NOVEL NEXT Chapter 64 - Going back
The alarm's shrill cry at 4:00 AM was unnecessary. Nick was already awake, had been for hours, his mind replayed Selene's revelations on an endless loop. He couldn't sleep because every time he closed his eyes, all he saw was Maggie strapped to a table, wires burrowing into her skull, blood coming out of every orifice, as her brilliant mind was dismantled and rebuilt into something else....
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!
He reached over and silenced the alarm almost wanting to chuck it against the wall. Rubbing his eyes he got up off the bed and headed for the shower. Turning the water to it's hottest, he stood under the shower, letting the heat reawaken his body and rejuvenate his mind. The rhythmic tapping of water against his skin was hypnotic, almost meditative.
Deep breath in, four counts. Hold for seven, out for eight. He stood under the water and just breathed. Emptying his mind, emptying his thoughts. He would think about what to tell Maggie's parents later. Right now, right now, he was just breathing.
Control what you can, release what you cannot. Arlize said from the recesses of Nick's mind. Those words kept me sane through the worst of Aurilia gory conquest of the then known world and afterward, its even bloodier civil war. Don't worry, you'll find her and bring her back to them. Then with a nod, his presence disappeared back into Nick's soul.
After what felt like an hour of standing under the hot shower, Nick turned the water off, toweled himself off, and dragged himself back into his room. Grabbing is traveling gear, he pulled on a pair of tactical pants with reinforced knees and a compression shirt. He didn't bother with a jacket as the Colombian weather would be warm and sunny.
He grabbed his duffle and stuffed his bag with the clothes he'd need at the compound. The school would be closed for a week so he packed a week's worth of clothing. He didn't pack any of the training equipment he'd received from campus. The compound had better. They'd need better to rescue Maggie.
Checking the alarm clock by his bed, he had about 15 more minutes till Val came to pick them up. He walked out of his room to find Jordan already in the kitchen making coffee for them both, his pack already waiting by the door. Nick walked over and set his pack next to Jordans then joined him in the kitchen.
Opening the fridge he pulled out some bread and jam, popped four slices into the toaster and waited for the machine to finish its work. Thirty seconds later when it dinged, he plated the four slices and popped another four slices in. While the latter slices browned, he opened the bocadillo jar, a guava jam his abuela had packed for him to take to AIA, and covered each piece of toast. As he was finishing the last slice, the toaster dinged. Disconnecting it, he slide it and a plate over to Jordan who gave him a mug of coffee. Grabbing the coffee and his bocadillo pieces of toast, he walked over to their table, took a seat and began to eat. Not a single word had passed between them in those minutes. The air heavy with fear, anxiety, but also hope, hope that now that they knew were Maggie was, they could rescue her.
Knock, Knock, Knock.
Val's signature call broke through the tension. They'd both finished their toast and were on their last sips of coffee when her knock came through. They quickly finished the last of their coffee, washed the mugs, grabbed their duffels, and headed out.
She stood in the hallway dressed in the black fatigues she'd worn around the compound.
"Ready?" She asked, after noticing the bags under both of their eyes.
They both nodded. "As ready as we'll ever be," Nick replied.
She looked into their eyes, noticed the resolve and gave them both a stiff nod.
"Okay, let's go."
Val led them out of Grayspire and through the Academy. It was haunting seeing the once vibrant campus bereft of life even at that early hour.
The Upper Campus tram wasn't on any of their student maps. When they made their way to a shadowed alcove on the edge of lower campus and entered a nondescript metal door to a building covered in Ivy, both Nick and Jordan were surprised to find multiple security personnel on the other side.
Val walked in as if she owned the place, walking past multiple security officers who saluted her until she came to the trams entrance at the other end of the room. In front of the entrance stood a gate and a clerk, a squat man with bald head, whose sharp eyes missed nothing as he stared at the trio walking towards him.
Swiveling his head back to Val, he asked, "They allowed to use the transport."
"Kestrel cleared them yesterday," Val answered flatly.
The man's eyes glazed over a little bit as he accessed his interface, then with a short nod, he pressed a button in front of him, and the gate opened.
They passed through the gate and into the open doors of the tram, sitting down just inside the door as the tram's automatic doors closed behind them.
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The tram car was built for tactical deployment with reinforced glass etched with protective wards, seats with double as restraint systems, emergency evacuation equipment bolted on to either door entrance. They were the only ones in the traincar so Nick really got the chance to take the tram in.
All of a sudden, the tram began to move, quickly accelerating through a variety of tunnels he could only guess at, and then they were going upward. They'd put their seat belts on, otherwise the gforce would have had them crashing into the doors at the rare of the carriage. They moved quickly upward until they leveled out again and then slowly, the tram came to a complete stop.
