My head is pounding. Either I went on a serious bender last night, or I got my ass kicked.

It feels like someone drop-kicked my face.

I want to open my eyes, but at the same time, I don't. They feel gritty, and it hurts to move them even with my eyes closed. My eyelids weigh a tonne, and even the smallest eyelid movement is taking more effort than I have energy for.

I roll over onto my back, spreading my arms and legs wide, flopping over like a dead fish. My palms touch poured stone path, or maybe a road under me. It's damp and gritty.

What the hell happened? And where am I?

Luckily wherever I am, it's shadowed. Or maybe it's dark out?

I will have to open my eyes to find out. Understanding the pain of letting any amount of light hit my pupils has me procrastinating like a kid doing chores.

I let out a heavy sigh, finally rubbing the grit off the right side of my face with my left hand. My hair is stuck to my cheek, so carefully peel it off, flinging it out of the way.

Wait. What?

Why do I have hair? I should be bald! And I definitely shouldn't have long hair. I haven't had long hair since... Well, since my parents died.

What in the blazing stars?

Something is seriously wrong. My heart kicks up about 900 notches, and goosebumps break out over my cold, damp skin. Fear is crawling out of my belly, and it grips my chest, squeezing the air from my lungs.

My eyes fly open, pain forgotten.

What in the dead stars is going on?

I stare up into the bright sky, framed by grimy walls of old stone buildings with broken windows and stinky leaky drain pipes.

Panting heavily, I quickly survey my surroundings. I am in an alley of some kind. Looks like an unkempt back alley of a Zukrog city. The bright white and gold buildings, blindingly reflecting the sun to my right, are all the confirmation I need.

There is only a few large cities on Zukrog, most choosing to live in and around nature. And yes, the Zukrog come from a planet called Zukrog. If nothing else, the Zukrog aristocracy are pretty arrogant.

In truth, Zukrog only has two classes. The elite, which were super-wealthy and privileged, and the poor. The poor outnumber the elite tenfold, and usually, except for the traders and shippers, never see a city.

In my opinion, the poor have the better deal. They stay close to nature, more connected to their K'ai with ancient beliefs and religion, making their communities strong and rich with culture. The closer you are to your K'ai, the stronger your connection to the Universe is.

The Zukrogs in the cities just care about social status, fashion and all things superficial. Nothing of real importance. Well, in my opinion anyway.

The question is, why am I here now? I wouldn't willingly come to Zukrog. Especially not to one of their mega fancy cities.

The fear gripping my chest grows, and I start to panic a little. An overwhelming feeling of plain wrong consumes me.

Rolling over onto my knees, hands braced on the hard stone path, and I ready myself to stand. This is no small feat considering the pain in my head still pounds something fierce.

I wince at the effort it took to bring myself this far. I need a minute to build up strength.

Me and my damn drinking.

This is going to hurt. But I won't figure out what is going on laying here. No matter how appealing that idea is right now.

While catching my breath and building up my energy reserve, I catch a glimpse of myself in a puddle just to my left.

Huh?

It is me. I mean, I recognized my cheekbones, my nose and mouth, my jawline, the shape of my eyebrows and my cursed ears. But... But it isn't me.

My naked skin glows a bright golden white. I have long white hair that shimmers around my head—wisps of hair dance around my glowing head with some unseen energy force.

Then there are my eyes. My eyes glow a fierce gold. Looking closely, it seems like there is a fire burning inside them. The golden flames dance and flicker back at me.

I cough slash gag as I choke back a scream, finally letting out a breath that had been caught in my throat. The slight feeling of panic in my gut blooms into a full-on sense of freaked the fuck out!

I have had olive skin my entire life, eyes as dark as night, and I don't even want to discuss my hair right now.

I scramble backwards away from the puddle until I hit something. Sitting down with my head between my knees, back braced against an old stone wall, my mind tries to digest what I just saw.

I run my hands up the sides of my face, fingers tangling in my glowing white hair. I grab a fist full on either side, tugging gently. Ya, it is real.

Leaning my head back, I close my eyes. I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. Something terrible must have happened. What, I don't know. But this isn't right.

Did someone do some sort of genetic testing on me? Drugged me? Was someone messing with my mind? The last thought tugs at something in my memory.

Something about my mind being messed with seems right. I am forgetting something important. I can feel it. I will have to calm myself and focus if I want to remember.

