[https://i.imgur.com/r53S7b8.png]
The soft, elegant and mature voice of Gaia sounded throughout the room.
It was a nice easy day for the monitoring staff of the Indianapolis Hunters Bureau. The morning had passed by like any other. The temps brought in coffee from a local shop and the team manager, Gavin, brought in donuts. Everything was calm and the workload was low. It was almost lunch time and everyone was getting ready to head out to eat together. When Gaia interrupted the peace with her announcement.
“What? A returnee at this point? Seriously?!” Gavin had just finished tidying up his desk when the alert from Gaia appeared across all of the interface monitors. He nearly jumped out of his seat in surprise, knocking the thick stack of folders on his desk over.
“Sarah, call the director. Chase, get the Rescue Division on the line and have some agents dispatched immediately. Jayden, start recording and set up the clock.”
“Logging the alert at 11:43 AM on August 4th, 2043. Countdown clock has been raised on the secondary monitor. Chase, tell the rescue team I’ll text them the address as soon as I’ve traced the coordinates.”
“Arrival in 29 minutes 45 seconds.” The computerized female voice of the computer transmitted over the facility’s intercom.
“Understood. Rescue agents have been dispatched and a bird is ready on the helipad.”
“Sir, Director Morris said he’ll be down in 5.”
“Good call Eskenazi and report an inbound. Jayden, do you have the address yet?”
“Yes sir, it’s been transmitted to the rescue team. I wonder if it was selected for it’s irony though…”
“Irony? What are you talking about?” Gavin didn’t understand the strange comment. As he glanced towards Jayden who had a twisted look on his face as he spoke. Everyone slowed their hands and turned towards him in curiosity.
“The rift point sir, it’s in Crown Hill Cemetery…”
The curious looks quickly turned into dumbfounded ones as they stared at Jayden. A few noises that sounded like partial syllables escaped a couple mouths as they nearly dropped to the floor.
“Arrival in 25 minutes and 30 seconds.” The voice of the computer transmitted over the facility’s intercom once again, updating the team on the Returnee’s ETA.
“Now that’s a sick joke.” Gavin couldn’t help but curse. It was bad enough that people believed most of the missing persons from 10 years ago to be dead by this point, now one of them returns and it's in the middle of a cemetery. It was the worst joke he had ever heard.
Everyone mirrored his sentiments as they also thought the same.
“Status report! Where are we with rescue and have we contacted Eskenazi yet?” Director Morris interrupted the team’s thoughts as he barked out his commands.
Everyone sluggishly turned towards the director as he rushed in, their dumbfounded looks still plastered across their faces. The director was taken aback at their odd behavior.
“What’s wrong? Why do you all look like you just ate rotten fish?”
“Uh… Sir. The rescue team is on route and we just updated Eskenazi. As for this… well… you see…” Gavin was having trouble finding the words as he was still stunned.
“Spit it out. You're the team manager Mr. Graves, don’t get tongue tied so easily.”
“Uh, well… The rift point. It’s… at Crown Hill Cemetery, sir.”
“Say again...” Just like everyone else the director also had a dumbfounded look when he heard the location that the Returnee would be coming out. His jaw became slack before quickly closing it only for his face to become contorted in disgust.
“Is this a sick joke?”
“No sir. But that’s exactly what I said.” Gavin responded helplessly. Everyone just stared at him with their twisted and disbelieving looks as if time had frozen in the command center.
“Arrival in 20 minutes.” The sound of the computer on the intercom woke the director from his contemplations.
“Get on the phone with Eskenazi and let them know I’m inbound. I’ll be heading there myself for this one.” The director quickly collected himself as he decided it would be best if he received the first returnee in the entire world for the last 5 years personally.
“Yes sir. I’ll have a car waiting for you downstairs.”
“Good man. Everyone, maintain a...”
[https://i.imgur.com/HBhnSGQ.png]
[https://i.imgur.com/M2U76Ae.png]
“What the hell?!”
“What’s going on?!” This newest alert sent the entire staff into a frenzy. Team manager Gavin and Director Morris were stunned, frozen in place like statues once again.
“What the hell is going on today? First a returnee after 5 years of silence and now a God-Level being is entering the realm? What the hell is a God-Level being anyway?!” This thought flashed through both of their minds simultaneously. They rigidly turned their heads to stare at each other hoping the other could provide an explanation. But they could both only sigh in defeat as they saw the confusion on each other’s faces.
“What are the chances it appeared here on Earth?” Team Manager Gavin sounded both exhausted and numb.
“Considering the fact that it was a realm-wide alert, that means it could have appeared anywhere in the universe. I think we’re safe.” Director Morris said this more for his own sake than for Gavin’s.
“Arrival in 10 minutes.”
“Handle this. Inquire from Gaia what exactly this God-Level being is and if it is anywhere near our world. Also get in touch with headquarters and find out what they know. I’ll head to the hospital.” Director Morris ordered with little energy as he turned towards the hall leading to the elevator.
