The Hell Gate

2: The Revelation


Cassius backed further and further against the cave wall as the horde in front of him slowly but surely advanced, their green, rotting hands reaching out for him. Is this it, he thought? Will I die down here, mauled to death by the un-dead? Am I fated to unrest, stuck down here with them? No, Cassius would not give in so easily. Realising the pickaxe he held in his hand, he thought about quickly running to the back wall and digging in. If he was able to fill in the blocks behind him quickly enough, he may be able to escape. Quickly turning around and readying his pick, he swung at the stone, breaking easily thanks to the quality of the tool. He quickly dug out a small tunnel as the cries of the zombies grew more desperate as they tried to reach him before he was inaccessible. Once he was in far enough, he grabbed some cobblestone from off the ground and placed a block down, stopping the zombies dead in their path. He paused for breath as he watched them through a one-block hole, their hands stretching out but unable to reach him. Cassius dug further in and placed more blocks behind him, blocking out the horde completely, though their moans were still audible. The young guard began digging upwards, forming a crude stairway to the surface. He could only hope that wherever he breached the surface would be friendlier territory. As he dug, he recounted the events that lead him here, struggling to believe that there seemed to be some kind of conspiracy in this quaint little town.


Donata went outside and changed the sign by the door of her shop to say "Open". Inside, her aunt was restless; Donata knew she wanted to help her run the shop, but despite her good intentions, she only got in the way as Donata tried to stock shelves.

"Are you sure there's nothing I need to do?" her elderly aunt asked, her voice high and creaky.

"No thank you, Auntie," Donata replied, "You just sit in the back, I'll be alright."

Her aunt slowly shuffled her feet into the back room of the shop, no doubt thinking to eat some of the cake Donata had been keeping. As she placed various potions into item frames, Donata could hear a faint rumbling, yet didn't think anything of it. Perhaps Auntie was just moving stuff around in the back room. However, as she continued stocking her shelves, the rumbling grew louder and louder until the potion brewer eventually realised that the sound was coming from beneath the floorboards. Panicking, Donata grabbed a nearby shovel, raising it by her head with both hands. The wood began to crack before breaking, revealing a hand.

"Stop there!" Donata yelled, shaking the shovel, "You are not welcome, intruder! I am armed!"

The intruder slowly crawled out of the hole he dug out of, and Donata could see he was garbed in guard uniform. Who was this man? An escaped convict, who, in his escape, had attacked a guard, stealing his uniform and wearing it as a disguise?

"Who are you?" Donata said, containing her fear, "What are you doing under my shop?" When the man turned around, Donata saw his eyes full of fright. Perhaps her intimidating demeanour had worked. Donata chuckled to herself. "I don't know what it is you've done, but I've caught you in your attempt to escape, and I will be notifying the guards."

"NO!" the man exclaimed, sounding on the verge of tears, "No, I beg of you, please, do not fetch the guards -"

"Silence, criminal!" Donata yelled, enjoying her power, however the man simply looked at her confused.

"Criminal?" he asked, his bemusement showing in his voice before motioning to his guards uniform, "Look at me! I am a guard; I'm no criminal!"

"Then what are you?" Donata asked, approaching him, keeping a firm grip on her shovel, "Why would a guard, as you propose to be, be so afraid of his brothers in arms?"

The man gulped. "My name is Cassius," he introduced himself, "Recruit Guard Cassius – I am new here, I only started yesterday!"

"So why are you hiding under my potion shop, and not guarding Birchtown's walls?" Donata asked, "I can assure you I am perfectly capable of guarding this shop myself."

"It's not what it looks like," Cassius sighed, wiping some dirt off his face, "Something terrible has happened; please, you have to believe me!"

The man seemed out of breath. The commotion had attracted the attention of Donata's aunt, who was puzzled to see a man crawling out of the floor.

"Donata, dear, who is this man?" she asked, eyeing him up, "What's he doing in our floor?"

Donata stepped over the hole and to Auntie, wrapping her arm around her shoulder and showing her back into the back room. "Don't worry, Auntie, I can deal with this," she said soothingly before returning to the man, now fully emerged. "Why don't you tell me your story?" she asked him, grabbing him a chair to sit on.

"I don't even know where to begin," Cassius said, sitting down, "I was on duty on the town walls last night, and the Chief Guard, he tried to kill me..."

"Ulysses?" Donata said in disbelief, "He has been serving Birchtown for years!"

