Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Posted in Science Fiction on Apr 28, 2023

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✍️ 61 stories

“Jumping” by John Jones

Submitted to Contest #196

In the vastness of time, space, and reality, unusual things sometimes happen. Call them portals to other realities or maybe a hiccup in quantum space-time or possibly a powerful being with a sense of humor decides to have some fun with us. Whatever the reason, it happened. Just ask Greg Schank. Greg Schank walked out of the car dealership with a huge grin. He had another outs...

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“Breach ” by M B

Submitted to Contest #196

Location: G.E.A.R. (General Enhancements and Advanced Research) in Reach City. Date: Present Day. Jordan Davies, the only hyena beastial at GEAR, typed the commands into the computer console and twitched his ears as he made some adjustments. He was all alone in the quiet laboratory, which was usually brimming with activity. “That should do it,” Jordan said to himself running claws through his fur, he was exhausted. “One less project to worry about,” he murmured to himself. “I swear I have a hand in every single ...

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“The Hunting Realm” by Jocelyn Nelson

Submitted to Contest #196

I snug my boot laces and check the mirror before reaching into a pot of thick mud next to my bed. It’s nearly too dry to use, so I generate the small bit of saliva I can manage and spit on it, plying the dirt with my fingers till it’s soft enough to smear across my face. That layer of grime disguising my skin could be the difference between victory against prey this morning, or coming home empty-handed from the Hunting Realm. My partner Farac pokes his covered head into the tent. His clothes are their usual motley of tans and browns with dri...

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“Perchance to dream” by Martin Hull

Submitted to Contest #196

One I stood at the low, wrought iron gate and stared at the house. Just another featureless three bed semi in a quiet suburban street. A house like many others, it’s anonymity spoiled on this night by the light and sound spilling over from it, escaping through the windows, seeping through the cracks around the edges of the door. Raucous music, a hubbub of intermingled voices, the sound of people enjoying themselves, the sounds of life. In that moment my nerve almost broke - I would have turned and fled but it was too late, the door had opene...

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“Mirror Mirror” by Rain Dyer

Submitted to Contest #196

Henry had never liked seeing reflections. Ever since he was young, and he thought of himself as old even though he was still a scrawny, nine-year-old boy, he would avoid looking directly into puddles, large glass windows, and, especially, mirrors. Whether it was his own image staring back at him, copying his movements just a hair behind when he thought they should have, or someone else moving next to their doppelganger. He simply did not like them. He never told anyone of his aversion. It didn’t seem to him something you brought up wi...

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“The Door” by Kathleen Shapona

Submitted to Contest #196

What if you could go back in time and make different choices? Would you do it? Change that perfect life you thought you would have but didn’t by the choices you did make? As the saying goes, be careful what you wish for.Elle Mackenzie spent more time regretting the choices she made in her past than making new choices to change the path she set herself on. Always an excuse as to why she couldn’t. Her continuous mantra was, ‘If only I made a different choice and went to college.’ She was unhappy in her job as an office assistant and was told s...

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“The tree hollow” by Bruce Callahan

Submitted to Contest #196

Kenny King covered his ears with both hands, squeezing hard, trying to block out the noise. It wasn’t working. Raised voices seeped through, dishes being broken, threats exchanged. He grabbed his pillow with the Spiderman pillowcase burying his head, covered in a thick shock of ginger hair, like a tortoise trying to find protection in its hard carapace. Stop, stop fighting! he screamed into the matching Spiderman comforter. He knew they wouldn’t. It was a wishful mindset. More times than not, the flashing l...

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“Where Four Remain” by Cassandra Fan

Submitted to Contest #196

Nearly four minutes ago the last deserter left through the gateway. The last sight that they would have seen before escaping to the other side was the field. A barren, open stretch of wilting grass, a muddy hue of sepia and faded brown. Those further ahead perhaps would have looked back as they faded into the spiraling neon blue abyss, a final glimpse at the long line of their kin, patiently waiting their turn, stretching to the horizon. Strangers and family alike, they all sought a common goal: escapism. Long ago, the land served as an airp...

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“Fresh Frontier” by William Simon

Submitted to Contest #196

“BRACE FOR IMPACT!!” hollered Lieutenant Blaze. The ship shook violently as several consoles inexplicably exploded; their unfortunate operators sent tumbling across the deck dramatically. The air smelt of burning chemicals and the blaring of alarms made it hard to hear what was being said unless it was shouted. “WHAT ARE YOUR ORDERS COMMANDER?! SHIELDS ARE AT JUST 40%. WE CAN’T HOLD OUT MUCH LONGER.” Commander Nova Apollo-Jones, Supreme Admiral of the 7th Solar Fleet, hero of the United Alliance of Civilized Planets, saviour of the pr...

