A/N: Hey there, everybody! It's been a few months since the conclusion of Luan Goes Too Far, and I've been quite busy with a few other stories as well. I'm currently still writing the next chapter of Kim Possible: Dark Future, and I'll be doing a reboot of Relics Of The Past later on, but I've also got a new dark Loud House story here for all of you. Lucy Loud has decided to perform a ritual in her families basement in the hopes of opening a portal to another dimension, and in a stunning turn of events, it actually works. Little does she know just what horrible fate now awaits the human race because of her. I present to you all, "Libera Te Tutemet Ex Inferis". Let the show begin!
Disclaimer: My OC characters are all that I own.
Chapter 1: Lucy's Ritual
Lucy Loud stood in the middle of the basement, pocket knife and grimoire in hand. It was approximately 12:00 AM in the Loud House and Lucy was currently in the process of performing a secret ritual that she read about in her Grandmother Harriet's old grimoire, a ritual that was said to open a portal into another dimension. This dimension was said to be identical to her own universe's dimension, only it was a world teaming with creatures and various other beings that supposedly only existed in fantasy. Of course, being the curious child that Lucy was, (as well as an occult fanatic) she jumped at the chance to locate this dimension.
The grimoire stated that to open a portal into this supposed realm, a special gate opening ritual would have to be performed at midnight on the night of Walpurgis, and it also stated that the one performing the ritual would have to sacrifice a small amount of blood as payment. Lucy had drawn a pentagram on the basement wall in white chalk which would serve as the portal. Sitting next to the wall just below the pentagram were several lit candles which served as the only source of light in the basement. All that was left to do would be to recite the magic words inside the grimoire after spreading a small amount of blood onto the pentagram, then a portal would supposedly open to another dimension. Lucy wasn't sure if this ritual would actually work as many of the rituals she had tried in the past never did. She had attempted to contact the spirits of her family's ancestors many times before, but had never succeeded in doing so. Lucy's other siblings would always criticize her about it, telling her that stuff like black magic and spells were just fantasy and would never work, yet Lucy always ignored them.
She was sometimes considered an oddball by other students in her school, often being called a weirdo for being goth and obsessed with the occult, yet Lucy would simply do her best to ignore them. Yet she couldn't help but feel slightly discouraged and annoyed towards those who mocked her simply for her beliefs and interests. This was why Lucy kept up with her occult and gothic lifestyle, and it was also the reason she continued trying to contact spirits of the dead. She hoped one day to actually succeed and find that one thing people always said was just fantasy. Lucy wanted to prove everyone wrong, wanted to prove that ghosts and spirits truly did exist, yet everyone of her past failed rituals seemed to prove otherwise. It didn't matter to Lucy though; she wasn't one to give up that easily. And after searching through the attic just one month ago, Lucy had discovered the hidden grimoire that was kept under a loose floorboard in a far corner of the attic. It was a midnight black color and had a pentagram embossed on the front cover, and inside it was the name of Lucy's grandmother Harriet. The grimoire had no title, but instead, there was a warning written in faded red ink on the back of the front cover that urged the reader to never attempt performing any of the spells and rituals written in the grimoire. It stated that horrible consequences would befall on not only the Reader, but also the whole world if one were to not heed the books warning.
Now Lucy was never one to believe such nonsense. Although the grimoire clearly had once belonged to Harriet before her passing, Lucy couldn't understand why she'd leave such a warning behind in the grimoire. She wondered if maybe it was Harriet's attempts of trying to scare other readers into leaving the grimoire alone, or for some other reason Lucy had no knowledge of. Regardless, Lucy had ignored the faded warning and began to instead immerse herself in the book's contents, curious as to what was in it that Harriet thought was so dangerous. Throughout the whole month of March, Lucy had studied the grimoire's contents and found that most of it was pretty dark. In fact, it was a lot darker than Lucy had anticipated. Some of the rituals in the books were almost borderline satanic in a way, as some of them involved human sacrifice. One such ritual could supposedly summon a powerful demon that would grant the user unimaginable power for the price of their soul, though summoning such a demon required the sacrifice of a human virgin. This of course was something Lucy would never even consider trying, no matter how serious it made itself out to be. A few of the other rituals in the grimoire were less darker than some of the other ones, most of them involving small sacrifices of one's own blood to perform successfully. One such spell in the grimoire could supposedly make another person do the bidding of the user if they offered up a small drop of blood to the book as payment. Others were low level summoning spells that Lucy planned to try out in the future, but there was one spell that had caught her attention.
