Random Portals

If it wasn’t for Eve’s condition, it would have almost been funny at the turn of events. He had gotten trapped in the dungeon alone, and now he was coming out with a parade of people. An Elder wisp, Mr. Chen, his mother, Fidah, the still chained humans, a vampire butler, a sphinx and a still unconscious Eve, who had to be carried by several drones. Not to mention an overly attractive spider queen and a quirky ball of light named Silviaburlaxatrix.

Steven reached the last barrier leading out of the dungeon and stopped. He was afraid that it would say he still couldn’t leave. After all, he still had Sorin in his inventory and had not taken his domain. As he reached his hand toward the barrier leading out of the dungeon, Silvia appeared.

“Were you really fixing to leave me?”

“You said you would catch up.” Steven said sheepishly. Not mentioning that he had been so excited to leave, he had forgotten about her. There were just so many people following him now, he just assumed she was with them.

“This will be my first time seeing the outside world and I wanted to experience it with my bonded human.”

Steven felt bad when she put it like that. This was Silvia’s first time outside. “I’m sorry, you’re right. We should experience freedom together.” Steven placed his hand on the barrier and selected yes. The next moment, he was standing at the bottom of the stairs. Unfortunately, it looked to be dark, as he didn’t see any light. Though It was a long way down so maybe it was just dark at the bottom of the stairs. He began walking up, happy he wouldn’t have to drink any more of those dark vision potions.

“I’m excited to see the surface world.” Silvia said in a childlike manner.

“So am I. It’s been far too long without sunlight and fresh air.”

A few moments later Steven sighed as he looked up at the rain. Silvia had flown through the clear barrier that was apparently there to keep the dungeon entrance from flooding during the rainy season. Which was apparently starting now. Nev told him this time of the year it would rain for months at a time. It was called the wetlands for a reason; he supposed.

Silvia flew back in where it was dry. “I don’t think I like this, rain, all that much. It feels like it dims my light.”

“Apparently it’s not going to stop anytime soon, either.”

“May I suggest we go to the domain? The barrier there also keeps the rain from falling in.” Kat said.

“Actually, yes, that would be great. It would be nice to get somewhere safe so I can relax a bit.” Steven turned to Nev. “Could you send some drones to get some more of that plant?”

“Of course, Master. Also, I feel like I should go have some words with my daughters.”

“Do you want me to come with you?”

“I don’t believe that will be necessary. I will follow our bond and find you when I’m done.” Nev then left with a few drones, leaving most with Steven.

“Alright, lead on Kat.”

“It is Katrina to you.” The Elder wisp said as she flew up and out of the dungeon entrance.

Steven turned back to the chained women, “I’m sorry about this, but we will have to wait till we get to my domain before I can get the key to unlock you.” Steven had to admit he was excited to get back to the tree house, especially now that it was actually his.

One of the women stammered a reply. “Y-yes, my Lord.”

He was just fixing to tell her he was not a lord when the sphinx spoke up.

“Uh, Steven.”

“Yes?”

“Could you maybe carry my books and papers?” Leo asked while standing there holding an overly large handmade box full of papers and a few books.

Steven almost refused. He had offered to place it all in his inventory when they left, but Leo said he didn’t trust anyone with his life’s work. But Steven walked over and sent the box to inventory. The Sphinx had been lugging around the heavy thing throughout the dungeon.

“Please be careful with those.” Leo said as he let both his arms fall to his sides in sheer exhaustion.

“Of course, it’s all safe in my inventory. Don’t worry.”

Telling Leo to not worry seemed to have the opposite effect on the Sphinx. Steven just shook his head. He was unsure what he was going to do with the sphinx. He had named him, so now he was somehow his responsibility. At least, that’s what Silvia told him.

After Steven had the drones cover Eve with a makeshift web tarp. He headed up into the pouring rain. No sooner than he stepped through the rain barrier the muggy air of the swamp hit him and he groaned. The dungeon had at least been cool.

Kat told him to hurry up, and then took off across the swamp water. Steven just stared at her. There was no way in hell he would be swimming through that. Instead, he walked towards the floating bridge and started back towards the Naga village. A few moments later, Kat flew back with an annoyed look on her face. She didn’t say anything and just resigned herself to the slow pace.

“I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s gloomy out here.” Silvia said, light dim in the falling rain.

It took hours to reach the Naga village. Steven wasn’t sure what he excepted to see, but the village still completely intact was not it. However, the place was abandoned the best he could tell, though it was nearly impossible to tell if there was anyone in the houses above. Part of Steven wanted to stop here and rest for the night. But he pushed on. They had to be getting close. Kat led them across several islands till she stopped.

