Today's post is about portal rooms. They are built deep underground, to ensure that the magicians using them are as protected as possible. There was a particular incident in Androva's history, as explained in the first book, which brought home the realisation that portals can be incredibly dangerous if not carefully managed.
Androva did go slightly overboard with rules and regulations in the time since then, and my protagonists are still doing their best to force the Androvan Council to move with the times!
I've included two excerpts, which show how much things have changed in the series. The first excerpt is from
Stealing Magic, when Shannon steps into Androva straight from her garden, having just met Jax properly. The second excerpt is from the fourth book. Andy, the brother of Shannon's friend Penny, is taken down the stairs to a Terran portal room by Penny and Jax's friend Darius.
Excerpt One
Shannon blinked. She had grabbed
Jax’s hand a split second before, taken three steps forward, and the world had
changed. Quite literally, as it would turn out. They were now in a small dark
room with lots of symbols painted in various colours on the walls, floor, and
ceiling.
She looked down and realised she
was standing on some kind of circular mat that glittered and felt slightly
rough under her feet. The air around them was shimmering gently, and as she
watched, the shimmer retreated downwards, leaving the air clear. The mat no
longer glittered and was now a plain dark green colour.
“This,” said Jax, gesturing
downwards, “is my spellstation.”
He sounded very proud of something that, to
Shannon, seemed rather ordinary.
“Green is the most powerful colour,” Jax
continued. “And it’s big enough to transport two magicians who are of age. No
other magician as young as me has managed such a feat before.”
Shannon tried to look impressed.
Jax sighed.
“I suppose you don’t know anything about it,” he said
disappointedly. “You’ll have to take my word for it then,” he concluded, with a
hint of his former smile. “You will have to trust me on matters Androvan, and I
will have to trust you on matters Terran.”
Excerpt Two
She took
Andy’s hand and started pulling him back the way they had come. Soon enough
they had arrived at the portal room stairs. Half way down the stone steps,
spiralling down and down with only faded Illumination Spells to light the way,
Andy started to resist.
“Where
exactly are you taking me?” he asked. “All that… back there. It was kind of
weird, kind of cool, but definitely… not from around here.” He looked at
Darius. “How do I know this isn’t a kidnapping and you’ve got my sister under
some kind of spell to follow your orders?”
Darius
laughed before he could stop himself. “Believe me, there is no spell on Androva
that could get Penny to follow anybody’s orders.”
Andy
narrowed his eyes for a second and then nodded slowly. There was the ghost of a
smile on his lips. “Fair point. I believe you.” Penny, behind him, gave his leg
a kick in protest. “Is that where we’re going then? Androva?”
Darius
nodded, and Andy started moving again. Quickly and efficiently, Darius opened
the portal, his Sygnus starting to spin as he entered the coordinates. He held
out his hand, and Andy looked at it suspiciously.
“Dude, I
am not holding your hand,” he said. Penny suppressed a snort of laughter
at the look on her brother’s face.
“No,” said
Darius patiently, “I need your phone. It will stop working if I don’t protect
it first.”
Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed the excerpts!
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