Not wanting to sound paranoid, Aurelia didn’t voice her concerns to Irene or her mother. It seemed Irene had not noticed the second man at all, and perhaps Aurelia was jumping to conclusions. Why would anyone follow them around? Well, she could imagine many reasons, each crazier than the last. Maybe one of the men was romantically interested in one of them, or maybe they were secretly serial killers and one of the girls fit their profile. Aurelia didn’t know, but she would definitely be looking around to see if any of the other two men were here in the mall.
Unfortunately, she was right in assuming one of the other men could be there along with the other two men. As they passed the men’s clothing section in the next store they were at, she saw one of the other slimmer men browsing the swimsuits. His bright red hair stood out, and she noticed his gaze slide to the three women as they walked past.
Deciding the dress she picked out was all she needed, Aurelia spoke up, interrupting her mom talking about possible jewelry options, “Hey, I think I am ready to go home. I am getting a bit tired, so maybe we could relax back at the apartment before the rest of our families get here.”
Irene made a disappointed face and replied, “Alright, I guess I have spent enough money for the day.” Irene adjusted the shopping bags on one arm and slipped the other arm through Aurelia’s. “Let’s head home!”
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Later that night, Aurelia hugged her mom, dad, and older brother in the lobby of their hotel. “I am so glad you all came! I’ll see you all tomorrow at the ceremony.”
Ezra slapped her back after giving her a hug. “No problem, Sis. You have come to all of my graduations after all.” He grinned, and Aurelia smiled back. Ezra had received a bachelors and then a masters degree, and including high school, Aurelia had attended all three graduations. “I’ll see you tomorrow, and know I will be yelling embarrassing things from the audience.”
Aurelia rolled her eyes, knowing he was only joking. Probably. She waved to her family and left, driving back to her apartment.
As she walked in she noticed two full trash bags sitting by the door. Irene had spent the afternoon doing some packing, and her efforts had resulted in the two trash bags after throwing a lot of things away. Most of which had been notebooks, piles of finished assignments, and other school supplies she no longer needed after graduation. Seeing as Aurelia still had her shoes on, she decided to be nice and take her roommate's trash out.
Aurelia yawned as she walked down the sidewalk towards the large trash bin by her apartment building. It was now dark out, and Aurelia was tired after the long day. She had always enjoyed shopping with her mom and later her friend, but it always made her tired. When her dad and brother came into town, they had all gone out to dinner before they had retired to the hotel. Aurelia looked down as she hopped over a large puddle. She didn’t really feel like getting her feet wet. When Aurelia looked back up again, she stopped in her tracks.
No longer feeling sleepy, she stared at the man in front of her. He stared back, his blue eyes boring into her. Aurelia’s hands clenched around the trash bags. Her heart beated a bit faster as the taller man took a step towards her. “What do you want, Blondie?” she asked, her voice warry.
The young man gazed intently at her, in the same way as when they were in the ice cream shoppe. As if he was expecting something from her. Aurelia shifted uncomfortably in place, as the blonde man did not immediately answer. She looked around her, expecting to see the other three men there with them.
“It’s just me,” the man said, “I came alone.”
“What do you want from me? I noticed your other friends earlier today.”
His face darkened, “The Knights of Armund are not my friends.” He took another step towards her. “I don’t have a lot of time. They will notice me missing soon, if they haven’t already.”
Aurelia took a nervous step back. “What do you want from me?”
“I was assigned to help the Knights find a powerful weapon hidden here on Earth. People escaped here, along with the weapon we are trying to locate. Our task is to find it and bring it back to Eldria. What we didn’t expect to find, is someone like you.”
Eldria? What weapon? Someone like me? Aurelia thought with confusion. “What are you even saying? I don’t understand.”
The man continued, “We are not from Earth, we are from another world.”
Aurelia huffed, “That doesn’t make any sense, what other world?”
“Don’t your people have stories of other worlds? Stories of finding other planets in the stars, of lands with creatures you don’t have here on Earth? Of demons in Hell and angels in Heaven?”
“Well, yeah, we do. But, that doesn’t make the stories real.”
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“I’m telling you now, some of those stories are real. There are other lands in the universe, filled with kingdoms, magic, and abilities you can’t even imagine. The kingdom I come from, Gildenshores, in Eldria, is at war with another kingdom. The weapon we came to find came from the old King of Gildenshores' treasury, which was stolen by a rebellion group named the Moonrising. They had people take the weapon to this world, in order to keep it from the king’s son, Darius, who is now the king of Gildenshores. Twenty-five years later, after Darius found where the weapon was taken, he sent my team to search for it.”
