Author's Preface
The following evening, after a quiet day that passed without a hitch, Blue sat at the dinner table with David and Mary, eating. The words still lingered in his mind. No rush. It didn’t sit right. His phone buzzed against the table. He ignored it. For a year in Murim, there had been no phones. No messages. No constant pull for attention. Just the moment in front of you and whatever came with it.
“Are you going to answer that?” Mary asked, glancing up from her plate. Blue blinked, pulled back from his thoughts, and reached for the phone. He glanced at the screen. Tim. The team leader from earlier. He answered. “…Hello?”
“Wednesday. Noon. Be at the guild hall.” Tim’s voice was flat and direct. “You’ve been assigned to my team for our promotion raid. Take tomorrow to prepare yourself.” A brief pause followed. “We’ll see you then.”
The line went dead before Blue could respond. He stared at the phone for a moment longer before lowering it back onto the table. David looked over at him. “Everything alright?”
Blue let out a quiet breath. “… Yeah.” But his mind was already moving.
Two days later, Blue approached the guild hall where Tim and his team were already waiting. Tim glanced up as he got closer, a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Glad to see you didn’t chicken out,” he said. “We need a full team for this and the Association assigned you to our team.” A few of the others chuckled. "Same as last time,” Tim continued, adjusting his gloves. “Stay in the back. Let the professionals handle the gate.” He gave Blue a quick once-over. “After this, we go our separate ways. Deal?”
Blue didn’t react. “…Sure,” he said. That was enough for Tim. They piled into the guild van and drove in relative silence. The energy inside was different from before, tighter, more focused. The team was anxious, confident but deep down, everyone knew that it only takes one bad day to die when raiding gates.
The team arrived at the edge the stronghold, about 20 miles east of downtown Columbus. Only a half a mile or so from the walls that were manned by the assocation and protected the city. The walls stood hundreds of feet tall, awakeners could be seen walking on top of it on patrol. This C-rank gate stood in a zone of the city that hadn't been touched yet be renovations. Buildings were partially collapsed, some even reduced to rubble. There was a stale stench that filled the air. Electricity didn't work around here, there wasn't a need for it yet, since the majority of surviving civilians lived toward the center of Columbus . It also was in the area that the black guilds liked to operate. The gate pulsed steadily ahead of them in the middle of a collapsed building, its light casting shifting shadows across giant pieces of what once was.
Tim stopped just before entering and turned to face the team. “This is it boys. Today we hit C-rank. This is where it starts. Before you know it we will be B-rank, higher payouts, better contracts…” A grin spread across his face. “More power. More money.” He gestured toward the gate. “Let’s move.” One by one, they stepped through.
Blue followed last. The moment he crossed over, he felt it. Something wasn’t right. Blue slowed slightly, his eyes scanning the surroundings as he stepped further in. The energy clashed with the energy that had settled in his dantian. Something about this gate wasn't normal. He couldn't prove it, but his body was telling him so. His grip tightened slightly. This feeling… It wasn’t new. His eyes narrowed. This wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought.
Across town inside the Buckeye Guild, Aaron sat behind his desk. He flipped through assignment reports for the day. This was how most of his days were spent now. Paperwork, approvals, oversight. Not where we wanted to be at all. He leaned forward and pressed a button on the phone. "Sharon, could you bring me a coffee please?"
A minute later Sharon stepped in and sat down a cup in front of him. She paused and examined Aaron. "Are you okay?"
Aaron let out a quiet breath, rubbing the back of his neck. “Yeah. Just hate this part of the job.” He gave a faint, tired smile. “Would rather be in a gate than behind a desk.”
“That’s what you signed up for,” Sharon said.
"Yeah,” he muttered. “Didn’t realize it came with this much paperwork.” She smiled faintly and stepped out.
Aaron took a sip of coffee and went back to the reports. One page. Then another. Then he stopped. His eyes settled on a single line. A C-rank promotion raid. That wasn’t unusual. But the gate... his eyes narrowed slightly. "That doesn’t look right." He muttered as he flipped back a page. Then forward again. Checked the classification. Read it twice. The numbers lined up. On paper. But something about it felt off. That gate was sitting right on the edge. "It's basically a B-rank. Too unstable to truly classify it as C-rank." And the team assigned to it... Tim’s team.
Aaron’s jaw tightened. “…Who signed off on this?” He checked the time. Two hours. They’d been inside for two hours already. Aaron stood abruptly, chair scraping lightly against the floor. “Sharon.” She was already at the door. “Yes?”
“Get Eve... NOW!
Eve stepped into Aaron’s office just as he turned from the window, still pacing. “Sir… is everything alright?” she asked. “Another outbreak?”
Aaron shook his head, running a hand through his hair. “Not exactly,” he said. “But it could turn into something worse.” That was enough to get her attention. “The Association assigned Tim’s team a promotion raid. C-rank gate.”
Eve didn’t react. “And?”
Aaron stopped pacing. “That gate is borderline B-rank.”
Now she was listening. “Then send a B-rank team,” she said. “Why call me?”
Aaron looked directly at her. “… Blue was assigned to that team.”
That was all she needed to hear. Eve didn’t hesitate. She turned and pulled out her phone as she walked. “Team. Downstairs. Now.” Then she stopped just long enough to look back. “Where’s the gate, Aaron?” Her tone had sharpened. “Tell me. Now!”
By the time they arrived, the team was already moving. The vehicles came to a stop near the gate, and Eve stepped out first, her team close behind. Weapons were ready, eyes scanning, all of them expecting to go in immediately. Then Chris slowed. “…Wait.”
The gate pulsed once. The red energy that had been flaring across its surface began to settle, shifting into a deep, steady blue. Samantha frowned. “It’s… cleared?”
“That’s not possible,” Darrien said. “This gate is damned near B rank.” Eve didn’t say anything. She just stared at the gate. Something wasn’t right. A figure stepped out. Blue.
He walked forward slowly, unsteady but still moving under his own strength. Blood covered his clothes, dark and heavy, and there were cuts across his arms and face that hadn’t fully stopped bleeding. His jian was strapped across his back. In his arms, he carried four people. Alive, but barely. The entire team went silent. Blue took a few more steps before stopping in front of them. His eyes found Eve first.
“Tim’s dead,” he said. His voice wasn’t emotional. It was flat. Matter-of-fact. “His body’s still inside.” He held himself there for another second, like he was making sure they understood. Then his arms gave out. The bodies slipped from his grip, dropping to the ground as he fell to his knees right after them. He tried to steady himself, but whatever had been keeping him upright was gone. A second later, he collapsed forward.