Dominant Species
Issue Two
By Tom Zjaba

Chapter Two
Derrick's Origin

Once Derrick had cleaned the decades of dirt and wastes off him and he had quenched his great thirst, he began to talk. "It all started over thirty years ago. My friends and I played a game called "Into the Catacombs". The game allowed you to create a party of characters and take them through catacombs and dungeons in search of treasure. We loved the game and played it constantly." He could tell they had no idea what he was talking about. He rung out his clothes as he stood there in his boxers. "Anyway, one day we were playing in some caves near my house. We were pretending to be characters in the game Into the Catacombs. As I was hiding in one of the caves, I found a crack in the wall. As I shined my flashlight into the crack, I saw a box that was chained shut." The story was now getting interesting and all the guys circled around him. He now put his shirt back on. It was damp, but at least it was clean. The pants were the next to be rung out. The guys all looked at him to finish, so he continued. "Well, we dug a hole in the wall and climbed in. Once we broke the lock on the box and pulled off the chains, we found a black bottle inside the box. It had a cork pushed in it. When I removed the cork, smoke poured out of the bottle and a genie appeared." Spearfisher then asked "What is a genie?" Derrick looked at him and said "A genie is a magical creature that can grant you three wishes." Bearslayer then interjected "What did you wish for?" Derrick looked at them with a bit of a worried look. As he had time to think about his wishes, he realized how stupid they were. He got what he wanted but it came at a terrible price. "The first wish was for the world to become like the game we played. We wished for a giant world that was teeming with creatures both real and imaginary. We wanted a primitive world where man was not the top creature." The men all looked at each other. They were all born of this world, so they did not know of another world. They only knew that there was some older race that built the cities and items they found. They always assumed it was giants or other great beasts that built the stuff. Derrick then continued "My second wish was for myself and my four friends to become the characters we created. We were to have their abilities, their spells and weapons. And the last wish as you can guess was for us all to be invincible, so we could never get killed."

As the men let this sink in, Bearslayer spoke up and said "I think it would be best to take him back to the tribe and let the elders decide what to do." With that, they headed back to the village. But there was one problem, when they arrived back in the city, it was daylight. As they neared the city, Bearslayer warned "We better hide in the caves before the Thunderous One finds us." Derrick looked at him and said "Why don't you kill it?" Howlingmad laughed out loud "We have tried but he is too great." Derrick smiled and said "Give me a dagger and I will kill it." Spearfisher looked at him as if he was crazy and said "Kill The Thunderous One with a dagger?" "Remember, I am invincible. He cannot hurt me." They all looked at him as if he was crazy but they handed him a dagger. Derrick then went into the city and started yelling. "Mister Thunderous One, come here and get me." He kept over and over. After a few minutes, he felt the ground begin to tremble. At first it was a light vibration, but soon it became stronger and stronger. Soon the ground shook so violently that Derrick was almost knocked over. The rest of the Cavaliers ran to the buildings and hid. While they doubted that Derrick would survive, they wanted to stay and watch. But they were smart enough to do it from hiding as they were not invincible and would easily die from the great beast.

Derrick got the first glimpse of the creature as he came from around a building. He was huge and ugly. It did not take Derrick long to realize it was an Ettin, much like the ones in the game "Into the Catacombs." The creature stomped up to Derrick and stopped right before him. As the two heads looked down on him, each head smiled. The sight of the decayed teeth almost turned Derrick's stomach. Before he could do anything, the creature reached down and grabbed him. The monster was quite swift for a beast of his size. The creature then lifted him up to his face and stared at it. Something was odd about this human. They usually were screaming and hitting. But this one made no attempt to break free. It was almost like he wanted to be eaten. But the ettin was hungry and cared little why the human was so calm. He opened one of the massive mouths and tossed him in. Once inside the mouth, he was quickly swallowed. As he slid down, he pulled out his dagger and jammed it into the beast's throat. The stabbed dagger slowed him down. The creature screamed out in pain. As this was going on, the Cavaliers were watching and wondering what was going on. The creature ate Derrick and they did not see how this was going to stop the beast. When they heard it scream out, it made them wonder what was going on.

Inside the throat of the ettin, Derrick was stabbing it over and over. The mighty creature pressed on his throat and tried clearing it to stop the pain. But the pain got worse and worse. After a few more stabs, Derrick slid down the throat with the dagger ripping through the inner flesh. The pain was now moving down towards the chest and the creature was bleeding internally. He coughed loud and hard and blood shot out of his mouth. Derrick had to hang on to keep from going with the blood. He then continued his assault on the innards of the Ettin.

