**A Sudden Abduction**

The sunlight streaming through the window danced across the small café, casting a warm glow over the quiet morning atmosphere. I sat at a table, sipping my coffee and enjoying the peaceful company of my beautiful wife, Emily. Her green eyes sparkled as she laughed at something I had said, and her fiery red hair seemed to shimmer in the morning light. We had been married for five years, and moments like these were a reminder of why I fell in love with her in the first place. As we sat there, lost in our own little world, a sudden flash of light caught my attention. A swirling portal materialized in the air, its edges churning and pulsating with an otherworldly energy. I felt a shiver run down my spine as a figure emerged from the portal. He was tall and imposing, dressed in black robes that seemed to billow behind him like smoke. Before I could react, the stranger strode across the café, his eyes fixed intently on Emily. He reached out and grasped her arm, his grip like a vice. "You will do," he declared, his voice low and menacing. I tried to move, to react, but my body seemed frozen in place. The stranger pulled Emily back through the portal, and I was left sitting there, helpless and stunned. The portal began to shrink, its edges closing in on themselves like a camera aperture. Without thinking, I leapt to my feet and dove through the portal, feeling the familiar sensation of being pulled through space and time. The world around me blurred and distorted, and I felt a strange, disorienting sense of weightlessness. As the portal closed behind me, I stumbled forward, gasping for breath. I found myself standing in a vast, open plain, surrounded by towering mountains that seemed to stretch up to the sky. The air was thick with an otherworldly scent, and the sky above was a deep, bloody red. As I looked around, trying to get my bearings, I noticed something strange. The landscape seemed... different. The rocks and trees seemed older, more weathered than they should be. And the air... the air seemed to vibrate with a strange, pulsating energy. A figure approached me, dressed in long, flowing robes that seemed to shimmer and glow in the strange light. "Welcome, traveler," he said, his voice low and gravelly. "I see you have come through the portal. You are... late." I felt a surge of confusion and alarm. "Late?" I repeated. "What do you mean? I just came through the portal a few seconds ago." The stranger chuckled, a dry, mirthless sound. "Ah, but time passes differently here," he said. "In your world, perhaps only a few seconds passed. But here... hundreds of years have come and gone." I felt a cold dread creeping up my spine as I realized the implications. I had traveled through time, as well as space. And I had no idea what I would find when I finally located Emily. The stranger's words hung in the air, leaving me with a sense of foreboding and unease. I steeled myself for what was to come, determined to find my wife and bring her back home. But as I looked around at the unfamiliar landscape, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was in over my head.