Chapter 36
Portals and Temples
“You are here to learn about Portals, their creation, their execution, and how we can learn to create one.” Professor Astria said, floating in a cloud.
Me being the translator, I of course parroted everything she said in Endarian back into English.
She still had that mysterious aura to her, but she was a lot more normal? No, normal wasn’t quite the word I was looking for. Toned down, maybe? I don’t know, all I do know is that she seems a lot calmer than she did when I first met her. No hauling me off to underground fight clubs, no making me grab her tightly as she sped wildly through city streets. It was somewhat sad, in a way. I had grown to appreciate the professor Astria from my universe. She taught me so much by doing, versus just telling me.
“Portal theory is advanced and complicated. There are two main ways to create a portal. The first and easiest is with the line-of-sight approach.” She began and I translated.
“This is the simplest, as it is the one that our minds can cast on a moving planet in space. The reason we can do this, is because we see the spot and our mind automatically compensates for the rotation, spin, and alignment of the planet we are on as it is feeling those exact motions and creates a rift in space that in fact rotates and spins through space at the same exact speed and rate as the one you create. Thus, a one for one effect is created, meaning no additional math or compensating controls are needed by the portal creator.”
She pauses as she lets this idea sink in. For me even my translations are having a hard time expressing this, as there are so many nuances in her words and structure that I feel she is almost testing me as a translator as well. When I finish my translation she nods, almost as if she approves of my retelling of her idea.
“This of course brings me to the second and most complex form of creating a portal. I call this method the blind casting. This is the equivalent of playing darts blindfolded and trying to hit the bullseye while the floor you are on rotates, and the dart board itself begins flowing away at a different direction entirely.”
“This second form of portal creation is more of portal theory than anything. This portion requires so much focus, concentration, and the ability to account for rotational speeds that it at first seems impossible. Well, I am here to tell you now that such things are not impossible. Instead, they are just improbable.” Astria says as she pulls up a three-dimensional rendering of the universe with two planets highlighted.
“Here is the universe as it currently exists, with all the moving parts. This is a standard living star chart, one that is meant to show you the rotations and movements of planets as they are currently. With this map we can do many things. But for a portal creator at the peak of their profession, this is invaluable. With this we can map out courses and portals to different planets.” She speaks.
I repeat, but even I have an incredulous look to my face. But the look only lasts for a second, as I remember how we were able to pull the Scourge through rift pockets into the facility. Once I remembered that piece of technology from my universe, this demonstration suddenly seemed much more realistic, if absurdly complex.
“This is where we are currently. You can see that we are located on part of the planet that is facing the sun.” She says, pointing to a blue-green planet that is circling a giant golden star.
“Now over here, you can see your planet.” She says pointing out Wizard Kyle, who is the only human student here. “I want to point out the fact that your planet’s temple, the one object visible from space is on the dark side of the planet. Meaning it is currently nighttime at the temple. That will make this trickier to show, but please pay attention while I perform this.”
She pauses as she stands up from her cloud, stretches slightly, then walks forward to where she is in between herself and the seven or so students of this class. In all there are seven students, the previously mentioned Wizard Kyle, and six Endarians. Well both Rayquel and I are also here, but that is to be expected.
She focuses for a second, then draws forth an exceptional amount of mana from her body. Then with the wave of her hand creates a small window sized rift in space that clearly shows the Temple in all its glory. Lit by the different nighttime lights that are designed to both accentuate the temple, while alerting of anyone trying to gain unauthorized access. We can even see the guards moving at the temple. One seems to notice the portal window and points it out, at this Professor Astria quickly kills the energy to the portal. Then just as quickly as it had begun, the portal was closed, and Astria looked visibly put out by such an act.
“There. Now you can see the true majesty of portals. The only thing that limits what you can do is your own imagination. Well imagination, ability to perform complex mathematical equations in your head and adjust your variables constantly. Simple, really.”
With that she sagged slightly, as the amount of power required to have performed such a feat was beyond impressive. She had literally shown that with portals one could move anywhere in the universe in a second.
“That is all I have for portals class today. Those of you that are not pair bonded may leave. Those of you that are pair bonded need to stay. Don’t worry your pair bonds have already been instructed to come here.” The professor states as she conjures another cloud and begins using it to lounge upon.
Looking at her, I must admit that her level of power and control are amazing. Even when exhausted she still manages to look both graceful and comfortable.
With the dismissal, Wizard Kyle stays, along with two of the other Endarian students. Rayquel and I both stay as well. We were told that this would be our official training spot for the day as well. Though when I asked what we would be doing, Rayquel looked a little crestfallen.
In fact, she had been entirely off her game since I asked if she had ever been committed to someone. She had, that much was obvious, both from her physical reactions, and from the pain I felt in our bond. I could tell that such a topic would cause her a lot of strain, so I offered to drop the subject. That was when she noted, “there is another way. Rather than tell you, I could show you.”
