Portals of Chaos

Tory Alexandria Erikson traveled through a meadow in her home of Ocean Falls on a bitterly cold afternoon on assignment for her job.

She shivered and pulled her coat tighter around herself. It was winter and while it didn’t snow in Ocean Falls, it grew chilly enough to need a jacket. She was glad she thought to grab hers on the way out even though winter was just beginning. She hated doing field work when it got cold like this but it was one of the prices of being in this career.

She was tempted to shift into one of her animal forms to keep herself warmer and cover more ground but she had to use the equipment to track down the portals that were said to be located in this area. She needed human hands to hold and work the tracking device as she searched for the portal though it was taking forever.

Portals could be hard to detect. They were often invisible, which was how numerous people fell through without knowing. There were cases where someone unknowingly went through a portal, found themselves in a new place, and had no idea how they got there or how to get back home. It was terrifying and dangerous to the nth degree and Tory couldn’t imagine being in that situation.

Portals were outlawed in the Eternal World and those who created them would be arrested and sentenced to prison for a long time. The punishment was extreme because of the dangers portals possessed since so many lives were endangered because of them. As a portal expert, it was her and the rest of her team’s job to track down these portals and close them.

The other members of her team were scattered around, trying to track them too. No one was happy about being out here when it was so bitterly cold but everyone had to suck it up. They couldn’t afford to allow portals to be open when someone could fall in.

For some reason, there was a rise in portals being opened throughout Ocean Falls, the second-biggest territory in the Eternal World. She was still a student at Ocean Falls Academy and was one exam away from becoming a licensed portal expert. Part of her grades were going on the field and assisting the professional members of the Portals Lab with tracking down the portals. She’d been doing fieldwork for a year and her team leader said he’d never seen these many portals open at once in the two decades he’d been the leader of the Portals Lab.

A gust of strong wind blew her long black hair into her face, stinging her eyes. She growled in frustration pulled an elastic out of her coat pocket and quickly piled her hair in a messy bun on top of her head before resuming tracking the portal down. She prayed she would find this portal soon because every last nerve of hers was tested from being out in this miserable weather.

She looked down at the tracking device, a small globe that revealed maps that led her to the potential locations of the portals they were tracking. She followed the trail through a thicket of tall grass until she came to its destination.

She narrowed her eyes and saw the air glimmer slightly. A satisfied smile graced her lips. Finally, she’d found it after a million years.

She knelt on the ground and opened the toolbox she’d been carrying which held all her devices. She put her tracking globe inside and took out the wand and Capturerer, another globe meant to store the portal’s magic.

She was a shapeshifter but was taught the spells she needed to know how to close and capture a portal. She needed a wand to perform the spell since she couldn’t produce magic alone. Sorcerers could produce magic at the tip of their finger, no wands necessary. This was why they made up the majority of portal experts and she was the only shapeshifter on her team. Other supernaturals outside of sorcerers typically didn’t go into this career but she was one of the rare that wanted to be here.

She grabbed her wand, a long, curved, thick, wooden stick with her full name carved into the side. It had been given to her when she passed her exam to go into fieldwork. She was so excited to be on the field though the response from the others in the Portals Lab was cold. She refused to let their reaction get her down. She wouldn’t let anyone get in the way of her dream.

She touched the small circular crest on the chest of her jacket. It was a small, eggplant purple crest shaped like a raven stitched on her coat. It was where her familiar, Raven, stayed when she rested or Tory didn’t summon her. She knew Raven was asleep so she decided not to summon her. The bird was always so cranky when woken up from a nap and she’d closed and captured portals before to the point she could do the task with her eyes closed. Raven had helped her so much lately with the test anxiety she felt her companion deserved some much-needed rest.

She stood and started to perform the spell, but a deep, rumbling sound from inside the portal froze the words on her lips. She frowned, gazing at the portal, the sick dread forming a knot in her stomach.

Then the earth started to shake violently, nearly causing her to lose her balance. A deadly roar was heard from the portal, causing her to snap out of the frightened shock she’d fallen under.

She lifted her wand and quickly cast the spell that should stop the terrible event about to unfold.

“Portal, you are now under the command of my words,

Close now and become unbound,

For the world you lead is not welcome here.

Dispel at once and let your magic be at peace.”

She saw the soft, glimmery, purple smoke fill the air, indicating her spell had worked, but the portal didn’t close and go into the Captuerer like it was supposed to. Nothing happened. It was still open. What the hell was going on?

Her heart began to pound harder, and she cast the spell again, this time louder, but nothing happened. The earth trembling was so violent that she thought the earth beneath her feet would crack open. The roar grew louder each second, causing her fear to spike even more.

Sweat formed on her skin, her chest tightening to the point it was hard to breathe. She quickly grabbed her phone out of the pocket of her jacket and opened her team leader’s number. Her team leader fortunately answered on the first ring and she screamed into the phone, “I have a situation over here! The spell isn’t working and something’s coming through! I -”

A huge wave shot through the ground, hard enough to cause her to fall backward and send her phone flying through the air before she could finish her sentence.

