CHAPTER 38: A NEW QUEST?

Alex’s vision flickered as text scrolled across his enhanced perception.

**[Warning: Spatial Distortion Detected]**

**[Unknown Energy Signature Identified]**

**[ERROR: Unable to Classify Threat Level]**

The notifications came faster than he could process them, his system interface glitching with static that had never appeared before. Whatever was happening, it was beyond even his enhanced abilities to fully comprehend.

In the center of the arena, Petra stood frozen at the front line of the chaos. Her katana remained drawn, but her usual predatory confidence had evaporated entirely. She could only stare at the impossible sight unfolding before her, her winter-blue eyes wide with a terror she’d never experienced.

The Arena’s protective barrier, a dome of crystalline energy began to crack.

Hairline fractures of brilliant light spread across its surface like a spider’s web, each crack accompanied by a sound like reality itself groaning under pressure. Students pressed against the arena walls screamed as pieces of the barrier began to fall like shattered glass, dissolving before they could hit the ground.

"This can’t be happening," Professor Leo breathed, his weathered hands tightening on his combat sword. "The barriers are absolute. They’ve never been breached, not once."

The barrier shattered completely.

The sound was indescribable. Like every piece of glass in the world breaking at once, mixed with the roar of a hurricane and the silence of deep space. Students covered their ears and screamed, but they could barely hear their own voices over the noise.

In the exact center of the arena floor, space began to tear.

It started as a pinprick of absolute darkness, smaller than a coin. But within seconds, it expanded rapidly, edges crackling with energies that hurt to look at directly. The tear widened into a gash, then a wound in reality itself, until it resembled a rift large enough to swallow a building.

But something was wrong.

Professor Harold, stumbled backward from his position near the arena floor. "That’s... that’s not how rifts work," he stammered, his healing abilities useless against whatever they were witnessing. "I’ve seen dozens of rift formations. This is all wrong."

Professor Dirk, the barrier specialist, pushed through the crowd of fleeing students. "A rift shouldn’t be able to manifest inside the Academy!" he shouted over the growing noise. "We have protective wards specifically designed to prevent spatial intrusions! Layer upon layer of them!"

The rift pulsed with malevolent energy, each throb sending shockwaves through the arena that made the remaining stone bleachers crack and crumble. Dark energy leaked from its edges like liquid shadow, pooling on the arena floor and eating away at the enchanted stone.

"How is this possible?" Professor Dirk continued, his voice rising with panic. "And why does it look active? Rifts are dormant when they first appear. They shouldn’t become two-way passages for at least seven days! That’s basic dimensional theory!"

Professor Leo’s combat experience cut through the academic confusion. "You’re right," he said grimly, raising his sword as combat auras began flickering around his form. "When rifts first open, they’re one-way passages. It takes a full week of dimensional settling before anything can travel in both directions. But this..."

"Everything about this feels wrong," Professor Harold whispered, his healing senses screaming warnings he couldn’t interpret. "This isn’t a natural rift formation. Something forced this open from the other side. Something with power beyond anything we’ve catalogued."

Professor Leo stepped forward, his combat sword blazing with protective enchantments as battle instincts honed over decades kicked in. Whatever emerged from that rift, he would be ready to face it. His essence flared around him like armor made of solid light.

"All students move to the emergency exits now!" he commanded, his voice cutting through the chaos. "Faculty form defensive positions around the exits! We don’t know what’s coming through, but we need to get these kids out of here!"

Professor Dirk raised both hands toward the rift, his barrier abilities manifesting as layers of crystalline energy designed to contain and seal spatial anomalies. "I can contain it!" he shouted. "Just give me a moment to weave the binding matrices!"

His barriers touched the edge of the rift and vanished.

Not shattered, not overwhelmed. Simply consumed, as if they had never existed at all. The backlash hit Professor Dirk like a physical blow, draining every drop of essence from his body in a single instant and dropping him to his knees, gasping and pale.

The rift reacted violently to his interference. What had been a steady dimensional disturbance suddenly erupted into chaotic fury, and that’s when the suction began.

It started as a gentle pull, barely noticeable among the chaos. But within seconds, it intensified into a force that yanked students off their feet and dragged them toward the rift. Books, debris, loose clothing, everything not anchored to the arena structure began streaming toward the dimensional tear.

