Now that none of the group is stuck inside some sort of nightmare, the group heads out, intending to find some way outside of this underground civilization they have been trapped in for the last few days.

“Hey Fore, can you find that talking distortion again?” Kayde asks, eager to get back to finding a way out of there.

“Hold on, I know we all want to get out of here, but we are exhausting ourselves running around all the time, especially if the thing we are running towards is dangerous, which we know it is. Let’s just rest at least for a moment so we can recollect ourselves,” Gwendolyn suggests upon hearing Kayde start to get ready to move out.

Kayde looks around the room and sees that people are nodding at different points Gwendolyn is making.

“Fine,” he relents, “but let’s not stay in this basement anymore,” he notes as he walks upstairs back into the house they have been hiding out in.

As they climb the stairs up to the main floor, Drakthar informs the others of what is on his mind, “My power armor, it’s still where we fell. I need to go get it. You guys rest, I’ll be back”.

“Let me go with you,” Kali requests, not wanting him to venture out into the distortion infested streets alone.

“No, rest. I will be fine,” Drakthar tells her, his cold tone masking the concern he feels towards her.

“Okay, be careful,” she tells him, considering hugging him while she says it, but ultimately deciding not to.

“Don’t worry Kali I’ll go with him, I’m kind of bored and I wasn’t stuck in some weird hallucination slash nightmare so I don’t need the rest,” Kayde declares, heading towards the door with Drakthar.

Drakthar doesn’t disagree, letting Kayde join him as the two of them head out towards where they fell down to recover Drakthar’s power armor.

“They’ll be alright,” Lunette comments as they watch the two of them leave, knowing the room is a little tense.

“Hey, I found two beds, one of ya want them? Or…” Jorge asks, having searched the house while the others were watching Drakthar and Kayde leave. They look back at him with blank faces, not really thinking about the sleeping arrangement with everything else on their minds.

“Ya know what I’ll take the couch and let ya kids figure it out,” Jorge notes, noticing their reactions and laying down on the couch. He closes his eyes still clutching a bottle of whiskey to remind him in his dreams that he won’t be without alcohol again.

“I can be the lookout if you guys want, I’ll just be here looking out windows…” Lunette trails off after offering. Xander, Gwendolyn, and Kali don’t question it, going to find the beds Jorge mentioned.

Xander lies down on the bed expecting Gwendolyn to lie down next to him, but she takes a seat beside him instead.

“Hey, Xander… can you tell me what you saw?” She requests, having been extremely curious, but not wanting to ask him for the details in front of the larger group.

“I’d rather not, but if you really want to know I can tell you,” Xander notes, turning on his side so she is in the center of his field of view.

“No… you’re right, I guess it isn’t important. You just rest up, I want you in top shape for when we move out again,” Gwendolyn agrees, not wanting to force him to do something he doesn’t want to again.

She kisses him before leaving the room to the next one over.

“Hey Gwendolyn,” Kali greets her from the bed, this being the other room with one.

“Oh, sorry Kali, I didn’t know you were in here,” Gwendolyn apologizes, looking to go through another door.

“It’s okay… I kind of wanted to talk to someone,” Kali notes, stopping Gwendolyn from exiting.

“Sure, I can do that,” Gwendolyn smiles a little, glad Kali feels comfortable confiding in her.

“I… um, I’m confused… maybe a little hopeful, but mostly confused,” Kali starts to try and explain.

“Is this about what Drakthar whispered to you?” Gwendolyn asks, wanting to know what he said without outright asking her what he said.

“Yeah, well some other stuff that goes along with that, but yeah… mainly that,” Kali confirms, stumbling over her words a little. Gwendolyn simply looks at her intently, showing she is ready to listen to what Kali has to say.

“Okay,” Kali exhales, ready to get to it,

“So… he told me that he cared about me and wouldn’t leave me”. She waits to see Gwendolyn’s reaction to that, but she just sees the same unwavering expression on her face.

