The moment had finally arrived. The Portalier soared through the night sky, his stomach churning like a tempestuous sea beneath him. Wherever he went, bending the natural laws of the multiverse always left him feeling queasy.

“How much longer, GATO?” He grunted, his impatience evident.

A dramatic pause hung in the air before GATO, his AI companion, responded. Just a teensy bit longer, Sir, and our stupendously brave young hero will come into view.

The Portalier bit back his frustration and the urge to lose his dinner. “Thanks, GATO. I can see him from here using my goggles. I meant how much longer until the tower collapses?”

Well, why didn’t you say so, Sir? GATO's enthusiasm in this dire situation felt oddly out of place. Seven minutes and eleven seconds to sunrise.

7-Eleven, that reminds me, I could really go for one of their slurpees. Hey there. Yes you, reader, don’t you find those slurpees fantastic?

They slowed down, hovering in place as the Portalier peered down. He popped one of GATO’s travel sickness pills into his mouth, hoping to quell the roiling in his stomach.

GATO's big round pink eyes glowed brighter with anticipation. Want me to heal…

“No, focus on the task assigned.”

While GATO could activate her nano ‘what’s it’ healing ray, he preferred she concentrate on keeping them airborne using her anti-grav widget and keeping track of time. Despite her assurances about multitasking, there was always some unseen complication, some cosmic, cluster-fuck level wrench thrown into the works.

If AIs were capable of bullshitting, he was convinced GATO excelled at it.

Their current predicament—miles out at sea instead of beside Hunter when he stood on the mainland—stemmed from the world's natural laws being disrupted by the energy fields of the gods' shrines. It was far more potent than GATO had anticipated.

The rogue god and the accursed tower he had summoned were expected, but the tower's overwhelming power had interfered, throwing off GATO's calculations. At first, she had been too proud to admit it, and they had bounced through different milestones of Hunter’s life, important ones but not the pivotal moment The Portalier was allowed to intervene in.

GATO sighed, her tone carrying a hint of deflation.

“What’s up?”

We are! GATO spun in a happy circle before responding in her sing-song manner. Twenty-one feet above sea level, to be precise.

The Portalier groaned. GATO’s attempts at humor left him physically stunned at times. “Come on, spill it. We don’t have time…”

Sir, I think your new ‘on the fly’ plan is a bad idea.

“What are you talking about? It’s the only choice we have since we missed our chance to intercept him before he summoned the Night Mare.”

I like the 'wait and 'sea' approach. With all this divine interference, he might swim to the tower in time. She emitted a high-pitched chuckle at her own joke.

“You said he had a thirteen in one hundred chance of making it inside the tower in time. I don’t like those odds.”

GATO buzzed beside him. They’re slightly better than the odds of you ripping a hole in the fabric of reality if we go with your plan to intervene.

“Gah! You said the odds of a local catastrophe were near zero when I first thought of my plan not more than five minutes ago.” The Portalier looked down, confusion and frustration warring within him.

The kid just didn't know when to quit. He was swimming against the tide with his hands bound, kicking his legs as fast as he could. No matter how strong a swimmer he was, no matter how much grit he had, the poor sod wasn’t going to make it. If he didn’t drown at sea, the tower would collapse on him before he got there.

The Portalier didn’t need GATO’s predictions this close to the kid’s almost certain demise.

GATO didn’t agree. Well, sir, that was the case five minutes ago. I just ran another calculation. The closer to the event, the more accurate the prediction, and taking the interference into account, with a 5.8% margin for error, there is a one hundredth increase in the chance that opening a micro portal to transport him to the tower will release enough energy into this world to boil the ocean and ignite the atmosphere.

“So you’re now saying there’s a chance that if I activate a micro portal, we could destroy this whole world? And give me a no bullshit answer.”

Would you prefer an answer that fills you with existential dread or…

He gave her a flat ‘Don’t be a shmob’ look.

Chances are near zero. Proceed with caution.

“Good enough for me. Take me down closer before the ocean swallows him whole.”

GATO did as he asked, and his stomach lurched as the waters rushed toward them.

Time for a moment’s distraction.

How many times is this young fool going to fall into the waters? You should make a drinking game out of this. How about an ocean-inspired cocktail…Sex on the Beach?

GATO chirped. What fun. I can already think of 43 ocean-themed drinks. Would you like me to list them?

The Portalier waved his hand, dismissing the AI. “Not right now, but archive them for when I return to my cozy oasis.”

Distraction time over.

They hovered above the boy, close enough to hear his panting breaths over the rough seas.

The Portalier wished GATO’s anti-grav field was strong enough to carry the added weight of the boy. Then he wouldn’t have to resort to activating a micro portal in this world. He’d suggested switching places with the boy. While he wasn’t the best swimmer, he could last long enough while GATO flew the boy to the tower.

Unfortunately, there was a pesky fail-safe security measure binding GATO to the Portalier’s spiritual signature. Kind of like those cars in the 21st century with smart keys, except his smart key was buried somewhere inside him. He hadn’t been paying attention when his mentor explained it because he was too busy writhing in pain thanks to the toxic side effects of the sedation.

