Chapter 123 Through The Gate

"John? Was John here!?" Clay shouted in surprise. Leo was calm and spoke in an even voice.

"Yes, John was here. I didn't say anything because I wanted to talk with all of you about it first. I'm not so sure John wants to be rescued..."

Clay reacted aggressively towards Leo's assumption "What do you mean! Why wouldn't he want to be rescued!?"

"You need to calm down. If they hear us talking then they'll know we didn't tell them everything." Leo said.

Clay took a deep breath and leaned back against his seat " Alright...please just tell us what happened."

Leo looked at Cain and Rene "You two arrived before I did, you should probably explain how John ended up like that."

"Yeah, okay..." Cain said as he gathered his thoughts "Inside the big room with the stone tablet..."

"Altar. I'm pretty sure it was an altar." Rene interrupted.

"Oh... Uh yeah, so the room with the altar. John was on the floor in front of the altar with his arms cut open and there was a cultist standing behind him. I distracted the cultist for a while and that allowed Rene to go help John."

"Only I don't think I actually helped." Rene said, continuing the story " I healed John's arms but then all his blood started moving from the floor and covered the altar. The blood couldn't completely cover the altar but then the words written on it began glowing and then...then..."

"He changed." Cain said with a solem tone.

"What do you mean he changed?" Nila asked with a confused expression.

"His skin turned red and he suddenly had a third eye and horns on his head. He... I think he blames us for what happened to him..." Cain answered hanging his head.

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"But how did... What made him change like that?" Clay didn't know how to react and his mind felt numb. What the others were discribing felt unreal.

Leo continued the story "We don't know. I arrived and began fighting the cultist. He claimed that the reason John changed like that was because he was healed halfway through the 'ritual' and that it was because he didn't completely bleed to death."

"Now comes the part that makes me think John doesn't want to be saved." Clay focused more intensely on Leo.

"After defeating the cultist, Trent showed up. He's...one of them. Whatever they are. He had turned the villagers into monsters that he calls 'beasts' according to the survivors. He burned me quite severely, as you can see, but suddenly a different cultist appeared in a flash of light."

"He said the military was coming and that he was told by their 'Master' to come get Trent. I saw this as my opportunity to attack, it would have been successful and Trent would probably have died from the attack."

"But before my fist made contact, John put up a barrier between us and saved Trent. The cultist grabbed onto both John and Trent and then they all disappeared again." Leo finished explaining.

His expression and tone showed how confused and angry he was at everything that had happened.

Clay couldn't believe what he was hearing

"So not only did John turn into some kind of monster, he also defended Trent and then chose to leave with the cultist?"

"Yeah..." Leo answered.

"That doesn't make any sense... Why would he do that! Trent treated him like shit the entire time we were at the academy, he saw what he did to Rene! Why would go with them, why would he defend Trent!?" Clay was furious and confused. He couldn't control his emotions and was swinging his arms around while shouting.

His arm started changing sizes several times, growing larger then smaller over and over again as he spoke. The size didn't change much but it was still noticeable.

Cain tried to speak in as a calm a voice as he could "Clay. I know it doesn't make any sense and I can't understand why he would do that either. The John we grew up with would never do something like this but you can't let yourself get so angry. We just need to find out what's going on the next time we see him..."

Although trying to remain calm, it was obvious that Cain was also struggling to control his emotions and his ability. Leo could tell that Cain had accidentally increased his own weight because of how the seat beneath him started to sink in.

Everyone went silent while they thought about the events that had transpired and the conversation they had just had.

The only person who didn't feel all that bad was Nila. She didn't really have much interactions with John so she didn't feel anything about what had happened.

'They're all upset about what happened to John but I just don't know him well enough to feel that way. What kind of person am I if I can't even empathize with my friends pain. The only thing I'm feeling is guilt about not being able to empathize...' Nila thought to herself.

Little conversation was made during the next few hours as they traveled towards the gate. The only time a full conversation happened was when Clay and Nila briefly explained what had happened when he had a duel with Trents brother.

"I think we're at the Gate." Cain said while looking out the carriage window.

Everyone started looking out the window to see what the Gate looked like and but they couldn't see it just yet.

There was a large building that was standing alone in an open field. There were soldiers that were guarding the building that opened the large double doors leading inside.

The carriage Leo's group was inside, as well as the rest of the soldiers, all entered through the door. That's where the Gate could be seen.

The Gate was a 10 meter tall stone arch that was standing near the back of the room. It had an indent at the top of the arch, right in the center.

Near the top of the arch there was a platform that had been set up. A soldier that was standing on the platform placed an object into the indent suddenly a veil of white energy filled the arch like a waterfall.

The soldiers at the front of the convoy moved into the Gate and vanished with whooshing sound and a dim flash of light.

The convoy moved forwards and everyone disappeared one after the other as they passed through the gate. Finally it was the carriages turn.

Leo's carriage moved into the gate and was pulled into what looked like a tunnel made of pure light and energy that was constantly moving, making it difficult to tell if the carriage was moving or not.

After a few seconds the tunnel vanished and they were suddenly in a different room with a different Gate behind them.

The room looked like it was built in a similar way but it was different enough that it was obvious they were in a different place.

'Incredible...to think something like this is possible.' Leo thought to himself on awe.

'This is nothing. Where I'm from this is an everyday occurrence.' Dreifus said with a smug attitude.

'Really? Just where are you from that this is something common?' Leo questioned.

'I... I can't remember... I don't...' Dreifus struggled for a moment and then suddenly went quiet.

'He's still having trouble remembering stuff. Hopefully one day he'll remember who is and where he's from.' Leo thought.

The carriage continued out of the building and Leo realized they were inside the military base. He continued to look around and saw that the Gate was set up right at the edge of the base, with walls surrounding it.

The walls extended to a gate that lead out of the base. ' I guess this is all here to try and keep the Gate a secret, even from the other soldiers.' Leo thought as they continued.

,m The soldier split off from the convoy and now there were only 4 carriages left. Leo's, the Generals and 2 for the villagers.

They went through the city and arrived at the entrance to the Zogarth estate. At the entrance there were dozens of people standing there waiting. Each of these people looked like regular commoners and they all stared at the carriages expectantly.

The carriages stopped, General zogarth and Lieutenant Anders climbed out of their carriage first. Leo and his group climbed out of theirs as well and watched the events unfold before them.

"Greetings everyone! Thank you for coming all this way. I know you're all worried about your family members but I must warn you! There were very few survivors amongst those that were taken, so please don't get your hopes up!" General Zogarth announced.

Among those who were standing at the entrance to the estate was the little girl that Leo's group had saved, Marie. She was standing with a member of the Zogarth families staff.

Lieutenant Anders opened the carriages and the few surviving villagers stepped out. They looked at the crowd of people trying to spot their family members.

Cecile was looking around and finally spotted who she was looking for. She rushed forwards in the direction of Marie with a smile on her face and tears streaming down her cheeks.

She ran up to Marie and continued passed her, grabbing hold of her daughter and husband that were standing just behind Marie.

" I'm so happy you weren't in village when we were taken! If you had been..." Cecile started crying while holding onto her family.

Marie held onto the leg of the staff member next to her and tears filler her eyes. "I...I don't see her! Where is she... Where's my mommy!?"