Alrik smiled as he opened his eyes. The sun was streaming in through the open curtains, and made Eliza look ethereal. He loved waking up beside her, fully in charge of his senses, so he could admire his beautiful wife.
Suddenly, the day turned dark, and a swirling mass appeared in the sky just outside his window. He frowned and immediately jumped out of bed.
"Impossible." He said with shock as he walked closer to stare out the window. Official source ıs Nov3lFɪre.ɴet
He knew from his time on the battlefield that the dark mass in the sky was a portal, but that should not even be possible. The portal attacks were usually never around residential areas. They almost always occurred around the outskirts of the kingdom, which was what made it so easy for enemy Valderran soldiers to infiltrate war camps after a battle with the beasts. There have only been three recorded deviations from that throughout history, and none have occurred within the last eight decades at least.
From the history books, even if a portal would open this far off course, it usually gave warning signs. Soil and plants drying up around the area inexplicably, black rocks suddenly appearing all over, toxic rain. Like the portal’s emergence was trying to suck the life out of any, and everything. He picked up his phone and made a quick call.
"Gaya, send me a helicopter. Now! Track my location. I’ll keep the phone on me." He put the phone in his pocket, and moved closer to the bed.
"Eliza, get up! We must leave, now!" He yelled as he grabbed the blanket off her.
"W-what’s happening?" She asked with a confused expression as she rubbed her eyes.
Alrik grabbed her from bed, and pulled her towards the door.
"A portal will open her in a few minutes. In fact, we may not even have that long. This whole area is about to become a war zone." He said as they got outside, and began to run.
"But, portals inside Velmorra. H-how?
"I don’t know, but we must leave now."
"No, wait! My family. We must warn them." She said as she tried to run towards the main house.
"No! We do not have the time. Anyone with half a brain would recognise the danger. You are my priority. Not them." He grabbed her and threw her over his shoulder, then began to run.
Eliza began to yell over his shoulder, screaming as loud as she could...
"A portal is opening. Get to safety."
She knew Alrik was right, and that there was no time to go running around the house trying to warn everyone. But she couldn’t live with a clean conscience if she didn’t at least try. Yelling a warning was the best she could do in the situation.
There was a sharp cracking sound, as if the earth had been split in two, and Alrik knew what it meant. The portal was open. He ran faster. The beasts were fast, but he hoped they would be too preoccupied with feasting on the others, and would hopefully be delayed long enough for him and Eliza to get to safety. He had no care for her family’s safety, or even his own. His only priority was making sure Eliza lived.
He nearly tripped over a solid object, and looked down to see a sword. He recognised it immediately. It had hung in a place of honour in his family estate for a long time, before being transferred to the war camp as a symbol of hope to the soldiers. He had been accused of stealing it, and since then, it was never seen. What was it doing here?
He didn’t question it too hard, because he knew he needed a weapon. He put Eliza down to pick up the sword, and turned to evaluate the situation.
The beasts were close. Too damn close. Then he heard a whirring sound that was progressively becoming louder. He spotted the helicopter coming in from a direction to his right, so he pulled Eliza in that direction.
"That’s our way out." He told her, and if not that she was preoccupied with making sure she ran as fast as she could, she would have scoffed.
How could he have gotten a helicopter? And on such short notice? Not even her father could do that, despite her family being rich.
There was nowhere for the helicopter to land, and considering the circumstances, it wasn’t even safe. So there was only one option left. He saw the moment a rope was thrown out of the helicopter, and it stopped a few inches off the ground as it came closer to them.
"You see that rope, darling? I need you to grab it as tight as you can when it gets close enough, and don’t let go. They’ll pull you up." He stopped to kiss her, and then pushed her forward to keep running.
"I’ll be fine, darling. Go! I’ll make sure they don’t get to you." He smiled at her, and she hesitated till he yelled again, "Go!"
He widened his stance and raised his sword, just as Eliza reached the rope, and grabbed on. He knew there was no way the both of them could hold on to the rope, and get high enough in time to escape. He would just have to fight them off till help arrived. Hopefully, soldiers were on their way. But it would take a few minutes for them to regroup from the war camps on the outskirts.
This was no different from all his other battles. As long as Eliza was safe, he could take any risk now. The beasts pounced on him, and he began to slash them as quickly, and deeply as he could.
"She’s going to die. You will watch her die unless you find me."
It began as a whisper. Then the voice got stronger, until it felt like there was a speaker directly connected to his brain. His concentration faltered, and he yelled as one of the beasts slashed him with a sharp claw. As his blood spilled, the beasts went into a frenzy, climbing over each other, ripping themselves apart just to get to him.
"WATCH HER DIE!" The voice yelled at the same time that Eliza yelled his name.
He turned, and his eyes widened as he watched the scene unfold. It seemed to happen in slow motion, as if his eyes and brain could not process what he was witnessing. One of the beasts had climbed up high enough to jump on the rope that Eliza was still suspended on.
"Eliza! No! ELIZA!!!"
He watched the creature tear her apart, and then his eyes snapped open as he sat up in bed with a gasp. His palms were sweaty, and he was shaking so hard like an electric current was passing through him.