"He attacked me!" Cassius affirmed, "He and the Mayor! They kidnapped me; I barely escaped with my life!"

Donata's eyes raised, "Mayor Maximus? You're kidding."

Cassius shook his head, "Please, you cannot tell the guards I am here. Who knows what they might do."

The potion brewer leant against the counter, thinking over what Cassius had been saying in her head. Kidnapped; Ulysses and Maximus kidnapped him. A sudden, awful realisation occurred to her, remembering Evander talking about the strange disappearances in the town, how surely it couldn't be natural. Donata lead Cassius into the back room, sitting him with Auntie.

"Stay here," Donata ordered, "I don't entirely trust you yet, but you dug up here with your bare hands so I doubt you can escape the town without someone seeing you. If I come back and you've ransacked the place, or worse, hurt my Auntie," Donata pointed to her aunt, "Then I'll have no hesitation in alerting the guards of your presence, do you understand?"

Cassius nodded his head, "I swear to you, I mean no harm, honest."


Evander had only been home a few minutes, having headed to the Birchtown Butcher's to sell off his hunt from the previous day, acquiring a satisfactory sum of Emeralds in payment. He sat back in his chair, alone in his thoughts, planning what to do with the rest of his day; but whatever those plans were would never come to fruition as he heard a knock at his door. The knock was powerful, demanding attention, and Evander curiously stood up and walked to the door, wondering who could be on the other side. Opening the door, he saw Donata, her black hair blown over her face.

"Donata," he greeted her as she parted her hair, "Is everything alright?"

"Something has come up," Donata said, "Evander, I need you to come with me. I think something bad has happened. Am I interrupting anything?"

"No, not at all," Evander asked, concerned, "What's happened?"

Donata looked around before whispering, "I think I know why people have been disappearing." Evander furrowed his eyebrows in response. "Someone has dug through the floor in my shop. They say they are being hunted by the Chief Guard."

Evander's eyes widened in shock, "Ulysses?" he asked, "He knew my father!"

"Look, I think I need someone with me to hear whatever his story is, so please, come with me," she asked again. Evander nodded, shutting his door and following her to the potion shop. The sign on the front now read closed as Donata opened the door for Evander and shutting it behind them.

"Wow," Evander pointed out the hole Cassius had dug through.

"He's in here," Donata pointed to the back room, and Evander could see a head poking out from around the side of the door. Evander slowly stepped in, taking a good look at the guard. He recognised him as the new recruit he saw before he went on his hunt yesterday.

"You," Evander spoke, "You're new here, aren't you? I saw you yesterday?"

Cassius nodded his head, "Yesterday was my first day here. Some first day..."

Evander and Donata sat across the table from him. "So, explain everything," Donata began, "Just tell us everything that happened, okay?"

Cassius quietly nodded again before beginning his story. "So, I was patrolling the walls, like I was told to. I heard something behind me, and when I looked it was Chief Guard Ulysses. He had the butt of his sword raised, as if he were about to knock me out."

Evander shook his head. "Ulysses has served Birchtown for decades; he and my father were best friends. What reason could he possibly have to do such a thing?"

"Please, please just listen," Cassius begged and Evander drew back. "I moved out the way, and then he began attacking me. I could defend myself, but someone else came; they came up behind me and forced a drink down my mouth, a poison of some kind."

Donata leaned forward, "Mayor Maximus?" she asked, remembering the other name Cassius gave earlier, and he nodded in confirmation.

"Woah, woah, woah," Evander interrupted, "So now not only the Chief Guard of Birchtown, but its MAYOR?"

"I promise you I am not lying!" Cassius shouted, "I have been through hell, I have no reason to lie; I have only just arrived here!"

"So what?" Evander asked irritably, "What next?"

"I woke up," Cassius said, calming down, "And I was in this room, I have no way of telling where. The Mayor was there, so was Ulysses, and they took me on a mine-cart track, deep down into a cave system. When the track ended, we were in another room -"

"Please, just get to the point," Evander mocked.

Cassius glared at him. "-And in the room, there was this structure. It was rectangular, and the material... I have never seen it before. I have no idea what it was called."

"What did it look like?" Donata asked.

"Sort of... black, and purple?" Cassius thought aloud, "Then Maximus sent me and Ulysses further into the caves where Ulysses forced me to mine more of it; it was formed by pouring water onto lava."

