I woke up in a small, damp cave with a splitting headache. As my vision slowly returned to me I remembered Duncan punching me and everything going black. He must have drug me here after he knocked me out. I guessed it was to keep me safe from the patrols. Duncan didn’t want anything to happen to me, but he didn’t want me to go with him. My head pounded as I sat up and looked around. The cave was tiny, barely big enough to conceal myself and Tee. Duncan had taken the time to cover the entrance with vines and leaves. The sun’s light peaked through cracks in his covering, but the cave would be almost completely hidden from the outside. Tee was fluttering in the corner, staring off into space.

“ Thanks for the help, buddy.” I groaned as I stood and stretched my back.

“I told you, Nog’s are only here as guides, Brodie. I can’t actually interfere with anything you do.” Tee replied, a touch of sadness in his voice.

“I know, but damn, sometimes it feels like I have no support at all in this fucking place.”

“Duncan had to do what he thought was right; he didn’t want to see you get hurt. He is carrying the weight of everything that has happened on his shoulders.”

“Do you think he’ll be ok? He completely snapped before he knocked me on my ass and left.”

“It’s hard to say. He didn’t mention where he was headed or why. In fact, he didn’t speak to me at all after your altercation.”

“So what the fuck do we do now? It’s just me and you, and I don’t know shit about this world.”

“I guess for now, our best option is to survive. Other options exist, such as small villages of people who refuse to live under Aqua’s rule. Once we have our bearings, it may be advantageous to seek one of them out for help.”

“So the Golfers didn’t create this world then?”

“No, they came here from other worlds like you did. When they first arrived, it appeared as if they wanted to work with the people of the Caddyverse to simply live. Over time, however, they realized the potential of their powers, and that power corrupted them. As more Golfers arrived, they grew more powerful, and eventually, they worked together to conquer all eighteen realms.”

“So rich, powerful people showed up and took charge of the native and poor people?”

“Pretty much, and we’ve been living under their control ever since. The people of the realm are free to live their lives as long as they pay their dues to the Golfers and stay out of the way.”

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“Maybe this world isn’t that different from Earth,” I muttered disappointedly.

I had gone from living my life on earth oppressed by rich assholes only to be killed by some rich asshole which then teleported me to a fantasy world where I was now being hunted down by some rich asshole. I was really getting tired of rich assholes at this point.

Tee and I used the cave Duncan had dropped us in as our camp for the time being. We didn’t know what we were going to do yet, but I knew I had to keep training with my club in case we needed to defend ourselves. Or better yet, the day came when I was powerful enough to overthrow Aqua. With the knowledge of the plants that Duncan had shown me, I could forage for food for the two of us. It wasn’t the most diverse diet since I only knew the few edible plants Duncan had shown me, and I wasn’t about to go randomly eating wildlife on this strange planet.

After a few days of eating nothing but vegetables, I was ready for something more substantial. I decided the best thing to do would be to see if I could track down one of those pig creatures Duncan and I had hunted after the attack on the village. I set out early in the morning, having no idea how to actually hunt. I figured my best course of action was to sneak around the woods and hope I ran into a pig. The worst-case scenario was I would end up foraging some more vines and roots, and we would have vegetables for dinner again.

I had spent the better part of the day sulking around the woods while finding no sign of life. The sun was setting, and I was getting ready to give up and start picking up seaweed when I heard a rustling noise in the brush ahead of me. I crouched to the ground and slowly approached the noise, club in hand. A loud snap echoed through the forest as the pig burst from the brush. It looked exactly like the one we had hunted before but was twice the size and three times as angry.

I dove to my left as the giant animal charged me, squealing angrily as it rolled past me like a freight train. I landed face down in a pile of wet, slimy leaves. I could hear the pig turning to charge me again as I stood up, spitting acidic-tasting leaves from my mouth. I summoned and hit a golf ball as I spun to face my adversary. As the club connected with the ball, I focused on channeling the fire into the golf ball. I wasn’t worried about persevering the meat of the animal. My dreams of a pork dinner had been replaced by dreams of living to see another day.

The ball sliced hard to the right as it soared through the air, and as it did, it left drops of fire on the ground behind it. These drops multiplied before the ball extinguished itself and bounced off a tree somewhere deep in the woods. I now found myself staring at what was literally a wall of fire. The flames licked towards the sky, and I could feel the heat coming off the wall. The fire never spread or grew beyond the area it landed in but continued to burn.

Behind the wall of flames, I could hear the pig attempt in vain to stop itself from running headlong into the wall. There was a brief squeal of pain and the smell of burning flesh in the air as the fire consumed the animal. Shortly after the animal perished, the flames went out, and if I hadn’t been the one to create it, I would have never believed there had been a wall in front of me mere seconds ago. This was something I was going to have to practice, and I could see being able to create walls of flame as very useful. Also, now I could have that pork dinner I had been dreaming of.