**POV: Darren**
The air in Kaycee's room sizzled and popped with energy. They both stood, and he could see it permeating the very molecules making up the space around them. He looked at Kaycee, and she returned his gaze. He was sure his expression matched hers; it was one of apprehension. They both knew something was wrong here. But what were they supposed to do?
A new quest notification appeared suddenly in front of him as he heard EDS speak. He glanced over at Kaycee and saw that, while he couldn't see her display, it appeared that she was doing the same thing he was.
"Expand."
**New Quest!**
- A rise in FLUX energy has been detected.
- A breach will open in the vicinity in 4 minutes and 57 seconds.
- QUEST OBJECTIVE: Defend against the incursion and seal the breach.
- Do you accept? Y/N
"Are you seeing this quest, too?" Kaycee asked.
"Yeah."
"What do you think we should do?"
"Well, we've been commissioned by the Great King Himself, right?" he asked, looking at Kaycee.
She nodded.
He looked back at his display:
**New Quest!**
- A rise in FLUX energy has been detected.
- A breach will open in the vicinity in 4 minutes and 40 seconds.
- QUEST OBJECTIVE: Defend against the incursion and seal the breach.
- Do you accept? Y/N
"I accept."
**Quest Accepted!**
He heard Kaycee echo his statement.
"Okay, let's go," he told her.
They rushed downstairs and back through the party. He was struck by how much had changed in his life tonight, and yet everyone else, other than Kaycee, in the building was completely oblivious. Nothing had changed for them at all. Well, nothing had changed for them yet.
There was no one on the front porch of the sorority house now, and the rain was falling in sheets. Thunder rumbled overhead. The charge in the air culminated to a peak, and lightning struck the roadway in front of the house, casting everything in view in sharp blue light, deepening and stretching shadows eerily.
Every muscle in his body tensed with the energy, and he had never felt so alive! He checked the display, which appeared and disappeared with mere intention, and saw that the breach would open in less than four minutes. Just as he began to wonder where exactly the breach would open, he saw a pale blue line stretch out before him toward the road.
"Do you see that?"
"What? That green line?" Kaycee asked.
"Green? You see a green line?"
"Yeah, what do you see?"
"I see a line, but mine is blue," he said, chuckling. This was all so strange, and yet it felt exactly right, somehow.
He moved down the steps and began jogging, following the line, with Kaycee moving right next to him.
They reached the road and followed the line out into the middle of it and directly left. He was soaked, but it felt amazing. The water brought a slight chill which offset the warmth flooding through his body.
"I feel like I have so much energy!" Kaycee shouted over the rain. She started sprinting with a gleeful laugh, quickly expanding the distance between them.
He laughed aloud, drawing in the electrical energy surging through the atmosphere. He picked up his pace too and chased after Kaycee. She was so far ahead now that he could barely see her through the rain. He pushed off the ground even harder and felt his body become one with the energy, and suddenly it wasn't just that energy surging through the air, it was him.
He felt himself surge through the atmosphere, bolting forward at the speed of lightning. He knew he was moving as fast as light, but it was like he was observing everything in slow motion. He drew closer to Kaycee and looked back as he passed her. Her face was painted with a broad grin, and suddenly he was sliding across the surface of the road on the soles of his shoes. He was facing Kaycee, sliding backward away from her, knees slightly bent. The rush was unreal!
"What was that!?" Kaycee shouted, coming to a stop in front of him.
**New ability unlocked: Bolt!**
"I unlocked a new ability!" he shouted back through the downpour.
Kaycee let out a laugh of delight, "That's amazing!"
He looked back at the display:
**A breach will open in the vicinity in 1 minute and 4 seconds.**
"We only have about a minute left before the breach opens," he shouted, "but I think we're getting close!"
"I think it's..." Kaycee began, but paused, furrowing her brows, "I think it's going to be on the main grounds of the university! I can feel it, kind of! We're almost there!"
He had questions about that, like how she could feel the location of the breach, but as she grabbed his hand and started running again, he put them away for later. There were more important things to worry about right then.
He kept the countdown on his display visible as they ran, faster than he'd ever moved before except for his first use of his Bolt ability. The blue line in front of him continued straight, then abruptly turned sharply right as they came within view of the main part of the university. The rain began to let up, and they followed the line, ending up in a wide recreational area sprinkled with picnic tables and oak trees.
"I think we're here," Kaycee said.
**A breach will open in the vicinity in 4 seconds.**
...3 seconds.
...2...1...
The wind died, and the rain halted in midair. The strange energy he'd felt earlier, different than the POWER he'd felt so far, flooded the entire area, and a blinding red light burst to life mere feet from where they were standing.
"This feeling must be the FLUX energy EDS told me about," Kaycee said as they both backed away slowly from the ball of light.
"FLUX?"
"It's just something EDS mentioned before..." She didn't have time to finish as the ball of brilliant red light morphed into a turbulent, spinning galaxy-like disc.
**New Quest Information!**
- You have located the breach.
- You have 1 day to enter the breach and defeat the enemies attempting to invade Earth.
- Should you succeed, you will have a limited amount of time to exit the breach before it is sealed.
- Once all enemies are defeated, the tear will be healed and the breach will be sealed.
- Failure will result in invasion.
"One day?" he said aloud.
"I guess that means that whatever's on the other side can't come through until then?"
"So we have to enter that thing, huh? Is it a door of some kind?" he asked, more thinking aloud than anything else.
"There's only one way to find out," Kaycee said. "What do you think? Should we do it?"
"I think we have to, but I don't have any kind of weapon," he said, frustrated with himself for not thinking of it earlier.
"EDS, what do we do?" EDS responded by opening up a new display screen.
**You may choose a weapon from this selection. These are only starter weapons and are not very durable. However, you will be able to upgrade them or purchase others in the future.**
"Do you have a weapon selection screen, too?" he asked Kaycee.
She nodded, her eyes apparently on her own display.
His display showed him a series of boxes, each containing a different weapon. There were swords, maces, daggers, bows, hammers, and... spears. He smiled.
"That's the one."
"I'll take that one, EDS," he said aloud, though he knew EDS could perceive the one he was indicating in his thoughts. One of the boxes containing a spear enlarged, covering the rest of the display. Instinctively, he reached forward and grabbed the shaft of the spear, pulling it from the display.
It came easily, enlarging as it did so. Once it was fully out, he grinned again. It was about seven feet long, with at least a solid foot of that length made up of the double-edged blade on the end. He hefted the weapon. It wasn't too heavy and it seemed well balanced. Not that he knew much about spears. He just thought they were cool.
He looked at Kaycee, who was now holding an elegant wooden bow, with a quiver full of arrows already on her back. She looked at her weapon of choice in awe, undoubtedly feeling as overwhelmed as he did.
"A bow, huh?" he chuckled. "I don't know why, but that seems exactly right for you."
"I was going to say the same thing about your weapon," she smiled.
"EDS said these weren't very durable, but they're definitely better than nothing at all."
She nodded, "What do you think we'll be facing in there?"
The rain had slowed to a sprinkle now, and a twinge of fear ran through him as he noticed the apprehension in her eyes.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, we can do this," he said, reaching for her hand.
She reciprocated, raising her hand and interlocking her fingers with his.
"Well, there's no time like the present," she said, smiling through the worry.
"Let's do this."