Hearing this I was intrigued. My appearance and pheromones likely gave me away as she continued.
“Our bonding, we can strengthen it. The next step, of our pair bonding is Acceptance. This is likely the most important building block step for a pairing. This is the one where you let your partner enter your mind, and fully merge with what it is like to be the partner. With this there will be no secrets, no lost moments, just pure acceptance. This is also the most dangerous, as it is often the stage from which most pair bonds never recover or are able to move on from.” Rayquel said, as she looked deeply into my eyes.
At that, I had no answer. I was a one hundred- and fifty-three-year-old being living in an eighteen-year-old body. Though I kept making the same stupid mistakes, then I remembered that I wasn’t one hundred and fifty-three, not technically. Instead, all I could do was pull from the memory of other lives. Lives where I was betrayed and died horrible deaths repeatedly. Could I subject her to those memories? Would she be okay after having relived some of the most excruciating deaths I had ever encountered? Also, there was another matter to contend with. The fact that in the first few lives we were bitter rivals. She was the cause of my first death, and two of my first three. Then I managed to learn her weak points, I would strike at her with malicious fury.
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It wasn’t until the scourge came that we were no longer ordered to fight and kill each other. But even then, the animosity between us was fierce. In fact, this was my first time getting to know the Iron Butterfly. I had been so lost in knowing her by her code name, that I forgot she was a real person. A person with a code-name. A code-name, I have found, is an easy way to dehumanize a person. It is a lot easier to say that Monster X did such and such. Then with this revelation I realize why my own humans had likely given me the same distinction with my own name. Goldman-X, was likely their way of saying it was okay to kill me. That was a little easier to stomach than saying, kill Kyle. At least that was my revelation about the whole thing.
“Are you okay?” Soft words float into my ear and send a shiver down my spine. Her words now tingle in a way that is both calming and alluring. I focus my mind on not committing myself to feeling attraction to her, not until I work things out with Mel.
It is so odd, at this point I have been away from her for the exact time we were together. Still, it hurts thinking that I could be considered the one to be unfaithful. I have never been that type of person, and I swore I would never let myself become that person.
I had lingering fears. The first and most important one was, how was she doing? She had literally changed her whole life around to be with me. Then in one monumental moment of stupidity, I made it so we could no longer be together. Then there was the whole point of her now being in the military, which meant her odds of running into my brother had increased dramatically. Before when she was just a civilian the odds of their paths crossing were astronomically small. But now, I didn’t know. At the same time, I’ve been getting these feelings like something was wrong. Something was spiraling out of control and that Mel was in danger. Yet, despite all of this I was stuck here. Worse, I had likely betrayed some form of trust, with my pair bond with Rayquel.
The most frustrating thing was that I didn’t even know how to feel about everything. A part of me wished the doctor was here, he had a way of providing a new and unique perspective at life that I felt was lacking at this moment.
“Hmm?” A purr in the form of a question brought my mind back from its million-mile race. Finally taking a deep breath, I calmed myself. I was about to answer with a lie, but then realized such a comment would be a waste of time with Rayquel who could literally smell my lies. Realizing it was just easier to tell the truth than not, I shrugged.
“No.”
“Anything I can help with?” She asked, still close enough that her breath caused my skin to tingle.
I turn to lock eyes with her, she stares back. Her eyes never wavering even for a moment. Not for the first time I wonder what life would have been like if I could have met her earlier. Then I immediately feel guilty for such thoughts, again I needed to talk to Mel. To see where she stood on things, to see if she had moved on. Before I could go down that rabbit hole again, or even reply to Rayquel, my thoughts were interrupted by a new speaker.
“Good you are all here.” General Fellina, I mean General Tigran, said as she made her way forward. A quick glance around showed that there were now ten of us, including the General and Professor Astria.
“Today, you will all begin your training for a prestigious run at the famed Gemini Temple.” Tigran continued.
At those words several past lives came to mind. Ones where I had seen, laid eyes on and in one case conquered the territory surrounding the great temple. In each case we thought the temple was merely closed or lost its power like so many other temples had over the millennium. But had this one managed to survive somehow? Was this universe so odd, that this temple had managed to survive.
“The temple’s name might be a dead give-away, but I will spell it out for those of you who are slow on the uptake. The Gemini Temple is one only for those of you who have managed to successfully pair bond with another. Each stage of your bond allows you access to a minimum of ten levels of the temple. Until level forty. There are supposedly levels beyond forty, but those levels are said to be so dangerous and fraught with peril that no one has dared go beyond.” With that Tigran gave a pointed look to Rayquel.
Rayquel for her part turned her head away and looked at the ground in shame. There was something there, but I didn’t want to pry. Instead, I turned back to the Endarian General who was still explaining what would happen.