She scrambled clumsily to her feet as a huge, terrifying creature came through and her body locked with horror.

The creature stood at least eight feet tall. Its leathery brown skin stretched taut over its bones to where it looked like the slight movement would cause it to break open. Its bulging red eyes were filled with cruel malice as it took her in, nothing but a wild hunger in its gaze. It had bat-like wings that spread out on both sides of him and had to span at least twenty feet wide. It was undoubtedly powerful and could launch it into the air easily. It had two horns on its head that curved into the sky, the tips spiked with points that could penetrate through the stone’s surface. It opened its mouth to reveal rows of razor-sharp fangs that could easily cut through flesh. Its hands and feet had deadly claws that could easily decapitate someone with one fatal swipe.

It was a demon.

She couldn’t believe her eyes. Her mind tried to wrap around the fact that a creature that’d been banned from her world over a century ago was standing before her.

It released a roar that once again shook the earth and pierced her ears, causing her to cry out and clamp her hands over them. A sound had never hurt her like this before.

The demon launched itself at her with frightening speed and she almost didn’t get out of the way on time as it swiped its claw at her, its talons shrieking through the air, only a few inches shy of her.

She tried to think of any animal she could shapeshift into that would help her but she couldn’t concentrate as she tried to dodge all the blows the demon kept aiming at her. It ran after her, moving at nearly blinding speed. The beast inside her was awakened but she didn’t have time to shapeshift or else this creature would tear her to ribbons.

“HELP!” she screamed at the top of her lungs, praying her team would hear her. She knew she would die here if someone didn’t help her.

Her foot caught on a rock and her ankle twisted, causing her to fall to the ground on her shoulder. She looked up and saw the deadly claw descending at her at terrifying speed. She only had time to turn so the blow wouldn’t land on her face and scream as the claws cut through her jacket and slashed the right side of her back, leaving an excruciating burning, piercing pain that shot through her whole body. Blood immediately soaked the inside of her shirt and jacket.

She struggled to move as it aimed to strike again but a bright burst of light struck it in its head, causing it to release another shrill roar. It stumbled backward, nearly falling, and the left side of its head burned, its skin sizzling away to reveal white bone. It hissed and released a deadly growl before lumbering out of her sight, its footsteps shaking the earth as it ran away.

She took a shuddering breath, trying to breathe. Her head pounded and she was dizzy, the sky spinning around her. She felt so tired, so sore, she didn’t know if she could ever move again.

She felt more blood gush from her wound at an alarming rate. By now her shirt was completely soaked with blood as well as her jacket and was creating a puddle around her. Crap, she needed to get to the hospital before she lost too much but she couldn’t move. She was too tired, her whole body felt heavy. She tried to move but she couldn’t. Black spots filled her vision and her eyelids drifted close on their own accord.

The last thing she heard was someone calling her name before she descended into darkness.

“Sis? C’mon sis, you need to wake up.”

Tory slowly opened her eyes at the familiar voice calling her name. She’d know that voice anywhere. She was greeted by her brother’s face peering down at her.

Christian had his familiar goofy grin, the same one all her siblings shared. They all looked identical whenever they smiled. “Welcome back to the land of the living. You had us worried there for a second.”

He reached down and ruffled her hair, the thing he always did to comfort her and himself when something bad happened. She immediately remembered the demon coming through the portal and attacking her. The memory caused fear to course through her and she shuddered, her back stinging from the attack. She knew her siblings were worried sick about her and wouldn’t leave her side for a while.

She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a croak, her throat dry. He grabbed a cup of water by her bedstand and held it to her lips. She greedily drank the cool liquid, relief seeping through her as it soothed her sore throat.

As soon as she could speak, she asked, “How long have I been out?”

“A day. The doctors here had to perform surgery to get the demon venom out of your system. Good thing your team got you here when they did because if it’d been any longer. . .” He let out a low whistle and shook his head. “You had luck on your side, sis. I know this won’t help from the other back issues, but it beats being dead. But don’t worry, we’re all gonna help you.”

“Thank you. Where’s the others?”

“They went to get coffee. We’ve stayed here all night when Dr. Halse called us.”

“You didn’t have to do that, Chris. You all have work to do.”

He gave her an incredulous. “Uh, yeah, we do. We stick together, that’s what we do. Family always comes first. Our jobs are never more important than you.”

His words caused tears to swell in her eyes as she felt a surge of emotion rise inside her.

“Dammit, Chris, don’t make me cry,” she said and quickly wiped her tears away and gave him a crooked grin.

“It’s not my fault you’re too damn emotional,” he said and put her in a headlock and rubbed his knuckles on top of her head, messing her hair up. She screeched and shoved him off, laughing.

Her wound started to sting again, reminding her of the severity of their situation, and she grew serious. “Has the demon been taken care of?

Christian’s face instantly grew serious, all trace of humor gone. He sat down on the bed beside her. “Not yet, but all the Guardians are on it. We’re searching everywhere but after it attacked you, it vanished.”

“Have any more portals been opening?”

“A lot. It’s happening all around Ocean Falls. The whole Portals Lab is on

the field right now, closing them down.”

