Young Writers Society

Jerica and Rek had been easing towards the new room when the lights went off and the voice assaulted them, somehow making them even tenser, if that was even possible. When the lights came back on they were standing back-to-back, so together they were observing the entire area at once.

And then there were the portals.

Portals. Voices that spoke directly into your brain. It felt exactly like something you'd expect from the Guild -- and yet everything about it was so wrong. The only time she'd had someone speak to her like this was a dragon -- and dragons didn't hide. So she didn't know what to make of any of this. But. Well.

Jerica slowly straightened and looked up at Rek and whispered, "Elders?"

He shook his head.

At least, if it was someone in the Guild trying to reach them, they were going about it in an entirely bizarre way. Not to mention neither of their crests itched, which usually happened just before a summons to Kyrkyyni.

No. They were on their own.

And yet the choice was obvious.

... unless it wasn't.

If they'd drawn the disfavor from someone powerful enough to bring them here, perhaps they shouldn't draw that attention towards their home. But, well. Their captor clearly already knew where they lived -- so what was the harm?

Besides, they certainly weren't going to pick any of the other realms. They didn't know any of these people. Not really. The two of them were wildly different than they were in whatever that nonsense simulation was supposed to be. Jerica was the opposite, really. Everyone hated her; avoided her. She certainly wasn't the life of any party. And she certainly wasn't going to hang around and watch these 'friends' of hers turn on her, just like everyone always did.

Jerica watched as each of the others pointed to their portals. They looked so peaceful, on the whole. Serene.

Meanwhile.

Jerica let out a soft sigh as her eyes landed on Beirania. At this point, she was fairly certain everyone knew which one was hers. At least, they should know, based on her gut reaction to all this being violence. And, well, she supposed she had a bit of a penchant for that at HPU, too. But, gods, J.R. had gotten off easy -- dealing with dumb-jock-Jerica rather than General-Ainsley-Jerica.

Their portal showed the training grounds. In the very back of the view were the barracks, low and long. Just in front of them were rows upon rows of archers training -- and Jerica almost thought she caught a glimpse of Akie commanding them, but that was probably wishful thinking.

Nearer were dozens of men sparring with swords or training hand-to-hand while their respective officers paced around them barking orders and criticisms of their form. Well. She couldn't actually hear any of that. But she knew exactly what it sounded like. And then Derik walked into view.

He looked sterner than any of the others had seen him during the simulation. They'd all met the concerned dad version of him that he usually reserved for behind closed doors -- come to think of it, it was weird that he'd been soft in front of an audience during the simulation -- rather than the War Lord Ainsley standing before them now.

His expression was drawn and detached, though his eyes were sharp and alert, observing everything and everyone at once. His back was rod-straight and chin turned upward; dignified. A commander that was both worthy of and used to respect and obedience. Rek and Jerica both subconsciously straightened their backs and shoulders as they looked at Derik, raising their chins -- adopting a more commanding persona without even realizing that they were. They were Generals and this was their Commander -- and they were representing him. Always.

Rek felt a pang of longing as they watched him. Baba. His throat constricted a little, though his expression stayed stoic. Derik always kept them close. Always. Jerica had had those few months away from home during her time as a prisoner of war or whatever. But Rek had never spent more than a day or two away from Derik at a time. Ever. In his entire life.

Rek, also, felt like it was obvious that that was their portal, especially now that Derik was visible and Rek was all but a clone of his father. But he still gestured at it. "And ours."

"That one is mine," Lordy lazily pointed towards one of the portals, a dusty image of Wonderland on the other side, "Through there I'm a King. I rule the land like no one before me has, with the power of an army at my side."

He sighed, "But there wasn't a day I didn't have to watch my back. Nightmares followed me everywhere I went, there was no escape. I didn't have that worry back with you all- at the university."

He looked around at everyone, before his eyes fixed towards Benji and Daniel.

"You want to know if there's a way to see each other again? If we all choose to go into our own portals? Just look at what's going on here, think about it."

Lordy started to eyeball the rest of the portals while addressing everyone, "We're all standing in a room created by some unknown power giving us the choice to travel between worlds. You don't think that we can find that power- or the person with that power, and figure out how to do this on our own?" He smiled a bit, "The very fact that we're all standing here together even though we're from different worlds is proof enough that it's able to be done. We just have to figure out how."

Morri took a step forward, "Well I can't speak on much as far as my world goes. I'm dead."

Lordy raised an eyebrow but Morri continued, "A ghost, technically, but that's neither here nor there. I have no real qualms about going anywhere. You however, Lordy, I think I know where you're going with this."

Lordy's soft smile turned a bit more sinister, "High Point was obviously created for all of us to be put there. None of us are actually from there, right? If that's the case, then if we want to find out who or what is behind all of this, AND we want to get their powers to move between worlds, then that is where we have to go."

People had started talking at some point since the lights flickered, and they'd been plunged into darkness. The lights had come on, but the voice that spoke to the center of James's being was like a foreign voice inside his head lingered. Echoing in his mind. Clinging to him, like a sticky film over his mind.

James stood at the edge of the room, but he hardly felt like he was a part of it.