It was a spell that could supposedly open a portal to other dimensions, but unlike some of the other spells, it was a spell that would only work if performed in a ritual called "Gate Opening" on Walpurgis Night, April 30th. The ritual required the user to offer up a small amount of blood to the grimoire and the pentagram portal, preferably by pricking one's own finger, and it would only work once the clock struck midnight. This was something that stuck Lucy's curiosity like never before. The idea of other dimensions existing out there, other parallel realities and universes, was fascinating. While something like this wouldn't seem too interesting to the rest of the family except Lisa, Lucy couldn't pass up the chance to try it out. She often fantasized about entering a dimension where dragons and other fantasy creatures roamed, and this furthered her motivation even more. So after reading and studying the grimoire even further, Lucy decided to give the ritual a go on the night of April 30th, and that night had finally arrived. Lucy was ready to recite the spell inside the grimoire, yet there was just one thing left to do. She flipped the grimoire open to the bookmarked page containing the magic words and instructions for the ritual, then flipped open the pocket knife.
"Sigh…. guess I'd better get this part over with quickly" Lucy said in a cringy tone.
The idea of cutting her own finger purposely was a bit unsettling, but Lucy had cut herself a few times by mistake in the past, so she was a bit used to it by this point. Lucy quickly pushed the blade into her thumb and pulled it back quickly, feeling a sharp sting as the blade cut through her skin, producing a tiny amount of blood.
"Heh…. not so bad as I thought" Lucy said with a smirk as she then placed her thumb on a small symbol in the grimoire, leaving a small amount of blood on it.
She then brushed her thumb against the pentagram and left some blood behind on it as well. Once that was over, Lucy began reciting the magic lines in the grimoire.
"Hear my plea, thy gate of dimensions," Lucy began. "Accept thy offering of blood and reveal to me another world. I plea to thy lord of dimensions, open the gate of dimensions and allow thee to pass into your realms beyond this universe".
Lucy then began chanting the gate opening spell in Latin five times in a row, just as the ritual required, then waited for a sign that everything had been done correctly. The grimoire stated that if the ritual was performed correctly, Lucy would feel a gentle breeze blowing in the air, then the pentagram would start glowing blue. Nothing seemed to happen after Lucy finished chanting the spell, at least not at first. Everything was silent with only the hot water heater rumbling softly in the corner. This was the only sound Lucy heard in the basement. When nothing happened after a minute had passed, she figured that this ritual was just another failure like all the other ones in the past and prepared to blow out the candles in defeat, but Lucy wouldn't be one who did that.
As Lucy approached the candles, she felt a gentle breeze blowing through her black hair and quickly looked around for the source, but found none. The basement had no windows, so it was not possible for any wind to be blowing down there, and Lucy had closed the basement door before starting her ritual which would also prevent any breeze from blowing in. The candles suddenly flickered and went out from the wind, leaving Lucy in pitch black darkness. She sighed in frustration and felt around for the stairs and the wall, hoping to find the light switch. However, a few seconds after Lucy began feeling around for the light switch, a faint blue light began emitting from the wall which gently lit the basement up. She turned her head to face the source of the light and nearly jumped back in surprise and shock.
"N-no way!" Lucy exclaimed in awe.
