Beyond The Crimson Gate-Chapter 47: Ophidian Eye

Toby, Reid, and Sharon were seated beside one another.

Natalie was standing, her eyes looking into the distance. Perhaps even beyond it.

Space twisted, and Mr. Stone appeared, and he sat down.

"Finally Greg decides to grace us with his presence. Thank you, my lord." Reid scoffed and Toby chuckled.

"Sorry, I was filling out paperwork. Turns out interfering with a standard procedure has consequences." Greg sighed and slumped into his chair.

Reid, Toby, and Sharon all exchanged glances before turning back to Greg.

"And what procedure exactly, did you interfere with?" It was Sharon who asked this time.

Greg looked at her from the corner of his eyes and his lips curved upwards slightly.

"A kid was dying after being trapped in Dimension Zero and I told them to give him a beast infusion."

Although the implications of his words were huge, the people only appeared lightly fazed. If anything, they were more curious.

"I remember that. From Military Base Alpha, yes? That kid who entered Dimension Zero. Oh, he survived? Impressive." Toby chuckled slightly with mild amusement

"And why did you do that? Did you know him?" He finally asked Greg, "It’s not in our nature to intervene with the acts of mere mundane soldiers."

Greg shook his head, "No, I didn’t know him per se..."

He looked at his partner, Sharon, before turning to the rest of them, "But I knew his best friend and he was the one who asked me to intervene."

The words coming from Greg only confused everyone even more.

"So you’re saying that the best friend of that kid merely told you to do something and you did it?!" Reid asked. His face lacked all human features, so Greg couldn’t tell if he was angry.

The others turned to him, waiting for a response.

"Sigh. Fine, I owed the best friend a favour."

Blood almost flowed out of their noses. "Greg, are you okay?" Sharon asked.

She was worried that he might have some kind of interdimensional disease and that was making him sound and act strange.

Seeing their looks, he knew he had to continue.

"I told him something he wasn’t supposed to know at that point so I gave him a favor in exchange for keeping his mouth shut." Finally, the pieces were fitting.

"How did you meet him?" Toby asked.

"When I went to the base four months ago."

Sharon spoke, "Why?"

"I was sent."

"By whom?"

Greg was about to speak when Natalie cleared her throat, stopping the rounds of interrogation.

"If you wish to further question him or make a career change to investigations, then you may leave." Her voice was light yet it commanded their attention.

The four looked dejected like they were kids being scolded by their parents.

"A version of me in another reality has been murdered." Natalie’s words shook the listeners to their very bones.

Natalie was different from them. She was one person who, because of her beast infusion, split into two to carry the weight.

She often ran into herself when using her powers.

They exchanged information, thoughts, and hypotheses because they were the only ones who knew the actual weight of her power.

’I can only see the realities in which a version of me exists. If they are dead or were never born, then that reality is beyond me.’

Her thoughts were directed for Greg to hear.

’That is how I know if we have managed to avoid a grave disaster. If we have, I won’t be able to see a reality where it was avoided because I am already in it.’

Natalie was revealing key secrets about her ability. Secrets that if exposed, could spell doom for her.

’Why are you telling me this?’ Greg didn’t feel worthy of this trust.

’Because...’ Her thoughts faded.

"We can’t trust anyone." She suddenly spoke out loud.

Everyone froze.

"But why? Are we facing a face stealer horse again or a hive mind? Or some other unspeakable horror?" Toby got agitated and the room increased in temperature.

Natalie raised a hand to her face and suppressed a sob as tears started to stream down her face.

"There’s no time." She whispered.

The other two were confused until a knife flew through the wall of the room they were in and pierced through Natalie’s throat.

Blood flowed uncontrollably and the others stood, dashing away. Toby ran to her, planning on healing her when a small snowflake landed on his body from the ceiling.

Upon contact, his body started to freeze completely.

He tried hurling flames at the ice but to no avail. As a last-ditch effort, he tried to turn into a Phoenix, but even his flames froze.

Toby let out screams as he became an ice statue of flames and torment that shattered under its own weight.

Sharon opened her mouth, "I see this never happeni-" A sword pierced through her mouth, killing her on the spot.

Greg spread his telekinetic field, and a small sphere flew through undisturbed.

’What the-?!’ The sphere detonated and released its own energy.

The energy went into Greg’s mind and expanded its reach, but it didn’t stop.

It continued to expand his mind and telekinetic field until both shattered with Greg dropping to the floor, hollow.

Reid had just barely enough time to place a piece of beast flesh in his mouth when a laser beam pierced through his head, killing him.

The room was quiet except for the quiet gurgling of Natalie as she drowned in her own blood.

She noticed the six people who walked through the door, undisturbed.

Their faces were hidden and their figures blurry but Natalie could make out a symbol as her eyes lost light.

A snake coiled around a sphere.

________

Natalie and the others gasped as the vision ended.

Sweat ran down their backs and a fear like none other filled them.

The vision of all of them dying so easily was horrendous and frightening.

"That was another version of me, the one that went to our usual meeting room. If we had, we would have been assassinated." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

They were on a ship, cruising the sea.

"Luckily for us, I doubt they will attack us anytime soon." Natalie continued to speak.

"They knew our powers clearly, so they know mine. That means that they’d have to look for a more hidden way to kill us."

The others opened their mouths and closed them.

"Good. We have to prepare for this extremist group. Ophidian Eye."