The room was pulling away, and a deafening ringing filled his ears, growing louder in pitch as it screamed over the conversations coming from the moving mouths around him.

He took a few steps back, eyes locked on the window into Nye.

A dusty road in the desert. One that led to a small town he was planning on leaving soon - though he couldn't remember what soon felt like, seeing as he could hardly remember when and where he'd last been home, though the word itself always tasted bitter, even if - for once - it was actually right.

Panic crept up on him again, but unlike his first waking in this hellish prison in the sky, this one was a knowing panic - the one that settled in after an unsettling realization.

How the hell was everyone so calm?

They'd been handed the opportunity - no, the power to walk into any of the worlds set before them and they were talking about it like this power was something that could be attained after all of this. They were talking about their options. They were talking about seeing each other again. They were trying to figure out loopholes in an impossible situation.

Was everyone insane? Was everyone under the illusion they really had a choice?

Someone very, very powerful had ripped them out of their worlds and put them into a simulation against their will, and none of them would have been the wiser if they'd never woken up.

James stared emptily into Nye, watching as dust blew across the path but never beyond it into the room where everyone stood.

"High Point was obviously created for all of us to be put there."

Lordshire's voice trickled in past the ringing in his ears.

"None of us are actually from there, right?...

James looked at the door to High Point University. The college campus he'd been immersed in only moments ago.

...that is where we have to go."

Did he want to return to the simulation? Or was the simulation a real world?

James turned to look behind him, into the hall, towards the room where Carter was still asleep, in his pod.

If Carter never woke up... would he be stuck in the simulation?

Alternatively, if he didn't wake up, did that mean that Carter was no longer in Nye? If James returned, would Carter's absence had any affect on... on his future? On the future of Nye? If Carter went missing, the world would notice. If James went missing... well, it wouldn't be much different from his present reality, prior to this moment.

No one would notice if he fell off the face of Nye.

No one would notice if he was gone.

Eyes drifting back to the college campus, James felt uneasy. Dread filled his gut.

"Wait," Bo said. "You're saying you want to go back into the one place that we were just trapped in because you think we'll be able to get out? The disembodied voice guy just said you enter once and it's one and done. No take-backs. I'm not willing to bet my future on a hunch."

“Wait, that was just Earth, right? There’s a port-“ her word got cut off in a cough as Rek elbowed her in the side, hard.

They weren’t supposed talk about the portals. She knew that weren’t supposed to talk about the portals to non-Rangers. What was she doing? For all they knew, these were all enemies trying to infiltrate their realm. And here she was, offering it to them on a silver platter.

She knew what his problem was. What he was thinking. But she didn’t agree. She rubbed her side and sent him a dirty look, taking a step away from them. “It’s not like there’s anything stopping them from coming through this portal.”

Rek sighed wearily. She had a point. An unfortunately good point. They both knew they could get to Earth from Beirania and there were an abundance of other portals leading to other realms. There was some likelihood of there being portals to each of their realms. They may have to do a bit of realm-hopping to find the right portals. But, well, Derik probably knew how to find each of them — even though he’d be highly annoyed with them for bringing a pack of weirdos home with them. “… what are the names of your realms?”

Bo was getting confused. And tired.

“I’m from Earth. But the college was on Earth too. Just a different version of it,” he said, pointing to the portal to HPU. “Look. I don’t know if we’re dealing with other worlds, or alternate universes, or other alternate realities, or whatever. I’m not a wizard, nor a comic-book fanatic. I just know that there’s only one door here that goes to my home, and that’s the one I’m going through. If you guys think you can find a way to my world from yours or someone else’s, that’s great, but I’m not risking it.”

"We're also from Earth, so that's weird. But something tells me they're all a lot different," Mel said, then shook her head and swatted her hand like she was swatting away the thought. "Yeah, Bo's right. It doesn't matter, and we all have our homes to return to. High Point University is not real, so sorry Lordy and Momo, I'm not letting anyone go back there. But..."

Mel was sure to give everyone at least a few moments of eye contact each. She wanted to make sure everyone was heard. She already knew Elias's and Evaline's situation, but she didn't know what anyone else was going through in their home world.

"I know that 'home' may not be great for everyone. So, maybe we should open up the floor and talk about our worlds to see if anyone would be interested in migrating there instead. I know I wouldn't stop anyone if they tried to go to anyone else's world. You know?" She shrugged nonchalantly. "So who wants to start?"

Benji looked around the room. He looked at the other portals, and he looked at the other people. Some of them were from other Earths; some were from worlds that seemed completely different.

He didn't want to take the risk of going back to High Point University, but he saw Lordy's point. There had to be a reason this had happened, and the person who had created this situation had to be somewhere. If they weren't here, they had to be somewhere else.

"Benji and I are from Earth," Daniel said. He straightened a little as he spoke. Not everyone seemed to believe that there was a way to visit each other after they all picked a world, but enough people did. Daniel sounded less desperate and hopeless now. "Our Earth is like HPU's Earth, but we also have magic in ours. The supernatural exists, even if most humans don't know it's there."

He glanced over at Benji. A tiny smile graced his lips. As soon as their eyes met, Daniel turned back to the others.

