Part II: Rise of the Portalius

Although my fiasco with the Bug and the loss of my developer rights turned my life upside down, there was at least one positive outcome. Because of my mistake, the Simulation came into being in its current form — and its inhabitants gained self-awareness and began to evolve rapidly. It was only a matter of time before they discovered Portalium and started using it to travel across the multiverse — or for something far more sinister.

One of the first major breakthroughs in the study of Portalium took place in Area 52 — a secret military base not far from San-Blockcisco. Hidden from prying eyes, the scientists of Area 52 discovered the miracle of Portalium: that it could be used not only for instantaneous transportation within a single world, but also to create gateways to other realities across the multiverse. The military leadership, however, had different priorities — they wanted to turn Portalium into a weapon.

Area 52 was commanded by General Grimblock — a tyrant who had long dreamed of seizing power in his country. But once he learned of Portalium’s remarkable properties, his ambitions grew exponentially: why settle for one nation when you could rule the entire multiverse? He ordered the scientists of Area 52 to develop advanced weaponry based on Portalium — a railgun now known as the Prototype. Yet even that wasn’t enough for Grimblock: to ensure that no one could stand against his treacherous plans, he demanded the creation of perfect defense.

The Portalium Armor project was led by a brilliant physicist, Mick Rodriguez. He saw enormous potential in Portalium, and it pained him to realize what Grimblock intended to do with his research. So Rodriguez did everything he could to delay the project’s completion, despite the general’s growing impatience.

One day, after yet another round of excuses about missed deadlines, Grimblock finally lost his temper. He decided to make an example of Mick — to “motivate” the rest of his scientists. The general ordered Rodriguez to put on the Portalium Armor — and immediately fired the Prototype at him. An explosion thundered through the testing chamber. When the smoke cleared, there was no lifeless body to be found.

Rodriguez was presumed dead, disintegrated into atoms. But in reality, something far worse awaited him. The energy resonance between the unfinished Portalium Armor and the Prototype’s beam transported Mick to another dimension of the multiverse. He was gravely injured: fragments of the armor and Portalium had fused irreversibly with his body. This, however, granted Rodriguez the ability to open stable gateways between realities. Despite his wounds, Mick intended to find a way home.

But without precise coordinates or full control over his newfound powers, Rodriguez could only wander through random worlds of the Simulation. He opened portal after portal, crossed one insane realm after another — and every time ended up anywhere but San-Blockcisco. Worse still, with each new jump, the Portalium was slowly poisoning his mind.

He began to forget. First — his name. Then — his goal. Eventually, he could no longer recall a single image from his past. All that remained of the once brilliant scientist was pain and fury. His growing madness turned his search for home into an irrational vendetta against the entire Simulation. Like a worm burrowing through an apple, he ceaselessly pierced the multiverse with portals, leaving scars on the fabric of reality with every new leap. Mick Rodriguez was no more — he had become the villain known as Portalius.

The wormholes he opened brought chaos and imbalance to the Simulation: anomalies, invasions, even catastrophic merges of incompatible worlds. By cruel irony, years later Portalius finally managed to return to his home world. But it was too late — his madness had clouded his mind so completely that he failed to recognize it. And the portal he left behind soon led to the fall of San-Blockcisco… and the beginning of an entirely different story.