The portal stayed in place as the unmoving object it was, with people circling it. Some of them were guards who were following a scientist who waved a device around to try and get readings of some sort from the portal.

“Please take a seat, we will now brief you,” the sergeant said. There were seats next to the window which faced the opposite side of the room where a television hung on the wall. Sergeant Bluewell stood there with Adeline beside him. None of them had seen her enter the room or if she had already been waiting in the room.

“When did you get here Adeline?” Bill asked as he took a seat.

“As you were all gawking at the portal,” Adeline replied with a slight snicker.

“I don’t gawk you know?” Lance said with his signature annoyance. Adeline sighed dismissively before she turned on the television. The television flickered to life with the image of the portal and the logo of structure corp which was a golden emblem with the standard building that could be seen in the city with the name written on top.

“Now, you will all be going into the portal, as you know we have confirmed that going into that portal will take you to the next level up in this tower...” Sergeant Bluewell said before he got interrupted by Adeline.

“…Dungeon, previous teams found that we are inside an extremely large dungeon which none are sure how to escape.” Adeline said as she interrupted the sergeant.

“Anyway…” the sergeant said with annoyance. “You are allowed to go up to the third floor at most, but we advise becoming comfortable with the first floor first, the higher the level, the stronger the monsters, but the better quality the Kuthendium.”

“You are required to return in four months’ time, on your way to the portal you will pick up watches that will guide you back to us when the timer is up,” Adeline said.

“Now any questions?” Sergeant Bluewell asked as he looked over the group. Gerry put his hand up to ask a question. Sergeant Bluewell gave him permission to speak and ask his question.

“Considering a lot of teams have not come back, what happens if we lose someone? Should we try and bring the body back with us?” Gerry asked. Everyone looked at Gerry with dismay in their eyes.

“Dude, that’s fucked up,” Bill said with horror in his eyes.

“I would also like to know this?” Lance said. Eyes darted to him still with the same horror on their face. The only one who didn’t seem to showcase any emotion whatsoever was sergeant Bluewell.

“That is up to you to decide, you should protect your own lives first before worrying about those who are lost,” he said with the same stoic look. “If you have the ability then there is no reason not to.”

Bill sighed while the others just nodded in response to the answer given.

“Shall we get moving then,” Adeline said as she also sighed. She gestured towards the door on the other side of the room from where the group had entered from. Lance was the first to stand up, he grabbed his bag, along with his bagged glaive and walked towards the door. The sergeant opened the door for the group which showed the stairs that seemed to curve around the entire portal room.

It was silent on the descent down the many flights of stairs. Lance led the way still with a confident stride in his step as he would often skip a step while he walked. This was not copied by the rest of the group including the sergeant as they all went down one step at a time. Adeline was the last in the precession of people as she was the one to shut the door behind them.

Just before they reached the bottom of the stairs a small box was indented into the wall with watches in them. Lance grabbed on before Adeline had mentioned to them to grab one each. This held up the line as Martin and Bill took a bit of extra time to grab one as they rearranged how they carried their two bags, from one in each hand to both in one while they tried to not knock over the box, even though there did not seem to be any risk in that happening.

They reached the bottom as many of the group awkwardly tried to put the watches on while the descended the rest of the stair flight. As they reached the bottom of the stairs there was another door. They all could guess what was behind that door. Lance opened it without skipping a beat to reveal a large room filled with monitors showings different types of data representations. Some were in the form of pie charts, bar graphs and some were just normal numbers that flicked with between green and red for their colouring as they changed frequently. There were many people gathered in the room, most of them wore the same white lab coat as they ran around the room or checked the statistics that showed up on the monitors which they would often jot down in their notebook.

The other people that were in the room were soldiers that wore the same uniform as what could be seen from the window a few floors above that were positioned upon balconies. They all wore a mix of weapons, they had pistols strapped onto their legs, but they still carried spears. One was useful for beings on this side of the portal while the other was useful for beings on the other side. They stood at the entry points of the room as well as the corners of the room as the oversaw the entirety of the room.

There was a window that looked out into the room they had now realised that the stairs had circled and now saw the true scale of the portal. The portal now stood at three to four times the size of a normal man with the width of an extra person that lay flat on their side. It was easy to understand how easy it was for giant beings to come out from the portals if all were similar to this one.

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“Now that you are down here, we can send you on your way.” Adeline said to the group who were all still awestruck by the size of the portal, while all the workers continued their tasks as they had likely seen this sight on a day-to-day basis.

“You are able to take all your equipment and luggage that you brought, but we suggest that you gear up before entering, we have had some groups immediately have to fight once they crossed into the portal.” The sergeant said as he gestured towards another door which seemed to be that of a restroom where they could all change.