The source of the blue light was none other than the pentagram drawn on the basement wall, and it grew slightly brighter, now lighting up the entire basement. Lucy felt her heart racing with excitement and wonder at the sight of the glowing pentagram. She never thought something like this was even possible. All the rituals Lucy had performed in the past had never worked, and they had all come off as being complete hoaxes, yet this one had been the first and only ritual to ever actually succeed. Lucy's mind raced with thoughts of what amazing new wonders lay on the other side of the portal, what new worlds she'd find, and what other lifeforms lay beyond her universe. Lucy then felt the ground rumble and shake as if an earthquake was shaking the house. The quake lasted about five seconds and then stopped, leaving Lucy a bit confused. She hadn't recalled the grimoire saying an earthquake would occur after completing the ritual, though some parts of the book were written in Latin, so Lucy had a hard time translating those parts. There were a few texts in Latin below the instructions for the ritual Lucy had just performed, but she hadn't translated them yet since she had been so eager to try out the ritual. Lucy made a personal note to do that the next day once she was fully rested up. As for the portal, Lucy didn't know how exactly to close it, which posed another problem. She hadn't exactly expected this ritual to actually work, so she didn't know how to close the portal she had just opened.
"This is gonna be a problem," Lucy muttered. "I gotta close this portal, or the whole family is gonna have a cow over it. I'll reopen it tomorrow night, and maybe I can show the rest of the family that my rituals aren't so useless after all".
She checked the grimoire and wondered if there were any instructions that would tell her how to close the portal, but there didn't seem to be any. Lucy then assumed that maybe the Latin text below the English instructions were the magic words used to close the portal, so she held her hand out towards the portal and chanted the Latin words three times in a row, hoping that would work. Nothing happened though, and Lucy began to worry that the portal wouldn't close. She began to slightly regret performing this ritual as she had no idea how to close the portal. Lucy never thought the portal would even open, so she never considered researching on how to close it, yet she now wished she had.
"Sigh…. this portal won't close. How am I gonna explain this to the whole family tomorrow?" Lucy muttered in defeat.
She gathered up the candles and the grimoire, then headed up the basement stairs, hoping maybe the portal would close on it's own and there'd be no problem. Little did Lucy know that this ritual would bring about a series of events that would make her wish she had never performed it, let alone dabbled in the occult to begin with. Once Lucy was all the way up the stairs and out of the basement, another earthquake hit, but this time it was much bigger and longer than before. The quake was so powerful that it actually caused a few things in the house to tip over. A few lamps in the living room fell off their stands and broke, the coat rack fell over near the front door, and a few of the dishes in the kitchen fell off the counter and shattered into pieces. Lucy grabbed onto the handrail on the stairs as the earthquake shook the entire house like crazy. It lasted for well over two minutes before finally stopping. By the time Lucy made it up to the second floor of the house, she heard some of her sisters talking in panicked voices in their rooms.
"Holy cow, dude! That was a huge earthquake" Luna exclaimed.
"Man, I'm scared stiff" Mr. Coconuts mimed.
"Well, the worst is over" Luan replied.
Lucy quickly rushed into her room where she saw Lynn Jr examining the whole room for any serious damage. She took notice of Lucy once she entered the room and wondered what she was doing up so late at night.
"Hey Lucy, did you just feel that giant earthquake? It knocked some stuff off the shelves and woke me up. Where were you, by the way?" Lynn wondered.
"Um… the restroom" Lucy lied, trying to sound convincing.
"Then why are you carrying that black book with you?" Lynn asked, pointing at the grimoire in Lucy's hands.
Lucy glanced down at the black book in her hands, having briefly forgotten about it.
"I was reading it in the bathroom while doing my business" Lucy replied simply.
"Whatever," Lynn muttered. "You weren't hurt by any chance, were you? Did anything fall on you?".
"No, I'm just a bit rattled" Lucy answered.
"Can't exactly blame you," Lynn replied. "That earthquake was pretty big. I hope everyone else is doing all right".
At that moment, Lynn Sr and Rita came out of their room in their nightgowns, looking panicked.
"Kids, you all right?" Rita called out.
Lisa's door opened and Lisa came out with Lily in her arms, who looked really shaken up from the earthquake.
