The touch of chilled air on his skin woke Azur up from the haze of sleep. Sweeping off the blankets and wishing for more rest, Azur groggily got cleaned up. Feeling warmed by the coffee in his hands he headed to work.
During his commute on the train, he scrolled through social media on his phone, and a news article popped up. "First commercial teleportation is now available"
"Well, at least it's not being used for war anymore", Azur murmured
A saying told by his father came to his mind, *Before Logic, there is Survival.*
Pushing the sad thoughts of his missing father away. Azur looked up at the people around him, always making sure to face the door.
By the entrance seat, an old lady with long hazel hair streaked with grey highlights, a young dark haired boy sat next to her. *Must be his a mother or grandma.*
A few seats back is a young man in a suit with a briefcase with a concentric circular symbol on it, talking quietly on his phone. The seat directly behind him is another person in a Fairy Tail hoodie with their head resting against the back of the young mans' seat. *Something's odd, but I can't put my finger on it though.*
As the train made its way along the tracks, Azur's mind drifted to his mother in the hospital and the strange illness she developed.
~ 3 Months ago
"Hey, Mom I'm here for Dinner."
"Hey honey" Rayla walked over from the dining room. "I missed you sweetie, what's it been, 3 years since we last met? Come on I've set up your favorite meal, Chicken strips, your father used to love making that for you." Rayla led the way over to the dining room table.
"Mom, you know we see each other every week over the phone." Azur took some time to clean up the front, taking off his coat and boots.
Crraaaasshhh, "AAAhhhhhh, Az, call medics"
"Mom, MOM, WHAT'S GOING ON?" Rushing over to the dining room, Azur found the hardwood table, split in half, with his mother keeling over, her skin turning a bright red. "MOM!!!" Reaching out for her, Azur started sweating, touching her forearm, he flinched back from the temperature. Reaching for the phone, he called for emergency hotline.
"Waaterrrr… please, water."
"Got it." Racing toward the kitchen Azur, grabbed a pot of water and poured it over his mother. As the water hit her skin, it steamed. "Mo.. mom, c-c-can you move?" Stuttering and shaking from what was happening, Azur crouched down in front of his mother to see her face.
"What's happening to me?" Looking up feeling faint, Rayla saw the her son's face turn from worry to fear, before she passed out.
~ Present
*It's been 3 months since this started, and the doctors haven't found anything.* Azur sat at her beside, slowly peeling apples for her to eat. As the monitors and various machines beeped. "Honey, you should travel for your birthday, I've already purchased the teleportation tickets to go." Rayla croaked, reaching her out and softly holding his hand.
"Mom, who will be here to take care of you? This just happened, let the doctors find out more about it." Patting the back of her hand, he could feel how rough and brittle his mother's skin had gotten, a quick glance at the black veins creeping up the arm confirmed that they moved to her shoulder.
"I know sweetie, but it's your birthday next week, you should enjoy it." Rayla patted her bicep, and said "I can handle a few days by myself, and I've got the lovely nurses here to help."
Flashbacks to what happened, kept replaying in his mind over and over again. Shaking his head to stop ruminating. He thought back to the news and what's happened recently. *With teleportation commercialized now, I can be back in less than 30 minutes. If need be, even less with the emergency portal in the hospital.* "Alright, Mom, I'll go."
Rayla winked at her son, "Don't forget to flirt with Bridget, I've been trying to set you up for a while now."
"Mom, please stop, you know I already like someone." Looking down with blushing cheeks. "We've talked about this before."
"I know, I know, it's that short dark haired girl, she's lovely and all but, honey. She doesn't seem interested." Rayla said, in a soft sickly voice.
"Her name is Jen, Mom. Anyways, I'll start packing, Dr. Martin promised you were stable enough, but make sure to call, every morning alright."
Azur gave her a hug and kissed her on the cheek, before leaving the room, heading to the nurses station, he asked for Bridget. After waiting awhile, a slender, vibrant blue haired woman, in a lab coat walked over with a bright smile on her face. "Hello, there Azur, how's your mother doing today?"
"It's nice seeing you Dr. Martin" Azur unconsciously smiled. "She's doing great, I just talked to her, are you sure she's stable enough, I noticed that the black veins seem to have moved further up her arm?"
"You can just call me Bridget" Dr. Martin said with a soft look. "And yes she's doing great, her vitals look normal, and nothing is out of the ordinary. We're looking further into her illness. She seems to have a few times where she feels a bit weak and fatigued. But at other times as strong as an ox. We're unsure about the. Physical changes, her eyes, and the black veins, but everything else seems to be going in this loop. Do you have any concerns before your trip?"
