Vorden and Peter stood there, stunned, as they looked at the Red Portal that Tsukuru had just willinglyjumped through.
"No." Peter whispered.
His whole body began shaking, and tears welled in his eyes.
"What have I done?!"
Meanwhile, within the dark space of Vorden's mind, Vorden and Raten stared at the "screen" of Vorden's vision like it was a wide-screen TV in a living room.
Both of them had their jaws dropped.
"Holy…shit." Raten muttered. "I can't believe he just did that!"
Meanwhile, behind them, Sil's whole body was shaking,
He just stood there, eyes wide and mouth agape, looking like a frozen statue.
He looked like a lagging computer, his mind trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"No…" He muttered.
Then, he screamed.
"NO!" Sil roared, his face twisted in anger, tears welling from his eyes.
Instantly, both Vorden and Raten snapped back at him.
Their eyes widened in panic.
"Oh, Shit!" Raten yelled.
In the outside world, Vorden started grabbing his head.
Peter watched, as he started moving all over the place, swinging like crazy.
Back in the dark space, Raten had Sil restrained in a headlock.
Raten grit his teeth, exerting himself as Sil thrashed against him, flailing like a snarling animal.
"I'LL KILL HIM!" Sil roared. "I'LL KILL HIM MYSELF!"
Raten looked up at Vorden in the chair.
"Hey, I don't know how long I can hold him back, Vorden!" Raten replied.
Vorden turned back to him.
"You have to try!" Vorden shot back. "It he takes over, who knows when we'll be able to get control again!"
In the real world, Vorden turned to look at Peter.
Back in the dark space, Sil's struggle intensified when he saw Peter.
"Don't look at him!" Raten yelled. "The shock is already too much for him! Seeing Peter is just making his emotions stronger!"
Back in the real world, Peter saw tears begin to well in Vorden's eyes.
Vorden gulped, and he felt a deep pit form in his stomach.
Before Sil wrestled control, he knew what he had to do.
Slowly, Vorden began walking towards the Portal.
As he did, Peter's eyes widened.
"Vorden, what are you doing?!" He yelled.
Vorden then turned back around, and looked at Peter.
He had a…defeated look on his face.
As if he had made peace with his decision.
"Peter…this is for your own good." He replied. "But…you'd better hope that I don't make it back here alive!"
With that, Vorden followed Tsukuru through the Portal, running at it like a football quarterback, vanishing through the Portal.
***
At another location in the school, within a secure security room, a military soldier stared intently at a screen.
On the screen there was a 2-D map of the military base.
The screen was littered with small, red dots.
Each dot represented a student.
Above each dot, there was a black line, attached to it at a diagonal angle.
The line then made a sharp left turn, laying flat and extending outwards.
Above the line, the student's name was written.
The man looked at the screen with a bored expression, as he sipped a cup of coffee.
This was his job, watching the student's trackers.
"Man, I joined the military to fight Dalki, not to be a glorified babysitter!" He muttered.
Instantly, three out of four of the red dots in one of the rooms faded out of existence on the screen.
The man's eyes widened, and he jumped to his feet.
He slammed his open palms down on his table, making a slight bang.
"What the?" He muttered.
Instantly, he snapped his right arm up to his chest, and pressed his fingers against the screen of his wristwatch.
"Hey, this is Private Aaron Holt in the Security Room!" He yelled in an elevated voice. "Three students have just vanished off of the map!"
He then frantically began pressing buttons on the keyboard.
On the screen, the map zoomed in on that section, focusing on that single room.
"They were last seen in the restricted training room on the east wing!" He replied.
He then brought up the list of students, and scrolled down the list until the names outlined in red came up, indicating that they couldn't be located.
"Students are first-year Quinn Talen, first-year Vorden Blade, and…" The man's eyes widened in terror, as he saw the last name.
"Oh, no…" He gasped in a terrified voice.
Suddenly, a female's voice crackled through the speakers on his wristwatch.
"Private Aaron Holt, respond!" The voice replied. "What is the name of the last student?" She asked.
