It was a cold morning, not particularly cold, say, cold enough for a light jacket, in Fort Worth . Having just been promoted Captain the previous day, a brawny red-headed Marine decided to sleep in, but he had somewhere to be and decided to wake and get ready. He donned his uniform,"Bergmann" it had said on the chest of his digital green uniform, silver bars on his collar, grabbed his luggage, stepped out the door and walked to his truck,

when he got a call on his phone,

"Hey mom" he answered

"Hey Darry, are you heading to the airport?" she inquired,

"Not yet, I've got to stop by the CO's office, fill out some paperwork, head to the bank and get some extra cash, then I'll be on my way"

"Alright buddy can't wait to see you, neither can this girl I found for you, she's super nice and really pretty, you'd love her"

She was always trying to fix him up girls, ever since he got out of college. It was not like he wasn't trying either, he just never found the right girl, of course it didn't help that he never went to social occasions... or out in general because, according to him, he didn't have anyone to go with(see the problem?).

"Mom you gotta stop trying to hook me up, it never works out"

"I just want some grandchildren!"

"Not everyone gets married when they're 24 mom! besides, you got Ewen, he's got a little boy"

"He adopted, and that's because he thinks he's too good for anyone, I want biological grandchildren Darius"

"Well I'm working on it! Listen mom I gotta go, love you"

"Okay, love you too buddy"

He didn't want his mother to worry, no more than she already was about him going on a plane. Just a couple days before Christmas and he was heading back to Colorado for the holidays, he packed his winter gear: Tactical jacket he got from the base, cold weather pants, ice picks, crampons, AR, he was a big fan of winter, growing up in Colorado will do that to a guy, so he packed everything that would keep him warm, and have fun doing, he was taking his custom AR to go shooting with his brothers, along with a chest rig with some magazines, most of it stuffed into a tan tactical backpack he'd had for years. Ever since high school, the majority of his belongings could have the adjective "tactical" attached.

2 hours before the flight he figured to go on an adventure along a less traveled road, one with no one on it.

"and the forecast shows isolated lightning storms over the Dallas Fort Worth"

*crackle*

"Well alright" breaking out the ipod to play some of his favorites, "play me some coun..try" finding out that it didn't work, none of his electric gadgets worked. "Mmkay this is a bit weird". The day had stopped being so bright, clouds had built up over the road he was travelling down. Suddenly a bright light had spread across the entirety of the truck, blinding him, a ringing started building until reaching a level capable of deafening him, the truck rattling every which way. He wasn't sure which was worse, the light or ring, it seemed like forever, until suddenly stopping. His eyes were still recovering from the initial illumination, slowly realizing that it had stopped, but he was wary about lifting up his head, he didn't know what had happened. slowly raising to observe his surroundings, quickly realizing, he wasn't in Texas anymore. Looking around he saw aspen trees, much like the ones from the mountains he grew up around, stepping out of his auto, he found that he was on a stone brick road, grass sprouting out, tree roots lifting up certain areas. Before long, he realized that it was summer, and in the summer, a Marine wears the Desert Digital uniform, ever since the Base Commander showed up one day wearing the wrong one, everyone was made to change over, because ultimately it doesn't matter what day of the year it was, whatever your boss wears, you seeing much, he decided to keep following the road that he was on, hoping to find a town, city, something that can tell him where he is. Luckily the engine started, but there was nothing on the radio but fuzz. The road was bumpy, as if no-one maintains it. About 2 minutes later of just trees and a stone wall here and there, he reached the top of hill to look across a stretch of water, and find a castle built on it. Something big appeared to be happening, as the surroundings of the castle had maybe 20 or so ships, powered by sails. His face forming one of pure befuddlement, still curious about his location, and the new question of when, he kept following the road that seemed to lead directly to it.