“So, how did your grandmother get her hands on the portal/egg?” The man ran ahead of Carmen as he weaved through fallen tree branches and potholes.
“I am not certain.” Carmen panted as she ran along. “But I think my grandfather or perhaps my great grandfather brought it from their travels.” She felt the crispy cold air lunge as an icy knife in her lungs. “My great grandfather was some sort of explorer, while my grandfather was in the army in WW2.”
“I see.” The man grimly responded. “This is not good.” He jumped a fence and headed to farmland beside the road. “Knowing who handed it to them would have helped in preventing this from the beginning.”
Carmen ran with a stunned expression washing over her features; the man left the road and headed to her grandmother’s house as if he knew exactly where to go. She kept her silence trying to preserve her labored lungs from the effort, but she still found the whole night increasingly surreal and she almost felt that she was in a dream.
From meeting the ghost, to his weird demands to make pudding, to the jackal, to this mad chase for an egg, nothing made any sense and it all made Carmen to feel separated from her body as she labored up the slope that led to her grandmother’s house.
“Why and how could it be opened?” Carmen chased after the man, as he sped through the cold and freezing night’s air.
“How could I know the reason for this?” The man had a bitter tone to his voice. “As to the how, she only has to wish for the egg to open, life over matter as always.”
Carmen wanted to ask what he meant by the cryptic “Life over matter” line, but they were already in sight of her grandmother’s house. Only a few yards to reach the gate; she felt hope that they were going to make it.
Suddenly, the man stopped and went down to his knees.
“Why did you stop?” Carmen screamed at him. “Come one we have to stop the apocalypse.”
“It’s too late, she is opening the egg as we speak.” The man raised his head to Carmen. “Listen, my name is Adrian.” He pulled on Carmen’s hands to go down beside him on the damp grass. “You have to remember this, it is crucial, you have to remember that You know me and that you should help me.”
“What?” Carmen looked at his intense eyes in confusion.
“Just remember that.” He sighed. “There is not time to explain, just stick to the old road even on the dark nights.”
“I don’t understand.” Carmen felt something tugging on her soul, as if a giant’s hand held to her heart and squeezed.
“The egg is open, Carmen.” He reached and put his hand over his eyes. “I am so sorry.”
The giant’s hand moved to every part of her body, and even though Adrian’s hand covered her eyes, she felt as if the sun concentrated all of its heat and light at her, she could feel the heat searing her eyes and light blinding them.
Carmen tried to move her hand to remove Adrian’s, but she couldn’t. She felt scared and fear enclosed her entire being as she tried to scream but nothing came out.
The hot light was everything, it went through her and around. Then as fast as it happened, Carmen was nothing but another wave in the rushing searing light.
****
Adrian stood over a metallic platform somewhere grey and foggy. He fiddled with his strange watch for some minutes, then he laid on his back.
He failed to catch the egg before it was opened, again. Perhaps this time he should aim for the time of Carmen’s great grandfather’s timeline. Perhaps he could prevent him from finding the egg in the first place. Perhaps this time he will succeed. Time, time was he has plenty of of, and so little to manage to prevent the opening of the egg.
He sighed, although he was outside of time and place, he didn’t know how to exactly navigate it. The whole thing was a mix between the power of belief and some tech he didn’t know exactly how to control to its full function.
He stood up, the only point of time he knew how to was the point where Carmen’s family moved to this house one hundred years before their meeting. The problem was there was a block at this point, and each time he ended up trapped between this plane of existence and the real world.
Adrian pulled the small device in his pocket, and it looked like a tiny golden egg. He softly caressed it, and the grey space around him filled with tiny dots, millions of them, and each had a different hue of color. He knew that the one directly to his left, colored deep red was the point he used the last twenty times, the dot that led to one hundred years before his fateful meeting with Carmen.
He rubbed his forehead. Perhaps if he aimed to another dot beside it, he might end up somewhere in the timeline of Carmen’s great grandfather.
He took a deep breath and reached to the dot. Light enveloped him and passed through him, but in the light he could see the portal/egg floating as always between time and space, always traveling in parallel to him.
Perhaps this time he will be able to save this world, and in turn save his.
The light was everything. Even the egg that rushed beside him, was made of the same light.
He opened his eyes, and he could see was grey. He didn’t mind, this was just another blocked point. Now, he had to find another person to help him through, and he would do his mission.
He looked at his watch, it was the year 1804. Well, he had all the time, he only needed to know where exactly he was, and he would save Carmen for her to save him. These were the rules after all.
If you liked this story, be sure to check the prior parts of this series: The old Road, part 1, The old Road, Part 2, The old road, Part 3, The ghost, and The Old Road, the ritual.
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