The Gate that starts everything (I)

The thunderclouds rolled in, lightning danced across the cloudy sky, but not a single drop of rain hit the ground. A fresh breeze of the smell of rain wafted through the air, allowing Snow to enjoy the sweet scent.

Snow was sitting outside on the rooftop in an eggshell-like swing. Staring at her rings in her hand with a cup of orange juice and some plates of snacks. She was underneath a roof, enjoying the city view from above. It was her favorite spot.

Each time she drummed her fingers on her cup, the thunder rumbled to let her know that heavy rain was coming through the city. She looked forward to such a day, allowing the rain to wash away the city smell of smog.

At first, the thunderclouds were a sporadic flash of lightning and thunder, but it quickly picked up pace. The ground trembled. Snow held on tightly as the building shook. Her eyes widened in fright at the sudden earthquake.

It has been the third time this week since the earth shook, and each time it was worse than the before.

Off in the distance, the grey clouds started to swirl. Slowly, but surely the light peeked out in between the clouds, creating a fantastic view of light. If Snow didn't know any better, she thought a mythical creature would descend upon the sky to bless the people.

But instead, the ground shook harder than before; eventually, it halted. Black and white energy swirled around the light, spinning stronger and stronger. It expanded outwards into a huge portal that hoovered from the ground to the sky.

Snow shot up, trembling. With a loud crash, the glass shattered onto the floor. It took every effort to take the first step and another as she headed straight towards the edge of the roof. Her hands grabbed the rail, staring at the monstrosity before her. Her instincts were screaming at her to run.

She couldn't believe her eyes. Once again, a large gate was present in the middle of the city, more significant than the others she had seen. Whatever it was inside the portal brought fear in her heart.

The door slammed open, Dairen and Mike rushed to the rooftop. Gasping for a breath, they took the staircase. Both of them grabbed onto the rail.

"What the hell is going on?!" Mike shouted in disbelief. He looked at Snow and then back at her, hoping that she would have a solution to the question. "I do not just imagine this, right?"

"No," Snow said sternly. Her eyes glazed over, her lips bitten as blood lightly dripped down her side. "I see the same thing as you. I think we are witnessing an S class dungeon in the making."

Both gasped, staring at her and then back at the gate. It loomed in the distance over the construction site that their guild had paid for. They have heard about the infamous S-Class dungeon. A dungeon that was very dangerous to complete, where the chance of survival was super low. Even its grandiose entrance from out of nowhere was exactly like how the history book described it--spectacular.

Snow didn't even know if this dungeon was even possible to destroy the strength the world was at, but she was grateful that it wasn't like the legendary triple S dungeon that came out once in a blue moon.

"S-Class dungeon…" Dairen words rolled out of his tongue, his brow furrowed. "Why now?"

"I don't know." Mike was busily calling up and sending messages to the other guild members and associates they knew.

Snow heard her phone go off in her pocket, making her rummaged through. She pulled out her phone, seeing a slew of text messages. Quickly, pressing the button, she got a video from Mr. Rogers of S class dungeons appearing worldwide. She drew in a sharp breath, realizing the devastation this would cause.

The phone rang right after. It was Mr. Rogers calling.

Snow picked up the phone. "Hello, Mr. Rogers. I noticed the amount of videos that you have sent me."

Mr. Rogers' deep voice chuckled warmly, "I expected to see them as soon as you got it. Do you like the light show that is happening over our city?"

"No." Snow bluntly said. "I prefer something so dangerous to be a bit further away. It's as if every dungeon likes to hoover around the city of Atlantis."

"That's because we are on top of a mana ley line. It would make sense on why these dungeons congregated around such a hot spot."

"This is true, but still. It would be nice." Snow sighed. She knew this all too well about the Mana ley lines of the planet and the magic flow that circulated strongly around an area. Atlantis was the unlucky city that sat in a hotspot of it, bringing more trouble than it's worth.

Mike spoke out loud in a hurry towards them both. "I set up a meeting with Rodney in the next hour. Rodney is heading over as we speak." Catching Snow's attention as she nodded her head.