I breathe deeply and tell my heart to slow down. After a few minutes, I calm. Remembering my training from when I was with the Orikai, I centre myself and find my control again.

However, now I will need to risk that control. I need to go within myself, having no other options currently present but to connect with my K'ai. I just pray it doesn't go on a power-hungry rampage this time.

My K'ai can show me the path through my memories, letting me see how I got here. It sounds weird, but before I even knew what a K'ai was, I learned this trick to help me when I was young when I lost my toys or my mom's favourite necklace that I wasn't supposed to be playing with.

The first time it happened was in a dream, and then I figured out how to do it awake—a very handy tool. Until my K'ai became too strong for me, that is. I am hoping we are at a truce right now. It probably wants to keep me alive and safe as much as I do. I hope.

With my eyes closed, I slow my heart rate even more and focus on the darkness behind my eyes. I am looking for the crack. There is always a crack if you look hard enough.

I finally catch a glimpse of it and move towards it. The crack glows softly in the blackness, warm rays streaming out as I push towards it. I take an imaginary hand and wiggle my fingers into the crack. Then again, with the other hand forcing the crack wider a finger width at a time.

I take a moment to pause here. It has been a long time since I have entered the world of my K'ai. Technically the part of the Universe everyone's Soul or K'ai, whatever you choose to call it, resides. The only portal to that dimension is inside you. It's this Universe, but the other side, so to speak. I am not sure how else to describe it.

When you are there, you connect to everything. Feel everything, see everything. It is frightening and breathtaking at the same time. It is also overwhelming if you aren't prepared.

Your K'ai is your anchor. It is you, but you on the other side. Without it, you'd be lost. Maybe that's what death is. Or maybe not. I have no clue.

It is all I can do to keep my heart rate slow. I need to stay calm, or I will lose my focus. I haven't done this enough to be able to do it without intense concentration. This may have been a stupid idea.

But I need to know. Bracing my fingers in the crack, I get ready to pull it open just enough for me to squeeze through, taking my mental self to my metaphysical self.

What the fuck?

My eyes fly open. My head whips to the left. What was that?

A screeching sound echoes down the alley. The hair on the back of my neck rises instantly. Another screech, louder, closer this time. It is coming from the part of the alley that seems to lead into nothing but damp darkness.

I must be just outside the city's borders. It screeches again. It's closer than I feel comfortable with. Whatever is down there sounds either angry or hungry. I don't want to find out which.

Looking around, there is only one exit. Towards the shining city. Not sure I want to go there either, especially in my current condition. But with my only other option being to find out what is making that awful sound, I think the city might have to do. Regardless of the scene, I will make.

Jumping up faster than expected, I wait for the landing, knees bent, feet braced.

Ok, so usually, when I push off the ground fast, even from a sitting position, I get a little air. Not that I am bragging or anything. I just do. So I wait, like a freaking idiot, to start falling back down, not even realizing how high I have jumped.

It never happens. I pushed off the ground from a sitting position and now am floating about two feet above the buildings.

What in the blazing stars? This day keeps getting weirder.

Don't get me wrong, I am strong but not this strong and not capable of levitating, as seems to be the case right now.

The feeling of wrong crashes through me again. I feel my heart rate pick up speed with my lack of focus and increasing panic.

This is beyond trippy. Yet now isn't the time to freak out. The thing making the awful screeching sound comes barrelling down the alley just below me. I hold my breath. I am praying it won't look up.

It is long, almost 20 feet long. It has leathery brown skin, thick with wrinkles, and huge scars I can see even from up here. It has four front legs, two on either side close together. The first set is thick with muscles, long claws and full of power. The slimmer set just behind those seem to work like feelers or hands? They sift through debris, lifting items through the other legs for its long drooling snout to sniff.

The back legs are thicker than even the front two and are slightly longer, with long angled paws. I have a horrible feeling it can stand vertically if it wants.

Not a comforting thought at the moment. It could stand almost as tall as the buildings judging by its length.

Its thick lips don't quite reach each other when its big meaty jaws close, snapping its long sharp teeth together, sniffing the spot I just vacated.

All of a sudden, its body stiffens, its large, gruesome head cocks to one side, as its non-existent ears seem to be listening to something.

Without warning, it looks up, straight at me. I choke on the breath I had been holding.

Shit!