It happened around twelve years ago. I had a great memory unlike any other. Even though I was just a child - ignorant about my surroundings, I still recalled what happened.

Multiple golden coloured circles rolled on the side and resonated a high-pitch sound. The air surrounding me changed as if I was in a lavender garden. My heart trembled as it sensed my family’s doom.

“Mom! Dad!” I cried, hoping I could reach out to them. But I failed.

Their shadows imprinted themselves inside my mind and continued haunting me like a ghost. The temperature dropped. My body shivered. No matter where I looked, darkness devoured my surroundings. And not a hint of light enveloped in the scenes.

There was nobody there to help us.

According to the government, portals were fabricated by the people who witnessed them on the internet. And the monsters inside were a product of our imaginations. They told us it wasn’t real. However, that portal was a bridge between distinct realities. It was as if various worlds we didn’t know shattered like a mirror breaking into millions of pieces.

It was real…

I knew because I was there with my parents. A portal appeared before my feet and sucked everyone, including my neighbours. The portal had purple hues that looked like smog and covered the area. My brain initially thought it was poison, but it wasn’t. Despite the smoke, my eyes could see through the site as if the fog wasn’t there. Something helped me view the world inside the portal… Something awakened. Woefully, the worst part came afterward - a tragedy, as people called it on the news.

Everyone died except for me. The entire neighbourhood got caught up in the accident as the portal sucked everyone surrounding us, including the animals. By the time I opened my eyes, thousands of ogres, orcs, goblins, and winged-beasts lined up and gobbled those corpses. There were plenty of monsters waiting on the other side that I barely noticed. But they were waiting for me. My parents stood there trying to haul me to a safe place. But where was that haven? Even my parents didn’t know the answer to my question.

Unfortunately, my parents perished.

But my parents didn't die from the hands of those feral beasts. The one who killed my parents was a man wielding a gun, not a monster. He appeared out of nowhere and killed both my parents and the monsters using his sniper. A gun. The firearm wasn’t ordinary. It was something out of this twisted world. That rifle had a long barrel of obsidian paint covering its surface. It was as dark as the night sky.

A blasting sound echoed from my surroundings, with two bullets piercing my parents on their heads. I couldn’t see the man’s face, but he had an obsidian mask that concealed his identity. Beside that mysterious bloke were monsters that were five times my size. If I looked close enough, there might be a dragon mixed with the mountain of corpses.

I saw it. I saw it with my own eyes. And when my parents fell flat on the floor, I ran away and never looked back. It was the toughest decision for a six-year-old kid to experience. But I mustered my courage and scrambled wherever my two feet could get me.

“Run and live…. I love you, son.” Those were the words left by my parents. Their remnants and ghosts continued haunting the daylight out of me.

I did as I was told. My instincts also screamed at me to run away as fast as humanly possible, away from this area. I left them… I left my parents. The situation could’ve been different if I had the power to fight back. However, that man had a gun - a sniper. I had nothing.

I continued running, running, running, and running until my legs wore out. And when they did, I crawled on the ground and became desperate. It took me a while before I fled from the scene, and the rescuers found me on the floor. The next thing I knew, my parents died and were never to be seen. That government - who claimed that portals didn’t exist, forced me to believe it. But I knew otherwise.

I also remembered that there was something about a mission inside the portal. And some boxes appeared before the man and me. But I didn’t pay close attention to it when I ran for my life as if it depended on it. And it did depend on it.

“I can’t be mistaken…This is a portal,” I mumbled and looked around, while I shoved away the memories of my past. I was back to the present, where another portal might materialised before me.

Portals were the only means of transportation summoned by something or someone from another world. And the only warning it gave was the magical runes spinning on a specific area. Earth and its people couldn’t control it. Most who entered the portal to explore and chart down what was inside never returned. But those who did told the media that there was a dungeon inside and treasures left to be claimed. And those people called themselves “adventurers.” It was something that I couldn’t become even if I tried.

The same sweat I had when I was six-years old flooded on my face and even on my clothes. My hair follicles on my skin erected themselves. There were also clouds forming beside my mouth every time I gasped for air. These voices inside my head were the only ones that kept me company throughout my endeavour. I had noodle-like legs, shaking in each direction. It continued on forever.

I had no doubt about it. This was the same feeling when I first encountered the portal twelve years ago. It was the same thing that took away my parents from me. The only difference this situation had was the killer wasn’t here with me.

A fog of some sort painted in violet covered my front, paired with golden circles on the side. It was the magical runes I saw once in my life.