“I need to join them.” She started to get out of bed but he jumped to his feet and caught her by her shoulders.

“Whoa, slow down there,” he said, forcing her to lay back. “You can’t go anywhere right now. You just survived a demon attack and had surgery. You’re not going anywhere for a while, especially not on the field.”

“But I have to -”

“Tory, the entire Portals Lab is out there right now. It’s a mess, but you know better than anyone that those people are more than capable of handling it.”

“The demon -”

“As I said, all the Guardians are searching for it. No stone’s going to be left unturned.”

She huffed in exasperation. She crossed her arms over her chest. She knew it was childish but she didn’t care. “I need to be out there helping everyone.”

“No, what you need is rest and focus on recovering. No offense, but if you were to go out there you’re going to be a liability. You’ll have a problem walking around for a couple of days. This injury with your back issues will make it painful to move around. Everyone’s attention will be divided ensuring your safety and searching for the portals and the demon. We need to have our undivided attention on what’s going on.”

She wanted to argue but knew he was right. Going out there with everyone else would make matters worse for everyone and she wasn’t of any use. Ugh, she hated it whenever he was right.

She groaned and dramatically flopped back against her pillow, blowing her hair out of her face. “This sucks.”

“I know. But you’ll get better in no time. Remember when you broke your back and all the doctors said it’d be at least a year ’til you’d be a hundred percent?”

“Yes, Chris, I was there,” she said dryly, not wanting to remember that terrible time in her life.

“You recovered in six months ’cause that’s how strong and stubborn you are. You’ll be back on the field and kicking ass before you know it.”

“Tory!” their sister’s voices suddenly screeched through the air, startling them both as they appeared out of nowhere, dropping their cups of coffee on the floor. They knocked Christian out of the way and rushed over to wrap Tory in a tight embrace. Their adopted brother, Trevor, appeared behind them.

“Well gee, nice to see you too,” Christian said, rubbing his shoulder and glaring at them.

Her identical triplet sisters, Tara, and Skylar, wrapped her in a huge bear hug, nearly squeezing the life out of her but she didn’t complain, hugging them back just as tightly. Having her sisters near always calmed her down and the relief she felt with having them here nearly overwhelmed her. She was close to Christian and Trevor, but she had a bond with her sisters that was hard to explain. They’d been close since they came into this world and as they grew up. Sure, sometimes they fought and got angry at each other, but she loved them more than anything. She didn’t know what she’d do without them.

Trevor reached over Tara’s shoulder and ruffled Tory’s hair. “Nice to see you awake, kiddo,” he said even though he was only two years older than her.

She grabbed her hand and squeezed, giving him a thankful smile. Christian and Trevor had been best friends since they were babies and were like brothers. Trevor’s parents had sadly died when he and Christian were ten years old. Trevor had no other living family except for his grandfather who was in prison at the time. He was about to go into the foster system until Tory’s parents decided to adopt him into their family. Trevor’s parents, Claire and Jonathan Wayne had been family friends of Tory’s parents for years and couldn’t bear to see Trevor grow up in the foster system. Trevor became a part of their family. Tory always considered him as her brother, blood-related or not.

“We were so worried,” Tara said as she pulled back. “We freaked out when Chris called and told us. A demon? Seriously? How does that even happen? You almost didn’t make it to the hospital on time! You could’ve -”

Tory reached over and clamped her mouth over Tara’s mouth. Her sister would ramble a million words a second when she was upset. “Tara, I’m fine. I’m okay. There’s no need to be upset.”

“All that matters is we’re all okay,” Skylar said, giving Tory another hug.

A throat cleared behind them and they turned to see Dr. Halse standing there. She gave them a gentle smile and stepped up to Tory’s bed. “I’m sorry to break this up guys, but I have to check Tory’s vitals. You can visit her later, okay?”

“Okay,” Skylar and Tara said in unison and hopped off her bed.

Her siblings embraced her before leaving, promising to visit later. Out of nowhere, it hit Tory how lucky she was to have a family that loved her so much. She felt another strong emotion surge out of nowhere and tried to keep it under control.

“Here’s Raven, Tory,” Dr. Halse said, hanging Raven’s crest to her.

Tory gasped as she snatched the crest from the doctor. Somehow she had forgotten about her familiar and felt terrible about it. She quickly summoned Raven from her slumber. Raven appeared before her within seconds and squawked at her in relief. She nestled against Tory’s chest and Tory pet her, beyond relieved Raven was okay. It hit her that Raven could’ve gotten killed during the attack and she felt like the biggest piece of trash in the whole Eternal World.

Dr. Halse closed the curtain around them and started checking over her. Raven perched herself on the foot of the bed and watched as the doctor looked her over. She declared all her vitals and the stitches on her back were great. She would make a full recovery.

Tory felt hope rise only it deflated when she was told she had to stay in the infirmary for the rest of the week and then take an additional four weeks off from fieldwork. Tory resisted the urge to scream, frustration bubbling inside of her.

Raven had her eyes narrowed at her the whole time Dr. Halse spoke, warning her that she better do everything the doctor said.

Yep, these next several weeks were going to be miserable.