WHEEE-OOO-WHEEE-OOO!
Blinding crimson emergency strobes flashed rhythmically across the vaulted ceiling of Gate Training Facility 7. The harsh, mechanical wail of the facility-wide klaxons echoed through the corridors.
"Gate Zone Two has undergone spontaneous dimensional destabilization. Interior mana density has spiked by three hundred percent. Reclassification in progress: One-Star Loop Gate upgraded to Two-Star Loop Gate. All non-essential personnel are instructed to evacuate the staging platform immediately."
Up on the glass-paneled observation deck, Commander James Maddox stood in rigid silence.
His hands remained buried in the pockets, but the playful slouch that usually defined his posture had left him. His youthful face was set in a cold, hard line, and his brown eyes narrowed into slits as he watched the bruised-purple vortex of Zone 2 expand and twist like an agitated beast behind the reinforced stasis barrier.
A Two-Star Loop Gate.
