💯 STORY CHALLENGE
The Portal
14 of 100 / How can a single hand take an entire kingdom?
He hesitated, spinning the ring between his fingers, as the hall lay before him, cavernous like he’d been swallowed into the belly of a beast.
Breathing a deep sigh, he tucked the ring against his chest and headed towards the portal undulating at the other end.
An old man looked up from a stone counter. “Destination?”
“11th Century, Greater Europe. Please, Gatekeeper.”
“A little farming excursion, have we? Plenty cases of soil enrichment for one to carry.”
“No. For conquest.”
“And how do you suppose you’ll pull that off, ensuring they’re so overfed, nary a sword pulled?”
“Alone each case lays calm — like a man and a woman single. But long after consummation, they decay into volatile vengeance. Just ask your wife.”
The guardian of the portal snorted. “Do you deem to make a mockery of me?”
“You hasten to dismiss, old man. I speak of volatile elemental reactions. Expand your deductions — it may even deepen your intellect.”
“As the Keeper of the Gate, I’ve steered the courses of history more times than you’ll muster in your entire existence!”
“Yes, twiddling dials. But do you ever step through the Gate yourself? Or do you cower at the chance for His Glory.”
“Careful, young one, lest a mistake sends you to the primordial darkness.” The Gatekeeper shook his head, conceded, worked the controls, and the portal began to charge.
“What name shall I write down in the record-book?”
Deactivating his flight mechanism, the young one dropped to the floor.
“Belial.”
The angel then leapt through the open gate.
For the 100 Story Challenge, started by Zane Dickens.
See my previous story:
