Laura blinked slowly as she processed Arthur's words, her gaze shifting between the small anomaly in front of the symbol shimmering in various colors — though purple remained the dominant one — before she turned her attention back to him. Her mind worked quickly, connecting the most important points of the conversation, until, finally, she reached the same conclusion as Arthur.

"You... you know exactly what's hidden down here, don't you?" Laura asked, fixing Arthur with a distrustful look.

Laura watched Arthur’s expression after her question, but he showed no sign of discomfort or any similar emotion. In fact, he seemed completely indifferent, as if the situation had no impact on him at all.

"Unfortunately, I don’t know as much as I’d like" Arthur replied indifferently, his eyes fixed on something in the distance. "My investigations didn’t go very far, thanks to those kneeling figures you see. Honestly, what little I know probably won’t make much of a difference to our situation... Still, I can’t deny that I at least understand the basics of what’s happening here" His words left Laura completely bewildered, caught between the lack of answers and Arthur’s nonchalant tone.

Although Laura had her doubts, she was at least certain that Victor had a basic understanding of what was going on. What she couldn’t grasp was why he answered her question so easily. If he was willing to be so straightforward, why hadn’t he shared everything he knew from the start?.

Noticing Laura's thoughtful expression, Arthur added: "Like I said, I'm not your enemy or the organization's. The reason I didn’t tell you everything from the start is that, honestly, I didn’t think things would get this far. To be frank with you... we're totally screwed here"

Laura swallowed hard upon hearing Arthur's words, shifting her focus back to the scene unfolding in front of her. The symbol continued emitting vibrant rainbow colors, shining more intensely and steadily with each passing second.

However, every time she tried to analyze it, Laura was overwhelmed by an intense fear, a terror that seemed to rise from deep within her soul. It was an unsettling feeling, similar to the irrational fear children have of the dark — and that was exactly how Laura felt at that moment.

Victor, who had been watching the situation cautiously, finally broke the silence as he inspected his weapon: "It would’ve been nice if you mentioned important things, like an anomaly emerging from a clearly dangerous symbol, a little earlier. I don’t think the gun I brought will make any difference in our current situation"

At this point, Laura couldn’t decide whether the situation was just bad or completely hopeless. While she didn’t know exactly what was inside that symbol, she considered it highly unlikely that anything emerging from it could be contained.

Anything that came out of that symbol had to be classified as Nihilum. In a situation like this, not even the worst possible scenarios in Laura’s mind had prepared her for what could unfold. After all, anomalies of this class usually had enough power to destroy the world.

***

(POV – Protagonist)

In the end, all I could do was wait in silence as the scene with the symbol unfolded before me. My eyes shone brightly, almost as if they were in tune with whatever was on the other side. As time passed, an increasing sense of nostalgia and familiarity began to take over me.

From my point of view, this was simply impossible. At least, as far as I could remember, I’d never had contact with anomalies before becoming one myself. I didn’t even know they existed. So, the fact that this feeling of nostalgia was creeping up on me was making me more uncomfortable than anything else. Of course, beyond discomfort, there was also curiosity — I couldn’t stop wondering what could be on the other side.

As I lost myself in thought, the symbol shone even brighter until, at one point, its brilliance simply disappeared. Both the rainbow colors and the dominant purple faded, as if they had never existed. For a moment, the idea crossed my mind that maybe, whatever these crazies had been trying to do had failed.

However, these thoughts lasted no more than ten seconds. Suddenly, a white light burst forth, and a vertical line appeared unexpectedly. I’m calling it a "line" because it was as thin as one, but even though it was extremely narrow, the glow radiating from its interior was so intense that it could blind someone if they weren't wearing sunglasses or some kind of protection.

"Ahh! Your beauty is evident, even though the passage isn't fully open yet. Truly, a place worthy for our god to dwell!"

Of course, that probably didn’t matter at all to the crazies around me. To them, something like being blinded by the "Divine Realm" was likely to be interpreted as being "baptized" by that same realm... But, honestly, it didn’t matter much since I had no idea what was going on at that moment.

Besides, I wasn’t sure if it was just the way I saw things, but the light coming from the line didn’t seem to affect my vision. It was like an invisible film was covering my eyes, blocking the light, yet I still couldn’t make out what was on the other side.

As I reflected on what could be beyond, I turned my attention back to the fine line. That’s when I noticed a change: an energy began emanating from it, causing it to slowly open. As the line expanded, more light flowed through, reaching this side. At this point, even the crazed cultists around me couldn’t fully face the light, fearing it might blind them.

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Although I wondered if that could be considered blasphemy, I decided to ignore that thought. Something serious was clearly happening in that moment. I kept watching the portal, waiting for whatever was on the other side. I blinked a few times and tilted my head, surprised to realize that nothing happened, even after a few seconds.

(Although this is just what I think... didn't it fail? Well, to be honest, if that's the case, I guess that counts as a win, right? After all, whatever's on the other side, I doubt Laura and Emily would want it to get out if they were here) I thought, getting lost in my own thoughts.

