Zachary heard the tumble of trash hitting the ground.
He was forced to camp the entrance and make sure nothing escaped into the school. Killing the Glabian Serpents with [Stones Throw] and dragging their bodies back inside before it closed seemed the easiest way to dispose of everything. He didn’t want anyone finding monster bits laying around, or any other evidence there had been a dungeon here, for that matter. Not yet, at least. And so far, in the three hours the dungeon had been open, nobody had seen it.
Alas, his luck had finally run out. Just two minutes before the dungeon would close, Jacob had come around the corner. And now he was staring at him in shock.
Zachary threw the body like a giant rope back through the entrance and turned to Jacob. Strained expressions formed on both of their faces, but for different reasons. Jacob’s strain was from trying to make sense of the sight in front of him, and as his eyes drifted from the dungeon entrance, to the giant snakes beyond said entrance, and to Zachary’s blood covered form, his expression turned to fear.
Jacob turned and started running away.
But Zachary had grown by three levels since he entered that dungeon. He caught up and tackled him.
“Wait, Jacob, let me explain myself. Ooof-”
But Jacob was a quarterback. After being tackled, he expertly fought off Zachary’s grasp and rolled sideways. With the agility of a football player, he balanced on all fours and picked up speed until he was running vertically again.
Zachary saw him getting away and activated [Intimidation].
Jacob’s legs locked up for some inexplicable reason and his momentum carried him back into the ground.
“Now that had to hurt.”
Since Zach wasn’t using the skill on a boss monster, the effects of the skill lasted for a lot longer too. Jacob continued trying to crawl away, but his limbs felt like they were made of rubber and there was a feeling like someone had dropped a rock in his stomach. His body refused to move.
“Hey, listen to me.” Zachary said again. “I won’t hurt you, but I also can’t let you tell anyone else about this.”
“A-A-Are you some kind of alien? Is that why you have a portal?”
“What? No. I’m completely human.”
Zachary’s eyes went slack for a moment as he checked the dungeon timer. “Come with me,” he said, then started dragging Jacob back to the dungeon entrance.
Zachary was much skinnier than Jacob was, meaning he should have had a harder time dragging him along. The fact that he was doing it easily only further solidified the idea that he wasn’t human in Jacob’s mind.
Jacob screamed. “Nooooo! What have you done with Zach, you nasty body snatcher?! No one should have that kind of inhuman strength. Zach! W-Wait! I have a family. I want to have children. I haven’t made Caroline my girlfriend yet! Please spare meeeeeeee!”
“Hmm? You mean Caroline Dvorak?”
“Aaahhh! Never mind! Forget I said that!”
Zachary shrugged and dropped Jacob in front of the dumpster.
“Look,” he said while pointing at the dungeon entrance.
Jacob was confused. But then the ground rumbled, like a small earthquake was happening. Which was ridiculous since the entire state of Colorado was in the middle of the continent and too far from any fault lines to get earthquakes. Then, when he saw the dungeon sealing itself, his eyes shook.
Zachary was similarly impressed since hadn’t gotten a chance to see a dungeon close yet.
In a minute, the dungeon was gone, like it had never existed in the first place. The space was normal once again.
His attention returned to Jacob and he almost sneered out loud when he looked at his football uniform. “That’s what I was trying to do,” Zachary explained. “Inside the portals are monsters, and unless us humans close them, they will come out and hurt people. So you see, I’m not an alien, and you aren’t dreaming. That’s all the explanation I’ll offer to the likes of you.”
“And you defeated all those monsters by yourself?”
Zachary nodded reluctantly.
Jacob gulped.
“You’re crazy! Why would I just believe that?!” Jacob said in a slightly hysterical voice, disbelieving everything he had seen in the past three minutes.
Zachary shrugged again. “No one would believe me. You are lucky because you saw it with your own eyes.”
Jacob frowned. But then he realized he could move his body again. The pit of fear in his stomach was also gone. The skill had worn off. He jumped to his feet and started running again.
Zachary felt like chasing him, just like before, but stopped himself and waved instead. “Bye, Jacob! Good luck making everyone believe you!”
Jacob kept running, and kept running, and kept running, but he gradually slowed to a stop just before he reached the door. His eyes settled on the door handle in front of him. After a moment, he grit his teeth, turned around, and marched back to Zachary.
“What the hell, man!” he complained.
Zachary had an irritating, ‘all-knowing-but-never-telling’ look on his face. He stopped waving. “What? I thought you were going to tell a teacher or your friends or something.” His expression turned cold. “You weren’t going to tell Frank, were you?”
“E-even if I did, they’d probably just make me take a concussion test!”
Zachary forced his expression to return to normal and he shrugged. “Yeah, probably.”
