The black portal, once humming with calm resonance, convulsed into chaos. It writhed like a storm given flesh, darkness spilling outward in violent surges. Each jagged burst struck the ground with the crash of breaking waves, tearing the air apart with thunderous cracks as shadows sparked and snapped.
The world itself seemed to recoil, trembling against the weight of whatever lurked beyond that ravenous maw.
Officers staggered back in confusion, arms raised instinctively against the torrent of energy. Shouts rang out between the thunderclaps.
"Is that a forced gate?!"
"No way! Nobody's seen one in years!"
The sheer force pressed against their chests, robbing them of breath. Murmurs died in their throats as awe pinned them silent.
"That means… someone's opening a null boundary!"
"Who is it?!"
For most, it was a sight only whispered about.
"Um… is it supposed to do that?" Red asked, eyes fixed on the raging portal.
"That?" Oliver shrugged, unfazed. "Yeah, more or less. We're shooting in the dark here. We don't even know where we'll land."
"Stand tall!" Cosmo's voice cut through the crackling void. "We'll be the first to open a null world in ages. Take pride in this moment!"
Yon shielded his face, shouting over the storm. "So…about this officer gig! Too late to back out?!"
"Yep!"
"Are you sure?! I could just walk away right now and save us both the trouble!"
"Of course you could," Cosmo called back, "but I'd drag your body through if I had to."
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of! What if we don't even make it through in one piece?!" A surge tore past, forcing him to stumble back to avoid it.
"Well, that's what this is for."
Oliver hurled a strange hexagonal sphere into the air. It bloomed open instantly, expanding into a barrier that enveloped the team.
"Let's go." Without hesitation, Cosmo strode into the portal.
Whether driven by uncertainty, fear, hidden motives, or raw desperation, the others followed.
They stepped forward, and the ground was gone.
In an instant, the earth vanished beneath their feet, and weightlessness seized them.
Their stomachs lurched as the air consumed them whole, the wind shrieking past before their minds could grasp what had happened.
The emerald world below sprawled in miniature, impossibly distant, a vertiginous reminder of how high they had fallen.
Cries tore from a few throats as panic struck with the realization: they were plummeting, suspended
in nothing, with no ground to catch them.
"No! No! No! No! Why the actual f**k does this keep happening?!"
"Why are we in the sky?!"
"Don't mind that. Look at the sky itself." Cosmo was carelessly falling back-first.
"You're right, it's so deeply blue… hazy, even," Oliver added, just as unbothered, eyes fixed above. "You can't even see a sun anywhere."
"You gaze upward, yet ignore the green beneath us? Look how untamed it is," Clarisse said, awestruck by the endless canopy of trees below. "It thrives, yet feels unbearably empty."
"You think so? I forgot you could sense life energy."
"Cosmo, I've thought of another way you can repay me for joining your branch!"
"Is that so?" Cosmo twisted midair to face her with interest. "And what's your idea?"
She let a mysterious smile curl her lips.
"This new world we've discovered… I want the honor of naming it."
For a breath, silence reigned, broken only by the howling wind that pressed against their fall.
"That's perfectly fine."
Her eyes widened.
"That's it? You make it sound so trivial."
Disappointment welled up. Something precious to her had been surrendered without a flicker of thought.
"It really is. I'd probably saddle it with something insensitive. And do you want Oliver's naming sense to touch that responsibility?"
"Not with a million-foot pole," she shot back without pause.
"Ouch!"
"Guys! We'd rather be reassured about how we're supposed to land," Tyson chided. "We've been falling for a whi—"
"Argenta!" Blue's voice cut him off in alarm. "Where did she go?! She must be terrified!"
"Over here, big sis!" Argenta called, waving cheerfully while clinging to a strap on Oliver's massive pack.
She looked perfectly at ease despite the chaos.
"Are you okay?!"
"Totally!" The little one giggled, still waving.
Blue twisted through the air, forcing herself closer.
"Just hold on tight, alright?! I don't know where all that confidence comes from, but we can't risk anything happening."
"Kay!"
"Speaking of which," Cosmo turned toward Oliver, calm as ever, "how far are we from the ground? My senses can stretch that far."
"Roughly ten and a half kilometers."
"Ugh. Then I'll really need to bring my A-game for this."
Cosmo angled his dive toward the barrier's edge, pressing a hand against it as he began to mutter:
"The pressure and temperature match Earth's… but the air composition is dangerous. Oxygen levels are at eighty-seven percent. Oxygen is obviously heavier than nitrogen, which makes overall air density higher."
"What's he doing?" Tyson asked.
"Shhh…" Oliver hushed him, steady and calm, granting Cosmo silence.
"Given our descent speed, terminal velocity is about thirty percent higher than normal. At this rate, we'll strike the canopy in roughly two minutes and twenty seconds."
"Would stopping our fall be dangerous?"
"Extremely. Even a careless sneeze could trigger ignition. With this much oxygen, as well as the sheer amount of spores, the air's practically daring us to create some sort of friction or spark."
"Wait, wouldn't that mean…"
"Yep. No flares near the plants, you crazy kid." He confirmed Tyson's fears.
"But it's all plants as far as the eye can see. That means I can't do anything."
"Then anything is exactly what you won't do."