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“I Am Metamorphic” by Shawn Wier

Submitted to Contest #196

CW: Depression, parental abandonment, discussion of suicidal ideation I've been falling for hours. Depictions in movies and TV gave me–and I'm sure many others–the expectation of bright, fluid lights and uncanny imagery like fish with legs or quadrupedal people; they were wrong. There is nothing but darkness. The absence of light is so omnipotent that I had to check that I'd actually opened my eyes by touching my face and feeling that there were two distinct lash lines. Without visual cues, the only indicator I have of my orientation i...

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“Bloom (1871)” by Omar B

Submitted to Contest #196

Art StudentsMr. Bloom ventures to the Museum of Modern Art this afternoon. The line to get in is long and reaches all the way outside where it’s drizzling a little and the rain makes New York City even more grey and inhospitable. Mr. Bloom imagines being inside, the moment he’ll check his navy-blue trench coat, take his little number, and then go buy himself a bottle of water so that he can stay hydrated. In front of him is a group of talkative students dressed in black with A3 sketchpads under their arms and elegant watches on their thin wr...

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“What We Leave Behind” by C.C. Hills

Submitted to Contest #196

Another planet is dying before my eyes, and I feel nothing. The crust breaks open and peels away, revealing flashes of its fiery flesh. It glows like embers in a dying fire, stirred up by a breeze – only to be snuffed out by the thick clouds of the Swarm. The higher we ascend, the more of it is revealed. The Swarm sits attached to Wrenix Four like a cancer; eating, converting, proliferating. A slow, billowing mass, like a mad sculptor’s creation, its tendrils wrapped around its prey like a titanic amoeba, gleaming a silver white in the s...

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“A Kingdom’s Expansion” by Alex Fischer

Submitted to Contest #196

“Dimensional walls have been breached.” “Commence event horizon expansion.” “Deploying Warp Grips.” Dark, cold, and quiet save for a low hum; a laboratory staffed by no more than twenty scientists and engineers surround a centrifugal monolith of a machine where a tear in the fabric of reality lies in the middle, held open by robotic pincers and shielded by a thick glass cylinder. “Has His Majesty been informed yet?” wonders a young researcher. “Word has been sent out.” Reported another, older researcher. “His Majesty should be—” The labora...

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“The Portal Cartographer” by Julia Corliss

Submitted to Contest #196

Lydiana found herself walking along a seashore familiar and restful though she had never been here before that she could remember. The last thing she remembered was exploring in a dusty curio shop tucked away in a back alley in a part of town she had previously avoided. She had been looking at old photographic images of a scene. These predated the usual contemporary holographic images of places. The scene she was most captured by was of a seaside, clearly far from her inland desert community where she lived and worked.She was sure she had ne...

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“Sentinel Island” by Joe Smallwood

Submitted to Contest #196

A single act of violence. Imaginary destruction.“Do you want the job or not?”Such a question always had only one answer. Funny how that goes, you think you have choices in life, but how often is that really the case? He’s got me where he wants me.“Of course,” I coughed, clearing my throat. Such dim lighting in this room, I’m thinking. Perfect for diodes and lights, monitors, and readouts. No one else is paying attention, all hunched over their consoles. Hardly right that. I knew what they were thinking.He’s in the hallway, my chief tormentor...

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Write a story involving a portal into a parallel universe.

Submissions are closed

✍️ 61 stories

“Jumping” by John Jones

“Breach ” by M B

“The Hunting Realm” by Jocelyn Nelson

“Perchance to dream” by Martin Hull

“Mirror Mirror” by Rain Dyer

“The Door” by Kathleen Shapona

“The tree hollow” by Bruce Callahan

“Where Four Remain” by Cassandra Fan

“Fresh Frontier” by William Simon

“I Am Metamorphic” by Shawn Wier

“Bloom (1871)” by Omar B

“What We Leave Behind” by C.C. Hills

“A Kingdom’s Expansion” by Alex Fischer

“The Portal Cartographer” by Julia Corliss

“Sentinel Island” by Joe Smallwood

🌟 Similar prompts

Write about a character unknowingly experiencing a “sliding doors” moment. Write your story in two halves; what could have been, and what actually happened.

Write a story that includes the phrase “Maybe in another life.”

You’re walking down the street, when you spot a familiar figure. It’s another you. And they’ve come from an alternate reality to warn you about something.

Set your story in a world where time travel has been perfected, and people can use it to hop between alternate timelines — but at a cost.

Contest #196

Enter our weekly contest!

$250

Prize money

279

Contest entries

149

Stories

Win $250 in our short story competition 🏆

Explore more writing prompt ideas: