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Room of Portals
She stood in a tall room that was dimly lit with the light of a few torches. Inscriptions from an ancient language marked the dark stone walls, telling the history of the massive structure. The emptiness of the room made even silence echo. Three bright lights shined from the opposite side of the room, each coming from a swirling vortex. The newly-made adult let her snow-colored hair out of its bun, letting it fall down to her shoulders. She let out a heavy sigh, creating a small cloud in front of her. She rubbed her arms due to the slightly cold temperature before approaching one of the bright lights. As she approached one of the portals, her footsteps echoed, each hollow click filling the massive, empty room.
She stood in front of a portal that leads to an unknown location, “Don’t worry Lynn, you’ve got this. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” though Lynn was terribly afraid, she remained strong. Lynn’s strength was something that was never in jeopardy; she has always been a persistent person. If you looked into her deep blue eyes, you could see that she will never give up, no matter what.
As Lynn stepped into the bright blue portal; she closed her eyes, as if to brace herself for the worst. Lynn’s ears rang before she heard anything. As the ringing faded she heard seagulls cry out from above. She stood on a small island surrounded by clear water.
Lynn looked down to see that she walking on something that was a bright white. She knelt down and grabbed a small handful of the ground. She was surprised as she let it run through her fingers, it was sand. It was so bright that it could pass for fresh snow. Small waves rolled on the surface of the ocean, each one glistening in the sun. Lynn looked into the transparent water, she saw schools of small fish gliding in every direction. Lynn finally decided to sit down and take in the stunning scenery.
She let out a sigh of relief, “I’ve needed this. I work hard every day to make sure things are going correctly in the world. It’s quite obvious that this location has nothing wrong with it… I need to go, but I want to stay.”
Lynn sat on the ground and debated for a moment. With a nod, she stood up and headed back to the portal that took her to the magnificent location. With a flash of light, Lynn was back in the towering room.
She looked around to make sure nothing was off. For some reason, things seemed a bit off this time. Lynn looked at the walls, and that’s when she noticed. The torches on the walls were slowly going out. The inscriptions on the walls were harder to see, and it was colder than usual. With another quick look around the room, she headed for the next portal.
Lynn stood in front of the next portal. This time it was a deep green color. Before she entered she leaned towards the portal to see if it produced any sound. No sound at all was produced, not even the swirling of the magical energy could be heard. With a shrug, she walked into the portal and let herself be transported.
This time Lynn was on the outskirts of a sizeable forest. Large oak trees towered above the short woman. The grotto she was in was blazing hot compared to the portal room. She looked up and saw the sky was dark with smoke; it also had a faint orange glow to it. While she was looking at the sky, Lynn saw a helicopter quickly fly in a direction that leads deeper into the forest. She wondered why it was heading that way.
Curiosity got the best of Lynn, she ran deeper into the forest. She noticed that the deeper she went, the hotter it got. Sweat flew off of Lynn’s skin as she ran to the center. Then, a sound was able to be heard. The crackling of flames came from the center of the forest; Lynn took off once she heard. The flames became more present the closer she got, “Wow! This wildfire is massive!” she said to herself.
She finally reached the center, huge flames roared all around her. In the center of the fire was a young boy, surrounded by flames while he radiated a hot glow.
Lynn cast a shielding spell to protect herself from the raging fire. She slowly made her way to the boy. The closer she got to him, the hotter it got; the hotter it got, the harder it was to resist the heat. Lynn was just out of reach. The heat was so strong that it started to break Lynn’s shield spell.
Lynn reached out and she felt him. The young boy’s skin touched the tip of her finger. With a sudden burst, a wave heat came from the boy. The force of the wave broke Lynn’s shield spell and sent her flying into a tree. Lynn’s head pulsed with pain, but she knew she had to get up. She stood up and quickly scanned her surroundings, most of the fire was gone. Only remnants of it remained. Lynn was looking around when she saw the boy. He was laying there, weeping.
She walked over to him and laid and hand on his shoulder then said, "What's wrong...?"
"I tried going home... But my mom said that I am too dangerous to return... So, she kicked me out!" he was on the verge of breaking down again.
