Days passed, almost a week, until my group did find the place about where the portal was. A gravel path led to a cave, which we quickly decended into. Despite the dampness of the air in the cave, the temperature was actually quite pleasant. It was easy to navigate as well, for torches lined the walls, giving off enough light to see clearly what lay ahead.

Eventually, we came to a dead end, though something seemed off about it. The floor changed to a neatly carved stone, almost like bricks, but more compact. I looked close at the wall that lay in front of us. There appeared to be a circle protruding from the wall, about two hands in width. I noticed strange designs had been carved into it's border. They looked as though they were in some foreign language, possibly ancient elvish. Grayson brushed the carvings with his had and sighed.

"Its closed. There's no way through," he observed. Drake gave a small gasp and raced up to the structure.

"No... No this can't happen... The portal CAN'T be closed!" he spoke, desperation creeping into his voice. I looked at Armen, who seemed to be thinking very deeply. I attempted to reach into his thoughts, but it seemed like there was a wall blocking my way. He squinted at the portal, but only shook his head, and said, "Maybe someone will know how to translate the carvings? We should go back into town and ask some people." Drake spun around quickly, and, nearly shouting, said, "This is an ANCIENT manuscript! Who will know how to translate it? Anyone who could, is probably dead!" I suddenly noticed Grayson kneeling in front of the portal, looking down at the floor.

"Grayson?" I whispered.

"We're screwed. We are so screwed..." he muttered, visibly shaking. I walked up behind him and stroked his hair. He looked up at me, his eyes sparkling with sadness and anger.

"What are we going to do?" Grayson whispered.

"Right now, we need to get back to a town," I answered quietly. I started to say something else when a loud thud came from the other side of the cave, followed by and angry shout. Everyone turned their heads to look at Drake, who appeared to have just punched the wall. Again, he threw his fist against the cave wall, surprisingly sending cracks up it.

"Drake..." Armen started to speak, but Drake's fists began to glow dark purple and whipped around, eyes glowing the same dark purple. He gritted his teeth angrily and shot a ball of purple flame at the opposite wall, forcing Armen to jump out of the way will a shout of surprise. Grayson stood up and yelled at Drake to calm down. Drake ignored him and growled in rage, clenching and unclenching his fists. Just as he was about to shoot another fireball, I quickly morphed into a dog, pouncing on him. Drake fell to the ground, and writhed under my weight. I held him down, my front paws on his chest. I snarled in his face, only succeeding in getting another angry shout from him.

"Get OFF me you crazy mutt!" Grayson raced to my side and grabbed Drake's flailing arms. He grunted, struggling to free himself. Slowly, his eyes faded back to their original color, and he stopped writhing. Armen simply looked on in shock. I morphed back, and stood up, my clothes sagging the slightest bit from being stretched out. Grayson let go of his arms, and Drake sat up, rubbing his forehead.

"Argh, my head..." he muttered. "That really did happen, didn't it?" I nodded, "What WAS that?" I asked. Drake simply shook his head and looked away. Grayson held out his hand and helped him up. Armen still stood silently, wide eyed, hardly even focused on anything.

"Come on guys, we need to get out of here so Drake can rest. We can talk about this later, and figure out this portal issue," Grayson explained. Armen finally nodded and whispered a barely audible "Yes," before we all set out to find a nearby village. Something was wrong here. First Armen's eyes glowing white, now Drake losing control and nearly KILLING Armen... 'Something BIG is going on here, and it doesn't want us to go home...'