Ashlyn and Nox had been close to the explosion when it went off, so they had also taken the full brunt of the force. It might not have had much of an impact on the outside, but it affected the NPCs in front of the shop. And they had been transported to a different location.

“Ugh, where are we?” Ashlyn sat up from where they had been laying on the ground. The bright lights blinded them, and it took a moment for them to adjust their eyesight.

“I don’t know.” Answered a gruff voice from the side.

“Nox?” Ashlyn looked in the voice’s direction and saw a dishevelled male leaning against a blank wall, or where a wall should’ve been. That was when Ashlyn noticed the peculiarity of the space they were in. It was a large space that was completely white, and the start and end of the room couldn’t be seen. There were no doors - exits or otherwise - and it was devoid of any furniture, or anything else. All it had were the two confused NPCs.

“What is this place?” They knew there was no point in asking, but they had to ask anyway, just to fill the silence.

After a moment of rest to sort out their thoughts and check if they had any injuries anywhere, Ashlyn and Nox explored the space, even if there wasn’t much to look at. They discovered it didn’t matter how much they walked forwards, there would never be an end; it was like a long, white hallway that you could travel down forever. The temperature was chilly and made one’s nose red, but it didn’t bother the two who were not human: it didn’t impede them, and they continued their trek down the hallway.

A couple of hours went by of them walking and soon they had to take a break to catch their breath.

“Is this ever going to end?” complained Ashlyn, and they ranted about how tired they were.

“Um, Ashlyn…” Nox, who was resting by their side, spotted something unusual and spoke up. “There’s something over there.”

Ashlyn turned to see what he was talking about and saw a large tear that had appeared in the air. It expanded outwards until it was a large, blue, shimmery void. “It’s a portal.” They exclaimed and scrambled to their feet, and made to take a step towards it.

“Stay back!” Nox stopped them from moving and held them back. “There’s something coming out of it.”

And what he said was right. At the bottom of the void, a foot appeared and stepped out of the portal seconds later. After that, a whole person appeared, and another followed behind them.

The younger of the two stood at the side and waited for their companion to close the portal. He was wearing an ordinary pair of trousers and shirt, with a red cloak that floated to the ground; it was the only extraordinary thing about him; his facial features were plain, and he didn’t stand out much. It was his companion that would’ve stood out in a crowd: he had a face that could be described as elegant, and silvery hair that was in a ponytail, thrown carelessly over his shoulder.

From the looks of them, one was the leader, and the other was his assistant.

They were conversing about something, and it didn’t take long for them to notice the two people standing behind them. Both of them were unknown to the two men, so at first, they were on guard, but the young man saying something to his boss made the older one relax.

“Are you new here?” The boss came forward and gave Ashlyn and Nox a friendly smile. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had NPCs here seeking refuge.”

Ashlyn and Nox looked at each other in confusion and didn’t know what to say.

“Ah, don’t worry, we were all the same at first.” The assistant followed his boss and chirped happily beside them. “Once you enter Farwich, you’ll be like the other Discarded Ones, and get used to things pretty quickly.”

“Discarded Ones?” Ashlyn questioned. It was a term they had never heard before, and it seemed to be the same for Nox, who was looking just as confused as they were.

“Yes.” The boss placed a hand on his assistant’s shoulder to try to calm him down. He knew how excited the younger one would get at meeting new people. “Aren’t you here because you’ve been thrown away?”

Ashlyn and Nox exchanged another glance and, after a brief conversation with their eyes, decided it would be best to go along with it for now.

“I thought so.” He seemed to notice something in their gazes but chose to ignore it. A glimmer of something dark went through his own eyes, but it went away before the others noticed it. “Well, follow us and we’ll guide you to Farwich. It’s not far away from here.”

“Oh, and before we forget, let us introduce ourselves.” The boss led them further down the hall, then stopped and turned to face the others. “My name is Eriladar, and this is my assistant, Taegen.”

After giving out his and Taegen’s names, Eriladar pushed on the space behind him and a door, which had been inconspicuous up until this point, opened up to reveal buildings and a hubbub of voices that belonged to numerous people through the gap that had opened up.

Eriladar bowed slightly and said, “we would like to welcome you to Farwich, the city of the Discarded Ones.”