Chapter 8 - Sydney Cohen: Portal Unzipper

Chapter 8 Sydney Cohen: Portal Unzipper

Sydney stared at the charred kitchen hood. Her gaze trailed down to the unlit stove. No fire burned before her eyes. Her breath caught in her throat.

Wait, what?
Her family?

Tears welled in her eyes. She didn’t even notice them. Fear had her whole body frozen like a stone statue. When Kitty had come up to her and huddled behind her ankles, Sydney snapped out of her shock. She frantically looked around the house, calling out to all of her family members.

“Grandpa? Grandpa!” She searched the living room. Books tumbled off from the shelves. Those were the very same books she and her grandpa cherished so much. They were literature buddies, and if he saw what she did to his books now, he’d surely come out running.

“Grandpa?” Sydney begged. “Please come out.”

No one came. Something was definitely wrong. Sydney flipped the sofa cushions over. She ran across the hall, opening cupboards and scouring  the toilets. No sign of Grandpa. She went back into the kitchen.

“Grandma? Please come out. This isn’t funny,” she said desperately. Fear coated her words like glue. No sign of Grandma, either. Her mind raced, trying to think of a better strategy to be sure that everyone was here and safe. She dashed to the shoe cupboard.

If all of their shoes were here, surely they were too. Sydney counted each pair. They didn’t own many shoes in this house, since none of them were fashion fanatics like those ones she’d seen in the movies, so it was easy to see that all shoes were still here. Everyone was still here. Sydney slammed the cupboard shut and ran upstairs.

“Mum? MUM!” Sydney ran into her mum’s room. Scrap paper and decorative tapes were scattered all over the floor, just like last night. The bed was unmade and the notebook on her mum’s desk was still there. All that was missing was…

“Mum?” Sydney breathed hard. It came out in quick, panicked puffs and Sydney clutched her hair with her hands. Her head spun, her world spun. It had been tipped off of the axis and completely flipped over. This time, like burnt, bitter pancakes. She tried to steady herself. This couldn’t possibly be happening. Sydney dashed out of the room and searched through the others, calling everyone’s names over and over again until her throat was hoarse and she could shout anymore. No one heard her. No one came out. Sydney bit back a sob. Panic rushed up her throat like bile. She furiously shook her head and dashed into her own room. Her last resort.

“KRALE! RUTH!” she yelled. The two talking Foods jumped from surprise and turned around, shooting her an irritated look.

“Hey, we’re having a civilised conversation here with Mister Yek the Yak, if you wouldn’t mind not interrupting…” Krale’s words died on his tongue the moment he saw Sydney’s distressed face. Ruthantasis got up and walked towards her, hands out worriedly. Krale abandoned Yek the Yak and came trudging towards her with his fork-cane.

“What’s the matter?” Ruthantasis asked. Sydney was surprised by the gentleness of his voice. It completely shattered her. Sydney fell to her knees. Ruthantasis and Krale immediately surged forward.

“My…my family. They’re all gone. Someone took them…the fire took them,” she said. It was all she could manage without crying even more. Any more tears and no one could’ve deciphered what she was trying to say, not even the world’s best translator.

“What? What fire?” Ruthantasis asked. Sydney’s breath shuddered against her ribs.

“There was a fire being…they said they wanted a godly weapon back,” she said in between sobs. “I didn’t do anything, Ruth. I didn’t take anything from her!” Sydney hid her face in her hands, and Ruth pulled her head in for a hug. As tiny as he was, Sydney knew Ruth was a lot older than she was, and she was glad he was here with her. Sydney couldn’t possibly bear any of this by herself. It was too much.

After much silence, Krale’s face creased with realisation. Immediately, his expression shifted into one of dread, and he muttered under his breath. “Oh no. This can’t be happening. No, no, no.”

“What?” Ruthantasis asked, “What’s happening?” Sydney lifted her head up to look at the old salad bowl. Krale’s eyes were wide with fear.

