed to have gone. 'I guess it couldn't understand me.’ I turned back and continued on my way. The red sky slowly turned to a dark purple then it was black, something I had never seen, only read about online or seen in old movies. Then the lights on the buildings began to go out one by one, as the world around me began to get very dark. Beginning to feel scared I stopped in my tracks, looking around where I stood, nothing looked familiar anymore. Soon a faint blue light took the place of the bright sun, catching my attention. I noticed it must be the moon and with its light I felt safer. 'Where do I sleep for the night?’ I couldn't find my way around so I just sat leaning my back against a tree. 'I don't remember there being a tree on this path.’ But I didn't care, I was feeling oddly tired, so I rested my head and closed my eyes. Wishing, I was in my heated foam bed. “Let me help you…” The little voice in my head came back, I leaned my head on the tree. ‘Ya ya, sure.’

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    Come morning I could see big trees with their branches reaching up to the sky with large green leaves, bushes and underbrush scattered around the ground. The sky was cloudy and blue, something I hadn’t had the chance to see before since clouds usually only showed up when it rained. ‘Where am I?’ I spun around where I had gotten up from, my surroundings were so different I was starting to get scared again. Listening to the sounds around me, I could hear strange wheels, whistles, clicking noises with snorts and grunts and jumbled voices, not knowing what the noise could be. I crept towards it, feeling uncharacteristically brave, or at the very least curious. Seeing the edge of what I could only assume was a forest, I saw some brown walls and brick roads. My thoughts flashing back to my old classes when we were shown old carts pulled by horses, in little places the teacher called villages which had brick roads and wooden houses. Finally knowing what was in front of me, I wondered if I had managed to travel through time. ‘As if.’ Continuing forward, I broke through the trees and I was greeted by exactly what I had been shown in school. Feeling stunned, I froze where I was but something pushed me down and all I saw were wheels and hooves flying by my face. Scared I curled up and covered my head, trying not to cry.

      “Stop!” a female voice cried out over top of me, “there’s someone here on the floor can't you see that!” Peeking out from my arms I saw a girl wearing an old styled dress, almost a shorter version of the Victorian era dresses that we were shown in class. Slowly the girl turned to face me and knelt down next to me. “Hey, you didn't look like you were paying much attention either.” She pointed her finger at me. “It's not safe to just cross the road before knowing where the carts are going.” Holding her hand out, she helped me back to my feet, before heading off. Almost as if she was telling me to follow her, so I did just that. Unsure of where we were going I let her guide me back to the side of the road, she quietly led me through the town, gracefully skipping over edges or anything slightly raised. Finally she stopped me where less people were crowded. “So, what’s got you so lost?” she tilted her head to the side, the action vaguely familiar. Her hair was a pale sand blond, her eyes a silver, and an oddly familiar choker around her neck. Her ear twitched, catching my attention, and my jaw dropped seeing that it was shaped like an animal's ear. “Hellooooo~” she waved her hand in my face.

      “Oh, uh, sorry I'm just… are those your real ears?” I mentally kicked myself for asking something so stupid. Seeing how she started to get irritated with that, I tried again. “I mean, I don't think I was supposed to be here… it seems I came back in time, if that's not too hard to believe…” Realizing I must sound crazy I slowly drifted off.

      “Time traveler?” She snickered, “I don't think so,” then she looked at me confused as she thought back to what I had said, “Oh! You helped me yesterday! I remember that.” I looked at her even more confused than she was before. “Oh right, where are my manners?” Poking her forehead a few times she looked back at me. “My name is Kyumi, I'm a Fox-shifter. I had gotten stuck in a bush the other day, you freed me from the branch.” Her hand was outstretched in greeting but I felt nervous even taking it. 

     “A-Amari… My name is Amari Griffin, I’m a human?” I shook her hand, repeating the greeting back to her. She was so small, maybe a foot shorter than me, her choker seemed more and more familiar. Then an image of the fox flew into my mind. “Oh my god! That fox!” She nearly jumped out of her skin as her ears jumped back. “Sorry! I just remembered what you were talking about.” I dipped my head as I spoke, feeling bad for startling her.