"Nothing I haven't heard before, if there is an emergency, can I use the emergency portal? I can pay for it!"
Tilting her head slightly, Bridget thought about it for a moment. "I can do that… but at a cost, that portal is used for emergency transport, so it's not always in use." Bridget, took a step forward, leaning in she asked "How about a date, we can go play that new VR game that came out, Over the Fall?" She lifted her head slightly and made eye contact.
His palms sweaty, heart beating a bit fast, thinking to himself, *calm down Azur*, he said "I'd love too… after my trip of course." Giving her a faint smile. *Maybe Mom was right, Jen isn't interested, but Bridget is, emotions are confusing*
Smiling from ear to ear, Bridget took a step back, "Of course, I'll inform the techs, to add you to the incoming list for the portal."
With a hop in his step, Azur made his way home. The next week, he called up his group of misfits, "Yo, you assholes ready?"
"Yeah, douche, let's get it ONNN!!!"
"All ready to head out."
"Why are you guys…. I'll meet you at the portal junction."
"Same, same, let's go Jen."
"See you all there." Azur replied.
*Double check, extra clothes, phone, wallet, keys, Bridgets on call just in case, bags all packed check, check, and check. Last but not least calling mom*.
"Hey, Mom, I'm headed out for the trip."
"Okay, honey stay safe and stay warm, this is your first portal trip, so it'll feel a little nauseous at first."
"Alright, get well, and make sure to call me if anything happens, I'll rush right back." Azur said
"I will honey, have fun in the Tropics."
"I will, good bye Mom, love ya."
"Love you too, honey."
After some short travel, to the portal junction of Hope city, Azur met up with his friends.
"Yo, Ez!!! What's up!?" Azur fist bumped a tall dark skinned man hanging with a short dude, toned asian dude.
"Can't forget my man G, what you doing" Azur, dapped the skinny asian guy.
"Nothing much man, just work. It's been 3 months, since the last time, you looking great. How's ya mom?" Ez short for Ezikiel asked, a tinge of worry in his voice.
"Yeah, how's your mom, man, I've heard there are multiple people coming down with all sorts of things now and days." "G short for Gadriel softly chipped in.
"She's doing alright, Dr. Martin is looking after her." Azur swiped his hand over his face in frustration and worry, "She's been getting better everyday."
In the group was a short dark haired white woman, with a tattoo sleeve of a nine tailed fox on her left arm, and standing next to her was a rainbow haired woman, wearing what appears to be a maid outfit.
"Hey, Jen, Hey Alice." Azure greeted the women of the group. "Going for the maid cafe look, this time?"
"YEAH, I just love it!!! Sorry to hear about your mom." Alice responded, "Glad to know she's doing better.
"Yeah, glad to know she's doing better." Jen added, looking up slightly from her phone, with a slight crease in her brow.
Addressing the whole group, Azur said, "I'll be heading back a little earlier from the trip, just in case."
"Sounds good man, let's head on over, the line shouldn't be too long." Ez patted Azur's back, to help ease his worry.
The group made it to the elevator, which lead to the portal stage. With a metallic center platform, which raised multiple groups up, and then split them off to 10 separate portals, each manned with 20 guards and 3 techs.
"What's the portal number, on the tickets?" Ez spoke up.
"It's portal number 3." Gee replied.
Heading on over the group met the technicians that ran the portals. "Portal tickets, and destination please" The tech asked, raising his hand without even looking at them.
Handing over their tickets as a group, the guard scanned the specially made chips in the tickets to confirm everything. "Group of 5 heading to the pacific Isles. 4 green tickets, 1 gold, all good to go!" The tech said into his headset.
"Gather up, everyone, make sure you have everything." Ez instructed.
As the group moved closer to the portal, it shifted from near invisibility to drifting waves, then settled on the tropics of the Pacific Isles.
A massive air current came through the portal, whipping about, "Alright, everyone move quickly, please" the guard hurried everyone through.
As the group ran through the portal. A wall of wind pushed Azur back slightly delaying him giving the others a lead. Forcing his way through, he touched the portal.
The scene in the portal drifted to red waves, rapidly propagating. There was a massive flux of energy, similar to standing in the middle of a lightning storm. Everything went quiet. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the guards, and the techs eyes go wide. The portal rapidly expanded, growing and growing, ballooning from a flat two dimensional hole in reality to a sphere. All with his hand still in it.
On a clear day, lightning started crackling, the other portals shut down, one even doing so while, someone was half way through, cutting them in half.
"What's going o…"
The scene he saw, as the portal imploded was a sea of blood, three bright moons in the sky, and of his friends, as they faded from existence.