Lost Portals

by Bruce X Brown

  Soldier Rors is hit by Priest McKenna for 30 points of damage.

  Soldier Rors is burned for 20 points of damage.

  Priest invoked healing word on Gina. He was tackled by another soldier and they went flying out the portal into the Cross Roads where they brawled in the streets.

  An elven Knight sliced at Mela. The swing was blocked by Gem who breathed in mana to imbue her scimitars with fire. The heat from the swords and the flames in the room had sweat from her brow pouring into her eyes. She kicked the knight back to quickly wipe her brow. She slashed a whip of flame that singed his armor. He charged for another swing and missed. Gem took the opportunity to strike. She got the blade hot enough to ease through the metal.

  “Aaaaaagh!” the knight screamed.

  Elven Reich Knight Tors receives a burn for 20 points of damage and 45% damage to armor.

  The left sleeve of armor and breastplate fell from the knights. Gem stabbed at his exposed body and missed. The swordsmen spun around, got behind Gem and thrust the sword into Gem’s unprotected back.

  Critical hit! Gem is killed by Elven Reich Knight Tors’ broad sword to the heart.

  The knight yanked the blade out of Gem’s lifeless body and took off his helmet.

  “Just having mana and power is not enough, young warrior,” the knight told the corpse. He was breathing hard and clutching at the burn mark. He looked over at Mela who was sobbing on her hands and knees moving toward Gem. The knight brought the blade down through Mela and walked off.

  Mela is stabbed by Elven Reich Knight Tors for 75 points of damage.

  The other elves of the Sister Seamstress did not do much better. There were just too many of the Ironclad elves. They were chopped down, stabbed, beaten and completely overwhelmed... Then Lady Blades showed up with Governor Ven.

  Lady Blades beheaded the first knight that she saw, Elven Reich Knight Tors. She kicked the headless corpse at the soldiers who were beating and stabbing Gina’s limp body. That got their attention.

  Elven Reich Knight Tors has been killed by Lady Blades.

  “Honorable Governor Ven. Lady Blades,” Captain Kalek said. “Y-You’re right on time. We found them. They tried to fight us. But we—”

  “Save it, Kalek,” Governor Ven got in his face. “One of your men told us everything. He was Mana-Born. You are a High-Born sympathizer? How did you convince Jah?”

  Before he could speak Governor Ven put burning hands on Captain Kalek’s face and whispered to him, “The last thing you will smell is your own face burning. You are a betrayer of the Mana-Born. Rejoice! For your death will be the first message we send to the High-Born!”

  “Aaaaaaaagh!” Captain Kalek’s face melted away as Ven’s hands turned white hot.

  Governor Ven has killed Captain Kalek by removing his face.

  Shiori and a still wounded Xavier fought the soldiers that had penned down Samantha. A legion of Mana-Born soldiers poured into the private club killing off the remaining iron clad soldiers and knights. The Mana-Born soldiers put out fires and assisted the wounded.

  Quest Complete: Survive the Elven Reich Iron Division

  Your party has survived an attack from the Elven Reich Iron Division.

  Reward: (9) members of the ‘Family Cult’ party survived and they killed (5) Iron division warriors for a total of 65% experience points of the total necessary for the next level for every member of your party saved; 150 system credits;

  Samantha, Portal Mage, Level 4

  Priest McKenna, Cleric, Level 4

  Noelle, Shapeshifter, Level 3

  Mela, Shapeshifter, Level 3

  Samantha rushed to Gina’s side. There was a pool of blood getting larger and larger around her. Sam glanced at her stats:

  HP: 2/120

  Stamina: 2/100

  “GET PRIEST!” Samantha scream. “Priest! Please, please, please. no.” She put her hands over the wounds but the blood seeped through her fingers.

  Gina weakly reached out to Samantha’s face, “Sam. I love you.”

  Samantha had tears in her eyes, “I love you too, Gina.”

  Gina smiled at her, “You guys are my family… the only family I ever had.”

  “Yeah,” Samantha said. “We’re family. Don’t worry Priest is going to be in here. He can heal you.”

  “Where is PRIEST!!” Xavier said. “Oh my god, get Priest fast!”

