The Ancient Text

Luke stared at the monitor screen as it flickered to life, revealing… a plain, almost underwhelming display. The screen was black except for a single line of text in the centre, written in bright white. Above it, in small, blocky letters, was a simple instruction:

"KEY IN THE PLACE YOU WISH TO BE AT."

He blinked, tilting his head slightly as he processed what he was looking at. Of all the possibilities he'd imagined for how the Tesser would work—portals, glowing glyphs, or some sci-fi hologram—this wasn't even remotely close.

"That's it?" he muttered, stepping closer to the screen, squinting as if doing so might help him understand better.

Ilyrana stood behind him, her gaze flicking between Luke and the strange symbols on the screen. While she couldn't read the letters, she didn't bother to ask what they were or said. She already knew—it was the same thing Luke had explained.