Donata's eyes widened. "That's obsidian."

"They gave me a diamond pickaxe to mine it with," Cassius explained, "It was hard, durable. I only managed to mine two blocks of it while we were down there."

"What then?" Evander asked while Donata took all of this in, "How come you ended up here?"

"While we were down there, a horde of zombies sniffed us out," Cassius said, "Ulysses tried to hold them off, but there were too many; he left me for dead. I mined myself out, barely escaping the horde as they closed in around me. I dug up as far as I could, but eventually my pickaxe broke, and I was forced to use my bare hands..." Cassius raised his hands in the air, bruised, bloodied and dirty from punching through stone and dirt.

"Christ," Evander exclaimed quietly, "He's not lying."

"Obsidian..." Donata muttered, "How did you say the structure looked?"

"Like a rectangle," Cassius stated, "Four blocks of that obsidian stuff on the bottom, then the sides were longer, but there were a few pieces missing..."

"How many?" Donata asked, a sense of urgency in her voice.

"Maybe three?" Cassius said, unsure, "Honestly, I can't remember it very well; I didn't get a very good look?"

"And what happened to the obsidian you mined?" Donata asked quickly.

"I still have it, here..." Cassius carefully pulled out the two blocks.

"Why is this significant?" Evander asked, "I've never heard of this Obsidian stuff..."

"Honestly," Donata sighed, "Didn't your father fight in the War Against The Underworld?"

"Only at the end," Evander corrected her, "What, are you saying they're building a Hell Gate? Chief Ulysses and Mayor Maximus?"

"It would seem that way," Donata sighed, "If I'm correct, anyway, but it does sound like that's what the structure was made of."

Cassius looked at them both, confused, "You're saying that Ulysses and the mayor are part of a cult?"

"It seems that they're either trying to repair or construct a Nether Portal," Donata explained, "That's what they've been doing, perhaps why so many people have been disappearing; they kidnap them, like they did to you, and enslave them to mine Obsidian; but wherever it is they're getting it from, it's dangerous, as you saw..."

"So you're saying my mother was taken by these people?" Evander asked, "That she was kidnapped, sent to hear death?"

Donata sighed and looked at Evander. "I'm sorry, Evander, but if this is true, who's to say that's not what's been happening?"

Evander scoffed and stood up, "I'm sorry, but I can't believe any of this."

"It's the truth!" Cassius said slowly, putting emphasis on each word, "What do I have to do for you to understand?"

"Evander," Donata reasoned with him, "You've always wanted to know what happened to your mother, why all these people have been disappearing; now, you finally have what may be an answer to your questions, and instead of even trying to accept it, you walk away?"

Evander stood quietly. "What about Rufus? Do we tell him about any of this?"

Donata shrugged, "I don't know. I mean, the less people that know that Cassius is hiding here, the better."

"Rufus?" Cassius asked, "Who's he?"

"So what now?" Evander ignored the recruit's questions, "Now that we know all of this, what do we do?"

Donata sighed and sat back. "Getting help from outside of Birchtown is the best bet; a higher authority."

"I doubt we can arrange a meeting with the King any time soon," Evander retorted.

"Well, what do you suggest?" Donata replied angrily, "That we handle it ourselves?"

"You heard him, they've nearly finished building this portal!" Evander pointed at Cassius, "Who knows how long it would take to get someone's help; by the time we do, it could be too late!" He turned to address Cassius, "Do you have any idea where this thing could be, any idea at all?"

Cassius thought hard, "I'm really not sure. I woke up underground, and..."

Evander and Donata looked, waiting for a response. "And?" Donata asked.

"My tunnel," he looked into the shop, "My tunnel should lead right into the cave."

The two looked into the shop; Donata had hastily covered the hole with a carpet as to not cause suspicion from people passing by. "You're sure it leads straight there?"

"Yes!" Cassius confirmed, "We'd just have to follow it back down and destroy the cobblestone I placed at the entrance!"

"Wait a second," Evander intruded, "You put cobblestone at the entrance?"

Cassius looked startled, "Why is that significant?"

"Because if Ulysses or Maximus go back down there," Evander said, his voice rising, "Then they'll know you escaped; and they'll find a tunnel leading right to this very spot!"

Cassius and Donata's faces dropped simultaneously. "If you're really serious about this," Donata said nervously, "Then we have to go down there before they realise."

