The Opening (The Universal Portals Book 1)

by J. Blanes

  “Let’s go,” he said finally. A murmur of despair quickly spread among the crowd. Some of them pleaded with him to stay; others grabbed his arms and legs, kneeling and begging him not to abandon the tribe.

  The Yonai elder ordered silence. “Don’t worry about me, my children,” he shouted so everyone could hear him. “I’ll travel in the Polymac bird to the heavens. I’ll find out why the gods are angry with us, and I’ll make amends with them to placate their ire. I’ll be back soon with their forgiveness and blessings. So don’t despair, and wait patiently and happily, for when I return, everything will be back to normal, as it always had been.” It was a deliberate lie, the only one they would believe under these circumstances, and it achieved the intended goal, as the elder expected. The tribe’s faith in their elders was so deep that they had no trouble believing that this Yonai could meet the gods in person and even convince them to give him their forgiveness. They accepted it as a fact, and their attitude changed radically from fear to joy. They cheered him as he walked away among the giants.

  The Yonai elder marveled at the perfectly built caves. They were incredibly straight and clean, harder than a rock, and beautiful as a polished ice crystal. It was as if water obeyed their wishes and stayed frozen and strong in any position they desired. He had never witnessed anything like this and took mental notes to describe every single detail later to the other elders.

  He was waiting alone inside the biggest cave he had ever seen. The ceiling was so high he could barely see the end, and the distance between two opposite walls was enough for gathering thousands of them comfortably. It was striking, but he also disliked it, as he knew he was held there as a show of power by his captors. And a troublingly effective show, as he accepted in despair.

  His reveries were interrupted when a dozen giants entered the cave. Walking in front of them, one of their leaders led the group toward him.

  “Elder,” the admiral said in the tribe’s language. “I want to know some things about your prisoner and her escape. If you answer my questions truthfully, I’ll leave you and your tribe in peace.”

  So that was it, the Yonai elder thought. All of this because of the prisoner and her escape. He and the other elders had been wrong about the events. The other elders would love to hear about it.

  “I’m at your disposal,” he said humbly. He recalled the death of the woman and didn’t want to repeat his mistake.

  “Good, because you must know that I will find the information I’m looking for, one way or the other. I thought this would be the fastest and easiest way, but if you force my hand, I won’t hesitate to employ any means necessary to obtain it. Do you understand?”

  “Perfectly.”

  The admiral started his interrogation immediately. “Who was your prisoner? From which tribe?”

  “The prisoner was a female, but not from our tribe or any species we know about,” the elder replied truthfully.

  “Don’t lie to me!” the admiral shouted menacingly.

  His voice was imposing and made the elder shiver, but the he managed to remain composed. “It’s not a lie. She was a two-legged being, like you.”

  The admiral studied him. He seemed to be telling the truth, and he revealed unexpected, interesting news. “Why did you capture her?”

  “We wanted her pet, an animal sacred to us,” the elder explained. “The tribe believes that anyone who eats the heart of one of those animals will inherit its strength and intelligence. Not that I personally believe such things, but the tribe wanted the animal, and we hoped that she would lead us to it.”

  This was not what the admiral expected, but the elder seemed once again to be telling the truth. “Did you find out anything about her during her captivity?”

  “We were surprised that she knew our language perfectly, like you,” the Yonai elder said. “She didn’t talk much, but she did tell us that she had been brought against her will from another place.”

  “Another place? What place?”

  “She called it la-ti-e-rra.” The elder struggled to replicate the sounds of the unfamiliar name.

  “La-ti-e-rra,” the admiral repeated, mumbling. It was an unreliable piece of information, but encouraging. He ordered an officer to find out which civilizations in the galaxy called their home “la-ti-e-rra” in any known language. After this, he directed his attention back to the elder. “Tell me about the rescue.”

  “I was not there, but from the witnesses’ accounts we found out that two beings like her, with dark skins instead of clear ones, entered the caves and carried her to a flying cave, much like yours.”

  “That’s it?” The admiral was disappointed. He had hoped to find out much more about them. “Describe the flying cave.”

  “It was white, like yours, but smaller. It landed, they entered it, and it flew away. The tribe thought it was a Polymac bird because it had a curling feather on its back, similar to the mythological bird…”

  “A curling feather?” the admiral interrupted, suddenly excited about this insignificant detail. “Like this?” He made a figure in the air with his hand.

  “Yes, that’s exactly how the Polymac bird’s feather is described,” the Yonai elder assented, nodding.

  “A Tolok ship!” The Admiral exclaimed in disbelief. The Tolok involvement in all of this came as a shock, but it was the first breakthrough in his investigation. Preto’or would be proud of him. It only rested to know who these two-legged beings were and why would the Tolok help them. His future as admiral looked brighter than ever.

  The admiral dismissed the elder. “Go, return to your tribe.”

  The Yonai elder sighed in relief. The giants seemed to like his information. The prophecy would have to wait until another time, hopefully without him around to see it.

