Random Portals

Hurry! We don’t want to become like Shirem!”

“I’m going as fast as I can,” Kishrot said.

“Don’t put him in the water yet; you haven’t placed the ring on his finger. The Elders don’t want him covered in muck!”

“Are we taking him straight there?”

“Yes! Now let’s go!”

“I’ve actually never been in the house of Elders,” Kishrot said as a smile crept onto his face.

“And you won’t today; we are taking him to the Elder Guard. And they will take Shirem to the Elders.”

Steven’s head felt fuzzy; it was actually kind of pleasant. Then he remembered getting pulled towards the swamp water. His eyes shot open, and he jumped to his feet. Which made his head spin, and he stumbled before he regained his balance.

When he was finally able to look around, a chill ran down his spine, and his eyes widened. He was in some sort of wooden building, but his attention was on the strange people in front of him. Or snake people, to be more accurate.

“Umm, hello?” Steven said, while praying, that they were friendly.

Steven stood in front of five older-looking snake folk who sat behind a long rectangle table, all facing him. At first he thought they were Naga, but they had a very humanoid look about them. Well, other than the tail and their skin color, which varied wildly. Their eyes were also definitely reptilian. Steven just stared wide-eyed at them while waiting for someone to speak. He was about to ask what they wanted, but the old snake people began speaking. At least that’s what he assumed they were doing, as it sounded like a bunch of gibberish while leaning hard into the S’s.

“I’m sorry, I can’t understand you.” Steven said. He hoped they weren’t planning on eating him or something. The Naga, as he decided to refer to them, continued to hiss at one another while glancing at him. Steven took that chance to look around. Several younger Naga in scale armor stood at both exits, holding curved swords and daggers. Steven wasn’t sure what to do other than stand there. It sounded like their conversation was getting heated. This continued for a minute before one of the older Naga slowly stood up and held his palm towards Steven.

Allow Elder Vasuki to see the moment you arrived in this world.

Steven stared blankly at the screen for a moment before selecting yes. He didn’t have anything to hide after all, and it might gain him some goodwill with these snake people. As he selected yes, Elder Vasuki’s palm glowed, and suddenly there was a flash of white light. When Steven opened his eyes, he saw what he could only describe as some sort of hologram projection coming from the old snake persons’s palm. It showed the place Steven had arrived in this world, but instead of Steven standing there, it was a Naga in black scale armor.

Suddenly, purple light surrounded the Naga, and he vanished. Then Steven was standing in his place. It happened so quickly that it was hard to tell what had even taken place. Gasps came from the old Nagas as the projection faded. Elder Vasuki stumbled back from what looked like sheer exhaustion. Several Naga that Steven assumed were servants helped him find his chair. Then the old Naga, or Elders, as the prompt said, broke out into conversation. Steven was confused about several things. The lack of a portal for one, which was really throwing him off. Had he imagined it? No. He definitely went through a big purple portal; he was certain of that. It was more likely that the Elder’s ability just didn’t show it for some reason. Or maybe the portal was only on one side; whatever the case, he was here, and that Naga was gone.

One of the Elders motioned over a servant, and then, to Steven’s amazement, a small pillow with a ring on it just appeared in the Elder’s hand. The servant took it and promptly brought it over to Steven while kneeling down on his knee and raising the pillow above his head. Despite the situation, Steven felt quite awkward having someone kneel in front of him in such a manner. Glancing at the elder, then back at the simple-looking brown ring, Steven hesitantly picked it up, and the servant scurried away. Another of the Elders motioned for him to place it on. Steven started to do just that, but realized he already had a ring on. He looked at it with confusion, but just placed the ring on a different finger.

“Do you remember us?”

Steven’s eyes widened as he realized he could understand. The words sounded a bit off, but he could easily understand. Glancing down at the ring and back to the Elder, he spoke.

“I don’t remember you, but I can understand you now,” Steven said, unsure why they thought he would remember them.

“The strange magic has taken his mind. I was informed he was chasing after bugs outside the Wizard’s sacred space.” Another of the Elders said.

Steven’s eyes widened. This meant they had been watching him. “What do you want with me?” Steven asked a bit hesitantly.

“We want you to remember who you are.”

“What do you remember?” An old female Naga asked.

Steven didn’t see any reason to lie; if anything, he was irritated. They took him here before he could reach level one.

“Well, I remember a portal, and I went in it, and I ended up here. Well, not here, here. I believe you lot drugged me and brought me to this place.”

“It’s worse than I thought.” One of the Elder female Naga said. “His entire memory has been wiped. Do you think it could be whatever is keeping him in that human form?”

Steven tried to speak up, but the old Nagas just talked over him, so he just waited as they talked amongst themselves.

