Sorry for how rushed this seems compared to the last chapter, but I felt as though I really needed to get to it. This is mainly dialogue, but some stuff definitely needed to be explained. At last, Lydia is getting into the plot. Please read and review.

CHAPTER FOUR: Portal

Lydia didn't know when she had lost consciousness, but when she reawoke she was lying with her back to the floor buried under a series of thick, fur blankets. Despite the fire burning in the fireplace and the numerous layers of fur, Lydia felt unusually cold.

Carefully, she peeled away the layers as she struggled to unravel her body from its cocoon. Finally she uncovered her injured arm, bandaged tightly and held in place with loops of the very same material which was tied around her chest, which was completely bare with nothing but the thin bandages covering her. She forced herself up so as to scan her new environment and to search for something to cover herself with.

The room was surprisingly pleasant despite how dark it was. The walls were covered in patterned rugs, roughly so the bare walls were visible for Lydia to see. Other than the makeshift bed Lydia was lying in, there was an old wooden table with two silent chairs equal distances away from the table. On the table itself was a small plate on which there was a mixture of potatoes and overcooked meat. Lydia's stomach let out a loud, agonizing groan as her mouth watered and she stared at the meal so close yet so far away from her. Her legs were weak, so she crawled over to her chair, the blankets trailing behind her, and pulled herself up with her good arm. Never in her entire life had she felt so starved.

Plunging her knife and fork into the meat, Lydia sawed away at the steak and shoved pieces too large for her into her mouth and gulped them down without a second thought. Within minutes, she had devoured the meat and was making her way through the potatoes until soon the entire meal had vanished in no time at all. Seven minutes. A record. Lydia rubbed her stomach contently and slumped back into her chair.

Staring at the fireplace, she noticed the Egyptian artefacts placed gently on the mantelpiece, treated with the utmost care. Lydia flopped back into a normal sitting position and gently stood up, her legs shaking ever so slightly under her weight.

Looking closely at them, Lydia had a feeling that these artefacts were not copies as she suspected, but genuine artefacts. But she was no expert, so she wouldn't know.

There was a clanking at the door which startled Lydia into turning around. She briefly lost balance and almost tumbled into the fireplace, before she managed to grab hold of the mantelpiece and regain her balance. Standing at the entrance way was a small girl with bright red hair and charcoal eyes dressed in desert clothing and carrying a heavy pot full of an unknown food. The girl stared at Lydia for a few moments, as though contemplating how she should react, before smiling gently and placing the pot on the table Lydia had not long eaten from.

"We were beginning to think that you would never awaken." She stated calmly, gesturing for Lydia to sit down in her bed. "If Kai had not found you lying where you were, there is no doubt that you would have died out there." The girl knelt down in front of Lydia, who had just sat down, and opened up her satchel. It was full of sterile bandages and other pieces of medical equipment. "Is your arm doing well?"

"It doesn't hurt as much." Lydia briefly answered. The girl smiled again.

"That is good. Such injuries can be lethal in a place like this, and we need you in the best possible condition for what you are about to go through." Huh? What did she mean by that? Lydia was about to question the girl on her statement, but was stopped when another figure entered the room, blocking the entire doorway and any light that had come from the outside world. The girl turned her head of golden red, and literally glowed with cheer. "Kai! You're back!" she sang, running up to hug the massive man. He had a roguish look to him with stubble appearing on leather skin that had been hazardly covered in desert gear. His eyes were a steel grey and had a look to them to show that even as he smiled and hugged the petite figure before him, he was on guard. Kai noticed Lydia was awake and staring at them with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked. His voice had a certain gruffness to it that could turn threatening within seconds, but for now it appeared relaxed and passive. Lydia nodded stiffly. "Good, you probably slept off most of the fever." He glanced at the empty plate as he rose and placed his sack on the table. "Did you enjoy your meal?"

"I never knew I could be so hungry in my entire life until I saw that meal." Lydia said with a laugh. The man smiled politely. "Thank you so much. But is it okay if I ask you a question?" The man nodded. "Can you tell me how to get back to my party?"

There was silence in the room. Even the fire's crackling seemed to dim, as though realizing how impolite it was to make such a ruckus at that time. The silence startled Lydia into caution. It was the eerie kind of silence you would receive upon being told your parents died in a horrible accident or the one man you loved had been cheating on you for the entire time you were together. The girl cut the silence short.

"I'm afraid we cannot." She stated simply, sitting down in the chair next to her. Any cheer that had come from seeing her companion again had vanished within milliseconds.

"Can I ask why not?" Lydia pursued, guarded and ready to run if threatened.

"Because they are not here." The girl replied, choosing to be non-specific.

"What do you mean by that? They are working on a dig sight not too far away from here." Lydia protested, not understanding what the girl meant by 'not here'.

"Yes, they are doing just that. But not here." She said harshly, setting her eyes on Lydia. They were like dark pebbles set in her face.

