A/N: I'm bad at writing traveling, so this chapter takes place 4 days after Ch 1 and 2.

Apologies for being late, exams/the start of the new semester have been a bitch.

"And so, I have decided to hand the responsibility of leading and training the Riders to Ismira Katrinasdaughter, our most experienced Rider, having been trained for the past forty-three years."

The Lord Rider finished his speech in which he named his niece his successor, as there was a high chance he wouldn't return from what he was going to do shortly in the future. The demons had been sieging New Vroengard relentlessly, to the point where he had 24/7 surveillance by his more experienced Riders.

He saw two rapidly growing dots, red and green, and he felt both unease and happiness. Unease as to his last-ditch plan to stop the demonic menace, and happiness that he'd see his old friends in the flesh, or scales for some of them, for the first time in half a century.

"Saphira, I'll need to direct them to the inner wall, can you fly me there?"

"Aye, partner-of-heart-and-mind, I will."

Eragon climbed into her saddle, and with a grin, they took off.

"Hail, my old friends!" he called.

"Hail, Eragon and Saphira!" Arya and Murtagh both called, their dragons joining in to the greeting.

Eragon felt his ears burning as he surveyed Arya.

Not now, that can wait. Hell, I know hardly anything of the past fifty years in Alagaesia, she's probably found a mate, he irritatedly thought to himself.

"Right, I'm going to direct you to the last safe part of New Vroengard, the inner wall, which has the rooms of the Riders as well as my personal keep. There, we'll discuss plans on beating these demons."

They flew over the city, briefly peering at the massive stone structure with a tear in the fabric of the universe itself, glowing an ugly mix of black and purple, pouring out demons constantly, who were besieging the outer wall with ugly, thorny catapults and ballistae.

"So how" asked Murtagh. "In the everloving fuck do you plan to stop that?"

"Change of plans, we're going to go through the portal." stated Eragon.

"WHAT!?" came the surprised shouts, mental and physical, of two Riders and three dragons. Eragon was mildly displeased that even Saphira was with them.

"Hear me out. Alright, so we defeated all of them at one point only for a thousand more to pour out, at another I obliterated the portal with the power of the Eldunari, but a new one appeared near instantly. They just keep pouring out. We're going to die for sure if we don't, and we'll probably die if we do, but I'd rather take probable death over absolute death."

Arya trusted Eragon, however she doubted that his idea would work. Better than the alternative. she thought.

"Fair enough. Let's go." said Arya.

The three Riders grinned fiercely as they prepared to fight for their lives for the first time in half a century, and they pulled out their swords as three dragons, blue, green, and red streaked towards the hole in reality.

Upon entering the tear in reality, Eragon was buffeted with a thousand visions in no more than a few seconds.

A man with white hair and glowing eyes cutting down a great bipedal stag-

Men in deep trenches, blasting each other apart with long poles of wood and iron, as strange devices destroyed a small village and mechanical dragons soared overhead-

A woman aged perhaps twenty obliterating a great keep with a black dragon-

An old wizard fighting a fiery demon in old underground ruins-

And so the three Riders and their dragons popped out into this new realm. It was hellish, as if someone had taken the normal world and twisted it into a cruel parody of what it was. Every tree was dead and leafless, great, thorny spires of rock jutted out every several meters, and the sky was a horrible shade of grayish purple. There was constant thunder, and what seemed to be husks of long dead humans shambled past the Riders and dragons.

"Eragon, this place smells wrong. A powerful, malicious presence permeates the air, I'd advise we get out of here as fast as possible." commented Saphira.

"Aye, that's the plan." said Eragon, sending the thought to his partner of heart and mind.

NEW SOULS DARE TO ENTER MY REALM, spoke a powerful voice. It had a very unnerving edge to it, one that made Eragon want to jump out of his skin.

YOU ARE NOT FROM TAMRIEL, HOWEVER I SHALL DESTROY YOU ALL THE SAME, the voice continued.

"Please, help me! I just broke out of one of Molag Bal's cells, the daedra are going to kill me, you have to help me escape this hell! I don't know how to escape, but I know someone who does. Get these chains off and I'll lead you to him." came the panicked voice of a man.

A great, gnarled, black hand came crashing down, killing the man instantly.

I AM MOLAG BAL, DAEDRIC PRINCE OF DOMINATION. I WILL SPARE YOU THIS ONCE, AND SEND YOU TO TAMRIEL.

"Why? Answer me, demon!" shouted Murtagh defiantly.

IT AMUSES ME. NOW GO, BEFORE I DESTROY YOU ON THE SPOT, PROFLIGATE.

Another one of the massive portals appeared, and an invisible force threw the Riders and their dragons through.

The first thing Eragon saw was the ground, and his friends falling.

"LETTA!" he barked.

The spell began to take a toll on him.

Shit, shit, shit, the Eldunari are gone, I have to cut it off befo- and he passed into unconsciousness.