The Third Portal: Chapter Forty-Nine

It was finally done. It might have taken months, but the array was complete. 

In a clearing within Dusk, there were six large concentric rings, almost like a standing stone formation. Lines of spider silk braided into thick threads ran between the different stones, and the entire thing was covered in runes. Several shallow bowls had been cut into the stones with the help of Dusk’s dominion, and within them were placed different components stolen from the nodes. 

Along the outermost ring, cauldrons – just ordinary iron ones, not alchemically enchanted – sat, containing the different fuels that would be needed for the array. 

Channels had been dug in the ground for the mana to run through, in addition to the power in the air, and assorted items stuck out of the dirt at odd angles. 

I… understood none of it. 

Well, that wasn’t entirely true. I’d been the one to create it, with some help from others, but it was essentially just following a blueprint laid out in my brain. I understood it in the sense of knowing where things should go, and how they ought to connect, but I didn’t understand why it worked, how it worked, or ways to change or improve it. I was like a child following a make-at-home enchanter’s kit, only on a far more expensive scale.

The spell in my mind scanned the array one more time, just to check for any major flaws or points of failure, and then went quiet. I took a breath and turned to Dusk. 

“Alright. Let’s get Kene, and then… it’s time.” 

We turned and left the clearing, heading towards the autumn section of her forest, and to the ring of mushrooms that served as the internal portal point, then started forcing our way back to Mossford.

I stopped by my dad’s, had a coffee with him, and then began chaining Seven League Steps together until I arrived at Kene’s village. When I appeared, I had a spot of tea with Alice, the schoolteacher of the village, then headed into Kene’s shop. They were working with one of the older men of the village on some sort of joint pain elixir. 

I waited politely, browsing the shelves. A part of me expected to find the advancement resources that they sold to be weak, now that I was a third gate mage, but… a lot of the farmers in the area were third gate telluric, tempest, or life mages as well. Most of the supplements that they sold were actually usable for me. 

While I browsed, I felt a tug on my awareness, guided by my rainbow eyes, and had to suppress a small smile. Siobhan seemed to notice as well, letting out a small yap of excitement from where she was curled in front of the fire, before curling in closer and returning to sleep. 

I stopped before a box of Verdant Pasture Powder. Once upon a time, Kene had warned me against using it, since powders released their power much more directly and powerfully. At the time, my mana senses hadn’t been well developed, and I hadn’t even been able to tell the power that the box contained. 

Now, though, I could feel the rich and dense power that the powder held, and its four hundred silver price tag didn’t seem so staggering. It was funny how these things worked out. 

When the older man left the shop, Kene came over and pulled me into a hug. He put the closed sign up, and we ate a quick lunch together, before I broached the topic I’d come here for – partly at Dusk’s urging, as she didn’t want to have to sit around and wait. She wanted to see it happen now! 

“Well… No sense in delaying any longer. The array is ready,” I said, putting my glass of water down. “Unlike Dusk, I’m not going to try and push you into it. If you’re ready for this, then I can begin booting it up.” 

“I’m ready,” Kene said. “Ju–”

Shadows began to stir under Kene’s feet, and before the entity lurking within could explode, I cast Foxswap. The creature in the shadows was much stronger than I was – I couldn’t force her to move against her will, even if I put everything I had into it. 

The witch went along with it anyway, and tumbled out of the air onto the back room, while Kene’s cauldron appeared next to them. Kene jerked, and then rose to their feet as the sounds of crashing came from the back room. I just waved and used Transport Item to teleport the cauldron back to its rightful place.

A surge of shadows exploded out, darkening the entire room, and Kene let out a sigh and shook his head. 

“Hello grandmother. You won’t even let me finish putting away the dishes, will you?”

There was an indignant squawking sound, and a raven hopped up onto the serving counter, glaring at me. It opened its beak and spoke in the witch’s dry crackle. 

“How very rude of you, young man, teleporting an old lady onto the floor like that, completely and utterly against her will. My old bones aren’t good at getting off the floor, not anymore.” 

I snorted with laughter and shook my head. 

“Of course. I’m such a villain. Worse than the Death Queen in every possible regard.” 

The humor fled from the raven’s voice as she hopped from the counter and smoothly reassumed her human form. 

“What?” I asked, tensing. 

“Nothing, probably. Just… Odd you should mention her. I’ve seen…”

She shook her head, burped, and a snake formed from shadows burst from her throat, then raced for the door. She burped again, this time without any spontaneous animals forming from it, and turned to Kene. She let out a long, slow breath, and then golden light streaked with a misty gray bloomed from within her ragged black robes, where her heart would be, in a shape that reminded me slightly of chains. White abnegation magic swirled out from her left hand, and was joined by shadows that dripped like ink from her right, and green life that blazed in her eyes like all her life energy had condensed in them. 

“Grandchild and ward of mine,” she said, her voice gaining a serious quality that I’d only seen once before, when Kene had been on the verge of death. “I have seen, and while the work the Analyst and their human do is good, they overestimate my abilities as an enchanter.” 

The witch paused, then tilted her head consideringly. 

“Or perhaps not. Perhaps this, too, factored into their great plan. I would not put it past either one of them.”

“What are you saying?” Kene asked, stepping closer to her. 

“Your tattoos, in their current form, are not going to be strong enough to restrain the hag. If her soul devours the strength coursing into you, it will allow her to devour you. You are ahead of her, for the first time in your life, thanks to the changes in the tapestry. But you are not far enough for this.”

I felt my body tense, my spine entirely rigid at the idea that I might have killed my partner. 

“Should I try to break into fourth gate?” Kene asked. “I’m not ready, but I could… at least try. I’m still settling peak third, but I have gotten rid of most of my mist. If I overloaded a bit on mana toxicity… I mean, this is important.” 

