Portal

The meteor accelerated in its magnetic paths as the darkness descended more and more upon the fields. It is at this time that those who are the few sensed the distinct vibrations of the springs connecting the worlds. The greatest of them felt it first, as the visualization formed in their minds. The lesser ones could hear a faint echo only, slight swirls in the wind.

She knew that the connections become manifest only when the pathways between worlds opened. You could not know with certainty where a portal would appear, and they were all transient, lasting only fractions of a second. Only the greatest of the few managed to pass through them, and even then only mostly by chance, or perhaps destiny. Of those that made it back, tales were told by word of mouth, for it was forbidden to commit such things to writing. The most recent known passage happened 2500 years ago, somewhere in the area of Stonehenge in what is now modern Britain. The one who came back through then traveled to the Aegean islands, and started the Greek civilization, which in turn fed the Romans and created the known society. Tales have been retold of previous passages too, one in 5000 BCE, and humanity discovered the art of cultivating their fields shortly thereafter. Whispered were the stories of those who entered and never returned, for this was by far the most common outcome.

And so, when a portal illuminating an intense light of the other world materialized in the basement of her house near the woods, she laughed it off as a humorous dream. But as the minutes passed by, and she felt its energy enter the very core of her neural pathways, the reality started to descend upon her. Questions entered her mind at a chaotic pace, stumbling over each other and creating an entangled confusion. Is this the first non transient portal in human history? Why? Why now? Why here? Why her? And perhaps the most curious question of all, how will this night end for her, if it ever will?