  An elf who was leaning against a back wall bleeding yelled out, “Outside. The portal!”

  Shiori ran out of the portal.

  “No.” Gina smiled. She spoke in a whisper. “Please listen. Keep our family together, please. I-I love you.”

  Samantha knew. She knew this was the last kiss she would ever get with the woman she loved. When she lifted her mouth away, Gina was gone.

  “Don’t leave me,” Samantha begged.

  Gina has died after succumbing to her wounds.

  Priest rushed back inside with Noelle in his arms. Shiori came in after them. The portal closed behind them.

  When Priest saw Samantha kneeling in a pool of blood holding Gina’s body, he knew he was too late. He dropped to his knees and held Noelle close.

  “Noelle,” Xavier said. “Is she...?”

  “Just unconscious,” Priest said laying her down. “Who else did we lose?”

  “Gina… didn’t make it,” Xavier said. “Mela is going to recover. Gem and about 4 other elves were killed.”

  Governor Ven had a hand on one of the deceased elves, “Can your healer fix this?”

  Lady Blades approached Priest, “He heals wounds. He doesn’t resurrect the dead.”

  “You win, Kiera.” Priest said staring at Gina’s face. “You win.”

  “Nobody wins. These were not our orders, Priest,” Lady Blades said. “Where the hell is Jah?!”

  “He ran away. Ran out of the portal. He went into the Cross Roads,” Priest said.

  “He was just supposed to escort you into the compound not slaughter everyone,” Xavier said. “That bastard has to die!”

  “Oh, we are going to get him. But it’ll be another time.” Lady Blades approached Samantha and Priest, “There’s another person in your party who needs your healing.”

  Priest put a hand on Gina’s face, “I can’t lose anyone else.”

  “It’s Ebony,” Lady Blades said. “Come with us. I will get you all inside the Elven Reich compound. No need to sneak inside. You’ll heal Ebony and then you can take them all back to their own Universal Set. But I’ll need Samantha to open a lost portal for me.”

  Chapter 54:

  Leaving Elven Reich

  The journey from First Town to the Elven Reich compound was a slow-moving funeral procession. They had the bodies of the dead including Gina covered up and put on a cart for an honorable cremation within the walls of the Elven Reich Compound.

  Having no known remaining blood relatives in her own world, Gina was accepted into the Honored Fallen Ceremony of the Mana-Born. The very first casualties of the Mana-Born rebellion. Gina Fuego would have a statue holding a flame to symbolize the passing of mana to the low-born. She and the others who’d fallen at the hands of the High-Born would be memorialized.

  Samantha hugged Xavier when they got to Ebony’s bedside.

  Ebony

  HP: 4/35

  Stamina: 9/100

  Priest placed a hand on Xavier and smiled. He kneeled down to put a hand on Ebony’s forehead and breathed in mana. He felt a head injury, perhaps from when she fell in the street. All of her injuries were healing. He allowed the mana to flow into her body. Her health went up from 4 to 16.

  Priest grabbed her hands to feel her grip return, “Xavier, the mana has fixed some critical internal issues but she will still need time to fully recover. When you get back, get her to a hospital.”

  Ebony opened her eyes and she smiled, “Priest?”

  Xavier attacked her with a hug. Her voice was a rasping whisper, “Hey, X, what’s up? Where am I?”

  “We’re going
home,” he told her.

  Lady Blades turned to Samantha, “Before we upload the lost portal database, open up a portal back to Universal Set .0001.”

  Samantha could see the history of her previous locations on her menu screen, but she remembered an easier way to navigate the menus from the training module, “Portal interface,” she said allowed. “Open portal for Universal Set .0001.”

  The portal device interface replied, “Coordinates from the history of the portal device is set. Select a place to open the portal and initiate by pulling the trigger when you are ready.”

  Samantha aimed for a nearby wall and pulled the trigger.

  The portal gun spoke, “Welcome back to Universal Set .0001, Pre-Singularity Earth, Colorado.”