“What are we meant to do?”

“Send him to Goskia?”

“Evesakia could help refresh his memory.”

“Those two have not been close for many years now.”

“I agree with Vasuki. We should send him to Goskia for now.”

“Maybe his memory will come back with time.”

“I agree Goskia’s potions are the best option.”

The Elders continued to talk and argue back and forth.

Steven was confused, but he was piecing together what these old Naga thought happened. They apparently believed the wizard turned him into a human and wiped his memories. It was an absurd conclusion. Steven didn’t know exactly what happened, but if he had to guess, he would say that Naga was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was sent to his world. Or maybe somewhere else entirely. He tried to speak again, but the Elders just ignored him while they talked amongst themselves. It felt like he was standing there for hours before he was finally being escorted out of the building. As soon as he stepped out the door, he froze, his eyes wide with fear, unlike anything he had felt before. He was apparently in the treetops of the massive trees. Vine bridges connected to branches that lead to buildings as far as he could see. The guard nudged him forward, but Steven pushed back.

“I can’t...” Steven said, voice trembling.

The guard then pushed him along. He tried to push back again, but the guard didn’t even seem to notice his struggle. Once on the vine bridge, Steven grabbed and held the vine with trembling hands. Looking out, he noticed hundreds of vine bridges running every which way. He had to be a couple hundred feet up. The ground was blurry, and he couldn’t make out a thing. As he looked, it became blurrier until Steven unceremoniously fainted.

Steven woke up screaming in panic. He stopped when he realized he was in another building. He refused to think about being hundreds of feet in the air. After all, maybe he was back on the ground.

“Ahh, you are awake. What seems to be the problem?” A completely different old Naga asked.

This Naga or snake person was odd to look at; half of his face had human features, and the other half had the snake-like features of the others.

“W-what are you?” Steven asked.

“I am here to help you get your memories back. Let’s start with my name. I am Goskia.”

“Well, nice to meet you.” Steven said as he looked around. From what he could tell, he was in some sort of shop, and it was just him and this old Naga.

Seeing as this Naga wasn’t doing anything but looking at him, Steven asked the first question he thought of. “What race are you?”

“That is complicated, but to put it simply, we are a mix of Naga, humans, and elves. We used to be referred to as swamp elves, but now most races just refer to us as Half Naga,” Goskia said. “I’m surprised you had forgotten even that; the Elders didn’t mention it was this bad.”

“You keep referring to me as one of you, but I’m clearly human.” Steven said, glancing at his arm just to make sure.

“I was informed you have been forced into that form.”

“If you’re referring to the projection, if you watch just a bit further, you will see a flying cat.” Now that Steven thought about it, that wasn’t proof of anything... “Never mind that; I’m actually from a planet called Earth, and I went through a portal some wizard made, and now I’m here. No one changed my race.”

“This is earth. Our planet goes by many names, but many call it earth, as there is a lot of earth.” Goskia said.

Steven just blinked at the Naga. This was definitely not earth; there was no way a bunch of snake people could be living on earth completely undiscovered. Right?

“Now, back to the matter at hand. You need to at least understand your people’s lineage. Long ago, our people were an experiment to combine the three races. We were meant to be the perfect assassins with a full set of equipment slots, but we have no records of this being true or false. What we do know is that we were considered a failed experiment by humans.”

“That’s interesting and all, but what does this have to do with me?”

“Like I said, you were turned into that form. It’s just a matter of time before it wears off and you turn back into your true form. You are the chosen of the Elders after all, and you are of a pure bloodline.”

“Okay, let’s say this is the case, and I am a Half Naga like you. Why do I have all these memories from another life?”

“It would not be too difficult for an Archmage to mettle with your mind and add falsehoods to confuse you.”

“But why?” Steven asked.

“Like I said, you are the chosen of the Elders and will someday join them on the counsel. I would not put it past the Elves or Humans to have hired the Archmage. He has been living next to our territory for several years now. It could also have been a side effect of getting too close to the barrier. It’s not uncommon for powerful barriers to attack the mind, and from my understanding, you were scouting out the mana fluctuations next to the barrier.”

Steven’s eyes narrowed. It seemed these Naga, or whatever they were called, had an answer for everything. He wasn’t sure if he should play along with it or not.

“Okay, let’s begin with getting you some proper Naga equipment. We are still unsure where you acquired such strange clothing.”

“These are my clothes! I got them from my house.” Steven said.

“And where is your house?” Goskia asked.

“On Earth, I live in my aunt’s basement.” After saying it out loud, he realized it didn’t sound very dignified.