"Other than being awoken from my slumber, I'd say I'm functioning normally. Lily on the other hand seems a bit shaken up from this unexpected event" Lisa informed.
"Lily scared" Lily said in a trembling voice.
"It would seem the worst is over, my youngest sibling. Though there may be aftershocks we'd best be prepared for" Lisa comforted, rocking Lily back and forth.
A few of the other doors opened and a few of Lisa's other sisters came out looking a bit groggy and shaken up as well. Even Lincoln exited his room looking a bit concerned. A few of the things on his shelves had been knocked off onto the floor when the earthquake struck, and it had woken him up.
"Is everyone alright? That was the biggest earthquake I've ever felt" Lincoln asked his sisters in concern.
"It must have been like a magnitude 12 or something" Lana guessed.
"No, it wasn't. This whole house would have been reduced to rubble if it were that big. It felt more like a magnitude 8 or 9" Luna speculated.
"We're all fine, just shaken up a bit" Lori said.
"I haven't felt an earthquake that strong in like, forever" Leni muttered groggily.
"Can't a comedian get some rest without such a disturbance?" Luan muttered, feeling sleepy.
"Well, at least everyone's all right. That was a pretty big earthquake" Rita said with relief.
"Yeah, can we get back to bed now? A princess like me needs her beauty sleep" Lola asked in a groggy voice.
"Yeah, we just wanted to see if everyone was alright" Lynn Sr replied.
"Well, we're alright, so we're gonna head back to bed now" Lori informed.
"Alright then, sleep tight everyone" Rita said, then headed back to bed.
As everyone headed back to their beds, Lucy lay in her coffin bed, feeling a bit anxious. She was pretty sure it was just an overreaction, but something about that huge earthquake seemed very suspicious. Lucy had no doubt her secret little ritual had been the cause of it, and that was what worried her. The grimoire hadn't said anything about earthquakes occurring after performing a ritual, and then there was that Latin text Lucy had chanted in an attempt to close the portal in the wall. She could only hope and assume that maybe the portal closed itself after leaving the basement, otherwise she was sure there'd be trouble. Lucy was sure her family wouldn't appreciate seeing a portal in the basement leading to whatever dimension it led to.
Though she also wondered if maybe her family knowing about the portal would be such a bad thing. If they saw it, they'd finally see that Lucy wasn't as much of an oddball as they sometimes made her out to be. Little did Lucy know how serious things would soon become for not just her, but the whole world. In the basement, the pentagram had not gone dark, but rather, the glowing light had changed from a radiant blue to a chilling blood red. And from within the pentagram, strange sounds came out from the other side. If anyone had been in the basement, they would have heard the frightening sounds of evil laughter from within the pentagram followed by the sound of screams.
…
…
Lucy awoke to the sound of someone tapping on her coffin bed around 9:00 AM, so she opened it to see Lisa standing next to her bed.
"Why have you awoken me? I enjoy sleeping in on the weekends" Lucy muttered.
"Something has come up that I believe was your doing, and it may possibly be the greatest scientific discovery of my career yet" Lisa informed the young goth.
This instantly caused Lucy to fully awaken, setting up quickly and turning to face Lisa. The goth sibling was now a bit nervous and worried. Lucy was pretty sure that Lisa was referring to the ritual she had performed in the basement many hours ago at midnight, but how did she know? Everyone had been asleep at the time Lucy was in the basement, and they hadn't been made aware of what was going on down there either. Another horrible thought came to Lucy's mind and she remembered the strange blue portal that had opened up in the basement wall. Had the portal closed once she left the basement? Lucy hadn't bothered to check the basement before heading to bed after performing her ritual, so she had only assumed that the portal might have closed itself.
"What did you find?" Lucy asked, trying to hide the uneasiness in her voice.
"I think you already know," Lisa replied. "The whole family already knows about it as well, so there's no hiding it. Lori discovered a glowing red pentagram in the basement chalked on the wall when she went down there to wash her shirts. She informed mom about it and soon the rest of us were made aware of it".
