Arthur and Maki home, Earth 2032
In the center of the living room, a tv is showing a live broadcast of the opening sequence to the Gates of Purgatory. On it can be seen scientists scramble around like little ants. Jeremiah, Maki, and Arthur are all sitting in the living room on a slightly worn blue couch.
"How much longer until it is supposed to start?" Maki asked in openly while stretching her arms.
Arthur looks down at his all black watch, that was a memento of their father, "About two minutes until its scheduled start time. They are not going to broadcast the actual opening of the portal for 'security reasons'. Like that means anything at this point."
"Maybe they have to sacrifice human lives in order to open the gates." Maki pointed it out to him. "Or maybe some deranged horror will come out of it and they have to contain it first."
Jeremiah puts down his new phone and joins the conversation. "It is highly likely that something will come out given how secretive and oddly disturbing this project is."
"Well, whatever is going to happen should begin very soon." Arthur says as his eyes are glued to the tv.
"Yeah. I guess so." Jeremiah agrees with him, but deep down he has a gut instinct that something terrible is going to occur.
***********
"T-Minus sixty seconds." A robotic voice blares out inside the portal room.
Inside there are people moving throughout the entire room. People rushing to take their seats behind the safety of bulletproof windows. Others are making last minute adjustments in the safety of observation rooms.
In the control room, Celeste is sitting on a chair in the back of the room overseeing the operation. In the background the countdown continues as everyone makes their way to their designated areas.
"5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Activation sequence starting." The robotic voice yells out while the portal in the center of the main room rapidly grows in size. It begins to spin faster and faster as the size of it continues to grow.
"Connection is growing at a steady pace." A scientist calls out from somewhere in the control room.
"The battery is starting to collect the excess energy." Another calls out.
"Everything is within expectations, my Lady. There shouldn't be any accidents." Wade whispers into Celeste's ears.
"That is very good news to hear. And what of the recovery process when the portal is finally stable?" Celeste asks Wade who was standing right next to her.
"The Lord should be able to cross through the portal without any issues." He tells her.
"How long will it take for magic to be released back into this world after the portal is completely opened?" Celeste looks at the growing red portal in the main room.
"It will roughly take two mo..." He gets interrupted mid-sentence by a scientist yelling.
"The energy of the portal is growing exponentially. It is way beyond expectations." A scientist yells out to alert everyone.
A scientist, monitoring the rate the battery is charging, also yells out, "The battery is charging two hundred percent faster than what was calculated. At this current rate the battery will overload."
"Ma'am, we need to close the portal now." The same scientist reports to Celeste with panic in his voice.
"No." Celeste stands up from seat and responds to him. "We've come too far to stop now. Continue you on. Have all non-essential personnel evacuate the area."
Immediately after she issued the order, the intercom buzzed and ordered all non-essential personnel to immediately leave the room.
"Close all the shutters except the one to this room." She waves her hands and a white mist flows from it to the glass facing the portal. This white mist solidifies into a barrier around the glass. "If anyone wants to leave, I'll give you a chance to do so right now. There will be no repercussions if you do."
A few of the scientists and others immediately grab their belongings and make their way to the door at the back of the room, while the rest remain where they are.