8. Military Base.

Next Morning - Third Day After Rift Appeared -

Luke drowsily opened his eyes.

He saw a ceiling of a small tent, drowsily he looked around him but saw nothing except his suitcase in the tent and the mattress he was sleeping on.

Last night he talked with Aeriel quite late, that's why he slept only about 2 hours.

...But this will be the day when they reach the Rift.

He already heard a noise coming from outside of the tent.

He quickly put on his black pants and a white t-shirt.

He also grabbed his jacket and put it on.

He crawled through the tent and exited.

Outside of the tent, he could hear birds chirping happily, while the wind blowing straight to his face.

The smell of forest has always calmed him down.

And he can hardly believe that such a peaceful place will be soon gone.

He stretched his limbs and saw his parents, Emma, and Aeriel sitting in the fallen tree trunks talking.

He made his way over and sat next to Emma.

''Slept well?'' Sara asked, Luke nodded even though he barely slept.

''We will arrive in few hours, so eat properly,'' Edward said.

Aeriel offered Luke a sandwich, which he took gratefully and started munching on it.

Aeriel smiled sweetly, but she slightly pouted because she wanted to sit next to Luke, that's why she felt envious of Emma.

Luke looked at his parents and saw that they were slightly reluctant to leave the Earth behind if they see soldiers guarding the rift with guns... Then they actually might go back home, he can't let it happen.

Luke thought of asking Aeriel for help to get rid of the soldiers, but his subconscious keeps telling him that if she gets hurt in any way, then he should just kill himself for causing such a thing to happen.

Which once again... Makes Luke feel very weird, and even he starts to get weirded out from his behavior.

...That's why his subconscious for some reason keeps saying that he should be the one to resolve this issue and get rid of the soldiers on his own.

It's not out of pride, that he can't let a woman do such a thing... But it's more of a thing that he HAS to do, it's like a test... If he successfully completed the test, then he can go to New World... but if he fails it, then he isn't worthy to go there.

''Shall we start going?'' Edward said and stood up.

Everyone nodded and started to pack the tents.

Half an hour later they were finished packing and started to walk towards the Rift.

They can already see the Rift perfectly.

And it is huge!

Definitely 20 kilometers or more in height.

Luke thought what if the plane accidentally went inside the Rift.

It would probably crash because the plane probably won't work in the New World.

He shrugged his shoulder, he looked in front of him and saw the backs of his parents and the small Emma walking next to them.

Edward, Sara, and Emma walked in the front.

While Aeriel walked beside Luke.

''What are we going to do with soldiers?'' Aeriel leaned close to Luke's ear and whispered which caused shivers to go through Luke's spine.

Luke decided to have his revenge and leaned on Aeriel's ear and whispered. ''We need to see the area they guard first, maybe we can sneak in.''

''Ah~'' Aeriel slightly moaned feeling Luke's hot breath in her ear, she quickly put her hands on her mouth, hoping that Luke didn't hear.

...But he did and he was very close to having a nosebleed, he was chanting a mantra in his mind. 'I am not creepy... I am not creepy... I am not creepy...'

Aeriel shyly turned her head and saw that Luke wasn't paying attention and looked like he was having a great battle of mind right now.

Aeriel sighed a relief, then she smiled happily and moved even closer to Luke, their arms almost touching.

''I can help you with my magic to get inside the Rift,'' Aeriel whispered.

Luke shook his head. ''I have a plan, but if I don't succeed, please help my family.''

Aeriel suspiciously looked at him. ''What are you planning? And why are you saying it like, if you fail your plan, you are going to die?''

Luke chuckled nervously. ''I will be fine, just make sure that my family will be safe, please.'' He looked seriously at her.

Aeriel was stunned for a moment until she nodded. ''Alright.''

But her face morphed into a sad face because she can feel that he wasn't completely honest.

'Ah, my chest hurts so much...' Luke touched his chest and grimaced in pain.

Every time he lies to her, he feels that his heart is getting crushed.

'I really need to see the psychiatrist, this ain't normal.' Luke thought, but are there even psychiatrists in the New World, he thought.

He really doesn't know much about the New World, he asked Aeriel but she only told everything she knew, which wasn't much.

It means that she never has gone out of her Kingdom to travel the world.

And now she is on Earth, which really makes Luke think that what was the World Tree thinking sending her out of all people.

She is obviously a very protected individual and her parents must be sick in worry.

Luke feels guilty that she had to come to Earth because of him, because of some kind of prophecy.

What Luke didn't know was, that the Prophecy was currently being fulfilled, even at this moment.

The Prophecy was all about the soulmate connection, which is between Aeriel and Luke.

The first part of Prophecy has been fulfilled, which was for them to meet at Earth.

The Wheels of Destiny has already started turning.

The future where Aeriel was from, has already been removed from existence.

While the present, where Luke didn't die, is the only reality currently.

No one knows what would happen in that other timeline where Luke died.

And no one knows just how much the destiny of the New World changed... Only because a certain female Elf, wanted to save her soulmate.

No one... Except for World Tree - Yggdrasil.

...But what one human can do?

With his frail human body.

Without any magic.

The New World has beings who can destroy a city with a single Magic Spell.

Creatures beyond your craziest fantasies.

The children in the New World can gather mana from their surroundings, which improves their Mana Core, making it more powerful.

Their Mana Core starts gathering the mana when the wielder of the Mana Core turns 8 years old.

It usually takes 1-2 years to get into the First Level of Mana Gathering.

But once they reach the First Level...

They can easily defeat Human adults...

So basically humans are weaker than 10-year-old kids in New World.

That is a world Luke enters.

Aeriel feels concerned about that fact, but she was planning to take care of him for all eternity.

She turns her head towards Luke.

She first plans to become his lover.

Then she will try to get him to move to the Elven Kingdom with his family.

Then she will introduce him to her parents.

Then Luke will move to the Palace and live with her.

Then they will get married!

Aeriel giggled silently, but then her face dyed in the color pink.

'T-T-Then babies! A lot of babies! I want 10 babies!'

Aeriel shyly twirled her hair while thinking about the future.

But Luke was thinking deeply.

They have walked over a hour after they left the camp area.

The Rift already feels like it's almost in front of them.

They will arrive soon.

They walked for another 30 minutes... Until they finally exited the forest.

They stopped and saw the scene in front of them.

Huge Golden Rift reaching towards the sky was only about kilometer away from them.

...But the scene wasn't what Luke wanted.

Huge army base was located not far from them, with endless amount of military cars and soldiers running around the base.

''Hide!'' Luke shouted and hid behind the tree.

Aeriel followed behind him.

While his parents and Emma was shocked for a moment until they hid behind the trees as well.

''Luke, what is it? Why aren't we going?'' Sara asked.

Luke shook his head and pointed towards the base. ''They won't let us enter the Rift.''

Edward and Sara widened their eyes.

''Why not?!'' Edward asked urgently.

''Probably because the orders from the Queen prohibits anyone to enter the Rift... but we shouldn't have gone from the main road to here... Should have gone from somewhere else.'' Luke scratched his head with frustration.

Edward with slight awkwardness scratched his head.

''What now? S-Should we go back?'' Sara asked timidly.

Luke feared that this would happen.

Aeriel leaned on his ear. ''I could use my Camouflage Magic to make us seem like soldiers.'' She whispered.

Luke looked at her and shook his head. ''They won't let any soldiers get close to the rift, because they might jump into the rift as well... That's why I think the few hundred-meter areas from Rift is closed space, anyone who tries to run towards Rift... Will be shot.''

Luke sat down on the ground. 'Think! Think!'

He kept anxiously thinking about a solution.