Lucy knew there was no point hiding it any longer, not when the whole family now knew what she had been up to last night. She also wondered why the portal didn't close after chanting those Latin words below the ritual instructions. Lucy hadn't translated those words yet, but she made a personal note to do so right away once she got the time.
"I suppose you're here to praise me for not being so crazy after all?" Lucy asked with a bit of sarcasm.
"No, though I am quite intrigued that one of these rituals of yours actually worked. I never thought that something like this was even scientifically possible, yet you seemed to have proven me wrong" Lisa replied.
"Glad I could impress you" Lucy said with a smirk.
"I wish to have you join me in the basement. I could use your help with this amazing new discovery since you're an expert in occult stuff like this. Mind joining me?" Lisa asked.
"Nothing wrong with that" Lucy replied, climbing out of her coffin bed and stepping onto the floor.
As she followed Lisa out into the hallway, Lucy wondered if any of her family members had possibly entered the portal in the basement, or if anything might have come out of it. That was another thing that bothered Lucy. She had no idea where this portal led to, nor did she know what unknown lifeforms might be on the other side. If there were lifeforms, would they be hostile or friendly? There was still much that Lucy didn't know about, and that made her a bit nervous. The fear of the unknown was something that even Lucy sometimes feared despite being heavily into dark stuff like the occult.
"Did anyone by chance walk into the portal while I was still asleep?" Lucy asked Lisa.
"A portal? Is that what that thing is? Where does it lead to?" Lisa replied, sounding confused.
"I thought you already knew, or assumed since you're the most intelligent sibling in the family" Lucy shrugged.
"No, I wasn't aware of it until you mentioned it just now," Lisa replied, stepping down the stairs. "So this portal, do you know where it leads?".
"Not yet, but the grimoire I read explained that the ritual I performed at midnight would open a portal to another reality," Lucy replied. "I didn't think it would actually succeed".
"Nor did I," Lisa said. "I was never that much a believer in such practices, as science is my preferred practice, but something like this definitely requires study".
"Do you plan to enter the portal yourself?" Lucy asked, a bit worried.
"No, if this truly is a portal to another dimension or reality, I'd advise against entering it. We don't know where it leads or what might be on the other side. There's no telling what dangers may lurk beyond that portal" Lisa replied.
"Then what do we do about it?" Lucy wondered.
"I thought you knew since it was you who performed that ritual to begin with" Lisa inquired.
"I thought the portal would close on its own, and I didn't think the ritual would even work to begin with. All the other rituals I performed in the past failed, so I assumed this one wouldn't be successful either" Lucy replied.
"Then that may pose a problem," Lisa said as the two of them reached the first floor. "As I said before, we don't know where this portal leads or what might be on the other side, and we don't know what might come out of it either. If there are hostile lifeforms beyond that portal, it may pose a danger to not just the family, but the rest of the world as well. Something like this has never happened nor been recorded in history, so we've yet to learn just what other lifeforms lurk beyond our reality and what they're capable of".
"You make it sound like there might be hostile aliens beyond that portal" Lucy commented.
"I didn't say aliens," Lisa replied skeptically. "My point is we don't know what it is we're dealing with here, so we can't just rush ahead without thinking first, and we certainly can't enter that portal until we know where it leads and what might be beyond it".
"How do we do that if nobody enters it?" Lucy asked curiously.
"I designed a special probe drone about two weeks ago that I planned to send into Earth's orbit which would record footage of deep space and our other planets in our solar system. With a few modifications, I can send the probe through the portal to record both visual and audio footage of what lays beyond the portal. I've already called up a few of my colleagues at the Royal Woods science institute to assist me, and Dr. J will be with them. They've agreed to help me gather intel obtained by the probe that I'll be sending through the portal" Lisa explained.
"Science was never really my thing, but that sounds rather intriguing. I've always been curious as to what other worlds lay beyond our own world, so that's why I performed that ritual in the first place" Lucy commented.
