Chương 125: Book 3 Chapter 3 - That's Not Possible

Dustin had hired estate staff during the week he and Zoey spent in Portish, and the new estate there should be ready to receive her when she arrived. That being said, the staff didn't really know what she looked like, so they would be expecting Dustin to arrive with her. Dustin wanted to spend at least a week here in Easton first, helping train up Ron and Gentry to run things at the Easton estate. They were slowly getting comfortable in their leadership roles, but it was obvious they still needed some guidance.

The stubs of Kiara's two missing fingers were mostly healed two weeks after her duel, and she was getting used to the slightly different grip required to wield her sword effectively in that hand. Her overhand strikes lacked some of the power they would normally have, but she adjusted accordingly, leaning more into the piercing thrusts instead. Handel had left for the kingdom capital to attend the annual sword tournament there, so Kiara was mostly practicing on her own these days.

By the time he'd left, her skill level had improved to where she won about half of their spars. Handel himself had improved as well, thanks to their regular sparring, and had expressed high hopes to place higher than third in the tournament this year. Two weeks after her duel with Kane, they decided it was time to return to Portish. The estate there had been running for a week in their absence, and Dustin needed to check in.

Before they left, Kiara commandeered a small room at the Easton estate, intending to house one of the warp gates in it. She had Dustin commission new locks to be placed on the door, to which only she and Dustin would have a key. He didn't know why she wanted it done, as she hadn't told anyone about the warp gates yet, but he got the new locks installed anyway.

Once the new locks were in place, she went into the small room by herself, then pulled a warp gate from her soul space, positioning it near one of the side walls. She made sure that it was turned on so that it was connected to the warp network, then left the room, locking the door behind her. She gave Ron and Gentry strict instructions that for the time being, no one was allowed in that room, even though only she and Dustin had a key to get in. They simply nodded in understanding, wishing her well on her trip.

Kiara and Zoey once again pulled Dustin to Portish in the stripped down carriage they had set aside for that purpose. They skirted to the north of the city walls when they arrived, rather than entering the city proper, and made their way to their new estate. The estate had a wall of its own, sectioning it off from the neighboring estates, and a few guards welcomed them at the gate. Dustin introduced them all to Kiara, and they made their way inside.

The grounds were spacious, but hadn't seen the care they deserved over the past few years while it was vacant. Dustin had estate staff working on improving it, and he said it was already much better than when they'd purchased it, even after just a couple of weeks. Large trees could be seen off to one side of the long drive, forming a sort of private grove. Orchards of fruit trees lay on the other side, and a stream wound its way through the rear of the property, amongst lush, rolling green hills.

Even in its natural, unkempt state, it was quite a beautiful property. The estate buildings included the main house, three guest houses, each large enough to fit a few families comfortably, a barracks for a sizable guard unit, and a small indoor training yard where the guards could train even if the weather was bad. They made their way inside the main house, where Dustin once again introduced all of the servants they met to Kiara.

They all bowed politely, avoiding eye contact, and she was reminded of the early days at the estate in Easton, where it had been much the same way. Hopefully the staff here acclimated quickly to feeling a bit more comfortable around her. Dinner was good, but it made her miss Helga's cooking. The servants were all perfectly polite and courteous, but it made her miss the familiarity she had with everyone back in Easton. Dustin, seeing her melancholy state, patted her arm reassuringly.

"Give it time," he said softly. She nodded in response. She knew that's what was needed, but the interim waiting period felt so awkward and stiff. Luckily, she had a way to go back to Easton whenever she needed. After dinner, she told Dustin that she needed a similar room at this estate to be set aside for private use, where only she and Dustin would have a key. He asked what it was for this time, but she just smiled slyly and told him she would show him once the room was ready.

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. The very next day, workers showed up to change out the locks. Once the room was ready, she pulled both Dustin and Zoey inside, locking the door behind them. She locked eyes with each of them.

"Okay, nothing that you see here can leave this room." They both pulled back in surprise at her serious tone.

"What do you mean?" Dustin asked, looking around.

"There's nothing in here." Zoey looked around as well, but the small room was essentially bare. A small desk and chair sat in one corner, but there were no rugs on the floor, no art on the walls, and nothing of particular importance in sight. Kiara stepped over to one of the side walls, and pulled a warp gate from her soul space.

