The gate hadn't moved in hours.
It just stood there—silent, twisted, sealed tight with flickering glyphs that bled energy like wounds. Not a normal gate. Not even a high-tier one.
This was something else entirely.
Athena stood a few feet from the boundary line, arms crossed, face unreadable as always. Her long coat fluttered in the chilled wind coming off the portal's distortion. The earth around it was cracked, the trees leaning slightly inward like gravity itself had shifted.
Behind her, members from multiple academy teams were already deployed—scanners out, artifact readers running, enchantments layered like lace across the perimeter. Nothing worked. Not brute force. Not spell logic. Not divine keys.
They tried.
She tried.
Still nothing.
No signal came out from inside. No trace of the students who entered. Not even mana feedback.
It was like the gate had swallowed them whole.
