Disturbance

Noble quickly realized that those around the room getting messages were government agents. Gui was looking at his device with a tense expression. Noble could feel his concern and uncertainty.

What was happening?!

She, Lena, and Julius crowded around Fort's communicator to see two missed calls and a message from Dimi. 

"Answer, blast it! We need you ASAP!" 

It was unlike Dimi to be so serious. The communicator buzzed again with another incoming call from the soldier. 

Fort answered. Dimi's voice filled the auditorium. 

"Something strange is going on here, Director." His use of Fort's title put everyone on edge. "We can't get in contact with Army command. We could really use some guidance!"

Fort looked around the room. "I have people here who can help. What seems to be the problem?"

"Look!" Dimi turned the communicator around. 

"We cannot see anything," Lena squinted at the screen. "We need to make it bigger! Put it up on the screen over the stage." 

"At your wedding?" Noble's eyes opened wide as her voice reverberated in the mic. 

"We need to know what is happening," Lena looked at Julius, who nodded.

Director Siv called from his table. "If that video is a government secret, you should not..."

Lena looked at her colleague sharply. "It's a call for help from a friend, and from the looks of many of your faces, you have already gotten something similar." 

"Shafin, get it up there," Gui ordered. "It's better to have us all seeing the same thing than rely on rumors." 

With Fort's permission, the analyst took the device and went to connect it to the auditorium's technology.

While Shafin worked using his utility Aspect, Noble found Rain. "Take the boys into the hall for a bit. Or better yet, take them to see Bee Two. I'll let you know when it is clear to return." 

"But Uncle Dimi!" Rain desperately wanted to stay. 

"I'll watch them," Sarai offered, overhearing the conversation. "I need to take the truck back to the bakery. They can have all the sweets they can eat there." 

"Thank you. They will love that." Noble hugged her friend. "I'll call you soon." 

The redhead nodded and went in search of the boys. Turning back to the main problem, Noble found a large screen being lowered in the middle of the stage for everyone to view. 

The video feed connected, and the room fell deathly silent. 

Dimi's face appeared on the screen.

Staying by the communicator, Fort spoke calmly to his friend. "We can all see and hear you, Dimi. The Chancellor is here with me. Tell us what is going on."

"I didn't know who else to call." The man apologized for the intrusion. "But something is happening!" 

He turned the camera and Noble gasped. The outpost was in ruins. A few parts of the walls were intact with civilians seeking shelter behind any patch of rubble that was big enough for a semblance of protection. The sight broke Noble's heart.

She had been in their position, watching the world around her burn. Though these people had even less hope of escape than she had.

The category four gates had released havoc on Eastern Antarctica. And for the outpost, those monsters included a creature with titanic charred bones.

The grotesque skeleton had fingers like scythes that convulsed before ripping apart large swaths of the landscape. 

Nothing the soldiers were throwing at it was doing any good. All of them would be dead within the hour. 

It looked like Dimi was sending his farewell. There was no help that the Fort or anyone else from the NQSC could offer to save him now.

"Sorry, wrong angle," the Awakened shifted away from the battle to something unexpected. 

In the center of the ruined outpost, the air was wavering dramatically. Noble's body tensed. It looked exactly how reality had appeared when the Nightmare Gate opened before her months ago. 

"I don't know what to make of it," Dimi tried to sound calm. "There's no call coming from it. Our commander is dead and Antarctic headquarters isn't answering. Should we...What in two worlds?!" 

Suddenly, the wavering air ripped open, and the fabric of reality was torn in two. The vertical fracture loomed ominously on the screen like a tower light. 

'Wait, light?' 

Noble blinked. Nightmare Gates were filled with only darkness before the horrors within began slipping out. They were opaque and mysterious, giving the humans no clue to their origin unless they succumbed to the call.

But this...this was different. Not only was the Gate suffused with light, but those watching could see clearly what was on the other side. 

As the light lessened, a shining lake and beautiful castle came into view through the gaping hole. 

It looked vaguely familiar. 

"Bastion?!" Julius's bushy eyebrows nearly met his hairline. "What is Bastion doing in Antarctica?" 

"Look out!" Someone offscreen screamed frantically.

The bony abomination that Dimi had briefly shown had noticed the errant Gate as well.

Rather than welcome the change, the creature removed one of its ribs and launched the fractured spear toward the opening.

But before the titanic bone could crash into the opening, thousands of silver birds flew out of the gate and clashed with the bones.

Dimi fell to the ground as shards flew in every direction, leaving those in the NQSC blind to what was happening.

"Dimi, are you alright?!" Fort called out to his friend.

For a moment there was nothing on the screen but black.

Noble held her breath, willing for him to be unharmed.

Dimi let out a stifled curse. He lifted the camera. A cloud of spores surrounded him like a protective shield. 

"Nearly lost my head, but I'm fine." 

He cursed again, but this time it was from shock. As the camera turned around, more silver birds had joined the initial flock, each with metallic wings shimmering in the sunlight. As more poured out from the open gate, Noble realized they weren't birds at all.

"Swords?" Director Siv's mouth dropped open. "Flying swords!"

Indeed, countless flying swords were invading the waking world.

Soon they were covering the sky, blocking out the sun in a cloud of steel.

Noble watched in awe, her mouth too dry to even tell Dimi to run. Though would running really do any good?

When the swords decided to reign down terror, nothing would survive no matter how fast it ran.

The gates that the Chancellor described were already enough to wipe out the remainder of Antarctica.

With this horror entering the scene, the time for annihilation was nigh.

Noble opened her mouth to tell Fort to disconnect the device.

Surely Dimi did not want all these people to witness his death. Or maybe he did; the man had always said he wanted to go out in a blaze of glory.

Noble couldn't speak nor could she look away.

'What kind of abomination has minions like this?!'

It was all too terrible!

The cloud of swords fluttered haphazardly.

Then the screen suddenly froze. No, it was the swords that froze!

They turned their vicious blades in unison toward the Waking World.

Then, the mass of steel surged forward in an unstoppable wave, leaving their master behind.

Only the one who remained was not a powerful Nightmare Creature.

He was a human.