LOCATION: INCURSION #0032-SAHARA
AREA: THE SAHARA DESERT, ALGERIA
DATE: JANUARY 1, 2032 | TIME: 11:30 AM
Samir’s combat class, Dune Viper, provided extreme burst damage and poison effects along with some stealth skills, allowing Samir to take on the form of sand and weave through the air undetected.
Erik Drexler, who had begun as a Fighter, like all non-Healer Peacekeepers, had unlocked a fascinating advanced class six months after his Tutorial.
Shadow Striker was an extremely rare hybrid combination of a stealthy Rogue and a kinetic Fighter. He was able to use a wide variety of ranged and melee weapons, but his first weapon of choice was his own fists and feet.
An MMA fighter through and through, the System had given Drexler an extra boost by providing skills to strike from the shadows for devastating effect.
Samir and Erik decided this first sortie through the rift would be a stealth exploratory mission, so they found two Rogues and a Healer to make up their team.
The Healer had a Fade From View skill that was designed to reduce aggro (aggression from an enemy), but in this case would serve the team’s goal to remain unseen if at all possible.
“Okay,” Samir said. “I think we’re all set. Last chance to back out. We’ve got no idea what’s waiting for us on the other side.”
They all looked at each other.
A dark grin crossed Drexler’s face. “Just try to stop me.”
Nobody else had any objections, so without any grand speeches or ceremony, Samir began the first expedition into the rift.
The buffalo-like beasts continued streaming through the portal. It wasn’t circular, like Samir would have expected, but rather like a tear, ripped into reality itself.
They cast their stealth skills and waited for an opening. Drexler, holding up the rear, slipped through just before a buffalo appeared in the space he’d just occupied a fraction of a second prior.
The thought made his heart race just a little faster. A few beads of sweat formed on his brow before he regained control and willed his body to calm.
The portal was indeed more like a door than a tunnel. They stepped through, felt a rush of movement as their bodies were transported from one place to another, but no time lapsed during that movement.
When Samir made it through, his Sandstorm skill had dispersed and he was standing, completely visible.
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He turned and found the other four members of his team had done the same.
“Stealth again, quickly,” Samir whispered, and his body faded from view, replaced with sand particles.
In the daylight, this might look strange. But in the area where they landed, there wasn’t much light and the particles of sand blended into the backdrop.
“Desolation,” the Healer whispered, his head turning this way and that, taking in the scene.
Samir looked around and had to agree.
The ground looked like it was made up of tar. The sand, the gravel, all the rocks, they were all black.
Not just black, Samir thought. Like graphite. As if the very landscape here pulled in all light and smothered it.
It was surreal.
No, it was actually real.
More buffalo came running up the long, winding path toward the portal. Five men ran behind them, cracking whips on the ones in the rear and causing them to roar in protest.
The men were essentially human, to Samir’s surprise, though their skin was much paler than you would see on Earth. It was as if these people had lived their entire lives without exposure to any sunlight at all.
“We need to get off this path,” he whispered. “Follow me.”
Drexler placed his hand on Samir’s shoulder. The Rogue behind him did the same, and all five were joined together in a chain as Samir weaved over stones, ducked under overhanging rock formations, and did his best not to make any noise as his feet landed softly in the gravel.
The formation with hands on shoulders was developed by special forces pushing through throngs of people. But here in this alien landscape, with everyone cloaked to avoid detection, it worked just as well.
A large wall, at least fifty feet tall and made of the same black material as everything else, loomed in front of them. Around them was just the desolate, rocky landscape that seemed to go on as far as they could see.
Samir turned back and saw a winding path up a tall hillside. At the top, six men stood next to giant machines that were creating the portal to Earth.
The machines hummed as they worked, and Samir could feel the rumbles in the ground even from this great distance.
The six men controlling the machines stood still, their eyes focused on the wavy, pulsing air of the portal.
“They have to concentrate to keep it open,” Drexler said. “If we take them out—”
“Then we’ll be stuck here on this side,” Samir said. “This first one is a stealth mission. We need to find what we can and retreat before they close the portal.”
The Healer agreed, but the two Rogues were itching for a fight, as was Drexler.
Samir smiled. “I promise you endless opportunities for bloodshed and vengeance. Just not on this mission, okay? Now let’s move out.”
Beyond the great stone wall, they could see a bustling city. Everything was black, as if this race knew no color, or at least lacked the material to produce any.
In the wall, gates were placed every hundred feet or so, but the one in the center from which the beasts were coming was the largest.
Wanting to stay out of view, Samir chose one of the smaller gates and approached.
“Stay out of sight while I try and find a way to open the gate,” Samir told Drexler.
He nodded, and the group crouched behind a rock formation and waited.
Samir activated Sandstorm once again, and the specks of sand easily passed through the openings in the gate.
He reformed on the other side and found a simple lever that would open the door. He looked around, and seeing nobody nearby, pulled it down.
Quiet cranking sounded as a hidden mechanism turned and the gate lifted, but it didn’t attract any attention as the other four snuck through.
Samir released the lever and the gate slowly closed.
They were in.