aletheia starborn

Previously on The Man Who Opens Worlds
She dreamed her way into a lab, into James’s pain, and into a war she didn’t choose. Now, after barely escaping with her life, she wakes under a triple moon. The portal is open. The time is now.

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I am starting to wake up. I can move my left arm. I open my eyes, and I’m watching my arm move-like I’m trying to get the feeling of my body back, like I wasn’t using it for a while.

Now I can move my right arm too, so I start moving it a little bit. I can feel my legs again and try to move those as well. I’m thinking – where am I?

Then I start remembering what happened.

I see my horse. I see my dragon. They’re standing nearby, watching me with worry in their eyes.

It’s already dark. I look up and see the triple moon-two shining bright, and the third one, usually faded, now fully lit. They’re in perfect alignment.

I know I’m almost late. I’m trying to figure out how much time I lost trying to heal from this paralysis-if it was a poison or whatever the hell that man in the lab coat gave me.

The dragon is urging me. He’s saying the time is nearly here. They’re getting ready to open the portal.

So I jump up, stand on my legs, and yell:
“Yeah, well … that’s showtime.“

I can feel I have my powers again-the moons are aligned, the veil is super thin, and I can literally feel the dimensions getting connected. I feel the power running through my body.

I wouldn’t say it’s like electricity exactly, but I feel these tingles, these little shivers all over me.

I put on my armour-I use my magic, and it just appears, the one I usually wear. I jump on the dragon.

I tell him, “We need to get back to the lab.“

As we’re flying, I can see the lab down below as we’re getting closer. The dragon asks, “How do we get in?”

And I tell him, “Well, you’ve got fire, and I’ve got magic. We’ll manage.”

He says, “You’re not thinking what I’m thinking…”
“I’m exactly thinking what you’re thinking-we’re gonna blow it up.”

As we get really close, I fire an energy ball with my hands at the wall of the facility, and the dragon breathes fire at the same time. We blow a huge hole in it.

The dragon lowers his head so I can get off. I stand up on his back, and for the dramatic effect-because obviously I love drama-I do a salto, land in a superhero pose, and pull out both my daggers.

I can see everyone inside shocked, a little panicked, trying to figure out what the heck just happened.

Then I see James.

He’s lying there with all these cables attached to him, unconscious, but I can still feel that he’s in pain-we’re still connected. And that connection is getting slightly stronger thanks to the alignment.

They managed to open the portal-I can see it. And I can feel it’s taking energy out of James. I know I have to close it immediately.

But of course, they come after me.
They start fighting me.
I fight them off, one by one.

But I can feel the time running out. It’s urgent. And I’m thinking-I don’t want to waste time fighting when I need to close the portal. I’m literally fighting while thinking, how the hell do I close this?

I have no idea how to shut it down without hurting James.

Then the dragon comes with an idea.
“Maybe we can unplug him from it. Maybe they’ll lose the connection.”

So the dragon blocks the door so no one else can get in. I manage to fight everyone off, and I get to James. I start unplugging him slowly.

But every time I unplug one cable, I can feel I’m almost losing him.

Still, I keep going. I unplug everything.

Immediately, I start healing him, but he’s so weak. The portal is still up and running.

The dragon looks at it and says he thinks it’s too late. The alignment is too strong, the power too much.

And I tell him:
“If the portal is strong, that means I’m strong. And you’re strong. We all have our powers in our hands-so we just need to find a way to use them.“

And then I see something starting to come out of the portal.

I don’t know what it is-but it’s never anything good.

I start looking around, thinking maybe there are more cables I missed-something else I need to unplug-but there’s nothing. I’m on the edge of panic, so I force myself to calm down.

I can still feel my powers running through me, and then—
I get a genius idea.

I remember.

I remember the first time in the lab, when I switched bodies with James. That’s how I felt his powers. He’s an interdimensional being. He can open and close portals.

So I think-what if I switch into his body again, and use both our powers to close the portal?

But he’s unconscious.

So I try to wake him up. He’s still really weak, kind of disoriented.

I tell him, “No time. Just trust me.”

And somehow – I switch.

I can see his hands.
These big, strong, man hands
– yes! We switched.

Now – how the hell do I use his powers?

I look at his hands again. I feel the energy in them. It’s like instinct. I just move – very intuitively – like his body knows what to do.

I walk up to the portal. The being inside is still trying to come through.

I put his hands on the edge of the portal—

And BOOM.

I can feel the energy shooting through him like a lightning bolt. It’s a massive surge of powerful magic, a pulse so strong it feels like it shakes the air.

And then-the portal closes.

James immediately faints. I snap back into my own body.

I run to him, trying to heal him as fast as I can-but we have no time. So I throw him on the dragon, hop on behind him, and we fly to safety.

We get back to the tree.
My horse is waiting. Loyal.

I manage to heal James and give him some of his energy back. And as I feel the moons shift and move out of alignment, I can feel my powers getting weaker, fading.

Just in time, I say goodbye to him.

I watch him run off on the horse, and me and the dragon return to our dimension.

And then-just like that-I’m back on my couch, reading my book.

And to be honest… I kind of miss James.
Maybe I’ll find him again in another dimension.