Prompt: You accidentally stumble upon an otherworld where humans are considered villains because humans are the reason that their world is not as popular as Earth.

**

The full moon lit my way home, and I returned to Narig still in my druid form. Until I changed back, I didn't want to take on any new tasks. I was feeling terrible, and even at night, I had nightmares. One, in particular, was quite interesting.

I stood before the wizard again, handing him the black coin and delivering the message. Maxwell vanished, but the black coin fell from his hand and rolled under the cabinet.

This image stayed with me during the day because what if that coin was there? The growing conviction within me was spurred by the dreadful guilt of having done something unforgivable to the wizard by giving him that cursed message.

I went to his quarters, pretending to search for him, and found everything as it was. The glass-eyed stuffed animals still stared at me with even more disapproval.

I began examining the floor to see where the coin might have rolled. Crawling on my belly and gathering all the dust from under the cabinet, I finally saw the black coin gleaming.

With the coin in my hand, I hesitated, wondering if this was really what I wanted. Who knows where the spell had sent Maxwell? He might already be dead. But my desire to atone for my sin was so strong that I took a deep breath and, holding the coin in my palm, repeated the incomprehensible words I had spoken to the wizard on behalf of the Hell Cat.

At first, I felt nothing and didn't dare open my eyes. But then, it was as if the world had turned upside down. I began to fall and could barely breathe.

When I came to, I was lying on the beach because I felt the water rhythmically lapping at my feet and the hot sand under my palm. The sun was burning, and as I sat up to look better at where I was, it seemed I had arrived in paradise. I saw a white sandy beach with palm trees and crystals jutting from the ground.

But I didn't have long to gawk, as suddenly I was surrounded by what seemed to be soldiers dressed in brightly colored feathers and clothes, pointing their spears at me.

I had never seen creatures like them before. They were tall and lanky, with bald heads and skin colored from numerous tattoos. Their large black eyes initially made me think they were human, but they were distinctly different from any humans I had known.

The four spear-wielding figures said nothing, cautiously poking me with their spears to direct me. I followed them into the palm trees.

Deeper in, I saw huts covered with palm leaves, and as we passed by, more and more faces appeared, watching curiously.

We arrived at a small square, where they led me before an even more elaborately dressed figure scrutinizing me thoroughly. They spoke in a strange language I didn't understand, seeming to argue about something.

One lifted my hand to examine my clawed fingers and then pointed to my ear.

"Not human," he said, and I was relieved because I understood that. To be sure, I repeated, pointing to myself, "Not human... druid!"

I had to repeat "druid" several times as they watched my mouth and tried to pronounce it.

I had no idea if being a druid was better than being human, but they seemed satisfied that I was not human.

Then, the one whose speech I understood turned to me again and asked something. At first, I didn't get it, but he repeated it many times, articulating more and more clearly: "You came from where?" and pointed to the sky. Only then did I understand that he meant "from where" because the words sounded so different when he pronounced them.

"Narig," I replied, and they repeated after me until they managed to say it roughly as I did. It was a fun game; meanwhile, I looked around to see if there was any sign of Maxwell. I had no idea how to ask about his whereabouts.

Still, I gathered my courage and slowly asked, syllable by syllable: "I'm looking for a human here." I hoped that would be enough for them to lead me to any human-like being present.

After repeating this several times, I saw that they roughly understood what I was saying because they looked angry at the word "human."

"Human bad!" said the one who spoke my language, who had a large moon tattooed on his face. The others spoke extremely fast and sharply, clearly arguing about something. The moon-faced one turned to me again, angrily repeating: "You friend of the human, bad!"

Great, just what I needed—to be considered an enemy. It seemed like they didn't welcome humans here. The sympathy they had shown when they realized I was a druid vanished, and they started poking and pushing me with their spears again, leading me somewhere.

Farther from their little huts, towards the interior, where the palm trees and strange giant crystals gave way to some blue rocks, I saw people. At least a few were tied up and hammering at the rocks, seemingly breaking apart the blue stones by hand.

I received my shackles, too, and incredibly quickly, I found myself beside a rock with a hammer-like tool in my hand. This was too much, I thought. Just because someone is human, they make them work?

My guard pointed to the ground and the others as if telling me to do what they were doing.

I sat down, and for the rest of the day, I hammered at the stone. I didn't quite understand the task but acted like I was giving it my best effort. Meanwhile, I kept an eye on the others till I recognized the wizard.

At sunset, we were given water and a piece of dry bread and then herded into a giant outdoor cage. I sat down next to Maxwell.