"We need as many people as possible," Evander began, rising back up from his chair, "Look, I really think we should tell Rufus about all this; it's only right, after all, and he's easily the strongest out of all of us."

"How do we tell who is and is not a part of this?" Donata asked, "Anyone, no matter how unsuspecting, could be a part of this!"

"We know we can trust Rufus," Evander said affirmatively, walking towards the door, "He should be finishing his shift soon, I'll go and find him; stay here with Cassius, don't let anyone in the shop!"

Evander swung open the door before shutting it behind him as he quickly walked down the town's gravel paths, weaving in between houses and shops to create shortcuts. He walked down a hill towards the mine entrance, where he found one of its oldest workers waiting outside.

"Bertha," Evander greeted her; a strong, middle aged woman who had worked in the mines ever since she was a child. "Is Rufus still here?"

"Aye, he'll be out any minute," she said in her thick accent, unintelligible to any outsider.

"How long, exactly?" Evander asked politely.

"I dunno," she shrugged before taking a bite out of some bread. Evander sighed and waiting, hearing the rattling of mine-carts making their way up the tracks. Soon, the miners began pouring out, faces covered in soot, and eventually Evander spotted Rufus, easily identifiable by his red hair. The miner's face lit up when he saw his friend.

"Evander!" Rufus cheered, "Not often you wait for me!"

Evander chuckled nervously, wrapping his arm around Rufus' shoulder as he climbed out of the cart, "You have to come with me, now. This is urgent."

"Can't I clean myself up, at the very least?" Rufus asked, startled at Evander's urgency.

"You can do it when we get there," Evander said, leading him along, "Now come on, really, this is urgent!"


Rufus slumped back in his seat upon hearing Cassius' story. "Is this real?" he asked Rufus, "Surely, it can't be?"

Evander motioned Rufus to watch him as he walked into the shop and pulled the rug off the floor, revealing the hole Cassius dug out of. Rufus held his head in his hands.

"We have to do something about this, Rufus," Evander encouraged, "Before they find this tunnel."

"Just us four?!" Rufus exclaimed, "Are you mad?!"

"Who's to say that we need to fight them?" Donata suggested, pulling some potions from a chest. "These are invisibility potions. I have seven on me, which means that all but one of us can have two each."

"So, what are you suggesting?" Rufus asked, "That we go down that tunnel, drink these, then what? Destroy the portal?"

"He has a point," Cassius agreed, "The Obsidian can only be broken with a diamond pickaxe."

"What happened to yours?" Rufus nodded at him, to which Cassius replied by showing him his wounded hands. "Ah."

"Think, Donata," Evander placed his hands on her shoulders, "Is there any other way of destroying Obsidian?"

"None that I know of," she replied bleakly, "It can withstand explosions, lava will not burn it... it's one of the most durable materials in all of Minecraftia; the only way it can be broken is with a diamond pickaxe."

"Okay then," Evander carried on, "Do we know anywhere we can get diamonds? Or a diamond pickaxe?"

"I do!" Rufus contributed, "The mines keep some pickaxes stored away, but that room itself is guarded."

"Do you have any idea what the walls are made of?" Cassius asked, "Perhaps we can dig inside?"

"No," Rufus discarded this idea, "The room is deep into the mine; it would take too long."

"Who guards it?" Evander questioned, "Would it be guarded now?"

"People take different shifts..." Rufus remembered, "As for now, I think Julio was heading that way just before we all left."

"We need to think carefully about this," Donata said, rummaging through her chests, "We can't just go in, guns-blazing. We need to be as concealed as possible."

"The Potions of Invisibility?" Evander recommended.

"No, we should save them until we're at the Hell Gate itself," Donata replied over the sound of glasses clanking against each other as she ran her hand through the chest, pulling some empty bottles out. "I have a plan; if I brew a Splash Potion of Blindness, we can use it on Julio, or whoever the guard is, and they won't be able to tell it's us."

"It's that simple?" Evander asked.

"I'd need some time to brew it, for sure," Donata nodded, "But I have all the ingredients I need. We just make our way into the mines, throw the potion at him, go in, grab as many diamond picks as possible, then get out."

"It won't be that easy," Rufus said grimly, "That guard won't be the only person to take care of. The town guards will be stood at the entrance of the mine itself. They won't let all of us in."

Cassius seemed to shake at the mention of the guards. "What about you, alone?" he asked, "Surely, since you work there, they'd let you in, if you had an excuse?"