Jacob stepped forward and grabbed Zachary by the collar of his shirt.
“Explain it to me again, but this time so I can understand it.” Jacob still had the height and weight advantage, making him seem more intimidating.
Frank’s face flashed through Zachary’s mind and his face darkened. “Why should I?”
“Or I’ll… I’ll… I’ll pummel you!”
Zachary scowled gruesomely and there was a dangerous glint behind his eyes. He may not feel pain anymore since the system booted up, but every hit from Frank earlier was ingrained in his memory.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you… but if you do something for me, I’ll consider letting you in on it.”
Jacob sighed and let go of Zachary’s shirt.
“What do you want?” he asked cautiously.
“Your car,” Zachary responded. “I need you to drive me to… Limon.”
“The next town over? Why?”
“I need to drop off a package.”
Jacob had a complicated expression on his face. He asked in an exasperated voice. “...And what is in the package?”
“Can’t tell you,” Zachary crossed his arms. “Now are you going to help me and learn more about what is going on, or will I have to do it myself?”
“I’ll help! I’ll help!” Jacob said hurriedly. “It’s just that it’s a two hour trip.”
“Well, tough,” Zachary responded without sympathy.
Since they were already next to the dumpsters, Zachary picked a cardboard box from the trash. Next he used the PE locker room to change out of his bloody clothes and put on his PE uniform, transferring the old clothes to his inventory when nobody was looking. Then he took twenty minutes to translate Jamela’s document, borrowing an ancient typewriter from an unlocked English classroom to hide his handwriting, and put everything together, sealing the box before Jacob could look inside. Jacob, in somewhat of a daze and still processing everything that he had just seen, waited for Zachary to get done.
“Now let’s go before it gets dark,” Zachary said when he was finished.
“What’s in the box?” Jacob asked.
“I told you, I can’t tell you.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Zachary bobbed his head. “Won’t.”
Jacob threw his hands in the air. “Okay! Fine. Let’s just go before I change my mind.”
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Two hours later, in the city of Limon Colorado, a police officer held Zachary’s package.
“Chief, someone found this package addressed to the department on the sidewalk outside. What do you want me to do with it?” Officer Russel Lengel said while prying off an envelope stuck to its side.
“I don’t know, it kinda smells funny.”
“Yeah, it’s kinda weird. Doesn’t have a return address or proper labeling, I probably shouldn’t have brought it inside.”
“No. I mean it literally smells funny.” The chief said again while pinching his nose. “Where’s Lynn?”
“He’s out on patrol.”
“That’s fine, just open it already.”
Officer Lengel unfolded a knife and cut the box.
When he opened it, however, he immediately recoiled, a slew of curses flowing out of his mouth. The chief also had a similar reaction.
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
Inside the box was what looked like a human head.
“Don’t open that until I make a few calls,” the chief said while pointing at the envelope.
After running around for a couple minutes and much needed phone calls to their mothers, the officer and chief dialed the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the coroner, and other police departments for missing person’s reports matching the head in their possession. When nothing came up, they started calling departments in other states. All night they were prepared to work. The coroner already took the head away to do a preliminary exam, and officer Yowell was already designated as the glorified coffee refiller. In all the excitement, they hadn’t read the note yet, opting to wait until the FBI told them what to do with it.
But then the coroner came back with a pale face.
“Chief. You need to see this.”
The chief was stunned. “You found something already?”
The coroner stayed completely silent. When they arrived at the head, he pointed at it with a shaking hand.
The chief looked over the head of the unfortunate female. Her skin was pale and her hair was long and dark.
“What is it?” The chief asked, feeling like he was missing something.
“T-This thing isn’t human!”
The coroner hastily opened the gorgon’s mouth and revealed the sharp fangs and forked tongue. The chief was shocked. But then the coroner pulled up the eyelid revealing the golden eyes and vertically slit pupil and the chief nearly fell back on his butt.
“The FBI better get here quick. W-We really need to read the letter that came with this package.” The chief gulped.
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Elsewhere, Jacob was oblivious to the trouble he had been accomplice to creating. He and Zachary drove down the highway back toward Burlington. They even stopped for takeout. When he dropped him off at his house, Jacob promised again to keep Zachary’s secrets and not tell anyone about the “portals.”
By the time Zachary got back to his house, it was already 9:30. He took a much needed shower. Despite what his mom told him to do, he didn’t even touch his weekend homework. Instead he sat at his desk and wrote down a list of things he needed to do when he got back to Vera.
* Learn one magic spell from Lydia
* Ask Ferney about gorgons and giant snake monsters
* Figure out why there isn’t any treasure inside the dungeons
* Learn how to write in the Veran language
When Zachary was translating Jamela’s report, he would simply read the text in English that was displayed next to the original work by the system. However, this method of translating was very one sided. If he wanted to translate something from English into Veran, he didn’t know how to do that, since he couldn’t actually read the language itself. He decided it would be best to experiment with it later.
