The portal in the city's northern park was a mass of white energy, spinning slowly under the evening sun. The system-assigned code: D-Rank. According to the regulations, assigning one B-Rank and one D-Rank hero to a portal of this risk level was enough to meet the minimum security threshold.
A few meters away from the portal, Sard stood with his arms crossed, his eyes never leaving that white light for a single second. Beside him, Lena gripped her staff tightly, checking the straps of her light armor. The silence between them was a mark of professional respect.
Watching the fluctuations within the portal, Lena broke the silence. "Isn't the energy flow a bit unstable for a D-Rank portal, Sard?"
Sard tilted his head slightly but didn't change his gaze. "Energy is never stable, Lena. We only assume it is. Underestimation is the most common inscription on a tombstone. Do not lower your guard."
Lena nodded solemnly. Sard was right; while being on the same mission as a B-Rank made her feel safe, one could never be 100% sure what would emerge from a portal. At that moment, the first snarls rose from within the portal. Several green-skinned, long-clawed Goblins lunged out of the white light. Sard didn't even flinch. Extending her staff, Lena wove a small energy barrier around the first group with a swift movement, rendering them motionless. They were neutralizing the first monsters professionally, with short and concise movements.
During those same minutes, in the side streets a few kilometers away, Fast slowed his pace and looked at his palms. "Present..." he whispered to himself. It was certified that something was inside him, but this uncertainty both tensed him up and filled him with a strange, inner excitement. "If it's an awakening, why do I still feel so ordinary?" he thought.
The thing that broke the silence was the ear-piercing, high-priority "Code Red" alarm from the phone in Fast's pocket. Fast quickly opened the screen. The coordinates appearing on the hologram pointed to the park area where Lena had gone for her mission today. Immediately after, the massive billboards in the sky went dark one by one, and a single message appeared on them: "WARNING: PORTAL LEVEL ANOMALY - RED ALARM"
The white light rising from the park's direction suddenly turned blood-red, piercing the sky. Fast gripped his phone tightly. In that moment, he didn't even think about what to do; the restless tremor in his legs was suddenly replaced by pure adrenaline and a protective instinct. He began to run.