Thoughts of the anti-gravity shield gave him an idea.

“GATO, how much energy reserves do you have?”

I have a five percent backup reserve; everything else is routed toward keeping the gravity shield around both of us.

“What would happen if you used some of that reserve to stabilize a mini-portal?”

I see where you’re going with this. I can do it in a thirty-second burst; after that, it will compromise my main power supply.

The Portalier looked down, his breath catching in his throat. “Where the hell has he gone?”

GATO scanned the dark waters, her pink glow illuminating the inky depths. There are aquatic lifeforms down there, but I can’t tell which one is the boy.

“As long as he’s not bleeding, he won’t attract sharks.”

There was a long pause from GATO.

Since we didn’t intervene before Pheres reached him, he got slapped around a bit, I’m afraid. His mouth is bleeding a little, but I’m sure it stopped by now.

A defiant gasp erupted several yards ahead of where they hovered, alerting them to Hunter’s new location. The poor sod had gone under but kept swimming, fighting the current with each kick of his legs.

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Keep going, kid, thought the Portalier.

He focused his goggles, searching for hairline cracks in reality—the telltale signs of a micro portal location. They were so infinitesimally tiny that to mortal minds, they blinked in and out of existence without anyone noticing.

But the Portalier's goggles could see things mortal eyes couldn’t.

He was a tinkerer, with a broad understanding of how things worked, but GATO possessed a deeper, sub-atomic knowledge that he found difficult to grasp. Right now, though, he had a solution to a problem.

"Aha! I found it. GATO, get ready to…"

Sir?

He didn’t like the edginess in her voice.

Giant Tiger shark at ten o'clock, closing in fast on our boy.

“Curses for shmob’s sake!”

The Portalier activated the micro portal.

“GATO, now!”

She powered them forward just ahead of the boy.

Thin wisps of her raw energy reserves leaked down over the portal like silver rain. That should stabilize the portal and prevent energy surges deep within it spreading out into this world.

The Portalier glanced over his shoulder and gasped. “Pump those legs as fast as you can boy!”

The shark fin cut through the water like a blade, now seconds away from reaching the boy. Using all the pull he had, the Portalier strengthened the portal, tugging the boy toward it along with the water. He’d opened up some distance. Still the boy wasn’t going to make it before the shark snapped its jaws around him.

“Spin me back around, GATO, and toward the shark.”

Are you mad, sir?

“Just do it.”

Suddenly, they were charging toward the shark as it opened its jaw wide.

The Portalier took a medieval morning star from his inventory, a keepsake from another story he technically wasn’t supposed to have.

“Left!”

GATO dodged, moving them at the last second.

Aiming for the shark's electro receptor on the side of its massive snout, he struck with all his might, screaming.

“GATO, go for its eyes!”

She shot out a burst of pink light from her eyes as he made impact with his morning star across its snout.

The double attack was enough to disorient the massive shark, and it reflexively thrashed sideways away from the strike. Its tail spun around, almost ramming into The Portalier with the force of a tidal wave.

GATO’s quicker reflexes dragged them out of range. Phew! That was a close call.

“No shit! That damn shark almost knocked my block off!”

Water splashed his goggles, leaving him momentarily blinded. Turning back to face the boy, the Portalier’s goggles auto-clear function kicked in, giving him just enough time to see him disappear inside the portal.

"GATO! Time until the tower collapses?"

Less than two minutes, came GATO's swift reply.

The Portalier's eyes darted across the predawn sky, where the stars faded into nothingness, then to the ominous red glow coming from the tower roof.

"Get me to the base of the tower as quick as you can." He adjusted his goggles to follow the threads of light left by the portal, an eerie afterglow marking the path like some ghostly highway.

Thanks to the bedlam that had reigned around them, he was left with scant seconds to check the location where the boy would be ejected. Finding one portal was easy, but matching it to a compatible one to form a micro wormhole was a feat supposedly only experienced portaliers could accomplish.

Especially, when giant sharks were thrown into the mix.

What the Portalier lacked in experience, he made up for with the knowledge amassed as a former 'glorified' galactic cable guy and reluctant repo man.

During their first arrival in this cultivation world, he had made a few minor adjustments to their local portal viewing station, creating a cosmic patch that boosted the signal in his goggles—a cat-eye lens honing in on the exact spot where the boy tumbled out.

Gasping, the boy staggered to his feet, then stumbled and fell, his hands still bound by enchanted ropes.

He didn't get up.

"Can’t you go any faster, GATO?"

I'm running low on reserves. If I go faster while using anti-grav, we won't reach the mainland, GATO replied, her synthesized voice holding a note of urgency.

Time seemed to stretch endlessly as they closed in on Hunter's location.

"Come on, get up!" The Portalier’s words were drowned out by the raging sea crashing against the rocky shore.

There was still no sign of movement.

If Hunter failed to make it into the tower and it collapsed, the boy would die. This world didn't care—just another young hopeful falling at the base of the Immortal Mountain.

