There was a somber tone at the garden center register as a moody man with an angry scowl and a deep tan walked by though the sliding doors, he was average height but thick muscled from years of hard work in his youth as well as a need to be tougher than the average street punk in his neighborhood growing up but those years were behind him now, his brown hair seamed to dance in the light coming through the glass as he walked by as his green eyes caught the last light of the setting sun
Derreck sighed as he walked out of the Garden Center onto the sweltering patio as the heat hit him like a wave washing over him, covering him instantly with a layer of sweat. There was sounds of customers milling about, the hum of distant lawnmowers mowing grass across the street, and the faint scent of dirt surrounding him. Another day at Walmart in this oppressive heat wave and of course they wanted him to go out and fix shit at the hottest part of the day, and of course it was just another problem that wasn’t his fault. He had just finished a frustrating conversation with his young store manager, Paul, a fresh-faced college graduate who seemed more concerned with keeping things smooth than actually fixing problems.
Paul had found Derreck just as he was about to clock out for the day, a deep frown on his face. “Derreck,” Paul had begun, his voice strained, “I need you to fix the pallets of mulch out by the side of the building. It’s a mess out there, and I’ve already had two customers complain.”
Derreck had resisted the urge to roll his eyes. He had specifically arranged all bags on the pallets the day before just like he did every day, he also knew between the overnight maintenance supervisor who Derreck believed may actually be mentally stupid because he can’t stack anything straight and the online shoppers who ripped every bag they picked up the entire area looked like a war zone “Paul, you know dam well that wasn’t from my shift. The night crew must’ve—”
“I don’t care who did it, Derreck,” Paul interrupted, his tone edged with impatience. “Just fix it. We can’t have the customers seeing that mess.”
“Why didn’t you overnight fix it before they left or the online shoppers, it was their dam fault to begin with. They’re the ones who screwed it up. I’m not here to fix everyone else’s mistakes every day.”
Paul’s expression turned to a smile, clearly not wanting to make waves with the other teams. “Look, just do it, okay? We got the market manager on the way in about an hour and you don’t want me looking bad, and it’s not like you had anything else to do when you get home.”
Derreck stared at him for a moment, feeling the cheap shot of his “joke” as frustration built up. It was always the same story. This guy who had no idea how the store actually operated was more interested in appeasing everyone rather than addressing the real issues. And what the hell just because his wife left didn’t mean he had nothing to do but stay here and clean up this shit. He hated fixing fucking mulch especially when it was this hot out, the hell with Walmart.
“Fine,” Derreck finally said, his voice flat. “But I’m off the clock after this.”
He stormed off knowing he should have said more to that little bitch.
He walked off into the parking lot past his custom Honda rebel motorcycle parked in the space up front just where Paul had told him not to several times, the Ex took the car so this little early midlife crisis was the only vehicle he had so it didn’t matter, rain, snow or shine you could see it parked at the store right up front in between the handicapped spaces. he made his way to the edge of the parking lot to the pallets of mulch, a sudden flash of pink light filled his vision. He stumbled, his stomach lurching as a wave of nausea hit him like a freight train. Around him, he heard the clattering of tools and supplies hitting the ground as others fell to their knees, clutching their stomachs. The world seemed to spin for a moment, then suddenly stopped.
Derreck blinked, his vision slowly clearing. He pushed himself off the ground, steadying himself against a pallet of soil bags. His head throbbed as he tried to make sense of what had just happened.
“What the hell is going on?” someone behind him muttered, their voice shaking.
Ignoring the voice, Derreck turned to go out in the distance at something that seemed very different from the flatlands of eastern North Carolina as cool air slowly crept around his ankles at first then slowly enveloping the entire area. His breath caught in his throat as he looked out at the impossible. The familiar asphalt of the parking lot was still there, but beyond it… nothing was the same. The highway, the rows of cars, the distant buildings—all of it was gone. Instead, lush grasslands stretched out in every direction, leading to rolling hills and mountains in the distance, mountains there weren’t any mountains anywhere close to here before. Where the hell was here.
