I knew that the people in Ruxomar were trying to make a portal at least, so I wanted to be prepared in case they succeeded. We needed an escape route as soon as possible, after all.

Ianite squinted thoughtfully into the air. "Ruxomar's portal block isn't a normal block we have here. It looks quite a bit like quartz, though. To make it, I'd have to fuse together different objects. I could have Spark go looking for them, if you want. I have some spare quartz left over from a trade I made with Dianite long ago."

"Sounds good to me," I said, trying to contain my excitement. Ruxomar. Dagrun. Urulu. I could go back one day. "What should I do in the meantime? There's no training."

She shrugged. "Go about your normal business, I guess." We heard a faint whirring in the distance, and she jumped to her feet. "Spark must be here! I'll ask him to fetch the materials, but don't worry, I won't tell him what it's for."

"Okay, thank you." I watched her run off before heading back to my own boat. I had rushed out here early in the morning, so Alyssa wouldn't get suspicious. I had to hurry back to the house to tell her where I was going to be.

I sailed back through the portal and made my way to the green castle. It was a lovely morning, with a cool breeze running through the air. Dianite wasn't present. I headed up the stairs and through the tiny gate to find Alyssa already downstairs.

"Hey, Dad. I'm going to try to find animals to bring home today. Is that fine with you?" she asked, not caring about the fact that I had been out.

"Yeah, sweetie, that's fine. Just make sure they stay in the pen outside, alright? I don't want smelly animals tearing up my crops." She nodded in understanding. "Speaking of crops, I'm running low on food. I'm going to go exploring for more, is that fine with you?"

"Yeah, that's fine. We're running low on eggs, anyway. This is one of the last ones." She gazed sadly at the tiny egg on her plate. "Are the others going with you?"

"No, we're all splitting up today. Spark is fetching things for Ianite, and I believe that Jeriah and Redbeard are going to be building more ships. Ours have been falling apart lately." I stood up and grabbed the necessary materials I'd need for the trip, as well as my god-killing sword, just in case. I really hoped Dianite wouldn't attack while we were all split up, but I had to prepare for the worst.

"Oh, ok." She finished her egg and stood up to clean off her plate. "Well, bye, Dad."

I set off to gather materials. It was a long walk, but I finally made it to a biome that we didn't regularly visit. I brought a mule with me, so it could carry a chest on its back and hold the materials once I ran out of space. I came across a group of chickens right away, with eggs laying everywhere.

"Perfect, perfect," I said as I gathered them up. They were one of Alyssa's favorite foods, and she had them for breakfast whenever she could. These were nice and fresh, just how she liked it.

I traveled on to find a place covered in mushrooms. I harvested as many as I could, delighted at the thought of having stew for dinner. Now that was a meal we didn't have often! I took more than I needed so the others could have a nice dinner as well. Perhaps, I thought, with my mind running wild, I could teach Alyssa to cook, and we could run the abandoned Dine At Night restaurant together. That was a lovely possibility.

After a few hours of collecting, I figured it was time to start heading back, and then travel in a new direction. My inventory was full, and so was the chest. I'd quickly drop the items off in the house, and then keep going. I thought about stopping to check on Alyssa, but figured she was alright. Nothing ever happened to her while I was gone before, so there was no reason for me to worry now.

I headed back through the desert, in no rush. It was quite a nice day, and I was taking in the sunshine. There were no clouds for miles. It would've been hot, but there was a nice breeze running through the air. I was in a pretty good mood, and in a state of relaxation, until I was starting to approach my castle.

Something was terribly wrong.

You know when something is burning, and you can faintly smell it? Like if you left something cooking for too long, and then walked to the other side of the house. You can smell that something is off, and alarms are going off in your mind. That's what it felt like when Dianite was present. And I could tell that he was here now.

"Oh my god, Alyssa!" I hissed, drawing my sword and running towards the castle. Where did she say she was going to be, again? Looking for animals? She could be anywhere!

I quickly put the mule back into the stable and jumped on my horse. I needed to find Alyssa as soon as possible. As far as I knew, she was completely unarmed. This was not good.

"Alyssa!" I called, speeding around. "A-ly-ssa!" I was starting to panic when I heard a scream in the distance. Not that a scream was particularly comforting either.

"DIANITE! STOP!" I heard a girl scream. Feeling dizzy with terror, I took off in the direction of the scream. "I NEVER DID ANYTHING TO Y..." Her screams were suddenly cut short.

"Oh my god! OH MY GOD!" I hollered. "ALYSSA! ALYSSA!" I doubted she could hear me, but I screamed anyway. Her voice was cut off. What happened? She can't be dead, she can't be dead!

"YOU HAVE LOST!" Dianite's voice thundered throughout the land. "EVERYTHING ENDS NOW, WEAKLINGS! EVERYTHING. ENDS. NOW."

I started to scream again, but I was so stunned with shock and fear that my voice broke immediately. Tears forming in my eyes, I arrived just in time to see Dianite, who had finally appeared, grab Alyssa, who was completely tied up, and jump into the nether portal behind him.