The space-time continuum was falling apart and there was no way to go but upwards into a large spiral-shaped rift that opened up!
Along the edges of the rift, the spiral was blue but as people went further into the rift, the colors shifted to green, yellow, orange and then red in the center. It was a dizzying experience being hurtled around the rift like an inescapable spinning ride, or like coins that skate along a large bowl, spiraling around the inside of it, getting closer to the center with each lap that gets smaller and faster until it ultimately falls into the hole in the middle.
When everyone was sucked in to the center of the rift, its spiral shrunk starting from the rim to the center and space-time faded into darkness.
"Please wait while the space-time continuum reboots. Resorting backup in-progress" A message read. All life was suspended in a state of nonexistence yet still conscious. It wasn't for long. It was only for a few minutes but could've left like years!
Then there was a flash of light, and countless glowing crystals of various colors and patterns flew past the people suspended in space-time. Upon a closer look when someone had the opportunity to see it, the crystals were rounded with an oval-shape and had gear teeth-shapes along their edges.
While the group was stuck in this suspended state, they were also stuck hearing each others' bickering!
"Awww! I want to collect those, but I can't move!"
"Are we forever stuck in a glitch world?!"
"I don't want to be stuck with you!"
"Where are we? Something's happening!"
"Will someone turn on the lights?"
"Be patient. Space-time is re-loading!"
Their surroundings turned to a bright blue sky with white clouds.
"Oh noooooooo!" Someone shouted, but that's not the horror.
After about 30 more seconds, the surroundings faded to black again. After a few more, a room unfamiliar to most started to materialize. Moments later, the group started to feel where they were in time and space. They could feel that they were on solid ground again, and wireframe chairs materialized behind them. When they looked ahead, desks started to materialize immediately in front of where they were seated.
Along the wall in front of them at the same time, a wall divided into panels, and four tall desks with futuristic designs materialized as wireframes. Each of the desks were joined together horizontally and had rectangular panels on their sides with a circular panels in each of their centers. They'd solidify. The lights remained off, and the room remained dark except for the two rows of neon lights that ran along the bottom of the wall, neon lights along the top of the desks and their side panels, and along the bottom panels.
Camelia started to get nervous as she suspected where the group ended.
Her suspicions were confirmed when the circular panels in the middle of the desks in front of them, and the large insignia on the wall behind the desks lit up! The insignia in the desk panels resembled a clock with a judge's gavel in front of it.
The larger insignia on the wall was circular. Within it was a gate-shaped symbol with an arch on the top and a star between the arch. A glowing pair of wings flanked the sides of the outer circle and a sun symbol glowed in yellow and orange below them.
Nervous murmuring filled the room as the group worried about where they were, but Camelia knew. She knew they were taken to the highest cosmic court and were on trial!
After moments of suspense that felt like hours, a large bright blue burst of magic smoke and dust appeared in front of the desks and faintly illuminated more of the room.
"It's the Magic Gatekeepers! We must bow before their presence!" Camelia warned. The four most powerful mages, whom regulate the space-time continuum and the distribution of magic were here!
The smoke and dust started to clear and their silhouettes could be seen standing next to each other.
"Court is in session." One of the Magic Gatekeepers said, who sounded quite formal and spoke in a monotone voice.
"Ha ha! Look at them cower!" Said another who was less formal, was the shortest of them, sounded more boisterous and cheerful.
"Ye shall bow to us!" Said another with a booming voice, whose silhouette towered over the other Magic Gatekeepers.
"We've put you troublemakers on trial." The last Magic Gatekeeper said, sounding stern and formal.
They're also the jurors and executioners of the highest cosmic court!
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