Cracked Pillars of Fate

Chapter 28: Dimensional Travel Preparation

The echoes of the Arkana Guide's voice still vibrated in El Joe's eardrums as his feet touched the concrete floor of the Earth Alliance Hall. The air here felt different from Genesis Station; heavier, smelling of dust, and thick with the scent of human anxiety. Before them, hundreds of pairs of eyes stared with a mixture of adoration and pure fear.

The hall was packed. Warriors from the Xylon faction, Serena’s people, and even civilians carrying makeshift weapons gathered under flickering, dim lights. They were waiting for the one sentence that would determine if there would still be a tomorrow for them.

Joe stepped forward onto the makeshift stage, his energy sword sheathed at his waist. Behind him, Archen stood tall like a mountain of stone, while Dylan was busy adjusting several crystal devices that continuously projected holographic data.

"Listen to me!" Joe’s voice thundered, cutting through the whispers filling the room. "We have just returned from the heart of the system. What we found there is not just a machine, but a threat that could erase our entire existence. Not just Earth, but every world that has ever existed."

Silence fell instantly. Joe could see Miller in the front row, gripping his iron pipe with trembling hands.

"Earth is the final target," Joe continued, his eyes sweeping the room. "If we stay silent here, we are only waiting for our turn to die. However, if we strike now, we have a chance. We are going to another dimension to find allies and destroy this parasite directly in its nest."

"Who will protect us if you leave?" a woman shouted from the middle of the crowd. "You are our pillars! If you go to the skies, who will hold the gates here?"

The question hit Joe right in the solar plexus. He turned toward Archen. The giant took a step forward, making the stage floor creak softly.

"We are not leaving to abandon you," Archen said in his deep, calming voice. "We are going so that your children will no longer have to see monsters falling from the sky. We will be your furthest wall. Here, you must remain strong. Miller, Serena, you are the protectors of this home now."

Dylan interrupted, his hand pointing toward the center of the hall where a space had been cleared. "I need space! This portal won't open on its own. We need a massive amount of energy."

Dylan began arranging the Arkana crystals in a circular formation. He looked pale, his fingers moving with alarming speed. This system demands a price, Dylan thought. He knew that the energy from the monster remains would not be enough to pierce the dimensional boundary to Telluric Prime.

"Joe, Archen, come here," Dylan called softly.

As his two companions approached, Dylan whispered so the crowd wouldn't hear. "Our fuel isn't enough. The Genesis Portal requires stability from each of our power cores. I need energy directly from your Cores. This will be extremely exhausting."

Archen didn't hesitate for a second. He immediately placed his large hand on one of the main crystals. "Take whatever you need."

Joe followed, pressing his palm against the crystal on the other side. "Do it, Dylan."

Dylan began the process. Electric blue light started creeping up from the floor, siphoning a black glow from Archen and a green glow from Joe. The room was suddenly filled with a high-frequency humming sound. The light converged in the center, spinning wildly until it formed a vertical vortex that tore through space.

Gasps of shock erupted from the citizens as they saw reality being punctured before them. Through the vortex, they could see glimpses of a blood-red desert and a strange silver sky. That was Telluric Prime.

"The portal is stable!" Dylan shouted, his face now drenched in sweat. "But I can only hold it if I enter the frequency myself!"

The following week was the most tense period in the history of the remaining human race. Joe didn't just prepare logistics; he spent time in the barracks, talking to every volunteer willing to join. Fifty people were chosen—the best soldiers who had nothing left to lose.

Archen spent his days training those volunteers. He no longer taught them how to strike, but how to survive under different gravitational pressures. He saw the fear in their eyes, but he also saw the same fire he had when he was first trapped in the hyper-gravity zone.

On the final night before departure, Joe stood on the base's balcony, looking out at the ruins of the city that was beginning to be rebuilt. Miller approached him, carrying a rare bottle of clean water.

"Are you really going, Joe?" Miller asked softly.

"I have to, Miller. This world is too small for the battle to come," Joe replied without turning around.

"People are afraid. They feel as if the light of their hope is being pulled out of this room," Miller said, staring at the pulsing portal in the hall below.

"Then give them a new light," Joe patted Miller's shoulder. "Your task is harder than mine. Keeping hope alive in the midst of uncertainty is the truest burden."

The next morning, the atmosphere in the Alliance Hall felt sacred. Fifty volunteers stood in their makeshift armor, carrying backpacks full of supplies. Before them, the Trio of Pillars stood tall.

Joe looked at the citizens gathered at the edges of the hall. There were thousands of them. They were no longer shouting in protest. They simply stood in silence, paying their final respects in the quietest way possible.

"Walk with courage!" an old man shouted from a corner of the room.

Dylan checked his watch, then looked at Joe and Archen. "The energy is peaking. If we don't go in now, the Genesis Portal will explode and destroy this place."

Joe unsheathed his energy sword, raising it high into the air. Its green light illuminated the hopeful faces below. "For Earth! For the multiverse!"

"For Earth!" the fifty volunteers shouted in unison, their voices shaking the hall's roof.

Archen led the first line. He stepped into the vortex of light without a moment's hesitation. His massive body seemed to be swallowed by nothingness, vanishing in seconds. One by one, the volunteers followed, followed by Dylan, who continued to grip his control device.

Joe was the last. He paused for a moment at the threshold of the portal, turning back to look at his world one last time. He saw Miller saluting, he saw Serena nodding stiffly, and he saw an Earth that was wounded yet still struggling to breathe.

We will return, he promised himself.

Joe stepped inside. A piercing cold sensation immediately enveloped his entire body. Dimensional pressure began to tug at every atom in his body. However, in the midst of that storm of light, Dylan suddenly shouted through their internal communication channel.

"Joe! There's an anomaly! Something on the other side... this isn't the Telluric Prime we mapped!"

Before Joe could answer, a blast of purple energy struck their portal path. Joe's consciousness began to fade as he saw the same lines of red code he had seen at Genesis Station appear before his eyes. The warning was now clearly readable: Dimensional Ambush Detected.

His world went dark as he was thrown out of the tunnel of light toward ground that felt like burning embers.