“No,” the witch said, then closed her burning green eyes. “I will restrain the hag’s power.” 

The golden chains around her heart writhed at the proclamation, and the misty gray enveloping them grew brighter.

“And we must hurry,” she added. “While the sun still burns bright in the sky and the egg salad is yummy, did you know that some people add grapes into chicken salad? It se–” 

She spat out a viscous, angry curse and shook her head.

“Hurry.” 

I didn’t need to be told a third time. Dusk and I tore a portal open in unison, and while Dusk shot ahead to begin activating the preliminary powers in the array, I lead Kene into their position in the center of the array, 

Dawn on the other hand, leapt forward to dive into the witch’s spirit. Her eyes, which were still closed, snapped open again, and she staggered back. 

“Mercy me,” she said, a faint golden aura starting to form around her. “What in the world have you gotten yourself into, children…?” 

She straightened and strode into the portal. 

“Another time. Druid! Are you ready?” 

“Fifteen seconds ma’am,” I said, responding on instinct as I guided Kene into a cross legged position and pulled on my ghost anchor, calling the enchanter to me. 

The enchanter and Hannah both floated forward together, one excited at getting a chance to see magic of a sort and scale that she’d never experienced before, the other one… peaceful. 

After all, this was the enchanter's purpose – she had been left behind by the person in life to guard and use the array. She was nearly fulfilled, nearly able to rest forever and not linger as a footprint any longer. 

I strode over to the edge of the array, while the enchanter manifested a complete ectoplasmic shell next to me. 

After months of building this together, we moved in perfect sync, sending our mana into the massive ritual, lighting up the components. 

The innermost circle lit first, then the second innermost, then the third. 

As the fourth circle lit, the witch drifted into the air. 

The fifth circle lit, and Kene’s tattoos began to glow with a shining white light. 

The sixth and final circle lit, and the world exploded in a rush of power. 

Light speared down from the witch like the wrath of an angry magi, striking Kene’s body, and somehow seeming to separate out a portion of their spirit. A writhing mass of misty gray darkness, which I knew to be the hag, rippled into the air, bound in chains of light attached to the spear of the witch. 

Golden power coursed down the chains and spear, and I could feel Dawn’s dominion working in tandem with the witch. 

The Witch. The very idea seemed to echo in the air as Kene’s grandmother did something with her resonance to channel the power that Dawn was providing and flowing through her. 

Then the array’s magic, the mix of potions and components and legacy enchantments and magical beast parts and natural treasures and a hundred thousand other little things, crashed into Kene, and their presence seemed to grow somehow. The chains of light binding the hag grew slightly, though not to the same degree that I would have expected if they’d just imbibed an entire cauldron full of Golden Soul Elixir. 

But the elixir worked from the mana garden and dripped down to strengthen the soul. This strengthened everything: mana-garden, the second layer, soul mana, and most critically for Kene, the space where the hag had burrowed into their legacy. 

The components that I was channeling my mana into began to grow warm, on the brink of overheating, but the array pulsed for a second time. Power battered against Kene again, causing their entire body to go rigid, their hands and feet spasming out of their control. 

The components started to buckle, several of them shooting sparks off into the air, and I felt my heart seize up. A third wave of power washed over them, and I held my breath, watching. Five waves would be perfect, safe, but I could live with four. It just needed to hold on for one more wave.

The first component burnt out, and the entire array started to power down. 

That wasn’t good enough. That wasn’t acceptable. 

I slammed soul mana into the array, channeling the densest and most potent energy that I possibly could, and some of the indicator lights stabilized, but the entire array was failing, and it wouldn’t work. 

The Witch’s life magic, thus far unused in the fight against the hag, surged downwards and formed a familiar golden crystal, one of Dawn’s self-harvesting crystals. I gripped it and began converting her life mana, so much more intense than my own, into death mana, and sending it into the array. 

A few of the indicator lights that had died began to flicker back online, but it wasn’t enough. 

Dusk shot into the air, joining the witch, and calling upon the power of her realm. Magic surged in, gathered from the natural death energy of everything within eighty acres of woods, deserts, and lakes. Every fallen leaf, every mushroom I’d cultivated, my blood carnations, even shed and dead hairs. Power came from all of them to patch the array together, to hold it for one last shot. 

More lights flickered on. Only two lights left dark. The array’s power began to buck and strain, warping under its own weight as it wasn’t sure if it was supposed to shut down or keep going. 

Siobhan’s magic began to flow into me as well, directed through another one of Dawn’s self-harvesting crystals and converted into something I could use. 

But what was one more third gate? It wouldn’t be enough.

The spirit of Arthur the dog, a guardian who had accepted me as its master, flickered in, its guardian dominion forcing the array to feed into Kene. He didn’t understand, not really, but he didn’t want to see me in pain, and he knew I was. 

Hannah’s power, thin and weak though it may have been, surged into me, providing a tiny bit of magic.

The enchanter’s power began to swell then, as they poured their own life into their work. 

And mana lit up from across Dusk’s entire realm, as the small folk began to donate what power they had. The village of the Fungal Folk released their power, and it was joined by the light of the pixies. That was followed by the warmth of the brownies, then the protective magic of the bwbatch. The rubyworms in the dirt, the solbees in the trees, the 

All of it was called into Dusk’s hands, and her body began to tremble, going wispy and faint, almost like Idyll’s form. 

Then she lashed out, every bit of power from every willing being, donating to their home, surging in to patch the holes in the array. It wasn’t the right type of power, so Dusk had to channel it through me, through my death mana, and into the array. It was so much, like trying to drink from a river. 

The last two lights of the array lit up. 

A fourth wave of magic rammed into Kene. 

And the world went dark.