The other orc crashed into me before he knocked me to the ground with a fierce two-handed shove. I rolled as I hit the dirt and then flipped forward in time to avoid being stamped on. I twisted around and sprang to my feet, fists raised.
The orc stared at me in amazement. “Gothrog,” he said to the lead orc, “I think the human’s an Augmenter.”
Gothrog was getting to his feet, his face covered in dirt and grazes. “So he knows how to fight. That don’t mean he’s magic, you idiot.”
The two orcs advanced on me like walking twin mountains.
“Somebody said I was an Augmenter,” I said. “What do you think that means?”
“Ha bloody ha,” Gothrog said. “Make out the orcs are stupid again.”
I didn’t wait for the orcs to come to me. I lunged forward and put an enemy off-balance with a series of punches, then swung my leg around in a body kick. As my foot slammed into the orc’s stomach, the creature grunted, folded over, and landed in in the fetal position.
At last, it was just me and Gothrog. The orc lunged at me, hands outstretched, trying to grab me around the throat. I slid my arms up in between my opponent’s, twisted them around, and grabbed both of his forearms. I yanked him down until his face was at waist height, then slammed my own knee up. Cartilage crunched beneath the blow, and when I let go, the big orc fell to the ground. Blood ran through his fingers as he clutched his broken nose.
“Any of you want more?” I asked, looking around at them.
They shook their heads, apart from Gothrog who just looked down into the dirt, his face red with fury.
“I’ll be going, then,” I said. “Have a nice day.”
I left the groaning orcs to pick themselves out of the dirt and quickly scanned the nearby area for any sign of the fire-breathing sword and the time-traveling orb. They’d disappeared into thin air the moment I’d awoken, and there was no sign of either. I didn’t want to wait for the orcs to bring backup, so I hurried down the road.
After my fight with the green-skinned orcs, I had even more food for thought. I didn’t know a lot about ancient Asia, but I knew it hadn’t contained orcs, on account of them not existing. So, how come I’d just been ambushed by a group of them?
I’d assumed that the orb had transported me through time because that was what I’d seen it do before. But what if time travel was just one of its features? What if it could transport a person in other ways as well? Maybe, instead of being flung into the past, I’d been flung into an alternate world altogether, one with magical swords, orcs, and who knew what else. If anybody had told me 12 hours ago that such a place existed, I wouldn’t have believed them. But given the evidence, what other explanation could possibly make sense?
I was halfway to the city before I realized the other oddity of the situation. The orcs had understood what I was saying and I’d understood them. Either they spoke modern English on this other world or some other power was letting me communicate.
It was a strange situation, but all I could do was try my best to learn about this place, learn the skills I needed to get by, and seek a way home with as much knowledge as I could gather. Running Blade Security had set me on the course that sent me here. Whether or not they’d ever know what was happening, they were still my employers, and this might be a chance to bring them something of real, surprising value.
At last, the dirt track reached the edge of the city. Without knowing how people would react to me, I decided I should observe first and learn a little about this place before I spoke to anyone.
At the edge of the city were crude huts, tiny, ramshackle things thrown together out of bundles of reeds and mismatched planks. Dirty, hungry-looking people roamed between them while watching me warily.
Past those slums was a roadside tower. Its bottom two floors were made of gray stone, the upper reaches of wood painted black with red trim. Armed men stood on its battlements and at its gates, some of them carrying polearms with long, curved blades, the others bows and arrows. Their armor was made of small, lacquered plates connected by twisted strips of coarse cloth and their helmets were wide cones of treated bamboo.
Beyond the guard tower stood more buildings in a similar style, all in the same black and red color scheme. The inhabitants couldn’t keep their eyes off me as I passed, and I wondered if I should have done more to blend in. My simple jeans and hoody weren’t all that outlandish, but they definitely didn’t fit in here, even covered in dust and spattered with orc blood from the fight. I’d need to find some new threads at some point if I wanted to attract less attention.
I reached a large building with a square courtyard out front. Here, rows of children stood together, all dressed in loose-fitting black outfits. They ranged in age from their late teens down to boys and girls of six years old, mixed in together with no apparent pattern.
As I skirted the edge of the square, the children went through a series of movements, led by a woman on the building’s long balcony. First, they moved their arms down and extended their right legs, taking on something like the basketball triple threat position. Then, their arms rose, palms facing the ground, and
