Abel hesitated. Sure he had questions, like why had he been the only one to notice the gate, why the train it had collided with hadn't gone into it and why this was all happening to him. But something was telling him that those questions would get him answers he didn't want to hear.
For a moment he simply stared at the man across the table, unsure where to even begin. The officer had asked the question so casually "Any questions?" as if Abel hadn't just walked in claiming a hole in reality had opened Infront of him.
"Yeah," Abel finally said, letting out a breath. "A few."
The officer gave a faint nod, leaning back slightly in his chair. The woman beside him remained still, her hands folded neatly on the table as she watched Abel with quiet attention.
Abel swallowed.
"Iv heard about Gates before." he said slowly. "They appear, you go in, and when you return...your stronger and have powers right? Will I get those?" His fingers tightened together. "And what exactly is it?"
The officer and the woman exchanged a brief glance, the sort people shared when deciding how much truth someone was ready to hear.
Finally the woman spoke.
"Your right about one thing, people do gain power once they make it out, Aspects." she said. But the grimace on her face suggested he had only guessed a half truth.
She continued.
"Sadly, the mortality rate in a gate is abnormally high, and from what we understand. Anything is possible. That includes hazards and threats that were previously deemed non-existent. You could very well stumble upon a Daemon's nest for all we know. Though the chances of that ar-"
"Let me guess. As low as me surviving this ordeal?" He said sarcastically. His fingers clasped together, trying to bring a sense of this all being real to him.
Abel blinked. "What's this supposed to mean? That I'm going to die?"
"No," the officer replied. "But it's a real possibility. And given how little time there is to prepare you, were going to have to be real with you here if you stand a chance at returning. Your chances of survival are low. "
"That being said," The woman chimed in. "Your gate's design suggests the location you would be sent to is a favourable one, we can teach you a few things you can use in order to survive before your forced to go in."
Abel leaned forward slightly.
"I don't like the sound of this one bit, but I have to know in advance." He said, his eyes squinting as his mind did some harsh calculations. "What happens if someone goes through one and survives. How do they get out?"
The officer's expression hardened, the faint trace of sympathy disappearing from his face.
"The moment you arrive inside the environment chosen by the gate, you will have to seek out another gate. Though its often hidden and requires a certain condition to be satisfied before it will reveal itself. My advice would be to observe your surroundings once you arrive and make an educated guess on the most likely place for it to be hidden. Search for landmarks, places of interests, or even unsuspecting locations."
The words landed like a stone in Abel's stomach.
He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out at first.
"You're serious," he said eventually.
"Very."
Abel leaned back in his chair, running a hand through his hair.
"Okay… so let me get this straight," he said. "As soon as I land, I have to find water shelter and observe the surroundings for anything strange in a place that's completely and utterly strange to me.."
The woman nodded her head slightly.
The officer leaned forward again, resting his forearms on the table.
"Back to entering the gate. The gate appearing once doesn't mean much by itself," he said. "The frequency of its appearance is what matters."
Abel felt a cold weight settle in his chest.
"…Frequency?"
The woman nodded.
"If you've seen it once," she said quietly, "it will appear again. In a compounding effect, you will see it more and more often, until you either enter on your own..."
"Or what? What happens if I don't enter?" Abel asked.
The officer held his gaze.
"For some people," he said, "it appears directly beneath their feet."
Abel stared at him.
A long silence followed.
Then he asked the only question that suddenly mattered.
"…And if that happens?"
Neither of them answered right away.
Finally the woman spoke.
"You go through it," she said.
Abel felt his pulse quicken.
"And then?"
The officer's voice was calm.
"Then you find out whether you survive the Crucible."
Abel grimaced.
"I can swim," he said, "but I wouldn't exactly call myself an expert. I'm saying this because you said its likely an oceanic environment ill be placed in right?"
"Yes. Though you likely won't need to be," the woman replied calmly. "Most Gates still allow basic survival. Air. Gravity. Land. They are hostile environments, not instant death traps."
"That's reassuring," Abel muttered.
The officer ignored the comment and continued.
"To refresh your mind lets go over this again. The first rule is simple," he said. "Do not panic when you arrive."
Abel gave him a flat look.
"So I do that first?"
"Yes. Internally, that should be your first priority."
The officer didn't smile.
"People waste their first few minutes inside the Crucible panicking. Running blindly. Screaming. Those are usually the people who die first."
Abel slowly nodded.
"Don't panic...got it."
"Exactly."
The woman raised a finger.
"Second rule. Find water if it isn't immediately available. Dehydration kills faster than hunger in unfamiliar environments. Heat up rocks and drop them in any makeshift containers you have filled with water. It will create purified water, remove the rock, pour the container into a piece of cloth to remove sediment and back into a container."