But what really made Derreck’s heart race was what he saw in the sky. A herd of wyverns just as he imagined them, their massive wings flapping as they flew in formation across the sky carrying large, muscled bodies and a menacing tail with a poisonous barb at the end. They moved with a grace that was equal parts terrifying and mesmerizing, their blue/green scales gleaming in the sunlight.
Derreck’s mind raced. They were wyverns right, no mistaking it, wyverns and they were migrating exactly where they would into what had to be the Sardar mountains if that was the southwest ahead of them. He took out his keys to make sure grabbing for the small compass on it only to look away at the large pack again then back to the compass. Southwest is all he thought. His eyes moved to the west at when the setting sun was a moment ago only to be in the east now instead in the west Derreck saw what he feared confirming his suspicions, a green moon a little larger than the moon he was used to rising over the western mountain range and just barely visible trailing it a smaller red moon just where they would be if it were true.
“Varinja” Derreck said on hushed lips as if he didn’t want to admit it.
“Derreck, what the hell is going on?” someone suddenly yelled, their voice rising up from behind him. Derreck turned to see Paul stumbling toward him looking pale and disoriented with blood coming from his nose and ears, a smear of vomit visible on his shirt. Derreck rubbed his own ear, seeing blood on his hand he knew it was the same for him, “What the hell were those things, are they dangerous, and do you think they’ll come back?” Paul said in a panic. Dereck only responded coldly “wyverns” as he walked back to the garden center doors “what the hell is a wyvern” Paul responded confused “it’s like a Dragon” was all that Derreck yelled back as he passed back through the doors he had to force open because there was now no electricity.
The sounds of panic began to rise from inside the store. People were shouting, running around in confusion. Paul and the management staff, trying to regain their composure, stepped forward to calm the masses, Paul raised his voice. “Everyone, calm down please! Whatever this is, we shouldn’t panic and remain calm. Right now we have no idea where we are or how we got here. That’s true but we should be preparing right now because I’m sure whatever force brought us here, will eventually bring us back whenever the effects wear off, so if we just have to stay put and maintain order until that happens, all this should be just temporary! We’ll be back to normal soon, so let’s all just stay calm”
“Back to normal?” Derreck muttered under his breath. He knew better. If those were really wyverns flying southwest into what would have to be the Sardar mountains, then this wasn’t something they could just wait out. The wyverns were likely migrating to mate, that was the formation they were in at least, and that meant we were north of the Sadar mountains and that there were only three monophases left until summer's end., then there were far worse things to worry about than wyverns if it was summer in the north, the horde would also be raiding to prepare for winter and the thought of a full grown mountain orc riding through their nonexistent defenses and into the store on dire wolves terrified him, only night would tell for sure exactly where he was, he remembered enough of the constellations to tell. But none of that would matter if the horde marched on them.
Paul continued to speak, trying to reassure everyone that they had enough food and water to last until everything went back to normal. Derreck knew that was a lie, they haven’t even checked their supplies or did a head count to ration them correctly to say we have enough for winter. And what’s worse, thieves and horders were probably already hiding what they could when they lost the tiny bit of authority over the crowd. He couldn’t help but feel a cold pit in his stomach when he thought about trusting Paul of all people with his survival. They wouldn’t last long under his absent minded leadership, was what he thought it was. This world was dangerous—especially for those unprepared for what was coming, after all if it was Varinja and it was in the time period he thought it was then one thing was very certain, war was coming to the north and it would come soon.