"That's actually our job," Daniel said. "We're cryptozoologists—cryptid hunters."

Benji resisted the urge to comment on the title. He had picked that one up from Gabriel, who, for the very short time that Benji had known him, had taken every possible opportunity to call himself a demon hunter. Not because he specialized in hunting demons, but because he was a demon who also happened to be a hunter.

"We help with other supernatural issues too," Benji clarified. He fiddled with the necklace dangling over his chest. "We helped humans with the supernatural, and the supernatural with humans."

“You can’t all be from Earth,” Jerica scoffed, looking around the different portals. “What— you mean, like, different countries? And only some people know about magic?”

"Not different countries," Daniel said. "Unless the person who brought us here also changed our accents, I think at least Bo is from the same country Benji and I are from."

He glanced back at his portal, studying the swaying of the tree leaves in the wind on the other side.

"There's other versions of Earth," Daniel said. "I haven't ever gone to one and don't know anyone who has, but I know they exist. It's something you just...know if you have the right kind of magic. Benji and I have that magic."

Benji nodded. It was something both of them had talked about before. They could just...feel the magic off other realities out there when they thought hard enough about it. It was hard to put the feeling into tangible words, but it was there. And Daniel knew the feeling wasn't universal: Gabriel had never once understood what he was talking about when describing it, even though Gabriel also had his own special form of magic.

“I’m from Earth. The country called the United States. The state of California,” Bo said, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. “And if we were from the same world in the same universe with the same timeline, wouldn’t Benji, Daniel and I have the same door? If we’ve got different ones, I’m assuming our worlds are similar, but different.”

He paused, trying not to let out another longsuffering sigh.

“As far as I know, my earth doesn’t really have magic aside from my own very uncommon and unique experiences with it, but that’s a whole can of worms I’d rather not get into right now.”

Other versions of Earth? Not having magic? Supernatural?

Mel had to physically shake her head to shake away all the thoughts. She had so many questions, but she knew now was not the time to gather answers to them.

They had one hour. One hour to walk into a portal. One hour to choose a portal. Sure, maybe knowing about the culture of each world could influence whether someone wanted to live in that world, but they only really heard from Daniel and Benji. And from inference, it sounded like Bo and Jerica lived on Earth too, but a different type of Earth.

And herself too, of course. Mel didn't plan on keeping that a secret.

But she also wanted to hear from the others. If the remaining three portals weren't from Earth, where were they? What were they?

"I'm from Earth too," Mel said, then paused when she realized she wasn't being generic enough. She sloppily gestured between herself, Elias, and Evaline, ignoring the steely glare-slash-panic type of look radiating out of Evaline. "I mean, we're from Earth. And I think it'd be a good idea to go through each of our Earths and talk about it, but I want to hear from everyone else first."

Mel gestures towards her portal. "We know this one is ours." She then gestured towards Bo's portal of a room, then Daniel and Benji's portal of the woods, then Jerica and Rek's portal of... some type of war... or whatever. "And this one is Bo's, and this one is Daniel and Benji's, and this one is Jerica and Rek's. And we all live in different versions of Earth. Is that right?"

She didn't give them much time to verify as she then gestured towards the remaining portals.

"But what about the rest? James, Lordy, Morri? Do you also live on Earth?"

"Oh I'm from earth alright, the Kingdom of Wonderland is my home," Lordy pointed over to a portal that seemed to lead into a dense forest, "There I rule the land and travel between all of the smaller kingdoms as well. Nothing like a good castle to go home to, right?"

"I'm also from earth,' Morri chimed in, "Though, I can't really say much about it. I've been dead for the last hundred years, stuck on an island by my ghostly shackles. I couldn't tell you what my world is like even if I wanted to."

"A tragedy, really." Lordy pouted at him.

"Quite," Morri responded, "Though I wonder now if I'll be freed from those chains if I choose another world..." He looked deeply into one of the portals for a moment, "... or if I'll just die."

Jerica scoffed, looking disdainful as she glanced around the room. “We’re not from Earth. Plebs.”

Rek furrowed his brow at her. “Jer.” It wasn’t a fantastic plan to insult it seemed like every single other person in this room. Even though that was exactly Jerica’s speed.

“Don’t ‘Jer’ me,” she scoffed, looking at him. “They can’t even get their stories straight on what their stupid realm is like. Derik was clearly right — ‘Earth’ is a shithole.”

Rek sighed.

Jerica looked at Morri. “So I’d say this is your chance to hop ship and try your luck. You’re already dead, right? So you’re a pro at the whole dying thing already.”

Rek sighed louder.

Mel arched her brows. Okay, different versions of Earth. Weird, but whatever, they were literally in space wearing ugly uniforms. After Morri and Lordy announced that they were also from Earth, she was convinced that everyone was. But...

"What do you mean, you're not from Earth?" she asked, snapping her head to Jerica. "Where are you from, then?"

“Beirania,” she said simply, as if it was obvious. Deep down she was aware that Earthlings, on the whole, were not aware of the other Realms. But she sure didn’t remember that in this moment. The portals surrounding them made it obvious, she felt like.