Pulling the item from her soul space gave her an intuitive understanding of where it would end up, giving her some amount of control over how it manifested in this dimension as it left the pocket dimension that made up her soul space. Once the gate was in place, she glanced at the other two. They stared at it with curiosity, but clearly didn't understand the significance of it yet. Dustin scratched the back of his head.

"Uh, it's a nice arch, I guess. But why the secrecy? Where did it come from?" Zoey stepped closer, gently touching the intricate runes carved into the metal of the arch.

"Is this… an artifact of some kind?" Her voice carried an almost reverent tone, indicating that she knew high-quality rune work when she saw it. She turned to face Kiara.

"What does it do?" Kiara turned the knob to connect it to the warp network, and the gate hummed to life. The sudden appearance of the blue portal, combined with the soft hum of energy coursing through it, were enough to startle both Dustin and Zoey. Zoey, who was closer, jumped back slightly as it flared to life, her eyes going wide. Dustin stepped closer, inspecting the archway. He looked to Kiara for answers.

"What is it?"

"It's a warp gate. I placed another one in the estate in Easton." Zoey scrunched her face.

"A warp gate? I've never heard of such a thing." Kiara nodded.

"It allows you to warp to any other gate that it's connected to. Long range teleportation, of a sort." Zoey stared at her.

"That… that's not possible, Shian." Kiara shrugged and gestured to the gate with one hand.

"And yet, here it is. That's why I said that nothing you see here can leave this room. People would kill for this technology. I think that kingdoms would go to war over it." Dustin nodded slowly, processing the information. His head cocked to the side as he stared at the warp gate.

"How does it work?"

"The details?" Kiara said with a shrug.

"No idea. But the operation is fairly simple. If you touch the blue portal, you can warp to the other gate in Easton. It's as simple as that." Both of them seemed hesitant to try, so Kiara took the initiative, reaching her hand out to the portal. She was immediately given the option to warp to the gate in Easton, which she did. She counted to ten, but when neither of them followed her through, she touched the portal again to warp back to Portish.

As she made contact, she was immediately made aware of the two landing platforms on either side of the portal in Portish. The rest of the room was dark to her senses, but she could see the platforms themselves, along with both Dustin and Zoey, who were standing on one of the platforms. They were staring at the portal, and she could see their lips moving, but couldn't hear any sound. Dustin shook his head, and took a step backward off the platform, immediately fading from Kiara's senses.

Zoey looked at the portal hesitantly, but still didn't make a move to touch it. Kiara warped to the platform on the other side of the portal to avoid startling Zoey as she appeared, then stepped out from behind. Zoey let out a little yelp, and Dustin jumped slightly at her appearance. Kiara smiled at them both.

"It's harmless. You should both give it a try, I want to see how it works for other people." Dustin stepped forward again, emboldened by Kiara's return, and gingerly touched the shimmering blue portal. He gasped, and he pulled his hand away after a moment.

"I- I can see the other side. It's like… like I'm already there, I just have to wish for it to be true and I can tell it'll pull me through." Kiara nodded.

"One word of caution: the trip is a little bit jarring, and you might arrive slightly disoriented, but it passes after a few seconds. Even now, it still affects me, but I've grown accustomed to it at this point." Dustin nodded his acknowledgment of her warning, then reached his hand back out to the portal. A second later, he vanished. Watching it happen to someone else was fascinating.

Kiara's own experience of feeling like she was being squished infinitesimally small was reinforced by the sight of Dustin's body being squished down onto itself until he was a tiny speck hovering in the air, which then plunged into the center of the blue portal and disappeared. It all happened in the blink of an eye, but Kiara caught a glimpse of it. The portal let out a tiny bloop sound as it pulled Dustin through, almost like someone had dropped a small pebble into a pond.

Zoey went next, taking a moment to hype herself up, clearly still very nervous about what might happen. She eventually built up the courage to touch the portal, and a moment later she too was whisked away to the other side. Kiara clapped to herself, giddy that someone else could experience this with her. Then she warped to the other side as well to see how they were doing. Dustin had already recovered, but Zoey was still hunched over when Kiara warped through, still trying to adjust to the sensation.

Dustin was looking around in awe, verifying that they were, in fact, back in the small room in the estate in Easton.