The Lowly Gate's Guard

Ch. 5: Trapped on a Gate. (4)

Dean had always wanted an awakening ever since he started chasing the life of a Hunter.

He knew it wasn't essential, but it was an incredible help for fast tracking the process; and after two years of waiting just to get in the course, he was ready to get all the help he could.

The sooner he became a Hunter, the sooner he could be getting the kind of pay people only dreamed of.

These two years he's been living in a cramped apartment that only has enough room for a springy single bed and a kettle. It was driving him up the wall, his claustrophobia was barely handling it.

He wouldn't have to be living off a cheap foreign brand of noodles that was better suited for landfill than consumption.

Becoming a Hunter wouldn't only provide a better life but would bring many benefits that others would kill for. He needed to be a hunter and he knew the risks well.

"Hello?" Crescent snapped her fingers loudly into Dean's ear. She had been trying to get his attention.

"Huh?" His mind was hazy from leaving deep thought.

"We need to go. I'm not keen on waiting here long enough to starve myself and I don't know about you, but a rat isn't on the menu for me."

Crescent started to make her way back to the door, calling him to follow.

Dean nodded reluctantly, finding it hard to let the bath house go but she was right. There was no point staying here when they've already done what they came here for.

They returned through the large steel door and stood back on the fork in the tunnel.

An opaque window popped up for them.

[Safezone: Crystal Bathhouse left]

[Disabling safe zone]

After the notification disappeared, the large steel door quickly shut behind them. The crystal walls grew over the door, removing it from sight.

It's hard to imagine that the inside of the Gates were alive, but it was quite a popular theory that people believed were true. Dean was starting to believe it.

"What now?" Dean asked.

"We're going in the hole." Crescent pointed at the small hole built into the crystal wall.
Dean let out a short shriek, his breath had turned rasp and wild.

"Please not the hole. Please, please!" He pleaded; the colour of his face started to quickly fade.

Crescent sighed and grabbed her book from it's holster, she snapped it open.

Crescent ran her index finger across a page of her book, she drew an open circle with her finger. Her finger was set ablaze as if it were a match being struck. A purple flame covered her finger. She gently blew on her finger and pressed it against Dean's forehead.

He jumped in reflex, expecting to be burnt, but no burning sensation came from the flame. It felt warm and calm, soothing his panicked state. The colour started to come back to his cheeks.

"That should last for an hour. Sheesh. The hole isn't going to kill you." She patted him gently on the back and led him into the hole.

Dean was relaxed, almost as if he were intoxicated.

A warm blanket was covering his mind, so Dean did something he thought he never would. He got into a crawl and went into the tunnel headfirst, calm as can be.

The good thing was that the small hole in the wall wasn't dark. The crammed in crystal walls lit up the hole perfectly. Though the spell calmed him, Dean was sure it couldn't make him enter the hole if it were pitch black.