"I suppose," Rufus agreed nervously, "If it was good enough..."

"Would you be alright, friend?" Evander asked, "To go in there alone and pull this off?"

"It would be risky," he replied before nodding his head. "But I think it's the best move; as long as we do actually pull this off."

"Won't they know it was you, though?" Donata asked, "If the guards see you go in?"

"It's a risk I'm willing to take," Rufus sighed, "The stakes are high enough, after all. Who knows what the consequences could be, if we allow the portal to be constructed?"

The other three nodded. Donata, wasting no time, pulled the banners over the shop windows and prepared her brewing stand, pulling out some Blaze Powder, an obscure, limited material, and placed it in the stand alongside a bottle of water. Hours later, the potion was brewed and Donata collected it from the stand.

"We'd better be quick about this," Donata said, handing the potion to Rufus. "We've got no idea when they might next go into that cave."

"I'll be quick," Rufus said confidently, pocketing the potion, "I'll be in and out before the guards know what hit them!"

"Be careful, friend," Evander smiled and patted his oldest friend on the shoulder. Rufus smiled back in gratitude before he waved the other three off and left to the Birchtown Mines. Evander turned to Cassius.

"So, where is it you're from?" he made conversation, "How'd you end up here?"

"I lived in Beacon Port all my life," Cassius replied, "But I trained in the academy in the Polar Camps."

"Brutal," Evander chuckled; his father told him stories of when he trained there, spending hours in the freezing cold. Memories like that had stuck with him after all these years. "And they just sent you here, straight away?"

"There was an opening," Cassius shrugged, "I suppose they just didn't think I was cut out for work in the big cities."

"Well, if that's so, then sending you here hasn't turned out to be much better," Evander joked while Donata cleaned up her brewery equipment.


Rufus carefully walked down the slope leading to the mine entrance, where two guards stood near the large opening. He got on fairly well with most of the guards; Gustav, who was polishing his shield, and Lewis, who slowly paced back and forth across the mine entrance. The two looked up as they heard Rufus approach.

"Rufus," Gustav greeted him, equipping his shield, "Not working overtime, are we?"

"No," Rufus laughed, "I may have left some Emeralds lying around somewhere down here, and they could really come in handy at the moment. You don't mind if I have a look, do you?"

"By all means, go ahead," Lewis allowed him entry, motioning his hand towards the opening. Rufus nodded as to say thank you before walking the long stairway down into the mineshafts. After a few minutes of walking, Rufus glanced back up at the entrance, seeing the faint silhouette of Lewis, still pacing. He knew that the corridor leading to the storage room was coming up, seeing light glowing onto the wooden steps up ahead. He tried to quieten his steps as he grew closer to the corridor, eventually reaching the end of the steps where there was flat ground before the steps continued further ahead. Looking around the corner, just barely poking his head around, he could faintly make out a guard in the corner of his eye. Rufus pulled out the Splash Potion of Blindness, breathing heavily as he prepared to throw it. Swinging his arm around the corner, the glass smashed at the guard's feet, releasing the potion into the air and blinding them. When Rufus heard them staggering, he quickly ran around the corner, sneaking past Julio.

"What?" the guard called out, stunned, "What is this? Who's there?"

Rufus quietly pushed the door open, casting his eyes upon the room. It was small, with barely enough room to fit two people in, so Rufus would have to be quick before Julio caught on that someone was in there. Quickly flipping each chest open, he kept an eye out for anything blue, eventually coming upon three Diamond Pickaxes; that should be enough. Rufus picked them up one by one, keeping them in his inventory before pushing past the guard.

"Hey!" Julio shouted, drawing his sword as he looked around, "What is this trickery?"

Rufus ran up the steps as Julio staggered around, swinging his sword blindly, the metal clanking against the stone walls. Rufus quickly realised that the sound may draw the attention of Lewis and Gustav if Julio shouted any louder. Turning around and grabbing Julio by the scruff of his neck with one hand, he swung his fist and punched Julio across the face, knocking him to the ground. Hopefully, that would shut him up. Rufus quickly climbed the steps to the surface, smiling nervously upon seeing Gustav and Lewis.

"Found your Emeralds?" Gustav asked.

"Yes!" Rufus replied, almost forgetting that was his excuse for being down there, "I'll see you boys soon; at the pub, maybe?"

