?Looking around, they could see it was mostly the area they were in that was affected. The strange warp in the air, filled with a light blue color, was centered right above them.
As they looked further out of the village, they could also witness that the top of the sandstone had yet to be pulled from its structure. So the strongest force of pull was directly from underneath them.
"The portal's closed, did you just say the portal's closed!" Froma shouted. "Then how are we meant to get out of this place, and how would you even know the portal's closed?"
"It's just a guess," Alba answered. "We've never been inside a dimension when it's closed, so no one knows what really happens."
"One thing is clear though, no one from Pagna is able to get into this place. Maybe this is the reason why, because the whole dimension collapses in on itself."
Alba's words weren't calming her clan members down one bit. Instead, there was a series of gulps coming from them all.
"She's right, we're stuck in here then, and if it collapses does that mean we will collapse with them," Tilon expressed his worry, which was shown on all of the team members' faces.
"We still have Raze, remember, and look carefully at everything," Reno said coming out of the room. He had used some extra cloth that was wrapped around the sword to attach it to Raze.
Then he wrapped it around his own waist and was carrying him on his back. Meanwhile, he had the weapon that was meant for Raze held in one of his hands.
"He got us in here, remember his fight with Feebie. It was clear that the two had faced each other before, so he has to have a way at least to get back to the Demonic Faction, I wouldn't worry about things too much."
"Worry about things when there's a giant hole, and a hybrid stuck here trying to kill us, I think we have the right to worry!" Tilon exclaimed.
"Look at the structures, they're breaking at an incredibly slow rate, and the outer area isn't even affected. It might take months before the whole thing collapses, I would think Raze would at least wake up by then," Reno claimed.
There was another issue though; they couldn't stay here for months. Although their main priority was to look after Raze until he woke up, they were meant to head back to the academy and help the others.
They could be in danger right now, and they had no clue because their informant, Cronker, was on the other side.
"Wait, are we sure that the hybrid is still in here with us?" Lilly asked. "If you think about it, he was defending the portal, right, he was standing right next to it."
"Maybe it was because he knew this was going to happen. If the portal has closed, then wouldn't he just go right through it before it happened."
The words did make sense, but Alba feared that the hybrid was adamant on getting Raze for one reason or another. Possibly he had a way out of the place as well.
Not just that, but if the portal was closed, how long had it been since it had closed? They had been running away, and were inside the housing structure talking for a while.
The sky above could have changed slowly; maybe the portal had closed right after they had escaped.
"There's only one thing we can really do. I think right now, we have to at least check if the portal really has been closed or not."
"I know the other man is after Raze, but I think we should all travel together and stick close. If he catches us on our own, we could be killed on sight," Alba ordered.
Even though he had let them go once, who knew why or what the reason was. It was better to be cautious, and she didn't want to lose anyone right now, while strange things were happening in the place.
When the fight between Amir and the Crimson Crane had ended, he had thought about whether to chase the others or not.
The issue was, he knew that the portal would soon be closing. His mind was muddled; should he try to find Raze?
He was confident that Raze was a member of Alter, due to Charlotte and Himmy coming to meet him. He had seen them before.
At first, Raze didn't interest Amir much; he was most likely just a low-ranking member attending the academy, as time went on though, Raze's strength as a Pagna warrior was growing.
A growth he had never seen before, and strange happenings that defied what would happen to a warrior were taking place.
All of this led to Amir having more of an interest in Raze. It led him to believe that he might be more helpful to the Bonum Society.
In the middle of his thoughts, with his calm demeanor, he heard a little zap noise, and turning around after his transformation had ended he could see that the portal had closed.
Right after, he looked up at the sky, and could see a change was happening.
"This isn't good. I don't have a way out of this place myself," Amir said. "While in this dimension, I don't have a way to contact the others as well."
Now Amir was even more perplexed with what he needed to do.
"I was also warned about this by the society. The most dangerous position for any Pagna warrior to be in was to be in another dimension once the portal closed."
"I might have just condemned myself. It's best to try and find a place to lay low for a while."
Amir finally left his position, in search of another building structure or more to keep himself hidden, waiting for what the outcome was to be.
Eventually, the Crimson Crane, when getting closer, slowed down their stride. They were scouting the area, trying to see if the hybrid man was hiding anywhere, waiting for them to come out.
"I can't see him; the place is pretty open, unless he's buried himself in the sand or something," Tilon commented.
"I don't think that's the reason," Kizer rubbed his foot across the sand and could feel heavy sandstone underneath.
"The village areas have sandstone underneath; there's just a layer of sand on top from the wind."
"But this is where the portal was right, and I'm not sure about you guys, but from the looks of it, the portal is no longer there," Froma pointed out to where the portal once was, where her arrow had gone through, and they could see nothing.
It was what they had feared; now they were stuck here. How long until their hunger struck them? How long until the dimension was destroyed, and how long until Raze woke up again?
"Come on guys, let's go back; it's dangerous being out here in the open. Who knows if that guy is hiding here or not," Alba said.
The moment the whole group turned around, they all could see something strange occurring in front of them.
Sparks were going off in the air. They continued to grow in size until a large beam of energy had occurred, and right in front of them, they could see a circle portal opening up.
When it did though, immediately a person stepped through the portal, wearing a white-colored robe with gold clothing, and on the top of his hooded head was the large letter I.
