Chapter Text
The sun beat powerfully over the horizon of the Nevada desert, warming the heavy air, which drew beads of sweat down the brows of the men standing outside of the unnamed military base. The air was dusty and carried the unpleasant scent of sweat, metal, and oil from behind them. This meant that through the putrescent heat and odour, they almost didn't notice the man walking down the road, his silhouette wavering in the heat.
One of the men raised his hands above his eyes to shield them from the harsh glare of the sun. “Who's there?” he commanded. The man did not stop; his stride continued effortlessly towards the gates, and the soldiers got a better look at his figure. He was tall and lean, holding a briefcase in one hand. His face was gaunt, and his eyes held heavy bags beneath them, but most strangely of all were his arms. They were long, longer than they should have been, his hands draping down to his knees.
One of the soldiers fumbled nervously at the grip of his gun. “Stop right there.” The man did not heed the order. He continued wandering towards the military base. Both guards lifted their rifles, the muzzles pointed directly towards the man; however, he appeared unfazed.
“Stop right now or we will shoot,” one of the men yelled. And to their surprise, the man stopped walking. He eyed them with a suspicious gaze, and for some reason, the men felt a shiver run down their spines.
“OK, good. Now turn around and get outta here. If you leave now, we won't need to report this.”
The man seemed almost amused by this; the corners of his mouth upturned in what appeared to be a slightly sadistic grin. “You won't need to report this?”
The men squeezed the grips of their guns tighter. Both had been in the army for years; both had seen their fair share of war, their fair share of horrors, and both had been promoted to a point where they were part of the secret group that was designated to guard this place. However, looking at this man, they felt an unusual fear, one that had not come over them before, one that seemed to fly in the face of years of military training. Something was not right here.
“That's right. We won't need to report this if you just leave now; no one needs to be shot.”
“I'm afraid I won't be leaving. I'll be continuing inside, and you can let me in or you can shoot me.”
The guards had heard enough. The warnings that they had given were not part of their protocol; they had been nice enough to give the man the benefit of the doubt, to accept that he might be there for any other reason but to get inside the base. However, that was the last straw. The declaration, the intent to enter the base. That was unforgivable.
One of the guards fired. In an instant, the bullet ricocheted towards the man faster than sound, and in that same instant, the man's left hand dropped the briefcase that it was holding to the ground and raised into the air, drawing a thin line in reality itself. A rift appeared, and the bullet harmlessly sailed through. In another instant, the man's arm dropped, sealing the rift in front of him.
Both guards stared at the man, their minds racing for an explanation, a way to explain the impossibility that the bullet had been taken away to another realm in about a second. But they couldn't. Their minds reached the only other reaction that they had trained for: if something didn't die from being shot once, shoot it again.
A hellfire of bullets streaked towards the man, who was only standing a mere ten metres away. With a slightly bored expression, the man opened a portal beneath his feet and fell through, leaving the bullets to soar above him.
And less than a second later, one of the guards felt the ground give way beneath him to a whirling pool of darkness; as he fell, he saw the man rise past him to take his place. The guard still standing aimed frantically at where the man had been before; sensing a cool shiver run up his left side, he pirouetted on the spot to face the man who appeared beside him and was casually straightening his tie.
He opened his mouth to let out a remark, but before he could, the man placed his hand forwards, and a vortex of spiralling flame shot out of his palm, causing him to stumble backwards. The back of his foot found a rock, and he tumbled to the ground. He grasped his gun lying helplessly to his side, and as he reached it, he heard elongated fingers click and felt himself tumbling into the darkness.
“It's a shame, really; any other day and you would be dead. However, we don't need any more dead people down here.”
The voice emanated from the darkness and reverberated through the guard's body. Goosebumps raised along his forearms and legs as the cold shiver of the words worked its way through him. And then finally, as he was tumbling, light emerged below him, and he, as quickly as he had entered, reappeared back outside those gates, hitting the hard grit desert ground with a sudden impact that knocked him out cold.
The man continued forwards towards the base, his mind set on the discussion he would have with whoever was inside.