“You see that island in the far distance?”

“Yea.”

“Well, that’s our destination.”

“Well, fuck.”

The island the Elder wisp pointed out was a good ways away and you would have to travel over several islands to get there. The annoying part was they would have to swim from island to island to get there.

“I’m not getting in that water.” Steven said.

Kat’s light flared. “It’s the only way. Less, you can cast a portal.”

Steven briefly thought about his new shard ability but quickly dismissed that as an option. He was just as likely to end up in the water as his destination. He would need to practice with that when he made it back to the tree house. And find out what it even did exactly.

“Do you have boats?” Steven asked a drone.

“No, my King. We normally just travel through the trees.”

Steven then regretted letting Nev go. He could have ridden her there. Then he remembered his spider form. Though he didn’t think anyone could ride him. So they would have to swim.

“Can y’all get Eve across without getting her in that water?”

“It will not be an issue, my King.” Thunder echoed through the sky and another of the drones spoke up. “My King, we should try to hurry the storms make the hydras more active.”

Steven’s eyes widened at that. He had forgotten that just because he wasn’t in a dungeon didn’t mean he was safe.

“Okay, let’s hurry then.”

"Hydras?" Leo began looking round wide eyed, but Steven turned his attention back to the drones. “Go get Eve to safety.”

“They cannot enter the domain without your presence.” Kat said.

“Just get her there and I’ll be there shortly.” Steven turned to the chained women. “Kat, can you help them across somehow?”

The Elder wisps sighed, “Fine, if it will help speed this up.”

A glow surrounded the chained girls, including Fidah. And it wasn’t, but a few moments later they were hastily walking across the water. Steven nearly cursed the Wisp for not offering to just do that to everyone, but there was nothing to be done for it now.

Steven turned to Silvia. “Dont look at me. I can’t do that.” Silvia’s light flickered anxiously as the rain fell around her. “I really don’t like all this water falling from the sky.”

The drones wrapped the bed along with Eve in webs. Steven wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but somehow the drones were attaching the bed to the tree branches and somehow swinging it above the water. It looked as though they have done something similar before.

The Vampire Buttler that Steven had forgotten about nodded at him before casually walking across the water.

This left Mr. Chen, his mother and the sphinx. Steven was just fixing to say something when Chen and his mother were engulfed in a yellow light and vanished. Steven just shook his head in annoyance. That damned Elder wisp could have just teleported them all, but no, she had to make things complicated.

“What do I do?” Leo asked.

“Well, I suppose I can hold you with one of my roots, but it will be a rough ride, and will probably drain your mana as well.”

“Roots?”

Before the Sphinx had a chance to question him further, Steven activated his roots on his shoulders and shifted into his spider form. Leo stepped back, but Steven wrapped the sphinx up with two roots and shot a web into the trees. He had never used his spider form in this manner and wasn’t exactly sure what to do now that he was swinging across the swamp water. He wrapped a root around web and pulled with all his strength, hoping to make it to the next island.

Steven then went flying through the air a bit faster than he expected at the next island as the sphinx screamed. Unfortunately, his strength was more than he expected and he went over the island. Not wanting to land in the swamp water, he shot a web towards more trees. The web went tight, causing him to flip upside down and he was jerked towards the other island. Releasing the web, he slammed into the island. Luckily, he landed on his legs and the impact wasn’t so bad for him. The sphinx, on the other hand, began puking. Steven released him.

“Sorry, that was my first time.”

After a moment, Leo spoke. “I’ll just swim.”

“Alright, well, we will meet you there then.” Steven then ran and jumped to the next island. Scurrying upon a tree, he began leaping from branch to branch with amazing dexterity. Right up until a branch snapped, and he began tumbling down. Quickly shooting a web out, he pulled himself with a root towards the island that had his tree house.

Steven then landed directly in the soupy swamp water next to his island. Crawling out, he shook off and quickly shifted back to his human form and began cursing until he realized he wasn’t even wet.

“Master, are you okay? I’m sorry I should have flown you over. I didn’t think about it. I’m not used to having wings yet.” Fidah said.

Steven stood up. “It’s fine. We all have abilities we need to learn. I’m going to need Nev to teach me to use my spider form better in this swamp. You can get Leo.” Steven pointed to a couple islands back. He felt bad for leaving the sphinx. He just thought differently in his spider form and thought nothing about leaving him behind.

Silvia flew over, along with Kat. Steven could feel the tension between the two, but decided to not bring attention to it. After all, Kat would leave as soon as she helped him with the domains.

“Well, come on then, let’s get you to absorbing the vampires domain.”