Lance was the first to get into the changeroom and was out the quickest. Instead of a plain T-shirt and jeans that he wore on the bus ride, he now wore what seemed to be a one-piece suit underneath a set of light metallic armour. Bill wore a more leather style armour that was interlaced with chainmail, which Nathan and Martin wore similar sets, although Nathan’s set was much lighter looking to increase his mobility. Gerry wore some heavier armour with the same one-piece suit as Lance underneath.

Each of them had their weapons brandished from the bags that held them while they had their bags on them. Lance however, handed his bag to Bill who put it onto his back along with his own. Side glances were given by everyone who noticed this action however nothing was said.

“Alright, any questions before you go?” The sergeant asked.

“Yeah, do you know what type of environment that we will be entering into?” Nathan asked in reply.

“It changes consistently however, the usual locations experienced by quite a few of the groups that have gone through this portal have ranged from a forest environment, a canyon environment and a beach environment,” Adeline said.

“You said that we would have four months to complete this request, are we able to request an early return?” Gerry also asked.

“On your watches you just need to press the small button on the side, and it will give you a guide of how to get back to the required portals that will bring you back here,” the sergeant spoke this time. “The watches scan the area around you for the same energy that portals generate to track your way back here.”

“So, the watches will scan the energy given off by each portal that we enter and exit to determine the way home?” Bill asked. The sergeant nodded in agreement. Before anyone had even noticed lance had already made his way to the door to the large room that housed the portal. He stared up at it and smirked. The thoughts of adventure and contests of strength ran through his head as he shook with anticipation and excitement. He could only take a step forward before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around to find that it was Gerry’s who had an annoyed expression on his face.

“What do you think you’re doing Lance?” he asked.

“I was taking a better look at what we are about to traverse through obviously,” Lance replied with the same annoyed look that Gerry had. This look was followed by a look of amazement that Gerry could not figure out the obvious. Lighting seemed to clash between the gaze of Lance and Gerry as a tension grew in the air. Bill was the one to step up and break the two men who were about to argue with each other.

“Come on now, lets all go in together. Remember that teams have immediately had to fight for their lives when they entered the portal, so let’s not try to kill each other before we get attacked,” he said as he patted them both on the shoulder. Both loosened up as the tension in their shoulders left them.

“Alright, Martin, Nathan, are you two also ready to go?” Bill asked the remaining two men who did not interfere in the conflict that almost occurred. They stepped up to join the rest of the group at the doorway and all made their way to the portal. The closer they got to the portal; they all could feel an energy that came off it. It sent shivers down their spine, as it felt like a cold wind coming from the portal, yet no loose clothing or hair moved from this wind.

Before they faced the portal, they found some steps up to a platform that seemed to be used to jump into the portal from. Having looked back at the sergeant who gestured for them to go up the steps, which they did so. The portal seemed to swirl with the colours of green, red and slight hints of purple which swirled into a dark black centre.

Lance looked at the centre without even a hint of fear on his face, in fact a small smirk appeared on his face which only Bill noticed who had a small smile on his face as well.

“Good luck and don’t be afraid to come back, if need be,” Adeline called from behind them. Bill was the only one to acknowledge this statement, which he gave a response through a thumbs up. This action was followed by each member of the group jumping through the portal. Lance first, followed by Nathan, then Bill, then Gerry and finally Martin. They each made contact with what seemed to be the outer membrane of the portal, yet there was no way to distinguish what exactly was the outer limit of the portal.

Each part of each of their bodies made contact with the portal which slowly disappeared. Lance was the first to notice there was no pain or sensation that came from the portal. There was not even the slight prickle of the air against his skin.

***

Lance was the first one to take in his new surroundings. When his head entered the portal, his eyes stopped working so he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he saw an endless expanse of cliffs and rock formations, similar to that of the Grand Canyon in America. The sun seemed to be rise in the distance which created streaks of light that pierced out of the gaps of the canyon.

As each of the others seemed to materialise out of thin air, they were all amazed with the beauty that was before them. Across the canyon’s expanse they could see trees to the left on top of some of the canyon’s clifftops. Lance thought he could see a little glisten from the end of the canyon in the direction of the sun, which made him think that there might be an ocean on the other side of the canyon.

Despite being mesmerised by the view Gerry broke everyone out of their train of though to remind them that they had an assignment to complete. Bill pulled out a piece of paper from his bag on his back. He had a quick look at the paper which details the look or premade kuthendium and where naturally forming kuthedium came from. He placed in back into his bag after he had a quick look at the information.

Lance now looked around at their surroundings, which they were surrounded by Forrest on their backside. The trees of the Forrest were tall, with each one towered above the group by another seven similar sized men. This provided them shade, but also blocked the Forrest from getting illuminated by the sun closer to noon. However, at this point light streamed through the Forrest from the groups back which caused outlines of their shadows which covered large sections of the Forrest.

“Welp, we better get started,” Lance said without a moment’s hesitation and stepped into the Forrest. However, he still brandished his weapon in preparation for any attacks.