A Short Story: The Quest for Portals (Part 1)

(Cover art by me)

1. The Unbreakable Stone 

Anthony Gershom stared out of his window on the forty-third floor. He looked out at the scenery before him—Marvellous, yet so so absurd. There were about a dozen things that gave it away. First were the odd feathered beak falcons that ferried passengers here and there. Second, was the bright blue sky above him. One thing he knew without a doubt, Earth didn’t have a blue sky, not for almost a hundred years.

It all began one ordinary day in the lab. He was testing the Portal Gun prototype, curious to see if their years of work had paid off. When he pulled the trigger, a dark mass swirled into existence, staring back at him like an unblinking void. What happened next was a blur. There was a toss, a turn, a disorienting lurch, and suddenly, he was falling into a world entirely unlike his own. He’d been fortunate enough to be taken in by a hospitable Fairy King, but now, two weeks later, unease gnawed at him. If they found him missing-

Knocks came from the door. A stout, ash-bearded man stumbled through, every step weighed onto a wooden cane. He had a dark blue woollen coat draped around his shoulders and wore a majestic purple robe beneath it, with precious gems adorning the sleeves. He takes a minute to reach the man’s side, observing the bedroom with a finger on his chin.

“Av’nik’r  Gershom,” He greets with a thick accent, “How comes the search?”

“Unfortunately, nothing has worked, your Majesty.” Gershom dipped his head, eyeing the pile of dusted remains from previous attempts. So much for those exhausting expeditions… he recalled with much dismay.

“This stone you claim to need for you to return home. What exactly is it?” 

“Well… “ How could he explain? Eidom was a rare mineral mined straight from Mars, and its toughness was a thousand times that of Diamond.  “It’s a very very very hard rock. Maybe ten thousand times harder than Cas’var.” 

“Cas’var! Uns’Fae’r  has no harder rock than that.” The Fairy King confirmed, tapping his cane repeatedly on the floor. “But, there is still hope for you.” He beckons towards the window. “In the next three days, a Trade Festival will happen in the neighbouring kingdom. Merchants come from all corners of Kirrsha to sell their wares. Surely, you will find what you seek there.”  

He follows the King’s gaze to a city beyond Fairyland’s gates. Camped at the foot of a large hill, he could make out tents of red, lights sparkling from it. The city looked alive—bustling, vibrant, and full of promise.

Without a second thought, he sprang into action. He packs everything in his room, including the dust from shattered rocks and the otherworldly artefacts. Within minutes, he had a whole travel pack slung over his shoulder and was already out the door. 

“Thank you your Majesty for the food and stay” Gershom bows, “I will be on my way.”

“Av’nik’r! AV’NIK’R! “ The King yells and Gershom is back beside him. “Not so fast. You see, my daughter, Maybelline, has asked to accompany you on your journey. Please stay with us for the night. You shall leave with her by carriage early next morning.”

---

2. The Fairy Princess

At sunrise, Gershom had already gathered his belongings and stood waiting at the Kingdom gates, waiting for his esteemed companion to show up. Even as he frequented the palace, he had never spoken a word with its princess before. Though on some occasions, he could have sworn someone was peeking in on him and giggling softly. His daughter, Maria, came to mind. The sweetest soul with the voice of an angel. On days when he was home, nose deep in his next research project, Maria would poke her head through the study door, dressed in those pink frilly dresses, whisper-yelling ‘Mom’s food sucks!!’ then disappearing without a trace. He wished he had entertained those moments, now all he could do was relive those memories, a dull ache plagued his heart. 

He drew his pocket watch. Now where is this Fairy Princess?

Soon, a loud trumpet sounded behind him, and with it came a large cubed watermelon on wheels. The inside had been hollowed out and on the sides were carved little doors. It rolled on four small gold-plated wheels, the entire thing pulled by a pair of Gerbils. The carriage stopped right in front of Gershom, who regarded the invention with much praise and amusement. A head peeked from the carved-out window. 

“Are you Anthony Gershom? My father told me he is an Av’nik’r of the white robe with striped inner cloth, a man of four eyes.” 

