He woke up in the same warehouse, and everything was the same. He thought that it might not have worked, but he realized something. The light from the sun was not yellow, it was green! He ran outside, running after a city in the distance… and he slammed into an invisible wall. He staggered backward and realized this must be a defense against intruders. He felt around for a door… but there was none. A board that came out of the ground suddenly sprang up from underneath his feet. He flew up until he landed in a small lake, about a mile from the town. There was a sign that read, “Welcome to Utopiaville, the date is 7/18/2074.” 2074!!! That was 44 years from the actual time! He saw flying trains and portals everywhere. People were flying around in jetpacks and having a good time. It looked perfect. He noticed that there were no schools and that there were only houses; no offices, restaurants, anything like that. The houses were dome-shaped and were mixes of neon green, blue, and red with some white. So were the trains. Someone came up to him. He exclaimed, “I’m glad you’re back! If you’ll come with me please?” Back? What? Had he been here before? Who is this man? Did these people actually know who he was? Burning questions whizzed throughout his head, but he decided to go with the man.

He walked into a large building, and it looked like a cafeteria. People sitting at the tables cheered upon his entrance. He heard shouts of “hail the portal creator” and “hero of the 2070s,” and he came to a conclusion. He invented portals after 2030, and he was globally known. The man must be the “leader” of the village, or at least someone of importance. He only had one more question. Back from where? Where had he “gone” as an excuse for being gone for 44 years? That was ridiculous! Soon, he found out. “So how was your trip to space? Did you find any more blackium?” the man asked. He answered, “No, there were no black holes.” The man asked, “What’s that in your pocket?” There were shouts of, “Our lord has found blackium! Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice!” He responded, “No, no! This is just one of my old family photos! There is no blackium here!” Many of the faces looked crestfallen. The man explained, “You see, Utopiaville is one of the world’s most isolated villages. Most villages choose Tradiaville as the destination for their portals, but we did not. We own two villages, Utopiaville and Oreville. We were forced to make our portals between these two cities. Tradiaville trades for lots of blackium, so all cities have a portal back from there. Oreville is full of mining resources, so we claimed it.” He exclaimed, “I love mining! Whaddaya say we go over to Oreville?”

The man said, “This is Oreville. All of the resources were thought to be mined out long ago. But, too many a time have we been wrong.” He asked, “What is your name?” The man answered, “I have none. I am normally referred to as ‘the Master of Utopiaville,’ but some call me ‘the Master.’ Yours?” He responded, “I don’t have one either. Well, I guess I did, but I don’t remember it. You can call me Bob.” They walked toward the mine, “It’s all yours,” the Master said. Bob clapped his hands together with glee and ran straight into the mine. He grabbed a steel pickaxe and hefted it with all of his strength. But, he almost hit himself in the face. Bob asked, “Wow, why is this pickaxe so light?” The Master responded, “Light? Let me feel it.” Bob handed over the pickaxe and the Master hefted it like he would have with a normal pickaxe. The Master inquired, “Why did you think it was light? This seems normal to me.” Bob replied, “I haven’t been back for 44 years, this is probably something I haven’t seen yet. Anyways, let’s get to mining!” They dug deeper, and deeper, and deeper until they hit the prime spot for resources. Bob, for some reason, felt that they should mine left from where they dug. The Master acquiesced and they started mining. They found iron, steel, and even a small amount of elementum, but nothing else. Then, they saw a dim black light coming through the rock. The Master uncovered it and inquired, “What it that?” Bob only looked at it in disbelief and responded, “I know what that is! It’s blackium!”

The Master was jumping up and down with glee while Bob mined out the rest of the blackium! It was enough to make two portals. The Master asked, “Would you mind if we used this blackium to make portals from Oreville and Utopiaville to Tradiaville? We could start a blackium trading empire! This is amazing!” Bob acquiesced and they walked, or more ran, over to the original portal site to Utopiaville. They labeled the portal to Utopiaville using some extra wood and Bob prepared the blackium. He threw it in the air while spinning it. It soon winked out of existence. The Master yelled, “WHAT HAPPENED?! WHERE IS MY BLACKIUM!?!?!” Bob responded, “Wait for it…” Then, there was a loud “BANG!” and a portal smashed into existence. The Master gave a wry smile to Bob and hopped through, only to smash against the portal and bounce off. Bob asked, “Did you really expect it to take you directly to Tradiaville? You have to set a location first.” The Master had a sheepish look and was staring at the ground, kicking a rock. Bob fiddled with something on the back of the portal and it suddenly glowed a fluorescent white, matching the color of its twin, sitting next to it. They tested it by sticking their heads in, and sure enough, they popped out in the portal intersection of Tradiaville. They went back to Utopiaville and made another portal. It was identical and they tested it out too. It worked also. Utopiaville was full of resources, but they, until now, had no connection to Tradiaville except for long journey. Now they had two portals! The Master, Bob, and ten other men loaded food, rare materials, and local delicacies onto a big hovering truck, and drove it into the portal. Soon, everything flashed white.

