The portal pulsed violently, its swirling center flickering as if struggling to stay open. The jagged arcs of energy around its rim began to collapse inward, crackling louder with each passing second. The light at its core dimmed, fading from blinding white to a deep, angry red.
With a low, guttural whoomph, the swirling mass began to shrink, spiraling tighter and tighter like a whirlpool in reverse. The air rushed inward, sucking leaves, dust, and the scent of ozone into the vanishing void.
Then, CRASH!
The rift sealed with a sharp, echoing crack, leaving behind only silence.
All three of them stood there watching the sky in bewilderment, gawking at the already closed up space.
"Fuckkk!" Heuk Jin gritted his teeth, stamping on the ground. He dropped to his knees cursing aloud.
"Cursing will not solve the problem young sir. We have to think of something to do instead," Ha-joon scoffed.
Heuk Jin raised his head to give him a glare. Of course, he was has no idea of what was going on!
"Then go ahead and transport yourself into that already closed riff then," Heuk Jin hissed, getting to his feet.
Eun-ji gave Ha-joon an annoyed look, "You don't know anything yet about this place. Let him think."
Heuk Jin placed his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth on the sand, "Where does that lead? Where does that lead?" He gritted his teeth, clenching his jaw hard.
Ha-joon shook his head in disbelief, walking up to him,
"Listen up man. I know you must have come here before me and all, but I am not so dumb. That riff does lead somewhere, and we do not know that, but those creatures would, of course, know where it leads."
"How are we going to find them?" Eun ji chipped in, "I doubt there'd be anyone who would be patrolling around just like that."
A small smile appeared on his lips, "Then we have to make one of them attack us."
Heuk Jin tried processing everything Ha-joon just said, "You think that would work?"
"I am certain," Ha-joon shrugged his shoulders.
"Majority of them might have gone up there, but there is no possible way all of them are up there. There must be some around."
Heuk Jin rubbed his chin in thought, "You are making a point."
Ha-joon smirked, his eyes crinkling at the corners, "You are welcome."
"If only she was here. Her system would have been able to detect them. My system can not do that," he hung his head, exhaling deeply.
Ha-joon rubbed his neck, "Let us do the detecting instead then," he took some steps toward, "We can't let everything be done for us all the time you know," he snapped his head to the side, cracking it.
"Of course. You are right," Huek Jin finally inhaled.
Maybe this living human wasn't so bad. He was actually smarter than he looked.
"Now, we just have to spot the areas those cre.."
"Zombies. They are called zombies."
"Oh, right. Zombies haha," Ha-joon cleared his throat.
He looked back to see Eun-ji blinking at them, "We could use her as bait."
"What?" Her jaws dropped, "No way are you using me as a bait for anything!" She stepped back, throwing her arms around her to hug herself.
"Yes, why would you do that? Why not be bait yourself?" Heuk Jin scowled at him.
Ha-joon palmed his face.
"Oh damn it. Can you not see how small she looks? Of course those stupid zombies would think she was some sort of weakling, and rush out of their hiding place just to get her!"
Eun-ji exchanged puzzled glances with Huek Jin.
He grimaced at the both of them.
'I do not know why I am always stuck with slow people.'
He bit the corners of his mouth to hide his irritation.
"Listen up you two. I am going to be the bait, and let us see what happens then."
"Do not think they are probably scared of the way you look," He chuckled, *They attack whoever they want to attack. Be it a giant or some dwarf."
Eun-ji scuttled over to where Heuk Jin stood, hiding behind him, and snaking her arms around his.
"See? So you are fit to be the bait," Eun-ji snapped.
Ha-joon clenched his jaws, "Fine!" He turned on his heels storming off.
"And where do you think you are going to like that? You could get yourself killed if you do not take care," Huek Jin rolled his eyes.
Taking Eun-ji's hand, he went after Ha-joon, "I just hope you both do not get killed again," he muttered under his breath.
***
Soo Min-ji groaned as she sprawled on the floor, clutching her stomach. She had been falling for over twenty minutes, and had landed very hard, in a bad way.
She flickered her eyes open to see where she was.
So many murmuring voices surrounded her as she tried to get up to observe what was going on.
The murmurs seemed to stop as she managed to drag her body upright in a sitting position.
She finally snapped her eyes wide open. Her eyes landed on some group of shamblers who leapt as soon as she opened her eyes.
"What the hell? Where is---"
She noticed she was sitting on something close to a shiny, glassy floor. Her eyes trailed higher. The room was cavernous, cloaked in eerie silence that was only broken by the occasional drag of feet and low groans. The glossy black floor beneath her felt cold, almost wet, like it had been recently cleaned—or blood had been smeared across it and wiped in haste. It reflected the dim, pulsing red lights that blinked from the towering walls, giving everything a surreal, nightmarish glow.
The walls stretched so high they vanished into shadows. Smooth, seamless, and obsidian-like, they seemed to absorb all sound, trapping every breath and heartbeat. Strange cracks veined across the surface like spiderwebs, some glowing faintly with a sickly green light, as if the place itself was alive—or decaying.
"I see you are awake weakling," a rough voice startled her out of her reverie.
She looked ahead of her but saw nothing.
"Bring her closer."
Before she knew what was going on, figures emerged from the shadows. The surrounding air suddenly stung her nostrils with the stench of decaying skin.
Hold on.. she was in the realm of zombies?!
Decayed, jagged hands picked her up as though she was nothing. Her nose burned, and her stomach churned from the stench of dead skin.
"Ahh!" She writhed as she was dropped back on the hard floor.
"We meet again!" The rough voice added, before cackling, the walls receiving it, and echoing it back.
She managed to raise her throbbing head back to see who it was.
It was that same zombie that was unclassified! It was sitting on a Crystal like throne, grinning awkwardly at her.
"Such a weak thing to feast my eyes on."