Young Writers Society

Elias wasn't that dumb. He could tell when people were holding back information. With how slow and careful Aerik and Jayk were talking, it was like they were filtering their words and only telling him the bare minimum.

"So let me get this straight," Elias said as he stared at the glowing tattoo. "Everyone with a glowing tattoo is part of some secret organization no one knows about, and you are all in charge of the portals to other worlds?"

He squinted at them again.

"In other words, you all are in a cult, then?"

All three of them scoffed at once.

"More like, 'the reason humanity still exists' but sure, call it a cult if you want," Jayk answered dryly.

"He's got a point," Aerik agreed for once. "To call what we do a cult is rather short-sighted. We monitor every single realm that exists and step in to prevent things that would have too disastrous results... like, Femola running his mouth that Jerica is still alive."

This was almost too much for Elias to comprehend. He could barely even comprehend that there were other realms to begin with.

"How many..." he began, but faltered for a moment as he tried to catch up with the slow sludge of his mind. "How many realms are there, exactly?"

Jerica opened her eyes again, lifting her head to look at Aerik. She also wanted to know that.

"Oh, pfffffff." Aerik rubbed the back of his head, looking at Jayk. "I don't know. Ninety? A hundred?"

"Somewhere around there," Jayk agreed. "I don't know. I've only ever really gone to like six or seven of them. Some are just shitholes." He glanced at Elias. "No offense."

"Ehh," Elias said weakly. "None taken. Not like I wanted to go back, so..."

He tried to wrap his mind around the concept of multiple worlds ...

...

... He couldn't.

"I just..." He scratched the side of his head again, something he often did when he was too confused. "I mean, wow. What's that like? Other worlds, huh. Do they all have cultish gatekeepers too? Does Earth have them?"

"Not a cult," Jayk corrected again. "And why the fuck would we have portals on Earth? No one wants to go to--"

"Jayk. Shut up," Aerik interrupted. He looked back at Elias. "No, you can't get to any other realm from Earth than to here, in Beirania... and... he's kind of right. Earth is one of the less pleasant realms, so I watch the portal and make sure we don't have miscreants wandering in. Most of the other portals are either in Crevon or in one of the other realms."

"WAIT!" Jerica snapped upright. "IS THAT WHY NO ONE CAN--" Her breathing got suddenly even more labored, cutting her off as her arms started trembling violently.

"I swear to the gods--" Aerik said, giving her another warning look. "Sit back. And, yes. We put a bunch of Beasts on the island so no one would want to go there."

It was weird listening to others say that Earth was not a pleasant world to be in. If Elias had his sister's power, he'd argue that Earth was peaceful and perfectly pleasant. He certainly thought so at one point... until it all almost changed overnight, that was. But he tried to not dwell on the past. He tried not to think of the past too much, and it was easier to agree that they were right, because they were. Earth was not pleasant for people like him.

"I don't know where the portal would be on Earth, but if it's outside the societies, then you probably had some random beasts come in from there," he said idly.

He wasn't sure which was scarier: mutated beasts roaming Beirania, or the possibility that he was not only person who stumbled into the portal and was also roaming Beirania.

Aerik waved his hand dismissively. "Kaidren handles those. I screen the people and then either send them back, send them to Kaidren to deal with, or let them come in. And we all try to pretend that that realm doesn't exist."

Elias couldn't forget about Kaidren the dragon. Although he had already seen some of the nasty mutated beasts that roamed the Earth, nothing compared to that giant dragon creature he saw. It didn't even look natural.

"You let me come in," he said matter-of-factly. "Are there... others like me? From Earth, in Beirania, that you let in?"

"Not really..." Aerik's brow furrowed, trying to think if he'd let anyone else in. "Usually, the only people I let back in are people from here -- or one of the other realms -- who went to Earth to knock some heads together." He shrugged. There wasn't much good that came from Earth.

That brought Elias a bit more peace. He couldn't imagine crossing paths with someone else in the military. The thought alone made a shiver go down his spine.

"Okay, so you let me in," he said, piecing the story together. "And now we're going to Crevon, which, uh... happens to also be full of beasts, I guess. But also, sorcerers who guard the portals. Right?"

"Ehhhh." Aerik gestured vaguely. "Kinda, yeah. There are a few of us in Crevon, but mostly we use the Beasts as a deterrent. No one wants to go up against one, do they, Jerica?"

Jerica groaned. "I swear to the gods, if there's another Chijurru, I quit."

Aerik smirked mirthlessly, looking back at Elias. "You saw a Scelinon. They're... I guess, fairly average, in terms of how hard they are to kill. Chijurru are... not."

"I'll quit," Jerica repeated, slumped in her chair.

Elias nodded idly, still playing catch up again.

"So... we'll have to go pass the beasts, then...?" he asked, not fully sure if that was what they were saying.

Jerica groaned, pressing her palms against her eyes. That was the last fucking thing she wanted to think about just then. She'd been healed, but she still felt like her entire body was broken.

"Ideally, you won't see any... but..."

"I quit," Jerica whispered.

Elias sighed. "Crevon sounds like a lovely place," he deadpanned.