High Octane Action

Now, around 15 minutes have passed since the voices moved away from her. Milena figured out that this was no Sentient lair, but more possibly, inhabited by corrupt Symbiotes. If there was indeed a Sentient present, she would have been found almost immediately, as Sentients have omniscience over their own residing realities. Her chances of survival are now a fair 50%.

In this scenario, Milena knew that a reality portal must be present. Symbiotes had no control over realities, and had to use portals constructed either through chaos tech or by others who have abilities.

Brushing dirt off her clothes, Milena rises off the ground and goes into a crouch, scanning her surroundings.

Pocket realities where Symbiotes reside are often created by Sentients and abandoned. These Symbiotes who chance upon these cursed realities are often bandit groups seeking to recover any chaos tech for their own personal use.

A purple glow softly radiates through the sky from a distance. A neon purple line faintly extrudes from the ground and shards of prismatic glass appear and disappear around this line.

Yes, that was it. Milena blessed her lucky stars. In her crouched stance, Milena hurriedly rushed over in the direction of the portal, looking for a way out.

The cornfields rustle with activity against a howling wind. The bright moon reigns supreme over the land.

As Milena nears the portal, she notices that it is a large ancient looking circular stone structure, nestled into the center of a small fort ruin. On the fort walls, a bandit guard holding a primitive looking flame torch patrols the perimeter. A crackling campfire lit the interior of the ruined fort, as three guards sat around nursing a drink.

Bingo. This must be it.

If she can take out the guards patrolling above, she only has to face the three bandits below after that. By the looks of it, these bandits around the campfire didn't look like half a threat, being nearly dead drunk. Then the portal was all hers.

The still crisp night air invigorated Milena as she drew a sharp breath.

For the first time since potentiation began, Milena felt a sense of calm confidence. The kind where you know you are gonna crush it.

Sneaking up the exterior of the 10 meter tall fort wall with a series of nimble jumps, Milena positioned herself below the parapet near the edge of the wall. Her grip was tired and she struggled to cling on in this awkward position. Now, all she had to do was wait for the guard to walk past and drag him off the walls.

Thud…thud…thud…

The bandit guard's footsteps echoed through the quiet night, approaching Milena's position by the moment.

Three…two…one!

Milena leapt up over the parapet and swung herself behind the bandit. Grabbing his head, she lowers her center of gravity, before deftly sweeping her legs into the bandit's leg with a wide arc. Having realized what happened, the bandit twists around as he is being attacked and unsheathes his sword. The neon blue blade revealed itself as flames from the torch casted disturbing shadows that danced across it. But it was too late for him. With an expertly placed shoved, man, sword and torch went flying over the fort walls.

AHHHHH!...Thud. Snap.

The rocks below mercilessly snap the spine of the bandit into a grotesque sight.

Milena moves forward down the fort stairs towards the campfire. Three more to go.

"Oi you! Die!" one of the bandits screamed as he rose from his seat and advanced towards Milena.

The other two stood up groggily and followed suit.

MIlena lowered her head and broke out into a sprint towards the first bandit. As she approached him, Milena drove her legs into the ground before leaping into the air and aiming her sights on the bandit.

SLAM.

Milena swung her fist in mid air and the full force of her body's momentum connected with the first bandit instantly knocking him out.

Immediately, the second bandit took a wild haymaker swing at Milena's head.

Pfft. Amateurs.

Milena ducked under the slow wide swing and leaned to her left. Stepping in to close the distance, Milena threw her left fist in a diagonal left hook that smashed into the skull of the second bandit. Blood spurted out as her knuckles followed through with the punch, grazing the eyelid of the bandit, tearing skin from flesh. Another knockout.

The third bandit turned and ran back towards the campfire, in an attempt to pick up his weapon, a sharp dagger made of purple metal.

Dashing after him, Milena did not let up a single beat to the pace of her attack.

Catching up with the last bandit, Milena slipped her forearm in front of the bandit's neck before settling his head snugly into the groove of her right elbow. Grabbing on to his head with her other hand, Milena wrapped her legs around the torso of the bandit as both came crashing to the ground.

"Ughhhh….UGHHH!", the bandit struggled for air.

Milena squeezed her elbow and tightened her grip further, as the bandit's frantic leg kicks started to relax and soon, his body slumped over.

Three down.

Milena heaves a sigh of relief. That was intense. Manageable but still…it was her first intense fight in real life.

Standing up, Milena walks towards the portal and starts inspecting it.

In Synthesia Academy, the instructors often taught trainees that relics of chaos are often best approached with caution. Chaos is unpredictable and when uncontrolled, often spirals into a disastrous phenomena that consumes whole realities.

However, an experienced Afferent also knows that when used right, chaos is an extremely powerful tool.

Chaos on its own has no association with good or bad. It is a natural part of the world, a counterweight to the structure of Order. Is it even theorized that at the beginning of time, it was Order which created the architecture of all realities, but it was Chaos which gave them life. This is why no two lives are the same, and a small difference in starting point between two lives spirals into a series of large differences later on. This condition is called "sensitivity to initial conditions".

Milena steps closer cautiously as she looks for a mechanism to activate the portal. A large stone structure, the portal consists of a stone pole floating above a circle stone structure from the ground up, about waist level high. Around the rotating pole, prisms of light fracture and then recombine sporadically, all the while a purple neon beam shoots from the top of the pole into the sky, casting a vibrant hue over the stars in the sky.

"Hmmm…I have never seen a portal like this before in any reference text…. Maybe I should just connect with it physically and see if I can channel any chaotic energy to open the portal" Milena thought to herself.

Placing the palms of her hand gingerly on the smooth stone base, Milena looks intently at the portal structure, hoping for a reaction.

That's when she saw it.

Two large eyes in the base of the structure staring at her.

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