“That maraca…oh Gods no!” Krale wailed. “It shouldn’t be possible. No Primitive can teleport a godly weapon! How is this happening?” He paced around the room. It was the quickest Sydney had ever seen him walk. He didn’t even need to use his fork-cane as a support this time.

“Explain yourself, you old leaf!” Ruthantasis snapped. Although he tried to hide the fear in his voice, it came spilling out like a flood. A mix of terror and confusion. “What do you mean, godly weapon?”

The gears in Sydney’s head started to turn. Godly weapon…maraca…fire being? Her pulse quickened as the pieces of the puzzle started to place themselves in their correct slots. Sydney didn’t like the big picture it was forming, and tried to blink it away.

Too late, Krale had said her worst fears out loud.

“That maraca,” he pointed to the black maraca in front of Sydney’s door. She didn’t know how it got here. She had dropped it on the kitchen floor earlier. A shiver ran down her spine. “...is Goddess Volkra---or God Volkor, whatever you want to call them---’s godly weapon,” Krale said.

“And I have seven days to return it to them, before they kill off my family and the whole universe melts,” Sydney finished for Krale. The words knocked the winds out of her. She felt more fragile than a tree branch. Just a little pinch would snap her in half. Ruth and Krale looked just as stunned, and they all sat there, staring at the maraca of fiery destruction, soon to be the maraca responsible for all of their deaths.

***

Krale demanded to know exactly what had happened downstairs, saying that every word had an intended meaning, and if they were going to rescue Sydney’s family, they had to figure this out. Sydney told him everything that had happened in detail, and Krale immediately paled.

“There’s no mistaking that it’s Goddess Volkra, alright,” he said. “And if she said you have seven days left, considering how she’s also the Goddess of Destruction…she has started the countdown already. No one in their right minds would dare provoke her in this raging state, but we have no choice.”

Sydney looked at the clock. It was already 10 am. She had less than 24 hours on her first day. Blood drained from her face. Her fingers felt numb as she tried to stay calm.

“Well, they do say God Volkor is usually incredibly fun,” Ruthantasis said, trying to lift the mood and calm everyone down for Sydney’s sake. “He’s got two sides: one hosts dance parties and festivals while the other erupts thousands of volcanoes for fun.” He paused mid-sentence. “Goddess Volkra is the more…destructive form.” Then, as if just realising what he said had the opposite reaction he wanted, and that Sydney’s face was even paler than before, Ruthantasis groaned.

Sydney chewed on her lip. “If the Goddess wants her weapon back so much, why can’t she just take it back? Isn’t she, well, a God?”

Krale furrowed his eyebrows. “Child, you weren’t supposed to be able to teleport a godly weapon. Even the Gods can’t do that.”

“Then how can I? Why is she picking a fight with me? It was an accident.” Sydney choked on her words. She buried her face in her hands. “I don’t want to do this, Krale. I just want my family back.”

“That’s precisely why we have to return it, Sydney,” Krale said. “The Gods show no mercy in times of crisis. When even one of the godly weapons is not in their possession, the balance of the world tips over.” Krale demonstrated with his fork-cane. “And just like a plate, everyone slips off. Into oblivion.” He slid his stem hands down the slanted utensil. Sydney took in a shaky breath.

“Okay,” she decided. “How do we get there?”

Krale nodded at her with determination. “I don’t know the exact steps of opening a portal, but I’ll guide you through it.”

“A portal?” Sydney asked, dumbfounded.

“You’ve done it plenty of times already, it should be no problem,” said Krale.

Sydney flinched. “Not on purpose!”

Ruthantasis climbed onto her bed and plopped down on the sheets. “I’ll just be here watching. I don’t know anything about Primitives.” Krale shot him a disapproving look, but then reconsidered it, and nodded instead.

“Good. You’d only be in the way,” he said.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Ruthantasis said, rolling his eyes. He put his chin in his palms.