As the management staff did their best to quell the rising panic, Derreck slipped away. He wasn’t waiting here to see if some champion would save them or not, he didn’t even know why the store was here in the first place let alone how it played into the war to come, but one thing was certain he would not die here. He knew where to begin and what he would need to get to survive. He had played the survival game in his head before, it was a pastime from his youth where he and his friends fueled by zombie and post-apocalyptic movies would come into a new place and look around to see what he would need to “acquire” to survive and would talk about how they would use it, it wasn’t exactly a normal attitude to have as a teenager but it passed the time for them. He played the game numerous times before while walking the store, what to take, what to hide, who to fight if he had to, playing out the same scenario in his head whatever area he went into just to pass the time. If they were really where he thought then this place would fall very soon. If the horde didn’t take them then eventually the war would find them, he had figured out roughly where they were, if they were north of the Sardar mountains with mountains on three sides they must be somewhere up Begger’s Gap, a mountain pass between the Sardar and Felrik mountain chains that led into a fertile valley. He was almost certain but nightfall would be his proof. Either way his only choice right now was prepare for escape. Things would go bad fast and he would need to leave before that happed. The smart choice was to escape to the Sardar mountains with supplies hidden in the forest and return later for more supplies when the danger was over it was the only way.
He spent the next few hours methodically going through the store, the backpack he wore gave off little suspicion, he always wore one shopping in the store on his way home, he gathered supplies he knew would be essential. He filled multiple backpacks over and over with honey and canned meat and vegetables from the grocery section, medical supplies from pharmacy, camping and fishing equipment from sporting goods, tools and saw blades from hardware, even sharp cooking knives and sharpeners from housewares, selecting items carefully. Then, he with great stealth left the store making for the tress beyond the field behind the store and carefully sealed each of his backpacks with shrink wrap and buried them in various spots in the forest past the tree line.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
As night fell, Derreck finally saw what confirmed his suspicions the large constellation Elsbeth to the south and the green moon Tarsas in the sky with two tiny moons of its own moons now visible encircling it, Daragas the smaller red moon visible earlier had already set and wouldn’t raise again until after midnight. Now there was no question about where they were.
As the inhabitants of the store sat out in the parking lot staring at the strange stars or huddled together in groups throughout the store eating the simple meal the store management had prepared but Derreck had other thoughts he had shifted his focus to crafting a makeshift melee weapons, he had already “acquired” several hunting knives and a couple hatchets but he needed something with more penetration and length. His solution was to attach machete blades to aluminum baseball bats, securing them with bolts and reinforcing the handles with grip tape then melting lead sinkers, pouring the molten metal into the bats only a pound or two would do but with the high carbon machete blades bolted on both side they were now bladed war clubs.
His final touches were to strap hunting knives and his hatchet onto his belt and to a fishing vest he had repurposed to hold more knives as well as his new war clubs strapped to the back. He noticed his co-workers now watching him, murmuring to each other, clearly questioning his sanity as they motioned for management to come over.
But Derreck didn’t care. He wasn’t taking any chances the horde would come sooner or later and eventually war. Despite some odd looks from Paul no one approached him about his “collection” maybe they were too scared he didn’t know.
The following morning, Derreck was doing another sweep of the store a fresh backpack half filled with his “acquired goods” he was actually amazed no one had approached him yet, didn’t anyone notice. As he thought about again they were probably too busy trying to calm the rising animosity between the stores customers and employees that management had done a fantastic job of dividing since this whole incident started, the problem was simple things needed to get done to survive and management while they had asked several customers to complete tasks they were mostly refused outright so the bulk of the work fell on their obedient employees who were now realizing that the tiny bit of power management held over them in their world meant jack shit where they were now so factions were growing and the divide was widening as Paul and his management staff that was starting to splinter into the two groups like rats abandoning a sinking ship. The whole thing was coming to a head faster than Derreck anticipated, he always thought the horde would claim them first but they might just destroy themselves first.
