THE MOMENT
"STAY BACK!!" Lonnie brandished the kitchen knife at the unexpected intruder as she put herself between the invader and her children. "WHAT ARE YOU!!?" The family of three was trying to find safety without attracting any unwanted attention, except a strange figure in all black with a crescent moon covering her face entirely emerged from a black portal directly in their path. There was no way it didn't see them, and Lonnie was ready to defend as she tried to back away. It was late afternoon, and they were below ground, so the parking garage was exceedingly dim. Lonnie was trying to wonder if it'd be safer or more dangerous for her kids in the shadows.
"Whoa, hey, sorry," the figure spoke with a feminine voice and raised her arms up slowly. She lowered her black hood and removed the mask to reveal she was a teenage girl with dusty blonde hair and a prominent streak of green in her bangs. "You can call me Aurora," she said. "I'm just kind of looking around. Do you guys need some help?" They seemed panicked, and there was quite a ruckus coming from, seemingly, everywhere in the city.
"Are you... human?" Lonnie asked. She wanted to believe in help. She felt her children, 7-year-old Otis, and 5-year-old Lori, crowd closer to her, eager to be done running.
"That's a question," Aurora smiled as she looked around the dim garage. Her eyes were glowing with gentle golden light, and she giggled. "Whooaaa.. there's a lot going on out there. Demons, Kaiju, robots,... do you know what's happening?" she asked. "Oh yeah, I'm totally human by the way," she nodded. "I have a Unique Soul," she made her eyes glow for effect. "But, the body's all human."
"Where did you come from?" Lonnie asked? "You don't know what's going on?" She braved a few steps closer with her children. Her posture relaxed slightly, but the knife didn't fall. "It's the end of the world. Been almost a week already, it kind of feels like they're deciding who gets to end it," she said. She didn't quite feel comfortable revealing how vulnerable her family was in that moment. They thought they'd found safety within the first few hours, but that only lasted a few days before someone they trusted turned on the whole group and sold them out. Lonnie hadn't made the mistake of getting comfortable, and she was able to flee with her kids. Now they were sneaking between buildings, hoping to find another place to rest.
"I'm from a different Earth," Aurora nodded. She made a gesture at the air, and another black portal opened; it resembled the one she came through initially. "You guys can go through there and find safety," she said. As she spoke, two other portals opened behind her, and green-skinned goblins wearing black and purple began filing out of one, and taller grey-skinned trolls emerged from the other in the same outfits. She made some gestures at the air in front of her, and some sort of table or control panel started taking shape from white dust and glowing light.
"What are you doing?" Lonnie asked. She'd herded her kids toward the portal Aurora offered while still keeping them behind her. Somehow, the fact that two different races were coming out of each of the portals helped her understand that they didn't all lead to the same place. She had no other option, and despite that, she still felt it was easy to trust Aurora.
"The world's gonna end," Aurora nodded at Lonnie with a smile. The console in front of her took final shape, and Lonnie thought it resembled a DJ deck more than anything. It didn't help her understand what was happening, nor Aurora's answer. But, she didn't wait to think about it. As soon as Aurora answered, she dashed through the portal with her kids. "It's literally the best time for a party."