They went right into Tradiaville, and the builders in Tradiaville had already made the portals back to Utopiaville and Oreville, labeled and white like the rest. Bob was overwhelmed by the massive amount of people and portals. This was worse than New York City! He was about to remark this to the Master, but then he realized the Master probably didn’t know what New York City was. That reminded him of something. Bob asked, “Do we still have states and countries?” The Master replied, “No. We do have countries, but now we just separate into what we call ‘villes.’ Oreville, Utopiaville, and even Tradiaville, while huge, is still considered a ‘ville.’” Bob understood. That was why there was a large number of portals. There was not one for each state, but one for each ville, and there would probably only be about two or three villes in a state, maybe just one ville the size of Tradiaville. They traveled through the city, and suddenly there was a loud CRASH! The ship bobbed up and down, and the Master fell over. He shouted, “Get to the back! There’s a weapon none of us could wield! I think you’ll be up to the task!” Bob ran into the back and gasped in utter shock. There was a huge plasma minigun sitting in the back. He had a feeling that if he was using this, he might not need anything else. He looked out of the window and saw a person. He was wearing… gravity boots? He was jumping from ship to ship with ease but kicking each one as he went past. They all shuddered, most of them spilling loot. He looked at Bob, who was now standing on top of the ship. He said, in a low, guttural voice, “It looks like Utopiaville has FINALLY come to Tradiaville. Let’s see what you got here.” He jumped onto Bob’s ship, and before he could fire, the man kicked it out of his hands and over the ship. It hit the ground with a loud, “THUD!” and broke into pieces. Ohhhhh, no, Bob thought. The Master whimpered and imagined the losing battle Bob was about to fight. Bob went back to the ship and locked all the doors. The windows were locked down with titanium. That should buy me some time, Bob inferred. Then, he saw a laser cutter start moving in a circle. Bob uttered to himself, “I was wrong. Dead wrong.” He went into the back and saw another pair of gravity boots, as well as a laser cutter. He tried to resist the impulse, but he couldn’t. He yelled at the man, “It’s time for the Jedi versus the Sith.”

He jumped out of the ship to confront the stranger. He remarked, in his same scratchy voice, “I am Joe, and I will steal everything in Tradiaville. Maybe I can hold our ‘lord’ for ransom…” Bob was worried. He wondered how he was going to defeat Joe. Joe was really skilled, but was he fast? Bob shouted, “Catch me if you can!” He ran to the center, where the authorities were. Joe dashed after him. Joe was not fast at all! Bob was able to gain lots of ground. He looked behind him to check Joe’s progress… and promptly smashed into a metal pole. He admonished himself, “Note to self: Always look ahead when you’re running away from someone who wants to take you for ransom.” He ran into the town square, and heard the same low voice, “I’LL GET YOU!!!!” How did he get so close? He looked behind him, despite what he told himself earlier, and he saw Joe going much faster than him. He was faking it! He would overtake Bob long before he got to the market square. He had to deal with Joe himself. He suddenly realized what framed his family photo; blackium. It was the last thing his father ever left him. But, while moving as fast as he would have to move, he would surely be destroyed. When Joe got close, he threw the laser cutter at him. It forced Joe to dodge, and it gave Bob the opening he needed. He spun the blackium photo and set the location for somewhere no one had dared to set a portal before; the Earth’s core. He saw a faint ‘no’ escape Joe’s lips, as he was sucked into the portal. Bob was a different story. He writhed in pain as every one of his nerves flared at the same time, and a huge electrical discharge came off of his body. The explosion shut off all of Tradiaville’s power for a fraction of a second. Afterward, the portal, Bob, and Joe were gone. A large ceremony was held for Bob, as he saved Tradiaville. That day, forty-four years away from the actual time, a new holiday was born. Portal day. None knew where it came from, except for one person; the Master. He lived in seclusion until he too passed on. All remembrance of Bob or the origin of the holiday faded.  As we enter this world; we must all leave it the same way; alone.

Far away from the ceremony for Bob, there was an inactive volcano. It led all the way to the center of the Earth. A figure, covered in soot and ash, climbed out of it. He wanted revenge. He started the beginning of a long journey to Tradiaville. He fought to stay awake so that he could make it to Tradiaville. He had a mission to complete. He crawled to the edge of a cliff, and lo and behold; Tradiaville. He slowly climbed down, and the policemen saw him. He blasted them with his plasma raygun and they fell to the ground. Their deaths caused pandemonium, and the civilians were worked into a frenzy. They ran around screaming, and he was able to disappear in the crisis. His goal was the announcement booth. He ran among the people of Tradiaville until he got to the booth. He could see it up the stairs, but it was heavily guarded. He ran up the stairs and tried to sneak around the guards, but to no avail. One of them saw him and tried to kick him off the edge. The man dodged easily and shoved him down the stairs. He ran up the stairs farther and had to fight one more person; the person at the booth. They both dodged and made blows, but ultimately there was only one victor; the man from the volcano. It didn’t take long for everyone to realize who he was. He was the infamous invader of Tradiaville about one year ago. He indirectly caused the death of their portal lord. He was the one person everyone in Tradiaville truly hated, but they needed a confirmation. They needed to know for sure. They were about to get their confirmation. He shouted, at the top of his lungs, into the communicator, “I AM JOE AND I HAVE COME FOR MY REVENGE!”