My Wicked Schemes System

23. Trapped

Clara and Benoni emerged from the indigo portal, 25 kilometers away from the slave establishment, stunned by the sudden change in their surroundings. The transition was jarring, as if they had left one world and entered another entirely.

The air in this new place was different, thicker and more humid, and the warm sand beneath their feet felt like they had arrived in a desert.

"What happened?" Clara asked, brushing off the sand from her clothes after the fall from the portal. The last thing she remembered was being pulled into that "dark hole," and now she found herself in an unknown world.

"Where are we?" She turned and looked up. The sky above them was streaked with deep oranges and gray clouds, casting an otherworldly glow on the landscape.

"I think we went through a portal. This is what I've been trying to create my whole life, and finally, I've done it!" Benoni rambled. "I created a teleportation device!"

"Wait," Clara sputtered. "You did what?"

"Yes, I created a teleportation dev