Gershom took a bow. “That would be me, and you must be Princess Maybelline.”

One of the iron-clad guards opened the door with a click, ushering him inside.

The Princess was much more petite than he imagined. She spoke with elegance and flair of a young lady but was a third of the height he was. Her wings had the beauty of a butterfly but the span of the entire length of the carriage seat. She wore robes made from colourful flower petals and had bundles of lilies in her autumn hair. While Gershom stared mesmerised, the latter broke into a conversation, leaning in at the edge of her seat.  

“I have never met a human before, only read. Father always reads these ‘Man-Tales’ to me before bed. Humans are frightful, greedy creatures in those stories, destroying worlds and are as foolish as they come. I was most surprised when Father took you in.”

“Well… not all humans are like that…” Gershom tried to reason, but there was some truth to that. The technological war back home had been raging for its eightieth year and he himself was a cog in one of the brutal killing machines. 

“Never lie to a fae’s eyes, human.” The Fairy Princess cuts him off, “Now tell me, why exactly do you want to go back to your world?”

There was a pause and his mind wandered back to his family. Was Maria still alright? Is little Augustine still waiting at the front door? Pama… of course she’d be worried. Between a broken Earth, an endless war and an exhausting job, he still hung on to the little happiness that was his family. The only reason they were safe from the war for so long was because of him. 

“Once the weapon development team finds out I’m missing and probably dead in a ditch somewhere, they have no reason to continue giving me company benefits. My family… my wife and two girls… may be evicted, or worse, thrown to the surface where nothing is left. That’s why I have to go back, why do you ask?” He refocuses, and Maybelline has a sparkle in her eye. 

“Most interesting. You aren’t the first human to visit Fairyland, you know.”

He isn’t? He sat up straight, demanding an explanation.

“Every human I heard came here and never wished to go home. Yet here you are, desperate to return.” 

Did they come from Earth just like me? Gershom wondered. If so, then he really wanted to talk to them, to learn about their journey and whether they too fell face-first into the land of magic and Fae.  In the fields outside, he saw rows of vibrant blooms that stretched on endlessly, blue-capped gnomes tending to every plant like little gardeners. This place would be nice to live in… 

Suddenly, the Fairy Princess sticks her head out the carriage window and whistles a melodious tune. When she returns with a plop onto the watermelon-red cushion, she takes Gershom’s hands into hers. 

“Humor me, human. Show me the worth of your family, and I will lend you my aid.”

---

3. The Window to Other Worlds  

Gershom was confident that he would be fine on his own. He had survived three weeks in a strange land, encountered seemingly harmless creatures, and plus he had the uranium model portal gun equipped on him. With whatever dangerous creature that came his way, he was sure to fire the gun’s deadly laser beam and everything would be fine. He would not need the Fairy Princess’ aid, not exactly wanting to burden the royal lady either. However, before he could even refuse the offer, he found himself unable to move, thick vines strap him to the carriage seat. Right, Magic. He huffed.

Opposite him, Maybelline had murmured a wordless spell, the shimmer of magic surrounding her. 

The view outside warped and the red tents they had been closer to now got more distant. 

“Hey! Where are we going? I have to go to the Trade Festival! Hey!” The latter protests, but the butterfly fairy dances merrily in her seat, caught up in her own praise to pay attention to the trapped human. His portal gun sits snug in his white coat’s inner pocket, a less than ideal place to reach for in his situation. He cursed under his breath, frustration bubbling up within him. But as the weight of the moment settled over him, his eyes grew heavy, and he dove into a deep slumber.

… 

Time to time, the mud walls would tremble, and loud thumps from the ceiling above would startle the kids awake. At two in the morning, they stuff their faces in their blankets, eyes weary from the bright living room light. One step at a time, they break into their parents’ bedroom, struggling to climb up the bed, grasping at the legs beneath them. Augustine would wail and dig into Pama’s shoulder, while Maria would tap gently at Gershom’s hair, nudging him to consciousness. The family would lazily adjust themselves, creating a space for two in the middle of the bed. 