This was the first time the Portalier had intervened to support the growth of a new system, one that defied the old, broken system dominating this world. If successful, the new system wouldn't immediately take hold as though it would create shockwaves through the multiverse.

No. Instead, it would send out ripples—small at first, but given time, their impact would be profound.

Mind your step, sir.

The Portalier nodded, bracing himself for impact.

As soon as they made landfall, GATO removed her anti-gravity tether, and they sped toward the boy.

Sir, you've already intervened. You cannot... GATO started, her voice tinged with concern.

"Ah shaddup," the Portalier snapped, cutting her off. He didn't want to hear it. He knew what he was doing wasn't sanctioned. Any further intervention would be a breach of protocol.

But what choice did he have?

Above them, the glowing red light of the beacon faded.

"Get up, Hunter!" The Portalier’s voice echoed over the crashing waves.

Sir, I must ask that you cease-and-desist. I can tell by your vital signs you are getting too emotionally invested in Hunter's story. You've been instructed to intervene only once; this isn't your only mission. You have Kolter in The Final Alliance and that other guy climbing the mountain that still needs your help. If you end up incarcerated, there are no 'get out of jail free' cards.

The Portalier gritted his teeth, ignoring her.

Please, sir, think about what you're doing. If you're jailed, I will be shut down.

"I won't let that happen. This is between you and me. Besides, everything got screwed up thanks to the overwhelming presence of gods in this world. We're just making minor adjustments to offset the error in predictions. Nothing's ever black and white; the powers that be will understand."

GATO flew ahead, her cat-like ears twitching like antennas. I don't think Shirley, the cosmic debt project manager, will agree.

The Portalier rolled his eyes. Frigging cosmic project managers were about as much use as a chocolate teapot. But now wasn't the time to argue. It was better to allay GATO's concerns.

"Leave Shirley to me. I'll charm her with a bottle of bubblegum schnapps. Anyway, none of this was your fault. We've been working with the information we were given. But with all the interference from gods and towers, it's lucky we didn't end up turned inside-out on some backwater planet."

You're quite right, sir. GATO’s tone was oddly triumphant. I did exceedingly well in dire circumstances. I'm delighted your near-mortal mind can finally appreciate all the nuances. Every time we visited Hunter in his past, you argued with me against waiting. But now you finally see my grand design.

The Portalier held his tongue, sure that GATO had switched to AI bullshit mode again. He'd been irritated that they kept arriving at the wrong moment in time to intervene, not at all acting impatient as GATO was suggesting.

Hunter groaned and hauled himself to one side, attempting to rise to his feet.

"I'm going to do it." The Portalier retrieved a quartzite dagger he'd borrowed somewhere, from his inventory—a habit from his galactic repo days. It was a rare tier weapon, more than enough to get the job done on an uncommon tier rope despite its inscribed runes.

GATO let out a hacking, sputtering sound, not unlike a cat coughing up a furball.

"Are you okay?" the Portalier whispered in a low voice meant for GATO alone.

She bobbed her big round head up and down, her eyes growing dim.

With his hands raised, the Portalier approached Hunter, who had just about risen to his feet, still twenty paces from the entrance. Using his goggles, the Portalier could see Hunter was fumbling with his inventory, trying to find something to restore his health.

Hunter's legs were shaking badly, but he took a step toward the tower. He almost fell again, but the Portalier caught him and helped him stand. The Portalier took a Breakthrough Express pill from his inventory and looked at the wide-eyed boy staring back at him.

Hunter looked thunderstruck and worn out. "I know you... but who are—"

The Portalier pointed to the fading light of the beacon, then thrust the pill into the boy's mouth.

"It doesn't matter as much as you taking this and getting your sorry ass inside that tower, NOW!"

He hated to act all gruff with the boy, but he wasn't here to make friends. Besides, if he made time for questions and answers, they'd both be dead.

The Portalier might respawn like he did before.

But, the boy would not.

The boy didn’t flinch as the Portalier raised his dagger.

"No time for formalities." The Portalier grabbed the boy's bound wrists and, with his quartzite dagger, sliced through the magic ropes like a hot knife through butter.

"Move it or lose it, sunshine." He shoved the boy towards the tower.

Hunter swallowed hard, his eyes wide with fear.

He took one last look at the Portalier, bowed, then turned and ran. The strength from the pill powered his long strides toward the fading entrance arch.

The Portalier held his breath.

Will he make it? GATO hovered over his shoulder.

Above, the tower’s red light flickered.

I don't know what you're talking about, Sir. GATO’s tone remained perfectly neutral. Will he make it where? The interference in this world is affecting my memory banks. She spun around, one eye shutting in a playful wink.

The boy disappeared through the arch, and the entrance vanished seconds later.

Relieved, the Portalier grinned at GATO.

"Thank you, GATO."

For what, Sir? Remember, I didn't do anything. GATO’s voice continued to remain as composed as ever.

The Portalier's grin widened.

For the first time since he'd known her, he was glad she knew how to bullshit.