Several days had passed since the kidnapping incident.
The school remained closed under the excuse of an "ongoing investigation." News vans still hovered around the district, reporters speculating about explosions, missing people, and strange disturbances.
But none of them knew the truth.
Late in the evening, Ren and Kai walked along the outskirts of the city toward an abandoned industrial zone.
Rusting warehouses stretched along the empty road.
Kai shoved his hands in his pockets.
"You sure this is a good idea?"
Ren didn't slow down.
"No."
Kai sighed.
"…Great."
Ren stopped in front of an old warehouse — the place where the portal had swallowed them days earlier.
The air still felt wrong.
Like something had burned reality itself.
Ren stepped inside.
"I don't think I can sleep unless I know what really happened here."
Kai muttered,
"I slept fine until you dragged me out here."
Inside, the warehouse was quiet.
Broken crates and rusted beams littered the floor.
Then Ren noticed something.
"…Kai."
Kai walked over.
On the ground were strange circular marks.
Burn scars.
Perfectly round.
Faint traces of light still shimmered along their edges.
Kai crouched down.
"…Those weren't here before."
Ren stared at the largest circle.
The air above it began to distort.
Like heat rising from asphalt.
Except colder.
The space twisted — folding inward like fabric being wrung.
Kai slowly stood.
"…Ren."
The distortion snapped open.
A portal.
From the swirling darkness, a man stepped out casually.
He wore the same mask as the agents from the kidnapping.
But this one carried himself differently.
Relaxed.
Amused.
He looked at them and smirked beneath the mask.
"You shouldn't have come back."
Kai stiffened.
The man tilted his head slightly.
"Curiosity kills faster than my portals."
Kai frowned.
"What the hell are you?"
The masked man gestured lightly toward the warehouse around them.
"A collector."
His eyes settled on Ren's necklace.
"And you're holding what I need to collect."
Ren instinctively stepped back.
The man flicked his fingers.
A black circle instantly formed under Ren's feet.
A portal.
Ren dropped suddenly.
"Kai!"
Kai lunged forward and yanked Ren backward just before the floor swallowed him.
The portal snapped shut with a violent crack.
Kai glared.
"Oh, so that's how this is gonna go?"
More glowing circles opened around the warehouse walls.
Metal scraps, broken pipes, and loose debris began floating toward them.
Then—
They fired.
Objects shot out of the portals like bullets.
Ren and Kai dove aside as metal fragments slammed into the ground.
Ren struggled to catch his breath.
"How do you fight someone you can't even touch?!"
Kai rolled behind a pillar.
"You don't!"
Another portal flashed open above them.
A steel beam dropped like a spear.
Kai barely dodged it.
"You guess where he'll appear!"
Kai suddenly sprinted forward.
"Hey! Mask guy!"
The collector chuckled.
Kai charged directly at the nearest portal circle.
"Come fight someone your own size!"
Ren realized what Kai was doing.
He's baiting him.
Ren forced himself to watch the patterns.
The portals weren't random.
They flickered.
Shifted.
Warped slightly before opening.
Then suddenly
A portal appeared behind Kai.
The collector stepped out instantly.
Before Kai could react, the man grabbed his collar.
"Predictable."
With one motion, he hurled Kai across the warehouse.
Kai slammed hard into a wall and collapsed.
"Kai!"
The collector stepped slowly toward Ren.
Calm.
Patient.
"You have no idea what that thing around your neck really is."
He extended his hand.
"Listen kid. I am rei. I'll ask GENTALLY"
"Hand it over."
"And I'll let you live."
Ren's breathing steadied.
"Well. This won't be considered 'GENTALLY' and... You're lying."
The collector tilted his head.
Ren clenched his fist.
"That thing in my dreams told me you'd say that."
The masked man paused.
"…Dreams?"
Then he chuckled.
"Oh."
His eyes sharpened behind the mask.
"So it's talking already."
The warehouse lights flickered.
The necklace around Ren's neck began to glow faintly.
And somewhere deep in Ren's mind—
The voice returned.
Stronger than before.
"Do not give it to him."
Comming soon
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