I dreamed of a woman running barefoot through a temple built from marble, suspended in the clouds.
Her scarlet hair blazed behind her like flames, licking violently in the air. She was beautiful, so much so that she couldn't possibly be of this world. Whoever she was, it was clear she didn't belong in the same world as me. She was flawless, shimmering with a radiance that even the brightest constellations would be envious of.
In every dream I had of her, she was always running from something. And yet despite her panic and the overwhelming fear I could feel, her composure didn't falter even once.
She was being chased. Not by monsters, or man. No. This was something else. Something even more divine than she was, but I could never quite make out who or what it was. A mass of eyes and wings, all-seeing and all-powerful. Forms that glowed in silver and gold, their wings tipped like crystal blades of energy that flowed like liquid.
They spoke in tongues, their voices laced with a soothing resonance. Twisting the very fabric of reality with their words, their voices were angelic and horrifying.
Despite how many times I had seen this play out, I still couldn't understand what they were saying.
She could feel them approaching, her breath came in quick shallow and desperate gasps. She stumbled, the weight of the overwhelming torrent of power behind her made it difficult to think, never mind move.
She had made her way out of the temple, stumbling down the steps, the pain of betrayal still aching through her bones. But she had already gotten further than she expected.
But it was still too early to be hopeful.
She continued to run, onto an obscenely large bridge made of white marble. The clouds beneath it rippled, beckoning her like a silvery inferno.
She didn't have time to resist the temptation, the primordial energy was quickly gathering behind her.
There was only one choice left.
And so she leapt off the bridge, throwing herself into the clouds below.
This is the part where I would usually wake up, or the dream would change to something else.
But this time I followed her, down through the clouds as she became engulfed by them.
She was dragged through them, hands formed and clawed at her, pulling her down.
Her descent began to pick up speed, white and silver became grey and black.
As the light above her was extinguished, I saw what no one was meant to see.
Her wings disintegrated, burning away into dust and embers, breaking apart in the increasing darkness that overwhelmed any light she had been emitting.
And what replaced them was even worse, black, jagged, obsidian limbs. Cracked and uneven, like lightning clawing through the atmosphere.
Her eyes were no longer human, they held a cold fury, filled with malice and shadows.
The heavens above her crackled, rays of light and lightning pierced through the darkness.
Lashing out towards her, but she caught it with her bare hands, squeezing it into flakes and crumbs that glittered into the air.
And then she laughed. A laugh so deep, so primal. It pierced the air like scraping bones, pulling me from sleep.
I woke with the sound of her shrieks still ringing in my ears - cold, menacing and impossibly sad.
—
Morning came like it always did, even when gods fell. That was the thing about mornings - they didn't care who you were or what you'd done. They still showed up regardless.
Sunlight leaked through the crack in the curtains of my bedroom. Dust motes danced lazily in the golden haze. A gentle reminder that time passed whether I liked it or not. The world wouldn't stand still for me.
There was a faint smell of burnt toast in the air, just strong enough to stop me from falling back to sleep.
I sat up, staring at the blank void of personality that was currently my room. Cardboard boxes stacked against the far wall, containing most of my possessions.
I sat there in a daze, despite how many times I had that dream - I had never gotten past when she jumped off of the bridge.
Her fall from grace was literally that. She had turned into a monstrosity before she reached the ground. And that noise that came from her mouth, it was horrific, I could still hear it.
"You're going to be late again!"
That would be my sister, Maya. Probably juggling five things, but still making time to scold me.
I checked my phone on my bedside table for the time: 07:42 AM.
Perfect.
I grabbed the least wrinkled shirt from the floor, pulling my clothes on, grabbing my bag, and bolting out of my bedroom.
—
Do you ever feel like a side character in your own life?
That's me. My most noteworthy feature is that I didn't awaken at the age of 16. No powers. No otherworldly calling. No winning ticket to the great lottery of cosmic inheritance.
Ever since the global disaster that hit a few years ago, people started awakening superpowers. The chosen, or the cursed. Heroes and villains who gained supernatural powers to fly through the sky and shoot laser beams from their eyes.
The unlucky few who didn't awaken? We take notes. Watch from the sidelines. Cheer. Support. Hide.