The sounds of arguing quieted suddenly catching Derreck’s attention as he made his way to the growing crowd at the front registers. Apparently everyone was talking about how someone had spotted movement in the distance coming up the valley, people they looked like people. Derreck pushed his way passed the throng pushing through the sliding doors that hadn’t slid since the day before when they were on an entirely different world. A crowd was now gathering out in front of the store to see the commotion. Derreck pushed his way through to the front, he squinted trying to make out the figures moving towards them, they appeared to be running. As they got closer, the sunlight glinted off metal—armor. Knights, fully armored knights, were sprinting towards the store at full speed.
The sight left most of the people in the store in awe. Paul, ever the optimist, stepped forward. “Knights…? Do you think they are here to greet us, maybe they can help us!” he said, though his voice wavered with uncertainty as the crowd didn’t have any trust of his words.
But Derreck’s kept scanning the horizon. He wasn’t looking at the knights; he was looking past them. In the distance, he could now see what they were running from in the dust cloud behind them—a raiding party of mountain orcs, clad in full battle dress, some riding dire wolves as they charged after the knights, orcs of high rank no doubt.
The knights were coming close to the parking lot now but the orcs were closing the gap on them, in the frantic route one brave soul turned and ran back to hold their ground against the raiding party to give their comrades time to escape, another knight shouted back at the knights advance and rushed to follow them only to be held back by their fellow knights as they cried out frantically. Derreck watched as the advancing knight met their foe skillfully swinging their sword, a shimmering trail of energy following each strike, their sword was an artifact, a powerful channeling tool to harness mana, that meant these knights were human. Elves would use magic directly without an artifact, but Elves also would travel this far north either. The orcs were momentarily driven back by the sheer power of the magic-infused blows as the lone knight carved sweeping arches of death at their enemy giving their fellow knights time to reach the parking lot that stretched out quite oddly before them.
But the brave knight’s efforts weren’t enough. The knight was hit by a large orc spear, stumbling back as blood splattered across the grass but they didn’t fall they stood ready to take whatever may come next as they pulled the spear from their side. They were still ready to cover their comrades retreat. Derreck wasted no time leaping into action, he was at his motorcycle and had it started before he knew what he was doing. He paused to take a breath as his mind screamed what the hell are you doing, are we really doing this. A moment was all he needed, he tore across the parking lot racing by the shocked knights as he jumped the small mound of crystalized dirt, the line that separated where the land around the store met this new land, a perfect circle around the store and its parking lot including the store’s gas station, part of the highway connected to the store and the open field behind the store looked like it had been cut out of our world with laser like precision and somehow grafted into the landscape of this new world but where the gaps in elevation between the two lands differed a lair of crystallized dirt was visible.
Derrek barreled across the open valley on his way to the knight who had now fallen to one knee but still looked ready to attack the few remaining orcs that hadn’t fallen to their blade. Derreck pulled up between the knight and the orcs to the shock of both as he dismounted his motorcycle he instantly reached for his vest where he produce two small glass containers he threw at nearby orcs, one orc blocked with its shield shattering the glass while liquid sprayed all over him, the other orc simply let the glass shatter on his breastplate as he laughed at this pitiful attack, but Derreck soon followed up by pulling a flare gun from a pocket on his vest and firing setting both orcs on fire from the rubbing alcohol and oil mixture that was in his glass containers. That was two down, it looks like seven left. He dove into the mass his war clubs now in hand swinging wildly but with a precision the knight had never seen before it was like he was weaving the clubs together encircling them rapidly to confuse the angle of his strike which left the orcs dumbstruck as to how they would even defend. Three more now lay dead next to the smoldering bodies of the other two. Four left he could do this, Derreck dared to dream. He had taken kenpo karate as a young man not remembering much of it now except the Escrima sticks. His teacher engrained it into them never to let their sticks clack together or they would pay for it with 200 pushups. Derreck’s memory flashed back to his high school days for a moment and those long evening training sessions where he at first got really good at pushups and then really good at stick practice. As yet another fell the riders now approached and dismounted. This was bad Derreck thought now there were easily 15 with more coming but he couldn’t stop moving towards them swinging his clubs with a precision he didn’t know he processed like his reflexes were much faster for some reason. Three more lay at his feet as he pressed the orcs back but more were coming. He needed to do something else or he wouldn’t last. After a long sweep of his club that pushed the orcs back he shouted at them in their own tongue shocking them all and the wounded knight as he said, “aren’t there any of you tough enough, I tire of fighting the women where are your men.”