The two chuckled and shook their heads as Rufus quickly walked away, his fake smile dropping as he turned away from them. He made his way back through the town as quickly as possible, returning to the potion shop where he found the other three waiting, with Donata's aunt joining them.

"I found three," Rufus presented the pickaxes on the table, "This should be enough, yes?"

"If one person keeps lookout," Donata planned, "Did you have any trouble?"

"I had to knock Julio out," Rufus said regrettably, "Poor Julio; he must be so confused."

"Well, you got them, and that's all that counts," Cassius reassured him, "Now what? Are we ready to go down?"

"Where are you going?" Donata's aunt asked loudly. Her niece rolled her eyes.

"Don't worry, Auntie," she said, leading her up a nearby flight of stairs, "Just go up to bed, get some sleep, yes?" Auntie nodded sheepishly as she slowly walked up the stairs, Donata watching to make sure she made it alright. Once she turned the corner, Donata replied to Cassius. "I suppose now is a good time," she said, "Before news of Rufus' robbery spreads across town."

"I've been thinking," Evander piped up, "After this, what do we do?"

"What do you mean?" Cassius asked.

"Well, if we destroy the portal, how do we justify our actions?" Evander said critically, "There will be no proof of any of this."

"Evander, the fate of Minecraftia is in our hands," Donata replied, "It won't matter; after all, we could always run away."

"Run away?" Rufus exclaimed.

"Come on!" Cassius interrupted, "This is serious! We need to get a move on, now!"

"We should at least get some weapons!" Evander retorted, "We can't seriously go down there unarmed!"

The other went quiet. "Right," Donata agreed, "Best to arm ourselves."

The gang split momentarily as Evander and Rufus returned to their homes; Evander grabbed his bow and arrows as well as a stone axe for good measure. Rufus, on the other hand, grabbed an iron sword, a birthday gift from his eccentric uncle, as well as an iron axe, planning on giving the sword to Cassius. The two reunited as they walked back to Donata's.

"You sure you're up to this, friend?" Rufus asked worriedly.

"I've hunted for years," Evander said back, "I'm pretty confident in my aim."

Rufus chuckled as they approached the door to Donata's, sliding through and shutting it behind them, finding Donata, armed with her shovel, and Cassius waiting for them.

"I got this for you," Rufus threw him the sword, "I assumed you'd be better suited at using it than I am."

"Humble, Rufus," Donata joked, "How unlike you."

"I'd say something, only I know better than to mock a woman with a shovel," Rufus picked on her weapon of choice, "Is there really nothing better you can bring?"

"I have some extra potions," Donata replied, "Now, are we finally ready?"

The others nodded as Donata flung the carpet off the hole. One by one, they nervously piled into the tunnel. The tunnel was long and winding, twisting and turning many times.

"Would it have hurt you to have dug in a straight line?" Evander asked Cassius.

"I wasn't sure which way to dig," Cassius explained, "I didn't want to end up in unfriendly territory."

Eventually Evander, in the lead, reached some cobblestone. "Beyond this is the cave?" he asked.

"Yes," Cassius replied, "Just be careful. Make sure there's definitely nothing there before you dig out all the blocks."

Grabbing his new diamond pickaxe, Evander started swinging at the cobble, which broke easily. He broke the top blocks first, creating a 1x1 hole to look through. There were no zombies or monsters of any kind in sight.

"We're all clear," Evander confirmed, removing the rest of the cobble so they could pass through. The four emerged from the tunnel and into the cave, however Cassius' face dropped.

"What's wrong?" Donata asked.

"That wall," Cassius pointed; a cobblestone wall had been constructed, built roughly halfway across the lava pool, blocking off the other side. "That wall is new, it wasn't there last night." The other three looked at each other as Cassius approached where he was mining. "They've been back down here, I can tell. They've mined more Obsidian."

"Then we need to move quickly," Rufus said vigilantly, making his way up the cave. With no other choice, the others followed.

"Wait," Donata stopped them, "When should we drink our potions?"

"How long do they last?" Evander asked.

"About two minutes?" Donata guessed before Evander turned to Cassius.

"Do you remember how long it took to come down here, from the room with the Hell Gate?"

Cassius shrugged, "I'm not sure; ten minutes?"

"Well, when we get close, let us know, and we'll drink then," Evander decided, the others nodding in their agreement. Carefully and quietly, the four heroes made their way through the cave system.


Author's Note: Big stuff is about to happen in the next chapter! Stay tuned and review!