Exiting the train it took Nick a moment to find his feet before he and Jordan followed Val out of the tram and into another room with even more armored security personal. They all nodded to Val as she exited with them. She led them out of the room into a long hallway filled with closed doors on either side. Having never been to Upper Campus, Nick had the distinct urge to open one of the doors they walked past and peak inside. Yet as if sensing this intentions, Val suddenly turned around and made eye contact with him.
"No te entretengas, we're on a short timeline and the teleportation room will only be open for another few minutes."
Then she turned back around and picked up her pace.
Walking quickly they passed countless closed doors until they came to the last door at the very end of the hallway, which Val opened and walked into.
As they followed behind her, their eyes beheld the interior of a cathedral, one that rivaled the historical sites of Rome. Vaulted ceilings soared high above, their vast expanse supported by marble columns lined in gold trim. Dawn's light, poured through stained glass mosaics, scattered across the floor in shards of rose, crimson, and amethyst. Yet Nick couldn't stop to take in the awe. Val had picked up speed again, leading them deeper through the church until they came to an archway with a singular solid steel door.
Placing her hand against the door, a faint pulse of purple-gold light pulsed from her palm into the steel surface. As though waiting for that precise moment, hidden mechanisms whirled to life, and the metal plates of the door began to shift until the solid door split apart, granting them access to its secrets.
Behind the solid steel door was another long hallway, with a wood door at the end of it. Standing in front of that door were another two armored guards who bowed to Val. One stepped aside, the other opened the door. Nick caught a faint sense of guardian mana pulse through the door before it opened and they walked into a small room which was brightly lit through a glass sunroof.
A massive ring of metal and crystallized mana, thrumming with energy in the small space. Four technicians staffed control stations around it, manipulating their interfaces as a queue of five other staff members stood in line waiting and Val got in line right behind them.
Nick watched as one after the other, the staff members would enter the ring. The technicians would optimize the circle using their interfaces, then a beam of light would come up from the ring, and then the staff member would be gone. The whole process took less than thirty seconds.
Finally it was their turn.
Val approached the main console. "The Compound, Instructor Estrada. Three for emergency transit. Authorization Gamma-Seven-Seven-Kilo."
"Confirmed, Instructor." The lead technician responded. "Portal alignment in progress. Ninety seconds to the transit window. Please proceed to the platform."
Val gestured them forward. Jordan was first, Nick was second, Val was last. The moment Val stood secure within the circle, an energy field Nick hadn't noticed before rose around them in a protective dome that sealed them into a bubble of stabilized space.
"This is both your first times using a portal, sí?" Val asked, noting their tension.
"Yeah," Jordan admitted. Nick nodded. His arms held loosely at his sides though his palms had begun to sweat
Nick felt Sophia analyzing the spell structure of the energy field that wove around them. It was staggeringly complex bridging different equations of spatial manipulation, temporal anchoring, consciousness stabilization, and at least a dozen other mathematical frameworks he couldn't even identify, all working in sync.
"Listen carefully," Val said, her voice bringing Nick back to their situation. "When this activates, every cell in your body is going to scream that something is fundamentally wrong. Your instinct will be to fight it. Don't."
"What exactly will happen to us?" Jordan asked. Though he couldn't analyze the spell structure the way Sophia could, his own interface picked up pieces of Guardian class magic in the fabric of the spell makeup.
"Your body will be disassembled at the molecular level, converted to pure mana, transmitted across dimensional barriers, then reassembled at the destination, for us that would be the Compound." Val said it like she was describing how to make empanadas.
"That sounds absolutely horrifying," Jordan said flatly.
"It is. But it's also the fastest way to cross continents." Val checked something on her interface. "Thirty seconds. Whatever you do, don't hold your breath, don't close your eyes, y por todos los cielos don't try to use your abilities mid-transit. Just breathe, solo respira."
Nick hid a grin. Val's more nervous than she lets on.
She always slipped into Spanish when she was nervous and for some reason that little bit of vulnerability made Nick feel better.
Then the ring around them began to spin.
Then the ring began to move, slowly at first, then faster until it became a blur of light rising around them. The energy within the building as the ring rose around them. They felt it in their bones, their muscles, the very core of their beings. Then without a soundless shudder, reality warped and Nick's consciousness exploded. He was everywhere and nowhere all at once, stretched across the galaxies, but yet at once infinitely so small.
Then an instant later, his body reappeared in another ring. Jolting from the suddenness of the shift in perspective, Nick stumbled and almost knocking Jordan to the ground. Grabbing onto each other, they managed to keep upright. Looking around, they noticed they were in a similar room to the one they'd left back in the Academy, though this room had more technicians all wearing the matte black uniforms of the Compound.
And standing directly in front of them, looking as if no time had passed at all since he saw him last, was his abuelo. Closing his eyes, Nick took a deep breath, the ever present smell of Sello Rojo and arepas filling his nose.
Then he was back.