“Which normally you would think wouldn’t mean that much, but I feel like coming from Drakthar… maybe it does. Or maybe I am reading into it too much, I mean he did try to say that in the Sacrosanct too, but he didn’t really put it into words, but I could tell it was what he meant. I feel hopeful about it, but maybe that’s because I just have gotten nothing from him for so long that this makes me really happy you know?” Kali rambles on, not making complete sense between the two situations she is referencing.

“So… what do you think?” Kali asks Gwendolyn, looking for her input.

“Yeah, he likes you. I think it makes sense that you’re excited by it. I mean, he did stop fighting an extremely powerful enemy just to help you back in the Sacrosanct, so I would say things are looking good for you,” Gwendolyn gives her take on it.

“Yeah, but I feel like that is more of a bad thing. For Drakthar I think he sees that an annoyance more than anything. I don’t think he likes a woman who needs saving,” Kali points out, wishing that wouldn’t have happened altogether.

“I guess you could be right, but still I’ve never seen him look at anybody else how he looks at you. I’d say you’re definitely melting away at that cold heart of his,” Gwendolyn smiles as she tells her friend.

“Thanks, Gwendolyn, I uh… I’m glad. Can’t let you be the only one of us that has a happy ending,” Kali thanks her for giving her opinion on all this.

“We’ll see, I mean that only happens if we make it out of this place,” Gwendolyn points out while cringing, knowing there is no assurance that will happen.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to bring it up. Why don’t you get some sleep, I’ll go help Lunette keep watch,” Gwendolyn apologizes as she gets up and leaves the room to go back to the front.

Meanwhile, Kayde and Drakthar move along the sides of buildings, peering into the street to see if it is devoid of distortions before moving closer to where his power armor lies.

“So how are you going to carry it? You know without the horse,” Kayde asks, not seeing how he is going to move it around so easily down here without the cart.

“I’m going to wear it, I’ll put this suit in my bag of holding,” Drakthar responds.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense,” Kayde notes, following behind Drakthar into the next street. The two of them eventually find the crushed cart, the sand all around it marking it as the spot they feel down here from.

As Drakthar changes into it, Kayde looks up, squinting to see if he can spot the hole they entered through. He sees the tiniest of dots, the light present, but so far away it is barely visible.

“Let’s go,” Drakthar comments once he has everything back on.

“Hey, what do you think was up with that talking distortion? I mean not that it could talk, but remember when it touched Xander and turned white? I’ve never seen one of them do that when touching someone,” Kayde brings up, while they take the dimly lit streets back to where the others are waiting.

“Don’t know,” Drakthar responds plainly, actually not knowing why the distortion reacted the way it did to touching Xander.

“Did any of the other distortions we encountered touch him? I can’t remember,” Kayde asks, trying to think back on it.

“Yes, outside of the desert capital. The large one the two of us fought touched him,” Drakthar recalls, not forgetting such an intense bout.

“Oh yeah, our first fight with Jorge. I guess this distortion really must be special then… thought it could have been something about Xander, but I guess not,” Kayde concludes, not considering that it could have been a mix of both that caused the reaction.

They make it back to the house and see Lunette and Gwendolyn waiting inside with a sleeping Jorge on the couch.

“I see you found it,” Gwendolyn notes as Drakthar enters wearing his power armor.

“Yeah we did, and neither of us went insane. A successful trip if you ask me,” Kayde states confidently as he settles down inside, petting Fore as he takes a seat on the floor next to him.

“So, after the others are awake I’m thinking we use Fore to find the talking distortion, and when we find him we ask him some hard-hitting questions, like are you always that white or nah? And what is up with his complexion? I guess we could ask about a way out of here too, but those other things, man am I curious,” Kayde goes over the plan with those present.

“Sounds fine, how do we want to deal with this thing, last time you guys encountered it you ended up having to carry Kali and Xander back here. I don’t want us to just go in there without a plan as to how we will get it to talk,” Gwendolyn points out, not wanting history to repeat itself.

“Keep your distance, weapons drawn. If it moves fire,” Drakthar states plainly, finding this the best method of making things cooperate.

“Sounds as good as anything, but don’t just kill it randomly, we want to talk to it first,” Kayde reminds them, knowing the distortion is likely their only living source of information on this place.