“Ahh, I see. You live on earth with an ant. I see, I see.” Goskia looked at Steven as if he were a child with brain damage. “Well, let’s get you clothed. Then we will take you home and have you meet with your childhood friend to see if that helps while I work on a memory potion. This will most likely be a long journey; attacks on the mind are no simple matter.”

It wasn’t long before Steven was dressed all in black leather. He was apparently favored by the Elders and the chosen, whatever that meant. But he couldn’t complain, as cost was no issue and he was given the best, according to Goskia. At first, nothing fit, but after a moment, everything he had on just adjusted to his size. Which brought a smile to Steven’s face. Trading clothes was definitely worth it; he liked his new clothes. Although he would have to get used to the stiff, leathery material. He now had a dimensional storage pocket on his chest. It could only hold a couple of items, but Steven was still overjoyed at having something magical. At seeing Steven’s excitement, Goskia handed him a couple of random items to test it out. Steven then proceeded to put what he assumed was a spoon and a glass jar into his newfound inventory and then pull them back out over and over. Goskia just smiled as he watched.

His old clothes were burned in something called the sacred fire as a precaution against any residual magic. Goskia also confiscated Steven’s pipe and the remaining bag of weed. He had tried to resist, but it was no use; he was like a child in strength compared to these Half-Naga. Goskia was extremely interested in the bag and its contents. It turned out he was an alchemist.

“This herb has extremely strange qualities! It’s quite similar to Kishurack, but somehow more. What can you tell me about it?” Goskia asked, his eyes glued to the contents of his bag.

Steven raised an eyebrow and asked, “What do you mean by strange qualities? It’s just weed.”

Goskia looked up sharply. “I can assure you this is no simple weed. It has the potential to permanently raise one’s mana. This is incredible; where did you find this?”

Steven looked at the overly enthusiastic snake person, unsure how to explain that he bought it from his old high school buddy Kyle. So he decided to just be vague. “From my basement.”

“Never mind then. I’m sure your memories will come back soon. In the meantime, I will study this new plant.” Goskia said, turning back to the weed on the counter.

“Hmmm, maybe if it’s combined with nimbus root or maybe silver shade moss.”

It was obvious the old Naga was muttering to himself and completely ignoring Steven. He didn’t expect the old Naga to start studying it immediately, but there was nothing he could do but just watch. Goskia continued to examine the weed for a long time. Steven continued to interrupt him while he was asking if he could have it back. Goskia eventually told him he had something very similar. It could even raise one’s mana regeneration for a short time. Well, when it was processed properly, if smoked, the effect was minuscule. The old alchemist assured Steven he would have some sent to him.

Once finished at Goskia’s shop, a guard yet again tried to have Steven walk across the vine bridge. But he passed out almost immediately. The next thing he knew, he was on a bed. Steven assumed the guard had carried his unconscious form to the house Goskia mentioned. Though it was more of a hut, Steven barely even got a chance to look around before a knock sounded at the door.

Opening the door, the first thing he saw was an insanely attractive female Naga named Evesakia. This was apparently the friend Goskia mentioned. After butchering her name a few times, she said he could call her Eve.

She told him she was going to be here for him all the way and help him in any way she could. Steven couldn’t help but be attracted to her. Her pale green skin and light red hair somehow went well with her purple reptilian eyes. Not to mention, she had the body of a model. Everything about her was perfection. Steven had no idea snake-like features could be so attractive.

It was also clear that she had a huge crush on this Shirem guy. She did, however, agree to call him Steven instead of Shirem. And she was more than willing to listen to him talk about his world, even though she thought mind magic had placed it all there. She asked several questions about his world, seemingly interested. If it wasn’t for what she said when she was leaving, he would have thought she believed him.

“We will get through this, Steven; don’t worry, you are a strong warrior, and I know you will get your mind back before long.”

Those words hurt; he thought he was really connecting with Eve. But it just reinforced the fact that she believed him to be someone he wasn’t. But maybe she could come to like him. However, that seemed unlikely; she had it bad for this Shirem guy.

Steven finally got the chance to look around his hut. The hut was small but nice; it had a wraparound porch that would definitely not get any use. A place to use the restroom, which apparently just fell into the swamp below, making him wonder if that’s why the swamp looked so disgusting. It also had running water; well, it was water that fell out of a small stone for him to shower under. Half Naga apparently were very clean and had a large portion of the house used for bathing. At least, that was his conclusion after going into the shower, which was at least half the size of the hut itself.

The lighting was also a stone. It was connected to the stones in the ceiling, and all he had to do was touch the stone embedded in the wall, and it would activate. It wasn’t much different from your typical light switch. Steven wondered if the tree house had something similar. He missed the tree house and hoped he could get back there soon. Even though it belonged to that wizard, it just felt safe, unlike this place.