After Eve left, the days blurred.
I kept working—stocking shelves, lifting crates, hauling inventory—but everything felt dull, weightless. I still trained every night. Still moved through the motions my grandfather taught me. But without Eve around to tease me or ask questions, the silence felt different. Deeper.
The basement was still mine. The qi still came, faint and stubborn. But the air hung heavier now.
A few weeks after Eve left for Thalorin, I was unloading a shipment outside the grocery store. My shirt stuck to my back, and the concrete baked under the sun. I carried four boxes at once—twenty pounds each—like they were nothing.
"You always this strong, kid?"
I looked up. A man leaned against a pickup truck, wearing a cracked leather vest and boots caked in dried blood. A hunter. I could smell the faint trace of magic stones on his gear. Or maybe that was the scent of gate ash.
"I guess," I said.
He laughed. "You guess? Those boxes aren't light. You ever think about real work?"
I raised an eyebrow. "This isn't real work?"
He grinned, wiping his nose. "We're short a porter. You know, guy who hauls loot, carries gear, doesn't cry when a goblin screeches in his face. Pays better than this place, and I'll be honest...we could use a guy who lifts like you. What do you say?"
I didn't say yes right away. But a week later, I found myself waiting outside a dungeon gate with a dozen other hunters, watching them laugh and stretch like it was just another day at the office. That's how it started. Life as a porter wasn't glamorous.
I hauled mana stones, monster cores, busted swords and bloody satchels full of spoils. Sometimes I dragged corpses. Sometimes I helped wounded hunters limp back through the gate. I was the invisible part of the machine—essential, but overlooked.
But I never complained. Not when they told me to carry double. Not when they laughed behind my back. Not when they whispered things like:
"Hey, you think he's hiding an awakened class?"
"Nah. If he was, he'd have been drafted already."
"He's too quiet. Gives me the creeps."
I didn't answer. Didn't correct them. Because part of me hoped they were right. Maybe I was hiding something. Maybe the system had just forgotten. Or maybe… "When you get to where you belong, we'll begin."
That message echoed louder now. Was this it? Carrying loot for other people? Was this where I belonged? Some nights, I'd lie on the floor of the basement, sweat-soaked and sore, staring at the ceiling. My fists would clench without meaning to. My breath would hitch. And I'd wonder if I was already being punished—for surviving. For not being chosen.
Two years had passed since she left for Thalorin. I still went to the same pizza shop we used to visit. Still sat in the same booth.
"Maybe she'll be back to celebrate," I murmured to myself.
I doubted it.
Still, I sat in our booth. Ordered the usual: two slices, one pepperoni, one cheese. I chewed in silence, the way we used to. Afterward, I stepped out back. The alley was damp from last night's rain. Trash bins lined the wall. A cat darted past my feet, yowling. And then… it appeared.
The wall shimmered, bending inward like heat mirage over asphalt. A ripple tore through space, then split wide like a curtain parting.
A golden gate.
Light spilled out — soft at first, like dusk reflected on a pond. Then brighter, sharper, pulsing like it had a heartbeat. Like it was alive. I couldn't breathe.
It was beautiful. And terrifying. I stepped back, heart pounding. Every instinct screamed at me to run. That thing...it wasn't normal. It didn't belong here. I'd seen red gates before, on TV, during raids. This wasn't that.
This was something else entirely. But I didn't run. Because my legs wouldn't move. Or rather… they did. Forward. One step. Then another. I wasn't choosing to move. I just was. Like gravity had shifted. Like I was being pulled by something older than thought. My pulse slowed. Not from calm, but something else. Whatever was beyond this gate was calling me, like it had a grip on my soul. I couldn't fight it any longer.
Two questions flashed in Blues head.
Is this real?....Am I dreaming?
I reached out. My hand trembled, fingers brushing the edge of the gate....and it felt warm. Alive. Like touching sunlight trapped in silk. My breath hitched. My heart thundered. And then, it spoke. A voice. No, not a voice. A presence.
[System]
"When you get to where you belong… we'll begin."
I froze. That line. That message. I hadn't heard it in years. Not since the dreams. Not since before the red gates. Before Eve awakened. Before everything. It was back. And I was here.
"Why now?" I whispered. "Why me?"
No answer. Just the gate. Waiting. A thousand thoughts flooded my mind...David, Mary, this life, the quiet, the pain of being left behind. My training. My failure to awaken. Eve's bright eyes as she vanished into a world I couldn't follow. I clenched my fists.
"Am I really ready?"
Silence. But my feet kept moving. My fear couldn't stop me. Because this moment — this gate — it felt right. Not safe. Not logical. But inevitable.
Like the end of a circle I never knew I'd been walking. Like home. I stepped forward. And the light swallowed me whole.
--
ON THALORIN
Eve stood by the portal, her heart heavy. Her master stood beside her, Faelorn, the High Druid, he towered over most like an ancient tree, his brown beard reached his stomach. He placed a hand gently on Eve's shoulder, his voice thick with both pride and sorrow. "Ms Evelynn, you have to be the brightest student to come from Terra. It has been my great honor to have been your master, its a shame you can't stay longer. There is still much more you could learn." Eve's smile faded as her master praised her, sadness creeping into her eyes. She had trained hard in Thalorin, but she missed something or rather, someone: Blue.
"I'd love to stay longer, Master. But I have family back on Terra... and someone I, well... miss dearly." Eve's voice faltered, before she caught herself and looked away, the words hanging between them. "Ah, you miss someone back home, don't you? Someone special?"
Eve's eyes drifted to the side, her cheeks flushed. She coudn't deny it. Blue had always been on her mind, and even now, she was thinking of him. Faelorn chuckled. "I've seen it before. You can't hide it, Eve. You've been in love with that boy since your first days here." Eve's heart fluttered at the thought of Blue. She remembered the long nights, when she'd stare at the stars, talking about him with Faelorn. His strength, his work ethic, his kindness. There was always a sparkle in her eye when she mentioned him.
"Don't forget what you've learned here," Faelorn adds, his tone turning serious. "But don't forget to tell him how you feel. Don't let time slip away." He handed her a small box. "This is for you. It will allow you to communicate with me, even while you're on Terra. It's the first of its kind. Take care, my disciple." A lump formed in Eve's throat, but she smiled through it. 'Thank you, Master. I won't forget you, or the lessons you've taught me."
As Eve stepped through the gate, ready to return to Blue...he stepped through a gate of his own, ready to find where he belonged.