When the day of the contest arrived, Ray and Charles, who tagged along as his bodyguard, met Emma at the mansion. It was the first time he introduced Charles to her. Since Emma was very familiar with the process, she became the designated guide, and the three drove off.
Their journey ended at a certain building in the central business district of Argo. There was a designated parking place in the building next to it, where they found hundreds of cars. The building was fairly large and was built more like a hall than a skyscraper and was about twenty stories high.
Emma led the two through a security check where they were scanned for weapons and electronic devices. Once through, Ray was surprised when they had to go through another detector; the third one was more peculiar.
It had the usual frame of a standard metal detector but extended into a passage like the one used for X-raying luggage. Ray had a questioning look, to which Emma explained.
"There have been instances of people, especially humans, trying to infiltrate the building and steal Supernatural secrets. This detector is specially designed to detect humans." The three went through the detector without setting anything off.
"Humans are banned?" Ray asked rhetorically.
"They are the most likely to cause trouble," Charles answered before Emma. "They can still be allowed through the security if they were cleared beforehand." He also added.
Once they went through security, they entered a large hall that was filled with people. Hundreds of conversations were ongoing, making the room appear lively. Inside the hall, there were four hallways, excluding the one Ray and the two came through.
Two of the four hallways were marked with Visitors tags at the entrance. At the same time, the other two were Officials and Olympians, respectively. Each hallway also had a set of guards that manned them. The three took their seats and waited like the rest.
"What's the island like?" Raymond couldn't help but ask.
"I thought with all that time you spend on books, you would have already known about the Amazon Island." Charles scorned.
"I didn't realize it was that island," Ray rolled his eyes. If it were up to Charles, Ray would have dropped any form of education and focus solely on training. In Charles' opinion, Ray had an eternity to learn everything, but that hinged upon him surviving his pending doom.
"I have yet to read anything about Amazons and know nothing about them that isn't related to pop culture," Ray added, defensively.
"Well…some of it isn't exactly wrong. The actual origins of Amazons are a bit…dark compared to popular culture." Charles said as if trying to recall an unpleasant memory. Emma remained silent.
"Really?" Ray was torn between curiosity and presentiment.
"Yeah, really. What do you think happened when some of the male gods figured out females from other races could breed faster than their own?" Charles dangled the question to Raymond. But all he got was a frown.
"One of them thought it was a bright idea to have an entire island full of women. So, they came up with the Amazon Island. They later named it Themyscira. Of course, what followed was a lot bloodshed and the abduction of females from several powerless races. Princesses, queens, maidens, daughters, mothers, anything that fancied them was bound to be abducted and brought to Themyscira.
"It was a dark time for the Supernatural until Hera intervened. After all, the chief among the culprits was courting her at the time. She made him hand the over to her. From then on, the Island has been practically off-limits to almost all male gods."
As Charles spoke, the hall suddenly became quiet. A tall statuesque woman came through the Officials hallway, followed by a dozen guards. All of whom were women. The woman was donned in a long flowing summer dress, which was in contrast to the cold winter in Argo.
On the other, the guards were in blue combat gear, which had a some resemblance to the exosuits Ray saw on the M.A.R.S elite soldiers. But unlike the soldiers, these female guards had exposed faces, and all had short hair that barely reached their shoulders. They also had swords on their backs instead of those energy gauntlets.
The woman walked to one end of the hall with a raised platform while the guards all stood in a straight line below the platform, in front of her. The woman swept through the crowd before clearing her throat.
"Good morning, everyone?" The hall greeted her back, and she continued. "My name is Jules, and I am the representative of Argo. I'm responsible for facilitating your transit to the Island, registration, accommodation, training facilities, and along with my assistants whom you'll meet on the Island, will answer any of your queries."
Jules stopped and let her words sink in before continuing. "Without wasting too much time, let's all form single files and go through the hallways marked as Visitors. The guards in the hallways will show you the way."
Everybody stood, including Ray and his companions. The guys closest to the hallways went in first while Ray and his friends were situated in the middle of the hallway and had to way for a few minutes before their turn.
After going through the hallway, they came across a flight of stairs that took them to the second floor, where there was another hall. But unlike the first hall, the second hall had something Raymond was now familiar with; Service Portals.
There were about twenty of them, and each one was actively used. Each portal could take up to five people per jump. So, the three were joined by another two before the portal was activated, and the five disappeared.
The moment Ray appeared again, he was blasted by warm air, typical of summer time. He found himself standing inside another Service Portal, but it wasn't in any building but placed outside in an open field. As they exited the portal, Ray spotted over half a dozen modified T-pods hovering throughout the field.
Each of these T-pods was circular and open. They also had about five female guards dressed in the same blue attire as the ones Ray saw in the hall. All around them, there were hundreds of people; some were smitten by the weather, others by the scenery, while some seem to be familiar with the place as it wasn't their first rodeo.
Raymond took that moment to sweep the landscape and had his breath taken by the magnificent view. The field was surrounded by large mountains covered by green forest topped by a snow cap. On the far horizon, Ray spotted the ocean.
It took several minutes before everyone came through the portals, including Jules and her guards. Even though there were hundreds of them, the field they were in was still too large, and even if one decided to make a break for it, they would be easily spotted and taken down before they crossed the field.
'Master!'
Raymond whipped his head around but didn't see anyone. He turned his head back and focused on Jules, who had gotten on to one of the pods, and one of the guards gave her a glass tablet. At the far end of the field, ten large pods approached the crowd and parked to their right.
Most of them had gotten rid of their excessive clothes due to the warm weather. It didn't take long before Jules turned to face them again and started to address them.
"Can I have all your attention, please?" Everyone stopped talking and admiring the land before turning to her. "In a moment, every one of you will be board the pods that have been parked to your right. They will take you to the Administration, where all contestants will register for the contest.
"After registering, you will be taken to your accommodations, where you will make your arrangements and wait until the competition officially starts."
Once Jules finished. Everyone got on the pods, and they took off. The ride passed through the vast landscape, including a waterfall and in no time, came upon a small futuristic green city built around a lake. Their whole journey came to a stop at a massive building located at the city's edge.