Yes, that sounds best, she'll go into a building as soon as she can't see them or it becomes obvious that won't happen.

The giant is allowing her another head start, but the reptilian one is casually keeping up and watching her run.

And then she hears a normal human voice. "You're injured."

"No shit," she says, not really slowing down as she walks into the nearest building. She doesn't stop to look at what terrible thing might be commenting on her health.

The air behind her shimmers and bends. Out of her view. A young man, only a few years older than Sadde is, follows her through the door. "How much do you know about where you are and what you're running from?"

"Give me a very good reason to answer," she says, looking around for anything she might use to defend against those two, even a door. She looks over her shoulder, notices he's human, then her brain corrects that to looks human, and she resumes her search, making sure he's not too close to her.

"It determines how much I can safely do. Aside from the obvious, that is." He turns to her pursuers. "You two, stand down. If you've been hurting an innocent, here, you know exactly what the consequences could be."

They're already less aggressive than before he appeared, but now they stop where they are.

She stops, as well, and looks at him. "Okay, that's a very good reason to answer," she says, not moving any closer to him and still looking ready to bolt. "I'm riding on an adrenaline high right now, my shoulder hurts like all seven hells where that creature attacked me but it's not disabling me isn't that funny I know literally nothing except I'm apparently in some nightmare world with nightmare creatures and I'd really rather not die," she rambles.

"Nightmare world with nightmare creatures? I can see how you might think that. More importantly, it means those two went and showed you too much. The shoulder's probably the lesser injury." He gestures with his left hand, and Sadde's shoulder glows and heals.

He turns back to the monsters. "You attacked an innocent, in violation of my rules and Suleiman's. I could call you forsworn."

They hesitate, and the snake woman speaks. "We thought she was fair game. A new vestige."

"If that's true—and I'm considering that it might be a lie, if being forsworn is already on the table—it still doesn't excuse anything. You promised not to harm humans, not to bite first and ask questions later."

She will not interrupt the nice man who used magic to heal her with her inane questions. Her inane questions can wait.

The newcomer's still monologuing.

"I think I'll let you go. Swear never to harm a human. Innocent or practioner, directly or indirectly, anything. If you ever form the intent to hurt a human being, you will not act on it. If you are present when any human is threatened by any Other, you will protect them. If that isolates you from every Other you know I don't care, if it makes you attack something more powerful than you I don't care, but I won't call you forsworn. Agree to that, and you can leave with no objection from me." He turns to Sadde.

"Their promises are binding, or are supposed to be. If you think I'm being too lenient anyway, you're in a position to make demands of them on your own behalf."

She blinks. "Oh. Erm. How bi—never mind. I'd... probably change that phrasing? Like what if a human wants to harm another human, there are lots of extenuating circumstances where harming a human's okay even if for sport isn't."

""Other" was capitalized. It's the term for a monster or sentient nonhuman, broadly speaking. If your concern is that I'm not being lenient enough, I'll probably stay with this version."

"Deal," the giant snake/human combination agrees. The other Other is more indecisive on the question.

"Okay but I have no reason to expect humanity is special when it comes to personhood, I'm sure there are nice Others and I know for a fact there are terrible humans. I didn't exactly mean more lenient but I'd definitely phrase it very precisely, if promises are binding."

"Absolutes are dangerous, so I'll just say the exceptions are infrequent.

Being forsworn is considered one of the worse things that can happen to a practitioner or Other because you lose all power and protections. It's considered worse than death because the likelihood of running into something that feels like torturing you for the rest of your existence is just that high. It's theoretically possible that a human attacked by an Other might be in the wrong, but it's hardly a major consideration."

Reminded of what the most obvious alternative is, the giant signs on. "I'll take it." He and his companion trudge and slither respectively toward the exit.

"Which sounds exactly like an argument for being very precise about wording this kind of agreement." Pause. "I'm sounding a bit ungrateful, here. Thank you for saving me from the horrible monsters."

"I had a lot riding on it myself.

At this point, it's riskier not to give you more exposition. Would you like to come to my tower for the full explanation, or talk here?"

"I'm already in the implied-not-alternate-reality nightmare place, might as well go somewhere an actual human lives." Pause. "You are human, right?"

"Yes. Johannes Lillegard, may as well do actual introductions." He extends a hand. It's not the traditional hand-shaking one, but at least it's not some spectral third arm either.

"Sadde Baldwin, I suppose," she introduces herself, and shakes his hand.

When he has his hand back he fiddles with a harmonica-like instrument. Their surroundings shimmer and dissolve, and the two humans reappear in the penthouse of an apartment building. Looking down, it looks very like Jacob's Bell but twisted around and spiraling toward the center. Here.

"The first thing you need to know is that you are in danger. Once you know about the magic and monsters, many protections no longer apply. And you don't currently have any way of defending yourself. You're safe here, but outside of my domain Others will be free to see you as a target."

"Was that capital-O Others?"

"Yes. Ordinary humans won't notice anything different about you, and neither will most practitioners unless you tell them. But you don't by default have any special protections against them in the first place."

"Are these Others universally hostile? What kinds of things are they? What protections did I have that I lost? How'd I lose them? Why aren't you worried about it? How'd you do those things? Heal me and teleport us?"

"There are relatively few Others that have what we would recognize as a moral system. Many are actively hostile, many kill for necessity or convenience, few object to hurting humans. There are harmless ones, but that's more often about inability to be threatening than unwillingness.

The main protection is something called the Seal of Solomon. Three thousand years ago Suleiman bin Daoud started capturing the most dangerous Others he could manage and forcing them to, among other things, agree not to harm innocents. That's as in lack of knowledge, not lack of guilt. Now some large fraction of Others have chosen or been forced to agree, and over time the Seal of Solomon gained enough traction that the universe bends to protect innocents even from Others that aren't bound. It's very nebulous.

I'm less worried because I have magic. Rather a lot of it. Most people in your position who survive long enough to have the option end up becoming practitioners. There's no rule defending us the way there is for people who don't know anything, but practitioners tend to end up with some way to protect themselves."

"Practitioner meaning someone who practises magic, I suppose. Yes, I want to be one of those, after I have gotten quite a bit more information, if you're willing to give me it. If not, pointing to me where I can get it. If not that either... I'm not sure, I'd have to think, so first I want to know if one of those is true."