158 Hit Or Miss

For fuck's sake!

I Rewind again and take a deep breath. How long has it been? I can't even remember anymore. Alan said that we had some coordinates, so I thought that figuring out the rest would not be too hard... I was wrong, very wrong. At least I'm limiting myself to our own universe considering that inter-universe travel is expensive and hard to do for most of the magical community. The Order is a bit of an exception considering that we are using Philip's Improbability Factor along with my questionable designs.

However, the Empire might already have access to some secret method of interdimensional travel that I don't know about. It's very unlikely, but better be safe than sorry.

I would be pretty pissed if that was the case because I would have just wasted two years of my life for nothing. It's two years in Rewound time, but still.

I must have seen more environments than anyone on this planet. I saw a lot of empty space, nearly burned up because I was too close to a star... I almost got swallowed by some sort of giant feathered snake at the bottom of some ocean of bubbling purple liquid...

To put it simply, I saw a lot of shit.

This universe is full of surprise, but the Empire's secret evacuation zone cannot be too far from Earth. From what I know, long-distance teleportation is not impossible, but it certainly has a cost. So going to this location and back on Earth must require that it isn't too far from our planet.

It restrains my scope of research by quite a bit, but not by much considering that the universe is quite a massive place.

But I can't give up just yet, finding this place is our only way forward so I better get back to it. I glance at my Portal Gun and sigh. Spatial coordinates are very long numbers with a shit-ton of decimals. So incrementing each axis by something as ridiculous as 0.0000001 could land me on another quadrant of the galaxy.

...Seriously, fuck my life.

The secret nature of the location makes it useless to even look on the HiddenNet for more information, so I have to manually check everything on my own.

Just how many years will it takes before I find what I'm looking for? I would be seething if the investigations later revealed the full coordinates of the location just one day after this one.

I just jinxed it again, didn't I?

Let's try again, this time I hope that I won't land in some kind of toxic swamp or some other bullshit. I create a portal at my feet and sink into the ground. The familiar Shard disappears from my sight and I arrive in-

I fall on the ground and grit my teeth. My shield triggered since I fell from such a massive height, but at least I didn't-

It's then that I realize that I'm not in the usual inhospitable area. In fact, it's the complete opposite. I'm in the middle of a massive white hall with a green glass dome for a ceiling. The sky I can see through the dome contains three moons, something that tells me that I'm definitely on a far-away world.

The rest of the hall is empty, the only thing that breaks the white of the marble-like material that the entire area is made of is a long purple carpet that leads to a massive golden throne. The throne itself is nothing less than a stunning piece of art; the engravings on its surface are so detailed that it feels like real creatures have been embedded into the decadent chair.

Just where the fuck am I? I turn around and spot a massive arch supported by heavily-decorated columns, which are also made with a stunning amount of details. I admit that I have no idea what the creatures engraved everywhere are supposed to be, but every single detail seems to be reproduced to perfection.

However, I am not here for sight-seeing. This place doesn't look like something the Empire would use for evacuation, and I can't see any Gates anywhere. The extravagant styling of the area also doesn't look like something the Empire would make, but looking around should confirm my suspicions. After all, it wouldn't be funny if I found the place and left because I didn't look around. This area is the most hospitable one I've found so far, so I might as well take explore for a bit. It will certainly help me alleviate some of the tension I accumulated over the Rewinds.

The only exit from this room is the massive wooden door on the opposite side of the throne. However, it's obviously not simple wood. For once, the engravings on it seems alive, an effect that I've already seen before. But this time around, it somehow looks better than whatever creature is engraved on the door. The engravings pulsing on the door are also a sign that this door is not so simple. Each pulse of the azure characters inscribed on the wood sends shivers down my spine, and I feel a pressure similar to a massive wave washing over me.

However, this is not my first rodeo. I'm not impressed by this type of magic tricks anymore, so I sigh as I grab my trusty shotgun and aim towards the door. I pull the trigger and a blast of mana crashes on the wooden panel. A sudden roar echoes in the entire room. I blink a few times and my jaw drops. The engraving has burst out of the door!

The mysterious creature open it's maw and the sheer amount of teeth makes me shudder. Its body is similar to a long snake while it's powerful furry legs are similar to a lion's. Its tail has something akin to a rotating flower with a red gem in its center. Its head is almost featureless except for the massive mouth that covers most of the creature's head.

I take a step back an aim my gun at the abomination. I'm not going to falter in front of a glorified door-stop, so bring it on!

A beam created by an MH Shell smashes into its face The muffled breath of the monster disappears and I cannot detect any lifeforce, so I step forward into the smoke caused by the beam.

Then something bursts out of the smoke and surrounds my head with its teeth-filled mouth.