"Great," Abel muttered. Trying to commit as much information to his mind as possible. "Thirst kills first. So gather hot rocks, cloth filters like clothing and makeshift containers. Good to know."
"And shelter," the officer added. "Especially if you're somewhere exposed. Ruins, caves, buildings anything that gives you defensible space."
Abel leaned back again, nodding slowly. His eyebrows in a bunch. At the thought of having to actually use this information in less than 24 hours.
"Okay," he said slowly. "Observe. Water. Shelter."
"There's another thing," the woman said.
Her tone had changed slightly.
"Gates don't always place you somewhere empty."
Abel looked up.
"What does that mean?"
"Sometimes," she said carefully, "there are… inhabitants."
"Other people?" Abel asked almost excited at the idea of not being alone.
The officer shook his head slightly.
"Not always."
Abel didn't like the sound of that.
The woman continued.
"If you encounter intelligent inhabitants, your best option is observation before action."
"Meaning?" Abel said, his patience with the coy answers this woman gave him waning.
"Not everything inside a Gate is automatically hostile," she said. "Some entities can be reasoned with. Some can be helped."
The officer nodded.
"In several documented cases," he said, "assisting a non-hostile inhabitant fulfilled the Gate's condition for revealing the exit."
Abel frowned.
"So you're saying the way out might be… helping someone?"
"Possibly," the woman said. "Or solving a problem within that environment. Gates tend to operate on internal logic."
Abel leaned forward again.
"…Internal logic."
"Think of it like a trial," the officer said. "You're placed somewhere unfamiliar, and the world itself expects you to figure something out."
Abel let out a slow breath.
"That sounds vague."
"It is," the officer said bluntly.
The woman softened the statement.
"Every Gate is different. But if you remember anything we've told you tonight, remember this,"
She met his eyes.
"Observe first. Act second. And if you meet someone who isn't trying to kill you…"
She paused.
"…that might be the most valuable opportunity you'll get."
Abel sat in silence for a while after that.
Eventually he nodded.
"…Alright."
The word sounded small in the room.
The officer checked the clock on the wall.
"You said the first appearance was about half an hour before you arrived correct?"
"Yeah."
"Then you still have some time," he said. "The second manifestation usually takes longer."
Abel frowned.
"How long?"
"It varies," the woman said. "Several hours. Sometimes more. Sometimes less."
The officer gestured toward the door.
"You should go home," he said. "Eat something. Drink water. Sleep if you can."
Abel gave a dry laugh.
"Sleep."
"You'll need it," the officer replied. "Your body won't get much rest once the Crucible starts."
Abel slowly stood.
The room felt strangely smaller than when he had walked in.
"Same place tomorrow?" he asked.
The woman nodded.
"Come back here in the morning."
The officer added one final thing as Abel reached the door.
"And Abel."
He turned.
"If the Gate appears again before then…"
The officer held his gaze.
"…don't waste time running."
Abel gave a tight nod.
Then he stepped out into the hallway, the weight of everything he had just learned settling heavily in his chest.
Tomorrow, they had said.
Tomorrow he would come back.
Tomorrow they would prepare him.
Abel slapped his face awake, pushing the sense of surrealness out of his mind.
"I need food. I should head to the store before I head home." He said.
Observe, water, shelter. He repeated in his mind like a mantra. His day to day life was over now. I guess this is a good thing, at leased ill never have to work a day in my life now. As his mind side tracked continually to subjects of his former life being forgone and the start of a very lethal new one began in its stead, he realised he had already overshot the shop he had intended to go to.
Damned autopilot. This is embarrassing. He thought haphazardly only to realise the irony. He was about to be sent through a portal of death and he was still concerned about societal norms. Well, he supposed it still didn't feel real yet. That's only because the suffering hasn't even started yet. I bet ill be wishing my biggest problem was something social in the next few hours. But at leased I don't have to work anymore. No matter how hard I think about it I cant see that ever being a bad thing.
The shops entrance faded into view. Abel's inner monologue began to fade as an invisible pressure began to wash over him. The pressure of being perceived by other intelligent and potentially, Likely Judgemental gazes. He had always despised shopping, some of his friends enjoyed it rather well, but to him it always felt like an artificial experience.
As he stepped through the threshold of the shops entrance, Abel was moments away from settling his gaze on a large, juicy mango stall, which would have been cause for his body to quiver in excitement.
But instead of excitement, Abel was busy feeling something else entirely.
Dread.
The threshold of the shop entrance was no longer of the glass, metal works and electronics of the modern era. But something much, much older.
Cold, deep, abyssal stone. Embroiled lining that traced a purple pattern. The violet light that emanated from it. Grotesque, wildly growing coral that looked dead and cold to the touch. An archway that felt more out of place than himself. The sense that even time had failed to erode it.
The dread he felt moments ago had solidified into a recognisable concept in his mind.
He had just stepped wholeheartedly into his Gate.