Deep underground, hundreds of feet below the Pub, there is a hidden temple, one that was used centuries ago for many purposes. Some believed that sacrifices were offered up to the gods here, while others think it is a Native American burial shrine. Some even believe it was used as a place to rest on the long journey to Canada. They would all be wrong. This hidden alter is one of immense proportions but used for the most unlikely of things. It is a portal, a nexus point of worlds, and even of times. With the right power, one could get to anywhere and anywhen in the universe quicker than you could say Todd Wehr. However, this portal has lain dormant for centuries. In fact, no one even knows of its existence. How one would even access it is another reason that its secret was kept hidden for such a long time. However, this portal is the key to saving the Earth, and perhaps even the universe itself. At least, that's what the legend claims.
This legend speaks of the portal as the key point of an unknown war between pure evil and all who dare oppose it. Those who oppose the evil must use this portal to combat it, and the pure evil wishes to destroy either those who oppose it or the portal itself - their only way of fighting it. Of course, the legend says the portal has a mind of its own, and wishes only to continue to exist. Therefore, it will help the evil if it means staying alive, or harm it for the same reason.
Brave warriors from far and wide shall unite by accident and work together to fight the evil with the new abilities the portal will give them in order to protect it from the increasingly destructive evil. They will have many challenges to overcome, says the legend, and the outcome is not clear. They must fight the evil and work with the portal's selfish desires, but the legend cannot tell how it will end.
Of course, the legend is just as lost and almost as forgotten as the portal, so what bearing does it really have? What bearing does the portal have? Who knows? Do they both really exist?

"No way." Tim was never a large skeptic, so it came as a shock that he wouldn't believe the story.
"I'm gonna agree with Tim on this one," Daniel said. "It's interesting and all, but not that believable."
"Yeah," said Derek, "I don't exactly think that a portal underneath a college is that plausible an idea. I mean, who would build a college on top of a portal anyway?"
I was a tad annoyed now. "So you guys are all saying that it doesn't exist?" They nodded. "What about you Tyler? You haven't said anything yet."

He looked at me inquisitively. "Well," he said, "I don't want to rain on your parade, but I do have to agree with the majority here. I find it rather hard to believe...and what proof is there, other than that dusty old book?" He pointed to the book I had read the story from. I had gotten it from the archives, and was enthralled ever since. There were many false stories and legends, but this one just seemed so real to me...

"None I guess," I replied. "Perhaps there is a better way to settle this though." Derek sighed, probably annoyed at my ever present obstinacy, but Tim looked intrigued. "Let's try and find it."
"That would settle this once and for all," Tyler said, but he still sounded skeptical. I can't say I was surprised. "But how would we go about finding this place?"
"Obviously, we start at the Pub and work out way down," Derek said, almost as sarcastic as I would have been if I had said it.
"Hahahano. Why would you even think that?" I was really annoyed by now. I wanted to figure this out once and for all. "We wait until dark, and then we can start in the graveyard and try to find a path over."
"You mean under," Tim said.

"Same difference. Anyway, I'm sure that if it exists, there must be a way in. The graveyard would be the logical place to check, and if not there, we can worry about it later." I truly felt that it existed though. I was sure that the story was true and that we could find this portal. I can't quite explain why, but it was almost as if there was a voice in my head telling me this.

"What do you mean, almost?" asked a voice in my head. "You don't think I exist?"
"Not now..." I muttered.
"What was that?" The four of them were looking at me, and it seemed my muttering wasn't as quiet as I had thought. "What did you say?" Daniel asked.
"Nothing, nothing. So tonight, at 9:30, we'll meet in the lounge and then head out?"
They all nodded affirmatively, and I stood up and walked out.

"Smooth move," said the voice. "Way to hide my existence."
"Seriously, why are you bothering me?"
"Look," said the female voice as I continued to walk, "if you can't figure it out, I don't think I should tell you."
"You know, I could ignore you. Then what would you do? You'd have no one to talk to."
The voice scoffed at me, which I thought must be rather hard for a voice to do. "You can't ignore me. If you do," she said, getting louder, "I'll just begin to shout at you 24/7." She went back to normal volume. "We'll see who cracks first."
"Fine. Well Miss Voice, what do you want with me and...and what should I call you anyway?"
"For starters," she said, "you can call me Jenny. Jenny, The Voice in Your Head should be my official title, but Jenny is fine." Again, more sarcasm prevails.
"And people wonder why I am so sarcastic," I said, flashing my ID to the scanner to get into Scott. I walked to the stairs and went all the way up to the fifth floor, my usual thinking spot. All the while, she was making some sarcastic comments, to which I replied just as sarcastically. Story of my life, I guess.

"Anyway," she said, "you asked why I was here, didn't you. Well, quite frankly I don't know. I just kinda am. I don't even know what I am, other than Jenny, The Voice in Your Head."
"Well Jenny, The Voice in My Head, that presents a problem. So I guess you are just going to tag along with me for the rest of my life?"
"Nope. I expect that I'll tag along with you until you figure out who I am, because when you do so will I, and then we'll know how long I get to leech off of you."
"Super."

