Surrounded by the coiled pipework and arcane dials of some unfathomable alien machinery, we searched frantically for a means of activation that might yet call it humming to life -but to our despair, despite the stunted eruption of pulse we had conjured, it remained as silent as the grave.

It was with slackened jaws of disbelief that we cast eyes upon what next transpired. At the very moment the portal was sealed, it in turn wailed with a mirroring resonance, as it called forth both its sister opening and the tremendous bulk of a monstrous aberration from beyond the stars.

We stared aghast with pooling irises as a gaping rift was violently torn in the very fabric of reality, our cosy world of three dimensions now a quaint memory.

The very air seemed to shudder with malice as we raced for the dancing vein, swathes of tumbling stone shadowing our every step.