“Fore, not now but soon we are going to search for that talking fire guy again. You think you can find him for us?” Kayde asks while scratching him behind the ear.

“Oh yeah,” Fore responds, mostly from the scratching behind his ear, but to the other thing too.

“Fore can do it, we just need these sleepy heads to wake up and then we can move out,” Kayde declares, more eager than ever to figure things out down here. A couple of hours later the others wake up from their naps, gathering in the living room at the front of the house, preparing to come face to face with the talking distortion.

The group follows Fore as he begins to run out to the front. He starts nonchalantly weaving through streets and alleyways, carving a curious path forward that doesn’t make much sense if one was traveling in a specific direction.

“Hey, I’m glad you made it back okay,” Kali tells Drakthar as they follow Fore.

“Yeah,” Drakthar tries to keep things brief, not wanting her to bring up what he told her back in the cell when she woke up.

“Are you worried? About this thing?” Kali continues to ask him questions, despite his one-word answers.

“No,” Drakthar replies again, still trying to get her to stop.

“I guess you wouldn’t be… I am though. I just want to get out of here, you know?” Kali notes, not letting his short answers deter her.

Drakthar nods, turning his head to look forward as Fore rounds a corner, disappearing behind a building. As they turn the same corner they see it, in the middle of a large plaza, curled beside a gazebo in the middle of the plaza, is the sand dragon, or what is left of it.

The same distorted fire surrounds the dragon’s mangled form. Its head turns towards them, loosing a terrible roar before getting on its legs, seeking revenge for what they have reduced it to.

The group springs into action; Kayde and Lunette run off towards a nearby building, intending to get a good angle from a rooftop to snipe the beast from. Xander, Drakthar, and Kali rush to the front, leaving Gwendolyn and Jorge to ready their bow and fireballs to fire at the monstrosity before them.

“How many times do we need to kill this thing?” Kayde asks himself as he and Lunette make it on top of the building.

“Twice, no wait you killed it before that too... three times,” Lunette responds as if he was actually curious.

“Should we aim for the eyes this time? It has no eyes…” Lunette points out as she fires at it.

“No, obviously that won’t help, I think it is more like a husk, however, it is seeing, it isn’t related to its eyes,” Kayde agrees, focusing his shots at the middle of the beast so they are guaranteed to hit.

On the ground, the dragon tries to rush towards the three approaching it, feeling an urge to strike them and afflict them with insanity.

“Stand back, it only needs to hit you once,” Drakthar warns the others, planning to stop its advance himself.

“That goes for you too,” Kali tells him as the dragon collides with Drakthar, she watches as he holds it back, bracing against it as he holds its teeth, the distorted flames never making it through his power armor.

The others take free shots at it now that it is being held in place; the damage done to it causes the flames to start to fade a little. Sensing it is getting closer to disappearing, the dragon backs away, roaring before starting to dig into the pavement below it, relying on its instincts to flee before it will not get the opportunity.

The beast cracks the earth below it, causing tremors to start to roll through and around the plaza. They never stop shooting at it while it attempts to make its way further underground, causing its movements to become more frantic.

The tremors erupt into a full-blown quake, shaking the buildings around them, causing them to start to collapse.

“Get to the center!” Gwendolyn calls out, warning the others so they are as far away from the crumbling buildings as possible.

They make their way there and wait, watching as rubble from the destroyed buildings around them rain down into the plaza.

“Kayde and Lunette,” Kali notes as she watches the building they were on top of come crashing down.

She starts to try and run towards it, but Drakthar grabs her wrist, “You are only putting yourself in danger if you go to help them now. You can’t do anything for them”. Kali knows he is right; she stops, waiting with the others as they stare at the falling buildings.

The dragon, for all of its efforts, gets crushed by the falling rubble, the distorted fire surrounding it fading while the lifeless husk remains amidst the pile. Eventually, the tremors stop, leaving the group standing in the middle of the plaza surrounded by the destruction of this single dragon.

They start to climb over the debris towards the building Kayde and Lunette were on the roof. As they approach they see a figure in the distance walking towards them. Kayde is standing above the rubble, holding Lunette in his arms.

