“Everyone run, escape! They are here!” A young male, who had recently joined, yelled as he burst through the cave entrance, his hair and clothes disheveled, and his face pale with fear. Around thirty people lived in the cave, from elderly to children, and everyone got up in a hurry to grab whatever they could, and ran towards the back of the cave, where a secret exit was.

A lady with long brown braided hair and green eyes got up from her chair, where she had been resting for the last couple of days. Next to her stood a man, with dark brown hair tied up in a bun, his brown eyes looked tired but full of worry and lend her a hand. supporting her as she placed her hand on her big round belly, which held their future child, and took his hand while she slowly got up.

The date for the birth of their child was near, which meant she was struggling to move as easily as the others, but her husband did his best to help her move, though the moment they made their way to the back of the cave, the intruders entered. Screams followed along with the sound begging and crying, as the sound of bodies hitting the ground one by one echoed throughout the cave and into the tunnel. The woman did her best to keep going, even as the tears filled her eyes, blurring out her vision until she blinked them away.

“Come on, we have to keep going,” her husband urgently in a hushed voice, though she could see the strain on his face as he furrowed his brow, his jaw tense. Along with a small group who managed to get away, they all went through the tunnels until they reached a closed hatch, which was concealed and only those who knew about it knew how to open it. One man walked up and hit a hidden rock, which made the hatch open, and they crawled through the overgrown plants and wines until they got to the other side.

The moons were high in the sky and the forest was dark, with only specks of moonlight shining through the leaves above. Seeing where to go was hard, and they had to be careful not to stumble over roots or rocks as they crept forwards, deeper into the forest. Then, suddenly the sounds of hooves broke the silence, and they froze in their spots, keeping quiet as they all crouched.

From between the trees a cervitaur appeared, his hair long and black, his beard thick and braided with a silver leaf-pattern clasp holding it in place. His left antler was broken, something that seemed to have happened a long time ago. He looked at them with a furrowed brow, before he looked over his shoulder, holding a hand up a signal for them to stay put. With their hearts hammering in their chest, their breath labored and their bodies trembling, they didn’t dare to defy a being of the forest. They watched him closely while also keeping an eye on their surroundings. They could hear movements far away, people screaming and crying. A lady next to her was sobbing quietly, but she kept strong and did whatever she could keep focus on their task for her kid. She could mourn later, but first they had to survive.

When the cervitaur lowered his hand, he turned to look at them, his jaw tense. “Follow me, and quickly, we don’t have much time,” he said with a deep voice and started to move. She looked at him a bit uncertain but decided to get up and follow him, as something inside of her said they could trust him, though her husband wasn’t as sure and grabbed a hold of her arm, frowning as he shook his head in disagreement.

“What are you doing? You don’t know if we can trust him” he whispered. She looked back at the cervitaur then at her husband.

“If he wanted to kill us, he could have done so, he is a being of the forest,” she replied and looked at the others. They all seemed hesitant, but they seemed to trust her judgment, something they had always done, knowing full well that a being of the forest were powerful, and they quickly got up to follow the cervitaur. Her husband looked hesitant, but he didn’t argue back as he got up and held around her, supporting her. Together as a group they followed the cervitaur deep into the woods, walking for what felt like eternity until they reached a clearing, full of overgrown flowers and bushes. 

She gasped when she looked around, the moons’ light reflecting on the water surface of a small pond, surrounded by lush bushes and flowers, along with a statue of a woman, her hands raised to hold a golden bowl, filled with water from the rain, that had been here earlier in the day. Wines were growing up her legs, like it was trying to swallow her whole. It had been a long time since she had seen a statue of the goddess Chakra, being hidden in the cave for years. It must be a sign of blessing she thought and felt slight hope. They hurried by it, as being in the clearing, out in the open for prying eyes were a risky thing. The cervitaur didn’t slow down as he kept walking, his four legs taking long strides, making it hard for the humans to follow. The woman hadn’t noticed the archway at the other side of the clearing, a flower path leading up to it as her eyes had been captivated by the statue, until she could no longer look at it without having to look back.

The archway was made of stones, somehow holding together. Along the edges of the entrance runes were carved into it, in an ancient language unknown to her. The archway looked like an ordinary archway, though it didn’t lead to anywhere other than into the forest, and it looked like it used to belong to a building, but when she looked around, there were no ruins, no signs of a building ever being there. So where did the archway come from?

She had heard of archways being used as portals, but all the portals had been destroyed almost a hundred years ago, or at least that was what her grandmother had told her when she was just a little child. She would always tell stories of the past, stories where humans roamed the lands without having to hide in fear. But then something happened, and humans were removed, either being forced to go through the portals, or killed if they resisted, and then the portals got destroyed, to keep the humans away.

Looking at the archway, she couldn’t help but think that this had once been a portal. But this portal didn’t seem to be working, nor did it seem to have been destroyed. It was almost as if it was simply just not there until someone would activate it, and maybe the runes were a way to do that. But could the cervitaur really read it?

They stopped in front of the archway, the others looking nervously around, huddled together for comfort, and she could see confusion in their faces, as no one knew what was going on, and maybe they were even starting to doubt the cervitaur. Then the cervitaur spoke, almost making them all jump, but it wasn’t in a language they understood. He spoke words unknown to them, but the archway seemed to be understood, as the runes started to glow one by one, until they were all lit. The cervitaur lifted his hands up and finished the incantation, and suddenly a glowing swirling mist appeared in the middle of the archway. A portal was opening, and they all stared at it in awe until they were interrupted by yelling and charging feet. The cervitaur looked back with wide eyes as he looked at the soldiers running towards them.

“Hurry get inside!” he yelled, his voice booming, as he ran to the back of the group, his hands glowing green as he pulled roots up from the ground and used them to wrap around some of the soldiers feet, making them fall and slowing down the others.

The humans didn’t hesitate and ran towards the now fully open portal, but the soldiers had archers standing behind, firing arrows towards the humans, and two of the humans got hit in the back and fell. Even though she wanted to help, her husband forced her forward until suddenly he wasn’t by her side anymore. Just as they were about to enter the portal, her husband had been hit by an arrow and was now lying on the ground next to her, blood pooling from underneath him. She gasped and made a choking sound as she tried not to scream, watching her husband’s eyes turn glassy.

“Come on!” A man yelled by the portal and pulled her arm, forcing her to move, though she wanted to stay, but she knew she couldn’t for their child's sake, and she stumbled towards the portal, forcing her gaze away as she sobbed, her free hand on her stomach.

They stepped into the portal, a colorful light of blue and green surrounded them until they were through, and a different world met them. She fell onto her knees, sobbing, not quite out of the portal yet when suddenly an exquisite pain went through her as the portal suddenly closed around her, and she screamed out in agony, as she fell to her side, holding around her stomach. The other humans rushed to her and did what they could to help her, but they didn’t know what to do.

“Get… Get him out, please,” she begged the others, and they knew what she meant. The oldest man of the group, one who acted like some kind of healer, pulled out a dagger from his belt and looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow and pain, and he took a deep breath before he asked the others for help. She sobbed as they worked on her, unable to feel anything as her body from, the chest down, had become paralyzed, and the last thing she heard was the sound of a cry as they pulled her baby boy out, then everything went dark.