Chapter 16: Strange Portal
"As I had said to you earlier when we met, Finn, you have the potential to match the Snake Guardian girl. I did not certainly mean you swinging just a sword and moving at superhuman speed," Estes began. "You have infinite Sword Potential and I would very much like you to see that."
Finn raised his brows, "I don’t... What do you mean?"
Estes’ body was quickly enveloped by a thick layer of suffocating smoke, one that stirred and grew smaller and smaller, until it finally condensed back into the ancient sword form of Estes.
Finn stared at the sword, confused questions welling up in his mind as he simply watched the blade.
’Has Estes gone back to sleep?’ he asked himself after a while of looking at the comatose blade.
Then finally Estes spoke again.
"Pick me up."
Finn lingered for a moment, his two hands then going to the Golden hilt of the sword. He grabbed onto it firmly, the mundane silver blade of the sword glistening despite its parchment of rust all over.
"What’s next?" Finn asked.
"Now channel your Spirit Will into me."
Finn blinked a few times, and then did as she said, feeling the familiar heat of his spirit will in his chest.
It was small, but despite being small, he still managed to move it, letting the small light of heat creep up his shoulders, forearm, and into Estes.
The moment the light of heat climbed into the intricate hilt of the ancient sword, it throbbed violently in response.
And what happened next...
Finn could only watch in bewilderment.
"Oh my God."
At first it started as a White dot just a few meters from his bed, stable but surging with black sparks that seemed to be... growing.
The white dot and surges of black swirled, growing larger and larger into a shape, an appearance Finn was all too familiar with.
It was a portal.
Finn’s face paled at it, "A portal... I... I created a portal."
His heart trembled, his gaze unable to leave the swirling white portal in his hut.
Sure it was smaller than the one he had seen earlier that day, however, it was still a portal — one of the most inconceivable phenomena created by man in this age.
And Finn had created it.
A rush of exhilarating triumph surged through him. He wanted to jump up and yell in excitement, to let the electric joy burst from his chest.
But alas he held himself, tearing his eyes from the portal and for once glancing across the room to the other two present there.
It was a miracle they managed to still be asleep up till this moment with all the ruckus Finn and Estes seemed to be causing.
Yet, looking through the hut, there was no one there but him.
Apart from him, his bed, and Estes, the hut was strangely, entirely empty.
He opened his mouth to ask why, a response Estes could see a mile coming, so she mouthed a reply before he could even speak.
"This is an Astral Plane I created so we can speak, and maybe train while you are at the academy. Right now your physical body is still in the normal world, sleeping safe and sound," she finished the last part with a wink.
Finn nodded, absorbing that piece of information before his eyes returned back to the portal, "And what about this?"
Estes tilted her head slightly within the sword and sighed for a moment, "Past that tear is the answer to the question you have long waited to be answered. However if you cross into the portal, your physical body will also disappear from the physical world. Until you return, that is."
Finn swallowed, there were truly no opportunities without a downside. Just when he was feeling exhilarated to jump onto the portal the next second, he heard the most lethal news.
If he was to go through the portal and disappear afterwards, didn’t that mean he could get caught in the real world, exposing his Guardian being a humanoid creature?
Worse still, he could get caught and immediately killed as others might actually believe he is more or less teleporting over to Eldervane, the rival kingdom, with a micro portal and shedding information on their trading regimen over to them.
The second scenario was the one more prone to happening, given his father’s status to the entire kingdom.
So this was more than just a decision to Finn.
And this caused him to sit for minutes that felt like hours, deliberating on what to do next.
Right before him stood a portal — his answers to the questions that had been burdening him for so long. His way to getting stronger.
Or maybe, his doom.
Finn lingered a while longer before turning to Estes to ask one final question that was on his mind.
"What is beyond the portal? And how long would it take me to... You know, complete whatever is on the other side."
Estes simply shrugged in reply, "Even I have no definite answer to all those questions. Your own way of finding out is... Well uh, finding out, I guess."
Finn swallowed hard once again, and reluctantly rose to his feet.
If it was an opportunity to change from the miserable existence he had been leading his entire life — even if it was a choice that could most likely kill him —
Finn would still take it.
And with that, he walked right into the cold embrace of the white swirling portal, disappearing from the room.
