>A knock on the door stirs you from a dreamless sleep.
>You open your eyes with a groan. The small traces of sunlight that get past the shutters tell you enough to assume that it's morning.
>The one knocking must be Keruma. Nobody else usually bothers you. You yawn. "Yeah.. I'm awake.. hold up a second."
>You stand up. It's easy to navigate through the small room, even in the darkness.
>You push the shutters open, flooding your eyes with the sunlight.
>You wince from the stinging pain. Nearly blind, you turn around, and make your way towards the door.
>You unlock the door, and push it open. "Morning, Keruma," you greet her, as you scan the floor for your pair of pants.
>"Hello, Anon," a rough male voice that definitely wasn't Keruma responds, making you stop. "A cozy place you've found for yourself." He ignores your mistake. "Nice to see that you are doing well."
>You sigh when you realise that it's not her. "What's up, Tom?" You respond, while pulling your pants on. "First time I see you off-work."
>You hear him sigh, before he answers. "Yeah. It's the first time I left the station. It's an.. unique experience."
>"Really? How'd you find this place?" You return to the window, and lean outside. A cool gust of wind greets you, the usual heat of the daytime absent. It must still be early.
>A glance downwards proves this. The cobblestone streets are relatively empty. You see one person making their way down the narrow street. Perhaps a goat, by the looks of it.
>"I had an assistant." Tom answers, and clears his throat. "Would you like to talk over breakfast? The innkeeper has something cooked up. I'll pay."
>Your empty stomach beckons you to accept the offer. "That sounds great. Thanks."
. . .
>They had somehow set up a portal, and actually connected it to another place with life. A planet, perhaps. Maybe even another dimension.
>You couldn't believe that humans had already reached such high levels of science to build something like that, but there it was. And you wanted to see it with your own eyes.
>By some miraculous circumstances, you got a job that let you do so.
>You had worked in the facilities on the both sides of the portal. Scientists, ambassadors, important people of all kinds were almost constantly around you.
>Working with the brightest people the Earth had to offer was pretty cool, even if they were dicks, sometimes.
>What had been your job? The facility janitor.
>Someone had to do that, too. You were the lucky one.
>Excluding the ridiculous security measures, the job wasn't too bad. The pay was great, and you got to visit the other side of the portal.
>Well, you couldn't leave the facilities, but it was still pretty awesome.
>You got to see some real-life anthros!
>The contact between worlds was still heavily restricted, so that wasn't an every-day occurence.
>And then, it was. You got to see more anthros. A bit too many, in fact.
>You were working on the other side of the portal, when it just.. imploded. In a fraction of a second, it was gone.
>The event had also caused some kind of an electromagnetic pulse, destroying all electrical devices in a mile's radius.
>Whatever fancy science held it up wasn't nearly as stable as they had told you. You, along with a couple dozen other people, were left trapped, away from home.
>Turns out, whatever fancy science had kept the portal up wasn't nearly as stable as they had told you.
>Some of the others didn't take it too well. They got trapped away from their families, their lifework.
>You lost everything, too. All that you had were the clothes you wore, a wallet filled with cards that were now useless.
>But even then, you simply didn't feel anything. Maybe you still held some hope that the scientists would fix it, and get you home.
>As weeks passed, you didn't really think about it. You wandered away from the facilities, into the city nearby.
>You sold your wallet, contents and all, to some dragon that paid a good sum of money for it, and managed to do the same with your clothes. Word had spread, that the portal was gone. Human things were now a limited rarity.
>This had got you enough currency to last you a month and half, if you used it right. More than enough time to get stable.
>However, selling all your belongings meant, that there was nothing left to remind you of Earth, with the exception of other humans you saw every now and then.
>Your new surroundings made you think of medieval fantasy. They didn't have a lot of comforts, but they had some nice things, at least.
>Such as plumbing. The streets weren't filled with shit, which was nice.
