There were two kinds of portals.
The first was the stable portal, the most common. It carried a natural barrier, an unseen veil that prevented otherworlders from slipping through. Only humans could pass freely, unchallenged.
The second was rarer, feared, and spoken of only in dread: the rumble portal. Unlike its stable counterpart, it had no barrier at all. Whatever existed on the other side could pour out unchecked. Entire cities had been erased by a single rumble portal.
Yet whether stable or rumble, all portals shared one horrifying trait. At the moment of their birth, they unleashed a phenomenon known as the Pull In.
It was this very phenomenon that had forced governments to adapt. Over decades, science and military expertise had merged, producing technology that could predict the appearance of portals with ninety-five percent accuracy. Three hours of warning was usually enough to clear civilians, enough to prepare raids, enough to keep Normies alive.
But here, in this hall filled with more than a hundred students and guests, no warning had come.
The air split open.
Conus froze as reality itself seemed to tremble. At the far end of the room, a crack appeared, no larger than a fist at first, but it pulsed, stretched, and grew. The light within churned violently until the crack widened into a swirling oval of darkness and color.
A portal.
The Pull In struck.
A force like a hurricane ripped through the hall, invisible yet unstoppable. Plates, glasses, chairs, everything not nailed down tore free. Screams rang out as students and guests were dragged helplessly toward the rift.
Conus braced himself, boots grinding against the marble. His body shook under the pull, but he stood rooted, every muscle straining. As a Pugnator, he could resist what Normies could not.
Resistance meant little when everyone else was being ripped away.
Students clawed for anything within reach. Some clung to pillars, others to tables, only for those tables to lift and vanish into the maelstrom. Bodies flew past Conus, flailing, their cries cut short as the portal devoured them.
Then he saw her.
"Deb!"
She clung desperately to a metal pole, her face twisted in terror. Her hands slipped inch by inch until, with a final scream, she lost her grip.
Conus tensed to leap for her.
But Crowley moved first.
He lunged, arm outstretched, but Deb was too far. The pull seized her, snatching her from his reach, and in an instant she was gone.
"No!" Conus shouted, but his cry was lost to the chaos.
Then came another voice, sharp with terror.
"Conus!"
He whipped his head. Lucas. His best friend clung to a pillar, but his arms were failing. His fingers slipped, his body wrenched free, and he was hurled toward the rift.
Conus ran. He forced himself against the pull, sprinting into the storm. He leapt, hand outstretched, reaching for Lucas.
A table, ripped from somewhere above, slammed into his side mid-air. The impact twisted him off course, sending him crashing down. His hand snapped inches short of Lucas's.
"NO!" The scream tore from his throat, raw and desperate, as Lucas vanished into the portal's glow.
And then silence.
The pull ceased as suddenly as it had begun. Objects clattered to the ground. The air was still again.
Conus collapsed to one knee, chest heaving. Around him, the survivors stirred, dazed and trembling. Only a handful remained, those who had been far enough when the rift opened.
"Conus!"
Amelia rushed to him, her face streaked with tears. She fell to her knees, clutching his arm. "They're gone! Deb, Lucas, they're gone!"
Conus gripped her shoulders, forcing calm into his voice. "Call the police. Tell them what happened. Hurry."
She nodded frantically, fumbling for her phone.
Conus pulled out his own and dialed his father. No signal. Again. Nothing. With a sharp exhale, he typed a quick message instead and sent it, his eyes never leaving the portal.
The rift still pulsed, but the pull had quieted. At least it was not a rumble portal. If it had been, the hall would already be crawling with otherworlders, and saving Deb or Lucas would be impossible.
A voice broke the silence.
"I'm going in."
Conus turned sharply. Crowley stood at the portal's edge, fists clenched, his body trembling with rage.
"No," Conus said firmly, striding forward. He caught Crowley's arm before he could move.
Crowley blinked, startled. "Let go." He tried to wrench free, but the grip did not budge. He twisted harder, muscles straining, yet it was like iron locked on his arm. His eyes widened in disbelief.
"You…"
Conus said nothing of himself. His voice was cold, deliberate. "We cannot rush in blind. We don't know the level of this portal. Charging through could mean death before we even take a step."
Crowley's jaw tightened. "Every minute we waste is a chance Deb is dying. Or worse."
Conus swallowed hard. The thought cut deep. Deb. Lucas. He could almost still hear their screams. Crowley was right. Waiting was its own kind of death sentence.
Slowly, he released Crowley's arm. His eyes swept the room, searching for something else. Someone else. The masked man. The one who had started this. But the room was empty of him, his presence gone like smoke.
"Amelia," Conus said at last, his tone sharp, decisive. "Stay here. Wait for the police. Wait for the Inspectors. Do not follow us."
Her eyes widened. "Conus… you… you're a Pugnator?"
He ignored the question. His gaze fixed on the portal, its swirling light reflected in his eyes. He stepped forward, Crowley at his side. Together, they crossed into the unknown.
Above them, hidden high beneath the vaulted roof, two masked figures watched.
One wore a black mask of a dog, the other a cat.
The cat mask tilted her head, her voice low and edged with curiosity. "You were right. The boy can sense Aura. Quite the ability."
The dog mask scoffed, saying nothing.
She pressed further, her tone uncertain. "But was it necessary to involve all these Normies? We could have taken our target without the chaos."
The dog mask turned to her, his voice cold as stone. "And how else would you have done it?"
The question silenced her.
He faced the hall again, gaze fixed on the portal below. "We do what we must. Whatever pleases Him."
At that word, her shoulders stiffened. Him.
The dog mask gave a final glance to the portal. "The Inspectors will be here soon. It is time to hunt."
The cat mask raised a hand. With a flick of her fingers, both figures shimmered and vanished, swallowed by invisibility.