The Dimensional Overpass

The heirloom

A large chamber with sky high ceilings and a near circular outline. Ancient words of wisdom send silent opinions through the wall. A small group of people huddled together in a corner. Collective sighs of disappointment fill the room. And in the middle of it all lay a giant pool.

"Let's just leave. It's so fatuous watching water swirling around. This whole plan was a fail from the start. Not to mention this room is screaming ominous right onto my face."
Gabriella is the grumpy one of our group. She loses her patience quite easily in such situations.

"That's true. But weren't we supposed to see a fire burning around here? Why is there only water here?"

"That's why you should never trust a commoner's word. I hate even the sight of them."

"Me trusting them! To begin with it was YOU Gabs who started eavesdropping on their conversation saying we might get some potential hints for our 'Ascension'."

I was tired of listening to Gabriella and Loraine fight every two minutes , I was tired of this hauntingly beautiful room hiding secrets behind its enchanting walls and I was tired from wishing for something to happen any minute. If we don't leave soon we might get caught and there would be one more reason for the people around here to laugh at us. A shiver ran down my spine at the thought of that.

Amelia was beside me looking with the same apprehension towards the pool. She had lost interest as soon as she didn't saw any signs of the roaring flames everyone talked about. I cannot lose hope too beacuse i had no choice. I was always treated like a prodigy so everyone was shocked when I wasn't the first one to manifest the 'Mark'.

It's going to be more than a year but there are still no signs showing that we are going to ascend any time soon. Usually marks appear on one's body when someone gets close to their Ascension but not a single one of us has any signs. Even the commoners studying at the academy have ascended and become part of the official guild of the academy. What a predicament that now even the commoners bully us. This room was our last hope. An ancient flame is said to be found here that can produce a mark on anyone. We just have to sacrifice a few high quality gems and the deal is done or that's what THEY say. There was no harm in trying. But even after reaching here with great difficulty after dodging all those security entrapments the flame was nowhere to be found.

I stood up and walked over to where the duo was having their now heated conversation.I nudged Amelia on the shoulder. She too then stood up and came to stand beside me. "Stop it you two already. Atleast we have that water over there even if there are no flames. Let's atleast check that out and leave this wretched place as soon as possible."

With a silent approval from everyone I took my wand and rose up high in the air and landed on the edge of the circle containing the mystical waters. I watched the swirling waters from up close. The water seemed to be changing colours between blue or grey. I looked at my reflection from above. The girls all stood right behind me doing the same. As I was observing the images reflected on the waters, I leaned a little too much over the edge and one of the gems, a red family heirloom that I had painstakingly acquired fell into the pond. I shrieked in response but I was afraid to touch the contents of this pond .

An energetic beam full of red particles shot up from the middle and casted a dome shaped aura all around us. It was buzzing with life threatening to engulf us any time soon.

Apprehension masked our faces. Suddenly we could hear gurgling sounds coming from the abyss of the waters. This was really freaking us .

"This doesn't look good at all Clara. Let's just leave." I couldn't agree more and immediately casted a portal spell. But I guess FATE didn't like the sound of that. As soon as I chanted the spell I was pushed backwards by the red aura surrounding us inside the pond. The Red aura then formed a cage around the pond. All this happened in a span of few seconds. A gigantic pulling force emerged from the waters and I was immediately robbed off the plain solid ground.

"CLARA!", Amelia shrieked hands outstretched as if she could catch me . I wanted those hands to reach to me. I couldn't move my limbs. I started drowning while I kept hearing my friends scream.

I saw the red stone glistening at the bottom. As I approached closer to it, that small little thing transformed into a huge monstrous mouth and ghostly pale little forms came out like whisks of smoke turning into a huge mass of a red monster. I hurriedly stretched my wand in its direction and shouted a spell right at it. The magic casted went right through it. A loud gurgle could be heard coming from the monster. It sent chills down my spine and froze me up entirely. It didn't move an inch but it opened an opening which i suppose could be its mouth and stretched it far and wide. I looked in astonishment as it got bigger and bigger. Then it swallowed me whole. My whole life flashed before me in a blurry ride. I felt burning sensations all over my hand and I started to lose consciousness. I clutched my wand tightly in my hand, my only salvation. I felt the sensation of entering into a giant portal. Sheets were flying around me in a circle. The world suddenly turned upside down. I opened my mouth to scream, few sheets left the circle and covered my mouth. My eyes opened wide as I was unable to move my mouth. The sheets flew again and covered my eyes this time. And rapidly they covered my entire body. They stuck on me like leeches sucking away my mana. At this point I felt completely devoid of any sort of mana. I wished I could see my family, friends and my land for the last time. Why all bad things happen to me? Is there any hope for me at all? Worse, I don't know what this thing will do to my friends? I couldn't protect them despite being powerful. My friends don't even know how to protect themselves?
It went quiet all of a sudden.

A voice echoed in the stillness,
[Welcome to THE OVERPASS].