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"Damned door! That's the last thing I needed," the professor complained, now kicking the door without realizing that everything outside the classroom seemed to have stopped in time.

"This is too strange. Let's knock it down," Alex urged nervously.

"I'm not paying for it, you know?" Professor Alcazar said as he stepped aside. "But do whatever you want."

Alex shrugged and began kicking the door as hard as he could, but it barely moved. More students joined him in trying to break it down, but none of them succeeded. The wooden door didn't even dent or show any marks from their blows.

Clara, tired of shouting, sat down on one of the desks and watched their futile attempt to open the only way out.

Izan was with the group at the entrance, and she watched as her friend argued with Alex about something.

Before Clara could begin to panic, overwhelmed by a feeling of claustrophobia, she noticed something strange happening behind the door. A faint yellow glow illuminated the gaps around its edges.

"There's a light behind the door!" she warned.

The others, seeing the light seeping through the gaps, began calling for help, thinking there was someone behind it. But they were greatly surprised when the yellowish light also spread across the doorway.

Amid their astonishment, only Bruno, who had turned toward the window, noticed that something was happening there as well.

"What's happening? It looks like... we're in space," the boy said in disbelief.

Everyone turned toward Bruno and looked beyond the young man's broad back. He was six-foot-two, the tallest person in the classroom.

Where the university's inner courtyard had been before, there was now darkness filled with stars and distant galaxies floating through that black and bluish expanse.

No one was able to say a word. Everything was far too confusing for their minds to comprehend.

Then, amid all the chaos and confusion, the door stopped glowing and transformed into something thoroughly different.

On either side of the entrance, serving as its frame, were white columns that rose above it and joined in an upper arch formed by the figures of two hands intertwined, their fingers clasped in opposite directions. The hands were carved from white stone, elongated and bony. The columns were their arms.

The door itself was dark brown, adorned with white reinforcements. From the middle down, it seemed as though the wood had been used as a canvas for a painting, depicting abstract figures in vivid shades of red, blue, and violet. They resembled arms or tentacles that appeared to be emerging from the portal, though they were merely decorative.

There was no time for questions, doubts, or uncertainty. With the initial shock still fresh, the door opened, revealing the silhouette of a woman with golden hair so long that it reached her knees.

She wore an outfit that hugged her slender body, something that could be described as a mixture of a dress and a Roman-style toga.

Her clothes were black, red, and gold, completely at odds with the angelic features she possessed.

Her presence was so powerful and magnificent that no one was capable of uttering a word.

Clara was the only one who shuddered when she saw her. She felt a mixture of admiration and surprise within her, but at the same time, rejection.

The strange woman scanned everyone present with her eyes until she stopped and stared directly at Clara with gray eyes. She wore a kind smile, but it wasn't directed at any of them; it was simply a smile that conveyed confidence and tranquility in herself.

"You. Come with me," the woman said. "I will be your goddess."

Everyone turned to look at the young woman being pointed at by the self-proclaimed goddess's long finger.

The girl shuddered again, feeling a chill run across her skin, and her heart began pounding relentlessly.

Izan was the first to react to what was happening and tried to approach his best friend, but when he tried to walk, his legs wouldn't move. It wasn't because of fear, nor because he had been paralyzed by the situation. Something was preventing him from moving.

Then he attempted to call out to Clara, but his voice wouldn't come out either. He could only move his neck and eyes as he watched what was happening.

The boy wasn't the only one in this state. Everyone except his friend was being held in place.

Clara looked at the rest of her classmates and understood, or simply knew, as if that knowledge had always been in her mind, that no one could do anything.

Trembling and hesitant, the girl slowly walked toward the deity, who waited for her with an outstretched hand for Clara to take, like a mother reaching out her hand to her young daughter to help her cross the street.

"Excellent," the woman said with a smile, this time with an expression of arrogance. "You're smart. I like that, my girl."

The goddess caressed Clara's pale cheeks.

"Now, let's go."

Immediately, she turned her back on the other students, intending to lead the girl through the doorway.

Before either of them could reach the threshold, it opened, this time allowing a half-naked man to step through. He seemed to display his muscles as though they were trophies. His skin was covered in a copper-colored sheen. His hair was curly and an unusual shade of blue, closer to a light sky blue.

With a smug expression, he presented himself before everyone, only to let out an annoyed sigh when he saw the goddess holding Clara's hand.

"So I'm second, huh?" he said, narrowing his eyes.

"You're far too impatient," the woman scolded in a calm voice that somehow also felt threatening.

"I don't want to be last again," the man defended himself as he looked at all the students who remained unable to move.

"We agreed to choose one at a time. You could have at least waited until I was gone."

Clara, who was close to those divine entities, felt completely overwhelmed, as though their mere presence made her utterly incapable of acting, deciding, and, worst of all, thinking.

"You were lucky I was first," the goddess sighed. "I don't particularly care if you know who I chose, but if it had been someone else, you'd be in trouble (...)."

Everyone present heard the woman pronounce the other god's name, but instead of understanding words, information in the form of an incomprehensible sequence appeared in their minds.

The god, upon hearing his name spoken, made an expression that mixed anger and terror, something that completely shattered his divine composure.

Above the god's head, figures of golden fire appeared in the air, forming the sequence that represented his name:

"☉◇↻ ∡¹³ ⟡ ∡²¹¹"

"Fucking bitch!" the god shouted furiously, his voice reverberating through the room. "How dare you reveal my name?"

The goddess seemed to enjoy the god's anger.

"It's your punishment for interfering with my choice," she replied. Then she whispered words that only they and Clara could hear. "Besides, it's not as though these humans can decipher it. See you."

The god sighed, coming to his senses. As he calmed down, the symbolic name drawn above his head began to disappear, fading into a thin smoke that eventually vanished.

"Fine. I'll let it go," he told the woman.

Then he looked at everyone present and added:

"Well, whatever. Time to choose."

The goddess nodded and continued walking with Clara, who was unable to resist anything.

And so, Izan watched as his friend disappeared behind a yellowish glow, the door closing once again.

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