The priest had left the house early that morning, to work on something with Mianite. I had just woken up, and was about to make myself breakfast when I heard a knock at the door. At least, it seemed to be a knock. It was more like something made of metal scraping against the wooden entrance.

Confused and tired, I made my way to the door and opened it slowly. When I was faced with a large metal statue with glowing red eyes with knives as fingernails, well, it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I let out a scream and jumped back, but relaxed slightly when it started to laugh.

"Hey, boyo. