Whatever Hermey was lying on, it definitely wasn’t a bed. It almost felt like the ground right after sleet, where the snow was pebbled rather than soft. But it couldn’t be that, he thought as the heat sunk into his bones.

Hermey opened his eyes, and even that small movement felt monumental. Every muscle ached as though he’d been working it nonstop for years, rather than waking up from such a strange dream.

But as he looked around, Hermey froze. This place was nothing like the North Pole that he’d lived in all his life. The temperature was hot, like standing right in front of the fireplace, and instead of the snow that he knew, the ground was a spread of tan sand. He’d read enough in his free time to know that this was a beach, though he’d never seen anything quite like it before.

As marvelous as the sand and shore in front of him, though, it couldn’t hold a candle to what was on the other side. Nearly far enough that he might have missed it were it not for the giant plume of smoke, the creature - vehicle, he corrected himself - lay in pieces on the ground. He stared at the black, blue, and purple pieces that were scattered around the large mass that would have once been the shell. It would be a miracle if anyone had survived that.

That included himself, he supposed. Hermey tried to remember escaping the ship and fleeing to the beach, or really anything at all after the tentacled creature shoved a worm into his eye, but there was nothing there. It was like he’d simply fallen asleep and woken up on the beach, covered in small cuts and bruises, but otherwise generally unharmed.

God, it was hot here, he suddenly realized, as the heat from the sun beating down mixed with his thick coat started to make him wobble on his feet. Or maybe it was the head wound, he thought. But either way, he pulled off his thick blue coat, leaving him in just his white undershirt and his pants. His pants were too thick too, but he wasn’t willing to get out of those quite yet, just for decency’s sake.

Hermey tied his coat into a sort of bag. If he crossed the beach, he’d run into a bunch of trees, and then he could use a stick to make it into some sort of a bindle to carry anything he happened to come across. Not that he knew what he’d need - he wasn’t even sure if people lived in this place for trading, but he’d have to find something for food and water eventually. He cursed himself for not bringing anything when he’d left the castle, but he’d been in such a hurry to hopefully find Rudolph.

I wonder if anyone found him, he thought, as he slung his coat over his shoulder and started walking for the trees. I hope he’s safe and warm back at the North Pole. Or at least, I hope he’s not as lost as I am.

✶✶✶

Three days.

Hermey had spent three days wandering through the heat of the forest. It was the hardest thing he’d ever done in his life. Before he’d run away from Santa’s workshop, he’d never done much adventuring - not that he hadn’t been interested in it, but the schedule of an elf didn’t leave much time for anything other than work or sleep. Especially not since the Head Elf had instituted twice daily elf practice after he decided that some of the elves hadn’t been cheerful enough when they’d sung their songs to Santa. For an elf, anything less than ecstatic was considered a failure, and they all knew that nothing made an elf happier than working all day.

Hermey had hated it, though. He always thought that he felt the Christmas cheer in a different sort of way than everyone else. He wasn’t much for singing, or even making toys. He knew his actual calling was dentistry, but it was something that had always been rejected by the other elves. After all, with elves' quick healing, there was no need for anyone to work on their teeth. The reindeer and Santa might have needed him, were they not magic. But he’d been hoping to find someone with teeth that didn’t magically grow back.

Stolen novel; please report.

And he wasn’t likely to find them here, he thought, stopping to pick some strange berries from a bush by the side of the small trail. In his time walking aimlessly through the forest, he’d yet to see another person, or even a talking animal (he had tried to have a conversation with a squirrel, but it was clear that it had no idea what he was saying and was most likely just terrified that Hermey was going to eat him).

Hermey thought that, after that, when he finally heard voices, he would have run straight toward them. Instead, when the sound floated toward him as he was elbow-deep in the berry bush, he felt his adrenaline kick in. While he had not seen another living person, he’d definitely seen several skeletons in the forest, as well as a few bodies that looked rather fresh. Not to mention that every skeleton he’d seen had been huge in comparison to himself. The people in this world must be huge and seemingly violent, Hermey thought as he remembered a fresher corpse with a dagger still sticking out of its back, and they’d just as soon eat me for breakfast as look at me. So, instead of running toward the noise, he did the first thing he could think of - he wormed his way farther into the berry bush and crouched down, making sure he was low enough that even his blue hat wouldn’t be seen from the path.

