Multi-Dimensional Merchant System

Four doors, laid on their sides and nailed together to form a simple box around the Rift, wasn't a very impressive barrier. Even after Oliver nailed an extra door on each side to double the thickness and used 50lb bags of rice to anchor the corners, he doubted it would stand up to much... And since it was only three feet tall, it wouldn't be difficult for one of the creatures to simply jump over it.

But with them coming out weak and disoriented, it proved to be enough.

Several hours passed before another of the entities was ejected from the Rift. Before it could even stagger to its feet, it was promptly beheaded. An hour later, Oliver repeated the process once more as another creature came out.

When another flopped awkwardly out of the Rift just minutes later, Oliver was take by surprise. With how spread out there arrivals had been before, he had taken a moment to rest and grab a snack... But when the creature stumbled to its feet and immediately tripped over the barrier, he was there to kill it before it recovered.

“I guess they can just pop out whenever...” He grumbled under his breath.

He eyed the Rift for a moment, confirming his growing suspicion: it was shrinking. It hadn't been obvious at first as the process had been too slow to notice. But after almost eight hours, the difference was clear- especially with his improvised barrier nearby for reference.

“Now I just need to measure... And calculate... Without touching the damn thing. Or looking at it too closely, or for too long.” He sighed.

It had already been a long day-a long couple of days, really- and a long night when he was suddenly whisked away for this Emergency Bounty. Grabbing Hardeman's goons, dealing with Hardeman himself, and then fighting several of these creatures... He was tired. And now he was trying to figure out a way to track how quickly an evil inter-dimensional portal was closing.

Or how slowly it was closing, which seemed more accurate to him at the moment.

Grabbing another door and standing it upright inside his barrier before nailing it in place was an ugly solution, but he could live with ugly if it worked. With the door set side by side with the Rift, it was easy to draw a pair of lines using the marker he carried: One at the top of the Rift and one at the bottom.

An uneventful hour later came the second set of marks. Then the third set after another quiet hour.

“Roughly an inch an hour... And the damn thing is still three feet tall. I've been here ten hours and I'm stuck baby sitting it for another day and a half!” He swore to himself before pausing, a thought flashed across his mind.

“Those things are roughly my size, so they shouldn't be able to squeeze through once it is under two feet... Unless there is some magic fuckery.” He sighed while shaking his head. “Yeah, better expect some bullshit magic.”

Oliver waited, expecting more creatures to come through... Or for more idiots to show up and complicate things. But no more creatures showed up, and neither did the officers he dealt with earlier. Or any of their law enforcement buddies. Not even a curious teenager.

Just silence. And waiting.

The constant tension of waiting for the other shoe to drop wore on him. After a few hours of nothing happening, Oliver grabbed two more doors from down the hall and replaced the shattered gym doors. Then he boarded them up from the inside, just in case.

He waited.

The Rift shrank.

And he waited more.

Oliver resisted the temptation to play a game on his phone to pass the time, not wanting to be distracted if something happened. As time wore on and he grew more exhausted, he pulled an energy drink from the system warehouse and sipped on it slowly.

Twelve hours... Sixteen... Twenty... A full day passed. Still nothing.

“Half a day. Just twelve hours. And I'll be done here.” He huffed tiredly. “Fuck, this is boring. Better than fighting for my life, I guess.”

Oliver paced sluggishly around the gym, glancing occasionally in the direction of the Rift. By this point, it had shrunk to the point he doubted a beach ball could pass through it... Assuming there wasn't any sort of magic involved. Not an assumption he was willing to risk making after everything he had seen and experienced.

He paused to lean against the doors with a sigh. The fear and tension had kept him going at first, but he had quickly reached the point where all of that had washed away due to sheer boredom- and, perhaps, a touch of exhaustion. Sheer willpower, and a touch of stubbornness, kept him going as the hours dragged on.

With another glance at the Rift, fear and adrenaline surged through his body as he saw something new.

An eye.

Staring unblinkingly through the Rift was an eye, massive beyond his comprehension.

Staring at him.

Oliver forced down the horror and revulsion the eye evoked within him as he tore his gaze away. Collapsing onto the bleachers nearby, he gasped for breath as he struggled to focus. Shaky hands pulled the FAL from the warehouse, and he aimed it vaguely in the direction of the eye without looking.

And he waited for something to come out and attack him again.

And waited.

And waited.

Oliver heaved a sigh of relief when the Rift finally disappeared. Fighting with creatures from nightmare was bad enough, he had no desire to face the massive eye-or whatever it belonged to. He was just glad the whole thing was over.

A small smile crossed his face as the system chimed.

Emergency Local Bounty: Incursion completed.

Processing reward...

25,000 credits have been deposited.

Pulse Rings(2) have been placed in the System Warehouse.

(Thank you, Oli. We will talk soon. Hopefully.)

Return transportation will be initiated in 5 seconds.

Oliver grunted softly at the completion message, unsure of how he felt. Aside from the early troubles against the creatures, the job had been fairly easy. And boring. But after fighting the creatures, dealing with the strange mental impact of the Rift, and whatever the eye had been... He wasn't sure if he thought the reward too little or too much.

And the strange message, tacked on to the end like an afterthought... It was obvious that someone was communicating with him through the system. Or some thing, he supposed. He couldn't rule out the possibility it was some weird alien or hyper advanced artificial intelligence.

Still, they were talking to him. Sort of. And now he had even more questions.

And he had a feeling he would be waiting a while for answers.

Quickly putting away his gun, he ignored the rewards from the Bounty and the countdown to be transported in favor of one more quick scan of the area- He didn't want to leave so much as a hammer or shell casing behind if he could help it.

“Fuck this place.”

As the countdown ended, his tired smile was wiped away in an instant.

He still had a conversation with Polina ahead of him... And he was still dirty, bloody, cut, bruised... With a bullet hole in his shoulder and a cracked rib. Suddenly, he wasn't so eager to leave.

For once, Oliver was thankful for the weird timing of the Bounty. While it had sucked to be snatched up in the middle of the night, sent off to fight literal monsters, then guarding a freaky hell portal for two days... Being returned in the middle of the night at least gave him hope that he could sneak in and clean up before anyone noticed his current state. Especially Polina.

A hope that was instantly dashed when he came face-to-face with his girlfriend upon easing open the side door.

“Oli, Thank God! I've worried sick waiting for you; why haven't you been responding to my texts or calls?” She exclaimed as she rushed up to hug him, the fear and worry that lined her face melted away at the sight of him.

When he grunted in pain at the tight embraced, she quickly pushed him back to arms length. Her eyes went wide in alarm as she finally took a moment to look him over.

“What happened to you Oli? Wait, are those bandages!? Is that BLOOD!?”

Oliver would have slumped in dismay if it wasn't for his aching ribs. He should have expected her to be waiting- and worried. It was in her nature to worry when it came to the people she cared about.

That, or the Universe decided to throw him another curve ball.

“I guess our conversation is happening tonight, Isn't it?”