  “Skull,” Lady Blades called over the only member of her gang who was still with her after the events of the Forever Forest and First Town. He stepped forward and she told him, “This portal opens up in our safehouse. Give them safe passage out and a ride to anywhere they need to go. You’re in charge until I return. If I don’t return… you’ll be contacted by the Game Master Corps. Listen to them.”

  He nodded and led the way through the portal.

  “All of you follow him,” Blades said.

  They all stood at the opening of the portal. Xavier picked up Ebony and walked toward the portal. An elven man walked up to Xavier. The man was about 4’9 with a neatly cut blonde beard. He was dressed like a farmer. He’d been with them the entire ride from First Town. He had cried with them during the cremation ceremony. And now he was standing with them at the portal staring at Xavier with tears in his eyes. He put his hand on Xavier’s chest.

  “Before you go,” the elven farmer looked up into Xavier’s eyes. “I want you to know that… I love you. I know this is sudden. But life is short and I don’t want to hide it anymore. I love you so much.”

  Xavier looked down at the elf. His brow was furrowed, “I’m sorry but… who the hell are you, sir? Have we met?”

  The elven man burst into tears and ran into Mela’s arms. She cooed and shushed him rocking him back and forth, “ssshhh, it’s ok dear. It’ll be ok.”

  Everyone stared at the random elf man being coddled by Mela, “He told me that he’s fancied Xavier from the moment he’d set eyes on him… and now he’s leaving. On top of that, he’s lost Gina who was like a sister to him. It’s really too much for him.”

  “No,” Priest said. “Seriously, who in the hell is that?”

  Mela gasped and jerked her head away from the crying man’s scalp, “This is Noelle! He says that he’s sorry. He cannot go back. Not yet. He’s opted to stay with me. He’s had a mental breakdown since Gina passed.”

  Everyone let out a sigh of relief. Samantha rubbed Noelle’s back, “Noelle, are you sure you want to stay.”

  “Yeah,” Priest said. “I cannot guarantee we can open this portal again. You could get stuck here.”

  Noelle just cried and nodded her head in Mela’s bosom. Mela bade them farewell, “Goodbye, all. I hope you’ll return. We’ll remain forever in your service, game masters. You’ve put balance in our world.” Mela left the Apothecary with Noelle.

  “I hope I can see you guys again,” Xavier said. “Hopefully, under better circumstances. Look me up if you are ever in our universe again, Priest. You guys leave me messages if you’re ever back in the shared training. Goodbye.”

  Xavier and Ebony waived and walked through the portal.

  “Samantha, I’ll wait for you. Priest, you coming’?” Shiori asked.

  “No,” Priest said. “If I don’t come back, go visit my roommate. His name is Dee. Apartment 434, 244 1st Street, Alamogordo. He’s part of the family. I’m going through that lost portal.”

  Lady Blades stared at him then shook her head and turned to Sam, “Ok, Samantha, tell the portal device to switch to speaker so we can hear it. I may have to help with coordinates.”

  Sam spoke the command, “Portal interface, switch to speaker.”

  They heard an audible beep and Lady Blades rubbed her hands together then pulled a glowing blue marble out of her left palm. She handed it to Samantha, “Now push this into the screen of the portal device.”

  “What is it?” Sam asked.

  As soon as the orb got close it was sucked into the portal device. The portal device spoke, “Initializing… Processing updated coordinates.” The screen shined blue and data flowed across the screen as it rebooted, “150 new locations uploaded into the portal device.”

  “Ok,” Samantha said. “It’s done loading. What location do I set?”

  Priest and Lady Blades looked at each other. 150 locations. She hadn’t considered that the database of location would include all of the places Fox Priest had gone using that portal device.

  Lady Blades nodded as the answer occurred to her, “The lost portal that we want would be the last new locations saved while it was in the portal device. Ask it what the last new location was from the portal database upload.”

  Samantha nodded, “Portal interface, what is the last new location from the portal database upload?”

  The portal device replied, “Universal Set destination unknown.”

  Both Priest and Blades said in unison, “That’s it.”

  Samantha instructed, “Portal interface, set coordinates to that location”

  The portal device interface replied, “Coordinates set. Select a place to open the portal and initiate by pulling the trigger when you are ready.”

  “Are you ready?” Samantha asked them.