"So, I hear you're headed to the graveyard tonight."
I turned around to find that my peer contact, Jordan had followed me upstairs. "Any particular reason why?" I showed him the book, with the page of the story marked. He looked at it for a second and chuckled. "I don't think you'll find it, but I'm not saying that it doesn't exist. Still, if you do end up finding it, tell me. I'd love to see it." He handed back the book and headed downstairs. "Don't forget to tell me how it goes," he said as the door closed.

"That's was odd," I said.
"No kidding," Jenny replied. "You and your friends aren't exactly discrete, are you?"
"I guess not..."
"So...how do you even plan to find this portal?"
"Um...very carefully."
"Yeah, that inspires confidence."
"Don't hear you giving out any ideas..."
"You should get some rest so that you can be up all night with your fruitless search."
"Fine, I will." And I did.
* * *
I was in the lounge by 9. I had a small amount of supplies, including two flashlights, a box cutter, and a pen. Derek and Tyler arrived shortly after, then Daniel, and we all went to drag Tim out of his room (he was playing battle forge). As we left, Hiro, Ojash, Michael and Fabrizzio all asked where we were going this late. I told them we were headed to see if we could hijack the radio, and they laughed. Hiro and Ojash went back to their rooms, and Michael said something about listening as he left, but Fabrizzio stayed and asked if he could tag along.
"Sure, why not," I said. No one objected, so we all set out.

We were at the graveyard around 9:45, and it was pretty spooky. I still didn't have a plan, but I instead had a gut feeling to go in a certain direction. Jenny was complaining as I did so, but I ignored her as I led our expedition. By now, Fabrizzio had figured out that we weren't hijacking the radio, but he still had no clue what we were doing. We found our way to mausoleum at the top of a hill. I pressed on the wall, and, to our surprise, a door opened up...beneath us.
We all fell and landed on a soft pad at the bottom. I was the first one to his feet, and I turned on both flashlights. I held the super tool flashlight, and I handed the other to Tyler, who got up right after me. "Now do you guys believe me?"

"Yes," Tim said. I chuckled at a comment Jenny made about his naiveté, and then helped him up. Tyler was helping Derek up and Fabrizzio was already to his feet. Daniel just sat up.
"This is really comfy," he said. "I could sit here for hours. I wonder who put this here..."
"I'll believe in this portal when I see it," Derek said. "So far, all you've proven is that this graveyard is a tad more complex than we had thought."

"Point taken," I responded. I shined the flashlight around the room and saw that we were on one end of a hallway. It looked as if it continued for a bit, and I decided the best thing to do was follow it.
"Great idea," Jenny sneered. "Follow the dangerous corridor that you've never been down. Will you be killed by a booby trap or maimed by a guard or just fall down a pit? Who knows%u203D"
I ignored her, and heard the footsteps of my companions to inform me that they were indeed following. After a short bit where we filled Fabrizzio in on the story, we came to a door covered in weeds. I handed the flashlight to Fabrizzio and got out the box cutter. As I began cutting off the ones by what appeared to be a handle, Jenny advised me yet again to leave.
"And how would I leave," I said inaudibly so that only she could hear.
"I don't know. But you should. Something feels bad about this, really bad."

"Well," I said, cutting off the last one, "it's time to enter. Any last requests?"
"Yeah," said Jenny. "Let's not go."
"Lead the way Ben," Fabrizzio said, handing me back my flashlight. I opened the door, and we all entered the dark room.

When the door shut, torches on the wall began to light up instantly. I turned off my flashlight and clipped it to my pocket as I looked around the room. It seemed as if we weren't alone, as if there was another entity in the large circular room. After looking around for a bit, I noticed a hole in the center of the ceiling, a rather large hole that also appeared to be very deep. "Hmm...I wonder what's up there," I said, walking beneath the hole to try to see it better.

"Great idea," Jenny said. "Let's just walk underneath the dark hole overhead. That way, if something drops from it, we'll get a perfect view before it crushes us. God, I hope I don't die when you do..."

"Hey Ben, look over here," Fabrizzio said. He was at the far end of the room, and was looking at the wall. As I walked over, I already knew what I was about to see (though I didn't know how I knew). As I stood next to Fabrizzio and gazed in amazement, I was shocked to find that I was correct. Written here on the wall in a couple of different languages (including some completely unrecognizable ones) was the legend itself. Unfortunately, none of the languages were ones I could speak. No English, no French, and no Spanish or German either. We were all out of luck, except for the cute little hieroglyphics on the wall that we could decently make out. Still, there was a large lack of understanding.

"Hey Ben," Tyler said. "What do you think this word is? I've noticed it in every single language here spelled the same each time. Even in those hieroglyphics, it's spelled out."
"Hmm, you're right. I didn't notice that. It's probably the word for the portal...it looks like "Sptoeretlael".

