The Portal

by Charles Sterling

  “Hah… I see.”

  “Nothing ever truly comes to an end, in my opinion. Things just continue in different directions, that’s all.”

  I nodded genuinely. This conversation helped, a lot.

  “Now go get that pendant. And when you’re back, take Violet out for a glass of wine in France, eighteen forty one at the Château des Étoiles. She’ll be delighted.”

  “Sounds fancy,” I said with a smile on my face. “Alright, I’ll be off then. Thank you, Dr. Regal!”

  “No, thank you, Mr. Raymond, for such a jolly company!”

  We went over to the computer station where he showed me exactly where I needed to be.

  “Large fictional castle, the more guards, the closer you are to her. She’s a bit locked in… she’s not allowed to come out without permission or guardians around her.”

  “Okay. I assume guns blazing isn’t the way to go in a giant castle, is it?”

  “I would assume not,” Regal smiled. “Otherwise we would call Doug for the job. But regardless, she wields no power. She is a mortal human in her mid-twenties, I wouldn’t swing swords at her unless you absolutely have to.”

  “I have a soul,” said Raymond. “I guess.”

  “Yes you do,” Regal nodded. “On you go then.”

  I analyzed the castle’s appearance one more time, then created a portal and went in. This was it, my last task before I could finally roam these movies freely…

  I stabilized myself in the galaxy of images, and pulled the portal of the castle towards me. It had distinct royal blue rooftops, a beautiful clear sky, and a royal and happy atmosphere.

  The cacophony of the streets filled the air. There I was, a lone man, against the empire. Or so it felt like it.

  I appeared at the same angle that I imagined – I could see the entirety of the castle in front of me from below. I was close.

  I walked like a normal man towards it, avoiding suspicious places and sticking to the crowd of medieval clean and bright people.

  The grass seemed greener, the apples seemed redder, and the skies seemed bluer. There were pigeons instead of crows, puppies instead of stray dogs and bakeries instead of weapon shops. It was evidently, a very prosperous and very happy kingdom.

  Getting closer to the castle walls, there were too many guards around the perimeter for me to go any further.

  So I found a bush to hide in in a little park behind the castle where royal men and women walked and smelled the roses. When a guard walked by, I pulled him in, zapped him with a modern day taser and took his armor for myself.

  I was now one of them – one of the guards that had somewhat of an access into the castle. I did not risk flying into one of the windows lest anyone saw me and began ringing alarms.

  I went through the back where I saw guards freely entering and exiting as they pleased. I went as far in as I was allowed to before doors and entryways were being guarded and blocked off.

  The next objective was to go up – the indoors had beautiful soft red carpets and pure white walls with paintings, decorations and plants throughout the entire indoors. Any peek I got at the rooms had no less breathtaking décor. This was normal for a fantasy movie, but to see it in person was something else.

  I found a staircase, and made my way up. I went up as high as the stairway permitted before exiting into another corridor.

  “Halt!” said a guard. Two of them approached me. “A little too high up aren’t you? Were you reassigned?”

  “Yes,” I replied.

  “By who?”

  “Admiral Wilmort,” I said. Another name didn’t come to mind fast enough.

  “Wilmort? Never heard of him.”

  “Do you live in a cave, Knight? Why don’t you go say that to the Admiral yourself, he’ll have you hung for disrespecting the King’s closest friend,” I exaggerated an impatient tone of voice.

  The two guards glanced at each other. Neither was quite sure how to reply to that. I briefly looked around – no one was nearby. I made two tasers in my hands and zapped them both straight through their armor. They yelped and fell heavily to the ground.

  Someone was on the way from my right side – shoot. I heard heavy stomps just around the corner. Thinking fast, I created the exact same wall as all the others and blocked off the entire section of the corridor before he could see me and the two guards on the floor.

  “Frick,” I said out-loud, taking off my helmet, and then the rest of my armor. If every guard past this point was going to find me suspicious, then I would just be slowing myself down with all this clunky metal around me.

