"One minute twenty seconds!" Master Vex's voice carried across the corpse-field. "Everyone through now!"

The Lieutenant's advance team reached the portal first, diving through without hesitation. The rescued students followed, stumbling through the dimensional breach with the desperate relief of people who'd thought they'd never see home again.

The two soldiers bringing up the rear were fifteen seconds behind, dragging one student who'd finally collapsed from exhaustion. Ten seconds from the portal. Five.

A Void Stalker phased from shadow directly in their path.

The creature's claws swept toward the collapsed student, shadow-corruption already manifesting for the killing strike. One of the soldiers threw herself between them, taking the hit meant for the girl. Shadow-tainted claws punched through her armor, and she screamed as corruption began spreading from the wound.

Her partner didn't hesitate. He grabbed both the wounded soldier and the collapsed student, his earth manipulation propelling all three toward the portal in a desperate lunge that cost every remaining essence point he possessed.

They crashed through the breach, tumbling onto Academy stone. Behind them, the Void Stalker surged forward, multiple eyes blazing with hunger as it reached for the dimensional threshold

Leo and Hestian's combined barrier snapped into existence despite their depleted state, pure Master-ranked will given temporary form. The Stalker's claws struck the construct and stopped, held back for the critical second needed for Master Vex to collapse the portal.

But the portal didn't close.

Master Vex's essence flared, dimensional manipulation techniques weaving through the breach's structure, trying to force reality to seal itself. The portal flickered, wavered, began to contract then stabilized again, resisting his control.

"It's not responding!" Vex's voice carried an edge of panic he rarely showed. "The rift is interfering with the closure protocols!"

The Void Stalker pressed against Leo and Hestian's barrier, shadow-corruption eating at the construct. Behind it, more shapes were moving in the crimson darkness drawn by the commotion, by the scent of prey so tantalizingly close.

"Everyone back from the threshold!" Vex commanded, sweat beading on his forehead as he poured more essence into his attempts. "If it breaks through "

The Stalker's eyes blazed with predatory intelligence. It could sense the barrier weakening, could feel the dimensional breach remaining open despite all attempts to seal it. With a sound like ripping fabric, it lunged forward, pushing through the barrier's remnants, reaching toward the portal's edge.

Its claws touched the threshold.

For one terrible moment, everyone thought it would cross. Thought the creature would breach into Academy grounds, bringing nightmare into sanctuary.

Then the Stalker's body simply dispersed.

Not violently. Not explosively. It just came apart, dissolving into motes of shadow-essence that scattered into nothing. The creature didn't even have time to scream one instant it existed, reaching through the portal, and the next it was gone as if it had never been.

The sudden silence was more shocking than any death scream would have been.

"What " someone started.

"The rift hasn't activated for cross-dimensional transit," Professor Harold's voice cut through the confusion. He'd been monitoring from the medical station, his expertise in dimensional theory suddenly relevant. "The portal is one-way right now stable enough to let our people through from that side, but not calibrated to allow anything from that realm to enter ours. Any beast trying to cross gets caught between dimensional states and disperses."

Behind the dissolved Stalker, more creatures had reached the portal's edge. A Razorback Prowler, driven by hunger and the sight of prey, lunged at the threshold.

It dispersed exactly like the Stalker, body breaking apart into essence particles that faded into nothing.

"They can't cross," Leo breathed, still on his knees from exhaustion. "The portal won't let them."

"But we can't close it either," Vex replied grimly, his hands still weaving unsuccessful closure patterns. "Whatever's is going on in that realm is preventing me from sealing the breach. It's like trying to close a door while an earthquake shakes the frame."

More beasts were approaching now, drawn by instinct despite watching their kin dissolve. The portal had become a killing ground creatures reaching for prey they could sense but never touch, dying instantly in their attempts to cross.

"How long until you can close it?" The Lieutenant asked.

Vex's jaw tightened. "The realm is still collapsing. Could be hours. Could be days. As long as that dimensional instability continues, the portal will resist closure."

"Then we guard it," Leo said, forcing himself to stand despite his exhaustion. "We keep watch, make sure nothing unexpected happens, until the realm finishes dying and Vex can seal the breach properly."

The wounded soldier the one who'd taken the hit meant for a student collapsed as medics swarmed her position. Shadow corruption was spreading through her essence channels, but they were home, with Academy resources, with Professor Harold's healing abilities.

She'd live.

They'd all live.

The Lieutenant remained on his knees, trembling with exhaustion and relief. Six students who would have died, who'd been waiting in that nightmare realm for rescue that shouldn't have come, were home. The mission parameters had been impossible, the window impossibly tight, but they'd done it.

Leo and Hestian finally moved away from the threshold, their legs shaking but holding. Medical personnel waited nearby, ready to treat two Master-ranked fighters who'd pushed far beyond safe limits.

Through the chaos of medical triage and survivor processing, the Lieutenant met Leo's exhausted gaze.

No words were necessary. The look said everything: 'Thank you for trusting us. Thank you for giving us the chance to bring them home.'

Leo managed a slight nod before letting the medics guide him away from the portal that shimmer of alien reality that remained stubbornly open, a wound in space that would need time to heal.

Fifty-two students had been rescued from a dimensional rift that should have killed them all. Against every tactical projection, every probability assessment, they'd made it home.

Not all of them. Not even most of them.

But fifty-two more than anyone had dared hope for three days ago when the rift had first consumed them.

In a disaster that had seemed absolute, they'd salvaged something that looked almost like victory.

Almost.

And now they would wait, guarding a portal that couldn't be closed, watching as desperate beasts threw themselves at a threshold that meant only dissolution, until the dying realm finally released its grip on reality and let them seal the wound properly.

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