Chapter 1: Oblivion

Years of training and practice allowed her to land safely. She unstrapped the harness and let the now deflated parachute fall onto the ground. She took off her outer protective suit as well, leaving her with only the skin-tight black uniform, protective vest and her equipment scattered throughout various places of her body.

Feeling something under her feet, she knelt down, her eyes scanning the ground. A frown marred her face and she took off her gloves. One of her hands touched the ground gently before pressing down. Her frown deepened. She pressed a few more spots around the place. She then stood, moved to another place, knelt down, and pressed on the ground with her hand again. After repeating the process several times at several spots around the original place she landed, she sighed softly and pressed a switch on her watch before speaking against it.

"The ground is vibrating. It's minuscule. Every individual particle is vibrating minutely. The vibrations are getting stronger towards the west of my position. The presence of a strong force field is suspected. I will be following the trail of the stronger vibrations now."

She then let go of the switch and sighed. This place had no signal at all. She could not communicate with anyone, could not send any electronic signal, not even to the jet hovering over the island waiting for her to finish her inspection. So she had to record her findings this way. Finally, she straightened and looked around to take a look at the place.

The place that took her lover away from her. It's been 3 years now. He was on a mission just like hers. Strange energy readings were detected from this unmarked island in a small corner of China about a year ago. However, any probe they sent - be it spy drones or satellite signals - sputtered out within moments of entering a 10 km radius of the place. Satellites could not even get a clear image.

So an agent was sent to recon the place. No signals. No communication. Nothing. He went in completely blind, just like she was doing now. And he disappeared. With not a single trace of his existence left behind.

That agent was her lover.

They had immediately sent backup, with herself at the forefront. However, by the time they reached it, the strange energy fluctuations had disappeared. The signals were clear once again. The satellites were producing clear images of the area. The drones easily flew around the island and recorded everything. They spent six months scouring the island, turning every rock upside down, looking into every single corner. Nothing. No trace of any energy. No trace of her lover. Not even a body or bones or even ashes.

Soon enough, the Agency withdrew its resources. After all, those resources would be much better used elsewhere. She had been the only one to protest this. But despite her high ranking in the Agency, the entire Agency wouldn't fixate on one problem just for her. So she could do nothing but focus on her missions. She couldn't move on, but life did.

Until that strange energy was detected once again after another six months had passed. It was quite fortunate that it happened during her break from missions. She immediately asked to participate at the forefront. Her superiors were hesitant at first, saying she was "emotionally compromised" and they advised, "not getting involved."

She told them exactly where she thought they could shove their advice. She was going, permission or not. They could either go along and make her the participating agent or she could just follow and participate anyway and that would make lives harder for everyone. While she could not influence the whole organization, she could influence her own missions.

After all, she had been trained by this organization since she was a child. Except for the first few years when she lived with her mother, her entire life had been built in and around the Agency. It was her occupation, her home, and her life. She shot through the ranks once she started actually working. Having her mentor among the Directors helped.

So here she was. On a desolate island. Trying to find a clue of what could have happened a year ago. Cut off from any communication and a red spark holstered onto her body in case something goes wrong. Backups were already in place just in case. They would repeat the mistakes of the past again.

Something urged her to look up towards the sky. And she shivered as she saw the very thin sliver of the moon. It was one of those nights.

Amavasya.

The new moon phase.

She remembered an old lady talking about it once. Amavasya was an auspicious day for many things. But…. In some parts of the world, on some special occasions, Amavasya invited disaster. Danger. Evil spirits.

Her mother had scoffed when she had told her. Now that she grew up, she also scoffed at such superstition. What disaster? What evil spirits? Were there any such things? Who believed such things in this age of scientific advancement?

However…. She did not know why…. She suddenly remembered those words today. A chill ran down her spine. She then quickly shook her head and snorted. What was she doing, getting distracted by such useless nonsense on such a critical mission?

She let out another breath and finally centred her mind. She then took off her shoes and let her bare feet touch the ground to feel the vibrations. Pressing a switch that turned a light on her back which could be detected by the aircraft above, she moved following the vibrations towards the west. They were getting stronger and stronger.

Nothing. Nothing except those vibrations. After more than a few dozen steps, she finally paused. A low whistling sound reached her ears. The vibrations had intensified several times. She was close to the center. She recorded her findings and kept moving.

She finally stopped when the vibrations were so strong that they shook her entire body. So this was the epicenter. She once again spoke into the watch.

"I am at the epicenter of the force field. The vibrations are very strong. No sign of any artificial machinery that could be operating this. No people either. It seems to be entirely natural."

She knelt and pressed down again. "The vibrations seem to be getting stronger and stronger. Whatever this force is, it's incre-"

She was cut off by a sudden gust of wind and stumbled back a bit, putting an arm over her face to protect it. As she brought the arm down, she suddenly felt a light fall over her eyes. Her eyes widened as soon as she looked up.

That … that clearly wasn't there before …. That large rotating black mass of …. Something. Like a black hole. Or a portal.

What the heck?

She quickly started to record with the camera on her watch. "Are you guys seeing this? This…. This black mass is probably the source of the energy readings we are getting. I'm going to check it out now."

She picked up one of the vibrating stones underneath her feet. It was still vibrating. She chucked it into the black void and waited for ….. something ….. anything, really …. to happen. Nothing happened. Not even a sound of the stone impacting something.

She sighed. She had expected this much. It seemed she would have to check it out herself. She stepped forward and reached out slowly, carefully. The moment her fingers reached within a few millimeters of the mass, she felt a strong pull all over her body. As if a vacuum was pulling her in.

Her eyes widened. Dammit! She'd been careless. Whatever the force was, it started to pull her in, without even giving her a chance to turn away. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get away. Dammit. Dammit! She couldn't get away. It was swallowing her up. Fuck!

Her eyes fell on her watch and she tore it off as quickly as she could. Using the last bit of her strength, she threw it as far away from her as possible, hoping that the Agency would find it and the information recorded in it. Finally, her struggle against the force weakened and it pulled her in completely, but not before she let out a scream of fear and desperate struggle, the likes of which had never left her mouth before.

And then…. And then she fell into oblivion.