Keeping this in mind, he transferred the list he just created to his inventory, already thinking about using it as a source material.
It felt nice to be able to transport items between worlds with him.
And with that thought in mind, he grabbed a stack of printer paper and pencils, all the knives he had laying around his room, more clothes, and a bar of soap from the bathroom and transferred it all to his inventory.
When he was done he went back to his room and looked at the game player, which still hummed curiously from a disc spinning inside of it. But then the clock hit 10:00, and Zachary went limp, his mind being transported to his other body.
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Once Paul had discovered there were two moons on the other side of the barrier, astronomers were quickly summoned by the military. Together, he and the equally excited astronomers huddled together and watched the sky. Even though the barrier prevented them from seeing fine details, they could still make out the moons and a few stars. They were discussing their findings with each other, offering different opinions based on their occupations.
“I think their moons are moving too slowly,” noted one of the astronomers.
“I agree. That red haze on the horizon, I think it's the first light. But it’s been like that for twice as long as normal,” another one said.
“Are you saying the world in there is moving slower, temporally speaking?”
“That’s exactly what I think.”
“I would also have to agree with Mr. Astronomer here,” Paul said, struggling to remember their names. “I saw a bug flutter by in slow motion.”
“Fascinating…”
As they continued to discuss how such a phenomena could occur, the clock struck ten o’clock. Right before everyone’s eyes the barrier vanished. Humid air rushed through like someone had opened a tropical window.
One particular astronomer with a higher suspension of disbelief commented, “Oh, it’s open. I bet the other side is closer to sea level than our side, that’s why the air is rushing out toward us.”
Paul looked at the man with a disbelieving face, wondering how he was so calm.
“I read a lot of web novels,” the man shrugged.
The event triggered another flurry of activity around the construction site. Some people scrambled away to tell their superiors. The astronomers, and Paul, huddled closer, trying to get a better view of the stars. A botanist that had arrived half an hour ago finally snapped a useful picture of the other side.
Paul stood still and gazed at where the barrier used to be. He reached out with his fingers, a longing feeling seizing control of his heart. Someone wanted to stop him, as they weren’t supposed to touch the STA, but they were too curious themselves. As Paul’s fingers inched forward, his hands met only air. He didn’t encounter any resistance!
Paul took one step forward, then another, then another, until his entire body was on the other side of the STA!
The gravel of the construction site turned to grass and he stumbled forward, landing on his knees and remaining there. He breathed in the fresh air, picked at the alien blades, and looked up at the two moons hanging in the otherworldly sky.
Unable to contain their excitement, the astronomers, the botanist, and even a few soldiers stepped through the portal and looked around. After one person walked through safely, what motivated researcher wouldn’t follow?
“I don’t recognize that constellation, and I’ve studied the sky since I was a kid.”
“These trees look similar to Earth’s, but you can bet I’ll be taking a few samples,” the botanist started counting his fingers. “Root symbiote samples, bark samples, sap glycol samples, leave samples...”
“In all my years,” said a soldier after clearing his throat, “who’da thought I’d see something like this.”
Paul felt like he was on top of the world. An inexplicable energy rose up inside of him, making him feel like he was ten years younger. He wanted to run around and exert himself. His heart beat faster, and faster. And he even thought for a moment that he was experiencing a caffeine high. Perhaps he drank too much coffee? But then he realized the energy. The urge to explore, a feeling he hadn’t had since he was a little kid, was returning in full force.
“How did I forget?” He said aloud. “When I was a kid I wanted to go to new places, see things and discover things, and explore. But alas the frontier was gone by the time I grew up, every island marked by satellite with only the desserts and deep oceans left.”
He didn’t mean to be overheard, but half of the people listening nodded their agreement.
The sun was rising even though it was 10:00pm back on Earth, and everyone was watching it happen in a daze.
More people, scientists and soldiers walked through the portal to see what was happening on the other side. Nevertheless, the sight stunned them too.
Suddenly though, the astronomers started arguing.
“The moons are moving faster.”
“No, you’re just excited.”
“No, really! I’ve been watching them for hours. They are moving faster! More like normal speed. Let me go get my tools real quick. I think I left them back in the lab.”
“Okay. You do that.”
The astronomer walked back to the portal but stopped in his tracks once he got near. “Umm. Huston, we have a problem.”
“What’s wrong?”
“The barrier’s back.”
“...”
“What?!”
Everyone turned and looked back at the STA they had just walked through. Sure enough, the foggy barrier was back, and the astronomer who had tried to go back to Earth couldn’t walk through it anymore.
The botanist calmly pushed past the astronomers and rapped on the barrier.
