Chapter 1 Part 2: The Gate
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Ethan kept his focus on the crystalline frame, still trying to understand something that shouldn’t exist on their property. The black interior didn’t move or shimmer. It did not behave like a shadow or a dark surface. It simply absorbed the light in a steady, unnatural way that made the center feel deeper than it looked.
Abigail nudged him lightly. “We should get closer.”
He shook his head. “Everything about that thing is a warning sign.”
“You say that about half the interesting stuff we find,” she said, though her eyes remained fixed on the frame. “But think about this. Yes, it’s your family’s land, but people wander close all the time. We’re only a few hundred feet from the public trail around the lake. If anyone else finds this before we understand it, the entire county is going to show up.”
That point landed harder than Ethan expected. It was true—plenty of hikers treated the woods as if property lines didn’t matter. Dog walkers, foragers, and the occasional guy pretending to be lost during hunting season drifted through regularly. If anyone stumbled on this thing, secrecy would be gone immediately.
Abigail took a few careful steps toward the frame, and Ethan followed out of pure instinct. Leaving her to investigate something like this alone wasn’t an option.
As they approached, the air shifted. It didn’t change temperature, but it felt denser, like the atmosphere was holding more weight. The sounds of the forest continued—distant birds, a breeze through leaves—but they were muted in a way that made the space around the frame feel set apart from the rest of the ravine.
The crystalline facets caught the light and bent it in ways that didn’t follow normal physics. Shimmering etchings—some sharp, some flowing, some in scripts neither of them recognized—ran along the frame, pulsing faintly like they reacted to the angle of the sun. The black interior remained absolute, swallowing light rather than reflecting it.
Abigail slowed as she reached what felt like a natural stopping point about ten feet out. “It doesn’t reflect anything,” she said. “Not even a distorted image. Whatever that surface is made of, light isn’t bouncing off it at all.”
“Or the surface isn’t really a surface,” Ethan said.
“It still behaves like one,” she replied. She leaned slightly to get a better angle without stepping closer. “I’m getting a few pictures from here.”
“Stay behind this line,” Ethan said, indicating a spot in the leaf litter.
“I know.” She switched her phone to a different camera mode and took several shots before lowering it again. “I’ll check them later. I just want documentation while the lighting is good.”
Ethan stepped beside her. The crystalline frame looked even more unnatural from this distance. The etched symbols glimmered with a slow ripple, as if the writing itself were awake. He couldn’t tell if it was manufactured or grown, but its geometry suggested intention. It didn’t look accidental in any sense.
Before he could say anything else, something changed at the frame.
A faint increase in light occurred along the blue edges. The runes brightened too, a brief synchronized shimmer. It wasn’t dramatic, but it was noticeable. A soft vibration moved through the ground under their boots, steady but not intense.
Abigail stopped moving. “It’s responding to us.”
Ethan watched carefully, waiting for another shift. The glow held for a moment, then faded back to its earlier level. The vibration faded with it.
Abigail lifted her phone again. She zoomed in on the inscriptions, adjusting her angle. “The symbols shift when I move. Not the reflection—the symbols. They’re changing.”
Ethan leaned in slightly, careful not to step closer. Up close, the etchings were even stranger. Some lines were rigid, geometric. Others curled like ink in water. One script had a pulsing quality that made his eyes ache if he focused too long.
“These weren’t carved,” he murmured. “They’re…grown into it.”
Abigail took several more photos—slow, deliberate—then a short video. “If these change later, we need a baseline. And we should look at these on a bigger screen.”
A breeze moved through the ravine again, carrying normal forest noise with it.
Ethan exhaled. “We should check the deer before something else finds it.”
“Yeah.” She lowered her phone but kept her eyes on the frame for one last beat. “And we need to decide what we’re doing with that drop item.”
They backed away together until the pressure in the air eased and the forest sounded normal again. Only then did they turn back toward the deer.
