Chap 2

Do you have ANY idea how much trouble you've caused, Dan?!"

Dan stood in a small room inside the castle, facing his furious teacher.

"Well, technically, the cannon caused the trouble. I merely introduced them."

"THIS IS NOT A JOKE!"

"Agreed. The cannon's delivery was terrible. No warning, no appointment, just straight to the tower."

The teacher took a deep breath.

"Stay here. I need to speak with the headmaster. And DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING!"

She stormed out and slammed the door.

Dan looked around the room.

He put his hands in his pockets.

"Finally. Some peace and quiet."

The door opened again.

Except it wasn't the teacher.

It was Golia Hearth.

The bully leaned against the doorway, wearing the sort of grin that made people want to install a door between themselves and him.

"Well, well, well. Look who's finally made himself useful."

Dan sighed.

"Oh, great. The human headache has arrived."

Golia laughed.

"You destroyed a tower with a cannon! How stupid can you possibly be?"

Dan shrugged.

"I don't know. You've been studying me for years. You tell me."

Golia's smile faded.

"Keep talking, Xarek."

"Gladly. It's nice to have an audience with such low standards."

Golia stepped closer.

"You think you're funny because you make people laugh?"

"No. I think I'm funny because I make people laugh. The fact that you don't understand the difference is a separate tragedy."

Golia clenched his fists.

"You're such a—"

WHOOOOOOOOOM.

Both boys froze.

A strange noise vibrated through the room.

Behind Dan, the air began to distort.

A tiny blue dot appeared in midair.

Then it expanded.

A perfect circle opened in the space between the stone walls, its edges glowing with shifting blue and purple light. Tiny square particles burst from its circumference, scattering like digital fragments breaking away from reality itself.

It wasn't a window.

It wasn't a mirror.

It was a hole in the universe.

Dan slowly turned around.

"...Okay. That's new."

Golia took a step backwards.

"What the hell is THAT?!"

Dan tilted his head.

"Either a portal to another dimension or the school's new Wi-Fi router."

The circle suddenly grew larger.

The square particles accelerated, spiralling around its edges.

Then the portal began pulling everything towards it.

Loose papers flew across the room.

A chair scraped violently over the stone floor.

Golia grabbed the doorframe.

"DAN! DO SOMETHING!"

Dan grabbed the edge of a table.

"WHY ME?! YOU'RE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO GET CLOSER TO ME!"

"LET GO OF THE TABLE AND HELP ME!"

"THIS IS WHY I DON'T DO GROUP PROJECTS!"

The table slid towards the portal.

Dan's fingers slipped.

For a split second, he hung in the air, his black hoodie flapping wildly as the strange circle swallowed the room's light.

He looked straight at Golia.

"Hey, Hearth!"

"WHAT?!"

Dan managed one final grin.

"Looks like I'm about to make a quantum leap in my education!"

FWOOOOOOOOOOSH!

The portal swallowed him whole.

His voice echoed through the room as he vanished.

"AND IF I DON'T COME BACK, TELL MY MUM I WANT A REFUND ON THIS SCHOOL!"

The circle snapped shut.

Silence.

The square particles disappeared.

The air became perfectly still.

Golia remained frozen against the doorframe, staring at the empty space where Dan had been.

For the first time in his life, he had absolutely nothing to say.

Then, somewhere deep inside the castle, a distant bell rang.

Once.

And a mysterious voice whispered from nowhere:

"Subject acquired."

Golia swallowed.

"...I'm telling the teacher."

And for once, he wasn't even joking.