>Overall, the place was very atmospheric, and in a way, beautiful. The locals were friendly and helpful, even if there were some language barriers that made things difficult sometimes.
. . .
>You carefully descend the stairs after Tom, and take a look around the ground floor.
>There is one person you don't recognise sitting at a table next to a window.
>It is a wolf, and by the looks of it, a female. She looks at the two of you as you walk towards the counter. Must be the assistant Tom mentioned.
>The innkeeper, Boris, greets you with a wave. "Good morning, Anon!"
>He's a large brown bear. Not only is he almost seven feet tall, he is also built like a fucking tank. Wide, muscular frame, and possibly over five times your weight.
>You notice that Tom tenses up when he speaks. He must be scared of him. Not very surprising.
>"Morning. You make breakfast?" You inquire in the local language.
>Ever since the portal collapsed, you had spent most of your time learning the language. A necessity, if you were to spend any extended amount of time in this place.
>You had to admit, you had a talent for languages. You weren't great at it, but in a short time, you were able to hold basic conversation with others.
>You are not sure about Tom, though. As a high-ranking scientist, he must have had translators whenever he was around the locals.
>"Yes. Keruma came by with some fresh fish earlier. She caught a lot today!"
>Looks like it's fish and vegetables on the menu for the day. Pretty good.
>"Sounds great." You say, and turn to Tom. "Fish and vegs."
>He nods. "If you would let Fanu do the ordering?" He indicates towards the she-wolf.
>"Yeah, sure."
>As she stands up, the two of you take a table and sit down.
>You watch her walk up to the counter, before turning your attention towards the human in front of you. "It's about the portal, isn't it?"
>"'fraid so." He gravely nods. "Bad news."
>Boris brings the cutlery to the table, and informs you, that he will return shortly with the food. Once he's gone, you turn your attention to Tom. "How bad?" You ask.
>He doesn't answer immediately, but the way he avoids your gaze tells you enough.
>"It's a lost cause." He sighs. "The pulse destroyed everything. We'd have to research and build the tech from scratch."
>His foot is tapping on the floor, as he continues. "There's no way around it. All the electronics are just a pile of useless metal, now. And we don't have the expertise to do anything about it."
>You can't believe what you're hearing. "That's bullshit. You guys are smart. You'll figure something out." You feel like exploding at him. "You can't just quit."
>He laughs dryly, eyes downcast. "What do you think we've been doing for the past month?"
>He goes quiet for a moment, when Boris arrives with two platters of food. You're so distracted that you barely notice.
>"We would have to invent everything again. This planet doesn't even have electricity."
>You slump down on your chair. He was right. Your side was shit out of luck. "How about.." you try the one thing that could still save you. "What about Earth? They could reopen and—"
>He shakes his head so abruptly that you stop. "No. I assume, that the collapse caused a similar event on the other side. I know that they can rebuild, but.." He picks his fork, and starts poking at the fish. "There are so many things that could go wrong. It's experimental tech. Might be impossible to re-establish the link. Wouldn't get my hopes up."
>You look down at your meal. Your last hopes of getting back just got crushed.
>Your family, gone.
>All electronics and other comforts, gone.
>The familiar places
>The familiar faces
>The safety nets of society, the convenience of everything, all the distractions, all your knowledge, your apartment, parties, long comfy drives, fastfood healthcare hot showers books porn art music mov—
>"Anon!" You are startled away from your thoughts by the two strong hands that land on your shoulders. You let out a small yelp before recognising the voice.
>It's Keruma, the dragoness from the room opposite of yours. For the week she had resided there so far, she had been bothering you almost constantly.
>Not that you minded. She had often been able to take your mind off of your current situation.
>This time she is oblivious of the anxiety growing inside you, as she peeks over your shoulder. "Enjoying the meal? I caught that fish!" She gasps. "You haven't even tasted it yet!"
>"Hello, Keruma," you drone. Observing Tom's expression as the dragoness wraps her arms around your shoulders amuses you slightly.
