The Last Gateway

  Kria lay sprawled on the ground where the last portal spit her up, indigo eyes screwed shut in agony. She let a scream escape her throat as her muscles reattached, her bones reconnected, and her skin knit back together. She sat up, gasping from the intense pain. Tingling replaced the screaming of her nerve endings, and she hugged herself tightly. The only comfort she would find here.

  She almost hadn’t made it back into the portal in time. That had been the worst dimension, yet, and she had still found nothing to prove the old man was wrong. Kria wiped blood from her face, wondering how much of it was hers.

  Maybe the old man was right. There was no dimension that man hadn’t completely ruined. The law officials of the last dimension had arrested her for smiling at a child. Smiling! She still hadn’t figured out why it was even a crime. Perhaps she should just let her father wipe the slate clean and start fresh.

  Then the little boy's face came to mind. He had almost smiled before his mother began shrieking in fear and anger. She didn't feel the adults were particularly worth saving, but their children were. They didn't deserve to be wiped from existence for the actions of those who came before them.

  Kria looked back to all the gateways she had traveled. If she could prove that just one world had potential, her father would fix them all. Renew the love and hope in their hearts. But she had been to thousands, and not one of those worlds held light higher than darkness.

  The young woman stood on weary legs and looked past birds frozen in flight to the only other moving thing in this realm. Sand trickled through an hourglass twice as tall as she. There wasn’t much left, and when it ran out her chance to save them all was over.

  But did she even want to try anymore? Really? She had almost died so many times, in so many worlds. Even the people in magic-rich worlds, who should have wanted for nothing, had become cruel and power-hungry. They were poisoning the minds of their children. In every world she came across, development took the form of greed and war.

  Kria looked to the last gateway. It sat on one of the smaller islands that floated around the realm and was very nondescript compared to every other door. As she stared at it, she wondered if it could be different from the others. Perhaps it was the one dimension she had been searching for all this time. 

  “Or perhaps it's the one that will finally kill me,” she mumbled. 

  Blood trickled into her eye and she realized that, either way, she needed to be clean. She used a bit of her returning energy to make the blood, dirt, and she didn't want to know what else dissolve off of her being. The lack of gore immediately made her feel better.

  Fingers outstretched, the young woman reached toward the last gateway and made a fist. Bending her arm, she pulled her hand back until it lay against her chest. The island with the door floated to the island she stood on and connected with a slight thud.

  She walked to the portal and ran her fingers over the metal and wood that formed it. There was nothing special or flashy about it. Nothing to make her think this dimension would be any better than any of the others. She read the engravings on the frame, touching each in turn.

  This world seemed to have small pockets of magic, but overall it thrived on technology. She could fend off bullets and lasers easier than magic, so that was a plus. The engravings revealed their hardships and toils, celebrations, and wars. This world had been greatly surpassed by all the others, but maybe that was a good thing. Maybe they hadn’t reached a point of no return.

  Something about the simpleness of this gateway appealed to her. The others had been shiny and jewel-strewn, begging you to enter; but this one seemed almost humble. The polished wood shone brighter than the brass it intertwined. Kria almost imagined she could smell the polish, but that was impossible here. She leaned her forehead against the frame.

  Sighing, she smiled the sad, weary smile of one much older than her years. She couldn't give up on all of those worlds, those lives, when there was only one door left, could she? No, she couldn't. 

  Kria looked to the hourglass once more. Only a few days left. That didn't give her much time. She straightened, and with a swift hand movement, changed her attire to fit in with the native people. Then she rested her hand against the frame one last time.

  “You are everyone's last hope. Please be a world that proves my father wrong.”

  She pulled her hand away and stepped back, took a steadying breath, and positioned herself in front of the portal.

  “Okay, Earth. Here I come.”

  And with that, she stepped through.