As the sounds came closer, Hermey did what he could to stifle any noise that might indicate his existence. He tried to calm his breathing, but when that didn’t work, he put his hand over his mouth in an attempt to silence the breaths. He wasn’t sure if it was actually working - to him, they sounded as loud as ever, but he wasn’t sure he’d be able to hear it from the road.

As the sound neared, he listened as well as he could. It was definitely more than one person, based on the voices. At least one man and one woman, but possibly more than that, given the amount of footsteps he was hearing. He tried to differentiate as many as he could, but it was hard to tell with his heart beating out of his chest.

“It looked so nice in the Upper City parks,” whined the first voice - the man he’d heard. His voice had a bit of a lilt to it that reminded Hermey of some of the elves - slightly high and light, but definitely not as cheerful as an elf should be.

“Upper City, huh? Swish,” answered the second voice - a deeper woman’s voice. He wasn’t sure what this ‘Upper City’ was, but Hermey thought for a moment that perhaps that was where he should be going. If nothing else, maybe someone in the city could point him North, and then he could just keep going from there until he eventually hit home. Maybe he could follow them as quietly as he could, to see if they lead back there. “Never spent much time there myself.” And scratch that, he thought to himself.

“I’ll happily take you,” continued the man, “if we survive this bugs banquet.”

As if on queue, a bug with a long sharp nose landed on Hermey’s arm. One of the mosquitos he’d read about, he realized, as it plunged into his skin. It didn’t really hurt, but he still reached out and killed it, almost as if by instinct.

The footsteps stopped abruptly, and Hermey silently cursed. He’d been as quiet as he could be, and they’d still managed to hear him. Maybe if he just sat here, didn’t breathe, didn’t even think, they’d imagine the sound was the wind and they’d keep on moving.

A few footsteps shuffled, turning back the way they’d been. “What is it, Fangs?” said the woman, sounding concerned. Hermey heard a sliding sound that he couldn’t identify, but the woman was clearly looking around. “Just tell me what direction they’re coming from and I’ll smash them to bits!”

Hermey couldn’t help but suck in his breath, but he knew it didn’t matter. Not now, when the man slowly said, “...Blood. I smell blood. I thought I heard the heartbeat of an animal, but…”

He trailed off, moments before there were quick steps toward the bush Hermey was hiding in. Hermey looked around frantically. There was nothing but leaves - he had even left his pack outside. There was nothing he could do but shrink himself as much as possible and hope that somehow, the man wouldn’t see him.

The leaves in front of him started rustling, and what little light there was in the forest started to pour in. “There you are!” the man said, sounding satisfied by his find. “And just why were you hiding in the bushes, you delectable little thing?”

The man was beautiful - there was no better word to describe it. But his too-pale features seemed sharp, from his dark red piercing eyes to his elongated canine teeth. It was those that Hermey focused on - Hermey couldn’t help himself from thinking, even though he was probably going to die at any moment, but they could probably be fixed with some light braces. He hadn’t had much of an opportunity to study orthodontics, but he could give it a shot.

Hermey’s head swam the moment he pulled his gaze away from the man’s teeth. Behind him, barely visible behind his thick, wavy white hair, stood the largest and reddest woman he’d ever seen. Growing out of her head were two horns, one of which had clearly been broken off in the past. Despite her size, she at least wasn’t looking at him like a meal.

“Whoa!” she said with a slight gasp. “Hey there, little guy! What are you doing in that bush?”

“Hiding from us is what,” the man said, grabbing for Hermey’s arm. He said something else while he pulled, dragging Hermey from out of the bush, but Hermey didn’t hear him as the swimming of his vision quickly narrowed, fading the world around him to pure black.