The Portal

by Charles Sterling

  We waited for a few moments.

  “What’s supposed to happen?” I asked.

  “Oh,” she said.

  “Oh what?”

  “Oh… you didn’t crimple up and die a miserable death.”

  “Huh?” I jerked my hand back.

  “If you were not true to your words, that is what would happen.”

  “Wow, handy trinket you got there.”

  “You cannot lie to the gods,” she said. She looked saddened, it meant that I was telling the truth and she would have to give it away. This was a hard decision for her to make, and one that she was very reluctant about. “Will I ever get this pendant back?”

  “I’m afraid not, it will be disintegrated into pure Light and fed into the engine.”

  She frowned for a moment. “If it is fated to be…” she handed me the pendant with a shaking hand.

  “Thank you, princess,” I bowed my head to her. “I’m glad it didn’t go bad for either of us. Shall I fly you back?”

  “Get me inside the castle. I will come up with something to tell my father…”

  “I’ll leave it to you,” I opened my arm. She stepped closer to me. Grabbing her by the waist, I flew over to any nearby window. I was quite sure I just saw her enjoying the wind for a moment as we were flying. Maybe I should have done that myself more often.

  “Farewell, Raymond of Washington,” she said.

  “Farewell,” I jumped out the window and got on any comfortable part of the rooftop before opening a portal for myself. I gave this kingdom one last glance, thinking, that when this is all over, maybe I would visit it again.

  I spawned a portal for myself, and went through, tightly holding the pendant in my hand. That was it, the end of the mission. I began wondering what kind of face Wilmort would make, and if he would pat me on the shoulder and say I did a good job or not. In some strange way I sought for his approval, though I would never admit it. I played out scenarios in my head of him praising me.

  Oh, that was not what I was supposed to be thinking of, though. I was inside the void, darting through millions of sounds and images. I had to imagine our base instead.

  And then I heard his voice, it was clear, yet muffled. I looked to my left. I saw Wilmort’s face – he was standing outside a large stone fence and in some sort of forest. Up ahead I could already feel the portal of the base near towards me, and yet I kept staring at the portal with what I believed was his original movie… I didn’t think it would just be floating around so easily. I could pull him in with a thought like that? Was this coincidence? I wasn’t certain. I reached my hand towards him.

  Chapter 17

  I felt rain hit my face lightly. I didn’t have problems waking up in worlds that much anymore, but definitely still had problems waking up in the real world. Maybe dying had something to do with it?

  I immediately looked at my hand, I was still tightly clutching the pendant. If that got lost, it would be a tragedy.

  I scanned the area. Behind me was a long and tall stone fence that blocked off something. I couldn’t see what was beyond it. Not far from me were closed gates with no guards and nobody around. I jogged a bit forward. The forest was low and had paths going through it. I saw him!

  “Wilmort!” I ran over to him. “Wilmort!!”

  He was walking down a path and away from the long fence. Thunder roared briefly as lightning lit up the area.

  “Wilmort?” I got closer. He looked back at me, holding his hat. He was in a dark and fancy suit with a leather coat over him. But his wavy jet black hair gave him away from a distance. He looked exactly the same as the Wilmort I knew, even his expression and innocently eerie smile.

  “Wilmort?” he asked.

  “Aren’t you, Wilmort Strayer?” I asked. I was standing a few meters away from him.

  “I sincerely apologize my boy, but I do believe that you are mistaking me with someone else. You wouldn’t want to spend any more time under this rain, would you? Get back to the city now.” He turned around and continued walking.

  “I know you,” I told him. He stopped in his tracks.

  “Do you now?” he turned to look back at me. “What do you know about me, exactly?”

  That was an interesting question, what do I know about him?

  “Uhh… you like fancy suits and costumes and stuff.”

  “A keen observation, anything else?”

  “You’re quite a mastermind, I think,” I nodded as if I hit the jackpot.

