Mutant awakening: My evolution knows no bounds

Outside the realm, the staff remained gathered in the portal room where the students had departed, eyes scanning the area nervously. They lingered there in case they received a distress signal from the students or if they noticed anything out of the ordinary happening. They were prepared to act swiftly and dive into the realm to handle any emerging threat or situation if the need arose.

Most of the staff didn't want to be there. They had other important responsibilities waiting for them, and with the students being sent to a low-graded realm for the test, they saw no real reason for any distress calls. Encounters with danger were expected to be minimal at best.

Still, the staff had been ordered to remain there by Sir Dominic himself, so they had no choice but to obey his direct command.

No one dared to question Sir Dominic's orders. His authority was absolute, and though they thought it was a waste of time, they followed the directive to the letter. They waited patiently, though with increasing boredom as minutes turned into what felt like hours.

As the minutes ticked by, the staff continued to monitor the room, their gazes fixed intently on the dozens of portal devices scattered around the room. Each portal stood silently, awaiting any possible activity. But as one of the staff members glanced around, his eyes caught sight of something off, something that made him pause.

It was one of the circular portal devices, and something wasn't right about it.

His eyes widened slightly in alarm as he rushed toward the device to take a closer look. Examining its exterior with growing concern, he noticed something strange on the left side of the device: five glowing red bars.

"What the..." His heart raced as he processed what he was seeing, dread creeping in. He turned to face the rest of his colleagues, his voice shaky.

"A Grade 2 mutant realm's portal is supposed to have how many bars?" he asked loudly, drawing their attention.

"Are you serious, Philip? Five years on this job and you still don't know how to tell the portal grades apart?" a bulky man with a bald head and a thick, bushy beard spat with disdain.

"Just answer the question!" Philip snapped back, frustration evident in his voice. His sharp tone caused the others in the room to flinch.

"Alright, alright," the bald man grumbled. "A Grade 2 portal has two glowing green bars on the side. It's common knowledge. How do you still not know this?" He shook his head in disbelief.

"Two green bars, huh? Then why does this one have five glowing red bars?" Philip shouted, his voice rising with panic.

At his words, everyone froze. All eyes turned toward the portal device, and suddenly, the room was filled with stunned silence. The staff quickly rushed over to where Philip stood, their eyes glued to the portal in question.

"What are you talking about? There's no way that..." the bald man's words trailed off as he got a clear look at the device. His face turned pale as the glowing red bars came into view. "What is this?!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with disbelief.

"This is a portal device for a Grade 5 mutant realm! What's a device like this doing here?!" he roared, his face contorted with shock and fear.

"I don't know! This has to be some kind of mistake," Philip stammered, beads of sweat forming on his brow as panic settled in. His heart pounded loudly in his chest as his mind raced for an explanation. "It must've been swapped when we were choosing the portals for the test," he added nervously.

"We have to inform Sir Dominic immediately! The students won't survive in there!" the bald man yelled, bolting out of the room without a second thought. The remaining staff looked around in panic, their fear evident. None of them could fathom how this grave mistake had occurred, and they were all terrified of how Sir Dominic would respond.

They dreaded the consequences they would face for such a dangerous oversight.

None of them had noticed the Grade 5 portal device during the selection process. They had confirmed the Grade 2 portals three separate times before bringing them to the room. And during each of those confirmations, the Grade 5 portal wasn't there.

So how had it suddenly appeared?

Just moments after the bald man left, he returned, this time with Sir Dominic and Kara by his side. The two of them walked briskly toward the portal device, their expressions grim. When their eyes landed on the glowing red bars, their disbelief was immediate.

"How did you let this happen?!" Sir Dominic bellowed, his face turning an angry shade of red as he advanced on the staff. His voice thundered through the room, reverberating off the walls.

"You were supposed to confirm the portal grade three times before the test! So how could this happen?" Kara demanded, her eyes filled with concern as she looked at the portal.

"We did, Mrs. Kara! We confirmed it all three times!" Philip said, his voice trembling with fear.

"You did? Then explain why we're looking at a Grade 5 portal!" Sir Dominic roared, his face twisted with fury. He was pacing the room now, his pristine white suit damp with sweat as he tried to keep his rage in check.

"We have no idea, sir. It's almost like the device was swapped. We checked them all earlier, and they were all Grade 2. Now, suddenly, one of them has turned into a Grade 5." Philip's voice was desperate as he tried to explain the unexplainable.

Sir Dominic's pacing quickened, his face becoming more distressed by the second. His steps were frantic, and his mind raced to calculate the enormity of the situation.

"How long has it been since the students left?" Sir Dominic asked after a tense silence had settled over the room.

"An hour and twenty minutes, sir," Philip replied, glancing nervously at his wristwatch.

"An hour and twenty minutes? They'll never survive that long in a Grade 5 realm. They're probably already dead!" Sir Dominic growled, wiping the sweat from his brow as he resumed pacing.

"They might stand a chance if any of them are high enough in grade. If there are any Grade 4s among the students, they might be able to hold their own until we get there. I'm not saying they'll succeed in clearing the realm, but they could buy themselves some time," Kara said calmly, though her face betrayed her worry.

Sir Dominic paused and turned toward one of the female staff members seated at a nearby computer. "What are the names and grades of the students who entered the portal?" he demanded.

The woman quickly began typing, her fingers flying across the keyboard. After a few moments, she read the list aloud.

"Ivy Forbes, a Grade 2 healer. David Daniels, a Grade 1 body mutation ability user..." she began.

Hearing these names, Sir Dominic let out a long, heavy sigh, the weight of the situation finally sinking in. His hopes were quickly fading.

"Angelica Wesley, a Grade 4 lightning control ability user. Victor Hardcastle, a Grade 4 earth ability user. And lastly, Silas Griswold... no mutant ability," the woman finished.