A young yeoman lieutenant rapped sharply on the office door before him, a heavy stack of files tucked snugly under his arm. He stood still until the command to enter rang out from within.
"Commander Solstrum?" Pushing open the door, he stood at attention and waited for further orders from his commanding officer.
The commander glanced up at him from behind her dark wood desk. "At ease Lieutenant Cairn."
Gesturing to the pile under his arm, the lieutenant replied, "I have the files you requested ma'am."
"Bring them with you, Lieutenant, and follow me." The commander rose from her chair and moved around the desk towards the door.
"Yes ma'am."
The commander led the way out of her office through the twisting hallways of the Dei Portali Headquarters, nodding her head to the dozens of colleagues that greeted them on their way. The headquarters acted as a hub, a border-crossing station that connected all the gateways between the worlds. Every portal to anywhere first led the traveller through the monitoring station where the doorways converged. Travellers passed through security check points to declare their destination and the duration of their stay there. The Dei Portali's entire purpose was to monitor the operation and usages of the gateways; protecting the doorways between worlds from those who would exploit them and their inhabitants.
As they walked, the lieutenant snuck a glance down a dimly lit corridor lined with archways, each framed by strange carvings. The Gateway hall was restricted only to those who were given the task of guarding a particular gateway. Becoming a guardian took many years of dedicated and exemplary service, and Lieutenant Hermes Cairn hoped to demonstrate just that during his career. Turning to face forward, his eye caught a tiny flash of light. He whipped his head back to try and get a better look, and paused. Seeing nothing he shrugged, and double-timed to catch up with the commander's swift stride.
Inuyasha's feet flew across the packed dirt road below, his hands clasping Kagome's knees close as the group chased down a fleeing demon. Miroku, Sango, and Shippo rode above on Kirara's back trying to sight their most recent quarry. They had been following a jewel shard rumour to a small village when a large lizard demon crashed into the group. Inuyasha barely had time to draw the Tessaiga when Kagome pointed out the cluster of shards imbedded in the lizard's head. The demon turned and raced back into the woods drawing the group into the wild goose chase they were currently on.
"Kagome, can you still sense the shards?" called Miroku.
"They're straight ahead, but getting fainter." She replied.
"Keh, thinks he can get away from us does he?" Inuyasha smirked and picked up the pace, leaving Kirara behind. His keen nose picked up the scent of the lizard and his feet followed the change in direction smoothly. The mouth of a darkened cave appeared before them out of the trees.
"You think it went in there?" Kagome asked as Inuyasha set her on her feet. She quickly ran her fingers through her windblown hair and smoothed out the wrinkles in her skirt and top.
"Not too smart if he thinks he can hide from me!" Inuyasha started forward only to be stopped by a hand on the sleeve of his haori.
"Hold on Yash, we shouldn't go in there by ourselves." Kagome said as she glanced warily at the cave's low entrance.
"Keh, come on Kagome, you ain't scared are ya?"
"Course not! I just think we should wait for Miroku and Sango to catch up to us before we go snooping around a strange cave."
"Kirara will be able to smell where we went, now come on." Kagome reluctantly followed Inuyasha, drawing her bow and readying and arrow, just in case.
The sudden darkness of the cave made her stop short and blink, trying to adjust to the low light. She reached her hand forward to grope along the walls. She tripped over the uneven ground and flung her hands out before her to stop her fall, only to land in warm, red-clad arms.
"Keh, clumsy wench." Came a soft voice above her. Helping Kagome right herself, Inuyasha scooped up the bow and arrow she had dropped moments before. "You'd better hang on to my back so you don't get lost."
Kagome hoped the darkness covered the light blush being in his arms put on her face as she accepted her bow and grasped onto the back of his firerat. Inuyasha turned forward and felt his face warm at the tug of her hand at his back as he moved forward, guiding the trusting young woman into the depths of the cave.
Stopping before the dark stained oak doors of the main boardroom, the commander smoothed the front of her regulation lavender tunic and twitched her bronze girdle into its proper place. She smoothed the wrinkles from her linen breeches before laying her hand lightly on the top of the service dagger at her hip; a copper-hilted blade with a wicked edge. The meeting room buzzed with low conversation as the commander pushed the double doors wide and strode towards her seat to the left of the head of the long table. The lieutenant set the stack of files in front of the commander, then moved to take up his spot at attention behind her chair. Conversation flowed around her as the commander sorted through the pile before her, setting each in the prescribed order of business for this meeting. The double doors swung open and the entire company rose to their feet and saluted as the Dei Portali's commander-in-chief, General Orion Musei, took his seat.
