With the two of them using their Ability in tandem, they were finally able to bend the door down enough to create a small opening. Just big enough for them to slip through. They quickly lunged forwards, and jumped through the small opening. Once inside, the two turned back around, and held out their hands once again, reactivating their Ability. The Rattaclaw closest to the entrance leapt in after the two, and it just managed to get its head in the opening.
"Close, damn it!" Vorden grunted, as he and Ian struggled to bend the door back into place.
Just then, they succeeded in shutting the door. As the door bent back into place, it lopped off the Rattaclaw's head like a pair of scissors. A loud thump was heard, as the Rattaclaw's head hit the floor inside the training center, and slowly began rolling away from the two.
Vorden and Ian, now inside and with the door shut, noticed something. It was incredibly dark inside the training center. There were a few LED lights that were placed on the floor against the walls, but other than that, the lights above them were completely out.
As Ian took a step forward, he could both hear andfeel shards of glass breaking under foot. Looking up, he saw broken lights lining the ceiling.
"Now why would someone go through all the trouble of breaking all the lights?" He replied. "These places are built to last hundreds of years without ever running out of power, and the outside looked completely untouched!"
Vorden put his hand under his chin, thinking.
"Maybe it was the person who came in before us?" He suggested.
Ian shrugged his shoulders.
"Maybe." He agreed. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small crystal, roughly the size of a ping-pong ball.
"Here, take this." He replied.
Vorden noticed that it was the same kind of "Light Crystal" Ian had used in that makeshift "fortress" he had made in the library.
Vorden tapped the device, and soon, it began emitting a green light, illuminating the area around him.
"Hey, what about you?" Vorden asked, turning to Ian.
Ian responded by taking out a second Light Crystal. He tapped it to activate it, and then fastened it to his waist. He then turned back to Vorden.
"Now, are you going to tell me about what just happened?" He asked, referring to how Vorden has used the same Ability as him. "Or, are you going to keep that a secret, as well?"
Vorden let out a little, nervous laugh.
"No secrets." He replied. "My Ability allows me to copy other Abilities. I copied it when I saw you use it in the library." Vorden felt that he had no reasonto lie to Ian. He already knew that Vorden could use the same Ability as him. And the chance that the two of them possessed the same Ability would have been exceedingly rare to Ian. However, Vorden wasn't going to reveal the part where he needed to touch Ian to copy his Ability. That part he'd keep to himself.
"Huh, that's kind of cool." Ian replied. "Kinda wish I could do something like that. C'mon, let's go."
Vorden was honestly surprised at Ian's reaction. He thought that he might yell, or complain that Vorden had copied his Ability without his permission. Honestly, this was a reaction that he had never experienced before when someone learned about his Ability.
The two of them continued to walk along the darkened hallway. For now, there was only one direction that they could go in, and the LED lights along the bottom of the walls helped lead them in that direction.
Back in the dark space of Vorden's mind, Raten leaned in close to Vorden again.
"Psst, hey Vorden, this is your last chance." He urged. "Switch with me now. If the Portal's in here, I can save you the trouble, and kill him myself!"
Vorden shooed Raten away with a dismissive wave.
"Buzz off, will you?" He muttered, getting annoyed at Raten's constant urging.
Raten let out an annoyed snort.
"Fine." He replied. "But that was your last chance."
Back in the outside world, Vorden and Ian finally arrived in the reception area. There were still small LED lights lining the edges of the walls, so at least they had a sense for the size of the room. Still, just like in the halls, the larger lights in the ceiling had been smashed.
"Must have been a Beast." Ian muttered, looking up at them.
Vorden glanced over at him.
"What makes you say that?" He asked.
"Well, a lot of the Beasts on this planet are on a sort of hibernation cycle." Ian replied. "Because this planet spends six months in the dark, and six months in the light, most of the Beasts here have evolved to have this cycle." Ian glanced over at Vorden. "They hibernate during the 'day' period, and then go out hunting in the 'night' period. Due to this, they tend to have a certain sensitivity to the light." He continued. "My guess is that a Beast wandered in here, and started destroying all the lights. If a human had stumbled in here, and was sensitive to the lights, they could have just hit the light switch."
The two of them continued to move forward until they had eventually reached the front desk. Now, all that was left was to enter the arena, going through one of the two entrances Quinn had found earlier. And like with Quinn, when they exited the hall, they found themselves standing in the stands.
However, the second that the two of them had entered the training room, Quinn, who was still pacing back-and-forth in the arena down below, snapped his head upwards. He could hear their soft footsteps against the floorabove.
Quinn let out a loudscream.
"Grahhh!"
Hearing the noise, Vorden and Ian snapped towards the source of the noise.
"Quick, turn off your crystal!" Ian whispered frantically to Vorden.
However, that was quite possibly the worst decision that they could have made. At first, the bright light of the crystals had completely covered the two of them in Quinn's vision. But now, with the light now gone, Quinn could see them clearly. And he could see that his meal had finally arrived.
Up above, the two humans could hear rapid footsteps banging against the floor, as Quinn came rushing forwards up from the arena, and into the stands.
"RAKKKKKKKKKKK!" A loud screech echoed through the entire room, as Quinn had spotted his prey, and was now rushing full force towards them.
***
Back in a clearing in the dense forests on the outskirts of the abandoned shelter, Tsukuru's eyelids fluttered. He let out a groan, as he slowly rolled over on his bed. Sitting on the bed, he stretched his arms over his head.
As he looked in front of him, he saw the back of the interior of his Glathrium "Sleeping Chamber". Tsukuru stared at it for a moment. Then, realization surged through him.
'Oh, right.' Tsukuru thought, as the memories of the last few days came back to him. 'We're on a Red Portal Planet."
Tsukuru reached forward, and grabbed the handle of the "lid" of the chamber. He twisted it sideways, causing the lid to come flying up. As he did, the outside world came into view. And when he saw it, his eyes widened, and his jaw dropped. "What the…" He gasped. "What the hell happened here?!"
Outside of the chamber, it looked like a battlefield. There were the bodies of numerous Palewalkers laid out around the clearing. With black blood splattered everywhere.
The Palewalkers all twitched on the ground, heavily injured, but not dead. They were covered in deep claw marks, and some of them were even dismembered in certain locations.
And in the front of the clearing, stood two of Tsukuru's Summons. His Haunted Knight and his Harpie. While the Harpie was standing on the right, still as a statue in her "Knight Sentry" pose, the Harpie was hunched over, and heavily panting.
Tsukuru raised an eyebrow.
'Wait, didn't I only summon my Haunted Knight to stand guard?' He thought in confusion.
As he walked forward, his two Summons turned their heads back at him, hearing his footsteps approaching.
"My liege." The Harpie said with a weary smile in an exhausted voice. "You're finally awake."