Military bases had changed since Heavenfall.
Sandbags lined roads that had once seen normal traffic, and armored vehicles stood behind reinforced gates with paint streaked with dust and dried mud, and soldiers carried rifles everywhere, even inside what had once been secure buildings.
Inside one of the largest military compounds, a former operations hall had been converted into a research center. Rows of desks covered the room, and computers ran from generators that coughed every few minutes. Maps littered the entire walls, with circles, numbers, dates, and question marks in random places. Samples of monster flesh sat inside sealed containers, and several strange cores sat in glass beneath a faint glow.
In the center of the room, there was a large screen.
A Gate filled the space on the screen.
It looked peaceful enough, a vertical tear of glowing light in the middle of an empty warehouse somewhere outside the city, with nothing surrounding it.
That peaceful appearance was already enough to claim lives.
A woman in a white lab coat read the tablet in her hands before answering the question. "Stable. Its energy output is still fluctuating, but less than yesterday."
A military officer who had been studying the screen nearby frowned. "How much less?"
"Eight percent."
"Significant?"
"We don’t know."
His answer gave a tired look to everyone in the room, and no one was really happy with those three words.
A middle aged scientist stepped forward and connected a cable to the main display. Several graphs appeared on the sides of the image of the Gate. "As a result of comparing readings from twelve different Gates, we have come to a conclusion. They aren’t identical."
Several officers exchanged looks.
"What does that mean?"
"We don’t know yet, but the internal readings differ." The scientist opened up one of the graphs. "Temperature, energy density, atmospheric composition, and electromagnetic signaling. Some of the Gates appear rather stable, while others are fluctuating. Also, that the environment on the other side doesn’t necessary mirror the location of the Gates."
One officer crossed his arms. "So we are dealing with independent environments?"
"Possibly."
"Possibly?"
The scientist sighed. "We are dealing with something that didn’t exist forty days ago. Give us time."
A quiet voice came from the back of the room.
"Time is exactly what we don’t have."
All conversations stopped to turn towards the speaker.
A tall man in a military uniform stood near the back entrance. He wasn’t wearing medals and didn’t draw attention to himself, but he was there. Grand Marshal Emmanuel Varga walked to the table as the scientists straightened out.
"Continue."
The first researcher gulped and changed the display. "Monster cores are our primary point of discovery. They contain an energy concentration unlike anything we’ve recorded. We’ve tested them against batteries, conventional generators, weapons, and several experimental devices."
"And?"
"They can store energy."
"How much?"
"We haven’t reached their limit."
That statement got the attention of the room.
Another scientist spoke up. "There is evidence that monster materials respond differently when exposed to awakened individuals."
Emmanuel looked at him. "Explain."
"We’ve observed stronger reactions around certain abilities. Some materials appear to be more compatible with specific energy types."
"Can they be used to make weapons?"
"We think so."
"You think?"
"We haven’t had time to establish a reliable process."
Emmanuel nodded. "Continue."
The scientist hesitated before continuing. "There’s another issue."
"What?"
"Exploration."
The room grew quieter.
"We’ve sent small teams into several Gates. Most have returned with limited information, and some have not returned at all." No one interrupted his statement as he continued. "The interiors are too large to map with our current equipment. Communication becomes unreliable. We’ve also encountered monsters that don’t appear outside of their Gates."
A colonel leaned over the table. "How many people have we lost?"
The scientist looked at his notes. "Forty-three confirmed, seventeen still missing."
There was a silence over the room, and no one asked what that meant.
Emmanuel looked at the image of the Gate. "Has anyone cleared one?"
"No sir. Not yet."
"Then we don’t know what happens when one is cleared."
"No sir."
"How long will it take for you to tell me?"
The scientist gave an exhausted look. "We don’t know."
Again, the answer.
Emmanuel turned away.
A month ago the military had thought it understood war. Now soldiers were fighting creatures that didn’t exist in any manual, civilians awakening abilities that couldn’t be explained, and enormous Gates appeared in cities around the world.
Nigeria wasn’t alone anymore. There were reports from Europe, Asia, North and South America, and other African nations. Heavenfall had happened everywhere. Whatever this was, it was the entire world.
Emmanuel looked at the researchers. "Then we learn faster."
Before anyone could answer, the doors opened and several armed soldiers marched in, their boots hitting the floor in unison. Between them walked Mira.
She wasn’t restrained. She didn’t need to be. Six rifles were enough.