"Be seated," came the clipped command. The scraping of chairs and shuffling of papers filled the silence left in the wake of the general's arrival.
"Commander Solstrum, what is the first order of business?"
The commander rose from her seat and opened the first file she had selected. "Sir, a motion to extend to the prescribed operation of portal M53, a.k.a. "Bone Eater's Well."
"What is the current schedule for cessation of operation for this portal?"
"Operation is to cease subject to immediate completion of the user's task."
Captain Sabian Nixra stood up from his seat midway down the table. "Commander, why is there no fixed time for the cessation of operation? Dei Portali's policy has always been to have strictly structured timelines for any short-term portal to avoid the risk of losing control over the gateways."
"The opponent of the user of M53 has not operated in any readily predicable way, and the object of power is currently in several hundred pieces. There are too many variables to chance setting a specific time for closing the gateway without risking that the user's task will remain incomplete. This opponent's continued operation is highly undesirable. If the object of power falls fully into his control, there is great probability that he will learn of the gateways and attempt to gain control." the commander stated as the assembly nodded along.
Major Tobias Casern stood and turned towards the head of the table. "If there is no set timeline for the closure of M53, why is the motion to extend necessary? This seems to be an irrelevant question."
The commander's mouth tightened slightly as a low throb began at the base of her neck and she rubbed at the spot as she replied. "The motion is to determine whether we will close the gateway immediately upon the destruction of the opponent or whether we give the user the choice of where she wishes to stay."
"And since when was the operation of a gateway ever left in the hands of the user?" came the major's terse reply. "Commander, this motion will set a dangerous precedent for the operation of the other gateways!"
"M53 is already setting a precedent." came the soft voice of Major-General Stella Solstrum. All eyes focused on the Major-General; she rarely spoke at these meetings, but when she did everyone listened carefully. "This is the only gateway which breeches time. The user will have absolutely no recourse to choose for her self where she will want to be once the gate is closed. All the other short-term gateways merely act as specialized paths between worlds. A user of these has only to pass through our regular system to re-enter a world once that gateway closes. When we seal M53 the action will be permanent. "
"And on that note, why have we even permitted a human to utilize anygateway in the first place? These portals are supposed to be reserved for the immortals!" Casern shot back.
"Clotho wove this fate for the user, and Nomos and Dike approved the operation centuries ago. Do you propose to challenge the gods themselves, Major?" She coolly replied.
The General forestalled any further debate on the user and redirected the meeting towards the tabled motion. "The point of this meeting, ladies and gentlemen, is not whether the girl may use the gateway, but whether we will allow her the choice of remaining in the past or returning to the future once her task is fulfilled."
Pain flared again behind the commander's eyes and her stomach rolled dangerously. Damn, she thought worriedly, something's up the seals on Gate 3. This meeting had better be done fast!
"I move that the this council send a representative to gather further intelligence on the user and the situation before any motion is made to put such power in the hands of a mere human." Nixra stood again as he tabled his motion.
"Any seconders?" inquired the General.
"I second that." Called a corporal.
"All in favour?"
All the hands in the room raised at this. The General eyed the group. "Motion Carried. Major Casern you will organize a small party to observe the user on both sides of the gateway and report back to this council."
Any further discussion was forestalled by the hurried entrance of a young sergeant babbling about lights in the Gateway Hall. General Musei erupted from his chair to rip a strip of the panting sergeant as the commander fought back growing nausea and stabbing pain racing down her neck from behind her eyes.
"Sergeant! What is the meaning of this!?"
"Forgive the interruption sir, but there is a disturbance in the Gateway Hall. The Madra portal is active without permission sir!"
The general snapped his angry eyes to the now sweating commander. "Solstrum, why did you not investigate this before! As the Guardian of Madra, you should have been aware of this before now!"
The commander lurched from her seat to reply only to black out as the wards on the gateway to Madra tore further.