Day 42
Okay. Got the pickaxe, got some obsidian, woke up extra early to get a head start on fixing the structure. Feeling quite excited right now, because if it does work it's going to be real cool. Of course, there's also a chance that I might need leaking obsidian instead of the usual one, or that I brutally burn up trying to enter it; for the latter part, I'm going to take one of the many chickens I have to test if those flames are as harmful as they appeared to be. I thought about this distinct possibility; I don't like using animals as a bait – I would much rather not do anything to, or with, them at all – but needs come before wants. I heard chickens can sometimes live on without their heads.
Unlike humans.
Holy shit. I think it's activated.
Came back to the portal site (the magma was still burning, surprisingly, so I had to put it out), replaced the leaking obsidian (from now it's crying obsidian, since that's the actual name) with my own, then got some light on the frame. It worked – the purple flames had started rising again, only they didn't go away after reaching the top; though at the same time, they also did. It's a bit weird: the heat had slowly died down after about 20 seconds, enough for me to be able to come right up to it and not feel anything at all; the little flame forks, or whatever they're called, had receded and disappeared completely. All of that accompanied by a really strange sound - like a distorted a tidal wave crash.
All the while what used to be the body of the flame (taking up entire inner part of the portal) turned into a weird semi-transparent magenta screen, like a window (that's the closest thing I can compare it to). Its surface is constantly moving in swirling patterns and making these strange "whooshing" noises.
Right now I'm keeping myself and the chicken a fair distance away. Gonna wait a few minites, see if anything happens, and then try approaching the screen (which should be the gateway, if this is a portal and not just some elaborate magic device to have me go up in flames).
Nothing's changed for the last couple of mins – apart from the chicken getting restless – so I think I can get closer. I thought up a few things I ought to test before going through myself. Let's see how it goes.
I can still approach the frame and the screen without any problem: there's still no heat, but right now there's a very slight air current towards the portal, starting about 3 or so blocks away. Looks safe, but you can never know. Which is why I'm going to do these little tests. Test one: throwing an item (some dirt in this case) in its miniature state into the purple vortex.
Test number one results: didn't see much. The little block disappeared almost as soon as it touched the swirling surface. On to test number two: sticking a normal-sized object and seeing what happens.
Test number two results: stuff doesn't seem to disappear instantly anymore. Found a rather long stick nearly, came up to the portal and stuck it right in (I made sure I could fall back quickly if anything happened). The stick went into the thing without any hint of resistance, then started very quickly getting transparent and got much, much lighter – all in about a second. Pulling out, the weight and transparency went back to normal in an instant (I bonked myself in the knee because of that). Didn't seem to be anything wrong with it. Afterwards I stuck it in and held it there. In about three seconds it was gone. No adverse reactions, no explosions of wooden gore, etc. I think that's a good sign, but then again, I'm a little more complex than a stick. So I am sticking a chicken through and seeing what happens.
I'm going to hate this, I just know it. Test number three.
Test number three results: promising. Grabbed my chicken and stuck its head into the portal. In about a second, it started thrashing; in two, it was already getting transparent – like a ghost, got lighter by the moment and was still thrashing. Pulled it out and started looking for any side effects. Thankfully, there seemed to be none: after spinning in place for a few moments (think it was dizzy), it started running away from the portal. I caught up and, just to be sure, watched it for some time. The bird seemed to act normal – no bleeding, no puking, no signs of being in pain, no anything. After that I took it to the portal once again, and this time I held the thing until it faded out completely, without flying apart in pieces (to my delight). Despite the sour taste this entire thing had left in my mouth, I think I can conclude that living things can pass through more or less safely.
Now I just have to see if people are included among those living things. I am so going to regret this.
I am still alive! Yeah. The portal didn't turn me into gas, although I did really spend just a moment inside. First, I had to fight and overcome the fear of potentially losing a limb, then decide which limb I would hate losing the least (left arm), then took a minute braving myself, and finally got on with it. Stuck my left hand through the purple gateway.
It felt out of this world. This, and the next, and the one after it. No pain, just a sense of lightness. Like I'd been carrying a lot of weights on the arm my entire life, and one by one, they were being detached. Not to mention the weirdness of being able to see through yourself – straight through, like glass.
Unreal.
About ten or so seconds later I started feeling the same subtle weightlessness spreading up my shoulder, onto my body, and decided to cut it short there. But because my entire arm felt much lighter, I think I used too much muscle strength to move it – it went flying out – both out of portal and almost out of my socket. Ow.
Double ow because my head suddenly ended up entirely inside the freaking thing instead. It was awful. The swirls inside, coupled with instant weightlessness of my head had screwed me up bad and gave me the worst case of motion sickness ever. I tried moving my head out of there ASAP, and it's really a miracle that I had ended up with a faceful of grass on the ground instead of a broken neck. No Vomitboy this time, simply because I skipped my breakfast. Thankfully, the effects stopped instantly: by the time I was on my feet, there wasn't a hint of nausea, and all the pain I had was caused by me myself.
I got my head inside the thing and lived. Encouraged by this, I tried sticking my head in again (what a great idea!), but this time slowly. It was much more bearable that time, but I still didn't stick around too long.
So, in conclusion I'll have to say that it's probably safe, if not very pleasant, for a human to pass through.
Through to somewhere: another planet. Another dimension. Holy Oum. I could very well become an interdimensional traveler. I mean, I kind of already am, because I don't think, with how many laws of life and physics are broken here on the daily (portal being the most recent example), I am in the same dimension as Remnant. But this time I will be doing it voluntarily.
I have no idea what to expect on the other side, if there even is the other side. I probably am completely unprepared for whatever madness lies on the other end. But then again, I went to Beacon with nothing but a sword and board, some fake credentials and a dream. And made it work. For a while. If your plans are dumb and crazy, but they work, are they as dumb or as crazy anymore?
(Unofficial Arc family motto. Me and my sisters can confirm)
This other planet/other dimension/other whatever stuff? It's the same, only now I have zero expectations instead of unrealistic ones. Kind of even better, probably
Okay, enough psyching myself up for this. I went through Beacon Initiation and lived; I went through This Place's version of initiation and lived. I can walk through a freaking portal that just makes you nauseous and feather-light.
I'm excited. Let's do this.
P.S: in case this dumb idea does not work out and I do end up a wet splat on the floor somewhere on the other side: it was nice knowing you, Dear Diary.
You know what's coming next. Might take a while, but it sure is going to come.
Responding to some reviews:
hahadrillgobrr: Yes. Not in its entirety (some stuff I create on the spot, some is brought in from other worlds), but a good 60-70% is based off it.
UnableToTrulyExist: Good luck sucker, because the coords aren't the same as they are in my world ;)
