Random Portals

“Steven, turn that racket down! Some of us have to work for a living.”

“Yes ma’am, I’m sorry.”

Steven took a deep breath. He knew his aunt couldn’t hear anything. He had a headset on. A headset that was supposed to be noise canceling, but that somehow didn’t apply to his Aunt Margie.

It was her daily routine. When she got off work, she would open the door to the basement, yell at him to turn down the volume, and then drink till she passed out.

Steven felt bad for her, but there was nothing to be done. She didn’t want to better herself and it was her life, so there was nothing he could do about it.

She didn’t think his job was real. “Playing video games is not a real job.” As she would say, but she never complained when he paid the rent with his “Gaming money.” Not that she ever offered to help pay the rent on her house. If it wasn’t for him, she would be on the street.

She was right though; it was hit and miss, but it payed the bills and he was never late for a payment. He had even saved a good bit. His plan was to get his own place, but he refused to go into debt and become a slave to the system.

Steven had always thought gaming would be his dream job. He worked hard to get where he was now, and where had that gotten him? Living in his aunt’s basement at twenty-six, hoping for that next big break so he can make it big. Deep down, Steven knew he would never make it big. Year after year, the enthusiasm he used to feel towards gaming slowly drained from him.

Feeling done for the day, he took a long drag from his wooden pipe and took a much needed break. Walking over, he fell onto his couch. It was the one thing he had spent money on other than essentials. The couch was also the thing he treasured most of all in his life. It represented the start of new beginnings. This would be the couch he moved into his new house, one that he owned without rent or payments. If all went the way he had planned, then he would be in his own house in a couple more years, but when did things ever go as planned?

Turning the tv on, he flicked it over to one of his favorite anime shows. Taking another drag from his pipe, he sunk into his couch and zoned out.

A few episodes into the show, Steven’s eyes grew cartoonishly wide as an inky dark purple substance rose from the basement floor forming a door arch directly in front of the tv. He looked down at the pipe in his hand and back at the portal. A second later, the center of the arch lit up with a purple hue, reminding Steven of the countless hours he had spent on Minecraft. He blinked several times, but ultimately just sat frozen on the couch, mouth slightly open in half confusion and amazement. A few seconds later out stepped an old-looking wizard making him immediately think of Gandalf, though the winged cat hovering above his shoulder threw off the Gandalf vibes. Steven rubbed his eyes and gently slapped at his face while the wizard watched him curiously. Once he was done, the old wizard spoke. “Young adventurer, I am in the need of your aid. I have traveled across space and…”

Before the wizard could say another word, Steven jumped up from the couch. “Yes! I’ll do it!” He then ran directly into the portal.

The winged cat took chase immediately, barely making it before the portal winked out of existence. A “Hell yea!“ echoed from the afterimage of the portal as it to faded to nothingness.

Blank, otherwise known as the old wizard, was so surprised at what just transpired he simply stood in disbelief, not moving a for a long moment. This had not been in any of his calculations. If only the boy would have waited a few more seconds for the portal to stabilize.

Sighing, he sat down on the odd-looking bench and was immediately impressed by its comfort. As he looked up, he noticed a large rectangular scrying device. He had been under the impression this world was void of magic, but he was clearly misinformed. He was obviously staring at an advanced scrying device. Although the picture was clear, it seemed flat somehow. He presumed it had something to do with the low mana. The old wizard still marveled at the sound, quality, and imagery.

He became enthralled by the battle scene in front of him. “SPECIAL BEAM CANNON!” The green man shouted on the scrying device.

“Crude magic, shouting your spell like that. But wow! Is it effective! He got both those warriors in one go.” Blank mumbled. He was trying to figure out what race the green man was and how he could condense his mana in such a manner when he realized he was standing up. He slowly sat back down, eyes glued to the screen in front of him.

Steven wasn’t sure what he expected, but an eerie swamp land definitely wasn’t it. The massive trees growing from the soupy black water gave the swamp an old, if not ancient, feel. Steven was grateful he didn’t end up in that disgusting looking water.

“You’re an idiot! A complete imbecile if I’ve ever seen one!” Steven jumped at hearing a voice in his mind, and it had definitely come from his mind. There was no doubt about it. Turning around, he noticed the portal was gone. In its place floated a pissed off looking winged cat.

