Alrik had a feeling that he would be too late if he remained in the car, but he had nothing made of Anamite that he could possibly fight with.

"Our connection is being strained by the distance. You need to bring me to you through the soul plane."

"I can't risk soul walking now? What if I wake when it's already too late?"

"It's the only way you can save her. I am the only weapon you can use now. Focus on your will to save Eliza, your love for her. Let that guide you. You shouldn't be able to access this ability yet, but it's an emergency. It has to work."

While the driver sped up the car like there was fire on his ass, tremors began again. Another earthquake, but of a smaller magnitude. It wasn't strong enough like the last one, but Alrik already knew that it didn't matter. Danger was close.

"Don't stop driving no matter what. My wife is in the parking lot. Take me to her." Alrik instructed the driver and closed his eyes.

He recalled Zee's earlier instruction and began to take deep breaths, in seven counts and out seven counts. With Eliza's life on the line, he allowed no distraction, and within seconds, he slipped into a meditative state, and then into the soul plane. He didn't want to scare the life out of the driver, so he kept the partition between them up, so he wouldn't be seen in his corpse-like state.

As always, when he was in the soul plane, his connection to Zee became stronger, and in the blink of an eye, he was back at his home, beside his bed where Zee was kept.

"What do I do now? How do I bring you back to reality at my current location?" He asked.

"Doing this will drain whatever Mana you managed to cultivate during your first meditative state, and it may weaken your body since it hasn't properly prepared for this level of power. But I know you're willing to take the risk, so focus. You don't need to grab me, because in the soul plane, I have no physical likeness, just like you have no body. So you need to connect your essence with mine, and grab onto that."

"Your essence?"

"There's no time, Alrik! Focus, and you'll understand. We're connected even without a bond, and what makes it possible is the essence we share through your bloodline."

He concentrated, and gasped when he felt what Zee was talking about. It was like a swirling cloud of pure energy that was concentrated between them. He wondered why he had never felt it before, but as he reached towards it, he finally understood why.

It was like being struck by lightning, or being ripped apart from the inside out. Zee was right. His body was too weak, too mortal at that point to handle it all. He felt his life force slipping away, and only Zee's voice snapped him out of it.

"Remember your purpose, Alrik. Eliza is in danger. She needs to be saved."

Alrik's whole being vibrated, and he knew that if he had been in a physical body, he would be in loads of pain at the moment, but he didn't let that deter him. He had only one thought as he grabbed onto that essence and pulled it towards himself. Eliza. He refused to let her die. Zee had experienced losing her beloved, and she knew how devastating it could be. She refused to let the same thing repeat itself with Alrik. Their combined effort made it happen.

In the blink of an eye, Alrik was back in the car, and Zee lay across his lap.

"Good job. Now go."

"Sir, we're…"

Alrik didn't let the driver finish speaking before he jumped out of the still moving car, and sprinted across the parking lot with a speed faster than the human eye could follow. He nearly ran into a wall when the little tremors in the ground gradually became stronger, and it seemed like the ground was shifting.

He found Eliza immediately, standing close to the elevators, and holding onto the wall, while looking down at her phone, with no clue of the danger she was in. She was probably trying to call him. She gasped when a light breeze stirred her hair and she found him standing in front of her, with Zee still sheathed, but held firmly in his hand.

"Alrik! Damn, you scared me. Why are you…" She trailed off as she saw the look in his eyes, and then registered the fact that he was holding the sword.

At that moment, just a few feet in front of them, she watched with terrified, wide eyes as a sinkhole appeared, and eight beasts crawled out. Every citizen of Velmorra and Valderra knew of the beasts that plagued their country's outskirts. But the military forces of both nations had released as little information as possible to the public to avoid spreading mass panic and chaos, so only vague drawings of the beasts were available in the libraries.

Seeing one face to face was a thing of horror, like your wildest nightmare come to life. This was what soldiers faced on the battlefield anytime the portals opened. Eliza developed a greater sense of respect and awe for them at that moment, because all she wanted to do was puke. Even families with soldiers avoided discussing the true nature of the beasts, mostly because most that returned from battle with the creatures were too traumatised to speak about it.

"Alrik. We don't have any weapons made of Anamite." She whispered as she watched the beasts circle around the portal, almost like they were waiting for something, and Alrik panicked a little.

He knew what they were waiting for. A red one. Luckily, nothing else came out of the sinkhole, and the beasts seemed to wail together, before their frenzy began. Even without faces, they always seemed to know exactly where their prey was, and they locked on to Alrik and Eliza immediately.

"Stay behind me." Alrik ordered, and there was a zing in the air as she drew Zerdon from the sheath.

Then something weird happened. As soon as he raised Zee in the air, the beasts all seemed to freeze. Alrik moved into soldier mode immediately. He may be a CEO, but before that, he was a trained military commander, despite his dismissal. He used their pause to slice the heads off two beasts, before the others seemed to regain their senses.

The slices were clean, and straight through. Alrik nearly whistled. Not even anamite swords could cut through beast skin this sharply. One of the beasts tried to move around the side and go for Eliza, and Alrik dived after it. It's head was off before it could even shriek that inhuman sound the beasts all seemed to make. No one could guess the source of the sound because the damn things didn't even have mouths.

Three down, five more to go. Two more tried to jump over him to get to Eliza, and he sliced them open, before taking off their heads. Beheading ensured they wouldn't heal.

Three more to go. The remaining three shrank back, and shrieked at him like they were trying to make him deaf. Eliza grabbed her ears, and shook as the eerie sound seemed to permeate through her skin. Watching Alrik fight was a thing of beauty, but she was also terrified he would get hurt. She remained quiet though, to avoid distracting him.

The beasts bled black, and their blood smelled foul. Alrik's shoes were stained with it, but somehow, none was on the sword. It was like the blood was burned off as soon as it touched the blade. One beast detached from the rest, and ran at Alrik at full speed. It was after taking off the head of that one that he realised that it had just been a distraction.

"Fuck!" He swore and the remaining two beasts headed towards the exit of the parking area.

This was around work closing hours, so there would be people roaming around, and their lives were all in danger. But he hesitated. Then he looked towards the sinkhole that was still in the ground. What if more beasts came through while he wasn't here and attacked Eliza? Her life mattered more to him than the lives of who knew how many people were out there, about to be torn apart by the beasts.

"Go. I'll be fine. I'll take the elevator and stay upstairs locked in my office till you return."

She saw the struggle on his face, and while she was glad that he loved her enough to choose her over the lives of others, she knew if people actually died, it would haunt him for the rest of his life. She kissed him, and nudged him forward.

"Go!"

He gave her one last look as she tapped the elevator button, and then took off after the beasts.

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