Chapter 91: Blink of an Eye
“Since he returned, he is like a zombie. Look!” Achara pointed at Marcus, who sat on a large piece of granite and stared into nothingness. Janette watched her friend for a few moments and then sucked on her teeth. “He does his daily routines, practice, training, eating but he is not really here.” Achara said very worried. “Something must have happened, but he is not talking about it.” she said and Janette nodded. She had a good idea what had befallen her friend.
Marcus’ head was a mess and no matter how much he thought about the situation he could not find an answer. He walked in circles and always came back to the same questions “What is she thinking? What does it me-” something hit him painfully on the shoulder. Marcus turned and saw a shadow vanish behind some trees. What in the actual hell? He bent over and picked up the stone that hit him. In the same moment another stone hit his hip painfully. Maniacal laughter came from around the corner of the building, a demon was on the loose! Marcus ran to the corner and another stone hit him pin point between the eyes. It hurt! Enraged Marcus charged after the giggling demon woman. He closed the distance but two more stones made him stagger and Janette escaped to the obstacle course.
Marcus could not be stopped by silly stones and neither could some basic obstacles. Up and down and all around he chased her, but she used her speed and mobility to always stay ahead of him. After ten minutes he finally cornered her and was ready to bring the wrath of the heavens upon her. He stepped forward with both arms spread and finally grabbed her shoulders. She leaned back and the tip of her shoe connected with the power of several strength crests to his chin. He fell like a tall tree, slowly but inevitable he hit the ground. Janette sat down next to him, struck the victory sign and laughed. Marcus was still getting his brain back when she said “By the ancients laws of loser and victor you now have to obey my orders.” she took a deep breath and sweat was running down her neck. “Tell me, what happened.” she said with a smile and Marcus told her everything that happened between him and Azaa.
“Hmmmm” she said, after she had heard the full story. Marcus watched her and already felt so much better after talking about the whole thing. “I think instead of trying to understand what she thinks...do you like her?” Janette said, tilting her head. Marcus thought for a moment “Azaa is such a great person, wise and powerful I just-” Janette stopped him and put emphasis on every word “Do. You. Like. Her?”. Marcus looked at Janette and then nodded. He liked her a lot.
“Good, than that is all you need. Don’t worry about every little thing, just go to your meeting next time and see what happens. You don’t need the perfect answer or a grand plan. Spent time with her and things will happen naturally one way or the other.” The wise woman Janette explained.
Marcus thought it over and saw the wisdom in her words. “Enough sulking around. I want some fried sausages! MAKE ME SAUSAGES!” the victor demanded and Marcus rolled his eyes in jest. “As you wish my lady.”
In the end it became a large feast with the whole clan attending. It was a merry evening with sizzling sausages, fresh salads and toasted bread from the grill. Laughter sounded through the estate and eventually Kou had an announcement to make “I heard through the grape vine that there is an opportunity. Carmen told me that a friend of a friend found a small portal by accident, as they hunted down a monster on a different world. That friend only put his head through the portal but he said there was some kind of temple looking ruin visible.” “Uhhhhs” and “Ohhhs” came from the clan members. “Carmen said, if we check it out and it is viable she can get an expedition going for sure.” He said wiggling his eyebrows. “How about it?”
Everybody was hyped, Marcus too, but maybe for the wrong reasons. A small scouting mission was exactly the right thing to get his mind of the Azaa situation. “As long it is not another underground ruin I’m in. I have seen too many of those lately.” Achara said and Grace supported that notion. “Carmen can get us a time limited permit to check it out. The origin portal is in Rome and we only have to get through one additional portal, all well traveled.” Kou added with an eye on Marcus. He just smiled and made him understand that it was no problem. “Than I will tell Carmen we will go.” Kou said with a wide smile.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
24 hours later they already packed their stuff and in the same night they arrived in Rome. Because the whole thing was just a small scouting mission Marcus, Kou and Janette were the only members. Once they verified that the ruins were promising they would later come back with the full team, and maybe even bring the Cromwell group, if it worth a raid. “Have you talked with your father again?” Janette asked Marcus as they traveled with an expedition car through a sparse woodland.
