Chapter Text
“See you, Sky! Enjoy your vacation!”
I waved back at my coworker, Kristy, and smiled, relieved the work day was done. “I will! See you!”
“What’re your plans for the week off?” Kristy glanced up at me from behind her computer. Despite her being old enough to be my mom, she was my work friend and I genuinely enjoyed talking to her.
“A bit of cleaning, an irresponsible amount of video games, and of course playing with my cat. I plan on having a no stress week, and I’m so excited for it.” I leaned against the wall, smiling at the prospect of no stress.
“Good, you’ve earned it. Now get going before someone needs you last minute!” Kristy laughed as she waved me off.
Slipping out the building, I took a deep breath and hopped in my car. I felt excited, but there was also a weird foreboding feeling building in my gut. I ignored it for now and began to drive off, not even realizing as I began to deviate from my usual route home.
The roads were unusually empty as I drove, only the ominous feeling I couldn’t shake keeping me company. I contemplated starting the next audio book of the Horus Heresy to fill the silence, but a spike in anxiety stayed my hand. After about ten minutes into what would normally be a forty five minute commute the slight unease had grown into a near panic. When I thought that I was going to throw up I pulled over, putting my hazard lights on and jumped out of the car, heaving in several lungfuls of fresh air.
Looking around I realized I didn’t know where I was. I had pulled to the side of a long empty road, trees blocking the horizon on one side, and a large field of tall grass on the other. As I gazed out at the field, I felt my feet stumble forward, pushing the tall grass aside as I left my idling car behind me.
I began to hear a buzzing in my ears, growing louder as I followed my feet onward until the sound filled my head. Coming to a stop, I swayed, my head empty and eyes unfocused as whispers I could hardly make out emanated from all around me.
My eyes lifted, vision slowly coming back into focus, as a crack began to form in the air. It was impossible to describe as something I had never seen—should never have seen—ripped open. The disorientation I had been feeling immediately became nausea as I threw up, feeling as though my mind was folding in on itself while simultaneously being stretched out and expanded the longer I looked at whatever was in front of me. Whispers of impossible and horrifying knowledge emanated from the crack in reality in front of me, dread filling every pore until I was shaking and sweating. I wanted to move, to run away, to bash my head in on a rock to end this torment, but I couldn’t. I felt bile creep up my esophagus once more as I saw a massive figure fall from the crack in reality.
And just as quickly as the crack appeared, it was gone, and with it the whispers and buzzing, the feeling of dread and nauseating fear. Tears filled my eyes as I collapsed to the ground, heaving onto the grass until I had nothing left in me. My throat burned and the acidic taste lingered on my tongue, but I spit out what I could and forced myself up on shaky limbs.
Finally I looked to the figure that had fallen from that accursed rift of reality and felt my heart sink. This figure, this man, was truly massive. I hadn’t been cognizant enough to appreciate his magnitude when he fell through, but now I looked at him and my head spun. His hand alone was the size of my torso, and from what I could tell, he was well over ten feet tall. Looking him over, I saw his skin was the color of a starless night sky and his massive head was bald. He wore a toga type outfit that looked as if it was made from a green scaly hide, golden bracers on his arms, and a massive belt with a golden insignia that I knew all too well.
I recognized the unconscious individual that lay before me, but I had to force that knowledge away for now. My head was pounding and any new knowledge felt like too much at the moment, as though my skull was barely keeping its overfull contents inside. Glancing behind me, I saw a path in the grass was easy enough to follow from my shambling steps to this spot in the field. Sighing, I knew I had a choice to make, but really, what kind of choice was it?
I had to get him to my car, get him to safety, and make sure he was ok. Taking a deep breath, I stepped closer to him, knowing I would have to drag his unconscious form, but unsure of exactly how I would do so. I wrapped my arms around his wrist, heaving his arm up and grunting, but it was futile. His frame was too broad to hook my arms under his armpits, and besides, he was far too heavy for me to get him to move an inch. Just as I was half jokingly considering hooking him up to my car and dragging him that way, a pale blue glow surrounded him. I stumbled back a step, not wanting to get in the middle of whatever was happening now, and stared in wonder and possibly a bit of fear as he shrank down from being more than twice my height down to a more manageable size. He seemed to have lost about five feet in height, and when I hooked my arms under his armpits, I was relieved that he also lost a ton of weight.
