At the very centre of the town of Al’Kharib, smack-dab in the middle of its public square, there was a minaret capped by a dome of dark purple glass.

Within that dome lay an arch of jet-black stone; the stone smoothed by the years until its surface shone like a mirror. Intricate runework covered each inch of it, gleaming under the dark purple light streaming in through the glass.

“This is a Dimension Gate,” introduced Karim as he finally brought us in front of the arch after guiding us through the numerous identity checks at each level of the tower. “A relic of an era long past.”

“What is it?” I asked curiously as I sized the structure up. To my soul sense, the density of shadow mana in the room was oppressive. Easily more than that in a Tier 2’s mindscape, driving out all other species of mana in the vicinity. “What does it do?”

“What we call the Caliphate today, used to be the location of a magnificent civilization before the Apocalypse,” replied Karim. “Maybe it was the strongest of the ancient nations, better able to resist the destruction. Maybe the effects of the cataclysm were the weakest here. No one really knows why, but the ruins here are more complete than those found in the rest of the Continent. And the Dimension Gate Network is the most complete of them all.”

“Network? There are more than one of these?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes. The Network is a series of interconnected Dimension Gates. Once activated, one can pass through a Gate and emerge from another one of their choice. There are hundreds of these Gates scattered across our nation, most of them still functioning. Each of our major towns and cities is centred on a functional Gate. It is the foremost means of travel within our borders.”

“Wait! Hold on, let me get this straight. You have a means of instantaneous teleportation from one end of your country to another?” asked Phobos, incredulously.

Karim nodded.

“There’s a limit: No more than a thousand kilograms of mass at a time. That’s around fifteen people or ten with a small amount of luggage. But yes, it’s instantaneous and the range spans our country. You can think of it as a long-range Shadow Walk.”

“And you’ve grasped this technology? You can make more Gates?” asked Ceres.

Karim shook his head. “Unfortunately, no, we haven’t. The best and brightest minds of our nation have been studying the Gates since our nation’s establishment. Yet, we aren't even close to being able to replicate the feat of the ancients. What we can do, though, is use, maintain, and repair the Gate if the damage isn’t too bad."

He smiled.

“One result of studying the Gates and the other pre-apocalyptic ruins is that our knowledge of runes and enchantments has comprehensively surpassed the rest of the Continent. We are the leading experts in this field. You can be reasonably certain that one of your tasks in the Trial will be related to runes and enchantment.”

“Well, that’s fine and all, ya. But is it safe?” asked Deimos, shooting a dubious look at the currently inactive Gate.

“We haven’t had an accident with a Gate in a hundred years. So, I suppose it is.”

“Alright, so what do we have to do?” asked Artemis.

“It’s all very straightforward,” said Karim walking up to the chest-high stone pillar in front of the arch. Taking out a shadow crystal, he slotted it into a depression on top of the pillar, then pressed down on a panel beside the slot.

The Gate activated with a quiet, almost inaudible hum.

Using my soul sense, I could feel the concentrated shadow mana in the room forming a vortex centred on the Gate. The runes on the Gate glowed purple as they absorbed the light streaming in through the glass dome and a slowly thickening film of darkness formed within the arch.

“Now all we have to do is step through it,” said Karim. “and we’ll pop out of the Gate at the city of Zariah.”

“Zariah? Not your capital?” I asked.

“The capital’s too cramped. Zariah has lots of free space around it, as well as the largest stadium in Caliphate. It’s where the Trial will be held.”

I turned to Hei Lian who was studying the runes on the Gate with concentration. Noticing my gaze, she nodded at me.

“Ok. We’re ready,” I said, turning to Karim.

Nodding, he walked up to the curtain of darkness… then through it, all of us following close behind.

***

Time lost all meaning the moment I stepped through the Gate. A moment stretching into eternity. My sense of space was in disorder. I was everywhere and nowhere at once.

The Network of Gates shone like stars in this great expanse of nothingness, the only points of reference in the void.

I felt myself stretching like a rubber band; one of my ends still at the Gate at Al’Kharib and the other reaching out towards Zariah’s Gate through the void. The tension in me kept growing and growing.

Then, just as I was about to reach my destination, a bright bluish-white radiance erupted out of me and wrapped me up.

It tugged me in another direction and the band snapped, sending me hurtling through the void, then out of it.

I staggered, then stumbled over my own feet and slammed face first onto the ground. It smelt like compost mixed with the scent of a garden after rain.

I groaned. I felt woozy… like I did after I rode a merry-go-round for a bit too long as a kid.

Groaning again, I pushed myself up.

Then I blinked as I took in the scenery around me.

Gigantic trees towered into the sky on all sides; each one thick enough at the base to require several adults with their arms completely outstretched to encircle.

Thick shrubbery covered their roots and limited my field of vision to a few metres. The ground was covered with a layer of twigs and dead leaves shed from the green canopy high above.

‘Where the hell am I?’

A rustle of leaves behind me made me whip around in a defensive crouch.

Then my posture went slack as my head tilted back, my eyes following the serpentine neck of the creature higher and higher until it ended in a small head nearly fifty metres above me.

The creature stretched its neck and took a bite out of the tender green leaves at the lower part of the canopy. It chewed placidly as I watched it with wide eyes and slack jaws.

A name I had read in a book long ago floated up from the depths of my memories. A name for giant lizards that could only be found in one place in the world.

Draconids. The Forbidden Continent.