“We phoned twice. He told me the scientists are completely over the moon because of the arm. Apparently it is made out of artificial elements we do not even know how to create. We mainly talked about science stuff but he also mentioned that he wants me to meet Sophia under better circumstances…. I think he wants to marry her.” Marcus said and was not sure how he felt about it. “I think that is a great idea. Want me to come, too?” Janette said from the co-pilot seat. “Of course.” he smiled. “Nobody asks me…” Kou said with a fake disappointed face. Janette leaned over to him with a wicked smile “Then let’s talk about you and Achara. Have you met her parents, yet?” Kou quickly regretted saying anything as he got grilled by Janette and Marcus for the next hour.
They only had rough directions to the portal and in the end they needed several hours to find it inside a small valley behind a large group of trees. “No wonder nobody had found it until now. Look how small it is and how well hidden. You had to stumble over it to find it.” Kou said and they parked the car just meters from the portal. They grabbed their basic gear and went through the small portal. The other side was warmer and had a significantly higher air humidity.
They looked around and found themselves surrounded by trees and lush vegetation. “Feels tropical to me.” Janette said while Marcus took a few steps to get a feel for the geography. The land was far rougher than he expected, deep gorges and sharp rising cliffs covered the area and the promised ruins were also a bit more problematic. “Well, there are ruins but they are hardly next to the portal.” Marcus said as the other two caught up to him. The ruins were easily visible but they were further away and, what was worse, higher up behind several levels of cliffs. He turned around and looked at the local sun. “The sun is going to set soon. I don’t think we should try climbing those cliffs without proper light.” He said and nobody disagreed.
About two hundred meter away from the portal they found a nice spot to settle down, the view was fantastic. A large waterfall dropped into the depths, alien birds circling over the gushing waters under the sinking sun. “I hope there are not too many monsters here because this would make for a fine vacation destination.” Kou said and Janette was quick to jab “Thinking about that honeymoon already?”, Kou moaned. Marcus laughed and put down his sleeping bag.
They had a sparse meal but nobody was too keen on cooking. Marcus lost rock, paper, scissors and got the first guard shift. He reminded himself not to play this game with people who had dexterity crests. As the two cheats prepared to rest, Marcus looked at the beautiful cloudless night sky. These were all unknown stars, maybe they were on the other side of the universe right now, he thought. Something flickered. Marcus looked around to find the source and the ambient light was disturbed by a flicker again. He turned in the direction of the portal and saw it flicker. Portals don’t flicker… unless…
“The portal is collapsing!” Marcus screamed and dragged his friends up from their beds. “RUN!” he shouted and they rushed towards the portal. The flickering repeated, faster and faster. His friends were much faster than him and Janette hang back “RUN!” he shouted again and ran up a small hill. Some dirt gave way and he lost two seconds to reach the top. Kou and Janette were already through the portal and Marcus sprinted towards the glowing disk. It flickered again, Marcus could see Janette on the other side, her face was filled with fear. Marcus heart beat like crazy, ten meter separated them and the portal flickered one last time. Darkness fell around Marcus.
In a blink of an eye Marcus was alone, separated from all of humanity by billions of light years. The sudden silence of the alien planet pressed against his ears. The reality of the situation crushed down on Marcus and he screamed into the night. He fell to the ground and tears ran down his face, there was a single thought on his mind. I just died.
Azaa waited for Marcus on the promised day, all day long. When he did not show up, she was filled with disappointment, anger and worry. He had told her he might not be able to keep the date but she had hoped he would make the time. Two weeks later, it was time for the blood draining and she waited for him to come in the morning as he had before. As night fell and he had not appeared, all anger and disappointment was gone from her heart and only worry was left. Azaa knew Marcus well enough and he would not forgo his duty so easily. Fear filled her every thought.
Four days later, the human woman Janette came to the city and told Azaa what happened. Janette said she would not give up hope and neither should Azaa. When Azaa returned home, she sat on her bed and listened to the music box Marcus had given her. Tears filled her eyes, tears drowned the whole world. This cruel, uncaring world, that had taken Marcus from her.