  “As I suspected,” he adjusted his hat. “Have a lovely day,” he turned around once more, and began walking down the forest path.

  I flew up into the sky, went over his head, and landed in front of him slowly.

  “My my, we have ourselves a wizard,” he smiled.

  “Look, I know it sounds and looks strange, but for the sake of the better good, I really have some questions for you.”

  “What questions might that be?”

  “What kind of person are you?”

  “A rather busy one, I would say. Lots has happened in the past twenty minutes.”

  “Oh,” I said. “Okay. Uh… What happened?”

  “I am going to a faraway place, I had to say goodbye to so many people, it was quite touching,” he rested his hands on his cane. “What is your name, if you do not find it impolite of me to ask?”

  “Raymond,” I said without hesitation. “I’m Raymond Smith, and what’s your name?”

  “They call me Reed, Reed Faust,” he briefly took off his hat and bowed.

  “Reed… Faust?”

  “Do I go by the name of Wilmort in your future? Rather fetching I must say,” he looked pleasantly amused. “What is that trinket you seem to hold so dear to your fist, Raymond?”

  “Oh, it’s nothing, I forgot to put it in my pocket.”

  “Is it a gift for someone, perhaps?”

  “Perhaps,” I said.

  “Oh my, and what is the lucky girl’s name then?”

  “Uh… Violet,” I said. “So where are you going?” I tried changing the subject.

  “Ahh, allow me to show you, come with me for a second.”

  We travelled uphill for literally ten seconds where he pointed deep into the mist with his finger.

  “See that city over there?” he stood close to me and pointed very specifically towards a certain spot just beyond the forest.

  “It’s too foggy, I don’t see anything,” I narrowed my eyes, trying to line up my sight with his finger.

  I felt a sharp pain enter my lower back and cleanly travel up my spine. Everything went black very fast, my head felt light, my body tensed, and I fell lifelessly to the ground, rain pouring on me. I felt like I choked on my own breath. I wanted to react, but I just couldn’t.

  In the distance, I saw a vision of Cyl looking at me while lying on the ground as well. That vision was interrupted by Wilmort stepping in front of me. He kneeled down and grabbed the pendant from my hand.

  “I do not want a better good,” he said in a dark and ruthless tone. Everything went completely black before I could do anything.

  I woke up in my living room.

  The worst and most unpleasant burn was felt along my entire back. As always, I wanted to yell and throw another tantrum but my physical state would not allow it. All I could do was lay helplessly on the floor and regret what the frick just happened to me.

  I got stabbed in the back by Wilmort… no, by Reed Faust. Both names sound equally evil if you ask me. And he took the pendant that the princess entrusted me with – how could I be so stupid?!

  I had to get back, at once. Even if it would hurt like hell without rest, the moment I could move a finger, I had to get straight back into base.

  An hour later, which was earlier than usual, I began forcing myself to get up. I crawled and clawed my way to the remote on the table. Very slowly and very tensely, I wrote seven seven eight five. That was as much as my strength could muster.

  I dropped the remote and waited a little
longer till it hurt a little less. The room became dark, and the flickering fiery orange lights were spreading throughout my living room. I watched them shimmer beautifully right by my face, while wallowing in regret.

  Another half an hour passed. The flickering lights went all the way to my kitchen. I managed to get on my knees and just barely reached the TV screen to start the portal process. Within moments, I was in the void.

  Within further moments, I was in the base, my face glued to the cold floor right next to the couches. I felt exactly the same here as I did back home. It was horrible! I needed to get stuff done, I couldn’t afford to lie around. And no one was around me… Did no one notice? Usually Regal would at least notice but…

  Twenty minutes later, with an excruciating headache, I tried getting up, but couldn’t yet.

  “Raymond?” Violet’s voice rang behind me.

  “Shhh!” I immediately replied. “Violet,” I whispered. She kneeled down next to me. “Is anyone in the room?”

  “Regal is,” she said quietly. He couldn’t see me thanks to the couch in between us.

