We ran back towards the Gate, me Feather Stepping and Kesstel keeping pace right beside me. Half way through the golden tall grass field, a loud siren went off from the direction of the Gate. It echoed through the air, a warning to everyone still in Gate Vale. The sound of it made the hair on my arms stand up. I’d never heard the five minute warning before, since I always made sure that I was out beforehand. Just hearing the sound was enough to know that something bad could happen if we didn’t make it out on time.

I glanced at Kesstel. Night time is when the S ranked monsters came out. Could he handle something like that?

He noticed my stare. “Do you want me to carry you?” The corner of his mouth hooked up.

He was teasing me? “Hey, I’m a big girl. I can buckle my own boots and everything.” I shook my head, it almost made me dizzy because of the speed we were going. “I was wondering how you would hold up staying here at night.”

“Hm.” He didn’t answer for a couple seconds. “I’d be fine,” his voice was quiet. If it wasn’t for my Hunter stats, I wouldn’t have heard him.

The golden long grass ended and we came into the large clearing around the Gate. Ahead, Hunters ran across the short grass like they were being chased by Hellbats. It didn’t matter what their level was, the clock was ticking.

Another siren wailed, one last short warning.

Simultaneously, the ever-blue, clear sky overhead turned blood red.

I gasped and ducked in surprise. The only time that ever happened was when a portal burst occurred. My heart seized up tight in my chest from PTSD. My lips parted as I glanced around, trying to find where the new portal would open. In the red sky little lights appeared, like stars but not quite. They were bigger than the ones I could see on Earth, not a lot but noticeable at first glance. And they weren’t just one color, but a rainbow that shifted and swirled.

Kesstel followed my gaze to the stars above. “Those are remnants of worlds the parasite has eaten. If one portal attached to Earth fails, one of those will take its place — assuming that the remnant world hadn’t lost all power and dissolved up there first. Or if the parasite creates another Gate, pieces of the remnant worlds be patched together to make the Vale inside the Gate.”

I gasped and looked at him. “Are you serious? It’s eaten that many planets?” The lights above were not numberless, but they were numerous.

Kesstel’s head tipped towards me as he glanced at me out of the corner of his eyes. The red light gleamed off his bleach blond hair, turning it nearly the same color. In the dim light, a pale light seemed to glow from his blue eyes. Not nearly as obvious as in the restaurant the other day and there was no angry emotion attached to the light, but it was enough that I knew it wasn’t a trick of the light.

His lips thinned then he tipped his head back up to look back up at the ‘stars.’ All the emotion slid off his face, replaced with a razor-sharp glint in his eyes. “Who knows how long that parasitic planet has existed? Do you think such a sophisticated trap could be developed in a short time?”

It really was a good trap. So good, that humans had no clue they were helping themselves fall into destruction. And anyone who talked bad about it was silenced. Or thrown in together with a crazy cult.

A rippled shook the ground, the Gate the epicenter of the jarring pulse. The few Hunters trying to exit fell to the ground. They scrambled to their feet and threw themselves through the black arch.

I jumped over the ripple, only the ground continued moving, and I staggered when I landed. It was like trying to walk on an inflatable instead of solid earth. Kesstel reached out and grabbed my elbow to help steady me.

In the valley around us, six black arches grew out of the ground — portal bursts — like mini Gates. There didn’t seem to be any form of reason to where they appeared, whether it was in the middle of forest, a desert, or over an icy tundra. As soon as they appeared, monsters started to spill from their black depths. At the same time, from the black pits of the portals in the mountains around Gate Vale, thousands of monsters added to them.

From my position just inside the clearing around the Gate, it was difficult to see every portal’s activity in the regions around me, but I knew it was happening. I could feel it, just like I could feel the goosebumps that spread over my whole body. A heavy, dense pressure settled over the valley, as if the sky was pressing down. The air seemed to thin and I couldn’t get enough in my lungs. My knees weakened. If it wasn’t for Kesstel’s grip on my arm, I would have fallen to the shaking ground.

He frowned and transferred his hold from my elbow to the shoulder, holding me to his side as we sprinted the last bit to the Gate.

Overhead a dozen black holes opened in the red sky. From the portal burst depths, huge flying monsters appeared. One appeared right above us. Well over a hundred yards long, it looked like an Eastern Dragon, only it had eight legs. It twisted its green body and roared, the silver triangular spikes like knives cutting through the air.

My knees gave out entirely and I stumbled to a stop, staring up at it. I should keep going. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I knew that. But in the presence of an S ranked monster, my body froze up and my mind went numb.

Oh god, it was huge. Even though it was high in the air, the power radiating from it sapped all the strength from my body and left me like a ragdoll flopping to the ground.

Kesstel used his hold on my shoulder to pull me up and headed towards the Gate.

That wasn’t the only S ranked monster that came out of the portals. Each portal released one, some big and some smaller, into the Vale along with other lower ranked monsters.

Human screams came from behind me. I turned my head just in time to see four Hunters running out of Glenn Holt as fast as they could. But it wasn’t fast enough. Monsters rained down on them from above and the Hunters were taken down as fast as you could count one, two, three, four. What was left was dozens of monsters fighting with each other for rights to eat the kills.

The dragon let out another roar, this time closer.

My head tipped back and I looked up numbly to see the S ranked monster dive at us like a green comet.