The instant that thought crossed my mind, the line, now a portal, began to change. First, a purple aura began emanating from it. Though, from my point of view, it looked like just purple smoke, it didn’t seem that way to the others. Especially to those crazy believers, who started kneeling, looking even more excited than before.

The purple aura began to move in an organized way in front of the portal, swirling and forming a mini tornado. I blinked, watching the supernatural scene unfold before me. Also, don’t we usually associate the color purple with danger or something like that?.

Of course, not that I was someone who believed in superstitions, but given my situation, it seemed sensible to consider it. After all, I was surrounded by people from a cult who were apparently trying to revive some kind of god from who knows where. Given the circumstances, I think I had enough reason to think that way.

Anyway, as soon as the "portal" opened, my eyes returned to normal. Though I didn’t want to admit it, it was clear that I had played a role in unleashing whatever being was about to emerge. Of course, if anyone asked me about it later, I’d just pretend I didn’t know anything.

As the purple aura continued swirling, I shifted my gaze from the mist to the portal. For some reason, my eyes seemed drawn to it. I had no idea why, since everything on the other side was white, making it impossible to see anything. Still, my eyes remained locked on it.

When voices erupted behind me, my attention snapped back to the purple aura. Previously, the mini tornado was spinning violently and erratically, but now it had transformed into a small dome, roughly my size. After that, nothing else happened. The purple dome simply appeared in front of the "portal" and stayed there, motionless.

I blinked briefly, expressing my confusion as I tilted my head slightly. I had no idea if this was considered normal or not. My first thought was that the entity had failed to cross over to this side, but that didn’t seem to be the case either. After all, I could still feel something coming from inside that dome, though I couldn’t quite describe what it was.

If I had to put it simply, the energy emanating from the dome felt like death. Of course, everyone probably felt the same, but this wasn’t just any death I was talking about. It was something... different, almost as if what was inside the dome had taken on the form and concept of death, manifesting in a physical body.

Despite feeling all that pressure, I didn’t exactly feel fear or unease... though I can't say I’m a reliable source on that, since, lately, my sense of danger and fear has been fading. It probably has to do with the fact that I know I can kill any anomaly that comes my way thanks to my eyes, not to mention I don’t feel pain and can heal, even if someone cuts off one of my arms.

All these reasons have probably given me confidence along the way; it’s not hard to feel that way when you have so many powers. Anyway, my curiosity won out. I approached the dome and lightly touched it with my finger. Strangely, my finger passed through. That meant the dome wasn’t made of something solid. At least, when I touched it, the sensation was like touching water—without the wetness, of course.

Other than that, nothing else happened. I decided to walk around the dome, trying to see if there was something different on the other side. To my surprise, the dome was identical in every direction. In the end, I found myself back at the front, unsure of what to do. While I got lost in thought, the dome suddenly began to shake. I stepped back quickly, fearing it would explode, but nothing happened.

The dome started to break apart, slowly disintegrating. I wasn’t sure if it was the cause, but the environment had grown strangely silent. However, the silence, in my perception, felt more like the calm before a storm—one that was about to manifest right in front of me.

***

(POV - Laura Cavendish)

“I can’t say our situation is the most favorable. I didn’t expect it to be so easy to find the key to open the portal that connects the dimensions. I didn’t have any information about this anomaly... it wasn’t in my calculations” Arthur commented, his expression growing more and more rigid.

Although Laura had a lot of questions for Arthur, she simply couldn’t find the words. The air around her felt thicker, almost like it was squeezing her chest, making each breath a struggle. She had no idea how Arthur could speak so naturally, while she could barely focus on the simple act of breathing in and out. Despite all the questions in her mind, Laura knew that, for now, her doubts would have to wait.

The sight of the dome only deepened Laura’s confusion about the situation. Moreover, though it was invisible to the eyes, she could sense a threatening presence inside the dome, something that definitely didn’t belong in this dimension.

Finally managing to catch her breath, Laura spoke, her voice heavy with exhaustion: “Arthur, what exactly are we fighting here?”

Laura was lacking information, and she knew that in situations like this, the absence of it was almost like a death sentence. When she asked Arthur, her gaze fixed on him clearly conveyed the urgency of her words: she wanted answers, or else the trust between them would be lost for good. Arthur seemed to catch her drift, letting out a brief sigh before responding.

“Don’t take what I’m about to say as absolute truth. What I know is really just the tip of the iceberg. Anyway, the symbol we saw before... it’s not just a symbol, it’s actually a name. When this name is somehow directly invoked, a portal opens, bringing with it the possibility for the entity holding that name to cross over. Of course, I have no idea what name that symbol represents”

Laura took a moment to process Victor’s words before asking, with growing tension: “So... what exactly is on the other side?”

Arthur remained silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on the dome, which seemed motionless, as he pondered Laura’s question. Finally, he answered: “I don’t have much information either, but I call them [Conceptual Virtues]. They’re physical representations of concepts created by humans... or maybe it’s the other way around: these concepts only exist because beings like them exist”

Rather than calming her down, Laura felt the situation worsen far more than she had imagined. For a moment, she found herself thinking that it would have been better if she had never discovered anything about what was going on.