“It’s okay, there’s no need to be scared.” Pama would whisper, ruffling each girl’s brown hair. Gershom on the other hand would be too tired to speak. He’d draw the shared blanket over all of them, holding them close. 

There were moments like these that he wished would last forever.

...

Gah! He came to with a spinning headache. The Fairy Princess now appeared flying beside him, a wide grin plastered on her face. “Witness before you human! This is the ‘Window to other worlds’. “

There they were in a small clearing, all around them, tall trees pierced the sky, densely packed together, casting darkness onto whatever was beneath it. Over to his left, there sat a round pond, still from inactivity. Between him and the sky, he could not see a surefire way out of this. In other words, he had been trapped in. Red rose to his cheeks. He pounced on the fairy, dragging her down into the muddy ground. In one instant, he didn’t care that she was a princess, whatever she was up to, he couldn’t just idly go along with the flow. 

“You know that I don’t have time! I already told you all that you asked alright? I don’t want to play your games. Take me back to the Trade Festival.”

Maybelline only laughed, “I don’t wish to douse your desires too soon, her voice drops low, “it will be useful later.” She wriggles free from the man’s grip and takes to the sky. 

“Alright, I’ll take you back, only if you can catch me!” 

Gershom lunges into the air, swiping at her with force, but she deftly dodges, quick and nimble like a fly. WIth one last wave of her hand, she plunges into the darkness of the forest, a trail of shining dust weaving through the forest. Without hesitation, he darted after the trail, his sharp eyes fixed on its faint traces. But the pursuit was anything but easy, tight squeezes through narrow gaps and dense tangles of branches clawed at his progress, each step feeling slower than the last. Before long, the trail faded into nothingness, leaving him panting and frustrated. He stopped to catch his breath, scanning the area, but the fairy had vanished without a trace.

"Damn it!" he muttered, panting heavily as he leaned against the trunk of a nearby tree. The lab coat he stubbornly refused to shed felt like dead weight, and sweat made his glasses slip precariously down the bridge of his nose. Where should he go now? When he finally finds that irksome butterfly, he swore he’ll-

Haha! Over here!

A familiar voice. Maria? There was a flash of yellow at the corner of his eye. No, it must be some lowly trick that the fairy is playing… He brushes it off and starts running straight, hoping to eventually reach an opening of some sort to reorient himself. As the burn in his legs slowly took over, he paused once again. It was pitch black wherever he ran, no end in sight. He has to keep trying. So he attempts to climb one of the trees, but he got no further than a step off the ground when he pathetically slid down the smooth trunk. Great, what now?

This time, he saw a man in a large lab coat standing just behind him, with a mop of black hair and a clipboard in hand. The figure seemed to glow, its brightness harsh against his eyes, which had only just adjusted to the dark. Slowly, he approached, turning to face it directly before reaching out to grab its shoulder, only for his hand to pass through thin air. A ghost? He shuddered. Or perhaps a projection?

He squinted, trying to make out the details. There it was, a tired smile and a stubbly chin he would often notice of his colleague when they caught up during lunch breaks. His breath caught. “Mitchell?” he called out, his voice tinged with disbelief.

The figure had a distant gaze, looking at something past Gershom. 

“Scientists and esteemed members of the Board of Directors, I present to you—the Portal Gun!” Mitchell stepped aside and gestured to nothingness. Clearing his throat, he began, “Portal technology has been researched for over fifty years. It started as a pet project by a college student… “

This was from the time he attended the Portal Gun release press conference! He remembered sitting in the third row, his hands deep in his coat pockets, mind drifting elsewhere. The higher ups had requested every member of the team to attend. After all, this would definitely make history.

“To put it simply, we have managed to compress a particle accelerator into the barrel. When the trigger is pulled, hydrogen isotopes are released into the barrel and accelerate to speeds faster than light, generating a powerful photon beam.”  Mitchell gestured enthusiastically as he walked as if pointing to invisible diagrams floating in the air. Gershom followed close behind, watching him intently. 

