Reaching a distance far enough from the city, Ymal brought out the orb given to him by Damien. He didn't know how they were going to escape the titanic battle going on far behind them, but still so much closer that at any minute they could all be wiped out.
Studying the orb gave off no idea of what its function was. Other than a black line that circled the orb from one side to the other. It seemed the larger orb served as protection for the smaller glowing orb inside of it.
Following instructions, he crushed the construct.
The moment he did it, the orb shattered into exactly four pieces. The dull glow inside the smaller orb dispersed into the four shattered pieces, lightening them up. The shattered pieces then floated off his hand – startling him a bit – flying a little bit from him to form a twelve-foot-tall rectangular shape, with the sides stretched wide enough for twenty people to pass side by side.
Once the pieces were done forming, the black lines on all of them detached, peeling.
They elongated till the lines from the four different pieces were now connected, confirming the rectangular shape. Once they had finished connecting, the different shattered pieces began to glow purple, glowing brighter and brighter until their light became too bright in the artificially made darkness.
It was only for a moment before the lights from the different pieces dispersed from their different places and converged in the middle, forming a square filmy curtain of purple and black. A square shape that then began to stretch and stretch until it covered the whole rectangular shape, forming a doorway.
The people at the front were agitated, seeing as the battle going on far in the back was moving closer by the minute. But still, they waited for his instructions. He had the strange intuition that crossing the rectangular doorway was a very bad idea, so he waited.
It didn't take long for the purple light to fade and reveal a large hall stretching hundreds of feet from where he faced. There were soldiers gathered in front of the portal, and he could see dozens more behind them, holding polearms that he had no doubt were extremely powerful weapons.
He quickly raised his hands to show that he was unarmed, even though any of the soldiers gathered around could easily take him on. He could feel their strengths and it was in no way inferior to his. Some were even stronger than him.
Making sure not to make any abrupt movement, he stepped through, Instructing his soldiers to stay where they were and not to make any abrupt movement.
Stepping through, he fully admired the large hall. Purple light lined the walls, connecting them to pillars that were placed along the walls in pairs. Some were glowing purple like the one he was now standing in between, he noticed, while some weren't.
Stepping forward, a soldier said. "Stay where you are and identify yourselves." Black and silver colored armor adorned the bodies of the soldiers, with avian-shaped helmets. An emblem of a silver bird emblazoned their chests.
"We are citizens from a desert city in the desolate continent. Please, we are fleeing a calamity and are in need of help." Ymal answered, not moving any further.
"How did you arrive here?" The soldier asked, sounding worried for some reason Ymal couldn't figure out.
"With the orb?" Ymal answered tentatively, unsure of where the question was leading.
The soldier now looked more worried, Ymal could now see the same expression on the other soldiers' faces. "I meant, how did you get the specific aura for this portal station?" He pointed at the twin pillars Ymal was standing in front of.
Finally understanding what they were worried about, Ymal quickly explained. "Oh, I don't know how we got here. We were given the orb by someone and then told to break it." It wasn't hard to understand the worries. An unidentified group of people opening a portal into what Ymal saw as an important place. It sure would have gotten people worried. If some random group of people could use their teleport beacon and just appear there without warning, what would then stop their enemies from being able to do the same?
"Who gave you the orb?" The man asked again, still worried with weapons poised.
"He said his name was Damien," Ymal answered. None of the soldiers looked like they recognized the name. Seeing their confusion, Ymal was beginning to get worried that their only hope of surviving would soon get squashed when suddenly, there was a shrill whistle of air, and then a woman appeared.
Ymal immediately became apprehensive, seeing as her instant appearance wasn't from teleportation but the effect of pure speed. She wasn't dressed in any armor that Ymal could see, wearing only combat pants and boots with an armless top.
Judging from the way the soldiers stood taller at her arrival, he summarized that she was probably a commanding officer.
Black hair tied into a ponytail, and sharp black eyes that scanned him inside out. She looked like she was in her late twenties to early thirties, but he knew otherwise.
"Who did you say gave you the orb? Describe him," She commanded, her eyes scrutinizing for any falseness.
Swallowing hard. He answered, "He said his name was Damien. Grey hair and eyes, with an athletic body and a face a very young face, early twenties, probably." He knew from the moment the woman had arrived that she was far more powerful than him. A Monarch realm wielder.
Her eyes widened, and she looked behind him; seeing the gathered refugees. Having come to an understanding, she nodded and said in a strangely shaky voice, "What help does the lord require we render you?"
Quickly getting to the point. "We were attacked by agents of the empire. He is holding them back to give us time to escape."
"How many people are on the other side?" She asked.
"Thousands."
Waving her hands, the soldiers took the signal and dispersed except for the man who had first spoken to Ymal and two others.
Turning to the remaining three, she said. "One person should start coordinating the arrivals of the refugees; another should go inform the queen of the happenings going on, while the third should go to the Monarch's castle and inform them that backup will be required here to protect the refugees in case of an attack. Decide amongst yourselves who does which."
Quickly deciding amongst themselves, the soldiers left.
Turning to him, she said, "Let's go take a look at what's happening on the other side."
Turning, they both crossed into the portal.
The sight upon arriving was not encouraging at all.