By the time I finally reached the car, I was heaving for breath, drenched in sweat, and ready to pass out. With the passenger seat completely reclined back, I somehow managed to get him in the car and buckled in. Climbing into the driver's seat, I sighed, looked over at my passenger, and opened up my GPS to take me home from wherever the hell I was.
As I drove, the man in my passenger seat began to stir as he slowly came to consciousness, and I grumbled to myself that he chooses now to wake up, rather than before I had to drag him to the car.
We were about halfway through the drive when he finally groaned, his eyes blearily blinking. “Where am I?” His voice, though groggy, was rich and deep.
“Hey, you’re ok. My name is Skylar, but you can call me Sky. I uh, I found you unconscious in a field. I’m taking you to my place for now. Do you mind if I ask a few questions? Make sure you don’t have any brain injuries we should be worried about?” I glanced down at him, then glanced down again. His eyes, confused and slowly regaining alertness, were a bright red, almost as though a burning fire shone in them. My stomach dropped a little at that.
“Of course, I thank you for your kindness and care.”
Swallowing thickly, I nodded and adjusted my grip on the steering wheel, my palms a little sweaty. I had been mentally going over the questions I would ask while he was still unconscious, hoping that despite everything I had seen, everything I knew, could be explained away. “Do you remember your name?”
He nodded, slowly pushing himself up into a sitting position, examining the seatbelt that was strapped around him. “I am Vulkan, Primarch of the Salamanders, son of the Emperor.”
I whimpered, my grip on the steering wheel tightening until my knuckles were white. A cold sweat dotted my forehead as I choked out an “ohfuckofcourseyouare.” Clearing my throat, I took in a breath, noting the sudden dryness of my mouth. “And, uh, about what year or millennia or whatever is it?”
“It is the thirty second millennium. Forgive me, but you seem unwell, what is troubling you?” His gaze, which had been taking in the scenery around us as we drove down the highway, was now fixed on me, his brows furrowed in concern.
“Yep all good here no problems whatsoever.” I felt as though I was going to throw up again. Shaking my head, I tried to think of something else for even a second in the hopes of some relief of this anxious torment. “Um, my Lord, you may be more comfortable if the seat was raised up. If you take your right hand and reach to the side of the seat, you’ll find two levers, one that’s horizontal and one that’s diagonal. Tilt the diagonal one forward and the seat will rise up, adjust it to your comfort.”
From the corner of my eye I watched as he did so, the back of the passenger seat slowly tilting forward. “I thank you for considering my comfort, but you truly do not seem as though you are well. I urge you to speak plainly.”
Letting out a stuttering breath, I pulled over to the side and swallowed thickly, wringing my hands as I tried to figure out the best way to explain this. “I, uh, I watched you arrive. A crack, a rip, something, appeared and I watched you fall from it onto the ground. It was horrifying, the whispers that came from it, the feeling of my mind being pulled at, but it closed and I watched you shrink. My Lord, if you really are who you say you are, you are a very, very, very long way from home.” He nodded slowly, but kept silent, giving me time to continue my explanation. Tears that I had been fighting finally spilled as I was forced to accept what I was trying to deny and explain away. “Lord Vulkan, I don’t know how or why you’re here, but it isn’t the thirty second millennium. It… it won’t be the thirty second millennium for about thirty thousand years.” Looking over at him, I took in the face of the man, the demigod, that I had only ever seen as illustrations. “Welcome to Earth? I guess you’d know it as Terra, though.”
The silence hung heavy as Vulkan processed what I had just told him. He rubbed a hand over his face, his jaw tense and he breathed slowly through his nose. I hugged myself, unsure if I should say something more or if I should stay quiet. I hated this, and not for the first time, and certainly not for the last, I wondered why me. Why did I have to be the one to be dragged into all this? Why did I have to have my reality shatter? What did I do to deserve this?
“You speak the truth?” I nodded, sniffling quietly. “Then there is much to discuss. But first, please, know that this is not your fault.” I felt his hands at my arms and I jumped, turning wide eyed at him. “You need not torture yourself.”
I looked down and realized I had been digging my nails into my arms, crescent shaped indents marking my biceps. “I… I’m going to continue driving.” He smiled softly and it was like a balm to my frazzled nerves. They were still frayed, but I no longer wanted to scream and cry.
We spent the rest of the drive in silence, my mind in a whirlwind as I tried to make sense of everything. He looked out the window, taking in a world he had only ever heard about.