“As for the formation of the portal itself…” Mitchell’s pace slowed as he glanced down at his prepared notes. “It relies on a recently discovered element called Eidom. This mineral possesses unique properties not found on Earth, but the one we’re focusing on is its remarkable ability to withstand the gun’s photon beam. Something within Eidom reacts to the energy, causing it to expand and stabilise into a two metre tall and one metre wide portal for a maximum duration of ten seconds.” The audience cheers, and Gershom recalls directing his gaze to the stern man at the first row of the hall. Maybe with this, he could get a pay raise and a nice holiday.

Mitchell looked uneasy. His usual confident demeanour faltered, and his smile, meant to appear composed, wavered at the edges. Beads of sweat gathered on his forehead, glistening under the harsh lights, and his hands fidgeted subtly at his sides. Was the pressure finally getting to him? Confused, Gershom moved over to peek at the notes on his clipboard. Large red words scribbled at the bottom of the notes read ‘Do not read at Press Conference at all costs!!!’ Below it was a bunch of tables, detailing experiments run in the past year. All of them were conducted under normal conditions in the lab… Eidom was used… various objects and animals sent into the portal…never retrieved… 

“Wha- ? I’m not done reading!”

 He barely read a few sentences before Mitchell’s projection froze and faded away. The last two words burned into his mind. Never retrieved? His chest tightened, a mix of dread and desperate curiosity swirling within him. Did that mean they fell into this world too? His thoughts raced. When he saw Maybelline again, he had to ask if she saw rats and pencils falling from the sky. 

But even then, it didn’t make sense. Those things had no way of operating a portal gun, no way of tearing open a gateway between worlds. And yet…

He clung to the possibility. The report did not mention any experiment involving a human entering the portal. Perhaps—just perhaps—there was still a sliver of hope. Hope that he can find a way back.

Just then, he felt a gentle tug at his coat. He looked down to see a little girl dressed in a soft yellow dress, her brown eyes wide and red from tears. She gazed up at him with a mix of uncertainty and longing, her small frame trembling slightly. “Papa?” she sniffled, her voice barely above a whisper. “When will you come home?”

Gershom finds himself speechless, thoughts overwhelming him. “Maria… I-” I’ll find the stone and portal back to you, he wishes to say, but somehow he could not bear to make that promise. He reaches out and wraps his arms around her, blinking away tears. 

The girl hugs back. 

“Papa. I want to show you something.”

She pulled away from the embrace, her small hands wiping at her cheeks. The two walked hand in hand, like they always did before. Maria led the front, determination in her every step. As they pressed on, a faint speck of light appeared in the distance, growing brighter with each stride. This is it! His heart raced as hope surged through him. Without hesitation, he leapt forward, his body fueled by the urgency to escape and the burning desire to move forward, to leave this world behind.

Alas, he stepped into the sunlit field, awaiting a word of congratulations from the Fairy Princess, but none came. There he was in a grass patch, a pond not so far away, and all around him was a forest of tall trees. Wait. 

His stomach dropped at the realisation. No. No, no, no! His eyes darted frantically, searching for any sign he was wrong. After everything I went through… after all of that!

“Papa! Over here!” Maria called, interrupting his train of thought. The man rushed over, wanting to know what got her interested. In the reflection of the water was an image that tugged at his heart, a memory they both held dear. A family of four, sleeping soundly on a single bed, while the rumbling of the world outside shook their home. At least, in that moment, they had each other. 

“Let’s go home!” Maria exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with excitement, ready to leap into the pond. It seemed like a ridiculous idea, and Gershom couldn’t help but chuckle at the thought. But for all the time he’d lost, he was more than willing to entertain his daughter’s whim.

So, together, on the count of three, they dove into the water, reaching for their one true desire.

...

“When are you telling him?” Glimm questioned, its fluorescent, serpent-like body swirling in and out of a flowing river. It eyed the Fairy Princess curiously, proceeding to spin in circles around her.

“Soon, I suppose.” 

Maybelline called out, her voice carrying over the gentle rush of the river. She was perched on a log teetering over the water’s edge, her silhouette framed by the glistening current. In her hands, she cradled a small red heart, its surface smooth and pulsating faintly. A steady warmth radiated from it, flowing through her fingers as it turned slowly, emitting a soft, golden glow. 