“Yes sir.” Gavin responded with just as little energy as he slumped into his chair.
Dispirited, Director Morris straightened his back and marched down the hall and into the elevator. He was a military man so his tolerance for stress was rather high.
“I need a vacation…” He muttered under his breath as he pressed the button for the lobby.
While Director Morris was boarding his car, the rescue agents dispatched by the Hunters Bureau had arrived on site at Crown Hill Cemetery. It was eerily quiet other than the rotor on the helicopter winding down.
“Looks like the police responded rather quickly. There’s no one in sight and the entire cemetery is cordoned off. What do you think Eva?”
“I think it’ll appear over there. There’s a high level of mana concentration on that hill.”
“High enough for a rift to form?”
“Douglas, how long have you known me and my abilities? Trust me, that’s the only place around here with enough mana for a rift to form.”
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“You’re right. Do your thing.” Douglas and Eva had worked together for the past 7 years. Eva’s ability to detect and monitor mana was 1st class and when it came to spotting ‘stress points’ she was the best Douglas knew.
“So what are the odds that this is the God thing that’s coming through?” Douglas asked lazily as he stared at the hill.
“Oh please. That monstrosity won't appear anywhere near our world. Besides, this is a Returnee, and Returnees are humans since they originate from Earth. So whoever it is has to be human, otherwise Gaia wouldn’t have called them a Returnee in the first place.”
Douglas had to admit that Eva made a good point. If it’s a Returnee then it has to be human since a Returnee is a person who was pulled into a rift 10 years ago at the time of the Merger, displaced into another realm and was later located by Gaia to be returned back to Earth.
“How much more time do we have?” He asked as he grew more and more bored.
“God, you're helpless. Would it kill you to at least wear a watch?” Eva looked at Douglas like he was a child needing constant care.
“Yes mother…” Douglas gave Eva a snide grin in response.
Eva could only sigh at his antics. “We’ve still got a little over 5 minutes. But we can let Gaia know we’ve arrived. Do you want to do the honors?”
“Sure.” Douglas drew in a deep breath. “Hey Gaia! We’ve arrived at the arrival point so let us know when and where.” Douglas yelled into the sky as if he was commanding the heavens.
“Wow… you really…”
Douglas cast an innocently curious glance at Eva.
[https://i.imgur.com/3E3bNAS.png]
As the alert went out strange holographic looking yellow signs with exclamation points on them appeared in a circle around the hill where all of the mana was collecting, showing the focal point where the rift would appear.
As Eva and Douglas watched, at the top of the hill, what appeared to be a crack began to grow in the middle of the air. The color in the area darkened and the seams of the crack were pitch black. The lighting within a range of several hundred meters dimmed as if sunset had arrived.
“It’s beginning...” Eva’s eyes were glued to the rift.
To onlookers, it appeared as if a dark patch was blotting the space on top of the hill and the wind was picking up. But to Eva, with her strong mana sensitivity, it appeared as a symphony of lights. Particles of light blue, purple and white fluorescence flowed through the air on streams. Sucked into the event horizon of the rift that was forming above them.
As the flows of mana made contact, the rift slowly widened into an ovular shape, like a portal. The outline of the rims were illusory with vague blurred colors of the environment around them as it merged back into the black hem of the outer edges. Light flooded into the event horizon of the rift and as it did the pitch black nothingness that made its core flashed with slivers of silver and blue like a puddle.
[https://i.imgur.com/V8swZvF.png]
The holographic warning signs changed from yellow to red as a 30 second countdown timer appeared in their center. This was just one of the many ways Gaia aided humanity and other sentient life forms throughout the realms. By providing context and notifications.
[https://i.imgur.com/oKmPaLX.png]
Just as Gaia finished her warning, a dark figure appeared inside of the rift’s center. The figure started small, only half the size of the portal, but it soon grew as it drew closer to this side. Suddenly, a large lock of golden hair pierced through the top of the rift, then a head followed, finally a body from neck to feet. The figure passed through the event horizon of the rift, falling to the ground, unconscious.
“Huh… It’s a boy. Some kid came through. What do you know...” Douglas stated with both surprise and disappointment.
“Go get the stretcher. We should evac him asap.” Eva turned and instructed before rushing up the hill to the boy that was just spit out of the rift.
“Yah, yah. I know the drill.” Douglas responded apathetically as he had lost all of his motivation.
“Why couldn’t it have been a hot damsel in distress that needs rescuing…” He thought to himself as he trudged back to the helicopter.
“Hey, help me with this stretcher and carrying this kid that came out.”
“Yes sir.” The medical officer was curious. Very curious. Douglas had called the Returnee a kid. For a kid to come out of a rift was unheard of. Every Returnee to date had been an adult.