"I assumed you called me for a meeting, correct?" Snow quickly spoke, "If so, I would like to meet here at the Gold Phoenix building in the next hour. The others are arriving as we speak." It was a bit of a gutsy move to ask Mr. Rogers to come, but she decided it was for the better as the

Gold Phoenix Guild was the closest to the dungeon. Having all the high rankers and the top influential people like Mr. Rogers to help defend the line would allow her to breathe a little.

Mr. Rogers didn't refute her demand. Instead, he was amused. "I'll be there, little birdie."

"Thank you." Snow replied.

"But before we go, I would like to use my favor in the next few days to come."

"Right now?" Snow was hoping that he didn't ask for anything crazy.

"No, I'll tell you soon."

"Okay."

"I'll see you there." With a click, Mr. Rogers hung up, leaving Snow staring at her phone for a moment. If it wasn't for the harsh wind that berated her face, she would have stared longer at the phone.

Quickly, she dialed the other numbers of famous Hunters and higher-ups alike. Time was of the essence, and she knew that the longer they delayed, the shorter the time they had before an overflow happened. It would cause a disaster if something like that were to happen and put tremor in Snow's heart.

Snow turned around. She had enough talking with the others and even staring at the S-class gate. Quickly, she went into the elevator and headed towards the meeting room. Dairen and Mike stay up on the roof for a while before heading towards the same place.

Snow was the first one to arrive, taking a seat at the large table. She sat back, flipping through her phone as she saw more news over the other S-Class gates.

So far, at least one S-Class gate was present in each country around the world. And the only S-Class dungeon present over a city was there. Snow couldn't help but wonder if the gods were cursing them to have so many problems. From the past data that she looked into, out of all the cities and countries globally, Atlantis ranked number one in the amount of dungeon spawns.

Placing down her phone, she leaned back. Closing her eyes, she thought of all the information she had read and tried to find a clue of what type of problems they might face inside an S-Class dungeon. But so far, the information on such dungeons was rare that her mind blanked out.

A creak of the door opening could be heard as footsteps shuffled through.

Snow opened her eyes slightly, wondering who had come in. It was Rodney, Sarah, Dairen, Audrey, and Mike, conversing amongst each other.

"Did you see the whole process?" Rodney spoke with concern, "I thought it would have reached here."

Mike waved his hand, "it's probably ten minutes away. It's too close. I'm not giving up this location just because a gate popped upright in the middle of the city."

"Yea, but we will be right in the vicinity of when an OverFlow happens. How are we going to succeed in keeping this place safe?"

"Don't worry about it, we got back up." Mike walked over towards his seat. He pulled it back for him to sit. "Let's wait for the others to arrive first."

"Fine. Let's hope you have something like one of your crazy ideas that you like to go through. We would need one right now."

Sarah replied, "This is Mike we are talking about, Rodney." She shook her head. "He'll probably have something."

"That's true." Rodney took a seat, he crossed his hand in front of him. "I can't hope much from him, can I?"

"If crazy and wild is what you want, he got it." Sarah pointed at Mike.

Mike gasped. "I'm offended. My ideas are not crazy. They are brilliant."

"If you say so."

"I've been keeping you guys out of trouble every time. Like the last dungeon dive. If it wasn't for my idea of ramming the ship into our enemies ship, we wouldn't have succeeded."

Rodney shook his head. "That's just the tip of it. I don't know how Angie deals with your craziness."

Mike shrugged, leaning backward as he crossed his arm on the back of his head. He then crossed his leg.

The other leaders from the Gold Phoenix started to trickle in. In total, thirteen came in as they took a seat near the wall.

It didn't take long for Emily Clairson, Jonet Jackson, and Holland all came in one by one. They took a seat around the table as their assistance sat near the wall with the other leaders. A few more people from the government arrived that replaced Mr. Jack.

Mr. Rogers was the last to arrive. He entered pridefully with his head held up high. He winked at Snow, passing by her with a smile.

Mr. Rogers took the last open seat gracefully, he then leaned forward and spoke, "Now that everyone is here, why don't we get the meeting started."