"GRAB ONTO SOMETHING!" Professor Leo roared, driving his sword into the arena floor and wrapping his arms around it as the suction force threatened to lift him from his feet.

Students screamed as they slid across the stone bleachers, some managing to catch handholds on the seats, others desperately grabbing onto each other. "Hold hands!" someone shouted above the chaos. "Link together so we don’t get scattered!"

Chains of students began forming throughout the stands, each person gripping tightly to the one beside them, creating human anchors against the relentless pull. Those who had managed to grab onto solid structures became lifelines for others, but even these desperate measures were proving insufficient as the suction grew stronger.

Faculty members activated every defensive ability they possessed, creating anchor points and protective barriers to shield the fleeing crowd, but several students less fortunate still disappeared into the rift with cries that cut off abruptly.

Petra, closest to the rift at the arena’s center, drove her katana deep into the stone floor and held on with both hands. The suction force tore at her uniform, her long black hair streaming toward the rift like liquid shadow.

For the first time in her life, Petra Blackthorne knew she was completely, utterly helpless.

The rift pulsed once more, and the suction intensified beyond anything the Academy’s structure could withstand. Stone blocks began tearing free from the walls, metal supports twisted and snapped, and the very foundation of the arena groaned under dimensional forces it was never designed to resist.

Professor Leo’s grip on his sword began to slip.

Professor Harold managed to anchor himself behind a stone pillar, his healing abilities proving useless against a force that existed outside the concept of injury or recovery.

Professor Dirk, still weakened and drained from the backlash, struggled to maintain his hold on the crumbling bleacher. His essence reserves were empty, leaving him defenseless against the increasing pull. "I can’t hold on much longer!" he gasped, his fingers losing their grip on the stone.

The suction claimed him instantly.

Professor Dirk’s scream cut off abruptly as he was yanked into the rift, disappearing into the dimensional tear without a trace. The students who witnessed it fell into shocked silence, the reality of their situation hitting them like a physical blow.

"DIRK!" Professor Leo roared, but it was too late. The barrier specialist was gone.

The Academy, fortress of learning, sanctuary of the awakened, symbol of humanity’s mastery over supernatural forces, was being torn apart by something that shouldn’t exist.

And in the midst of the chaos, Alex gripped the edge of his seat with white knuckles, fighting against both the suction force and the panic rising in his chest. His pale eyes were fixed on the rift, but beneath his controlled exterior, his heart was racing.

’Another trap. Another test. Someone’s playing games again, and people are dying because of it.’ His mind worked coldly through the possibilities, analyzing threats and escape routes with mechanical precision. ’Trust no one. Rely on no one. The moment you let your guard down, they use it against you.’

Whatever this was, it was beyond anything his system could classify, beyond anything the Academy was prepared for. The logical part of his mind screamed that he should run, should find cover, should do anything but sit here watching. But his legs felt frozen, caught between the instinct to flee and a horrible fascination with the dimensional tear that defied everything he thought he understood about rifts and reality itself.

His system continued to glitch, unable to properly classify whatever was happening with the dimensional tear. But one thing was becoming increasingly clear. Whatever was happening would be unlike anything the Academy had ever faced.

The suction force continued to intensify, and students’ screams echoed through the collapsing arena as they fought desperately to avoid being pulled into the unknown void beyond.

Alex felt his grip failing, his fingers slipping from the seat edge. The suction force was too strong, too relentless. As he was torn from his anchor and pulled toward the hungry void, the last thing he saw was his interface glitching and sparking across his vision:

**[Quest Updated]**

**[New Quest Generated: SURVIVE]**

Then the rift swallowed him, and everything went white.*****

By the time the rift stabilized into a perfect circle of absolute darkness, the arena stood completely empty. Eight hundred students, three professors, and every piece of furniture, debris, and loose stone had been consumed by the hungry void. The once-grand arena stood scarred and silent, its walls cracked and bleeding dark energy.

Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the rift began to collapse in on itself. The edges of the dimensional tear folded inward like closing petals, shrinking rapidly until it was nothing more than a pinprick of darkness. With a final, silent implosion, the rift vanished completely.