     “Well, Amari Griffin, since you remember now, why don't I take you to rest at the Inn.” Once again she guided me through the town. “Your name is too long so I’m just going to call you Amari.” She sounded proud of her choice. ‘I guess they don’t have last names here.’

     This time as we walked I took the time to look at my surroundings. And I began to see how things were quite a bit different here, everyone had poofy tails and animal ears, a few of them leading some sort of deer around like horses. I seemed to be the tallest person around. Each person was wearing some shade of red, brown, orange or black, as if it was the only color available. Among the so-called Fox-shifters I saw some regular animals, like a cat or weasel, and also some I couldn't quite name. We seemed to be getting closer to the center of town, noises growing louder and I could see the beginnings of some shop stands. Just before the group of people, Kyumi turned to the left into a medium sized house. ‘Lily’s Inn. Huh, such a normal name.’ Slowly following I walked through the door barely clearing the doorframe, looking around I could see her standing at the counter talking to the lady behind the desk. Walking closer I got into earshot.

      “Just for now, I'll see what I can do for you.” I heard the lady say, “we don't usually take people from out of town these days, you know this.” I could feel a tension between the two girls. “We will keep the room reserved for two days. After that you need to figure something out.” And with that she grabbed a key from the wall behind the counter and handed it to Kyumi, who turned to me.

      “Don't mind her, she gets grumpy when she doesn't have control over everything.” Pulling my arm we went for the stairs, feeling like the place was just slightly smaller than I thought; I found myself tripping a few times heading up the stairs. “So your room will be at the complete end.” Leading me onward, I could see that there were only 4 rooms on the second floor. “Now,” she opened the door to the 4th room, showing a cute room with a simple bed next to a window, a dresser rested on the wall and a night table was placed near the head of the bed, “if you need something just come to the room next to this one. For now, spend the rest of the day in here.” I began to feel nervous like I was in trouble. “Don't worry it's just so you can take the time to figure out what just happened, and get used to the place. After all you did say you weren’t from here.” And with that she left me there and closed the door.

 Walking towards the bed, I stood next to it just looking at the rigid mattress and rough looking blankets. “I guess I won't get my bed any time soon…” I sat down on the edge of the bed and heard it creak under my weight. “Oh joy…” I lied back, throwing my arm over my eyes. “Sigh~ what am I going to do now?” I stayed where I was, listening to the noises coming from outside the window, that was slightly open. Its low clicking hooves, rolling wheels and shouts sounded nothing like the quiet almost empty sounds of where I lived. Remaining where I lay, just listening to the noises outside, I could tell it was roughly mid-day and I was beginning to get hungry. Then there was a gentle knock on my door.

      “Hey, it's me again, I figured you'd be hungry by now, so I brought you some food.” The door opened and I lifted my arm off my face looking towards Kyumi in the doorway. She had changed outfits, as she was now wearing some leggings and a sleeveless turtleneck. I heard a few small footsteps from behind her, then a rush of them through the door. The next thing I knew something flew at my face. “Ahhhhhh! Tiara! Get off of him!!” Feeling the flailing mess of limbs being lifted off, I got to see who this Tiara was. “I'm so sorry! She doesn't normally do that.” Kyumi placed the creature on the floor, where it sat confused. I was confused too, but more as to what this thing was. It had the front half of a barn owl and the back half of a cat, with dark grey almost black eyes. 

      “What is she?” I asked, not wanting to take my eyes off her, nervous I'd be attacked again.

     “She's a type of Griffin, a little bit protective so I don't take her out too much unless I can watch her.” With that Kyumi looked down and glared at Tiara, who was just the size of a cat. “I usually play with her in my fox form, but last time when I did she tried to fly off with me thinking it was funny.” I just sat, confused from all this information. “Anyways here's the food.” She placed it next to me on the bed.

      “Where are you going?” I was worried she would just leave me here. As I began to feel like a burden.

     “I'm off to see if I can find the place where our different paths crossed.” She began to turn around to leave but I reached for her arm stopping her before she left, Tiara screeching at me doing so.