Allan McCarville - The Portal: Book 2 of the Pegasi Chronicles ()

The Portal

Book 2 of The PegasiChronicles

(Second Edition)

2020 AllanMcCarville

Published by: MacCearbhaillIndependent publishing

Stittsville,Ontario

Cover design by DrewGravelle

Copyright 2020 by AllanMcCarville

First Edition 2017

Second Edition 2020

All rightsreserved.

No part of this publicationmay be reproduced in any form, or by any means, electronic ormechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any informationbrowsing, storage, or retrieval system, without permission inwriting from the author except for discussion purposes in bookclubs and schools.

ISBN: 978-1-9990183-8-2(Print version)

This is a work of fiction.Any resemblance to actual persons is strictlycoincidental.

TABLE OFCONTENTS

Yucatan Peninsula -Nine Hundred Years Ago

Impossible! They could not justvanish! Yet, it seemed theyhad.

Robert Kingstoncarefully surveyed the empty clearing. He had just stepped throughthe interdimensional portal between the two worlds, leading thesquad of Pegasi soldiers armed with swords and crossbows, obsidiantipped quarrels already fitted and drawn. The small band wasvigilant and tense, weapons at the ready. Pursuing the Rewera,demons in human form, was extremely dangerous. They were huntingsix of them who had crossed from Pegasus to this world, a worldill-prepared to deal with the evil they posed.

ThePegasi and the Rewera were sworn enemies. The Pegasi were human,indistinguishable from the humans who inhabited the world they hadjust entered. They were servants of the Light and had been battlingthe forces of the Dark Lord since the beginning of time when therehad been a confrontation between Lighta nd Dark , between good and evil. Theforces of Light prevailed, and those who served the dark were banished fromthe realm of the light. Unlike the Rewera, however, the Pegasi werenot immortal, although their life span typically exceeded a hundredand twenty years, and their recuperative powers wereextraordinary.

After the banishment,the Dark Lord dispatched his underlings to wreak havoc throughoutthe creation of the Lord of the Light. One of those underlings wasa major demon named, Maltzar, who, along with untold numbers ofminor demons, ended up in the Pegasi world, The World of the FiveKingdoms. The minor demons existed as spirits only, lackingphysical forms, hence they needed to possess a body, either humanor animal, in order to interact with the physical world.

The Rewera used to behuman, but had their humanity ripped from them when they werepossessed by minor demons. The possession ritual changed themphysically; their ears became pointed, their facial features becameelongated, with a protruding mouth because of enlarged teeth, andtheir nose flattened.

Themost profound change, however, was that the Rewera no longerpossessed, nor were they capable of experiencing human emotionssuch as love, compassion, or kindness. They did, however, retain the humanemotion of hate, and they thrived on the pain and fear theyinflicted on their victims.

They were alsoindestructible, immortal well, almost. There were two ways todestroy them; either by decapitation or by piercing their heartwith obsidian that had been exposed to the power of a specialstone, the blue sphere. While decapitation was effective, theRewera tended to be uncooperative and were inclined to violentlyresist being beheaded. Therefore, the Pegasis preferred weapon wasthe crossbow with the special obsidian-tipped bolts.

The blue sphere was alarge blue coloured stone that according to legend was locatedsomewhere in the earth under the throne room in the palace of thePegasi king. No one knew if it was actually there, or where thestone had originated, or why it conferred the powers that it did.Somehow it imbued all Pegasi with the power to remove pain, to someothers the power to heal, and it transferred the power to destroythe Rewera to obsidian.

It could also transferto special scrolls the power to open doors between worlds. It wasone of those scrolls that Kingston had used to open a portalbetween his world and this one.

Kingston glanced at aman who held a dog on a leash and nodded tersely. Obeying theunspoken command, the man released the dog, and the animalimmediately bounded off into the trees at the edge of the clearing.Kingston listened carefully but heard no barking or growling. Aftera few minutes the dog returned and sat obediently next to hismaster.

Kingston relaxedslightly. There were no Rewera in the immediate area, but they wereout there somewhere. He turned to a man standing next to him andsaid, Okay, Thomas. Go fetch the others.

The man, Thomas,responded, Yes, my Lord, and turned to walk to the rear of thesmall group and approached an area where the air looked deformed,the shimmering bluish distortion being circular in shape, about tenmeters in diameter. He stepped into the centre of the distortionand promptly disappeared.

Thomas reappearedseveral minutes later, accompanied by more soldiers as well aswomen and children, some cattle and a few horse-drawn carts. Thelast person to step through the portal surprisedKingston.

Your Majesty, hestammered going down on one knee.

Rise, Sir Robert,commanded King Geoffrey, it is I who should kneel to you. This isa very brave deed you are undertaking.

Kingston was unsure of how he should respond to his kingspraise. Someone had to go after the six Rewera who would terrorize thisunsuspecting world; hundreds if not thousands of innocents would besacrificed to the Dark Lord.

King Geoffrey noticedKingstons discomfort and placed a hand on the mans shoulder.From this day forward, the name 'Kingston shall hold a place ofhonour in the kingdom. Henceforth, the Royal Guard shall becommanded by a member of your family.

Kingston bowedslightly, humbled by the honour being bestowed.

King Geoffrey washolding a scroll under his arm and he now passed it to Kingston.Using this scroll, he said, a portal between this world and thepalace will be opened. As you know, it can only be used once, so Idont need to tell you it should only be used as a lastresort.

Kingston nodded,understanding that what the king was really saying, was that itwould only be used if their mission failed. It was a means toinform the king that this world was still in danger.

Kingston looked aroundand observed that his entire party had now passed through theinterdimensional gate. The Pegasi who accompanied him were allvolunteers; they all knew it was a one-way journey.

The portal, thedoorway back to their world, was going to be destroyed to preventmore Rewera from crossing. It was time to go. He shook hands withKing Geoffrey and watched as the man stepped back through theportal and disappeared into the other worldtheir world.

They watched insilence as the portal vanished in a flash of blue light. They thenset off in search of the six demons, and towards an uncertainfuture.

***

Four days aftercrossing to this world, the Pegasi still had not seen any sign ofthe Rewera.

Moving slowly so asnot to appear threatening, they approached a picturesque villagenestled along a meandering river, their weapons sheathed, crossbows set at half cock. They had come across individual indigenoushumans and a few farms, and although curious about the strangers,those humans did not display any hostility towards the Pegasi. Noneof the indigenous humans they questioned indicated they had seenany creatures that resembled the Rewera.

Kingston led his partytowards a small group of men standing on the dirt road at thevillages entrance, the first permanent settlement the Pegasi hadcome across since they had crossed to this world. The unarmedvillagers regarded them curiously, but Kingston sensed no danger.He stopped a few feet in front of a man who appeared to be theleader and raised his right arm in greeting. The man smiled atKingston and nodded.