"Speaking of which, I took the liberty of borrowing that grimoire of yours while you were asleep. I want to translate some of the Latin texts in it to better understand how this portal works. It's clear that this book possesses power that I didn't honestly believe existed until now, and I want to be prepared in case something goes wrong" Lisa informed.
"What could go wrong?" Lucy asked.
"That's just it, I don't know. This is like completely uncharted territory for me, and possibly the rest of humanity. We don't know what's on the other side of this portal, or what could potentially come out of it, so I want to study that black book of yours so that I may better understand just what type of powers we're dealing were" Lisa answered in a more serious tone.
"Good point there" Lucy replied.
The two of them finally reached the basement door and walked down the steps leading into the basement. Once Lisa and Lucy entered, they found their parents and siblings all gazing at the portal in awe and wonder, but Lucy then noticed something unsettling. The portal was no longer glowing blue like last night. It was now glowing red, and this made Lucy slightly nervous for some reason.
"Weird, the portal was blue when I opened it, not red" Lucy pointed out, a bit unsettled.
"I'm surprised you don't know why, considering the fact you're an expert with this kind of stuff" Lisa commented with a hint of sarcasm.
"Lisa, I said before that I had no idea this ritual would even work, so it's not like I have the answer to everything" Lucy replied in an annoyed tone.
"Then that may pose a problem," Lisa said. "We'll need to find a way to close that portal when the time comes, or there will be trouble no doubt".
The two of them finally headed down the basement stairs and into the basement where Rita, Lynn Sr, and the other Loud siblings gazed at the glowing red portal on the basement wall. Lily began walking towards it, but Rita quickly stopped her before she got too close to it.
"I have returned with Lucy," Lisa announced. "Has anything strange happened with this portal while I was absent from the basement?".
The family turned their attention to Lisa and Lucy.
"Oh, Lisa. Your back" Lynn Sr replied.
"No, everything's normal, except Lily tried walking into it a few times" Rita informed.
"I'd advise all of you to not enter the portal at any time until it's been properly studied. I've called up my colleagues from the science institute to assist me in studying the portal in a much safer way" Lisa replied.
"Uh, how exactly do you plan to study it without going inside?" Luna asked in confusion.
"I've built a probe that was originally going to be used for observing the stars from Earth's orbit, however, I've modified it to record footage from inside this portal, both visual and audio. I want to observe what other worlds may lay beyond this portal" Lisa replied.
"You think it leads to some alternate reality where history went differently than our own?" Lincoln wondered.
"I don't know, bro. That red glow is giving me bad vibes" Lynn Jr objected, glancing at the pentagram's chilling red glow.
"You're telling me," Lola added. "For some reason, that thing's giving me the creeps. There's no way I'm stepping through it".
"I still can't believe this is even happening. I never thought something like this was even possible" Lori said, gazing at the glowing pentagram in disbelief.
"I got a bad feeling about this thing. Something tells me that whatever's on the other side might not be so friendly" Leni replied, looking uncomfortably at the portal.
"That might be the case, or maybe not. We don't know for sure," Lisa said. "Trust me, I'm just as curious and uneasy about this as the rest of you are. I didn't think that forces like this even existed until now, and until we know exactly what we're dealing with, we need to be alert at all times".
"I always knew Lucy was gonna go and do something stupid like this. What if something bad happens?" Lola scoffed.
"Lucy was not aware that this ritual of hers would actually work, so let's not be so harsh on her" Lisa scolded.
"Really Lisa? Does Lucy even know how to close this thing?" Lola questioned with an eyebrow raised.
"Good point there" Lana agreed.
Everyone glanced at Lucy, who now looked nervous.
"I… I don't know how to do that yet, but Lisa said she'd help me translate some of the Latin text in the grimoire to hopefully find a way to close the portal" Lucy said nervously.
"What?! You mean to tell us you performed that ritual without even knowing how to close the portal?!" Lynn Jr exclaimed in shock.
"Risky move on your part, dude" Lana grimaced.
