Civilization

With Gibing holding the torch, he moves forward illuminating the area in front, revealing a stone white door. Similar to the one from the cavern near the copper mine, however, there was something missing…

"Isn't it meant to be open and glowing white?" - Kaede

"Right… It should be. No wonder it was so dark. Wait… Now that I thought about it, throughout the whole time we were here we never saw light at the end of the tunnel. We only relied on the light from the torch and the light from the monsters." - Kingston

"Hmm… For now, let's try to approach the door and see what happens, just be ready for a fight. David and Gibing, lead the way with Frank and Kingston right behind. Gopopo and I will be after the both of you, with Ken and Kaede " - Yor

"Are you sure we should go up to this door even though we don't know anything about it? What if we retreat back to the Krepost and come back with more people in the morning? I think it will be a safer option that doesn't risk anything." - Frank

"I agreed with Frank on this one since we have no information about the door." - Gopopo

"On the contrary, the last time Ian approached the door nothing happened. While we do know it is meant to be glowing white and ejecting a pillar into the sky maybe it was only happening because I killed everything here? Regardless, I think we should at least see what happens when we touch the door." - Kingston

"Alright, David stand next to me." - Gibing

"Got it. If anything happens, get to my side. I'll block with my shield." - David

Nodding at David's statement, Gibing gets into position, with the rest of us behind him and David. While I didn't get hurt during the previous fight, I did use half my HP activating Rage and the constant intense battling had made me very tired. My breathing has slow and heavy, but I couldn't stop here, not yet.

"Wait, Kingston. Take this potion. I still had some from when Lucina distributed them to us the night before." - Yor

"Oh, you still had one left? I thought we all used them." - Kingston

"I asked for an extra potion, just in case we ran into any trouble during the night. I'm glad I still kept it with me since you will need it for anything behind the door."- Yor

"Thank you, Yor" - Kingston

After taking the potion I regained some of my HP and while it wasn't all of it, it was enough, after all, it also restored some of my fatigue giving a bit of an energy boost. Belial has been silent for a while now, but other than that, I am ready to see what was beyond the door.

Gibing slowly approaches the door. His ax is ready at his side as David draws close positioning his shield in front of him, prepared for any unexpected dangers. Tension builds and the sound of our quickening heartbeat resonates in our ears, like war drums readying the army for battle.

With each step, nothing happens but the intensity doubles. Sweat drips down the side of our cheeks, and our hearts race faster, all the way until we were within an arm's reach of the door. Glancing behind his shield, David looks at me with a confused and worried expression. Gibing does the same seconds later, but with a nod from myself, he knew what he had to do.

Taking a deep breath, Gibing reaches out to touch the door, gripping his ax tightly just in case, and as his fingers touch the white door… Nothing happens. Placing his whole palm against the wall, Gibing starts to examine it by touch. However, nothing happens.  David starts to touch the wall as well, but like Gibing's experience, nothing happens.

"This is different from what I expected… I thought something would happen when one of us touched the door but nothing… " - Yor

"Can you push it open? There is a slit in the middle which means it does open." - Ken

"I've tried pushing against it, however, it won't even budge." - Gibing

"Same, when I placed my hand on the door, I tried to push against it only to feel like I was pushing against a wall." - David

"Let me try…" - Kingston

Remembering that Ian was the first person to touch the door the last time this had happened, I had thought that maybe NPCs can't interact with the door but players can. Squeezing between Gibing and David, I let my spear drop to my side and reach out with me left hand touching the cold white surface.

[ You have touched a Portal to the Glemt (Deactivated). This Portal is now under the command of Ian, Lord of HavenFall. ]

[ As you were the Player that interacted with the Portal, you also have the authority to activate the Portal. However, once you or any friendly NPCs pass through the Portal, you cannot come back, until Ian activates the Portal. ]

[ The Portal will send everyone to a predesignated destination in the Glemt. The same Portal is used to travel back, however, can only be activated from this location. NOT the Portal in the Glemt. ]

[ Would you like to activate the Portal? Yes/No ]

A series of notifications appear in front of me. Reading it slowly, I began to understand what the Portal was and where it leads to, however, there had been no mention of the Glemt before in any forum post. With so little information, I feel unsure about activating the Portal but before I make any decision it is best to consult everyone first. Taking my hand off the door and naturally refusing to activate the Portal, I turn to everyone else.

"Uhh… So, this is a Portal to a place called the Glemt. Does anyone know anything about that place?" - Kingston

Looking around one by one, I see the same clueless expression, except for Yor who had his hand under his chin and was deep in thought. Shrugging my shoulders at Gibing who was standing next to me, I lean against the door waiting for Yor to finish thinking about the Glemt. After a few moments of quiet thinking time, he looks up at me and begins to share his thoughts.

"Okay, while I'm not 100% sure about this hypothesis, my idea shouldn't be too far from the truth. We know the Portals have spawned monsters of various races but they all have one thing in common which was they were all undead or dark-element or something related to that category. We also know that it is the Reapers army that is attacking us. This Portal is without a doubt related to the Reaper but the questions is where does it lead to?

This Portal leads to a place called the Glemt which can be of two things. The first being a seperate world or plane where the Reaper's army is waiting or living. The other possibility is that we get transported to a location in the South, most likely within the Reaper's base. I'm leaning more to the second option but once we step through the Portal there will be hundreds of monsters waiting on the other side.

I doubt it is the first option that I thought of, but there is still a possibility since the Glemt doesn't sound like a normal place. If it is a separate dimension then we have absolutely no information about it and how to survive but at least if it is just at a location in the South then we can potentially dominate an area, giving us freedom to move around and wait for rescue.

The monsters we will face regardless of which option I think it is, will be everything we have faced before if not worse. Zombies, skeletons, ghosts and fishman are just the start of our worries since there have been evolved versions of each monster in our many fights with them.

In my opinion, we should not go through the door at this moment and we should retreat instead, taking back the loot we have acquired here and trying it again another time. There is nothing wrong with turning back now and waiting for reinforcements to arrive." - Yor

p "Listening to Yor, I agree with turning back. We have picked up some of the more important looking items and left it relatively closeby since we weren't sure on the situation yet. We should look through these items first and pick up the rest of the loot before proceeding." - Gopopo

"I also think we shouldn't go forward. We know nothing behind the door and we don't even know if we can come back." - Kaede

"We can't go back after going through the Portal. Sorry, forgot to mention that." - Kingston

"Then all the more reason to not go through the Portal right?" - Ken

"Let's go back. Kaede can you get the items that you stored before going to the Portal?" - Kingston

"Of course!" - Kaede

Kaede runs off into the darkness, seeking the items but as she leaves Belial, who has been silent the whole time, warns me of the dangers behind me.

"You should move Kingston. Something is coming." - Belial

"Hmm? What could be coming and where?" - Kingston

"Behind you. Through the Portal." - Belial

"Portal?" - Kingston

Since everyone's attention was on Kaede, no one was looking at the Portal until I turn around. Only to see the ominous white door creak open. Instead of the bright white light which I was used to seeing emitting from the door, it was a darkness, blacker than the abyss.

[ The original owner of the Portal of Glemt has forcefully activated the Portal. ]

A giant black hand stretches out, grabbing everyone but Kaede and as quickly as it came before anyone could even scream, it disappears behind the door.