"Maxwell, it's so good to have found you!" I said, and I was thinking about how to apologize to him.

"Who are you, my child?" he asked, puzzled.

"Petib..." I started, then suddenly remembered he wouldn't know who I was in my druid form. "Patty," I finished.

"Patty? Do we know each other? And what are you doing here, as you're not human?"

"Can someone finally tell me what the locals have against humans?" I asked.

"The story is somewhat confusing. The locals resent humans because their world is more popular than this one. I don't understand the logic, but here, all humans are considered villains and sentenced to pointless stone quarrying."

"Well, it's better than being killed outright," I said, secretly relieved that the wizard was safe.

"In a way, yes, but there's little chance of escape. Every day, someone is picked out because they've died of exhaustion. The piece of dry bread you're holding is your entire daily ration."

"So there's no hope of escape? But why don't you use your magic?" I wondered.

"You're a druid, so you should feel that these stones somehow inhibit our abilities as if they block us," he said, gesturing to the large blue rocks around us.

"So, if we escape and move farther away, we could even get home?" A glimmer of hope shone in my eyes.

"Home? Okay, and where is that? How did you get here? Do you know the way back?"

Too many questions at once. The full moon was high; as I calculated, this might be my last night as a druid. If I transformed in front of Maxwell, who knows what he'd do to me? I needed to come up with something first.

"You're a druid," Maxwell continued. "Can you see the future? Will we get free?"

"I had an interesting dream, which is why I'm here, and I came to somehow free you," I replied, looking at the guards to see where they were standing and where the cage had a spot we could slip through.

"Well, then we're saved! That's good news!" he said, leaning back comfortably as if that settled everything.

"But we still need to do something; we won't just get free by ourselves!" I chided him.

"We're completely dependent on you because even if we escape the cage and move away from the rocks, my spells won't get us back. We need the spell that Pettibone, that cursed little goblin, used to bring me here, which I unfortunately don't know and didn't memorize." Now we were both angry. Our fellow captives were lying on their backs, watching the starry sky. Only we were still sitting and whispering arguments. Some guards watched us curiously, wondering what we were discussing.

"And we also need that coin," I remembered.

"Nonsense, it's meaningless; it's just part of the deception, but you should know that. But now, tell me, why on earth were you imprisoned here as a druid?" he whispered. Since one of the guards hit the cage near us with his spear, he lay down, and I followed. Turning towards him, I replied, "I was looking for you, and strangely enough, even though I don't speak their language, they somehow understood that I was a human sympathizer."

"Who sent you for me?" he raised an eyebrow.

"If the coin isn't necessary, and we say that spell, will we get back?" I diverted his attention from his question.

"Not only do you have to know the spell, but you also have to say it backward, and it has to be done by the one who sent us here, so it's completely hopeless."

I smiled, and strangely, he raised his head and sat up. "Wait a minute, I swear I've seen that smile somewhere. And in this dim light, I'd swear your eyes look like that little goblin girl's!"

I couldn't decide if he was still angry. I sat up and said nothing, but it would have been better if I had protested because he suddenly lunged at my neck and started choking me. The guards pulled him off me and led me out of the cage.

I wanted to shout that he had messed up, but no sound came from my throat. I saw in his eyes that he knew he had made a big mistake.

They threw me into a smaller cage and left me there. However, in the morning, I woke to find several figures towering over me and staring. It didn't take long to realize why, as I only had to look at my green hands. I was a goblin again.

The one who somehow understood our language appeared and also stared at me. Then he signaled for me to be released, and I could walk around, no longer a prisoner. I received proper food, too. Then they led me back to the big cage, where I noticed a gallows. It wasn't there yesterday but looked strange, as if it were mobile, with small wooden wheels at the platform's base.

Maxwell stood on the platform, a heavy rope around his neck, fending off the hood they were about to place over his head.

"Man, bad! Tried to kill!" said the one with the full moon tattooed on his face, pointing at me.

Well, great, I thought. He's going to die because of me now, for sure. Driven by a sudden impulse, I touched the full-moon guy's shoulder. "Speak last time," I said, pointing to the wizard. He looked surprised but nodded and said something to the others in their strange, clicking language.

I stepped up the two steps to the platform and faced Maxwell: "I don't want another choking scene!"

I waited until he nodded. I grabbed his shoulder and recited the strange spell backward.

The effect was immediate, especially since I kept my eyes open this time. It felt like we were being pulled up, and we flew, gallows and all.

From above, I watched those strange people rage, waving their spears at us.