Written 1998. A short story written for 9th grade English class while studying Homer. The whole idea of the Wizard’s Portal was inspired by WarCraft II.
This is a tale of Odysseus after escaping from the Cyclops. Odysseus sailed up to the Northlands. After traveling for thirty days he landed on a landmass, where he took one hundred men with him to explore the new land, and to mercilessly slaughter any inhabitants.
After forty days of travel in the new land, and after much slaughter of the natives, he and his men found a cave and entered it. Moving through the cave they found a cavern with a desk and a bookshelf containing many books. Standing in the middle of it was an old man wearing many robes. The man raised his hand and pointed it at one of Odysseus’ men. Blue green fire spurted out from the man’s fingertips, striking the crewman. The crewman’s skin burnt off, and every muscle in his body was crisped, leaving only charred bones. It was clear that this man was a wizard. Odysseus then raised his sword and slew the old man. Once Odysseus had struck the man with his sword the old man’s body vanished leaving his cloaks lying on the ground.
After the encounter with the ancient man, Odysseus and his men moved on. Soon they came across an underground river. Six of Odysseus’ men attempted to walk across the bottom of it. With the water only being waist deep they successfully made it half way across, then they were suddenly sucked down to their deaths. Odysseus and his men built a bridge with the roots of a tree and crossed. One of Odysseus’ men was afraid to cross. Odysseus got angry with this man and slew him. Because of this action ten of Odysseus’ men turned against him. Odysseus slaughtered each one of them himself.
Soon Odysseus and his men exited the cave to find themselves in a small valley. Odysseus noticed a sparkling light in the center of the valley. Odysseus traveled to the strange phenomenon and his men followed. When Odysseus arrived at the object he saw that it was a giant stone with a mist of blue surrounding it. Many pillars of stone surrounded this stone.
Odysseus sent one of his men to inspect the object. The man obeyed and disappeared into the blue mist. After an hour the man emerged from the mist and reported that it must be some kind of portal. Odysseus told all of his men to go through. One by one they did. After they all had gone through Odysseus himself followed. When Odysseus emerged from the mist he found himself in a barren wasteland. He also noticed that twenty of his men were missing. He figured that they must have died while transporting through the portal. In this new world Odysseus decided to move to the north.
Odysseus and his men soon arrived in a land covered with fire. Volcanoes were everywhere. Odysseus traveled through this land. Suddenly twelve men went insane from the toxic gasses, and committed suicide. Odysseus now had only half the men he started with. Odysseus and his men moved on. A volcano erupted and lava flowed from its mouth. Odysseus and his men ran. Odysseus heard a shrill scream, looked back and saw ten of his men engulfed by the molten lava. Odysseus soon escaped the land of the volcanoes.
Odysseus and his men arrived in a grassland. Odysseus noticed hundreds of manlike green skinned creatures approaching. They were armed with swords and shields. Orcs, he thought. Odysseus told his men to attack. It was a long bloody battle. In the end Odysseus had lost half of his remaining men, leaving him with twenty. However over six hundred orcs were slaughtered.
Odysseus and his remaining men returned to the portal and entered. Two men never came out. Odysseus’ men traveled across the river, he followed.
They arrived at the wizard’s cavern. A ghost of the wizard appeared and screamed, “I am the guardian of the portal. Thou shalt not escape.” The wizard then raised his hand. Blue lighting spurted out killing ten of Odysseus’ men. Odysseus and his men ran. The wizard followed killing each one of Odysseus’ men in turn. The wizard then left, leaving Odysseus as the only survivor of the exploration of the new land.
Odysseus returned to his ship. He put the fleet on a heading to the south.