Oliver unlatched a case and slid his goggles over his eyes.
"I've got safety webs fit for this kind of map, but…"
"Problem?"
"The wires are laced with metal."
"Tch. How convenient." Cosmo rotated upright, feet toward the ground. "When we're ten seconds from painting the canopies red, I need everyone to hold their mouths and noses shut. Not a single breath. At that moment, release the web, Oliver."
"I feel like you're skipping a few details," Yon muttered.
"Twenty!" Cosmo began the countdown.
"Oh-sure-ignore me-okay-that's fine."
"Sixteen!"
Blue clamped one hand over her nostrils and mouth, using the other to seal Argenta's lips. The little girl pinched her own nose and clung tighter to Oliver's pack with her free hand.
"Twelve!"
The others mimicked, shutting off breath and bracing.
"Ten!"
Oliver snapped open the case. Metallic filaments shot outward, latching onto every branch in reach. Sparks ripped through the air, burning along the lines, then vanished the moment Cosmo's fist clenched tight.
The woven net stretched, catching them as the barrier smashed through the canopy. The landing wasn't abrupt; the web flexed deliberately, easing their fall, slowing their momentum until the barrier lowered them gently to the forest floor.
"Deoxygenated." Cosmo stood smugly in the fresh clearing.
"Stop it."
"Mm-kay."
The trees rose like towers, their trunks pale and smooth, as if polished by unseen hands.
Above, vast sails of translucent green unfurled, drinking in the sun.
The air was dense with drifting golden pollen, glowing like endless stars, while vines hung in lazy arcs, unchecked, claiming every surface.
"If I find moss where the sun doesn't shine by the end of this, I'm going to lose it."
"Wow. First time setting foot beyond Earth, and that's your first line?" Red mocked Yon's complaint.
"To be fair, yours aren't much better by comparison."
Tyson, busy shoving aside carpets of moss left inside the barrier, tossed them to the edge as he joined in.
"Honestly, none of you should be talking at all. The air we can breathe is still limited to this barrier," Oliver warned, slowly unraveling the pack he carried.
"Are you serious?!"
"Why didn't you say that earlier?!" Yon and Red panicked, covering their noses and mouths as if it would help.
Their fears were quickly put to rest.
"Don't scare them, Oliver. The barrier can filter external gases and make them breathable." Cosmo reassured them before the moment turned too embarrassing.
"By the way, Clarisse… what name did you settle on?" He turned and found her entranced, hand lifted, fingers spread as narrow shafts of light spilled between them, her eyes lost in the canopy's endless green.
"Clarisse—"
"Hortusole."
"Hm?"
It was overflowing. As far as the eye could travel, the world was a sea of green.
Barring the possibility of hidden toxins by which one plant might outpace another, there were no traits here to guarantee survival. The leaves stretched to impossible sizes, their forms uniform. Any distinguishable features only thanks to the seeds from which they sprouted.
Most vegetation raced upward, desperate for light, their canopies fanned wide to drink the sun. Even the shortest stalk towered beyond the mightiest trees of Earth.
She knew it was unfair to deem this order unnatural by Earth's measure. Yet she couldn't escape the thought that this was a sorrowful structure for a world to take.
"That's the name I've chosen." She pressed her heel into the moss. "Selfish, perhaps. But these plants are blessed in their growth yet have nothing to nourish. Their seeds are sown with effort, their shoots arise in triumph, yet there is no one to harvest that miracle. It makes little sense to mourn, but I cannot help it. This is a garden that cannot be admired. A garden that cannot feed. Presumptuous of me, isn't it?"
"I can't agree." Tyson broke the silence, eyes still lifted. "This world is null, remember? I think I understand that a little better now. Until we've fixed that, it's natural to feel unsettled. In fact, it makes perfect sense for you to feel that way."
A grin escaped him, pulling a laugh from her lips.
"I suppose so. That detail slipped my mind." She brushed her hair aside, the gleam of relief lighting her face. "I feel much better. Thank you."
Tyson rubbed at his cheek, awkward. A jab to his shoulderblade made him wince.
"Nice going, crazy kid."
"You still won't tell me why you keep calling me that?"
"I call you crazy 'cause you're crazy. There's nothing else to it." Cosmo replied without a thought. "Oliver, we'll get started."
On cue, Oliver produced eight black hexagonal objects and cast them beyond the barrier.
"What are those?" Blue asked. The glossy black surface stirred a faint familiarity, though she couldn't name it.
"The orbs you brought back," Oliver replied. "Or rather, what's left after I tinkered with them."
"You?"
"Clarisse helped too," he amended quickly, sensing the glare burning into the back of his neck.
"How are those supposed to become our uniforms?"
"They already are."
"What?"
"This form simply tunes your physiology to align with this boundary. While it runs its course, I'll try to determine where in the conmundia that portal left us."
"How long will that take exactly?"
Oliver gave a nonchalant hum. "I don't know. Maybe… three days?"
"""Three days?!"""
"It's just an estimate," Cosmo cut in. "Besides, since we don't even know where the shadowbeast is, three days could end up feeling like a stroll compared to what's ahead."
"…and that is…?"
Red swallowed with the others, bracing for the answer.
"At best, two years." Cosmo chuckled awkwardly.