When the disaster hit, the world was turned upside down. Global lockdowns, government cover ups, reality finally cracked. Portals tore across cities, towns and countrysides were decimated. Monsters stepped foot on this little place we call planet Earth. The portals led to dungeons, some lasted days, others months, and even years. If they weren't cleared in time, they became increasingly harder to remove and monsters would spill out of them in droves.
Society cracked, little by little. Like a glass bowl that slowly spidered with fractures.
The awakened were our glue. The first wave affected anybody whether they were 8 or 80, as if the world wanted to give us a fighting chance. They fought back against the tide. Gods in high tops and hoodies, influencers with kill counts, holy warriors with corporate sponsors.
Me? I managed to get the odd job cleaning up battlegrounds that leaked out or tidying away monster corpses.
My name is James Jackson. At the age of nineteen, I had already failed six aptitude tests. An agency contractor at the Ministry of Dimensional Anomaly Regulation. My power level? Somewhere between soggy wheat biscuits and expired milk.
I wasn't going to be saving the world.
But sometimes I took the coffee orders for people who did.
—
The MoDAR building buzzed with its usual Monday morning chaos. From the outside it looked like any other office building, but inside it was a marvel of technology. A combination of modern tech and devices created using components found within the gates.
Office workers and portal technicians rushed around, fueled by caffeine. I approached the front desk to check in and see where I would be assigned to this week.
The receptionist, a tired young woman with bold blue eyeliner and half a cookie in her mouth, blinked at her screen. Then scowled as she looked up at me.
'Morning Jamie,' she said.
It's James…
I smiled at her politely.
'Looks like you've been assigned to Tier 2 this week, Entry Evaluation. Sector… 7-B.'
I looked at her slightly confused. Tier 2?
'Erm… No, I haven't,' I replied, there must have been a mix up.
She angled her screen toward me.
Oh, look. My name. Right there.
'I didn't awaken,' I explained. 'I'm Tier 0, with the agency.'
She already knew this, I've signed in with her every week for over a year.
'Sorry Jamie, must be a clerical error,' she muttered, taking a bite out of her cookie. 'It's already locked in for the day now. You're down as an observer. You'll be fine, just think of it as experience and stay at the back.'
Before I could argue further, the speakers came to life.
'Sector 7: Gate detected. Teams A and B report to Meeting Room 2-C immediately.'
The receptionist handed me my pass. I should have refused it and walked away.
But instead, I took it and made my way up to the second floor.
Who knows, maybe today would finally be the day.
The meeting room smelled like stale coffee and something vaguely metallic - blood, maybe. I tried not to think about it. A long table was in the middle of the room, chairs lined on either side, mostly filled with people who looked far too comfortable being near danger.
Team A were the hardened veterans - marked and marred, with weapons and armour that buzzed with enchantments and rune-etched tech. Team B were newer, fresher. They were more chatty and still finding their rhythm as a team, but they were still intimidating.
And then there was me.
I found the furthest seat in the corner, keeping my head down as I tried not to look too out of place in my work shoes and scuffed jacket. The only thing I had that could be considered 'regulation' was my laminated ID badge.
The room hushed when a tall figure entered - Captain Richardson.
He was everything you would imagine a superhero would be. Towering. Charismatic. A body chiseled from stone. Even his hair, which had been streaked with grey, looked like it had been styled by a team of professionals. Rumour had it that he single handedly closed a Grade 3 gate with just a broken sword and a cracked helmet.
'Morning, morning,' Richardson greeted, his eyes scanning the room as he spotted familiar faces. 'Gate in Sector 7, first spotted at 04:28 this morning. Looks like it stabilised about 10 minutes ago. Readings are coming back blank, so chances are it's uninhabited.'
Blank readings weren't a comfort. Unknown is never a good thing, it's what got people killed.
'Two power flares were recorded before it stabilised.' He let that fact hang in the air for a second.
There were a few murmurs in the room. My heart skipped a beat. Two flares meant two high-energy signatures - that most likely meant monsters, or something even worse.
I felt a chill crawling down my spine. The last time a gate flared twice before stabilising, it wiped out a full Tier 2 team. The fact that they were still going in meant they didn't think it was worth mobilising higher ranks or private guilds, or they hadn't realised what they were dealing with.
