346 Portal

At the time, Darian and Mindy were sneaking around the basement levels looking for Tim. They especially made their way to the third basement floor underground thinking he was locked up in a cell there.

Nevertheless, the skulking duo did find something of great interest to them.

"Mindy? I have good news and bad news." Darian said. "Which do you want to hear first."

"Your choice." Mindy shrugged, glancing at her wristcuffs, still in place in case anyone found them and started asking questions. "Either way, you have a captive audience."

"The bad news is, we didn't find Tim." Darian grimaced. "The good news is… we found the Portal."

"The Portal?" Mindy blinked, startled. "You don't think… they're keeping him on the other side?"

"It would make for a very efficient prison." Darian mused. "Only one exit to guard, and it's always heavily guarded on both sides. Imprisoning someone in a whole other world would make it extremely difficult to escape."

"Is it guarded?" Mindy asked, not raising her head in case they incurred suspicion.

"Four heavily armored elite draconians." Darian drew a deep breath. "I don't think we're going to be able to sneak past them."

"Then let's not even try." Mindy said decisively and instantly acted. She flicked her cuffs away and charged at the Portal with blinding speed. Flames erupted in a blade as she drew it out from nothing, causing the startled guardsmen to leap aside or duck haphazardly.

Before the cuffs even reached the floor, Mindy was through the Portal. Darian didn't have time to hesitate or consider. He could only dart through the Portal after her.

White light filled their vision.

***

Behind them, the four guards scratched their heads, looking at the Portal.

"I think two intruders just got past us." The sergeant said.

"I only saw one…" the first class private said.

"I saw two." The second class private said.

"Doesn't matter. They're both going to die anyway." The corporal said.

That, the sergeant mused, was true. No matter what they did, they would either die on the other side, or die when they tried to come back.

"The auto-purification is on, right?" the sergeant asked.

The corporal checked. "It is on, and locked with the First Prince's Seal. We couldn't turn it off if we tried."

"Then they're going to die for sure." The sergeant shrugged and no longer bothered.

The moment those two emerged from the Portal, the hall would be flooded with an inferno, and only those who were immune or at least extremely resistant to fire would survive. Even they, the elite of the Imperial Guards, required quality armor with runes giving them high fire elemental resistance.

With this, the Portal didn't need guarding at all. In fact, the four of them weren't there to guard the portal. They were just waiting for the rest of their squad to show up before embarking on their next mission through it.

"What's taking everyone so long?" the corporal asked, getting impatient. "I have half a mind to just go over without waiting for them. Even intruders went through already."

"Standard Operating Procedure states we should wait for everyone. Still, if you want to go through early, be my guest. Just say that you were in pursuit of intruders." The sergeant chuckled darkly.

The corporal's face blanched. "No thanks! I'll wait… as long as it takes."

The first class private cleared his throat. "It might take a very long time, though. I hear the lieutenant wanted to take a bath."

The corporal choked. "Why is she taking a bath?!"

"Because she heard the captain was coming?"

Three identical smacks sounded as the Sergeant, the Corporal and the second class private all facepalmed in the exact same manner at the exact same time.

***

White light faded, and then Darian and Mindy were hurtling out into an open square in the middle of a military camp, with rows of large disciplined tents in every direction. The camp was protected by steel walls.

A quick psionic scan was enough to tell them that Tim wasn't around. They found the entrance to the steel perimeter and ran for it.

Darian and Mindy sped through the military camp on the other side amid shouts and yells. They weren't sure exactly who was shouting, what was being yelled, or why, but other than the alerts and alarms, they actually got through the camp safely. Nobody stopped them, nobody stabbed them, nobody shot them. The fact that the total time taken for them to speed through the camp was less than ten seconds might have something to do with it.

[Now what?] Mindy asked. [Tim isn't here.]

[Maybe he's at another camp farther in.] Darian shrugged. [Or maybe he's not on this side of the Portal. Either way, we're already here. We may as well see what's what.]

This world was sandy, and filled with red light. Was it sunset, or was the sun always this red around here? Darian squinted upwards. The sun was nearly directly overhead. Always red, it seemed.

[Is there even another camp farther in?] Mindy wondered.

[I think so.] Darian gazed directly ahead. [I can feel them. There are hundreds of strong Draconians ahead, much stronger than those at the camp we just left. Think of the Portal camp as a supply depot and the camp ahead as the forward command post.]

[Wartime deployment? That seems a bit much for a mining expedition.]

[Maybe the Undead are a bigger threat in this world than Beast Waves were in ours.] Darian frowned. [You're thinking the First Royal Draconian Legion are in the same situation that the Iron Legion faced in the Wildlands. It's not. I'm sensing a great deal of fear and wariness, and I smell blood. I smell a lot of blood.]

[Are you sure that's not just iron in the sand?]

[Some of it is fresh.] Darian sniffed, glancing to the left. [And it's coming downwind from that direction.]

Mindy frowned, frustrated. Since the Flame Emperor's Fall, her active abilities had dropped steeply, though her passive abilities remained intact. She could only take Darian's word for it.

"Should we go investigate?" Mindy glanced to the left.

"Maybe…" Darian hesitated. "But I think we might not need to."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he's coming here." Darian said softly. "One guy. He's strong. And he's coming straight for me."

"He can sense you?" Mindy blinked.

"All Draconians can sense each other. Since I have a bond with Kor'ag-dras, that means me too." Darian frowned. "That guy ahead… he's injured. We have to help him."

"Help him? Shouldn't we be fighting him?" Mindy protested.

"I…" Darian hesitated, then shook his head. "I'm going to help him. Blame it on instinct, blame it on kinship, but I want to help him."

"Fine!" Mindy threw up her hands. "Let's go help the guards and let them know we're intruders."

***

The guy charging towards them was in bad shape. His scale mail armor had been ripped apart and was all but falling off. He was bleeding in so many places, there was no point even counting. He was limping, shambling along while at the same time trying to gather fire in his hands and hurl it backwards.

Right. There was mana in this world. The air was thick with it.

As Darian and Mindy closed in on the injured Draconian, they spotted the pursuers he was hurling fire at. There were at least thirty of them, and they were definitely Undead. Most of them were skeletons and what they could only call ghouls, green-eyed and green skinned and looking very hungry…

In any case, they were fast. Faster than the injured Draconian. They were catching up quickly.

But not as quickly as Darian and Mindy were closing in. Darian was assured that before the guy's pursuers caught up, he and Mindy would be in position to help him.

However, when they got near, the Draconian looked over them and his face fell. "Civilians?! You shouldn't be here! It's too dangerous here! Run! I'll try to hold them off!"

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