The four of them left the ruins of the dungeon. They where set on returning to the shack so that they can return to the real world and assumed that Thomas returned there out of boredom. On their way there, they questioned whether or not they were heading the right direction. The entire world was transformed into a hellish-like demonic land. Nothing was recognized as the world they once knew in the game.
Not only the land changed, but the monsters as well. They decided to avoid all encounters due to not being prepared for the fights. All they were set upon doing was heading back to the real world and hope that Thomas was alright.
As for the Orb of Desire, it was not found. The room that held the orb was, as the rest of the dungeon, piled high with the remains of the dungeon, making it unrecoverable. Muscle Man, of course, was furious from this, while the others accepted that it couldn't have been helped. The orb didn't matter at this time. All that mattered was getting back in one piece.
They arrived back to what they believed was their town. Humanoid demon-like beings roamed the town. They weren't hostile, but they groaned, hissed, moved and walked like the dead. Mordecai attempted to converse with some of them, but they seemed to either pay him little to no heed, or stared at him with blank expressions. He eventually gave up and was focused on finding their shack.
Luckily they did. The shack was still in its regular condition. The four of them went inside and all of them approached the stone in the center of the room. They all touched the stone and their conciseness in the real world returned to them.
However, Thomas was still in a dormant state.
"Oh no..." Mordecai said worryingly. "...He never got out."
"Well..." Rigby pondered, "...Maybe when he gets killed he'll come back."
"Do we even know what happens when we die in the game?" Fives inquired.
"Now that you mention it," Rigby added, "none of us have died in that game."
"I'm glad you brought that up Rigby," Mordecai said, "cause there's something that I wanted to find out when we finally got out of the game."
Mordecai looked at Muscle Man.
"Muscle Man," Mordecai said, "Roll up your left sleeve."
"Umm, okay but-"
Muscle Man stopped mid sentance to gasp heavily when he rolled up his shirt all the way. A huge wound lined across from Muscle Man's shoulder to his elbow.
"Woah dude!" Fives exclaimed, "What the heck happened to your arm?!"
"I don't know!" Muscle Man shouted.
"Muscle Man," Mordecai said sternly, "remember when we first started the game and you recklessly tried to fight a powerful skeleton on your own and got slashed in the left arm with your sword?"
"Yeah, I do." Muscle Man said. "Now that you mention it, the wound looks exactly like this one!"
"I hope you're not suggesting what I think you're suggesting, Mordecai." Rigby said nervously.
"I am." Mordecai said woefully. "It looks like what happens to us in the game, happens to us in real life."
Everyone remained silent. Rigby pressed his back against a nearby wall and slid down it.
"Oh man," Rigby pondered, "do you realize how many dangerous situations we were in? We could have been killed!"
"Imagine if I missed any of my fire balls." Fives said. "It could have costed our lives!"
"I don't know about you bros," Muscle Man said, "but I'm never touching this game again."
"...But guys!" Mordecai pleaded. "What about Thomas?"
Nobody answered.
"We can't leave him in there." Mordecai said.
"Dude," Fives said, "Thomas is most likley a goner."
"But look at his body, he's still alive!" Mordecai said. "Rigby? Muscle Man?"
"I'm sorry bro," Muscle Man said, "but I've lost the will to fight now that I know my life is on the line."
Mordecai sighed, walked over to the table and pressed his arms on it. He remained silent while the others observe him being deep in thought as he stared at the table.
"Well I'm not going to let death stop me from saving Thomas. As long as he's still breathing, I'll keep fighting."
Mordecai looked back at Muscle Man.
"That is my will to fight."
Mordecai looked back at the table and touched the stone. His eyes glowed as before and his body fell into a near by chair.
Inside the world of Mythic Quest, he appeared in the house. He walked to the back of the shack where a chest was kept in a corner. He opened it and took out a couple of supplies that ranged from healing items, to combat items such as traps, and hand-made bombs. He proceeded to close the chest, but stopped after he heard the sound of a familiar voice.
"Pass me my silver tipped arrows, brave knight." The voice said boldly.
Mordecai looked behind him and smiled at the sight of Rigby. He reached back into the chest and took out a handful of silver tipped arrows and handed them to Rigby. He closed the chest and stood up.
"Glad you could join me." Mordecai said.
"Bro, I always got your back." Rigby said.
The two of them slapped hands and cuffed them briefly. As they did, they heard the voice of shouting in the distance. As the voice drew closer, they could also hear the rustling of chain mail.
"The master said they'd be in this shack!" A deep and sinister voice said. "Search it!"
Rigby peaked outside to see a large group of armored humanoids armed with large two handed swords. Their faces were covered with helmets, except for the radiance of their glowing red eyes.
"There is a whole army of them!" Rigby whispered in dispair. "We're done for!"
Rigby closed the door and joined back beside Mordecai. Both of them pressed their backs against the wall and awaited their imminent doom.
The sound of the door knob turning echoed through the shack. The door itself opened slowly, and three guards entered the room. One guard looked around, and headed to the back of the room.
The guard slowly approached Mordecai. He got so close he looked at him directly in the face.
However, the guard turned around and rejoined his outer fellow guards.
"Strange, there is no one here." The guard said.
"What the..." Mordecai whispred.
"Shhh!" A voice hushed.
Mordecai and Rigby looked around and eventually caught sight of Fives. He motioned them with his hand to be quiet.
"Probably they already died." Another guard said.
"Not likley," The previous guard said, "the Dark Lord insists that they still draw breath."
"Maybe they are already on their way to his tower." The third guard suggested. "If we go now, we may be able to cut them off, and, you know, cut them."
The other two guards agreed and left the shack. As soon as they left, Rigby slowly approached the door and peaked outside until he saw the armored guards leave the town completely. Rigby turned to face the others.
"Is it me, or are those guards blind?" Rigby said.
"Not quite," Fives said with a smirk, "I used my invisibility spell to completely hide us."
"Thanks a lot Fives, we owe you one." Mordecai said.
"No... No you don't." Fives said with a sad expression. "You can't put a price on a life, which is something I wish I realized right away. Now let's go save Thomas!"
"Yeah!" Rigby said while thrusting his fist in the air. "...But what about Muscle Man?"
"I tried to convince him to come, but it's no use." Fives said. "He seemed really terrified to go back in. I never seen him so spooked."
"I don't blame him." Mordecai said. "This place would scare anyone. Even Muscle Man."
"Especially if your life is on the line." Rigby added.
"Oh well, it can't be helped." Mordecai said. Come on let's go find Thomas."
"Where do we start? He could be anywhere." Fives said.
"The guards mentioned a Dark Lord who is looking for us." Mordecai said. "Our best bet is to confront him."
"I hope you're sure about this bro." Rigby said worryingly."
"Even if I'm wrong, defeating him will probably revert the world back to it's original state." Mordecai said.
"Guess it's worth a shot." Rigby said.
The three of the exited the shack. Mordecai eventually fixed his gaze upon a tall black tower. The top of it had a purple fog surrounding it.
"There it is." Mordecai said while pointing to it. "You guys ready."
"Ready." Rigby said.
"Let's go." Fives said.
With new-found courage, the three of them began making their way to the dark tower in hopes of saving Thomas.