The sky was painted a soft orange as Grace stepped out of the restaurant. The air smelled faintly of rain, and the streets were busy with evening traffic.
She was currently in Country B. Other than a few rain showers, nothing major had happened there so far. This allowed her to shop around freely. If she wasn’t wrong, then she had spent nearly four hours hoarding supplies around the city.
Now, it was time to return to her apartment. She was just waiting for Davian who was making payment for the meal they just had. She stepped out first because she wanted to enjoy the beautiful view that the city presented.
She was busy taking in the hustle bustle around her, and then... it happened.
A deep, earth-shaking boom shattered the evening calm. It was so loud that it felt like the world itself was tearing apart, and there was no exaggeration there.
Grace froze completely. Her heart waa pounding frantically in her chest as the ground beneath her trembled violently. She heard as windows of the buildings around her rattled, and car alarms blared in every direction.
People stopped in their tracks while looking around in confusion. Some started pointing toward the horizon where an ominous gray plume of smoke was rising far in the distance.
And them, the shock wave hit just seconds later. It was like an invisible wall slamming into the city. Grace stumbled, barely managing to keep her balance as others around her fell to the ground. The glass windows of the restaurant behind her shattered, sending shards flying onto the sidewalk. Same thing happened to the glass windows of other buildings around her.
Screams erupted everywhere. People started abandoning their cars and were running frantically in all directions. There were parents who were clutching their children, trying their very best to shield them as the tremors continued.
There were paniced and surprised screams as people noticed some structures collapsing at a distance, adding more terror to the situation.
Grace’s ears were ringing while her mind was racing as she tried to grasp exactly whst happened. She quickly looked at the sky and realization hit her.
The volcano. It erupted.
In the previous timeline, a supervolcano in Country B erupted two months from the arrival of rain disaster. But just like how several things had gone completely different in this timeline, the volcano also erupted about twenty days earlier.
Thick clouds of ash began to drift overhead, darkening the already dim evening light. The air smelled burnt, sharp and acrid. Breathing felt harder, and Grace could see people covering their mouths and noses with whatever they could find - scarves, sleeves, even torn pieces of clothing.
She knew that she needed to start moving, more accurately - she needed to leave. Her thoughts immediately shifted to Davian, and that very moment, someone grabbed her hand from behind.
She turned around quickly, finding Davian standing there with a concerned look on his face. His eyes quickly scanned her as if to make sure that she wasn’t hurt before he started pulling her in a certain direction.
She didn’t complain or asked where he was taking her, she just followed after him silently. They made their way through the chaos and entered a building where people were running all around. Davian led her deeper into the building and found a secluded corner.
Grace quickly informed 2025 to handle the nearby cameras if there were any while Davian opened a portal. The moment the portal opened, the two of them stepped through it.
The magic of the portal washed over the two of them, and barely a moment later, the two of them were standing in the living room of Grace’s apartment.
Davian immediately pulled her toward the couch and made her sit down. He was then once again checking her, seeing if she was injured from the glass shards since she was close to the windows that shattered.
"I’m alright, Davian." She told him, trying to make him stop worrying about her.
He looked at her for a moment or two before finally letting out a sigh. He settled down on the couch next to her and buried his face in his palms. Seeing him like that, Grace realized that he wasn’t alright.
She reached out and placed her hand over his forearm. "Davian, are you okay?" She asked while scanning him, trying to see if he was injured. Thankfully, she didn’t notice any visible injury.
Davian inhaled deeply before he finally pulled his face out of his hands and fixed his gaze on her. He took hold of her hand that was resting on his arm, placing it between his big palms. "You had me feeling absolutely terrified there for a moment, Grace." He finally confessed, his voice thick with emotion.
"When the eruption happened and all those windows shattered, I felt terrified knowing that you were out there in the open. I was hardly able to breathe until I saw you standing there. It was... I just can’t..." His voice trembled as his emotions overwhelmed him, forcing him to trail off while he tried to get himself under control.
As for Grace, she was shocked to see him this worried about her. She couldn’t recall when was the last time she saw someone worrying about her like this. Of course there was her team, but the worry she was seeing in Davian’s eyes, it was different.
Without thinking much about it, she pulled her hand out of his hold only to throw it around him along with the other one, pulling him into a hug that left him stunned. But this surprise lasted barely for a moment or two as he soon was wrapping his arms around her, returning the hug.
Neither of them spoke, they didn’t need to. They just sat there in silence while holding each other in their arms. That gesture alone spoke what words could never. In this lifetime, the two of them were determined to save each other.