“You seem quite fond of him, watching him for that long.” 

“Am not.” The fairy retorted as she quickly turned her gaze away from the glistening water’s surface.“He just has what I need to reach my goals. Look.” She brings the heart into her palm and lifts it up to the horned creature’s jet black eyes. Contained within the heart was a liquid gold that shook back and forth. With each passing moment, its volume grew, absorbing delicate streams of glitter that drifted up from the river’s surface like tiny, radiant tendrils of magic.

“Just a quarter left.” She whispers. 

Just then, the water before them started to bubble, dark emerging to the surface. It breaks and a man rushes up, gasping for air, a white coat clung tightly to his body. Immediately he runs his hand down his face, the glasses making the world a blurry mess. 

“Maybelline!” he shouted, his voice strained between gulps of air as he fought to stay afloat. “You tricked me again!”

The icy water clung to him, his soaked clothes pulling him downward with every struggling stroke. With a final burst of effort, he clawed his way to the dry shore, collapsing onto the ground, gasping for breath, the weight of water and frustration heavy on his chest.

Shaking most of the water off his glasses, the pale pink butterfly finally comes into view, the same annoying smirk plastered on her porcelain face. Then there was a strange abomination beside her, it was like a large udon noodle with a reindeer head at the front end, and an eel's tail at the back. It observed him with sharp and beady eyes, a deep bellow like an orca’s call echoing through the clearing. Gershom stared back, eyes wide in disbelief. 

Then, he had two more questions. 

As if reading his mind, Maybelline pressed the glowing heart back in her chest and glided over to him. Clearing her throat, she straightened her posture and gestured to the creature., “Welcome back, human, let me re-introduce you. This is Glimm, the Window to Other Worlds.” 

"If that creature is the Window," Gershom began, his voice rising with confusion and frustration, "Then where was I that whole time?" He turned to Maybelline, his eyes narrowing as he demanded an answer from the fairy.

“Simple. You were asleep underwater within The Stream of Consciousness. ” She explains, kicking a stone into the running water. “In other words, you were in your own head.”

“You have an interesting soul.” The serpent added, though to the human its cries sound like meaningless babble.

“So it was all just a dream,” he muttered angrily, his fists clenching at his sides. Everything he had done in that forest—every step, every struggle—was nothing more than a performance for them. Mitchell and Maria weren’t real; they were just illusions crafted to toy with his emotions. The realisation sent a wave of fury through him, anger bubbling dangerously close to the surface.

“Couldn’t you have told me sooner, then?” he snapped, his voice sharp with frustration.

“This was an assessment of desire, one that I explained—” The fairy tried to reason.

“I don’t care!” he interrupted, his voice rising with intensity. “I don’t care about your explanations or what you’ve planned for me. I’m done playing your games!”

Hadn’t he made himself clear before? He couldn’t waste another moment—not like this. Frantically, he pulled out his pocket watch, hoping that it still worked. But a single glance stopped him cold.

A day had already passed?

His frown deepened, the weight of lost time settling heavily on his shoulders.

“I’m going back to the Trade Festival,” he exclaims, wringing his clothes dry and hastily putting them back on, bearing the growing discomfort. “I will manage with or without your interference.” 

Gershom cast one last glance at the pair, his expression resolute, before turning and sprinting into the forest, his figure quickly disappearing among the towering trees.

“Does he even know where he’s going?” the snow-white creature mused as it rose gracefully from the water. Its head tilted slightly, watching the man vanish into the distance with a curious intensity. “Should we go after him?”

“We don’t need to worry too much,” Maybelline replied, her tone calm but distant.

“What do you mean?”

Maybelline took to the air, her wings carrying her above the treetops. She hovered for a moment, her gaze fixed on the horizon as it swallowed Gershom’s figure.

“You and I both know all too well,” she said softly, her voice tinged with melancholy. Her eyes drifted skyward, searching the endless expanse above. “This world has no exit.”

---

To Be Continued… 

Thanks for reading!