"What do you mean by not here? Can you explain where I am?" Lydia announced loudly, irritated and upset. What on earth was going on? The girl sighed, not so much out of anger, but out of pity.

"It's difficult to describe where you are, but you are in the same area as your excavation party even if you aren't in the same space."

"Wait, what do you mean by 'not in the same space'?"

"I meant exactly what I just said. While you are still in the same spot you were when you were with your party, your spirit and body have been separated from your party members through unknown means. The same has happened to us, but we came willingly." The news shocked Lydia into denial. At first, she smiled. This smile turned into laughter and soon this laugh turned into hysterical fits of giggles that physically hurt Lydia so she stopped.

"Sorry, that's a nice story and all, but I'm not so gullible." Lydia forced herself to stand up straight and made her way to the door. "If you're going to play tricks on me, and least make them believable." But the moment Lydia stepped outside the door; she noticed how everything had shifted again. The sand dunes were higher than before, but that was not what scared Lydia. No, what made Lydia walk back into the cottage was the sky. Dark cracks were clearly visible in the desert sky and there appeared to be electricity passing through them.

"I wouldn't lie to you, Lydia. You really aren't home."

"This is a temporary stop that has only existed for a short period of time. It serves as a resting place for people such as yourself before being sent to their designated time. Kai and I serve as carers for these people so that they are in the best possible condition before they are sent away. When the crisis at hand is finally solved, this dimension will be eliminated and everyone will return back to their normal lives." The girl stared forlornly at the wall. "As you could tell from looking outside, this dimension is already beginning to crumble. This is how we know we have a suitable person for the challenge ahead in our grasp. Your existence alone was enough to cause a psychological impact on the person that created this dimension. While you were asleep, we came to the conclusion that in order to solve the conflicts going on elsewhere, we would send you to the same time we sent everyone else."

"Are you crazy!? I'm just a normal girl! And even if I wasn't, do you seriously expect me to be able to save someone from some other dimension or something ridiculous like that!?" Lydia protested, showing her dislike of the entire subject.

"Trust me, you are anything but a normal girl. You proved that when you managed to enter this dimension to start with." Kai shot back harshly, silencing Lydia's protests.

"We are not expecting you to do it alone. We never did. There are others that have come before you that are still at that time and have managed to gain a place there. They will be able to help you finish your duty. Along with that, we shall help you from this dimension." The girl said softly, hoping to comfort Lydia.

"But what if I fail?" Lydia asked miserably, staring at the ground helplessly. This was all just too much for her to handle. The girl smiled gently, patting her head.

"We will make sure that such a thing never happens. We are all here for you, no matter what and we are definitely going to make sure you win." The girl caught Lydia in a motherly hug, stroking her back comfortingly.

"I'm scared." She whispered, struggling to hold back tears. "All I want to do is go home."

"I know you are scared. You always have been. But I promise that we are always going to be here to support you even at the darkest of times. I can also promise you that once this is all over, you can return back to your normal life with your friends and family as though none of this ever happened. We owe you that much." She let Lydia go so she could wipe away her tears.

Lydia was quiet for a few moments before she looked up again. And when she looked up, her eyes had such intentness in them that it stunned the duo before her.

"So…when do we get started?"

The girl handed Lydia a linen shirt which she pulled on over her chest.

"The stronger you look, the more likely you are to survive. This sack has some medical equipment for taking care of the wound as well as some other necessities." Lydia took the sack from Lydia and opened it. Food, water, herbs and the such. "It will take a while for you to be able to gain living quarters of your own for a while, so you're going to have to be able to take care of yourself for a while."

"No pressure then." Lydia replied with a lopsided grin.

The girl took Lydia by the hand and guided her past the herbal garden around the back of the house to a small, abandoned well not too far beyond the fencing. When Lydia took a moment to lean over the edge, she was met by a black nothingness that she was all too familiar with. But if she stared at it long enough, sparks of colour flashed through the darkness.

"This is where we part ways." Lydia turned to the girl, completely forgetting she was there.

"This is the portal?"

"Indeed, this is your means of getting to the other world." Lydia looked down at the portal and grinned nervously. She better be right.

"Then I guess this really is where we part ways." She stood over the edge, her sack clasped tightly in her hands. She turned to the girl one last time. "I suppose this is goodbye then." The girl gave her a thumbs up which Lydia copied before turning back to the portal. She gulped loudly and got ready to jump. "As they say in Germany, don't die before I do!" She yelled, dropping into the portal.

And that is the end of the chapter! Thanks for reading. Please read and review! I hoped you enjoyed it. Now for some other news; I won't be able to update for a while because I'll be on holiday in Tunisia (that right, near Egypt) for the next week and probably won't have computer access due to how evil my airport is. I'll make sure to have an extra long chapter for you for then. Until then, cheerio.