In the crowded courthouse, Nathaniel Rotham stood in silence, his heart sinking into a pit of dread and disbelief as the fox nervously watched the judge and jury before him, their looks a mix of anger and disappointment. To them the fox was a bright mind who had a bright future, someone who could've gone very far with his life, only to throw it away with a heinous crime. The air was heavy with tension as the weight of his fate hung in the air.
"By the power vested in me as Chief Justice of the Court, I hereby pronounce the sentence for this heinous crime committed," declared the elderly fox presiding over the proceedings, his voice echoing off the courtroom’s walls decorated with symbols of wisdom and authority.
Nathaniel's ears twitched as he awaited the verdict, his eyes fixed on the stern look of the judge. He knew he was innocent, yet the evidence presented against him was convincing, fabricated by enemies lurking in the shadows of his illustrious family's influence. Despite his family’s best efforts, hiring the best lawyers they knew, getting their strongest allies to go to bat for their son, Here he was, standing in the courtroom facing charges for assassinating a member of another powerful family, allegedly for his own personal gain.
Then, the judge delivered the sentence,
“Mr. Rotham, for the high crime of murder, you are hereby sentenced to exile in the human realm!” Slamming the gavel on his desk, “You shall live among them until such time the court seems fit for you to retur!.” the judge spoke commandingly, his words echoing through the courtroom like a death knell.
Exile. the words of the judge sank through his heart, shattering it into pieces. Despite the efforts of his powerful family and their allies to save him from his fate, he was doomed to a world where most anthros never made it back from. Exile to the human realm was a fate reserved for only the most egregious of crimes, a punishment shrouded in mystery and fear. For the anthros, the humans were an enigma, a distant and foreboding presence lurking beyond the veil of their own world.
As Nathaniel was escorted from the courtroom, his mind reeled with disbelief. How could this be happening? How could he, a member of one of the most influential families in anthro society, go from landing a high ranking job fresh out of one of the most prestigious institutions in the world to being cast out into the unknown depths of the human realm? He could hear his family screaming behind him,
“He'd never do such a thing!” his mother erupting in tears as she watched her son be escorted by the guards to a portal in the mountains near his hometown.
Outside the courthouse, beneath the cold gaze of the moon, Nathaniel was escorted by the guards to an unmarked van, his heart heavy with uncertainty. The night air whispered secrets of the human world, a place of danger and intrigue where few dared to tread. But Nathaniel had no choice. He would face whatever challenges awaited him in the human world, for he was determined to find his way back home and reclaim his rightful place among his own kind.
As the van rolled away from the courthouse, Nathaniel was sent on his journey into the unknown, leaving behind the only world he had ever known and to a brave new world for him—a realm where its sentient inhabitants had no fur, and creatures that looked like his kind but on four legs.
He'd watch as the familiar sights of the city he once called home, melted into the wilderness where the portal was located. Nathaniel sighed as he bode farewell to the places that held his memories,potentially for the last time. The van would then make a turn on a dirt road, the floor vibrating as it went over the rough terrain, before finally stopping in a clearing dominated by a portal illuminated by the moonlight, its boundaries made of stone, holding a swirling vortex that served as a gateway to the fox’s new home. The portal itself was nestled deep within the shadowy embrace of the towering mountains, which guarded it from prying eyes.
The van’s doors then swung open, and the guards carried Nathaniel out of the vehicle and towards the portal, his body shaking like a leaf. The air blew with an energy he had never felt before, sending shivers down his spine as he gazed into the swirling abyss of the unknown.
His ears flattened against his skull, and his tail tucked tightly between his legs, betraying the fear that gnawed at his heart. He had barely been given a moment to bid farewell to his beloved family, to reassure them of his innocence and his unwavering determination to find a way home.
His parents' tear-streaked faces lingered in his mind, their undying belief in his innocence serving as a bastion of hope in the midst of his despair. If anyone knew who the real Nathaniel Rotham was, it was them. But even their unwavering faith could not shield him from the cruel conspiracy of the envious and jealous adversaries who sought to tear him down. They took someone’s death, and staged it as he was the culprit. Cruel, simply cruel.
“Any last words?” one of the guards, a no nonsense bear grumbled, his intimidating figure gave him no chance of escaping his fate.
“I still hold my innocence! History will remember this as the moment the court took the word of envious manipulators who sought to destroy my good name, They never will! They never wi-”
“Shut it, fox!” The other guard, a tiger, interrupted Nathaniel, pushing the fox forward into the portal, his protests drowned out by the deafening roar of the portal's swirling vortex, he let out a scream that had risen from the depths of his soul. He wasn’t ready to face whatever had awaited him on the other side, but alas, Nathaniel was thrust into the heart of the portal, his form disappearing into the swirling abyss as the world around him dissolved into a kaleidoscope of light and shadow.
And in that fleeting moment of chaos and uncertainty, the world he knew began to fall away from Nathaniel,darkness enveloped the fox and the echoes of his scream faded into the void.
For a moment, Nathaniel had lost consciousness, the force of the portal transferring him to the new realm having knocked him out.He then felt a breeze along his fur, a sign that he had made it to his new home.
The fox then lifted his eyelids, awakening to find…