In the Portal Hallway

"Guys! C'mon C'mon! We gotta g-oh!"

The blond tripped upon the threshold of the portal and fell, sliding a little as his momentum carried him forward, his shouts abruptly cut off."

"Lukas! Are you okay!?" A brunette ran through this time, sword in hand in a ready fighting stance as he emerged. A girl and another man, this one older than the rest, ran through as well, weapons and potions at the ready.

The only response they got from the blond was weak grumble as he peeled himself of the ground.

The brunette chuckled and put away his sword, "You good Lukas?" Lukas looked up and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, just took a little tumble after falling out of the portal. How 'bout you Jesse?" He shrugged and said a quick 'fine' before turning to his friends.

"How about you? Petra? Ivor?"

The redhead, Petra, coughed out the smoke that still seemed to reside in her lungs, "Smokey, but otherwise okay."

The older man scowled, "Physically, yes, fine. But emotionally, wounded! All those potions! Those books! Gone, wasted!" Lukas rolled his eyes but smiled in sympathy, "Yeah, yeah Ivor. We get it."

Jesse chuckled at his friends antics, but let out a groan as he faced the still swirling and fully activated portal that they just escaped from. Lukas noticed his stare and looked to the portal as well, "Let's avoid this part of the hallway from now on huh? Seems to only hold the worst of the worlds so far, that or maybe we're just really, really unlucky."

Petra chuckled, "Yeah, pretty sure we're all out of good luck at this point. But hey, who knows, maybe we'll find it through the next portal." Almost immediately, the atmosphere grew dim and heavy. 'It' quickly replaced home after the 50 something door, and hope was closing fast.

Lukas knelt down quickly and wrote in his ever growing map of the Hallway their previous portal adventure 'The Brewing Desert.' He stood up and addressed the others, "Well, looks like we're just going to have to keep searching. Who wants to pick next?"

Jesse and the others looked towards Lukas who held the map for them all to see. The ones they had already been to were marked while the others remained blank. Lukas pointed to a section of the Hallway where almost all the doors were marked, except for one. "I think we should start here, cuz if we don't, this entire map is going to drive me crazy!" Petra nodded, "Yeah, I agree with Lukas. We can just cross off an entire section off the map and be done with it. Also yeah, that one unmarked spot is annoying me." Ivor agreed as well, muttering how the portal just added unneeded disorder to the map.

Jesse stood up and faced his friends, "Well, I guess that settles it! Let's go guys!"

-Cut scene to when they get to the portal-

"Alright, Lukas you sure this is the right one? Cuz it does look kind of familiar." Petra addressed the shorter male. The New Order of the Stone had just arrived at the portal. White marble with golden flecks embedded in the shining stone. The actual portal was like a crystal, white with slight color bouncing in it. Some golden dust seemed to be coming out of it as well. Lukas nodded taking a quick glance at his map, "Yeah, this is it. And yeah it does look pretty familiar, but that's probably because we've passed it so many times going through the other portals."

Petra glanced up, "Yeah, that's probably it. We have enough supplies to last a few days right? We don't want to end up back in a place like 'Water World' right."

Lukas shivered as memories of rainbow squids with laser vision filled his head. Maybe he should have named it 'Laser Squid Hell' instead. "Yeah, uh, let's never do that again." Jesse nodded.

Ivor rolled his eyes and walked ahead, "Well if we don't want to just stand here all day, then I suggest we get moving!" Petra rolled her eyes and sighed, "Ivor needs to calm down." before walking after him into the portal. Lukas went in as Jesse backed everyone else up, "Let's just hope that this world isn't as crazy and 'Fire Land'."

The New Order of the Stone disappeared into yet another world, but this one would take them on their weirdest adventure yet, full of myths from their world that may not be so 'mythical' there.

-On the other side-

"Woah."

"This is amazing!"

"Wow, this isn't home but it is something."

Petra, Lukas, and Jesse were held awestruck as they took in the view in front of them. The new Order stood at the far edge of a canyon where the portal was hidden in a small overledge of a cliff. The world in front of them was magnificent. The canyon was Huge! A giant lake rested in the middle as waterfalls from either side of the canyon fed into its waters, rainbow after rainbow being formed as the mist was hit by sunlight. Huge green trees littered the forest floor as wild flowers and other shrubs and vines climbed the stone walls of the canyon. The water was a crystal blue and the sky was clear and sun,or suns as there were two, climbed high in the sky. It was morning.

"Now this looks like paradise."

Ivor stood beside Lukas as he studied a plant. White stemmed with purple petals and a blue stripe. Hesitantly, Ivor took the plant quickly and closed his eyes. The last time he had done that he had been sprayed by a mist which gave him rashes for days. This time though, nothing happened. Ivor stared at the flower in his hand in awe, it was new and he had to, just had to keep it for further research.

Jesse and Petra walked over to the edge and leaned over, almost giving Lukas a heart attack, to see how far the drop was. And it was Far. Petra gave out a low long whistle as she kicked a rock over the edge, "That, is a looong way down." Lukas walked up to them and gently grabbed at their sleeves, tugging them away, "Which is why I'd like you both to step away before you fall down."

Petra rolled her eyes at Lukas' behavior which he caught out of the corner of his eye. He pinned his redheaded friend with a half hearted glare, "Maybe I wouldn't be so worried about you two if you guys hadn't decided it'd be an excellent idea to jump off of one of the birds in 'The raised Isles' only five days ago." Jesse had the decency to smile sheepishly as Petra let out a laugh at the memory, the look on the blonde's face was hilarious. Lukas sighed and looked around for Ivor, growing increasingly worried when he couldn't spot him.

"Ivor! Where are you?" Lukas shouted. Petra and Jesse started looking as well, irritation as plain as day on their faces. "IVOR!"