"Don't worry, I'm sure everything will turn out okay in the end. Besides, you're nothing but special; don't let anyone tell you otherwise" Lynn reached over to the boy and wiped the tears from his eyes. She smiled at him and gave him a soft pat on the head. He smiled back then she walked away. As she was walking away, she looked back at the boy, he was still looking at her. She waved at him as if to say goodbye. He waved back.
Lynn was sure that he was going to be okay. With that, she turned back and left the forest. She was back at the outskirts. The temperature has fallen by a drastic amount, making the air slightly chilled. Lynn stepped back into the deep green portal and appeared back in the towering room.
The air was fairly cold now. Most of the torches on the walls were very dim, making it extremely hard to see. The only light in the room now was the light from the dark gray portal that Lynn stood in front of. She was hesitant but stepped in. She looked around to see what the place looked like, but it was hard to see. But the closer she looked, the more she realized. She was in the room again.
"What am I doing here...?" she thought to herself.
A large voice boomed overhead, "Welcome back, Lynn..."
"What...? Who are you?! Reveal yourself!"
"Now why would I do that?" questioned the voice.
"I see how it is. You're a coward!"
"How dare you! You puny little-"
"I wouldn't finish that sentence if I were you, I am a lot more powerful than I look"
"Listen here, Traveler. Your term is over. Now go before I remove you myself"
"Never! I will stand my ground until I die!"
"So be it," and with that two bright blue lights appeared above Lynn. They darted all around the room before stopping and lowering to the ground. Suddenly, Lynn heard a blade being drawn, but she couldn't see anything.
"Ugh, I hate doing this," Lynn held up her hand and yelled, "Illuminate!"
A bright flash of light filled the room, and suddenly, everything was bright. The mysterious figure was now able to be seen.
He was tall and wore a dark cloak. His body was as dark as the deepest shadows of the ocean. He wasn't large in muscle; in fact, he was slim like Lynn. But that meant he was just as agile as her. He also wore a mask over his face, looking like a Kitsune. It was all white, in the shape of a fox, and it had elegant red markings all over it. Behind the mask were two bright blue lights; they were his eyes.
Lynn took her side, the man took his. Both stood across from each other, swords drawn, ready to fight. The man smiled, then dashed towards Lynn. He slashed at her, but she deflected. Lynn went in for an attack; she jumped into the air and attacked from above, but the man blocked just in time. Lynn took advantage of the maneuver and kicked off of his blade, knocking him back and putting her on the other side of the battlefield. She knew she couldn't fight like this. So, she closed her eyes and held out her hand, with that, swirls of light started forming on her arm; a ball of pure energy started to form at the end of her hand. She opened her eyes and shot the ball, but the man dodged. But this was good for Lynn, she could now willingly cast magic during the fight. The man lunged towards Lynn, slashing swiftly. But Lynn dodged every attack. She then formed orbs of light in the air and shot them off at the man; one struck him. He stumbled for a moment. He looked up and cocked his head at Lynn. A bolt of light came from his eye and hit Lynn in the shoulder. Suddenly, a massive gash appeared on Lynn's shoulder; blood started to flow out at a steady rate.
She fell to her knees and gripped her shoulder. Lynn's illuminated field disappeared, but she was still able to see the man clearly for some reason. He walked over to her and stood there. He towered over her, making her feel like she was going to meet her end at any given moment. With that, he swiftly kicked Lynn to the ground. She laid there, hopelessly.
But she knew, she knew she had to do something. So Lynn quickly grabbed her sword and slashed the man in the face with all of her remaining strength. The slash broke the man's mask and left a deep cut across his face.
He stumbled backwards and covered his face with his hands. A dark liquid filtered through his fingers and dripped onto the ground. He fell to the ground, as it slowly became a dark vortex beneath him. He lowered into the vortex and disappeared. After that, the shadowy portal disappeared, as if it was never there, to begin with.
Lynn laid in the darkness of the temple, losing blood at an alarming rate, "Hah, this is it... isn't it? If only I could have done more to help others... If only I was given another chance"
She closed her eyes as if to accept her fate. Then, the sound of someone swiftly running filled the room.
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