After another ten minutes of pain, the great beast fell to his knees. It clutched its chest as it tried to breath. Derrick had made his way into its lungs and ripped holes in it. The monster fell to its side, which made the ground around it shake. It kept coughing up blood as it laid there and slowly died. After a few minutes, it was lifeless and it was finally safe for the group to come up and look closely at the creature that they had feared for their entire lives. They walked up to it and just looked at it. The two massive heads were not moving. The evil eyes were eternally shut. Once they fully realized that they no longer had to fear the creature, they let out a howl. Soon they were all howling and screaming. They danced around the beast and took turns stabbing it with their weapons. As they were doing this, Derrick emerged from the mouth of the beast. He was covered in blood and saliva, but was smiling. They all ran over and thanked him. The sounds of their celebration brought out other tribe members. Slowly, one by one they emerged from buildings. Some came out to the streets and others looked over the sides of buildings. Men, women and children all came to look at the fallen giant. Each one came and touched the beast. Most of them were born in this city and never knew a life without the beast. He was as much a part of their life as the sun and the moon. And now this beast was dead and they could wander out in the city in the day or the night. They were free for the first time in their lives and they celebrated.

As the day wore on, fires were built and food was brought down. People danced and sang. The children climbed the beast and some people threw stones at the creature. Everyone was celebrating. Everyone except the leader of the tribe. He stood over to the side and watched. He had a worried look on his face. While the rest of the tribe came over and thanked Derrick and offered him food and drink, he did not come over. Bearslayer could sense something was wrong. He went over to see what troubled the chief. "Why do you not celebrate with the others?" The chief looked at Bearslayer with a serious look. He was the oldest in the tribe and the only one who was from the old world. His long graying hair and weathered face made him look older than the he was. He was in his early 50's but looked a good ten years older. But he was a survivor and his knowledge of artifacts was reason enough to make him the head of the tribe. He stared Bearslayer in the eye and answered "Why do you think we never left this city? That giant protected it. It was his territory and he kept other beasts out." Bearslayer was confused. The ettin was always a menace and killed numerous people in the tribe. He asked back "But he killed our people. Howlingmad lost his life mate to the beast." The chief whose name in the tribe was Firemaster replied "The only people to die were the ones who were not careful. Yes, the giant would kill us on sight, but we learned how to live with him. By moving to the rooftops or staying hidden, we could sleep in peace. We were able to raise food and lived in harmony with the giant. But now that he is gone, who knows what kind of creature may make this city its territory." It was starting to make sense to Bearslayer. He was still a little unsure about what the chief was saying but he had learned over time that rarely was he wrong.

The chief finally went over to Derrick and spoke to him "May we go and talk, away from this party?" Derrick was having allot of fun, especially with some of the young girls eyeing him. He was a bit nerdy in his old life and never bothered with girls. He was considered a geek and most girls avoided him like the plague. But these girls, most of whom were quite attractive, found him enchanting. He was different from the other men and the fact that he single-handedly slayed the giant was reason enough to have interest in him. He was a hero and loving it. But he also knew this was the chief of the village and it would be best to appease him. So he agreed to go and talk with him. They walked into one of the buildings and made their way up the stairs. It was an old building and the stairs were still quite solid. It took awhile to get to the top, but they finally did. On top of the building was a whole village. There were small huts, patches of dirt that had plants growing out of them and rope bridges from one building to the next. He also noticed that all the huts had sharp spears sticking out the top. Derrick looked at them and asked the chief "What are those for?" He smiled and said "Those are to ward off flying beasts. Last thing you want is to wake up with a pterodactyl or griffin on your roof." Derrick nodded in agreement. The chief then looked at him and said "So how does one so small defeat a giant?" Derrick smiled at him and said "It is not hard when you are invincible. Do you know what invincible is?" The chief laughed "Yes, I know what invincible is. I was in college when everything went insane. Unlike the rest of the tribe, I remember the old world." A big smile came over Derrick's face "So you remember the internet and television and Star Trek." The chief was puzzled as he asked "You are but a kid, how do you know of such things?" Derrick smiled and said "I may look sixteen but I am actually over forty. When I became invincible, I also did not age anymore. So I am stuck as a sixteen year kid for all eternity." The chief looked even more puzzled. "So how did you become invincible?" Derrick laughed out loud "You would not believe me if I told you." It was the chief's turn to laugh out loud "Look around you, there are dragons and giants. Not much can surprise me anymore." Suddenly a more serious look came over his face as Derrick began to speak. He tells the chief about Into the Catacombs and the genie. When he finishes, the chief looks at him with a sad look on his face and says "So you caused all this pain and suffering, so you could play a game?" Derrick bows his head in shame and says "I know how stupid it was now. Especially after spending the last thirty years stuck under a rock." The chief looks at him with a puzzled look again "How did you get under a rock?" Derrick lifts his head again and says "My friends and I were battling a large group of kobolds. I got separated from the group and found myself overwhelmed by the kobolds. When they found that they could not kill me, they stuck me in a hole and rolled a giant boulder down to keep me in there. I got pinned under it and have been sitting there for the past thirty years." The chief laughs "Didn't any animals come and try to eat you?" "Yeah, some wolves and a few other animals tried to eat me. But when they found they could not pierce my skin, they left. I tried to get myself look but the bottom of the tunnel was stone, so I was stuck between a rock and a hard place." They both laughed at that. The chief then said "What became of the genie and lamp?" Derrick once again lowered his head "We buried it deep in Antarctica. That is unless one of my friends went and recovered it." The chief then said "I will have to think about this. Let us return to the party now." As the chief starting walking towards the stairway headed down, Derrick said "I will see you at the bottom." He then jumped off the side of the building. The chief just shook his head and headed down. Derrick hit the bottom with a big thud. Some people came over to see what was the noise and saw Derrick rise from the hole in the ground he made. He smiled and said "I never get tired of that." He then runs back to the party.