Sydney bit her lip. “Please don’t fight right now. I don’t think I can handle it.” She didn’t know why her voice shook. A sudden image of her and her family last night flashed across her mind. They were happily eating dinner together, like nothing would ever happen, and now they were gone.

Sydney must’ve fallen silent for a while since both Krale and Ruthantasis looked at her apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Sydney,” Ruthantasis said.

“Sorry, child. We won’t fight,” Krale said at the same time. Sydney nodded her head.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Now, back to business,” said Krale. “Close your eyes. Try to imagine a place. If there’s even a sliver of feeling or thought left from the place you pulled the maraca from, hold it still, grab it with your hands.” Sydney did as she was told.

The moment she had closed her eyes, the world around her blacked out. It wasn’t like the normal closing-your-eyes black out, though. Tiny specks of stars danced across her vision, and she could see universes many light years away from Earth just sitting there in front of her, as if waiting for her to pluck it out of the galaxy. Sydney gasped. How could she never do this before?

Sydney brought herself back to reality. She concentrated on any fleeting feeling she felt. Many flying wisps of colour floated across her eyes, and there was one more hot, more angry than the rest of the others. She could feel smoke curl around her ankles as her vision turned red. She thrusted out her hands, trying to grab it like Krale had instructed. Instead, touching that wisp of red sent her hurtling through the galaxy. It was like that place was enclosed in a barrier. She couldn’t access it no matter how hard she tried.

“I found it, but I can’t grab it, Krale,” she told him. “There’s a barrier blocking my way.” She kept her eyes shut as she said this, trying again and again to grab ahold of that red wisp, and failing each time. It kept bouncing her back further and further away.

“The Volcanic Ring, that’s no surprise,” Krale muttered to himself. Then, his voice became louder as he told her, “Find another one, Sydney. We can’t access that one. We’ll get to Geveodu some other way.”

“But that’s where the maraca came from, I’m sure of it,” she said.

Krale tsk-ed his tongue. “Seems like the Goddess wants us to finish this quest the hard way. Even though she wants her weapon back, she isn’t bringing her firewall down.”

Sydney nodded and continued to search even though she had no idea what Krale meant. She felt through space, more wisps of colour passed from her eyes and she felt cool all over. It felt like a space Sydney could get used to being in. Quiet, peaceful, and nice. Everything was neutral here, and it seemed like all the stars were content with the space they occupy in this galaxy, like they all knew just being there was enough. Sydney breathed in a deep breath and continued to search.

Finally, she came across one wisp of colour. This one had swirls of yellows, oranges, and occasional greys on it. The moment she touched and grabbed it, dusty air filled her lungs and she coughed. The cool space around her immediately turned hot and dry, and she could feel her feet burn from the boiling ground.

“I found one, Krale,” she said. “I grabbed it.”

“Good! Now open it, or zip it down, or rip it apart, or something. Just, create a portal,” he said.

“What?” Sydney asked, confused.

“Just do it! You’re almost there!”

Sydney grunted. Open it? Zip it down? Rip it apart? That sounded so aggressive. Still, Sydney felt around for a handle or a lever, and when her hands enclosed around a tiny thread, on instinct, she zipped it down.

When she did so, she felt that very same blood tugging sensation she had felt three times too many. This time, though, it didn’t make her head spin. She was standing steady and sane, at the same place. There was no wooziness and only a tingling sensation at the tip of her fingertips, and Sydney found that she didn’t mind it. Dry air blasted in her face as the churning colours ripped apart, revealing a deserted land. Tall rocks shot up from the sandy earth, and Sydney breathed in deeply, taking in the scene.

Suddenly, her mind was pulled back to her physical body, where her two braided pigtails billowed in the wind. When Sydney opened her eyes, she realised the wind wasn’t coming from the fan or the air conditioning, but from the giant rip in space and time she had just created in front of her.

A portal.

She had just opened a portal.

How cool was that?!

Author's Note

written: Dec 2024