THE PORTAL
Dave had always believed, that time was the one thing no one could escape.
You could lose money and earn it back.
You could lose a job and find another one.
You could lose someone and spend years hoping life would somehow bring them back.
But time?
Time moved in only one direction.
Forward.
At least, that was what Dave believed before the night his entire life disappeared.
It was nearly midnight when he left his office.
The streets of the city were quieter than usual, though the distant sound of cars still echoed between the buildings. Dave loosened his tie and rubbed his tired eyes as he walked toward his car.
Another long day.
Another night of deadlines.
Another morning waiting for him in only a few hours.
At thirty-two years old, Dave’s life had become a routine he barely questioned anymore. He woke up, worked, went home, slept, and repeated everything the next day.
There had been dreams once.
He had wanted to build something meaningful. Travel the world. Fall in love.
But somewhere between responsibilities and growing older, those dreams had quietly disappeared.
Dave reached his car and unlocked it.
Then his phone rang.
He looked at the screen.
His younger sister.
He answered immediately.
“Why are you still awake?” Dave asked.
“That’s supposed to be my question,” she replied. “It’s almost midnight. Are you still at work?”
“I’m leaving now.”
“You always say that.”
“I’m literally standing beside my car.”
She laughed. “Good. Go home before you turn into one of those people who marry their jobs.”
Dave smiled faintly.
“I’ll call you tomorrow.”
“You better.”
The call ended.
For a few seconds, Dave stood silently beside his car.
The night felt strange.
Too quiet.
A cold wind moved through the street.
Dave looked around.
There was no rain. No storm. Nothing unusual.
And yet, something made the hair on the back of his neck rise.
He quickly dismissed the feeling.
He opened the driver’s door.
Then the streetlights went out.
Dave froze.
One by one, every light along the road disappeared into darkness.
“What the—”
His phone screen flickered.
Then it turned off.
The city around him became completely silent.
No cars.
No voices.
No sound.
Dave slowly stepped away from his car.
“Hello?”
No answer.
Then he saw it.
At the end of the street, between two old buildings, a faint light appeared.
At first, Dave thought it was headlights.
But there were no cars.
The light grew brighter.
A circle began forming in the darkness.
Dave stared.
The air inside the circle twisted like water.
Blue and silver lights moved around each other, spinning faster and faster.
He took a step backward.
“No.”
The strange light grew larger.
Dave’s heart began pounding.
This wasn’t possible.
There had to be an explanation.
A projection.
A strange electrical malfunction.
Anything.
But then the wind came.
Violent and sudden.
Dave grabbed the side of his car as the force pulled him forward.
“What is happening?”
The portal spun faster.
Dave’s shoes scraped against the pavement.
He tried to hold on.
His fingers tightened against the metal.
But the force became stronger.
His hand slipped.
“Help!”
No one heard him.
Dave was pulled across the road.
He desperately grabbed for anything—a street sign, a wall, the ground.
Nothing worked.
The moment his body entered the light, everything disappeared.
There was no street.
No city.
No sound.
Only darkness.
Dave felt himself falling.
He couldn’t breathe.
He couldn’t scream.
Images flashed before his eyes.
A battlefield.
A burning house.
A woman crying.
A large mansion surrounded by soldiers.
Then—
A beautiful young woman.
Her face appeared clearly before him.
She was looking at him.
Her eyes were filled with sadness.
Her lips moved.
Dave couldn’t hear what she was saying.
Then everything vanished.
Dave opened his eyes.
For several seconds, he couldn’t move.
His entire body hurt.
He was lying on cold, wet ground.
The air smelled different.
Earth.
Smoke.
Something burning in the distance.
Dave slowly sat up.
His head was spinning.
“Where am I?”
He reached for his phone.
It was still in his pocket.
The screen was cracked.
He pressed the power button.
Nothing.
“Great.”
Dave stood.
His legs were shaking.
He looked around.
He was no longer standing between tall buildings.
There were no streetlights.
No cars.
No concrete roads.
Instead, he stood in the middle of a forest.
Tall trees surrounded him.
A dirt road stretched ahead.
Dave turned around.
Nothing.
The portal was gone.
His heart began racing.
“Okay,” he whispered. “Okay. This is fine.”
It wasn’t fine.
He walked toward the road.
Perhaps there was a town nearby.
Perhaps he had somehow been transported outside the city.
Maybe he had been unconscious for hours.
Maybe someone had kidnapped him.
There had to be a logical explanation.
Dave followed the dirt road.
After nearly an hour of walking, he heard something.
Horses.
He stopped.
The sound grew louder.
A carriage appeared from around the corner.
Dave stared at it.
A real carriage.
Pulled by horses.
Two men sat in front wearing dark coats and strange clothing.
Dave stepped into the road.
“Excuse me!”
The carriage suddenly stopped.
The horses moved nervously.
The driver stared at Dave.
So did the men riding behind him.
Their expressions changed from confusion to suspicion.
Dave looked down at himself.
Dress shirt.
Black pants.
Leather shoes.
He suddenly realized how strange he must look.
“Uh...” Dave said. “Can you tell me where I am?”
One of the men slowly stepped down from the carriage.
“What did you say?”
Dave blinked.
The man’s accent sounded unfamiliar.
“I asked where I am.”
The man looked at the others.
“What village do you come from?”
“Village?”
The man stepped closer.
His hand moved toward the weapon at his waist.
Dave immediately raised his hands.
