There was once a man who lived out in the wilderness. No, he didn't live in caves and eat raw food; he lived in a cabin he had built years before.
His only companion was his dog, and he was the dog's only companion. Whenever the man would go out, the dog would go with him. Whenever he left to find resources, so would the dog. Anytime they were attacked by the monsters of the night, they would fight together, and defend each other's lives.
Now one day when the man had been mining in a nearby cave, he found a strange purple formation in an air pocket. It was in the shape of a large rectangle. He recognized the material it was made out of, but he had no idea why it was shaped like that. He decided to examine the structure a little more, but tripped on a rock.
His pickaxe flew from his hands and scraped against the purple formation. Sparks flew from the collision, but seemed to be absorbed into the purple rocks. Then something strange happened. The open area inside the rectangle lit up, and then filled with a purple light.
The man got up to see this happen, and jumped away from it. He stood for a few seconds in silence, but nothing happened. The man calmed down and inspected the formation once more.
The light hadn't left, and became transparent, he could see to the other side. It flowed in circles from the center like water. What could this be?
His thoughts were interrupted by a bark. He turned to see his dog jump through the hole in the wall and growl at the purple light. The man tried to calm the dog, but she barked at the light once more and lunged at it.
The man reached out to stop his dog, but he wasn't fast enough, the dog went through the light, and vanished. The man panicked, what had happened to his dog? He needed to go in and save her!
Without thinking he ran in the light after his beloved dog.
He felt a sense of vertigo and heard many whispers that became louder every second, until finally he ran out the other side.
The first thing the man felt was heat. And then he heard his dog barking. He opened his eyes to see red. There was red everywhere. The ground was red, the air was hazed with red, there was fire, and lava.
He looked around and found his dog barking at something in the distance. The thing she was barking at came out of the haze. It looked like a giant floating white jellyfish. Its eyes were closed, and it had what looked like a frown.
The man didn't like this and tried to get his dog to come back over to him, they needed to go back into the portal. But the dog didn't want to listen.
That was when the jellyfish opened its eyes. They looked demonic and glowed red. It opened its mouth with a screech and a ball of fire shot out. The man ran over to the dog, picked her up and jumped out of the way.
The fireball hit the portal and exploded, and the light inside of the portal dissipated along with the fire.
The man saw this and felt a large amount of dread. He and his dog got up, and they ran. They jumped over rocks, ran across flat spots, and vaulted over crevices until they found a cave in all of the red rock. Once inside his dog jumped up and licked his face. He hugged her, telling her he didn't want her doing that again. The dog whined, lowered her ears, and licked his face again.
The man had them wait in the cave for a while longer. He was sweating from the heat. He felt something hot drip from above. Another bigger drop landed on his arm, it burnt his skin. He got up and pulled his dog away.
The ceiling broke open to let lava flow down into the cave. The man and his dog ran away from it and out of the small cave back into the open. Lucky for them there were no flying squids.
He heard a pig oink, but it didn't sound well. It sounded like a sick pick, one that was dying. He looked around for it. He didn't find what he expected. It was a pig in the shape of a man, but it had skin rotting of it, and the only piece of clothing it had was a loincloth. It was armed with a golden sword as well, but didn't move to attack them.
The man decided it must be a more peaceful creature and left it alone, the dog did the same. The man walked quickly across the flat area and up to a steep incline. Once he reached it he climbed to the top, carrying his dog on his shoulders. Once up he placed the dog down and looked across a lava ocean. He saw what looked like a castle above a lake of lava. The walkways leading to his rock formation were broken, so he wouldn't be able to take shelter in there.
He heard a screech and turned only to have a fireball explode in front of him. He flew back, and got up quickly to pat the fire off of his clothing. He looked for his dog; she was next to him in that blast. He heard her whine and ran to her. She was badly burned; many patches of fur were gone.
He carefully picked her up again and ran. More fireballs exploded around him. And his pants had a little fire on it. He ignored it until he had found another cave to hide in.
He placed his dog on the ground. She limped over closer to him. He didn't have anything to help with her pain. It was all still back in the cave. He sat down and waited for the squids to go away. The dog laid her head on his lap and he hugged her again.
After a few minutes he let go of her and peeked outside. It was clear. His dog limped up to him, and he felt horrible for not being able to help her. The man picked her up so she wouldn't have to walk.
The man didn't know where to go, there seemed to be no end to things that would kill them in here. What was he supposed to do? Was it even possible to get back? He had gotten lost running away, the portal was gone.
His dog squirmed, so he put her back down. She was still limping, but she wanted to keep walking.
They walked for a little while, and then went around another rock formation.
Right in front of a jellyfish.
The jellyfish shot a fireball at the rocks behind them, and they crumbled down onto their only way out. It opened its eyes and looked at the man in the eyes, screeching.
He was probably about to die, but he had his dog with him. As long as they were together, things would be okay.
The jellyfish shot a fireball at them man, but it collided with something else.
The fire ball exploded against the dog, who had jumped in front of them man. She flew back, slamming into the man's chest, knocking him over.
The man got up and frantically tried to get his dog to open her eyes. Most of her fur was gone now, and her skin was charred black. He kept saying her name over and over with tears in his eyes, telling her to wake up. But she didn't move.
He fell to his knees and picked up his dog's body, holding it close. He looked up at his dog's killer with tear-streaked eyes.
It looked back at him.
And then it shot another fireball.