The Portal

by Charles Sterling

  I ate, I had my coffee, I dressed up nicely. I was ready for it, but I would keep waiting. This time, I felt like I knew what to expect – that being, expect the unexpected and expect absolutely anything.

  Here’s what I dreaded going into… horror movies. Oh god, imagine appearing in a dark forest full of ghosts or demons or whatever it was. And then they scream as they run at you, because horror movies love to induce panic through cheap tactics.

  Don’t get me wrong, I love watching horror movies, but I would hate being in one. I would probably get scared a few dozen times before the monster actually eats me.

  Or imagine getting into a zombie movie! God, thinking about it, it’s so different. If you watch something full of action and mystery, and you think wow that’s amazing! But if you’re in it, you have a completely different perspective. You want to avoid action, because you want to avoid getting hurt.

  Half an hour passed of me just contemplating various scenarios. A lot of my life with this TV will just be endless waiting I feel like. I should bide my time better. And also, I would really like to find out my goal here. Am I supposed to achieve something, find something, unlock something? What do I do? Someone tell me! If only you could speak back to the people that created this teleporting device through some form of email or text messaging.

  I’d be like, ‘Hey! How are you?’ smiling emoji.

  They would reply, ‘Oh hi! Doing great’ laughing emoji.

  And I would say, ‘Oh, good, good. Now tell me what the f- frick am I supposed to do?’

  “Hmm…” Four hours and twenty three minutes. I think I can go soon.

  Seven, seven, eight, five. The air in my living room changed – it became heavier. The timer disappeared, and the reflective screen of the TV faded into nothingness.

  The void inside was calling to me. Without any actual force, it felt like it was sucking me in. I did my usual wait, but not for too long this time. The little specs of pixelated light began shimmering their way out and into my living room.

  Alright… here we go. What’s it going to be, TV? I got closer to it. The soft shimmering lights were bouncing off my body and out into the room. After a moment, a faint blurry image could be seen way in the distance. It was closer than usual, but had the same characteristic of those stars in the distance.

  I narrowed my eyes and bent down to look. I still couldn’t see what it was – I got a bit closer to the screen with my face, and that was enough to trigger the portal. My body disintegrated into photons of light and got sucked into the TV face-first. Like going through a dream tunnel where nothing made sense, and you didn’t feel anything specific, and gravity didn’t exist, and everything was spinning, and you heard strange sounds of people talking in the background, the toaster springing, the news reporter, a cat, a falling down frying pan and other strange sound hallucinations, I helplessly went through it.

  And almost like waking up from a dream, my face felt groggy and my body felt like it was stepped over by a crowd of people.

  I remembered the hallucinations a little bit more than I did before, there was something more vivid about them. But they didn’t matter at the moment, because… where was I?

  My back was leaning up against a rock. Up above me, the sunlight broke through the trees and rained down its beautiful light rays all over the forest.

  Ah… A forest – that could mean a lot of things. It could even be that horror movie I was dreading, or a survival movie, or what?

  After giving myself a minute to release the ‘teleportation tension’ I’ll call it, I got up to look around.

  The forest was quite lovely. The trees were huge, not your average backyard trees, and they were spread out spaciously, giving room for grass and bushes to sprout in between.

  I looked at my own hands, then touched my chest and hit my body softly a few times. It was definitely me – it was so real, I couldn’t find a single fault.

  I was only assuming all of this, I genuinely didn’t know. From the first teleport, I got sucked into a movie that I was watching at the time. From the second and now third movie, I ended up in a completely random one. I tried experimenting with leaving it on a channel, and this time I experimented with leaving it on the timer. Nothing made sense, so I abandoned my good old friends… logic and reasoning.

  Instinct, you are my new best friend now. Guide me through this crap! Let’s go!