As Douglas and the medical officer approached the hill, Eva had already checked the boy’s pulse and other vitals.
“Nothing abnormal. He seems to be fine, just unconscious. Let's load him up and get out of here.” As she conveyed her orders, the rift slowly collapsed on itself. Disappearing into the aether.
The three of them lifted the boy onto the stretcher and carefully rolled it down the hill back to the helicopter. The pilot had already started the engines and warmed them up, so they were able to leave the moment they boarded.
As they lifted off, the medical officer curiously inspected the new passenger. He couldn’t help but remark, “He’s a kid? Isn’t he at least in his early 20s?”
“Still a kid by my standards.” Douglas snorted in response.
Eva gave a twisted glance to Douglas as if he was an idiot.
“What?” He asked curiously, shrugging his shoulders innocently.
“Says the 29 year old. Early 20s is hardly a kid by comparison. If that were true then you just called the majority of couples pedophiles, since the average age difference between couples in the US is around 7-10 years.” Eva was a master of romance statistics. She would often use some kind of interpersonal information to chastise or tease Douglas with.
“Ewh…” Douglas became sullen and looked away. He couldn’t look Eva or anyone else for that matter in the eyes as he was too embarrassed. His one weakness was romance. He wasn’t good at it despite boasting about his many romantic exploits. He was even less capable of countering Eva when it came to the topic.
“What’s our ETA?” Eva, with a triumphant grin, spoke loudly into the mic as she turned towards the cockpit.
“3 Minutes.” The pilot responded.
“Do we have confirmation that the EMTs are on standby?”
“Yes ma'am. Also ma'am, Director Morris is present.”
“The director came?” Eva was shocked. She had let her volume slip as she responded. The director rarely went out on missions or even left his office for that matter.
As they drew closer to the hospital’s heliport the people standing by went from small black dots to a horde of bodies. After they landed several EMTs rushed up to help lower the patient and roll him into the hospital’s interior. The medical officer from the helicopter walked with them as he detailed the boy’s vitals. Four orderlies walked ahead of the group to make sure their path was clear while several doctors re-checked the boy’s vital signs on the way to the room they had prepared.
Director Morris and the two from the Bureau’s rescue team were walking closely behind.
“Any issues?”
“None sir. Everything went smoothly.”
“Good.” Director Morris hoped everything else would go smoothly as well. He was eager to get back to his office soon to sit back, smoke a cigar and drink a small glass of bourbon. He was traditional in his relaxation methods. And today had already proven to be one of those days.
The orderlies opened one of the recovery room doors and the EMTs wheeled the stretcher in. It was a medium sized room with a side wall around 13 feet long and the width around 11 feet wide, typical for single patient rooms. They rolled the stretcher up to the side of the bed, positioning themselves on opposite sides of the two, then lifted the boy up, placing him on to the hospital bed, before the orderlies retrieved the stretcher and wheeled it out.
Director Morris, Eva and Douglas stood on the far side of the room out of the way. Director Morris occupied the single chair of course.
“Pulse?”
“80 beats per minute.”
“Alright, let's get him hooked up.”
The doctors began stretching and pulling out tubes and wires as one of the EMTs cut the ragged shirt down the center. Clothes didn’t always make it through a rift. They would often be burnt or become tattered.
As the nurse began to attach the sticky pads to the boy’s chest, she received a shock and screeched as she jumped back into the counter behind her.
“Eee!”
Several sparks of electricity burst out shocking the nurse and the nearby EMT. The sticky pads were repelled, flying off onto the floor.
“What happened?” One of the doctors rushed to check the nurse’s hand while he questioned her.
“I…”
But before the nurse could complete her sentence several red holographic panels appeared in the air around the unconscious boy.
[https://i.imgur.com/wdDbzsU.png]
Director Morris leapt from his seat as if it was on fire while Eva and Douglas’ jaws nearly hit the floor as they stared in shock. The doctors and nurses were no better. They looked on in astonishment at the boy who lay there, pristine and calm. No one moved. The entire room went silent.
A light blue glow slowly flooded out from the boy’s body. It was like a flame that started low before bursting out around him. Everyone in the room covered themselves as if it would burn but all they felt was warmth and serenity.
[https://i.imgur.com/oOdtiLA.png]
As everyone continued to stare, bewildered by the development, Kailan began to slowly float up above the bed, suspended by nothing but air. His body swiveled and then tilted into a standing position. The doctors and nurses backed away at this sight, afraid they would be shocked too.
Kailan landed softly on the floor and his muscles flexed as he slowly lifted himself. His head rose last and as he looked around the room everyone was drawn to the blue flames that were his eyes. They couldn’t look away as if mesmerized by them.
The flames slowly died down, his eyes returning to normal pupils that only glowed a light blue, before it too faded outward in a ring. Replaced by a normal light blue iris.
[https://i.imgur.com/9XYbuub.png]