>Giving you a hug wasn't her only objective. She reaches for the fork, and uses it to quickly snag a piece of fish from your plate, directly into her waiting maw right next to your ear.
>After chewing for a moment, she speaks. "Oooh, it's actually better than I thought!" She drops the fork onto the table, and pushes herself away from you. "Oh, and who's the other human?"
>You turn to take a good look at her. She's wearing her usual pale brown cloth tunic, with matching brown, loose pants.
>Before you can answer, she approaches Tom. He is on the verge of jumping off his chair, as Keruma extends her hand for him. "Hello!" She speaks in heavily accentuated english. "Handshake!"
>Reluctantly, he grabs her scale-covered hand. The ritual is quickly over. Still, he looks almost disgusted, when Keruma draws away. You raise an eyebrow.
>Tom's assistant, Fanu, seems to take note of this. She steps in between the two, making the dragoness take a step away in confusion. "I would appreciate if you moved away from him," she speaks in a menacing tone.
>Keruma seems to take some offense in it. "What? I simply greeted him!"
>The wolfess doesn't respond. There seems to be some sort of a staring contest between the two females.
>You roll your eyes in exasperation. It's way too early to deal with this shit. In fact, you don't want to deal with it at all.
>You slam your fist to the table, startling the others. Even Boris is curiously eyeing you from the counter.
>"Could you not start a fight? This morning already sucks just enough!" You yell at them. "Keruma." You point at the other human at the table. "This is Tom. He is a scientist. And.." You point at the wolfess. "This is Fanu. She is Tom's.. helper?" You don't remember a better word in the moment.
>"Assistant, yes," she corrects you.
>"And this," you switch to english, as you speak to Tom. "This here is Keruma. She also resides here."
>You switch back to the local tongue, and address the two anthros. "You. Do. Not. Fight. Understood?" You practically snarl at them.
>They stare at you dumbfounded.
>You don't care to wait for their responses. "Good." You turn to the food in front of you.
>You pick up the cutlery, and start working on finally eating your breakfast.
>The silence lingers for a moment. Then, Keruma huffs, and simply walks away.
>"Well.." Tom breaks the silence between the rest of you. "That's, uh.." He shakes his head. "Anon."
>"What?" You ask between the bites.
>"We have a psychologist available at the station. I know it's rough right now, but you could talk to her." You look at him. "Miss Lyadova. You've spoken to her before, haven't you?" He's smiling an awkward smile. "I'm sure it would help."
>"And what might I need help with?" you ask coldly. "I think YOU are telling me that I have problems." Your fist clenches around the knife in your hand.
>"That is enough," Fanu interrupts you before you do anything drastic. "Mister Anon. I do not stand you talking to Mister Jones in such an insulting way!"
>Great. Now a bitch thinks that she's tough shit.
>"Fanu, I told you not to chime in," Tom sighs, and rubs his temples. "Look. All I am saying is,  you have that choice if you need to talk about anything. I did not mean to insult—"
>"I don't need that."
>"Well, alright." He doesn't look like he believes you at all. "I guess that's.. sorted out, then?"
>"Indeed."
>The rest of the meal goes in silence. When you're finished, you simply stand up and leave without a word.
>You shakily climb up the stairs, and enter your room. You close the shutters you had left open, casting the room in darkness.
>The lump in your throat won't go away.
>Your hands refuse to stop shaking.
>Your vision gets blurred by tears.
>Eventually, sobs start wracking your body.
>When you collapse, your bed feels cold and empty. Everything seems to finally sink in.
>Your world, Earth, your life, it's all gone.
>You will always be a stranger to the world you're trapped in. The anxiety grips your chest like a vice.
>"This can't happen, it just can't.." You repeatedly whisper to yourself.
>It doesn't change anything, however.
>You cry into your pillow for what feels like hours, before falling into a restless sleep.