Chapter 31: The Gateway

Hugh and Dex summoned their wooden spear, figuring it'd be the best choice of weapon if there actually were cellar rats they'd need to kill to progress their quest. Hugh didn't want to accidentally bash his sword against a wall when he just got it. If he broke the spear, it wouldn't be a big loss. He could just ask Macro to make him another.

Hugh took the lead, carefully making his way down the stairs. When he got down far enough he could no longer see anything, he stopped and realized how stupid he was being.

"Stop for a second, Dex. Switch bind one." His spear disappeared, replaced by his wand. The light on the tip made a decent flashlight, but his bug-out bag had possessed an actual lantern. He pointed his wand at his free hand and said, "Collapsible camping lantern." The cylindrical item appeared. Although it was solar powered, its LED bulbs glowed brightly as soon as he turned on the backup battery. "Switch bind three."

With his spear back in his main hand and the lantern held in the other to light his way, they once again descended the stairs. It felt like they went on forever, although Hugh knew they realistically only went down two stories.

The stairs ended in a tiny cloister room. More broken stained glass panels lined the cracked walls and Hugh had just enough imagination to see how amazing they might have looked with lights behind them.

The only actual furniture in the room was a free-standing driftwood arch, only it wasn't driftwood at all. When he drew close, he could see clearly every individual piece was made of metal like a sculpture.

Hugh didn't want to guess how many hours it would take in the real world to shape and weld so many different types into a cohesive whole without having them melt together in the process. A few shorter strips of metal—maybe rose gold and blackened tungsten—were so delicate, it seemed like they could fall off at any second.

"Are you sure there aren't aliens in this game?" Hugh asked, feeling the need to whisper.

"There's not," Dex promised in a normal tone.

"Okay, how do I work this thing? I'm afraid to touch it to search for an on button."

"It takes twenty magic stamina to open the Gateway to Nexus. Use your words to let the Gateway have what it needs and direct it where to go."

"I'm guessing it's like any other spell? If I make it rhyme, it costs half?" At Dex's nod, Hugh thought hard about how to phrase the spell. "How about... I Call on the Gateway with minimum power. Please build a portal to Nexus in this minute of this hour."

Hugh felt himself being drained again as the pieces of the archway began to rattle and hum.

"Not a very elegant spell, but it works," Dex commented as motes of free-floating light formed on the surface of the metal arch. The motes moved, dancing closer to each other. When they made contact, lightening shot out, making Hugh jump back to a safer distance.

His concern for safety was unwarranted. No matter what direction the lightening originally went, every bolt curved back to strike an invisible point in the open air under the arch. Within seconds, there was so much lightening Hugh had to look away before he went blind. The hair on the back of his neck stood up from the amount of electrical charge in the air. He was very tempted to make a run for it, but the flashing stopped almost as fast as it started.

"It's open," Dex said. Hugh dared to return his gaze to the arch and found the interior no longer showed the wall and floor behind it, but instead showed a moving ramp sloping upward. Holographic signs appeared every few feet, proclaiming things like, "Keep moving," "Watch your step," "No running," and "Please Step Clear of Runway."

He assumed they were intended to move a lot of people all at once. At the moment, though, he saw no one.

Hugh walked around the Gateway, wanting to see what the view was like on the backside, but it was exactly the same. It seemed no matter which way he went through, he'd end up spawning in the same place.

"Here we go," he said as he returned to Dex's side. He turned off the lantern and returned it to his Inventory, then took Dex's hand.

Together, they stepped through.

Having expected some kind of sensation or disconnect, the lack of anything nearly made him trip and fall when his feet instantly landed on the walkway's moving belt. Dex grabbed his arm and held him steady as he compensated for the new inertia, then let go as Hugh looked back over his shoulder.

At the bottom of the ramp, dozens of Gateways formed a circle around a massive pillar of light. The light shone up through a hole in the roof, presumably providing a beacon to help people find their way home. The walkways alternated, one incoming and one outgoing, all the way around. Hugh saw no one else coming in or going out. The area was completely devoid of life.

His heart began pounding hard when he realized he might actually be the first player in Nexus.

The ramp's angle changed in minute increments until they were suddenly level and Hugh could see the end. The roof overhead still didn't let him see anything of Nexus, but he could see lights flickering and shining immediately ahead.

He didn't wait. Screw the holographic warnings—he ran to the end of the moving walkway with Dex running and laughing behind him.