  I ran through the corridors, frantically searching for steps to go further up. I saw maids on my way and asked for directions. They simply pointed, slightly frightened. I sprinted again, going past everything and everyone. All I had to do was get the pendant and bail out, it was simple.

  My quick footsteps lifted off the ground, and I flew the rest of the way, increasing my speed three-fold.

  I found the next set of steps, and went further up. The next sections of the hallways were wider, and were infested with guards everywhere. I threw a sleeping gas grenade at them from around the corner, and as soon as I heard their bodies hit the floor, I flew past them.

  A brief look out the window told me that I was almost at the top. The end of the hallway opened up into a large room with a single set of stairs going up. I could only assume this could be her chambers – after all, there were about thirty guards standing between me and my goal.

  If I knew anything about fairy tales, the princess is always locked away at the highest point of the castle. I decided to bet on that, and went through to the large marbled halls that echoed my voice as I spoke.

  “Good afternoon,” I pretended to be Wilmort for a moment. “Ah you all look lovely this fine day. As fine as the finest wine,” they pointed their spears at me and advanced towards me. “As fine as the finest lady,” they surrounded me. “And as fine as the finest…” I paused to think about it for a moment. “I don’t know, coffee maybe?”

  “Arms up, citizen,” one the guards said to me.

  I raised my arms up. “Quite a situation, isn’t it?” I looked at everyone. I raised my arms even further up, then brought them down as I gracefully bowed the top half of my body, spawning thirty anvils right above their heads, one over each knight. They made the loudest thuds against the marble floor, but knocked out every single one of them around me. I then calmly proceeded towards the stairway that led to a single large room, the golden Light dispersing into pixels around me. It was locked, but a sharp black sword helped me plow through the lock and ultimately open the door.

  “Princess?” I said out-loud. My heart sank. “You…” I fell to my knees. “Impossible…”

  I closed my eyes tightly, hit the floor, hit my head, and looked up again. It was undoubtedly the blond haired girl that followed me in so many different places. She was in a long red princess dress, tightly holding her pendant in her fist.

  I got up and walked towards her. Her eyes were in terror and in fear.

  “Why are you here?!” I yelled at her. “Who are you?!” I shook her by the shoulders. “Where is the real princess?!”

  She did not say a word. She merely pressed herself against the wall as far from me as she could, hiding the pendant tightly against her chest. I fell to the floor and leaned back against her bed, holding my head.

  “This isn’t real, right? You’re an illusion, right? Like fire from the tap, or the cat that wasn’t supposed to be there. Right? Right? Say something… please?”

  She was quiet, dead quiet. She wouldn’t even look at me.

  I had an internal tantrum. Why was I being so irrational? Just take the pendant and leave – that’s all I had to do. I tried getting up, but my vision was blurry. Shaking my head didn’t make it go away, it only made it worse.

  “Give me the pendant…” I whispered, trying to crawl over to her.

  The next thing I heard were guards rushing towards
me, their heavy stomps surrounding me. They grabbed my arms and lifted me up – I fought back against them, kicking and punching, yelling and squirming and more. With a heavy blow to the back of my head I was knocked out.

  When I next woke up, I was in a prison cell, shackled to the floor at my ankles, and shackled at my wrists. The only light was from a small barred window next to the ceiling. The back of my head hurt, a lot.

  “I mean, I did think it was a bad idea to let you here alone,” said Violet. I perked my head up immediately.

  “Violet…”

  “But I guess the desire to play hero was a little too enticing, wasn’t it?”

  “Sorry,” I looked away. “I saw someone I didn’t expect to see… I was in her room, all I had to do was take it.”

  “And yet you couldn’t,” she said.

  I looked up at her with sad eyes.

  “Are you here to bring me back?” I asked.

  “He was always like this,” said Emily. I perked my head up again. Emily was right here – talking to Violet in front of me.

  “Emily?”