  They nodded. She turned around and aimed at an area adjacent to the first portal.

  A shining golden portal opened.

  “There it is,” Priest said to himself.

  Samantha offered him the portal gun. He hesitated for a moment, looked at her and took it. They stared at each other for a moment until Sam offered her hand.

  Priest knew that small gesture took a lot for her. He shook her hand.

  “Thanks for what you did for her,” Samantha said.

  “She loved you,” he said.

  “She loved us,” Sam replied. “We were her family. Look… if you’re ever in our universe, stop by and say hello. She would have wanted that. Good luck.” Samantha took Shiori’s hand and they walked through the portal together back to Universal Set .0001, Earth, Colorado.

  The lost portal would be open for 4 hours and then it would disappear with no one able to open it again. After 4 hours they could end up stuck in the Forever Forest world. More than likely, their fate would be in that lost portal. They had one shot.

  This portal of golden light had changed the course of their lives. They had friends and family still there. And they didn’t even know why because they’d lost their memory of what took place inside. Now they were about to do it all over again. This time maybe they would not return.

  “Ready?” Priest asked her.

  Her response was to take a step toward the portal. But someone else walked out. She was a bald woman in a simple drab maroon robe. Upon her dark skin were bright intricate fractals. Her stats read:

  Gatekeeper, level unknown

  Role(s): Unknown

  HP: Unknown

  Mana: unknown

  Stamina: unknown

  Dexterity: unknown

  “Priest. Lady Blades. Nice to see you again,” she smiled. “You don’t remember me. I was expecting to see you back but not so soon.”

  Lady Blades said, “We just want to go in there and get our friends back. No, I don’t remember you.”

  The Gatekeeper sighed, “I have a proposition for you, but it won’t make sense unless I restore your memories. So here it is.” She reached out and gently touched them on their shoulders.

  Chapter 55:

  Memories from the Lost Portal

  When the Gatekeeper touched them on their shoulders, they remembered what happened in the lost portal.

  “Please, Priest. Don’t do this. Do you want another Undead War Priest situation? It al
most cost you your Game Master role. Don’t go through that portal. Look at us, Priest… we’re all noobs. My sister is way too young for this. Stokes really needs practice. And I don’t think Cryptic can get us out of the portal once we get in. You know they’ll follow if you go through. So, don’t—”

  He embraced Kiera and kissed her on the lips, “Babe, we’ll be fine. We just peek our heads in. If it’s something we can’t handle, we get the hell out. And we call the cavalry. But it might be something we can do to help. We can take part in the glory. Save my brother’s ass. Maybe get some sweet system artifacts… get ourselves out of these BS scavenger quests.”

  Priest addressed the group, “Team Kali,” he said. “This is our opportunity to get out of scavenger quests. We’ll go in for a moment. We’ll see if we can assist Phaze6. If it’s too much for us, we get the hell out of there fast.”

  Priest extended his staff and tossed Phaze6’s broken portal gun to Stokes, “I’m not forcing you to go through. Anyone who wants to stay can stay and watch the storage.” Priest walked through.

  Kiera called after him, “Priest!”

  Stokes tossed the broken gun to Cryptic, “See you on the flip side,” Stokes said and jumped through.

  Cryptic shrugged his shoulders. He tossed the broken portal gun to Angel, “I gotta go get my knife.” He walked through.

  Angel handed the portal gun to Kiera, pulled out her swords and ran through, “Woohooo!!”

  “Angel!!” Kiera yelled. She looked at the bent portal gun and then at the portal. “Damn. Wait for me.” She followed them through.

  Lady Blades remembered being the last to step through. She saw a dark twilight in a frozen tundra. Several galaxies were close enough to see their spiraling trails of stars.

  She saw her team (Priest, Cryptic, Stokes, and Angel) standing before the Gatekeeper. Priest approached her, “Uuuhhh, hello,” he said. “We’re looking for a guy who just came through this portal. Kind of a tall pretty boy bastard that does everything right, perfect teeth, perfect at everything, 6 pack abs, gets all the girls, praised as a hero/rock star. Like a big brother you want to hate, but you love because he’s such a GREAT guy—”