Chapter 4: The Portal
Gwendolyn stopped walking and turned to meet Aiden, "I gave you that blaster Aiden." Aiden tried his best not to meet his gaze of Gwendolyn, "Well, after what happened, I don't think I'm meant to use it."
Gwendolyn chuckled and slapped a palm on her forehead, "It's specifically designed for self-defense, and it did its job perfectly".
"Can we just stop talking and get the hell out of here?" a tiny little voice squeaked from beside Aiden. She was the youngest among all of them, with white pale skin, she looked like she was lacking a whole lot of blood.
Gwendolyn turned her attention to the other two captives, the other was a young male but he looked older than them all, and he hardly spoke.
Gwendolyn asked them for their names, turns out the little girl's name was Annie, while the boy, was Leon. "Look, I get you all want to get out of here, but how would you do that? The entrance and exits are blocked, even if you find a way out, they'll still come looking for you in the open, trust me". Gwendolyn stopped walking once more and looked at Aiden, "Besides, the end of the world is here anyway..."
Aiden asked suspiciously, "What do you mean by the end of the world is here?"
Gwendolyn didn't answer right away as she kept on walking, she led them into a large bright spacious room covered in white that looked unreal. They couldn't believe their eyes, though there were science instruments here and there, the room was incredibly phenomenal. The atmosphere around them looked like it contained plasma, white and blue colored plasma, and everywhere looked like it was painted in an aqua theme.
"What is this place?" Dustin muttered out loud.
"Oh, this place, this is just the outskirt of everything" Gwendolyn replied, her eyes scanning the area. Aiden looked up, he could bet the ceiling was almost sixty feet tall, what kind of place was this? He thought.
Gwendolyn took them through a bridge walkway which seemed like it was crossed over empty darkness. Annie gasped in fear as she looked down. There were all sorts of large machines here and there, some looked like turbines, and others had swirly coils on them.
Seeing a watch-out guard, Gwendolyn tased him with a Taser, a weapon that electrocuted the target. "Don't worry, he's not dead" she said as she crossed over the guard and opened the metal door.
"As to answer your question, Aiden, this is the end of the world."
"What the hell is that thing?"
"What in the world-"
"Holy Shit"
Aiden could not believe his eyes, what the hell was this? He had never and would never see anything like this in his life. Dustin stared in amazement, Annie looked like she was going to pass away, and Leon's expression was quite normal. The aqua-themed atmosphere had become more saturated, it could easily make one feel wobbly.
Across the spacious chamber was a large vertical hole, it looked like it was fifty feet tall. The hole seemed to have torn from nowhere in the air. It emitted a bright light that no one could see through it. The hole seemed to be rippling, getting bigger and bigger, it looked so unreal.
Aiden knew from the start that Project X was into some cocky science projects, but he never expected to be this. It looked like a two-dimensional portal, he bet one could cross over to another universe if they stepped into the portal.
"To answer the pondering questions in your minds, that's the X Portal," Gwendolyn explained she seemed to be looking out for oncoming troopers. "An unexplainable phenomenon, it appeared right here nineteen years ago. At first, it was just a measly thin line, but now...." She looked up at the portal, "....it's bigger." She turned to her audience, they were all jaw-dropped. Gwendolyn sighed. "You can take a look to your right, that's where you guys were meant to stay awaiting to be flung into the portal, to never return" She looked at Dustin.
"Why are you showing us this?" Aiden managed to ask. If she wasn't going to help them escape, why bring them to the most important chamber in the facility, in the universe?
"Why?" Gwendolyn gave a short laugh "How old are you, Aiden?" She asked. Aiden felt she was trying to mock him. "No, I'm serious, just tell me, what's your age?"
"Sixteen" Aiden replied.
Gwendolyn flung her hands in the air before resting them on her waist, "Did you hear that, did you guys hear that?" She asked the clique gesturing towards "He's sixteen!"
"And so?" Dustin chirped in.
"And so it is time for the whole thing, I mean, no wonder it's been growing faster," She said taking another glance at the oval-shaped prodigy.
Aiden seemed to lose his patience, "What the hell's this thing for? What's the end of the world? What's so special about my age? It's time for the whole what?!" He howled.
Gwendolyn walked slowly towards him and met him eye to eye."You don't know, do you? Hell, did you even go to the room I directed you to?"
Aiden could tell she was strong-willed and a no-nonsense person, he was a few inches taller than her, but he felt she was hovering over him. "Don't worry I'll tell you, I'll be quick with it and I want no interruptions from anyone" She said and stepped back.
"Your real name is Aiden Prime, not Aiden Noah. What is your mother's last name? Your father used to be the President of the Prime nation, In Ragner Prime." Gwendolyn spoke very quickly, "Nineteen years ago, this shit appeared out of nowhere in your dad's nation, my father and President Snape's elder brother were the other Chiefs from their respective nations. The three nations came together into the Prime Nation because of famine and drought in the other two nations except for the Prime Nation. After a while, population, and demand increased, so your father, mine, and Malgrim Snape the first all entered into the portal thinking it would open into a whole new world and solve their nation's economic problems, but....." She stopped and shrugged.
The five of them were quiet for a while before Aiden opened up, "What did you just say?" He asked. No way he was gonna believe this story.
"I told you I was gonna be quick" Gwendolyn replied.
Dustin turned to Aiden who looked like he was slapped, "Hey buddy, we don't have to listen to what she just said, I say we get outta here OK?"
Aiden shoved Dustin aside, charging towards Gwendolyn, "What did you say?" He demanded angrily.
"I told you everything about your father didn't I?" Gwendolyn replied casually, mocking Aiden's sudden temper to everyone's calmness. Aiden took in quick deep breaths before asking, "You're telling me my father entered the portal and didn't come out?" Gwendolyn kept a dismal look. She took multiple steps away from Aiden and shook her head.
"What! Tell me! Say it! What happened to him?" Aiden yelled. What doesn't she want to tell me?
"Aiden." Gwendolyn looked up with concern, "Your father made it out of the portal, he was murdered immediately after he stepped out. I'm sorry"
"Do you think, it's going to happen?" President Snape asked General Danielle, they were all rushing behind security, all in pursuit of finding the Prime son.
"Don't ask me such questions Malgrim, of course, it's gonna happen, haven't you seen how fast the portal's been growing recently?" The General replied.
President Snape cursed. If only he had noticed the resemblance and slit the boy's throat earlier on the Parade grounds. Ragnar had told him and Danielle to take care of his son, he even mentioned his name, and he felt stupid for not catching such obvious details. So what? Even if he did kill the boy, would it stop Ragner's warning from coming to the past?
"Your excellence, we have an unresponsive crew around the Portal terrain, we believe they might have breached in there" An officer announced to Snape.
President Snape looked stunned, what was he doing there? He thought.
"Send a crew to keep on looking, You and the General follow me to the Portal" The officer passed the president's order and then joined Snape and Danielle towards the Portal.
Suddenly there was a huge vibration for a few seconds, the floor shook and the lights blinked. President Snape caught Danielle's eyes, they both knew what was about to go down.