“Hey, what are you doing?!” A soldier stepped forward. “That could be dangerous.”
The botanist shot him a stink eye. “Any better ideas?”
Nobody answered.
“It seems pretty solid,” the botanist stated. “Okay! Let’s put our heads together. I’ll introduce myself. I’m called Ross.”
The two soldiers introduced themselves as Beaumont and Fletcher. The three astronomers said their names were Urving, Donald, and Kim. Paul introduced himself, and the last man there said he was a geologist whose name was Blair. In total, there were eight people present.
Beaumont, being a soldier, took charge. He coughed. “I won’t sugarcoat my next words. We are all accomplished people here. So don’t anyone go losing your heads on me. As you can all see, we stupidly walked through the anomaly and are stranded here for an indefinite amount of time. There are a few things we immediately need to do. Most important, we need to regain contact with headquarters. Any volunteers to stand by the STA?” As expected of a soldier, his words were efficient and authoritative.
All three of the astronomers raised their hands. Beaumont picked one randomly.
“Good,” he continued with another cough. “Next, we’ll need to secure the perimeter. We could be in a potentially compromising location, so we need to find out as soon as possible. Let’s organize a scout team and a base team. Thankfully, we have both me and Fletcher here, so that means two guns.”
And just like that the group was organized with one goal in mind, to survive until Earth figured out how open the portal again.
Paul volunteered to join the scout team with Beaumont, Ross, and Blair. Overall this was a good setup since Ross was the botanist and Blair the geologist. They would be able to identify almost any natural wonder they came across.
Fletcher and the three astronomers would set up a base camp for the day. The sun was fully above the horizon, signalling the start of a long day.
Paul squinted his eyes. “I’ve pulled an all-nighter before, but this will be the first time I’ve experienced a day of back-to-back sunlight,’ he thought, not even daring to yawn.
“Hey scout team, before you head out, you might want to take a look at this,” the astronomer by the portal said.
Beaumont looked through the barrier. At first, he didn’t see anything amiss. It was like looking through a dirty window. But then his eyebrows shot up.
“Oh my God! They’re moving in slow motion!”
The rest of the group observed the hazy forms through the barrier and exclaimed in shock.
“He’s right!”
“But that doesn’t make sense. Before it was the other way around, with this world moving in slow motion.”
Beaumont shook his head and cleared his throat. “I don’t know. But we can’t worry about that right now. For now, let’s stick to the plan.”
“Right!” Everyone agreed.
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On the other side of the STA, doctor Carlure was pulling her hair in frustration. A few other superior officers felt like doing the same thing.
“How many people are on the other side?” she asked again through clenched teeth.
“Eight ma’am.”
“And what are the names of those people.”
The soldier ran down the list, ending with a “Doctor Paul Thompson.”
Carlure let out a sigh. “Let me have a look.”
On the other side of the barrier was a man holding a clipboard. Since they couldn’t talk verbally through the barrier, he was writing things down and holding it up for the communicators to read. He looked calm enough, all things considering, which meant the situation was relatively stable on their side.
The only real concern was how unnaturally fast he was moving. The man would write long, elegant answers to their questions in less than a second. His hands flashed around like sped up footage.
“Why is he moving so fast?” She asked the communicator.
“We think there is some kind of time dilation phenomena going on,” the communicator responded. “To us it looks like they are moving at double speed, but to them it looks like we are crawling along at snail's pace.”
“I see.”
Seeing how quickly the astronomer on the other side could answer their questions, Carlure left the room to hire three more communicators. She also had to make a few calls.
Soon enough, the higher-ups knew all about the situation with the STA.
The Special Forces Operations Command came to a decision.
For the past couple of days, they had been dragging out intensive studies for fear of setting off the anomaly like it was a bomb. But as has always been the case with America, as soon as American lives were at stake, they were prepared to do everything in their power to ensure their safety. All the stops were pulled out.
Certain tests that they previously didn’t want to perform on the STA were finally deemed necessary, and they allowed doctor Carlure to perform them with her discretion. If it could save the eight lives on the other side of the portal, she could do it. Furthermore, besides giving more leniency to the scientific departments, the Special Forces Operations Command became more serious about the military threat posed by a real portal.
Pending orders to mobilize light tanks were pushed through in a heartbeat. Fighter pilots stationed at the Air Force Academy were scrambled and arrived at Burlington in thirty minutes. The personnel stationed around the construction site was doubled in the next two hours. Even the Russians received a call from their spies.
Meanwhile the FBI were already boarding their private jets to Limon Colorado to investigate Zachary’s package.
Not including the military agencies, seventeen different United States departments had their eyes on Colorado that night, yet the town of Burlington slept blissfully unaware.
[End Chapter 17]