“Okay. Relax. I’m not dangerous.”
The man studied him.
“What kingdom are you from?”
Dave stared.
“What?”
“Your clothes. Your manner of speaking. What kingdom?”
Dave slowly looked at the carriage.
Then the horses.
Then the weapons.
A terrible realization began forming in his mind.
“No,” he whispered.
The man frowned.
“What year is this?”
Silence.
The men exchanged confused looks.
Dave stepped closer.
“What year is it?”
One of them finally answered.
“The year of our Lord, eighteen hundred and twenty-six.”
Dave stopped breathing.
He laughed.
Once.
Then again.
The men stared at him.
“This is a joke.”
No one answered.
“Right?”
Dave looked around desperately.
Hidden cameras.
Movie production.
Anything.
But there was nothing.
Only the forest.
The horses.
The carriage.
And the frightened faces of strangers who clearly had no idea what a smartphone was.
Dave slowly stepped backward.
“1826.”
His voice shook.
“No. No, no, no.”
The driver crossed himself.
“Is the man possessed?”
Dave heard him.
“I’m not possessed!”
The men immediately moved away.
“Stop saying that!”
Dave took a deep breath.
He needed to calm down.
There had to be a way back.
The portal.
The strange circle of light.
Maybe it would appear again.
Maybe he just needed to find it.
“I need to go back,” he whispered.
The men continued staring at him.
“Where are you going?” one asked.
Dave looked at the road behind him.
“Home.”
But for the first time in his life, Dave didn’t know where home was.
The sun was beginning to rise when Dave finally reached the town.
He had spent the entire night walking.
The men with the carriage had eventually allowed him to follow them from a distance, though they clearly didn’t trust him.
As Dave entered the town, his fear became impossible to ignore.
Everything was real.
People walked through the streets wearing clothing he had only seen in historical films.
Women wore long dresses.
Men rode horses.
Merchants sold vegetables, bread, and fabric from wooden stalls.
Children ran barefoot across the dirt roads.
There were soldiers.
Dave noticed them immediately.
They stood near the town entrance.
Their uniforms were dark.
Their faces serious.
A woman hurried past him and pulled her child closer.
People were afraid.
There was something happening.
Something bigger than an ordinary day.
Dave watched as two men spoke quietly nearby.
“The fighting is getting closer.”
“Do you think the soldiers will come here?”
“They say another village was attacked.”
Dave felt cold.
War.
He had traveled into the past.
And he had arrived during a war.
Perfect.
Just perfect.
Dave pulled his jacket closer and continued walking.
People stared at him.
Some whispered.
Others avoided him.
His clothes made him look completely out of place.
Eventually, hunger became stronger than fear.
He hadn’t eaten since the previous afternoon.
He approached a small bakery.
The smell of fresh bread made his stomach hurt.
“How much?” Dave asked.
The woman behind the stall stared at him.
He pointed toward the bread.
She named a price.
Dave reached into his pocket.
His wallet.
Credit cards.
Modern money.
Useless.
He stared at the bills in his hand.
The woman frowned.
“What is that?”
Dave quickly put them away.
“Nothing.”
He walked away before she could ask more questions.
His stomach growled.
“Fantastic,” he muttered.
No food.
No money.
No phone.
No way home.
Dave had never felt so completely alone.
He walked toward the edge of town.
That was when he heard screaming.
A horse had become frightened.
It rushed through the crowded street.
People screamed and moved out of the way.
Dave stepped back.
Then he saw her.
A young woman stood in the middle of the road.
Frozen.
A basket had fallen from her hands.
The horse was running directly toward her.
Dave didn’t think.
He ran.
“Move!”
The woman looked up.
Their eyes met.
For one strange second, Dave forgot everything.
He knew that face.
He had seen her before.
In the darkness.
Inside the portal.
But he had no time to understand why.
Dave grabbed her arm.
They fell to the ground just as the horse rushed past them.
The woman gasped.
Dave landed beside her.
For several seconds, neither of them moved.
Then she slowly turned toward him.
Dave looked into her eyes.
Beautiful.
The same woman.
The woman he had seen inside the portal.
“Are you hurt?” Dave asked.
She stared at him.
“No.”
Her voice was soft.
Dave suddenly realized he was still holding her hand.
He quickly released it.
“Sorry.”
The woman sat up.
Her dress was covered in dirt.
A few people ran toward them.
“Miss Elina!”
Dave froze.
Elina.
The name echoed in his mind.
The woman looked at him.
“Thank you for saving me.”
Dave couldn’t explain it.
He had traveled through time.
He had lost everything.
He had no idea how to return home.
But the moment Elina looked at him, he felt something impossible.
As if fate had brought him here for a reason.
Elina smiled.
It was small.
Gentle.
Beautiful.
“What is your name?”
Dave stared at her.
“D-Dave.”
“Dave,” she repeated.
His name sounded different when she said it.
Elina slowly stood.
She looked at his strange clothes.
Her curiosity was obvious.
“You are not from here.”
Dave gave a nervous laugh.
“You have absolutely no idea.”
Elina smiled again.
Then, for the first time since arriving in 1826, Dave smiled too.
He didn’t know it yet.
He didn’t know that this woman would become the greatest love of his life.
He didn’t know that loving her would cost him everything.
And he certainly didn’t know that one day, two centuries later, he would spend years searching for her face.
But somewhere beyond time—
Beyond the years that separated them—
Their story had already begun.
And fate had just opened its first door.