Kesstel’s sword appeared in his right hand. He swung his blade, slashing at the air. In its wake, bright blue magic appeared, creating a crescent shaped wave that shot towards the monster so fast that I could barely keep track of it. The magic grew stronger and bigger as it soared, until it was half the size of the monster. It lit up the darkness, casting a blue highlight to the red taint that smothered Gate Vale.

The dragon tried to dive to the side, but it wasn’t fast enough. The attack hit the monster, gouging out long holes and splattering black blood into the air. As horrible as that hit was, the monster didn’t die. It arched its back and sailed back up higher.

Then Kesstel pulled me through the Gate.

The usual disorienting tingle swept through my body as we passed into Earth. It helped jump start my mind, but my body was still a mess — shaking and limp, I couldn’t even stand up straight. Even though the horrible pressure was gone, my feet couldn’t seem to walk in a straight line.

Kesstel semi-carried me away from the Gate and stopped at the edge of Gate Square. He shifted, trying to look at my bowed face. “Are you okay, Jyn?”

G-get it together, I ordered myself, but I couldn’t seem to stop the violent shivering that rattled my bones. “Yeah,” I whispered. I cleared my throat and forced out a stronger, “Yes. I’m okay.”

I pressed my trembling hand to his chest and pushed away from his grip. As soon as his hand fell away from my shoulder, my fingers instinctively clutched at his shirt. But I didn’t let myself hold onto him. Instead, I forced my hand to drop and I straightened my back.

A Hunters Association employee approached us, looking at Kesstel. “You were the last one out of the Gate. Did you see anyone else in there?” His voice was bland, like it was a question he’d asked a million times and never expected a different answer.

Kesstel flicked a glance at him and shook his head. “None that lived.”

The employee gave a curt nod and walked away.

It was just a small distraction, but it was enough for me to catch my breath and finally get some fresh air in my lungs. I took another shuddering breath, but couldn’t quite bring myself to look at Kesstel.

It was humiliating how he had to drag me around in there. I’d been nothing but a useless bag of flesh. It was frustrating, how he kept saving me. Sure, now that we were friends, some people would say that I should make use of him. He was so strong, it would be easy to stand behind him and let him shield me from danger while I hopped about, doing my tasks. But I didn’t want to stay weak. I didn’t want to stand behind him. I wanted to stand beside him, as equals. So if he got hurt, I could be there to save him.

Right now, staring down at my trembling fingers, that seemed like such an unobtainable dream.

Kesstel’s hand appeared before my face, a cookie snack bag resting in his palm.

I blinked at the cookies and couldn’t resist the slight smile that curled my lips. I looked up at him, noticing how his eyes were back to normal, and took the treat.

“I told you before, you don’t have to feed me all the time. It's not helping your cold, duke-ly sophisticated look.” I broke the bag open and popped a small cookie in my mouth. The bite-sized treat had a satisfying crunch while the fudgey chocolate strips melted and coated my tongue nicely.

It was so silly, but it helped break the negative thoughts that were crashing through my mind.

Kesstel took out a bag of trail mix and started eating it. Every time an M&M fell into his palm, he’d drop it into my bag of cookies. “I know.”

I smiled before I glanced back at the Gate. Not a single Hunter came out of it since we had. Given what was going on in there, no one would. Not until tomorrow morning, when the S’s and the higher A’s went in.

The cookie turned to dust in my mouth and I forced it down my throat. “Are you going to have to fight all those monster tomorrow, Kesstel?”

He tilted his head back. The apathetic glaze returned to his eyes as he frowned. “No, not all of them. Most of them will be gone by morning, eaten by other monsters. I’ll just have to deal with the biggest threats that remain before the other Hunters enter by 8 a.m.”

Now that the Gate was closed for the night, there were only a handful of people in the square with us. Most of them were Hunter Association workers, by the badges on their chest, talking and motioning to the Gate. They were probably talking callously about who had died tonight.

I looked around and saw a couple benches not far away. One was under a lamppost, while another sat just out of the circle of light. I turned and walked over to the one in the dark and sat down. As soon as I did, my feet started to pulse painfully, letting me know that this spare pair of gym shoes was too worn for the running that I did today. I wiggled my toes, feeling a slight breeze where a hole was wearing at the tip.

Kesstel sat down beside me.

I added an M&M to a cookie and ate it. “Did you know that monsters eat each other’s energy crystals?”

He tipped his head back and poured the rest of his trail mix into his mouth. He nodded while he chewed, then swallowed. “Yes. Like I said, the energy crystals can change as much as the parasite needs. When a monster eats another monster, the energy inside the weaker crystal is added to the stronger other. And the surviving monster gets stronger.”

I nodded. “I noticed.” I ate the last cookie. “Kesstel, so the monsters you handle in the morning will be stronger than the ones in there right now.” Habit had me smoothing the plastic bag flat. As soon as it was satisfactory, I started to fold it smaller and smaller.

Kesstel watched me. “Yes. But there will be less to handle at once, so it doesn’t matter either way.”

When I couldn’t fold it anymore, I twisted the wrapper in my fingers, smoothing over the edges. “Would you really be fine, staying in there all night?” That didn’t seem possible, but at the same time, I just witnessed him taking on the Eastern Dragon. And winning.

He smirked and reached out, took the garbage from me and put it away in his Items Bag. “Of course I would.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you would.” Then I sighed and looked up at the Gate. “How much would I have to pay you to keep me alive in the Gate all night?”

*****