Chapter Three
The Journey

For the first time ever, the people slept on the ground. They kept fires going all night, but they did not retreat to the rooftops. Most of them did not. The chief and his family did stay up there as did some of the other families. They knew the giant was only one danger and that more would come. As the rays of light came enveloped the city, the tribe slowly began to rise. At first they got up slowly, but as they realized where they were and heard strange noises, they got up more quickly. Looking from around the buildings were eyes. Not just any eyes but the eyes of scavengers. The death of the giant had become known to the local scavengers and they were waiting patiently to come in and feast. But the large group of people and the fires were enough to keep them at bay. As Derrick woke up, he noticed the eyes out there. He asked the girl that was laying next to him "What are those?" She looked at him and smiled "They are scavengers. Probably wolves or hyenas. Don't worry, they won't come until we leave." He looked relieved but added "They look allot bigger than any wolves or hyenas I have ever seen." Hearing their conversation, Bearslayer came over and said "They are not ordinary wolves and hyenas. Those have to wait for the scraps. These are Dire Wolves and Giant Hyenas. They are the first scavengers to feast. When they are done, the smaller ones come." The relief that Derrick felt was now gone. While he was invincible, he did tend to forget this fact from time to time.

As the people packed up their stuff and started to go into the buildings to finish sleeping, the Dire

Wolves and Giant Hyenas came closer. The Dire Wolf, while almost the same in appearance to wolf, is about twice as big. They stand about five feet at the shoulder and weigh about six hundred pounds. While still a pack animal like normal wolves, they are also found alone. They are quite territorial with other wolves, but will live with the Giant Hyenas without any problem. They generally get the first pick of the carcass, which tends to be the hindquarters. The Giant Hyenas, which stand about four feet at the shoulder and weight about four hundred pounds, have incredible jaws. They tend to bite off the legs or arms and run off with them. Their strong jaws and teeth can break through just about any bone, including the leg bones of dinosaurs. They are especially fond of the marrow in the bones.

As the last people leave, the feeding frenzy is on. The wolves jump in and start devouring the giant. The hyenas head for the limbs and start tearing them off. As they are all out in the open, the smaller wolves start to move to where the others were and wait their turn. Because of the climate changes, normal hyenas do not live in this part of the world. But the giant hyenas have a thicker coat and can survive in any weather. They are found all over the world and are a vital part of the clean-up crew. On the building, the crows and buzzards land and wait. They know they are the last ones to eat and usually get little. But with a creature as huge as the giant, there will be plenty of food for everyone. They just have to wait their turn.

As everyone reaches the roof and starts to go back to their huts, Derrick looks over the roof and watches the creatures devour the giant. While he has been in this world for thirty years, he only spent a brief amount of it not trapped under the rock. To see all these creatures that were just in books come to life still amazes him. He remembers reading of goblins riding dire wolves in The Lord of the Rings and here they are alive. He cannot wait to get out and see the rest of the world and hopefully find out what happened to his friends. They had planned such great adventures together. Little did they know their first adventure would be their last. But since all of his friends were also invincible, he knew they were alive. But the fact that none of them came looking for him makes him think they are also trapped somewhere.

As he looked on at the spectacle, the chief comes over and stands next to him. "Hard to believe how much this world has changed" he says. Derrick looks back and comments "It isn't all bad." The chief gives him a serious look and answers "We don't have traffic jams anymore. And there are no unemployment problems. But we also have cut the life expectancy in half." Derrick looks back down there and says "I do miss pizza." The chief laughs "What I would give for a cold beer and a slice of pepperoni pizza." They both laugh. Then the chief says "Any idea what happened to your friends?" Derrick looks back up and answers "I am guessing the kobolds took them away. But that was thirty years ago, so who knows where they are." The chief now stands all the way up and says "We need to find that magic lamp and change things back." Derrick looked at him and nodded in agreement. "Assuming what you are saying is real, then we need to travel down to Antarctica and find it." Derrick shuddered at the thought. He did not know exactly where it was, his friend Kevin who was the sorcerer teleported there and buried it. When Derrick told this to the chief he paused for a second. Then he said "We need to find your friends and then head to Antarctica to retrieve the lamp." They both agreed it was the plan. That was the easy part. The hard part was going to be finding his friends. The old world was big but this one was at least five times as big. And with all the challenges in the world, it was not going to be easy.

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