“As you may or may not be aware, we open access to the different temples with each year’s end of service to the Endarian Military. This is a way of promoting those who serve, while also ushering in the new year with pride.”
From the wording it is clear she means the calendar year, or the Endarian equivalent of a calendar year, as opposed to an actual year’s worth of military service. This means that we only have just under four months’ time before the temples would become open to us.
“Also, it should be noted that certain factors will be placed on when and which temples you can enter. The more temples you clear, the higher your overall ranking should be to get into one of the prestigious temples.” She says the part about clearing temples to me and Wizard Kyle. This gesture is no doubt made to let us realize we have a slight advantage by having already completed the human temple and its amazing fifty floors.
“But I wanted you all to be aware that since you all have pair bonded, you have a unique opportunity to run not one, but two temples in the same year. As pair bonded, you can enter the Gemini Temple, in addition to a second temple of your individual choosing.”
This was often the case; most temples were for individual runs. The fact that a Gemini temple existed at all was wholly unique. Though looking back, the name should have explained why no human had ever managed to make the cut.
“…Let us know now, if you and your bonded partner wish to train for a sacred spot within the Gemini Temple. Remember, that you can only enter as a bonded pair once.” The General said, again this last time she seemed to be directing her full attention towards Rayquel.
Rayquel for her part just nodded slightly.
With that the final meeting of the day was over.
I could hear the different groups of bonded pairs talking. Well, I could only hear Jess and Wizard Kyle talking, the others I guess were communicating through pheromones.
I locked eyes with Rayquel, who looked flustered by the sudden attention. Wanting to cut it off before this could get awkward, I waved a dismissive hand.
“Look, I don’t care. I just want to know if you are in or out?”
She just turned slightly red at the comment.
“What? Do you want to do it, or not?” I asked.
Hearing that she got even redder in the face and then began laughing uncontrollably.
I looked at her confused for a second, but then my mind caught up to what she was laughing about. “You are laughing at innuendo?” I ask, somewhat flustered by the whole situation.
“I’m sorry, my mind was somewhere else.” She began, and I could almost see her trying to hold back. Then just before my faith in Endarians not being complete perverts was restored, she went and asked her next question. “Can you start over from the in and out part?”
I roll my eyes and turn away disgustedly. I honestly don’t know what to think about her at this point. This whole thing seemed so out of place for her.
“Look wait, sorry.” She says, reaching out and grabbing my arm. I turn back to her. “It is just that this has been a really long day. We just got bonded, which means I am more in touch with your emotional state now. Also, I am more aware of your pheromones than ever, and let’s just say it makes it hard to concentrate.”
Suddenly looking at her, I can see that she is squirming slightly. I knew that she had said something about my pheromones being intense before, but I didn’t realize that the pair bond had made them worse.
“Am I distracting you?” I ask, suddenly feeling somewhat guilty.
“No.” A pulse of guilt flows through our bond. I look at her and realize she is lying. As soon as she realizes I felt the pang she lets out a slight sigh, before continuing. “Well, yes, but I am trying to deal with it.”
“Should I give you some space?” I ask, but I almost feel my own form of spiritual pain from that as well. It would be like losing a part of myself.
“No, we can’t, at least not at first. This is the part where the bond is most unstable. The part where our entire personalities could be changed if we sought to damage the connection. No, we…I just need to learn to deal with this. Honestly, I didn’t think I would be granted such a chance again, and I don’t want to ruin this. So, whatever we need to do, to make this work, I am for it. No intimacy, fine. No touching, okay. I just can’t let this opportunity go. So, you say it, I will do it.”
Hearing that I felt a lot of emotions come through our bond. I also noticed some of the words she chose.
“This isn’t your first pairing?”
She shakes her head, “no.”
Hearing that I nod in understanding. I figured there was something like that with the way the General glanced at her with the comment of floors beyond level forty. I also knew her response if I asked to know more. Or at least I knew the answer she gave me earlier. The next step of the bond, mind merging. But that was a big commitment from both of us. I still wasn’t ready for such a commitment from someone that wasn’t Mel. Heck, at this point I would likely need a few days of talking to Mel again before I would consider something like that with her.
“Okay, so what would you like to do?” I finally ask, realizing that my own soul chose her. This meant, well I didn’t really know what it meant, other than my spirit knew something I didn’t. That or my spirit felt it could grow by forming a partnership with Rayquel. In a way, the more I thought about it we were similar, or at least we had similarities. We both had breakups that were too painful to talk about even now. I knew she was aware of my feelings for Jess, but now I wondered if she too had previous feelings for someone else.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes for a moment. Then a second later she opened her eyes and tries to force out a real answer. Only after I feel the level of resolve coming from her soul not to say what she was truly thinking, did I realize what I had done to her again. I had given her another childish open-ended question that could have been interpreted in many ways.
“I would like to prepare for another Gemini temple run…”