  “I need you to get me to your room, or any other private room, but quietly so that no one would notice.”

  “Okay, sure…” She perked her head up from behind the couch and checked how busy Regal was. He was reading something, his head fixed towards the wall. If she was careful enough, Regal wouldn’t notice. “Stay quiet. And this better be worth it.” She grabbed my body by sitting on top of me and cradling my body with her arms and legs. Then she took off into flight, carefully and quietly getting closer to the wall before going directly up where there were more rooms in an open corridor. She placed me down, quietly opened the door, then dragged me across the floor and into the room.

  “I guess if you’re so worn out… you died, didn’t you?” she quietly closed the door and sat down on a chair. This looked like it would be her room – a womanly cozy bedroom with a bunch of makeup and perfumes around the place.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “I knew I should have come with you,” she picked up a cushion and smacked me on the head.

  “Ow! Not the head… Violet, we have a serious problem.”

  “What?” she took a second swing but stopped.

  “I lost the pendant… to Wilmort.”

  “What?”

  “I said, I lost the pendant to Wilmort!”

  I felt her grab me roughly by the top of my body and throw me on a couch so I could sit up and look her in the eye.

  “Say it again,” she stood in front of me. I barely held my weight even on the couch.

  “I said… I lost the pendant to Wilmort.”

  “So Wilmort has the pendant?”

  “Yes, but no, not our Wilmort, the original Wilmort.”

  “You…”

  “I thought about him while teleporting, and it ended up bringing his portal to me. I decided to go and talk to him, find out what kind of man he was. He ran a knife through my back and took the pendant. It’s with him now.”

  Violet covered her face with her hands and walked frustratingly around the room with slow and intense steps.

  I stayed silent, and was just ready to probably get the worst beating of my life, who knows?

  “I’m involving Nero and Douglas in this.”

  “What, why? I thought we could just go and take it together.”

  “Stay here,” she stormed out of the room.

  That kind of answer was probably worse on my conscience than beating me up.

  I mean, I stayed put, there was nothing I could really do. Minutes passed, and I heard Nero’s voice just outside the door before he stormed in.

  “I knew it! I knew it, I freaking knew it, I even told you about this. I told you about this Violet but you took his side!” The door slammed shut with Violet and Doug walking in after him.

  “Calm yourself Nero, we still don’t know anything,” said Doug.

  “Why should we trust him? Oh? Cause he was a bad person and now he’s changed, or some bullcrap like that?”

  “That wasn’t Wilmort! That wasn’t our Wilmort,” said Violet.

  “How can there be two of him then?!”

  “I don’t know! Anyways, we’ll get the pendant, and then we confront Wilmort about everything, deal?”

  “That’s if he even tells us the truth,” Nero kicked the cushion that Violet dropped earlier.

  Doug said, “We’ll involve Dr. Regal in this when we’re back. Getting a pendant from a man with a knife wouldn’t be hard I imagine.”

  I was sitting on the couch watching the three go at it. I could still barely move.

  “I thought you trusted Wilmort,” I said.

  “Oh no, no I trusted Regal! I didn’t trust Wilmort for one second. Regal advised us to drop our suspicious for your sake.”

  “My sake?”

  “Your sake!” said Nero.

  “Do you two not trust Wilmort either?” I looked at Violet and Douglas. Violet looked away, and Douglas held eye contact with me.

  “I did trust him,” he said. “And I might still do depending on what happens next. He saved me, and he promised to give me a peaceful life with my wife. Even Regal said it was possible.”

  “And you, Violet?”

  Violet didn’t answer. Nero answered for her. “Yeah, she trusts him, of course she does. Beats me why, but of course she does.”

  “So we get the pendant back,” I said, “and by the way sorry for losing it, and… then what? What if Wilmort ends up being bad?”

  “Five of us against him, I say our odds are quite good,” said Doug.

  “Can any of you stop time like he does?” I asked.