  “He always wanted to do it his way. It wasn’t always the best way, but if he didn’t do it his way he wouldn’t do it any other way.”

  “Pitiful,” replied Violet.

  “You’re both not real,” I said.

  “I’m not real?” said Emily. “I’m not real?!” she yelled loudly, her voice echoed through the prison cell. “I’m not the one teleporting and playing with dragons like her, Raymond!” she pointed a finger at Violet. “She is the one that’s not real. She is the one that dragged you into this. I am real, and you haven’t grown up yet.”

  “Stop,” I whispered.

  “I knew I was right to leave you. People like you belong in a lunatic asylum.”

  “STOP,” I hit the back of my head against the wall in an outburst.

  “Stop what?” said a man in a royal robe beyond the bars in front of me, several guards surrounding him.

  I looked left and right, Violet and Emily were nowhere to be seen. I had nothing to say – I stared at the man.

  “I do not have time for you,” said the man. “Answer my questions briefly and precisely, what did you want from my daughter, and how did you knock out thirty two of my men to get in her room unarmed as you are?”

  “Are you the king?” I asked.

  “Answer me boy, your execution is soon, you have nothing left to lose.”

  “Ahh… execution, again.” I sighed deeply, then began laughing. “Funny.”

  “He’s mad,” said the king. “And probably drunk. We’ll ask the guards what they saw. You can finish him as scheduled.”

  “Yes, my King,” replied the guard, and they both left.

  I leaned further back against the wall, and closed my eyes. I waited calmly. As my eyes were closed, I began hearing sounds and voices. It was the same familiar voices I’ve been hearing lately, Regal’s, Doug’s, Emily’s, Bob’s, Violet’s…

  Those illusions and thoughts consumed me, and then I felt like I was falling asleep. Maybe I was – or maybe I was just going crazy, who knows? The only Doctor I needed a checkup with was Regal. I was a fool for not asking him about the girl yet again. I thought I would, but it felt so unimportant on the grand scheme of things. Or maybe I was just hiding it? I didn’t know. Well, because of her, now look where I was.

  I froze my handcuffs until they were almost pure ice, then smacked them hard until they broke, and did the same with my ankle cuffs. Then I got onto my pathetic little bed that they had for me in the corner, made myself comfortable, and made myself a cold beer. The first sip made me smile.

  Hours later, the guards came in. “Out, citizen,” they said. “Well, not really a citizen anymore, are you?” They opened the heavy metallic door.

  “Never really was, actually,” I replied to them. “I’m from Washington.”

  As they stepped inside the cell, they noticed the broken cuffs on the floor. The next thing they knew, bright flashes came out from my hands that electrocuted them unconscious. I calmly flew up, and flew out. Any guard that was on my way I zapped instantly until I was out of their prison court. I flew out so fast, most would have thought they ‘saw something’. When I was far enough, I was outside on the jovial streets again.

  I went in the exact same way that I did the first time – I couldn’t go wrong that way. My objective was at least not to kill anyone, for the sake of my own sanity. I ran, and flew, and ran, and flew. The corridors blitzed past me. No guard or person was in my way, and if they were, they just weren’t.

  Going by the exact same route, I went through the last set of stairs where the guards were doubled in number. To me, it just meant double the unconscious bodies on the floor.

  As I entered the large hall room, I estimated about sixty knights guarding the staircase.

  “Anvil or lightning?” I asked out-loud.

  They charged at me with the intent to kill. The room lit up with sparks and flashes of electricity bright enough to blind someone. Within seconds, they were all on the floor. I walked back up the steps, and reached the door.

  The lock was already repaired – and the door was indeed locked. I just melted the lock off with pure heat, nothing else. Then I walked into the princess’s bed chambers, my eyes closed.

  No matter what, I was going to get the pendant, and get out. I do not care what I hear or what I see. I’m… burying my demons.

  I opened my eyes. A wavy black haired girl in a royal blue dress stood far up against the window, frightened.

  “I will not surrender the pendant,” she said.