Once they get closer they see how bad it really is, Lunette is covered in blood, one of her legs also crushed, hanging down lifelessly from her mangled body.

“Is she alive?” Xander asks as he stumbles over some rubble to help Kayde.

“Yes, but I don’t know for how long,” Kayde responds as he sets her down.

“She is going to be fine, none of this ever happened,” Xander notes as he reverses time as far back as he can go.

He finds himself in the plaza, mid-fight with the sand dragon turned distortion. Without thinking about it for a second he sprints towards the building Kayde and Lunette are in, hoping to get them out of there before the dragon can attempt to burrow underground.

“Where are you going?” Kali asks him as she sees him run, but he doesn’t hear her, too focused on preventing the future where Lunette is gravely injured. Xander makes his way up the stairs, seeing the two of them intently focused on targeting the dragon.

He looks down and notices it start to dig into the ground. Without saying anything he grabs a hold of the two of them and switches all of them with the entire gazebo in the middle of the plaza.

The others run there as well, the entire group reconvening to watch the surrounding infrastructure crumble around them.

“Woah, did you turn back time buddy?” Kayde asks, quickly realizing what would have happened if he and Lunette remained on that building.

“Yeah, but it’s fine now. We beat the sand dragon again,” he comments as they all watch the flames fade and the body of the legendary sand dragon rest for its final time.

“Next time don’t lead us past a giant dragon distortion,” Kayde tells Fore as they climb over the debris to continue on in finding the humanoid distortion.

“Huh? It worked out fine,” Fore notes cheerily as he scampers over the rubble.

They make it outside of the plaza, following Fore two blocks before he stops at a door. They look and see what seems like a warehouse, but it isn’t as shabby as the one in Melusarej owned by the Bears, despite the chipping paint from years of decay.

Drakthar enters first, pushing the door open to spot the distortion sitting casually at a single desk in the middle of the empty warehouse. His flames are no longer bright white, as they were when they last saw him, but they are much brighter than they were when they first encountered him.

He turns his burnt head to see the group of people start to enter and slowly spread out around him, carefully reaching for their weapons.

“You figured out how to stop the insanity, good for you. I have never seen that happen before,” the distortion nonchalantly compliments them.

Once everyone has him completely surrounded, their weapons drawn, Kayde starts to ask the questions, “So, do you know a way out of here?”

“Maybe, but that isn’t important,” the distortion stands, getting ready to approach one of them.

“I just want another fix,” he rushes towards Xander, expecting to take him by surprise. This time Xander is ready for it, teleporting himself across the room so he is over by Kayde.

“Why do you want Xander so badly? Is he why you turned white?” Kayde asks after viewing the distortion’s actions.

“I want him because without his energy I would have never have been able to do this,” the distortion states as he raises his hand above him.

They all watch as above them a portal appears, a bit of hope starting to be felt as this presents a way out of this place for them. That hope is crushed as they see a giant eye begin to emerge from that portal; it belongs to the same black monster that was summoned before at the tower in the alternate timeline.

It is then that Kayde, Xander, Drakthar, and Jorge confirm for themselves that distortion they saw then with the Scientist and this one are the same. The pressure from the incoming creature pushes them to the floor, unable to stand due to whatever force this thing is exuding. It lands in the middle of the warehouse, peering directly at Xander as it lets out an ear-shattering screech.

They all start to slide backward, Drakthar tries to slam his axe into the ground to prevent it, but even that is not strong enough of an anchor to prevent him from being swept up by the monster’s pressure.

“Guys behind us!” Lunette is the one to yell as they turn their heads to see what she means. On each wall is a portal, and all of them are being pushed towards one of the four of them.

Xander stops looking at the wall and instead tries to find Gwendolyn, his eyes don’t find her, she must be on the other side of this monster. He stops time; attempting to elongate the time he has before he is pushed into the portal. But it does nothing; he can only continue to slide backward, feeling helpless in a situation where one of his other powers would have been able to help them if he was able to use them.

He outstretches his arm as he and the others all fall into a portal, escaping from this underground civilization, but to different places and times, they are unable to predict.