  I was on my, marching with my head held high. That head went low very quickly, because in my ten minutes of walking, the forest barely changed and I didn’t get anywhere important. The forest ambience of distant birds echoing about and the light rustle of the wind was entrancing enough to get one lost and walking in circles. All I did was walk in a way that the forest wanted me to walk – the paths that seemed the most even and friendly were the ones I took.

  I gave it another fifteen minutes of walking, and finally I reached something! I reached the end of the forest. I saw in front of me – rocky valleys. It would be hard to traverse them, but I think I had to. Surrounded by gorgeous rocky mountains was a castle with little houses and buildings spread around. Wow, it looked almost medieval, yet very tourist-attractive. Like if I was in Germany or Scotland – except this one was huge. It was definitely not from our world, it was a whole kingdom.

  I took my buddy instinct with me, and went ahead. It was much longer than it should have been – just to get from one rock to another without falling to my death took minutes of careful execution. It leveled out the further I went, and allowed for a steady walk towards the open kingdom. I say open, but it was extremely well guarded by its terrain. You couldn’t see it unless you came out of the forest like me, and left right and front the mountains were tall enough to tower over the huge castle and hide it from view.

  I started seeing people – lazing around, walking, talking, hanging clothes, stuff like that. They wore very olden clothes, which definitely reinforced my opinion on this being a medieval place. Heh, funny, we went from a futuristic android world, and now we’re in old castle territory.

  Getting evermore closer, I was passing through a village. Basically, the furthest buildings from the castle were the little villages spread out like a network. The closer you got to the castle, the more condensed the buildings became. Further in, there were proper coble streets and architecture.

  Wearing my light beige shirt with a thin black summer jacket on top, I must say, I quite stood out. I didn’t want to get that much attention on me – to the point where I would get surrounded with people asking me the questions and not the other way around. I really lucked out with Cyl and Proto – they answered everything I asked. This was different though.

  As I got closer to the main streets, my head was looking left and right like a lost tourist.

  “Halt!” someone called out from behind. Three guards in chainmail armor and bulky swords made their way towards me. I stopped like a good civilian to talk it out if they needed.

  “Hello,” I said as they were right next to me. They almost surrounded me, the distance definitely felt uncomfortable.

  “You are in Graymore’s lands, foreigner. What business have ye here?”

  “Business, oh, no, none at all,” I replied calmly.

  “What name do you go by?” He spoke louder.

  “Raymond S…”

  “What lands do you hail from?!” They did not even let me finish.

  “I…” One of the guards unsheathed his sword and got behind me, probably making sure I wouldn’t run. “Look, gentleman, I am merely passing by.”

  “By the creed of our King we are to imprison and execute trespassers,” he unsheathed his sword as well.

  “Wait, execute?!” I moved back. Two of the men grabbed me by the shoulders, and the one that was talking landed a really painful punch in my stomach. It knocked all the air out of me and I felt like falling down. The two guards kept me up on my knees.

  “You got someone did ya?” more guards were approaching. “Now where’s this one from?”


  After a moment of silence, I got punched in the face. “Answer him!”

  “I’m from the forest,” I said the only thing I could think of. “Right there, the big one. I’m from there, I’ve never hurt a fly!”

  The men laughed. I saw in my peripheral vision, women taking their kids inside and closing the windows.

  They then proceeded to drag me towards a carriage nearby. Like a sack of potatoes, they threw my body in and locked the door.

  “Frick…” I gasped for air. “God…” I tried sitting up. It was a bit hard to breathe, the punch in the face was whatever, but he hit my solar plexus with the first hit.

  The carriage began moving. I sat against the wall of the empty and dirty cabin, cursing to myself.

  “Okay… calm… let’s see…” I looked around. Forget logic, what did my friend instinct say? What did he say… what did he say… come on Raymond, think. If I die, I go back. If I live, I’m stuck for god knows how long. I needed to get out, I needed to escape. If I fought back and resisted, they would beat me down and silence me. God…

  The carriage took a turn, rode a bit further, then stopped. I heard a lot of people, and a lot of clunking of armor and metal. They opened the carriage, then forced me out.