  “I’m sorry, you will have to,” I replied, incredibly relieved to see the actual princess this time. Young, fair and beautiful, straight out of a fairy tale.

  She opened the window. We were incredibly high up.

  “I will jump!” she said.

  “No you won’t, you’ll die.”

  “I will die for what I must protect,” she answered stubbornly.

  “Princess, please,” I stepped forward. She kicked both feet out of the window, sitting atop the ledge. Beneath her was nothing – the courtyard streets and people as small as ants.

  “Why do you want it? What wish can you not grant by yourself?”

  “I don’t want it, I need it,” I stepped closer. She nudged herself forward, then began crying. She was clearly scared. “I’m not a bad man, by no means. I know how hard this must be on you, but…”

  “Not a word more!” she yelled to me. I heard guards running up the stairs behind me. I had to make a move, now. I went for her. She pushed herself off, and began falling straight for the ground down below, her pendant clutched tightly in her hands, her dress and hair rippling against the wind of the fall.

  The next thing she felt was my arm grab hers in mid-air, stop her descent, and fly up instead.

  She screamed from fright! “Put me down!!”

  “Now?”

  “No not now you imbecile!”

  “God,” I sighed. I flew over to a nearby rooftop that had a flat area to it and where no one would disturb us, then calmly put her down. I gave her some time to take a breather, and sat down, leaned back against the wall.

  “Tea?” I asked her.

  “What?” she looked at me with shock in her eyes.

  I spawned a cup of tea in my hand. She was momentarily entranced by the way the golden pixels and photons of light formed from thin air and combined together to shape and create a beautiful porcelain cup of tea.

  “It is probably poisoned,” she protested.

  “If I wanted you dead I wouldn’t be enticing you with tea, princess.”

  “Then what do you want?”

  “The pendant.”

  “Why?”

  I looked at her briefly. We held eye contact for long seconds. Her expression was that of defiance, and mine was that of being absolutely tired.

  “Okay,” I whispered, and I nodded. I had a sip of the cup of tea, then placed it down besid
e me. She stood as far as she could from me without falling off the edge. “My name is Raymond Smith, I’m from Washington D.C. I am from a world that’s not the same as yours. I am a creator, and you are the created. Hundreds and thousands of worlds like yours, and they’re all linked to each other. That link is getting weaker. If it breaks, all your worlds are going to die.” I snapped my finger. “Just… perish existing, collapse into nothingness. I need to restore that link. My team and I were tasked with obtaining the worlds’ most powerful items, and that pendant happened to be one of them. It grants you any wish from the gods, right?”

  She continued staring at me silently, her lips parted.

  “This is the last item of the five. I am meant to get it alone. Had my team come with me, things would have been different. But I do things my way, the better way – the peaceful way.”

  “How can I trust what you’re saying?”

  I formed a knife in my hand. She tensed up when she saw it. Then I placed it on the ground and moved it slowly towards her.

  “I don’t know you. I don’t know if you’re a good person, or a bad person. I’ve met bad people before, they’ve hurt me. But I’ve also met good people before, they’ve saved me.” I turned around and sat on my knees with my back facing her.

  “Pick up the knife. You can kill me, and wait for your guards to bring you down safely.”

  “Trust for trust?”

  “If you do kill me,” I interrupted her. “My friends, much more skilled and much more dangerous will come for you next. I am not threatening you, I am pleading. I do not want to be a bad man and hurt an innocent girl. I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night.”

  I heard her pick up the knife, the metal grazed over the concrete a little bit. Then in my peripheral vision, I saw her hurl the knife away as it dropped down to the ground.

  “That is not how I do things either,” she said. “Place your hand on the pendant.”

  I turned back. She was holding it in her palm. It was a gorgeous, glowing round pendant with an entrancing cosmic stone in the center surrounded by deep silvery rings attached around it that looked like a portal into the stars. Hesitantly, I placed my palm over hers, covering the pendant completely.