Mira’s clothes were dirty from the road and her hair was disheveled, a small mark on her eyebrow. She looked around the room with open irritation before her eyes landed on Emmanuel.
"Uncle."
No one moved.
Emmanuel stared for several seconds before he spoke. "You ran."
Mira crossed her arms. "Yes."
"You disappeared for nine days."
"I was busy."
__
"Technically I was avoiding being caught."
One of the officers looked away to hide a reaction, but Emmanuel didn’t. "You’re twenty-two years old."
"And?"
"And you’re behaving like a child."
Mira’s expression darkened. "I ran because you wanted to send me into a Gate."
That immediately changed the atmosphere, and the scientists suddenly found their tablets a lot more interesting as he walked past.
"You knew what the assignment was."
"I knew exactly what it was."
"You were given an opportunity to help us understand the Gates."
"No that I was given an order to walk into something none of you understand." Mira’s voice rose. "You don’t know what’s inside, how far it goes, and what happens if the Gate changes, and whether something can follow me out."
"We’ve studied them."
"You’ve studied them from outside."
No one answered, and Mira laughed bitterly. "That’s what I thought."
Her eyes fell on the large screen where a Gate shimmered. For a moment the anger disappeared from her face and something else took over - fear.
She remembered the first week. She remembered watching soldiers firing into a monster until their rifles clicked empty, and another tearing through an armored car like it was made of cardboard. She remembered the first time magic had answered her.
It’d been beautiful for about three seconds until the wall behind her exploded.
Mira had spent the next few weeks learning that having power didn’t mean understanding it. She had learned fast. Too fast.
Her uncle noticed.
At first he kept her out of combat, then when researchers discovered that her magic could damage monsters more effectively than ordinary ammunition he changed things. Training became testing. Testing became missions.
Then came the Gates.
Three days before she ran, Emmanuel had called her into his office. He had been standing over a map.
"There is a Gate thirty kilometers outside the eastern perimeter," he had told her.
"What about it?"
"We need someone inside."
"No."
"You haven’t heard the details."
"I don’t need them."
Emmanuel had looked at her. "Mira."
"No."
"We’ve lost two reconnaissance teams."
"Exactly."
"We need information."
"Send another team."
"We need someone who can survive."
She had stared at him. "You mean me."
"Yes."
That single word was enough. Mira had walked out, and later that night she had left the compound. She didn’t stop running until her legs hurt, until soldiers found her, until she reached the dead end where she had finally been surrounded, until an officer had told her she was under arrest by order of the Grand Marshal.
Now she stood in front of him again.
"Why me?" she asked.
Emmanuel didn’t answer immediately. _
"No."
Mira shook her head. "That’s not the whole reason."
His silence confirmed it.
She looked at him. "If I wasn’t your niece, would you still send me?"
Emmanuel’s jaw tightened. "I don’t know."
Mira blinked, probably one of the most honest answers he could have given.
He stepped closer. "I don’t want you dead."
"Then stop asking me to do something that might kill me."
"I can’t."
Her expression hardened. _
Emmanuel looked at the Gate on the screen. "Someone has to go."
Mira followed his gaze. The scientists continued to watch the energy levels and write down numbers that no one fully understood.
"We’ve selected one," Emmanuel said.
Mira’s eyes narrowed. "Selected what?"
"A Gate." He gestured to another display where a satellite image appeared. A shimmering vertical tear stood inside an abandoned industrial complex with soldiers surrounding the entrance with sensors, and cameras pointed towards it. "Nobody has cleared it. Nobody knows what’s inside."
Mira stared at the image. "So you want me to be the first."
"I want you to explore it."
"Same thing."
"We’ll send a team with you."
"How many?"
"Eight soldiers."
Mira shook her head. "Eight soldiers isn’t enough."
"I know."
That stopped her. Emmanuel wasn’t pretending. He looked at his niece, and for the first time since she had been dragged in the room, his expression softened.
"You can refuse."
Mira stared at him.
_
someone else will eventually go."
She looked back at the Gate. That was the part she hated, because she knew he was right. Someone would go. Someone who might not have her abilities. Someone who might not come back.
Mira closed her eyes for a moment. When she opened them again the fear was still there. She didn’t hide it.
"I still think this is a terrible idea."
Emmanuel stood beside her, watching the impossible doorway. "So do I."
Neither of them had anything else to say for once.