Humm...
Slowly lighting up after Alistar placed his palm on its cold yet rough metallic surface, what looked to be very tiny lines began appearing on the gate's surface as they began glowing in a mesmerizing blue light.
Some lines were curved to produce extremely beautiful arcs, others were straight without the slightest bend in them, while a few had been made into circles.
But it didn't stop there as the lines seemed to keep extending to all parts of the gate making it light up in the same blue light. Soon, every inch of the gate was filled with those mesmerizing lines making them seem jam-packed.
Even though they were arranged in disarray and seemed to be too much, there was a sense of beauty in it instead of disorder that should be expected.
After every part of the gate was glowing akin to a torch, the hums around Alistar had subsided by a noticeable degree as a thin blue beam of light was projected from a tiny blue gem that was embedded in the gate's center.
When it came in contact with Alistar, it felt as if his body had become an open book for the gate to freely scan and explore to its heart's desire.
Dumbfounded, Alistar could only stare at the gate that was scanning him for the second time as if it was trying to check if it had made a mistake.
After scanning Alistar for the fifth time and still not finding faults in his genetic makeup, the blue beam retracted back into the blue gem that was at the center of the gate.
With the lines on the gate disappearing after the blue beam disappeared, the gate went back to its previous look... Brittle and ordinary.
Hell, it looked as if nothing had happened. And even after five minutes had gone by the gate remained inactive.
Slowly losing hope with each second that passed, Alistar sighed and said. "I guess it was a bust."
Aware that without the gate opening, he wouldn't be able to take the Art his dad left behind, Alistar didn't bother to think about breaking it as he knew it would be impossible.
It might look brittle and rusted but its appearance was just to bait people into thinking it was a weak metal but in reality, it was extremely strong and durable.
Just when Alistar was about to take a step away from the gate and find another way to return to the surface, he heard a monotonous voice say. "Vo- Voice... reco- recognition.... suc- successful."
Although it sounded a little cranky, Alistar couldn't care any less as a pleased smile had found its way on his face after he heard it.
Immediately after the voice echoed through the Lab, the blue lines that had previously disappeared from the gate's surface all reappeared with their glow looking brighter than before.
When the lines had spread across every inch of the gate, it trembled slightly as it began parting slowly —letting Alistar get a glimpse of what lay behind it.
And what lay It was absolute darkness, Alistar wasn't able to see shit as every ray of light that entered the room seemed to be consumed by the darkness that lay within.
Ka-thump!!
With the gate finally parting, Alistar was left staring at the darkness that lay on the other side.
Taking deep breaths to calm himself, Alistar decided to enter it after staring at the darkness that lay before him for a while.
Unceremoniously taking his first step into the dark expense, Alistar steeled his resolve and placed his other foot inside while deciding to bail immediately when shit hits the fan.
Crereeeeeeeaaaaaaakkkkkkkkk...
Soon taking about six steps into the dark room, Alistar was just getting used to it when he heard creaking noises behind him.
His face immediately lost color as thoughts of the worst scenario filled his mind... Getting locked inside this dark shit hole.
"Shit." Cursing, Alistar swiftly turned to look behind him.
Thud!!
And he was just in time to witness the gate shutting itself, leaving Alistar standing in a dark enclosed room.
But a second after the gate got closed, the room was illuminated by more than a dozen tiny lights —forcing Alistar to close his eyes due to the sudden increase in luminosity.
A costly mistake that would spell instant death for Alistar if he was going to be ambushed. But thankfully, the lights were just for show as they were soon brought to a level that was tolerable for the Human eye.
Opening his eyes after a while, Alistar ran his eyes through the place he had found himself until his vision landed on something that surprised him.
It was a robot that seemed to be barely hanging on to life as it had some parts of its metallic plating removed exposing the circuits and wires that ran inside it.
It had a black screen for a face and two blue dots for its eyes, its body had a brownish pigment with its lower half consisting of wheels, and all were coupled together by a height of about 1.2 meters.
"Hello." Its monotonous voice rang out with its dotted eyes becoming slightly squinted.
Happy after seeing the bot he had been playing with most of the time when he was young was still functioning, Alistar asked with a smile plastered on his face. "Raymax, do you remember me?"
"Raymax? Who's that? I am RM12X." It replied in the same monotonous tone but this time the screen on its face had a question mark on it.
"I guess time had affected you too," Alistar muttered, feeling a pang in his heart after his childhood best friend had failed to remember him.
But it couldn't be helped as when Alistar was born Raymax was already an old bot but with the time he spent away from home, Raymax had already gotten older and was already falling apart.
"Alright RM12X I came to claim what the person who owned this Lab left behind," Alistar said, looking at the robot before him with complex emotions.
"Okay," Raymax replied before moving towards one of the many walls in the white room they were in.
Releasing a bluish light from its face, a part of the wall popped out while constantly emitting chilling must from within it.
Unhesitatingly pulling the things that were in it, Raymax moved back to where Alistar stood with the white wall returning to how it once was.
"This one is the Illusive Jade Palm. It is a Palm Art that also helps in increasing one's energy control apart from increasing the power of Palm strikes by five." Raymax said, handing a folded white scroll to Alistar before lifting a vial that contained a green liquid and saying. "This is the Chaos Devourer Supplement. A Legendary grade Supplement developed by my master."
"I'll advise you to take it after you've reached at least Lord rank." Handing Alistar the Supplement, Raymax bowed and added. "Please, make good use of my master's last treasures."
"I will," Alistar replied, giving Raymax a slight bow.
Standing, he looked at Raymax and said. "How about you follow me to where I live? It'll be fun than staying here all by yourself."
"I appreciate but I'd like to await my master's return." Raymax politely declined Alistar with the same monotonous voice.
"I see." Not wanting to force Raymax into changing its decision, Alistar asked with sorrow in his heart. "How do I get back to the surface though?"
Acting like Alistar had never asked it to follow him, it said. "Just keep going straight you'll find the exit."
"Until we meet again RM12X," Alistar said bidding his childhood friend farewell with a heavy feeling in his chest.
"And always remember, follow the light no matter how dark it gets," Raymax said.
Whether it meant it as advice it was giving Alistar tips in finding the exit no one knew, not even Raymax itself.
"Will do," Alistar replied one last time before walking into a tunnel that had opened up in the wall —deciding to keep Raymax's advice close to his heart.