"Down here!" Lukas hurried over to the side of their ledge and peered over. Ivor sat next to a peculiar flower with a gold stem and white petals with glowing blue stripes. Lukas looked to the vines hanging to the side and grabbed them, starting the slow descent down.

Ivor waited for the others before gesturing to the plant before them, it's petals seemed to give off a light as the sun's rays hit it. It seemed otherworldly. Which was technically true since they were in another world afterall.

Lukas knelt down in front of the flower, eyes bright as he studied it, "This is definitely something we don't have back home. Petra, Lukas can either of you climb back up and build something so we know where to return to when we're done exploring? Or is the portal gone like with the others?"

"Huh, let me check." Jesse clambered back up the vines, his weight doing nothing to aid him as he struggled. Going up was much harder than going down. Jesse finally got back to the top and rested, gathering his strength and went to see if the portal was still there.

"Sorry Lukas! Looks like it's gone, just like the rest of them!" Jesse slid down the vines leading to their little perch with the flower. Lukas nodded, finishing his drawing of the flower and putting his journal away. "It's fine Jesse," He flashed a smile at his friend, "We'll just have to start looking then. At least it's not like 'Void Valley.'" Jesse shuddered as the memories of eternal darkness clouded his mind. It was terrifying, seeing absolutely nothing with only your friends to provide company.

Petra and Ivor shuddered as well, "Yeah, let's be grateful that this place is beautiful." Ivor nodded, huffing as they climbed down the vines to actual ground. Lukas in the front, Petra and Ivor behind him, and Jesse going last.

As soon as they all touched the ground, an unearthly screech filled the air causing the New Order to cover their ears as they ducked beneath the trees. Underneath the branched, Jesse managed to get a glimpse of what appeared to be a giant bird. Only this bird had four wings and silver talons. It's entire body was pure white except for the dark red marks starting at its head and flowing to its wings. It was beautiful. It wasn't until the man got off the bird that Jesse even noticed him. The bird gave a final screech before settling down and closing its eyes.

Petra grabbed Lukas' sleeve and tugged harshly, "What the heck is that thing!" Suddenly the bird's head shot up and looked down towards the forest floor.

For a moment, nobody breathed in fear of being caught. They didn't exactly know if the natives were friends or not, they didn't even know if this place was eve inhabited. Then the bird relaxed and continued to doze.

Ivor's eyes were wide as he stared at the magnificent bird he had only heard in stories. He shook Jesse and Petra as he hissed silently in their ears, "Don't you know what that is! It's a thunderbird, I've only heard about these in stories! Legend has it that these birds only let those worthy enough to ride them, but humankind got greedy and drove them to extinction! It's a miracle to find them here!"

"Yes, it is a miracle indeed." A low voice sprouted from the trees behind them.

Immediately they had their weapons out, Ivor being almost weaponless other than a meek sword and a few potions stood in the back next to Lukas wielding his bow.

The brushes rustled as a stranger came into view, a dark blue cloak over his head hiding his face. The stranger chuckled and held out his hands, "Relax, please. I only came to know who has entered our world. We don't get many visitors." Seeing as no one faltered, except for maybe Lukas whose bow was no long drawn but was still held up. The cloaked man sighed and reached up, "Relax, I am only taking off my hood. Then will you trust me?"

Jesse, Petra, and Lukas shared a look. Petra and Lukas nodded, knowing they had to find answers and this guy seemed to know what was going on. Jesse looked at the cloaked figure and nodded. The stranger nodded and took off the cloak.

The stranger was beautiful weirdly enough. Dark mocha skin decorated in small scars with warm amber eyes set in a kind and slightly stubbled face. His ears were pierced with a few crystal earrings with a chain from the top of his ear to the lobe. His black hair he wore in ponytail of long dreadlocks, decorated with thin purple and blue strings. He smiled to reveal shining white teeth that seemed to make his entire image even more beautiful.

The New Order was shocked, they had expected a burly soldier with yellow teeth and stinging words, only to be confronted by a kind guard with amazing features. The stranger's eyes roamed over them, but stopped to stare at Lukas second more before glancing at Ivor and quickly back to Jesse.

He held out his hand for the leader of the New Order to take, surprise filling his eyes before acceptance and gratitude took over as they shook hands, "Forgive me for startling you, I am James. May I know your names." His eyes ventured quickly back to Lukas before looking at petra who had cleared her throat. "Hi, I'm Petra. That's Lukas," the blond waved, "that's Ivor," the older man nodded, "and that's our leader Jesse." He offered a smile at James, slightly intimidated by the other man's good looks.

James only offered a small chuckle as he observed their little group, "I was ordered to come here to pick up any of the strangers that happened to visit our world. I do apologize but you will have to came with me back to the village, our Leader would like to meet you."

Lukas smiled brightly, "Well you seem nice and polite and have only been kind to us as far, I think that it's only fair we follow you." Jesse and Petra nodded. James hasn't shown any signs of wanting to kill them so far so they were willing to trust him, if only a little bit.

James smiled and brought his fingers up to his mouth and whistled. The trees behind James rustled before another Thunderbird appeared, this one the same as the other but with purple marks instead of red ones. Looking at it up close made Jesse feel like a mouse.

James smiled brightly as he saw the group's faces filled with awe and wonder, "This is Thunderhead! He is a bit new to this so apologies if he does something unexpected." A loud screech echoed just above them. Stunned and alarmed the group came face to face of the other Thunderbird as he lowered himself, pining them if a golden stare. James laughed at their startled faces, "It's okay new friends. This is merely Lightening, he is the fastest bird alive in the village." James swung himself upright onto Lightening as he fixed the group with a proud and slightly giddy stare, "So, who wants to ride with me."