“Do you know what…” the cat started.

Steven took a hesitant step back.

The cat then moved closer. “Do you…”

Steven took another step back. The cat again moved towards him. “Stop that,” the voice commanded. “You’re stepping out of my telepathic range!”

At this point, it was clear to Steven the cat was the one speaking. Steven stood his ground, even though his instincts told him to back away from this angry cat.

“I can’t believe you just ran into an unknown portal! Who does something so stupid?”

Steven tried to speak, but the cat didn’t let him get a word in.

“In all my life I have never seen something so…” The cat stopped speaking into his mind and took in a long deep breath before sighing, all of which was somehow audible in Steven’s mind.

“Okay. There is not much time. I’m going to fade away shortly, so follow me.” The cat said, clearly trying to hold in her anger.

Steven followed the flying cat as he tried to wrap his mind around what was happening. He did feel a bit silly for just running into the portal. But it was a portal! In his defense, he may have been just a little stoned when he did that, and maybe he still was. He glanced down at the pipe still in his hand, then looked at the winged cat hovering in the air. “Do you think we could go back so I could get a few things? I really wasn’t expecting to adventure in a swamp.”

The cat stopped and glared at Steven. “You have no idea what you have done, do you?”

“Uhhh, no,” Steven said sheepishly.

“I would love nothing more than to go into great detail about how idiotic you are, but that will have to wait! Time is short.” The cat turned and continued flying.

Steven followed until he came to a ditch filled with swamp water. He didn’t think he could jump it, and no way in hell was he going to step into that dark soupy looking water. He was afraid he would catch something just from looking at it.

The cat sighed into his mind. Steven then felt a strange lightness come over him and then he was suddenly on the other side of the ditch.

“Wow! That was sick!” Steven exclaimed.

“Sick?” the cat questioned.

“Yea, that was totally awesome!”

“I see,” the cat said as if Steven was a complete idiot, “follow me. Not much further now.”

“Where are we going?” Steven asked as he swatted at some bugs flying around his face.

“Out of this disgusting swamp, it’s dangerous here.”

Steven looked around warily. “Then why did you send me here?”

“I didn’t, and neither did Blank. You just jumped in the dammed portal before it even stabilized, or don’t you remember?”

“Yea, sorry about that. I got excited. Also, who is Blank?”

“Well, your excitement has really set us back. As for Blank, he is the old wizard you trapped in your world.”

Steven was confused. He had no idea how he could have trapped the old wizard. Steven was fixing to ask just that when the cat spoke. “We are here.”

Steven looked around. It didn’t look any different from anything else. Swamp land with massive trees as far as he could see in every direction. “Well, come on then, I can feel myself fading.”

“Fading? What do you mean?”

A long-suffering sigh echoed in Steven’s mind. “My physical form is fading! I can’t exist this far away from my soul bonded human for long. Now shush and come here! We are nearly out of time!”

As Steven walked up next to the cat, he got his very first notification.

Temporarily gain control of Domain, Yes/No?

Turning his head from side to side, the translucent screen stayed in his vision. It reminded him of a text message just floating in his vision. Steven’s eyes widened with barely contained excitement.

This was the moment he may have freaked out a bit. While also doing an awkward happy dance, to the annoyance of the flying cat. A cat who was currently trying to talk into Steven’s overly enthusiastic mind. The cat quickly resorted to magic to get Steven’s attention. The next thing he knew, he was falling, then he was on the ground looking up at the cat as he gasped for air. It was only a few feet, but it still hurt. “What the hell was that for?” Steven asked, rubbing the back of his head.

“Just accept the message before I fade away or you will die out here. The natives aren’t friendly to humans.”

Standing up, Steven narrowed his eyes at the cat but poked the air at the yes. Only for his hand to go through the floating screen.

“What are you doing now?” The cat asked, clearly frustrated.

“I’m trying to click the yes.”

“With your mind, you imbecile!”

As soon as Steven thought about selecting yes, he felt and heard a click, then received another prompt.

Congratulations, you are now in temporary control of the Domain, Blank’s Sanctuary.