  I was in an outdoor military courtyard of some sort. They pushed me for no reason at all to walk faster, “move it.”

  I went inside a blocky stone building that lead god knows where. The carriage was the only time I got to think of a plan, but now I couldn’t think of anything. I was reacting to what was happening around me, which happened to be a pretty helpless situation.

  If you are ever in trouble, I will come and save you.

  I don’t think you have a television that teleports you to different worlds.

  Hm… why was I remembering that now? There was no way in hell Cyl would fly down from the sky and rescue me, right?

  “In you go,” he kicked me into a room. It was practically empty, and about the size of a modern day living room. The walls were stone bricks, the floor was stone – there was a desk almost in the middle of the room with a fancy chair on the other side, and a crappy little chair on my side.

  “Sit down,” two guards entered the room with me and closed the door.

  “On the fancy one or the little one?” I got hit on the head really hard for making jokes at this time. The pain crawled down my neck and through my spine as it made my body tense. Those guys had metal gauntlets on. I was never in my life beaten up like that; this pain was new to me.

  I sat down on the chair, holding my head and suppressing my urge to yell and curse.

  The two guards stood not far behind me on my left and right. I think we were waiting for someone to come.

  Minutes passed. I dared not move – I did not want to get hit anymore. The window in front of me beyond the desk was lighting up the room. The clear blue skies with all of its majestic freedom mocked me. After another few minutes, the door opened behind me. I did not look. I heard the door shut, and a raspy, ringy and buttery voice filled the air of the dead quiet stone room.

  “My oh my, is it perhaps an unwelcomed traveller?” he almost sang in the way he was talking. Why was he so happy? I wish I could be that happy right now.

  He walked passed me. His dark red costume immediately caught my eye – a frogged button jacket with gold linings against the red. It was like he was dressed for a masquerade ball or something. Oh look, he even wore a little dress hat on top of his wavy black hair passed his jaw line. Probably in his early-forties or something.

  He placed his ruby walking stick against the desk and sat down, rubbing his scruffy face.

  “So what on Earth did this young man do to deserve to be here I wonder?” his exaggerated way of talking persisted.

  “The unidentified man stormed into the city and defied our laws in multiple ways,” said the guard to my right. “After being caught stealing and harassing the town’s women, the guards put an immediate stop to his actions and were met with his violent retaliation. He attacked a guard with a knife. We could have lost one of our men today.”

  “Naughty naughty,” the man at the desk wagged his finger. “We do not do that in Graymore.”

  “What do you do about false allegations in Graymore then?” I replied quietly. To my absolute dismay, the guard on my right struck me in the face again.

  “Quiet!” he barked at me. I dreadfully held my face. I was hit more times than I needed to be in the past thirty minutes.

  “Oh, I would love to hear your side of the story no doubt, but think about it logically, friend! It is your single word, against all of theirs. Given my position of judge, jury and executioner, what call do you think I would make?”

  “I abandoned logic earlier today,” I replied to him.

  “Yes,” said the men on my right, “you abandoned logic and attacked an Imperial Guard!”

  “Don’t hold it against me young man,” said the man at the desk. “You are being trialed now, jailed in a few minutes, and executed tomorrow.”

  “How about you execute me now?” I said casually. The man raised his eyebrow at me.

  “Oh, I’m certain the guard to your right would love to swing his sword through your neck, but I’m afraid we have to follow tradition here.” He took out a quill pen from the drawer along with some paper. “Let’s see… what might your name be?”

  “Raymond Smith,” I replied calmly. I had already accepted that this was how I would go. I didn’t get to explore, didn’t get to talk to people – I just got captured and executed for wearing clothes that I bought from a mall the other day. Sucks.

  He scribbled my name onto the paper in its appropriate column. “And where do you come from, Raymond?”

  “Washington,” I replied.