Private Aaron felt a cold dread fill him.
He snapped his head down towards the screen of his watch.
"Hikiko! It's Hikiko Tsukuru!" He replied in a terrified tone. "I repeat, Sergeant Hikiko Shizuka's brother has vanishedfrom the base!"
Inside his office in the second-year build, General Duke was doing paperwork.
Despite it being such a menial task, Duke had a satisfied smirk on his face.
By this time, the job would be done.
And that filthy Original, and that troublesome first-year would be out of his hair permanently.
Suddenly, the door to his office burst open.
In the doorway stood Sergeant Dillon.
"General Duke, we have a problem!" He said in a frantic tone.
Duke glanced up at him lazily.
"I take it the job is done?" He asked.
Sergeant Dillon gulped nervously.
"Yes, sir." He replied. "But…"
Duke looked up at him, starting to become annoyed.
"'But'what?" He asked.
There was a long silence, as if Sergeant Dillon was struggling to force the words out.
"Hikiko Tsukuru, he's vanished from the base, as well!" He replied.
Instantly, Duke's eyes widened to the point that his pupils had become pinpricks.
He jumped to his feet.
"Hikiko went through the Red Portal?!" He yelled.
Not trusting his own voice, Sergeant Dillon nodded quickly and repeatedly.
Suddenly, General Duke felt his heart race, and a cold dread run through him.
'No.' He thought in a panic. 'Nonononono!'
The Original and the Talen boy could be written off as "unfortunate accidents", but Hikiko Tsukuru…he both had connections to the military, and was of vital importance to them.
He provided them both with free Glathrium and healing potions every week!
If he was to suddenly disappear…
General Duke gulped.
"Head General Paul's gonna have my head!" Duke replied, his hands shooting up to his head, and gripping at his temples.
Then he grit his teeth.
"That's if Hikiko Shizuka doesn't take it first!"
***
Three days prior, during Del's Homeroom Class…
"When Teleporters had first been discovered, there was hope that the Humans would be able to use them to travel to wherever they wanted." Del explained, looking over the class to make sure everyone was paying attention. "At last, the idea of colonizing other planets like Mars would finally be a dream come true! While spacecrafts had been invented, they were unable to travel at the lightspeeds required to make the trips viable."
A sad smile crept across Del's face, and he shook his head solemnly.
"But..that dream was short-lived. The Portals were only able to pinpoint planets in a set location, a place that was a complete unknownto our Solar System." Del continued. "Perhaps, they led to another dimension altogether. No one quite knows the truth, and scientists could only theorizewhy the Portals led to these locations, but what they did discover was that each and everyone of these planets were covered in Beasts. Beasts that humanity had never seen before."
Del smiled, as he carried on his lecture.
"When these Beasts were killed and harvested for research, it was then that Beast Crystals were discovered. These 'Crystals' were brimming with a strange energy that we now call 'Beast Energy'. Although many would say that the turning point of the war was the discovery of the Originals and Abilities, this wasn't exactly true. Abilities could only take Humans so far, and there weren't many with Abilities powerful enough to stand against the Dalki."
A cold dread filled the room, and even Del's voice took on a somber tone.
"Their technology was too advanced compared to what we had access to. Our nuclear weapons would merely be Portaled out to another location before they could even hit the ships, and even bullets had no effect on the Dalki's skin."
As Del continued his lecture, Layla noticed Erin clench her teeth and fists.
"However, that was when a new discovery was made due to the contributions of Richard Eno!" Del continued, his voice lifting back up to an excited tone. "And thus, the Beast Weapons and Beast Gear we know today were created! By combining our Abilities with the powerful Beast Gear, it was the true turning point of the war!"
Suddenly, Del lost most of his enthusiasm, and he let out a deep sigh.
His face deflated to a more exhausted look.
"Unfortunately, not many people remember this." He replied. "Most are too hyper-focused on just the Abilities that were discovered at the same time."
Del then cleared his throat, causing the students to all turn to him.
He snapped his book shut.
"And that…ends today's lecture on Portals."
***