He was trying and failing to hold in his excitement at just the thought of getting a notification. Would he get a stat page too? And what the hell was a domain?

The cat’s eyes narrowed at Steven. “Do I even want to know what you’re giggling to yourself about?”

“I’m not giggling.”

“Whatever you’re doing, just stop. I’m fading as we speak.”

“Okay, okay I’m sorry.” Steven said, trying his best to hold back his excitement.

“What is wrong with you? Or does your entire world of humans act like this?”

“I’m just excited is all! I’ve watched, read and listened to so many stories like this!” Steven said.

“Oh, I see. Must be working then.” The cat said, as if everything made perfect sense now.

The flying cat was becoming more and more translucent in front of Steven’s eyes.

“What must be working?” Steven asked.

“The stories, of course,” replied the cat in annoyance, “now don’t die. Blank needs you as an anchor to get back into this world. Therefore, I’m giving you temporary control of his domain. It may take sometime for Blank to gather the mana to travel between worlds again. It’s best if you don’t leave the Domain.“ The winged cat said, barely visible now.

“But i…” Steven went to ask, but he felt the mental link break as the cat vanished with a popping sound. “Have questions…” Suddenly, another notification appeared.

Congratulations, you are the owner of Blank’s Sanctuary.

(Note: You do not have full access to Blank’s Sanctuary. Kill the one who contests you, or fill all your Vassal slots to take complete control of Blank’s Sanctuary.)

Steven was definitely not killing anyone. Shaking his head in disbelief, he closed the translucent screen with a thought only for another one to appear.

Would you like to change the Domain name, Blanks Sanctuary, at this time, Yes/No?

(Note: This can only be done once.)

Swatting away some bugs, Steven mentally selected No. There were no screens in his vision now and he looked around. He had no idea where he was supposed to go or where this domain thing was. The island he was on was small and looked no different from any other of the islands in this disgusting swamp land. Surely this island wasn’t it. Deciding to walk to the center to see if he was missing something, he walked directly into something solid. Placing his hand on what he could only assume was an invisible barrier, he was surprised to find it cool and even a bit wet to the touch. Before he could pull his hand back, he received another prompt.

Would you like to enter Blanks Sanctuary at this time? Yes/No?

(Note: Blanks Sanctuary will lose the illusion barrier for 24 hours. Other defensive measures will remain in place.)

Steven slapped at his neck, squishing what he assumed was a mosquito. Before he could select yes, another prompt appeared in front of the previous one. After reading this prompt, Steven smiled and rolled his eyes. “Seriously! Wow, just wow, looks like there will be lots of mosquitos in my near future.” Steven closed the translucent page with a thought, and selected yes to enter the domain.

The air in front of him began to shimmer. Suddenly, it was as if a curtain fell.

“The hell!” Steven exclaimed, while reflexively squishing another mosquito as he did, a little red icon popped up in the top left corner of his vision, ignoring that for now. He looked around.

Behind Steven was swamp land straight out of a horror film, but in front of him was a magical wonderland full of colorful life. It was still a swamp, but it was more of a magical swampland. He expected to see fairies flying around at any moment.

It was as if a line was drawn on the swamp floor. On one side of the line, there were colorful mushrooms and plants of all kinds. Colors Steven didn’t even know existed or even how to begin to describe them. luminous plants were everywhere, even the trees had some sort of dark glowing moss hanging from them. The ground was covered in a dark green grass that looked like glowing carpet. Steven was getting an odd urge to take his shoes off and walk around, but he ignored that for now. Most of the plants seemed to be giving off a dim glow, and with the massive trees blocking most of the sun, the area looked like some sort of divine, mythical garden. It took Steven a long minute to break from his stupor of wide-eyed amazement.

Several mosquitoes were biting his neck and arms. He swatted at them and squished another one as he did a dim red flash appeared in his vision and hovered there. He knew it was notifications and that he could open it with a simple thought, although he wasn’t sure how he knew this. Deciding to deal with that later, he stepped into the barrier. Immediately, Steven felt a weak resistance. It was as if he was stepping into a spiderweb, one that somehow felt wet and cool. He continued to push through and heard a sucking sound followed by an echoing pop, and then he was standing on the thick grass.