Free Web NovelChapter 6: Chapter 6. Gate.
Southern Continent.
Eldorath Empire.
Hessington State
Fulco City.
Hervora District.
Vhorn Estate.
"You mean he suddenly disappeared into the alleyway and someone suddenly jabbed you into unconsciousness?" Falan, Aiden’s mother, was shocked.
"Yes, madam," the fellow replied with fear on his face.
Whoever was protecting the young sir from the shadows was very strong, he thought.
The thought that Aiden was a warrior now could not even occur to him. In his opinion, Aiden Vhorn was nineteen years now. He had crossed the biological awakening window. So, someone was definitely protecting him from the shadows.
"I will be taking my leave then, madam. Please, do not contact me for such services again."
The man walked out of the living room. He did not want anything to do with Aiden Vhorn again. He could have died.
"Could it be that someone kidnapped my son, and that same person attacked the man who just left?" Falan thought.
When she analysed the situation from all angles, this was the only outcome she could arrive at.
"Or everything was just a coincidence. Someone could have accidentally attacked the warrior, and Aiden must have slipped away."
Yes. This was a more sound reasoning. The first theory did not make any sense.
"This child is too rebellious. We only want the best for him. Where in the world is he?" Falan sighed, her back dropping into the sofa.
*****
A bullet train snaked through the railroads. Eventually it left Fulco City. It was currently a few distances outside Fulco City.
Aiden Vhorn was currently seated in the train. The forests at the edges of the road had turned into blurs as his distant gaze peered through the windows.
Suddenly, the train shook.
At the front of the train, where the conductor was seated, the conductor widened his eyes.
"What the hell is that?"
He saw something like a portal ahead. It had distorting energies.
"Could it be a gate?"
The man was terrified.
"Shit... are we gonna die?" The man tried to initiate the brake mechanism of the train, so that it comes to a halt. He hit the button, but the effects kicked in too late.
The bullet train slammed into the portal, disappearing into it as if it had never been there.
A glint flashed through Aiden’s eyes.
"Why is the train shaking?" No one noticed the absurd occurrence, but Aiden did.
Aiden’s gaze narrowed. His gaze stretched towards a few distances ahead of the train.
"Oh no... a gate is—"
Before he could even finish speaking, or leave the train, his senses were disoriented, then, he found himself in a completely different place.
Aiden looked around him; the gate entrance was nowhere near him. He had appeared in a completely different place in this pocket world.
Aiden remembered what he had read on pocket worlds and gates.
Pocket worlds are self-contained micro-realms that exist as naturally formed, folded layers of space within the universe. They are stable but isolated environments containing their own ecosystems and life forms, separated from normal space by a spatial boundary. These worlds cannot be reached through conventional space travel. Instead, they remain inaccessible unless a dimensional gate forms.
Gates are temporary spatial ruptures that occur when excessive life activity within a pocket world, such as population growth, energy accumulation, or ecological pressure, exceeds the containment stability of its spatial boundary. When this threshold is surpassed, the boundary destabilizes and momentarily connects the pocket world to the main universe.
The appearance of a gate signals that the internal pressure of a pocket world has reached a dangerous level, and there is a risk of containment failure, where creatures and environmental phenomena may spill into the surrounding region if the gate is not addressed. The gate is usually addressed/ closed when warriors enter the pocket world to reduce the internal pressure of a pocket world by fulfilling certain conditions, which most of the time, can include reducing the population growth in the pocket world by killing a certain amount of creatures in the pocket world.
Gates leading to pocket worlds are classified into rank 1, rank 2, rank 3 and rank 4 gates, depending on what environmental hazards of the pocket world can do, and the harm it can cause to warriors. However, warriors do not usually have to enter pocket worlds before gates are classified. 50 years ago, Gate Classification devices were developed by the Artifact Engineers Association to classify gates. The Gate Classification devices were proven to be accurate in their measurements, matching the threat level of the pocket worlds gates opened into. One would simply have to place the device, which worked like an antenna, at the entrance of a gate, and it would use the energy undulations from the gate to determine the threat level.
Aiden didn’t know the threat level of the pocket world. He did not have a gate Classification device. Those things were only owned by the Global Academic Federation, and The Global Warriors Association.
"I need to understand my environment first. The other passengers of the train are nowhere to be found. It’s either they have died, or they appeared in different locations in this pocket world," Aiden thought. "I should prioritize my survival above everything. As a matter of fact, this could be an opportunity to grow stronger. I will only be permitted to enter a gate after enrolling in a Warrior University tomorrow. However, this happened. If I am careful enough, I can turn this into an opportunity. By the time the gate is classified by a gate classification device and a task force is sent to address the gate, I would have grown stronger. But first, I need to understand the environment."
Aiden looked around him. Currently, he was inside a forest. Very tall trees were everywhere. The trees were so ginormous. However, he didn’t hear the sound of any birds chirping or creatures moving around.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed as his gaze peered towards several distances away from where he currently was. They were no creatures in the vicinity.
"A forest without any lifeforms. This is weird. I need a higher altitude to observe what is actually going on."
Several blobs of blood appeared before Aiden. The blobs of blood congregated transformed into two small knives. Aiden held each knife in a hand.
He located a tree in the vicinity. He sunk the knives into the wood, and started to climb it.
Suddenly, something screeched.