'Team A will go in first. Team B will remain at the perimeter. And our new addition…' Richardson paused, his gaze fixed on me. 'Observe and support. Try not to die.'
Polite chuckles echoed through the room. They faced the threat of death every time they entered a gate, but fuck me… That did nothing for my confidence.
—
The teleportation room was clinical - bright white walls, humming mana conductors, and the faint scent of compressed dimensional energy. It smelled like rain.
I stood at the back of the second line, eyes glued to the spinning arc of the portal mounted in the chamber. Powered by a magical crystal, technology had advanced in leaps and bounds since people started awakening and we started raiding gates.
Team A stepped through first, their silhouettes vanishing one by one. The gate rippled like watered in response. After a couple of seconds we followed them.
The sensation was horrible, like the world turned upside down and forgot your body. When I came out the other end, my knees buckled and it took all of my will to keep my stomach settled.
We had been transported to the countryside, a small village out in the middle of nowhere. The gate was suspended above the road, traffic cones and uniformed police officers holding the civilians and journalists at bay.
Team A entered first again, the gate shimmering and pulsating as each member of the team walked into it. Then came the wait.
Five minutes.
Ten.
Radio silence.
Team B's leader, a gruff looking man with a well kept beard, looked on impatiently.
'Alright, looks like we're up. Let's go find out what's going on. Let's keep it by the book.'
The rest of the team didn't hesitate, nodding in agreement as they started to step into the gate.
The leader waited for everyone else to enter before looking at me. His amber eyes had a gentle warmth to them.
'Stay near the entrance. Follow what we say. If anything happens, get out. This isn't a game.'
I nodded and followed him through the gate.
—
Teleportation felt like the world was turning, entering a gate felt different. Like being submerged in goo - thick, slow and syrupy cold.
Something pulled at me. Like I was being reeled in from the other side by an unknown force.
The moment my foot landed on the other side, I knew something was wrong. There was a brief stutter, like a delay that shouldn't have been there.
The sky was wrong - grey, like ash drifting through a thick fog. The air was dry, but it vibrated with electricity. I took a step forward and…
Blood.
Bodies.
Team B were crumpled together near the entrance of the gate, twisted in unnatural angles, their weapons shattered like toys. The runes carved into their armour flickered dimly before dying.
Further ahead, Team A were the same.
No time had passed since the rest of my team had entered, but they were already dead.
I could see the team leader's face, devoid of life. His eyes were still open, staring straight through me in shock and distress.
No movement. No enemy in sight.
Until there was.
She stood beyond the courtyard.
Tall. Crimson hair, flourishing like flames. Jagged bones extended above her shoulders, cracked and battle worn. Her presence pushed against the air, bending it with malice. Her eyes were hollow and infinite.
She looked similar to the goddess from my dreams - but different. She seemed smaller, like a cheap knockoff. But she was just as imposing and terrifying in person.
She turned her head slowly to look at me.
I couldn't move.
'Another lamb,' she whispered.
Only she didn't move her mouth. The words came from everywhere. Inside my head. Through the ground. Carried by the fog.
'I suppose it must be you.'
My body erupted in agony. Searing pain that poured into my veins like molten lead. I dropped to my knees, desperately gasping for air to cool my chest. My lungs screamed. Bones cracked and shifted. My skin blistered and tightened. My vision swam with blood and burned with symbols I couldn't make sense of.
The world cracked.
Something in my stomach exploded. A fullness that coursed through my body, instantly cooling the pain and causing me to shudder and vomit.
I tried to look up, my vision clouded but I could have sworn she was smiling.
'Looks like we found a winner.'
And then she vanished.
A flash of light. A tear in the sky. Everything detonated.
The world vanished.
The gate shattered.
—
I came to my senses.
I was standing in the road where the gate's entrance had been.
But it was gone.
Both of the team's were gone.
I was alone.
The police holding the perimeter had their weapons drawn, their faces pale.
I stood where the gate once was. Scorched earth beneath my feet.
I raised my hands slowly, ash falling from my coat.
They didn't lower their weapons.
'What the hell happened in there?' One of them asked rhetorically.
I didn't have words.
Somewhere inside of me, something had awakened.
I finally got my wish.
But at what cost?