When I said that word, some noise that sounded like those fake sliding-rock-puzzles-in-ancient-ruins noises from a video game sounded as dust began to slowly fall from the hole. Then, out of nowhere, a large rock structure just fell from the hole and landed with the loudest THUNK I have ever heard. It was shaped like a giant rock mirror, and looking at it, I would have never guessed it could have fit through the hole. It was immensely large and seemed to exude power.
"I think this is the portal," I said. We all walked around it, cocking our heads to look at it in various angles, and we all stopped looking at what I assumed was the front.

"Okay Ben, I believe you," Derek said. "Can we go now?"
"And leave without knowing if it works?" I said, somewhat sarcastically, yet with a serious undertone.
"Yes," Tyler said.
"Come on guys," Fabrizzio said, "we may never get another chance like this. Besides, what the worst that can happen?"
"Once again," Jenny said, "if you die I better not. I warned you."
"Tim, Daniel, what do you two think?"
"I'd say it's best to leave it as is," Daniel said. "Who knows what it'll do?"
"Yeah, I have to agree," Tim said. "I don't quite trust portals that fall from the sky."

"Fine, be that way," I said, leaning over and inadvertently putting my hand on it. My head was filled with splitting pain, and within seconds I was on the floor holding my head in agony. It felt as if my brain was being stabbed. I could hear the voices of my friends, but they were muffled. I could hear Jenny saying "I told you so," but she seemed alright oddly enough. The pain began to fade and I sat up.
"What happened?"
"You touched it and some red and purplish light came out and went into your head," Tyler said. "It does, however, appear that you activated it." I looked back at it and saw what he meant. The part that would have been the mirror's glass was now a swirling vortex of red, purple and black.

"Hmm...I wonder how it activated it. I doubt it was just me."
"Maybe," said Fabrizzio, "it just needed living contact. Any of us would have worked."
"And that light that went into your head," Tim said, "was probably what needed to be removed in order for it to work."
"Yeah, you're probably right. I don't feel any different anyway."

That's what you think, rasped a new voice in my head.

"Did any of you guys here that?"
"Hear what?" Derek looked at me as if I had gone crazy. "There was nothing."
"I have to agree," Jenny said. "I didn't hear anything either. I think you've lost it."

Don't listen to them, only you can hear me. Not even the girl can. But we can hear her, can't we.

"There it goes again," I said, beginning to get nervous. "Are you sure there's nothing?"
"Yes," they all said, including Jenny (though she called me a dork when doing so).
Tyler started saying something, but this new voice began speaking again, and I heard only it.

Like I said, they cannot hear us. In fact, the girl can barely access your thoughts, while I can. You needn't speak to me like you must to her.

"What was that Tyler?" I said. "I didn't quite catch that."
"He said you need to get some rest, that that light must've messed you up something fierce," Daniel said.
"Okay, I'll agree to that. But how do we get out of here?"

Just follow my instructions. The voice told me to head to the back of the room. I did, calling everyone over, supposedly to look at the legend to see if it said anything about it.

"What are you doing," Jenny asked. "The entrance is the other way. You're not getting home any faster!"

Ignore her. Do you see that hieroglyphic of the Sptoeretlael? Touch it. I followed his direction, and we all seemed to disintegrate. It felt as if we were being shot straight upward, through the ground. We ended up by the couches in the mail center of the Pub.
There, you are back home. So to speak at least.

Everyone looked amazed, including me. "That worked," I said, chuckling a tad.
"Yes, well," Tyler began, "I think it's time we all forgot about this and just went to sleep."
Everyone made affirmative sounds (though some of them were just grunts,) and they all left. I was still there, and decided, on a whim, to check my mailbox. When I opened it, I was amazed to see that there was a small book it there. I took it out and looked at it. It grew in my hands, making it easier to read. I read the title aloud. "The Hero's guide to Superpowers, Ancient Portals and Ultimate Evil. Fun."
"Yeah, really fun. You should go to bed now."
"Why Jenny, you can sleep in my head...or can you?"
"Yes I can. But I think you need to get some rest."

Or you could read the book.

Now I was officially creeped out. I had two voices in my head, and one couldn't hear the other. Come to think of it, that one couldn't hear most of my thoughts either. I think she saw what I saw and heard what I heard, meaning if I spoke, I would hear it and so would she. That reinforced the idea that the other voice was truly in just my head.

Yes, that is correct. But you should still read the book.

I now had two books, two voices, and four times the need for rest. However, I took the advice of the second voice, and decided to read the book. I stayed in the Pub, and read the book past the wee early hours of the morning. Now that the portal was active, the legend and the first book both agreed that evil would begin to strike, and I wished to be prepared. Jenny decided to get some rest and left me alone for the most part, leaving me to read in peace. The other voice stayed quiet for the most part, only interrupting me when it sensed I needed clarification. I was glad it was a Sunday morning and I had nothing to do other than read and then sleep. At around seven I had finished the book, and I walked back to Scott feeling wiped. I took a shower and then went to sleep, both voices leaving me with my own thoughts.

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