  “Sounds like a lovely place,” he wrote down Washington. “Do they treat you well there?”

  “My neighbor brings me cookies.”

  “Mmm, you inspired me to have some after this,” he kept writing some stuff on the paper, then wrote a date, signed it, and stamped it with hot wax and a seal. “There we go,” he showed me the paper. “Your execution papers.” I didn’t reply. My face was lifeless. As soon as he told me the procedure, I became calmer. My shoulders relaxed. “Tell me, Mr. Raymond,” he stood up from his chair. “Why is it that you do not fear death?”

  “Death will come to all of us one day,” I replied. “There’s a hidden red timer within us. Mine just happens to tick out tomorrow. That’s all there is to it.”

  “Ah, how poetic!” he came closer to me. “Are you perhaps… a philosopher?”

  “No.”

  “A writer?”

  “Yes.”

  I looked up to meet his gaze. His smile was almost too endearing for a judge, jury and executioner of this disgusting system.

  “And what is it that you write, Mr. Raymond?”

  “Fantasy books,” I said. Was he giving me false hope? I didn’t need any, I’d be fine so long as they execute me!

  “A writer of fantasy from the non-existing kingdom of Washington, came upon Graymore to get falsely executed. What doesn’t add up here?” his smile got wider. He pat me on the shoulder before walking off. “Have a good rest, I may see you dead, tomorrow.”

  I was in a prison cell, alone. I had more bruises on my face than before, and much more pain in my limbs than before as well. I didn’t know what was up with those guards! Like, why? No, seriously, why?! Freaking pieces of… Sigh.

  The night was young. I wasn’t given food or water all day. At least a bitter cup of tea would rejuvenate me mentally. On the ground of the dark cell were some old sheets and piles of hay for me to lay on and wait out the night.

  So I slept, and then got woken up early in the morning by a guard hitting his metal cup against the metal bars of my cell.

  “Up, you sorry excuse of a man! It’s execution day.”

  “Finally,” I muttered to myself. I was aching – it was hard to get up.

  Luckily those guys
helped me out by dragging me across the floor and out of my cage. I was uncomfortably dragged through the rest of the prison halls until the cloudy daylight hit my face. I was out in a public courtyard. There was a stage on top of which there were a few people on their knees, lined up. They were beaten up even worse than me, and they were shaking with fear.

  About a few hundred people were standing outside to see us get killed. Did people really enjoy watching this? I wouldn’t even enjoy it in movies, there was nothing great about it.

  And yet this crowd of people lined up like a rally protest, yelling at us for some reason to watch the kingdom enact justice for doing something wrong.

  Oh look, here comes the man with a giant axe. Oh, and some other guy next to him with a piece of paper.

  “Ladies and gentlemen!” he yelled out to the crowd. They all quieted down, allowing his voice to echo further. “We are gathered here today in the name of our beloved King! For all the wrongs these pitiful men did in our city, we release your sins through the merciful act of execution!” the crowd reacted to his words with a brief cheer. “Let this day be a reminder, that we are all equal in the eyes of our Lord. That if you do wrong, then wrong be done upon you, and if you do good, then good be done upon you! Do not hate these men – but instead feel sorry for them. And aspire to never become like them. Today we have for you… A kidnapper!” the speaker pointed at the first man.

  “Boo!” yelled the crowd.

  “A murderer!” he pointed at the next one.

  “Booo!”

  “A thief!”

  “Boooo!”

  “A man who burnt down a house!”

  “Booooo!!”

  “I didn’t do it!!” he yelled back at them. He got kicked in the head for that. Ouch.

  “A horse slaughterer!”

  “Boooooooooo!”

  “And finally, a thief, harasser, and assaulter!” he pointed at me. And as you would expect, the crowd went,

  “Boooooooooo!!”

  The executioner came up to the kidnapper, and raised his axe high into the air. An assistant lowered his head down next to a box.