  As agreed, the Tukma released the Yonai elder near the caves. He was smiling as everybody came to greet him, chanting and dancing with joy, and he received them with open arms, knowing proudly that he had provided for their protection. The other elders had interrupted their trip when they’d heard the news about his capture, and were back among the crowd, maintaining a dignified posture, as was required from them, but as happy as anyone, seeing their dear friend back. They could not wait to hear the story of his astonishing feat, one that would be remembered for millennia.

  Or not, because just then, all hell broke loose.

  A rain of fireballs falling from the sky startled the crowd, triggering a mass panic. Screams of fear and pain followed each explosion, and the ensuing chaos only made it worse. The runners trampled over the fallen, children cried in despair looking for their mothers, and defenseless bodies desperately called for help. Destruction and death spread rapidly.

  The Yonai elder remained silent, staring in shock at the deadly scene unfolding in front of his eyes, unable to move, with the prophecy’s words dancing inside his head.

  Shattered the ground, flames from the sky…

  “It has begun,” he muttered with incredulity.

  A voice started to spread among the crowd. “To the caves! To the caves!” Someone had managed to keep a cool head amid all this mayhem, and most survivors rushed toward the caves. Some women with their children were among the first to reach the safety of their home caves. The others felt a glint of hope, and order started to be restored slowly, with the healthy men and women helping the wounded to get to the caves. With the crowd spread thin, the fireballs had lost some of their efficiency. The Yonai elder awoke from his trance and started to walk toward the caves. They would need him now more than ever.

  The biggest explosion of all came from a lighting-like fireball, shaking the ground like an earthquake when it hit the caves. The Yonai elder was thrown backward, losing consciousness from the impact. When he regained it, he could not see anything, as the intense light had temporarily blinded his eye, but his soul felt the sorrow and suffering of his children. He lay down unt
il his eye recovered its sight, only to close it again against the misery and desolation surrounding him. The cave hill had disappeared almost completely, leaving behind a crater not unlike the volcano mountain near their homeland. The wailing and mourning of the survivors was soul wrenching, with a few survivors holding their beloved dead children, spouses, or parents, in addition to the hundreds of atrociously maimed bodies begging for help that would never come.

  But to the Yonai elder’s horror, the havoc was far from over.

  Countless spaceships landed, encircling the entire area. Their occupants descended from them by the hundreds, mercilessly shooting flaming arrows at all survivors, killing them on the spot, including women, elders, and children. It was a massacre. Their bodies covered in the ice-looking material, impervious to their weapons, and gleaming like the fire it reflected, they truly looked as agents of hell.

  …before glittering rocks their doom spread.

  Thanks to their speed, a group of men and women managed to escape the encircling net and were running away between two of the giant’s spaceships, a hundred yards to the right of the Yonai elder. To his astonishment, they interrupted their escape and faced the giants defiantly. It seemed they had decided that it was better to die fighting than run away in shame, and with a fury and determination that surprised even the Yonai elder, they charged their enemies, throwing stones and spears at them. Using their speed, they even managed to make one of them lose his balance and fall down by tying his legs with a rope and pulling it with strength, as they had done many times when hunting big animals. But it was a short and futile victory, as the other giants quickly surrounded the group and massacred them ruthlessly. The image of their fight, between the white flying caves, brought to his mind another passage of the prophecy.

  Helpless we are among the white hills of hell…

  Gradually, the screams and wailing faded into silence, only interrupted by the strangely soothing sounds of crackling fire. The Yonai elder got up with difficulty, instantly getting the attention of several giants nearby. He was not afraid but embarrassed and sad because of his failure to protect his children. They were all dead, and it was his turn now.

  One of the giants approached him.

  “Tell your leader that cowardly and unjustified actions have a way of biting you in the ass someday,” the elder said angrily, forgetting all about composure. “You’ll no doubt perish from your own medicine.”

  The giant didn’t care about his threats, and shot him.

  As he was dying on the ground, blind and in agonizing pain, his overwhelmed soul could not stand it anymore, and tears flowed profusely over his face for the first time since his dear spouse died.

  The passage from the land of the living to the land of his ancestors approached, and the Yonai elder saw his spouse smiling at him, with the whole tribe cheering at him behind her. It was time to come back home.

  He walked to them, his children, and received them in his arms.

  …and the sun shines for us forever no more.

  TWENTY

  The Mother Ship

  What a ride. For a moment Blip thought that they would not make it, but in the end, the ship managed to reprogram the portal on time and save all of them from certain death. The event proved to be a blessing, too, because it delayed the crossing, giving Iris enough time to finally convince Mirby to come with them inside the chamber. Iris had done so by telling Mirby that she would kill both of them if she kept being stubborn, and the animal changed her mind reluctantly, just in time for them to enter their capsules. If the portal had functioned normally, they would not have had time to reach the chamber.

  “Hey, Blip!” Dylan greeted him when he walked into the kitchen.

  The smell of coffee filled the entire room. Everybody was already there, sitting around the table, except for Iris, who had decided to take another shower, a luxury she had longed for during her stay on the planet and was now enjoying any time she could. As usual, Mirby was with her.