Aurelia’s mind spun, having a difficult time keeping up with everything that was being said. Something about a weapon and a king, and something to do with a rebellion. “I am not quite sure if I believe you, but even so, what does all of this have to do with me?”
The man studied her, “We were given an artifact in order to locate the weapon. During the past couple of weeks we have been searching your country to find where the artifact was leading us. It led us to you.”
Aurelia became incredulous, “Are you saying that I am the weapon? That doesn’t make any sort of sense.”
“That’s what we believed as well. It doesn’t make sense. You don’t make any sense.” He paused and took another step towards her. If he reached out his hand he could have touched her. “The past couple of days we have been studying you, trying to figure out why the artifact led us to you. We couldn’t make any real headway, so our group leader decided that we should just take you with us back to Eldria.”
So that’s why Aurelia had seen them everywhere the past two days. She suspected they had been following her even before the ice cream shoppe. “I’m not going with you to Eldria. There is no way I am going.” Still nervous, her voice sounded scared.
“The others weren’t going to ask your permission. We cannot return until we have the weapon and you are the only lead. I cannot let them have you.”
“Wait, what are you saying? That you are going to help me stay here and not be taken?”
The man sighed, “I’m not strong enough to stave off the Knights, they are stronger than I am. They won’t leave without you, so I will just have to make you go without them.”
He reached out for her, his steps quick. Aurelia jumped back, dropping the trash bags on the ground and took a step away from the man. Her foot landed in the ankle-deep puddle, surprising her, and she paused. The man closed in behind her and grabbed her wrist, his grip unyielding and tight. Aurelia opened her mouth to scream, but the man’s other hand came around and chopped at her throat, causing her to cough. Berating herself for listening to the man rather than screaming and running away earlier, she gasped for a new breath. The man clamped a hand around her mouth, and she struggled to get away. She didn’t budge, the man being strong. Really strong.
Before she could continue the effort of trying to scream and get away, she was shocked into silence when something appeared in her vision. A bright blue box, filled with text, entered her line of sight. It seemed not unlike a message box that appeared in the video games she used to play with her brother. She couldn’t help but pause to read the text, even knowing she was in danger.
Initializing…
Aurelia was confused at what she was seeing. She closed her eyes and the glowing text was still visible against the blackness of her closed lids. Before she could contemplate further, the text changed.
Initialization Complete
Results:
User [Aurelia] over the age of majority
Access to System granted
Teleportation to Eldria commencing in 10… 9… 8…
Aurelia couldn’t understand the message fully, but she did understand the word teleportation. She looked at Blondie, her face contorted in fear and confusion.
There was a flash of blue light beside Aurelia and Blondie, surprising them both. Aurelia closed her eyes from the flash, and the man let go of her, stepping back.
The man started to speak, “What the?! What is happening? Did you get a message from the System?”
Aurelia’s breath caught, noticing that she could still see the message even with her eyes closed. “I don’t know!” she opened her eyes and continued, “What is the system? And what does the message mean by teleportation?”
The man cursed loudly and tried to reach for Aurelia again. This time, she successfully moved away, until she felt a pull on her body coming from the direction of the light. She started, and turned towards the light, just as the timer in her eyes hit zero. All she could see was blue light, then blackness. Aurelia had fainted before she could notice her body disappear through the blinding blue portal. All that was left of her was a flip flop floating in a puddle, two trash bags on the ground, one of them spilling out, and a man stunned into silence.
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When Irene heard yelling coming from outside, she could neither fully understand what was being said or recognize who was doing the yelling. She went out to the living room to grab the trash she had left there, finally getting the motivation to get the trash out. When she noticed the trash gone and Aurelia’s purse next to the door, she grew worried as she remembered the sounds that had come from outside. Slipping on a pair of slides, she opened the door and peered outside. She didn’t see anyone, then started walking towards the dumpster. She glanced around her, still not seeing anyone. As she came closer to the bin, she noticed the two trash bags laying on the ground.
Where did Aurelia go? Irene wondered as she walked towards the trashbags on the ground. She picked up the two bags, walking over to the dumpster to throw them inside. Turning around she grabbed the trash that had fallen out, and noticed a flip flop she hadn’t meant to throw away. Wait, wasn’t that Aurelia’s flip flop? Irene felt the worry grow in the pit of her stomach, and knew that something was really wrong.
She took her phone out of her pocket and dialed up Aurelia’s number. Irene heard a beeping noise and a message stating that the call she had dialed could not be completed. The phone dropped from her ear and terror gripped her. “Aurelia!” Irene called out to the night.