"Where...are we..." Rio groaned as he opened his eyes, not recognising the red flames and strange new surroundings.
"A realm belonging to evil." Aster stood, drawing his sword and looking around.
"How..." Lily began to question but suddenly looked to her left and screamed.
A horde of dark creatures appeared, each having only a mouth and two clawed arms that held open a thick black circle with red, green or purple engravings.
"Watch out!" Aster ran towards the creatures and charged up energy within his sword; slashing the creatures mouths in a downward motion, sometimes in a middle across slash, killing them all shortly.
"Phew..." Zoe said as she shakily stood.
"We should find a way out of here, the other side of this portal could lead us to the Shadow Lord!" Rio declared, and the others agreed; only Aster had a bad feeling.
"Yes, it may, but...what if there is an ambush waiting for us at the end, or on the other side?" He suddenly blurted out.
"Aster...I promise you, if there is, we will fight to save each other, we have to do this. We have to do this to save our world, to save everyone..." Lily said, gently touching his cheek and hugging him.
"Your right, Lils.." He hugged her back before they finally began to trek through the fallen land.
The world they saw here was barren, lava spurted from the ground randomly, the air thick with ash, and jagged teeth-like structures made a barrier against the mass lava plumes and a sea of flames that expanded as far as the eyes could see.
Chains hung from the darkness, and people cried to be saved from these 'nightmares' and this 'torturous hell'
"Damn it!" Aster said, angry as himself for not being able to help them. "I'm supposed to be a beacon of hope for all, and I can't even help these poor people escape here...!" He bit his lip.
"Lord Aster, please do not be discouraged, I now that once the gate is closed, this realm shall fall, and thus, they shall be free." Zoe said, smiling softly at him before turning back and walking further into the realm.
As they reached the end of the long road in the twisted realm: massive clawed beings gathered at the portal that led to the shadow lord's temple.
They had a dark silver mask one, one slit on the left eye to reveal a sinister glow, their body having dark circles going in and lopping perfectly, paired with a red glow for the main body.
One screeched and charged, slamming it's two massive clawed arms down on Zoe, but luckily, she used her scythe and cut the hands off, flipping backwards and kicking it's metal mask with her heels, cracking it a little. She then charged up a purple glow on her scythe and jumped up, rolling down and spinning her scythe in a rolling motion, and sliced the being apart as she landed scythe outstretched in one hand behind her, and feet spread out and crouched.
Aster now jumped in one of the creatures arms and sliced right through his head.
Lily fired a bolt at the creatures core, shocking its metal parts and blowing it up.
Rio kicked the legs on the last one, and easily cut off its core from it's body, killing it.
"That was...easier than I thought..." Zoe commented, before looking at the portal ahead.
"Come on, everyone." Aster said, stepping through the portal.
Right into Bria's trap.