“You should treat him with a little more respect. He is the chosen of Chaos, you know,” Silvia said.

Kat’s light flickered ever so slightly.

“Its fine Silvia, let’s just get this over with so Kat can go. It’s obvious she doesn’t want to be here.”

“Thank you.” Kat said as she flew off.

Steven assumed she meant for him to follow but, she could have said as much. Shaking his head, he began walking after the Elder wisp.

“You need to demand respect. If you don’t, it will make others think less of you.” Silvia said.

Steven almost told her he didn’t care what others thought, but that would only have the wisp go into details why what others thought of him mattered. “I leave my image to you. As of now, I just want to get inside my tree house, get cleaned up, and have an actual meal.”

“I assumed smoking would be on the list of things to do.” Silvia said.

“Oh, it is, but I’m waiting for Nev to return. I don’t have much left. Also, there is not a lot of time. I need to figure out how to help Eve.”

“We also need to take those potions to Fidah’s people and visit the dwarves. We also need a plan of action to deal with the undead and there is the matter of the dragons and assassin. You know what? I’ll just make a list of things that we need to do.”

“Okay, you do that, but first, let’s deal with Sorin.”

Thunder crackled as rain poured, it was raining so hard Steven wasn’t sure if these islands would be here much longer. Just more problems to deal with. He could see the outline of his domain now. When he had first arrived, he couldn’t see anything. He could only assume that it had something to do with him gaining full control of the domain, or was it due to his higher level? Placing his hand on the barrier, the familiar prompt appeared. Although this time it had a bit more text.

Would you like to enter Blanks Sanctuary at this time? YES/NO?

(Note: Blanks Sanctuary will lose the illusion barrier for 24 hours. Other defensive measures will remain in place.)

Would you like to absorb Blanks Sanctuary at this time? YES/NO?

Ignoring the part about absorbing the sanctuary, he selected yes to enter and stepped forward. The thick cool feeling of the barrier washed over him as he pushed through it.

The cool air of the sanctuary washed over him as he entered. It was as if he walked into his basement on a hot, muggy day. A smile crept on his face as he looked around. Steven had forgotten how beautiful this place was with all the different colors of luminescent plant life and the giant tree that stood in the center. The place had a majestic feel to it. He had only spent a couple of nights here, but this place just felt like home. Even more so now, since it was actually his. He did briefly wonder what the goddess Life would want for allowing him to keep this, but quickly pushed the thought away. Then he saw something he didn’t remember seeing before. It was one of those adolescent wisps. Looking around, he saw several more floating around some of the more colorful plants. He felt as they weren’t a threat to him, so he just ignored them for now.

“Oh, this place is amazing!” Silvia said as she flew around in circles before darting off towards the other wisps.

Steven turned back to where everyone else was. As soon as he looked at them, a screen appeared. This one differed from any he had seen before. Although it was pretty basic, it was just a list of beings that could enter. As of now, only Silvia’s name was on it. He then added Fidah, Eve and Nev. After adding the Elder wisp, she flew in.

“What took you so long?”

“Well, I had to figure out how to give you access.”

He then added everyone else. Though he didn’t really want to add the vampire butler and the chained girls, but he couldn’t really leave them out in the rain. He also got the sense if they tried to do anything to harm him, his domain would intervene. Steven showed everyone around. When he made it to the library, the sphinx nearly passed out with excitement. Steven was also happy to find it was the same as he left it. Part of him was afraid all the books and furniture would vanish now that he took full control away from Blank. After telling them no books were to be taken out of the library, he made his way outside to deal with this whole domain ordeal and Sorin.

Steven was worried about pulling Sorin from his inventory, even inside his domain. “Shouldn’t I wait for Nev?” Steven asked Kat.

“You are perfectly safe in here.” Kat said.

“I think we should wait for the arachnid to be extra safe.” Silvia said.

“You know as well as I this place is safe, there is no reason to wait,” Kat protested.

“I’m going to defer to my soul bonded wisp.” Steven said as he walked back towards the tree house. He could hear Kat grumbling, and the two wisps began arguing, but he paid it no mind. He had more important things to deal with.

Deciding he didn’t want any resistance, he took off his amulet. He didn’t replace it with another as it would half his mana for twenty-four hours, and he was better off not having anything on than deal with that. Making his way to the library, he found the sphinx sitting on a chair reading. He didn’t pay attention to Steven as he entered. That was fine by him. He pulled out his water pipe. After scrounging around and finding almost enough to fill up the water pipe, he took a couple of drags. He then grabbed a random book and found the softest looking chair he could find.