Going through a portal was definitely different than teleporting. When I stepped through the portal, rather than everything fade away and then a rush of wind, I felt a sucking sensation like I was being turned inside out. Actually, I did not step into the portal: I stepped near the portal, and it pulled me in by itself.

The other end of the portal was just as rude an awakening as the beginning. It practically spat me out onto the rocky ground on the other side. I hit the ground hard and stuck to it for a moment. Before I had a chance to move, Keia landed on top of me. I heard my back pop, but nothing serious besides it. She crawled off of me, helped me to my feet, and apologized for it. Vegance and Cielto stepped out soon afterwards.

"How come the portal didn't spit you out too?" I asked.

"Necril had me moving around a lot with portals," Vegance said. "I'm used to it."

"I created my own portals, so I'm used to it too," Cielto said. I shrugged and turned around to get my first view of the Nether-realm. The ground was barren rocks floating in mid-air. A bridge of rock stretched out into the distance. The sky was a dark red and cloudless. On the horizon (just above the end of the rock bridge) was a white light. Several other large rocks floated through the sky, some colliding with each other and others just passing by infinitely. A smaller rock flew past my face. I snatched it out of the air and put it in my pocket, just in case.

I peered over the edge of our foothold. The red sky went on forever beneath us. A few more rock bridges extended further beneath us. I kicked a loose rock from its place beside me. It dropped down and fell, bounced off of one of the bridges, and then fell until I could not see it anymore.

"Nowhere to go but forward, I guess," I said.

"Sen's world is hopeless… It's a void," Cielto said. "Follow the path set up for us. We'll eventually reach an end."

The portal behind us closed up. "Definitely," Vegance said. "No turning back now…"

"Let's go forward then." I walked towards the white light, following the rock bridge as I went…

At several points throughout the walk, the temperature and weather changed randomly. It went from the barren rocks and no wind to snow banks and freezing temperatures. Keia clung to me throughout the snow banks until it suddenly went away. Then, it became overbearingly hot, and the environment resembled a desert. I instantly remembered the Wastelands as the arid wind blew across my face. After that, the air became somewhat cool, but the sand remained. Rain dropped from invisible clouds above us.

"What is with this place?" I asked. "The temperature changes are driving me insane!"

"The Nether-realm is known to be chaotic," Cielto said.

I stopped walking. "How do you know so much about this place?" I asked.

"Yeah… You never explained that," Keia said.

"Because I was trapped here once… Portal malfunction. Sen tried to keep me… But I fought back. He made a deal with me… A challenge. Survive, and I can go free…"

"Did you survive?" Keia asked.

"I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't… I only mostly survived, though. He took a part of me… My happiness. I have to settle this deal. That's why I'm here with you…"

"Hmm…" I shrugged, turned around, and took two steps away. "Then all our wishes will be fulfilled after the deed is done…" I continued to walk. The rain and sand went away and was replaced by a floor of leaves and a slight breeze.

"Does it seem like this world mirrors the places we've been in Draconia?" Keia asked.

"As a part of Draconia, barely, it will look like Draconia," Cielto answered. "We'll be going through random environments until we reach the end." The leaves blew away and were replaced by glowing circles of grass. We walked on towards the white light in the distance…

After awhile, all of the random environments disappeared. The rocky ground and red sky from before were back and the world remained that way. The wind had also stopped. In front of us, a massive rock structure resembling a mountain appeared. Our path led into a hole formed out of the mountain.

I looked around: there was nowhere else to go but forward, for the path behind us was gone. "Okay… Here we go," I mumbled. I led everyone into the cave and through the darkness. The cave led down, down, down for what seemed like forever. The air became cooler as we drove on… We turned a corner and continued. Another corner… Down, down, down…

Finally, we stopped when we turned a corner and saw a green light. We stepped into a large room cut from the inside of the mountain. High above, a ball of pure energy twisted and turned while constantly absorbing more power. This ball glowed green and white, bright enough to illuminate the whole room. Sen stood below it on an invisible floor in the center of the room, where I thought there was a hole. Sen turned around to greet us.

"Isn't it impressive? This mass of pure energy, drawn from the world itself…" Sen walked a little closer. "I'll tell you why the alpha fox died… The magicka from the FoxWoods, its life force… I drew from it. That's how he died without the others' power… And Necril's failed experiment, the Dark Lands… A lack of magicka made the magic's he used impossible… The world could not contain it, so it spread. I've been gathering the magicka from your world for a while now… Slowly draining your home to build enough power to destroy it."

"What are you planning to do with that?" I asked.

"This ball of energy contains much of Draconia's magicka, its life force… By draining it all and then delivering it all back at once, I can kill Draconia and the overload it… Draconia should collapse upon itself and disappear from the world…" Sen let out an evil laugh.

"They don't call him the god of destruction for nothing," Vegance whispered.

"I can't let you destroy Draconia!" I said. "It's my home… I must protect it."

"Oh? How about we go to the pit then? We'll finish this in the void…" Sen raised one hand into the air and disappeared. There was a strange sucking sensation and then we were all drawn to the pit in the center of the room. For awhile, I was falling… And then my feet touched a solid ground.