"Guys, must I continue repeating what I said before?! Lucy didn't know the ritual would work, so stop being so hard on her," Lisa snapped. "We'll figure out how to close the portal later, but for now, I want to observe what's on the other side of it. Despite this being a completely unexpected event, it's still possibly the greatest discovery in the history of humanity, and I want to take this opportunity to study it to the fullest".
"You sure you know what you're doing, Lisa? I mean, with this probe you designed and all" Rita asked.
"I can assure you that I know full well what I'm doing. Once my colleagues arrive, we'll begin preparations to send the probe through the portal, but we'll need to set up some special equipment in the basement to properly record the footage from the probe and to ensure the probe's signal can be received beyond dimensions" Lisa explained.
"You think there might be scary monsters in there?" Lola asked nervously.
"There might be," Lucy answered. "If there are vampire's in there, I'll gladly enter the portal".
"No ones entering that portal until I'm positive that it's safe," Lisa reminded her. "I'm sure you'd be ecstatic to meet some vampire's, but there's no way of knowing what exactly lies beyond the portal until I send the probe through".
"I'm aware of that" Lucy replied.
Just then, Lisa felt her cell phone vibrate inside her pants pocket, so she pulled it out and checked it; it was Dr. J. She had sent a text to Lisa saying that she and her two assistants would soon arrive in a few minutes.
"Good news, my assistants will be arriving in a bit to assist me with the probe. I'll need quite a bit of space in the basement for this project" Lisa informed her family.
"I just hope they don't go turning the whole basement into a science center" Rita said worriedly.
"I doubt that'll be necessary," Lisa replied. "We'll only be bringing in what we need, so I doubt converting the basement into a science center will be necessary".
"That's a relief" Lynn Sr replied.
"Yes, now I must prepare the probe so that it may be ready when my assistants arrive" Lisa replied, then headed up the stairs to her room where the probe lay.
Once inside her room, Lisa walked over to a space near Lily's crib where a large object covered by a white sheet lay. She pulled it off to reveal a large metal object resembling a Mars rover with multiple cameras and metal robotic arms attached to it; it was the probe. Lisa had modified it with war tank treads which would allow the probe to move across rough and rugged terrain, and it's hull was modified with a special heat shield that could handle up to ten million degrees. The camera's also had microphones built into them that could also capture audio, along with night vision and heat vision. Lisa was fully prepared to send this probe out on its first mission ever, and into a place she never thought possible until now. While she had never really believed in the supernatural or the paranormal, what Lucy had done the other night proved that some of Lisa's beliefs regarding these subjects weren't as fantasy as other people usually put it.
However, despite this being an amazing discovery, Lisa was worried about a few facts that she'd yet to acknowledge. For one, Lucy had used a grimoire containing spells and rituals that Lisa had yet to understand or study, and secondly, the Latin lines Lucy had chanted below the instructions for the ritual she performed had not yet been translated. Lisa knew for a fact that she'd need to study that grimoire the moment she got the time in order to fully understand just what forces humanity was dealing with. The fact that Lucy had no idea what she had been doing really worried Lisa, because if this portal ended up leading somewhere dangerous or hostile, her whole family and possibly the rest of the human race could be in terrible danger. Lisa hadn't considered the fact that something on the other side of the portal might decide to come out into their world, but she wasn't about to take any chances. Lisa had ordered her colleagues to bring weapons in their van in case something hostile on the other side came out to attack them and her family. She also equipped the probe with defensive systems as well in case some other hostile lifeform chose to attack it. The probe had both a front and aft laser gun attached to it that could be controlled by Lisa herself if the need arose, yet she hoped things wouldn't come to that. As Lisa glanced at the grimoire on her desk, she wondered just what dark secrets it contained, and she also wondered what she'd see on the other side of the portal. Little did she know about the terrible dark times that lay just ahead...
A/N: That's a wrap for the first chapter. Just what do you think lies on the other side of the portal, and just what did that Latin text really mean? You'll find out in the next chapter, so stay tuned!