  “What are you talking about?” Nero folded his arms. “Wilmort can’t stop time.”

  “Yes he can,” I said. “He stopped time of a whole movie except for him and myself.”

  “He must have used the stopwatch,” said Violet.

  “He used the stopwatch?!” Nero freaked out even more. “Now he’s breaking his own rules! Even Regal clearly said not to touch those objects!”

  “Let’s just, calm ourselves and go get the pendant,” said Douglas. Violet and I sighed at about the same time. “Can you move?” he asked me.

  “Barely,” I said.

  “While we wait, you’re going to have to describe to us the exact location you saw him in.”

  “Please don’t be an empty forest,” Nero rolled his eyes.

  “It was a forest, but it wasn’t empty,” I said. I explained it to them in the best of my capabilities, describing the stone fence, the fog beyond the forest, how the whole place was slightly going downhill, and the manmade paths. I was then advised to imagine a picture of it and create it out of Light.

  “So that’s it, huh?” they held the picture.

  “Not much to go by, but we’ve had worse,” said Violet.

  “Any tips for making this body ache go away?” I asked the three of them.

  “Just have to wait,” said Nero. “According to Regal, anyways.”

  “You wouldn’t be suspicious of Regal now, would you?” I asked Nero.

  “No, never,” he replied instantly, sitting down on the couch not far from me.

  “Why so sure?”

  “If only you knew.”

  “Doctors naturally want to save things,” said Douglas. “He was created to save, I was created to kill and suffer while killing. And I guess, Nero was created to be normal, weren’t you?”

  “Yes, everything about my life right now is normal isn’t it?”

  “Help me up,” I stretched my hand out to Doug. He pulled me up gently. I felt blood circulate through me again. “God this is unpleasant. I think we can go.”

  “Finally,” Nero got up, immediately conjuring up a portal for us.

  “You guys go ahead,” said Violet. “I will be delayed by no more than a few minutes, I will meet you around the gate area.”

  “You’re not telling Regal anything, are you?” Nero asked.

 
“No, I wouldn’t dare, yet. Pendant comes first.”

  “Let’s go then,” said Douglas, going through the portal first. Nero went in right after. I was about to step in, but looked back at Violet.

  There was a silent pause between us. I don’t think either of us knew how to take each other yet, seriously or not seriously. I turned back towards the portal to go in, but she grabbed my arm abruptly.

  “What is it?”

  She held my arm and spaced out, staring at the floor.

  “Violet?”

  “It’s nothing,” she said. “I’ll see you in a few minutes,” she went out of the room. I shook my head left and right. I’m never going to understand girls. I went in.

  Finding that same gate was a piece of cake, once you were there and you know more details than a picture or diagram could give you, you will have no problems.

  Within a minute, I opened my eyes, and was at the exact same location that I spawned the first time. The mist still lingered, and the deep sounds of thunder still resonated through the sky. Doug and Nero were standing by the gate, and I joined them.

  “Did Violet say anything?” said Nero.

  “No,” I replied. “I have no clue what she’s doing.”

  “Strange, isn’t it?” said Doug. “We’ve been at it for so long, and just when everything was about to come to an end, we’re having second thoughts.”

  “Regal couldn’t have messed up,” said Nero. “And we have a book that Wilmort can’t read, an Egyptian scepter that does god knows what, a halo that he can’t get out of a crystal, and now a pendant that he probably won’t be able to use either.”

  “It’s still very likely that our suspicions are wrong, Nero,” said Doug. “Raymond lost a pendant to the villain past that he wanted to hide from everyone. The engine is damaged, Regal ran the analysis with and without Wilmort countless times.”

  “Well I hope you’re right,” said Nero.

  Doug looked at me. “Nero had phases where Wilmort either disappeared without telling us where he went, or asked us to bring him items for reasons other than repairing the engine. Violet and I never quite minded, but Nero was unsettled about it.”

  “Well, to be fair I was unsettled with him for a very long time too. It’s only recently that I began…”