Chapter 1: Prologue: A long walk and short drop

"Arm emergency protocols."

We walked closer to the doors at the end of the room. Their designs were different from the ones that lined all the other edges, but not by much, the main difference was their size.

"Activate Black Box. Log voice."

The two of us took our place in front of the largest door—no, it'd be more accurate to call it a gate—one that was at least 20 meters tall. The other four stood in front of a smaller gate. Though smaller is relative, because it was also massive, at least 12 meters tall.

"Destination: track anomaly S0001"

Lights around the gate began to shine dimly, and I felt the familiar thrumming as the entire facility hummed to life.

"Participants: Two Outworld Vanguard, one Offworld Vanguard."

The door in front of me slid open, splitting to either side to reveal inky blackness that was slowly being filled with motes of starlight.

"Members: Tenebris Kyoukai, Aya Lunara, Mina Ashgarmr, Sena Ashgarmr, Rin Logos, Leonard Logos."

A violent pulsing filled the entire area. If we were on a planet I would have thought it was a bizarrely regular earthquake, but it was just the Chain activating.

"Classifications: Sorcerer, 5. [REDACTED], 1"

You are reading story Against Chaos: False Order at novel35.com

The shaking stopped as the stabilization arrays sprung to life. The motes of light in the gate began to form a pattern, slowly swirling around the center.

"Bridge formation in 30 seconds. Log end."

I closed my eyes and calmed myself down. This wasn't the first time, nor would it be the last. 

Something soft and warm lightly grasped my hand, and I looked down at the girl standing beside me.

She just wordlessly smiled up at me. The swirling starlight emitting from the gate reflected off her silver hair, making it seem like it was shining with a light of its own.

After a moment's pause I smiled back at her, then lifted my head to look at the four standing in front of the other gate. Only one of them was looking back at me, the rest standing with their eyes closed, calming themselves before the storm.

'Good luck' she mouthed, before turning her attention back to the gate in front of her.

"Bridges are active. I expect everyone back, and back alive. Move out!"

The sound of glass shattering was the only response to his words as we immediately stepped out into the dimensional bridges. All sounds from the Lighthouse were cut off the instant we stepped through the gate, and the only noise we were left with was that of glass crunching under our feet.