It had happened…so suddenly. She was preparing to create an opening for him to attack and teach him more about creating one himself but a Warp had appeared out of nowhere and took the kid. She had reacted immediately, removed the limiter on her ability and instantly dashed to the Warp but it was already closed. It had completely rejected her entrance. Her body only passed through it like there was nothing but a simple mirage.

At that moment of realization, her mind had completely gone blank, staring at the Warp suspended in the air. After a few minutes, some soldiers and Spark engineers had appeared, announcing that they had detected a spatial disturbance in the training grounds. All of them had stared at the closed Warp, with bewildered expressions on their faces. No Warp opening had ever occurred in the Central Domain military grounds. And it had been a solo challenger kind too. This type of Warp only accepts a single Blessed and shapes them up for the next challenge. If they survive.

Which was extremely rare. The cruel challenges provided by the Beyond was hard even for a well trained team. There were too many unknown variables. Now, her favorite student and her senior’s son had been mercilessly taken away by that cursed place.

She still remembered how senior Irene had reacted to the news of what happened to her golden child. Not so different from how Carol herself reacted when her own son had passed away. 

Senior Irene had come running like a mad woman and demanded an explanation when she saw the unresponsive Warp. Still feeling slightly dazed, Carol had tried her best to recount the events that transpired. By the end of it, the light in Senior Irene’s sapphire eyes had already grown dull and she slumped down on the floor, clutching her head in her hands. Before Carol could say anything again, Rowan’s mother had suddenly jumped up and ran to the inactive warp and passed through it instead. Going back to it, she imbued Sparks in her hands and tried to rip the Warp open. It had not responded. Screaming, she had tried all kinds of attacks but to no avail. Suddenly, she turned towards Carol, with tears streaming down her face and shouted: “What are you doing!? Call the Gatekeepers!”

Carol knew that the Gatekeepers under the government were all incredibly busy this time of the year but didn’t mention that and the senior most likely knew it as well. She only nodded and hurriedly dialed someone from the Command Center and told him about what happened and explained the urgent need of a Gatekeeper. “All of them are currently working on the next junior expedition, but I’ll try to contact one nearby.”

After the call, she had turned back towards the Warp but Senior Irene was howling in pain, clawing and punching the ground near the warp. Before she could hurt herself even further, some of the soldiers and Carol rushed to her side and gently picked her up and tried to calm her down.

“Master Irene, please try to calm down.”

“Senior, please. I have already made an urgent request for a Gatekeeper.”

Irene only screamed : “My boy! My son went there alone! ALONE!”

Was Carol like this when she lost her son too? The usually calm and composed senior was thrashing around like a woman gone mad, wild tears running down her face.

After almost an hour, senior Irene had finally calmed down a little and was weeping silently. “Little Star…I can’t lose you too…”

It pained Carol to see the senior like this, especially knowing that she was partly at fault for not being fast enough to save her son. When Mark had died, Carol had not been able to function normally for a long time. Would the senior become the same or maybe something even worse? She did not want to find out. 

There was a little silver lining though. Patting senior Irene’s shoulder gently, Carol spoke in a soft voice : “Senior, the Warp hasn’t been responding in any way. That means the challenge is still going on and Rowan is out there somewhere, alive. He may be alone but he is a smart and resourceful kid. Let’s wait for him together.”

Senior Irene didn’t respond and just kept on staring at the inactive Warp. 

Now, after more than a week, Carol was slowly losing hope too. The sun was already setting when she met one of the logistics officers and submitted a report about the upcoming junior expedition. After it was done, she was heading towards a nearby bench when her earset buzzed and a voice laced with urgency called out. 

“Captain, the Warp is starting to respond. We-”

Before she could hear the rest, she was already dashing towards the currently off limits training hall using her ability, ignoring surprised looks from young soldiers along the way. Reaching the entrance, she saw that many soldiers and government ascended Blessed were surrounding the glowing Warp. If Rowan failed the challenge, then horrors from the Beyond would come rushing out. They had to prepare for the worst.

Senior Irene, who looked a bit thinner these few days, was being held back by her daughter, Talia, who was looking at the Warp with apprehension. Carol stood near them and took a battle stance, summoning a blood-red khopesh. 

After a few tense seconds, the Warp slowly split apart, like the opening of an eye and a body fell out of it, the clothes completely soaked in blood. After that, the Warp completely disappeared, like it never existed in the first place. Everyone was staring at the body with bewilderment and only a split second later, Senior Irene’s voice cried out. “Rowan!”

She and her daughter were already running past the soldiers and knelt beside the body, checking his pulse and his face. Blinking slowly, Carol looked closer and realized it was indeed Rowan, his clothes unrecognizable from all the blood. She could never mistake that incredibly charming and gorgeous face. He looked..even better than before, his healthy and youthful skin unblemished, radiating a soft glow. His chest was rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Carol felt like a boulder had been lifted off her shoulders.

She went near the family and knelt beside them. “We should take him to the infirmary, just to be sure that there are no residual effects from the initial assimilation.”

Senior Irene was smiling warmly while looking at her son, tears of relief in her eyes. Her daughter placed a hand on her forearm and whispered softly: “Mom, Captain Carol is right, we should take Rowan to the infirmary.”

Looking up, her mother blinked a few times and replied: “Yes? Oh, the infirmary. Right, let’s go.”

Gently picking up her son in her arms, she and her daughter went towards the doorway, the soldiers making way for them. Carol followed after them shortly after giving some cleanup orders to the soldiers.

Smiling a bit, Carol muttered under her breath: “Welcome back kid”.