"Snap out of it!" Kane awoke with a startle. A stranger was shouting at someone close to where he was taking a nap. Then again, he didn't recognize most of the people on the field with him. Hundreds of people stood around on a field in wait.
"Strange," Kane stood himself up and dusted himself off. He turned 40 not too long ago, wearing his decent but aged armor he had gotten a long time ago. He had bags under his eyes, and his hair had become scruffy as the years went by, with unkempt whiskers appearing on his chin too many times for him to get rid of them. He glanced around at his surroundings and quickly found his point of interest. The Gate. A giant portal that led to an unknown world. "I could have sworn they would have been done already. Perhaps the enemies are more defense focused than normal? But even so… this is too long, the time limit is going to arrive soon…"
He spoke aloud to himself and took a moment as he regained his senses before doing a small series of stretches. The people in the field began to grow restless alongside Kane as time kept moving forward. The gate should have been defeated by now… But nobody had stepped out of the portal. The last active moment was when the Rankers went in.
"Do you think an accident might have happened?"
"To those High Rankers? No way, they must just be taking their time…"
"This is much too serious for them to take their time. Should they be too careless, it's more than their lives on the line."
Various conversations unfolded around Kane as the gate's time limit drew near. Eventually they stood with only a few dozen minutes left until the gate would rupture. Tension grew among the crowd as silence began to overtake the field of Rankers. If there was a foe too great for the High Rankers inside the gate… there's no need to say what would happen next to the backups that were present only to soothe the public.
Many people began to ask the several guild administrations present about exactly what little time was remaining. The guild administrations were panicking as well, many making calls to send for reinforcements to protect the surrounding city.
Kane sighed and made a complicated expression. He was only there since his guild had paid him to attend, one of the many paid to keep the public from panicking. The guild had done a few things for him, but he was mainly a stepping stone for the High Rankers, more influential than he was. One large gear in a clock was still just another small piece of the overall machine.
His eyes wandered blankly as he went through his memories. The day everything changed. Several grand opportunities flashed through his life. Few he took advantage of. Most were overlooked, only to turn out to be gold mines. Many times Kane found himself on his knees, begging for something to go his way. Kane had many people steal his glory and stab him in the back, but one such scenario was all it took to bring an average person to their knees. Once a good hunter, his future had now faded away. He often thought about what he would do differently if he could have another chance, a new start.
A commotion appeared. Kane shrugged off his fantasies and brought his eyes to the point of interest for the crowd. The portal had begun to ripple, signifying someone was traveling through it. It was not yet time for a gate break, so the High Rankers must have been returning. Not long had passed before the silhouette of a man could be seen in the gate. The crowd grew rowdy from his appearance.
Many who saw his outline grew happy, as the gate should have been defeated if the High Rankers were returning. Those closer to the gate had looks of terror instead. The man had lost an arm and was covered in blood. Several moments passed but nobody followed the bloody man from the gate.
The bloody High Ranker fell to his knees at the feet of those surrounding him. Kane knew the feeling and empathized with him. The tear stricken High Ranker began attempting to speak to the crowd but he couldn't seem to find the words, choking on his tears.
"Wh-What happened??" A few people ran up to him, including some prominent healing Rankers. Despite the exit of the High Ranker, Kane's eyes were glued on the gate behind him. After the boss monster inside was defeated, gates would begin to fizzle out slowly. The gate behind the man had yet to show these signs but began to spark and grow unstable instead. The bloody man suddenly looked up at the crowd and shouted.
"E-Everyone!" The bloody man was shaking, spreading even to his voice. "Run Away!" The words caught many off guard. Kane knew what he meant though. The gate hadn't been defeated. Whatever killed the other High Rankers was about to burst through the gate. Kane quickly pulled out his spear and took a stance. He would probably die today, his fate sealed away by the two words spoken by the bloody High Ranker.
Timers burst out ringing from all of the guild administration tents loudly. The city alarms began to blare. But it was unlikely that anyone in the city would get out safe at this point.
The ground beneath the field began to shake tremendously, knocking dozens off their feets. The sun in the sky began to fade away. Kane took one last look at the convulsing gate before his eardrums burst and his eyes were blinded. The gate exploded with brilliant light that quickly faded away, and what stood in place of the gate for those who could still see, was a tear in space. Now, the creatures on the other side of the rift could exit their small sections of space and wreak havoc on Earth.
Kane couldn't hear or see anything yet but he knew that thousands would die today without reparations, just as it had happened dozens of times before… but the gates had never had this strength before. Kane felt incredible vibrations shake his body as he slowly regained his sight. The vibrations continued for a long time. Kane looked up and saw the blurry outline of the monster causing the vibrations. It was still making its way through the special rift, due to its incredible size.
The monster which was black in color was covered in scales and sported large horns on its head. As it continued to roar, and pass through the rift, more aspects were shown off. Wings which could be incredibly large by themselves, and a body the size of half the field. Finally the very long and spiked tail exited the rift before the rift faded away. Kane had regained his vision mostly by the time the creature had finished its migration. Despite battling several High Rankers for days, the creature didn't seem weak, or even moderately injured. The vibrations halted flowing through Kane's body as the creature finished roaring.
"Oh fuck…" Kane muttered perfectly, despite his ears in no condition to sound out his words. He had simply said it so many times, there was no need to think or sound it out when saying it. Screams began to pour out from the Rankers on the field as the creature set its sights on them. The dragon opened its maw and a burning light could be seen escaping from within.
"A dragon?" Those were Kane's last words.