However, before I could touch the glowing light in front of me, someone tapped my shoulders. When I turned around, it was Midori Tanaka. My eyes widened in surprise, and my body jerked backward. He was a fast runner from the first time I met him., which was the reason Midori slipped through my flank without me noticing him. But as soon as I turned around, the magical light dispersed, together with the purple smoke.

“What’s taking you so long? Dude, I had to ask our teacher to go to the restroom. Come on, man. You’re already late. Just don’t miss out on the lessons for today,” Midori said, and continued tapping my fragile shoulders. “By the way, I had already copied notes for you. You can take a picture of it later and copy it from your notes while you’re at it, ‘kay? In return, tell me about your sister.”

Midori, my childhood friend, was interested in my step-sister. However, Hina didn’t see him as something else. Hell, they never talked about anything throughout these academic years. Midori always chickened out every time she saw Hina across the hallways. And the only time he could speak to her was through me - her adoptive brother.

“Sure, sure. I can always try. But you do know that it’s still your job to make the first move, right?” I jested.

“Yeah, yeah. Sheesh. You don’t have to tell me twice. Come on, or else you’ll get scolded even probably after the first subject,” Midori said, and lightly jabbed my shoulders. “And, by the way, what were you staring at earlier? I just saw you reaching out for that corner. But there’s nothing there. Can you see ghosts? Don’t tell me you actually have superpowers? You need to join the adventurer’s guild if you do, man! I recommend joining the Crimson one! It sounds hella cool! And did you know, if you retrieved a treasure from a portal Crimson or the government would reward you with one million Yen!! But don't worry, Aoi. I've already saved a hard drive for you. I stored all the infromation from my big brain inside that tiny hard drive!"

Even though the class had already started, Midori came all the way here to fetch me. And it wasn’t a big deal for him. Midori also claimed that he would do everything for me, as long as he was there with me. And he did. He always did.

But when Midori bombarded me with those questions, it only meant one thing. He couldn’t see the portal. If Midori did, he would’ve pointed it out already. And the two of us would’ve freaked out and ran for our lives, while notifying everyone and the adventurers about it.

Midori was a fan of portals, monsters, and adventurers. He would always bring up those topics with others about how awesome and powerful those people were, and claimed that he saw someone fight those creatures in action. But I didn’t. My heart pounded a billion times at the thought of hearing those monsters and portals. No good things had happened the last time I saw one…

Since Midori mentioned it, I told him the truth. There was no point in lying. He knew about my parent’s death, and he believed in me. Midori was one of the few people who believed in my story. Hina was the first to know, and was then followed by her parents.

“I saw a portal forming right here, Midori. I think something’s going to happen soon,” I said, with a blank expression.

Midori, who had glimmering eyes earlier, shifted into the abyss. Instead of shaking in excitement, Midori looked around with a pale face and sweated a bucket. He knew how grave the situation was if my hunches were correct.

“Are you sure, Aoi? I trust you. I really do. But if you’re right, that would mean…”

“Everyone in this school would be trapped inside a portal,” I continued Midori’s sentence.

“Including your sister…” Midori appended.

“I know what I saw, Midori. It’s just like the time I experienced it with my parents. The portal in this school also has golden circles around that area and purple smoke, bro. It has got to be it.”

Silence filled the air afterward as the two of us thought of an idea. However, no matter what happened, we couldn’t think of one. How could two typical boys prevent a portal from happening, let alone stop it? We can’t. We also couldn’t ask for help from the government or the school. Nobody would believe us. If I were in their position, I wouldn’t believe the words coming from two students. And if word came out that a portal was forming beneath us, most students would panic. It would become a state of emergency for our school and the entire city of Tokyo.

“How about you call for adventurers and tell them about it?” I suggested. “Maybe they would listen.”

“I could, but they wouldn’t believe us like these adults. And we still don’t know if what you saw is the truth. We don’t know if a portal is forming, Aoi. I believe in you, but the others won’t.”

Midori was right. The only thing that we could do was to evacuate as soon as possible if the time came. I opened my phone and sent a text message to Hina for the time being. I warned her about what could happen later if my hunches were correct. And I could only hope Hina would listen to me.

I didn’t want anything to happen to her…

But before we could even make a move, our teacher came hunting for us. An old man stood behind our backs and grabbed us by the collar. As our teacher dragged us back into our classrooms, a grumble echoed in our ears.

I could hear the storm coming in our way.