The Inn Beyond Time and Space

When the girl pronounced her name as "Focus," Adrian Wells' first thought was how literal she was, seemingly using "Fox" as her name. After asking her several times, he finally understood—her name was "Focus," not "Fox."

 Focus, a peculiar name.

 "I'm Adrian Wells," Adrian said, sitting with Focus amidst the ruins of the broken temple. "I came from... well, I'm not sure how to explain it. I came from 'outside.' Not just outside this valley, but far beyond."

 "You're really from 'outside'?" Focus' golden-red eyes widened in astonishment. Her reaction carried an unmistakable layer of meaning: she knew what "outside" was.

 She bit off a small piece of chocolate, her movements restrained, and stared at Adrian, her gaze filled with disbelief and eagerness. "How... how did you get in? Do you know the way out? Is it... in the sky?"

 As they spoke, Focus' speech became smoother, as though she was rapidly reacquainting herself with the art of conversation.

 Adrian tilted his head at her question. "The sky? Why do you ask?"

 "The Immortal said we all came from the sky. But then the sky went dark... and we couldn't go back." Focus frowned, her sentences halting as if recalling fragments of a half-forgotten story. "Then the ground... it grew dangerous. Poisoned. People started dying. Many tried to go back but... no one could."

 Adrian sat stunned, struggling to piece together her jumbled account. There was a deeper story buried in this valley, far beyond what Adrian had expected. Focus, with her numerous tails, carried a mystery of her own.

 She, too, was trapped here.

 However, when Adrian pressed her for more details—where the "sky" was, who the "others" were, and how they came here—her answers became scattered again.

 "The sky is... the sky," she gestured vaguely. "I've tried to go back for years. Jumping, climbing, but there's something above. It hurts. And the others... there were many. My dad, my mom, the Immortal... and other people. We came on a ship, a big one."

 Focus pointed toward the distant darkness of the valley. "The ship fell... it became part of the mountain. Dad tried to go back to get something, but then... everyone was killed by something. No one knows how to get in now."

 Her words sent a chill down Adrian's spine.

 From what he could understand—or infer through sheer imagination—Focus and her companions had arrived here long ago aboard some massive vessel, likely capable of flight. At that time, this valley was not yet the desolate deathtrap it had become. But something catastrophic happened—"the sky went dark," and the environment turned hostile. Those trapped here suffered heavy losses, attacked by a powerful foe.

 In the end, Focus was the only survivor.

 But much of her account was riddled with confusion and gaps in memory. Adrian could only guess at the truth of her story.

 "How long have you been here?" Adrian finally asked.

 "I don't know... a long time." Focus hugged the half-eaten chocolate to her chest like a treasure. "The place doesn't change. There's no way to keep track of days. When I get hungry, I pass out. When I wake up, it feels like... forever has passed."

 Adrian's frown deepened. Looking at her tattered clothes and thinking about her fragmented memories, he realized she had been trapped here far longer than he initially thought—perhaps for years.

 "How have you survived all this time?" he asked, baffled. "What do you eat? Do you just rummage through the ruins for scraps? There doesn't seem to be anything edible here."

 "There's nothing to eat," Focus replied, shaking her head. "Sometimes there are berries in the forest, but they're poisonous. Water is the only thing safe. Everything else... hurts. So I mostly just starve."

 Yet she smiled faintly, pointing at herself. "Monsters are strong. We don't die from hunger... but it's... not nice. Being hungry."

 The memories seemed to bring her pain. Her smile crumpled, and she suddenly darted away to retrieve the bag of kitchen scraps Adrian had thrown out earlier. Hugging it tightly, she said with conviction, "This... still good."

 Adrian opened his mouth, but words failed him. He wanted to conjure mountains of food for her, or better yet, open a gateway back to the real world. But he couldn't. He was still trapped himself.

 "Benefactor..." Focus suddenly spoke again.

 Adrian blinked, startled. "What did you call me?"

 "Benefactor," Focus repeated solemnly. "Mother said those who help us greatly... we call them benefactors. You gave me food."

 Adrian waved dismissively. "That's... a bit much. Just call me Adrian. I'm used to that."

 "Oh. Okay, Bene... Adrian," she stammered, glancing at his hand. Her face fell. "I'm sorry."

 "Huh?" Adrian followed her gaze to his hand, noticing for the first time the faint scar left from when she'd accidentally bitten him. It had already healed, leaving only a smear of dried blood.

 "It's fine," he said casually, brushing off the dried blood. "Just a scratch."

 Focus didn't seem convinced. "You're sure? Monster bites... harm the essence. They don't heal."

 "But it's healed," Adrian said, holding up his hand. "See?"

 "It really healed..." Focus looked astonished. "Adrian... are you an Immortal?"

 "I'm not. I don't even know what you mean by Immortal—someone who trains to transcend death?" Adrian replied. "But why would Immortals and... um, monsters like you... be traveling together? From what I know, they're usually enemies."

 He finally voiced the question that had been bugging him since she mentioned Immortals.

 Focus tilted her head, confused. After a pause, she replied hesitantly, "Because... he was a tour guide Immortal."

 Adrian froze.

 "...What?"

 "A tour guide Immortal," Focus repeated earnestly. "He led the group."

 Adrian stared at her, dumbfounded. He thought he had uncovered a tragic tale of celestial conflict, but no—it turned out to be the story of a group of monsters on a budget vacation, led by an Immortal tour guide.

 Suddenly, the fragments of Focus' story—"big ship," "falling," "trapped"—all made absurd, horrifying sense.

 "...A tour group," Adrian muttered, deadpan. "I'm stuck in a deadly, otherworldly valley because of a tour group."

 "Adrian..." Focus suddenly winced, clutching her stomach. "I... my stomach hurts."

 Adrian's blood ran cold.

 "Wait. You... didn't finish that chocolate, did you?" He stared at the half-eaten bar in her hands, his voice rising in panic. "You're a fox monster! Chocolate's poison for canines—don't eat it!"

 But it was too late. As he lunged forward to grab the chocolate, Focus let out a low, guttural growl. Before he could react, she snapped her jaws down on his hand.

 "Ah!"

 Her growl was nothing compared to Adrian's scream.