  “By the way,” Dylan added, “aren’t you ashamed?”

  “Ashamed?” Blip frowned in confusion. “Of what?”

  “You broke one of your universal laws when you showed the ship to that tribe. Isn’t it forbidden to do such a shameful thing?” Dylan was taunting him. He was talking about the law followed by most civilizations that stated that one civilization would never interfere with another, more primitive one. Blip had clearly broken it when he landed the ship in front of the tribe to save his friends.

  “It was a matter of life and death,” Blip replied calmly, not allowing himself to fall into Dylan’s trap. “There’s nothing wrong with what I did, and I would do it again. I saved your life, remember?” A proud tone was perceptible in his voice.

  “I bet you would,” Keira interceded as she helped him climb onto the table. “I told you before, you’re my hero.” Keira gave him a kiss, and Blip would have flushed if he could. He looked at Dylan and, for a moment, could have sworn that he detected a hint of jealousy on his face.

  “I meant to ask you something before,” Keira added. “You said the Tolok would let us go home when this is all over, but seeing what the…the other civilization…”

  “The Pakma,” Blip completed the words for her.

  “Yes, thank you, the Pakma,” Keira now remembered. “Seeing what the Pakma did to Iris, I’m wondering whether you were telling the truth or whether you said it so we would not bother you anymore with this issue. I need to know the truth from you. Will the Tolok abandon us to our fate when this is over?”

  Blip gave her an understanding look. Iris had been a surprise, not only for them but also for him. The Pakma would never do such a cruel thing unless there was an ulterior, more important motive that compelled them to do it, but he didn’t know what it was.

  “The Pakma must have had an extremely good reason for doing this to Iris,” Blip explained finally. “I don’t know the reason, but I know that she must be part of something bigger, something that prevented them from sending her home at the time. Maybe Iris knows more; you should ask her directly. And regarding the Tolok, I promise you, they will let you go home when this is over.” The last part was a half truth. He knew that the Tolok would do the same with them as the Pakma had with Iris if unusual circumstances dictated that this would be the best path to follow for achieving a vital goal. On the other hand, he also knew that the Tolok would do whatever was in their power to bring them back home.

  “Before crossing the portal, Iris told me that she had been expecting us on the planet,” Albert commented. “She must know something that we don’t.”

  “That settles it, then. Blip is right; we should ask her about it,” Keira suggested.

  “Yes, and in the meantime, Blip can tell us when the Tolok will receive us.” Albert was eager to meet their hosts.

  Blip lowered his head before breaking the bad news to them. “The fact is that we had a little…inconvenience.” He said the last part mumbling.

  “Another one? Now what?” Dylan snapped.

  “Nothing to worry about, it’s just a little delay,” Blip explained quickly, waving his hands frantically in dismissal. “We had a bit of bad luck, that’s all.”

  “Get to the point,” Dylan said impatiently.

  “A solar flare affected the portal just before our crossing,” Blip explained. “This event left the portal without most of its energy, not enough to transport us to our destination, but the ship detected it on time and reprogrammed the portal to send us to another, closer star system. And here we are.”

  “I hate these darn portals,” Dylan blurted out.

  “And what’s next?” Albert insisted.

  “The ship selected this star system not only for its proximity but also because it has a portal that can be reprogrammed to send us to our final destination, this time for real.”

  “Unless another solar flare sends us to
hell,” Dylan said mockingly.

  “Not likely with this star,” Blip replied, ignoring his derision. “It’s not a Tolok portal, so it will take some time to reprogram, but the ship will do it as we approach it.”

  “Is it far?” Albert asked.

  “We will arrive in a few hours,” Blip answered.

  “Where will we arrive?” Iris voice came from the doorway. Mirby, who entered the room with her, left her side and jumped on the table to sit beside Blip, her new best friend, a feeling not exactly mutual. “What’s the smell? Coffee?” Iris was delighted, her wide-open eyes betraying her emotions.

  Dylan stood up and showed her how to ask the ship for coffee. Iris thanked him and grabbed two cups of the brewing coffee before sitting at the table. “Mmm!” She breathed the aroma in deeply, closing her eyes to appreciate it better.

  “Iris,” Keira said finally, “we were wondering if you could tell us your story. Albert said you told him you were expecting us on the planet. How’s that possible?”

  “Well, not you exactly,” Iris replied. “I didn’t know anything about you, but I was expecting someone; the Pakma promised me.” She closed her eyes again and immersed herself again in the aroma.

  “Can you elaborate?” Keira insisted. “For instance, how many years were you on the planet?”

  Iris opened her eyes and stared blankly at the wall. “It’s hard for me to say in years,” she said sincerely. “I couldn’t follow the seasons on the planet; it was always hot, and I didn’t have a watch. At first, I counted the days, but I abandoned the count after the first hundred days. And the days on that planet are different than on Earth, longer.”

  “She’s right,” Blip interrupted. “Twenty-five hours, one minute and seconds to be more precise.”

  “So, you don’t know how old you are?” Keira asked in surprise, as if knowing one’s age was something inherent to a person.