The orcs in shock backed away from Derreck, he challenged them to fight better like they were no threat to him. It was the ultimate insult to them and demanded a response.
More orcs now came up dismounting confused as to why a single warrior held back an entire raiding party. They argued and shoved each other as they all clamored about what to do about this insult.
Finally a mighty roar echoed through the crowd as a huge orc emerged. Towering over the others at nine feet tall, he wielded a massive war club larger than him, this was there champion their chieftains right arm used to settle disputes to his honor.
The champion swung his club in a circle, clearing a wide space as the orcs spread out. He charged at Derreck who stepped back to avoid the onslaught but he knew he couldn’t lose any more ground or risk the knight’s life, Derreck quickly formed a plan he believed he could pull off with his newfound reflexes, instead of meeting the attack head-on and likely being crushed by it, Derreck threw down his war clubs leaving the surrounding orcs in disbelief, he then sprinted headlong toward his foe. In one fluid motion, he dove past the orc’s incoming swing, rolling under the massive weapon coming up near the mighty champion. He moved in driving a hunting knife into the orc’s abdomen as the massive creature fell to one knee, Derreck then climbed up the creature’s body, stabbing it again with a different blade under the armpit and again with yet another blade under the chin, slashing its throat.
The orc champion collapsed to the ground, and Derreck, breathing heavily, delivered the final blow. With one swift motion, he cleaved the orc’s head clean off with his hatchet wedging it into the ground beneath the massive body, Derreck couldn’t even pull it loose, The blow was so fierce. Derreck grabbed for his knife in the champion’s throat, he needed a weapon he still had to be ready for anything, held up the severed head for the remaining orcs to see in his other hand was the hunting knife raised high. He screamed in a guttural tone as he beat the knife against his chest in a show of power and then said to the speechless group of orcs in their own tongue “Is there anyone else.” At first not an orc would move then finally the high ranking orcs mounted their Dire wolves and barked orders to recover the bodies of their fallen they would retreat back to the horde, the highest in rank could only glare at Derreck with a mix of awe and contempt. This was a warrior that killed an orc champion with nothing but a knife, the story would spread across the Horde and would be retold again for generations to come around the campfires of orcs and men.
Derreck in response simply cast the severed head aside like a discarded toy and turned his back on them without acknowledging them as a threat, he walked back toward the wounded knight without giving them a second glance.
Derreck helped the knight onto his Motorcycle as the knight muttered something about it being impossible, Derreck was shocked for a second to hear a woman’s voice but didn’t let it bother him as he sped away towards the store.
The weary knights had finally reached the store, shouting at the onlookers outside, their voices frantic as one large knight commanded. “Retreat inside the walls close the portcullis! For the gods’ sake they will return with more numbers, close the gate!”
Paul, looking thoroughly confused, with the knights command. “What… what are you saying? What the hell is a portcullis!”
Derreck had finally pulled up with the wounded knight clutching him tight while she bled all over him. As he helped her off his bike several other knights came to assist her as the large knight was still arguing with Paul about a gate that didn’t exist then finally “shut the fuck up you assholes” Derreck shouted, his voice cutting through the chaos. “Paul, Get everyone inside, now!”
Paul hesitated, but the urgency in Derreck’s voice and the blood covered clothes snapped him out of his confusion. He quickly moved to usher people inside, while the knights frantically tried to explain the danger they were all in. The glass doors remained open, a far cry from the heavy, reinforced gates that should have been protecting them.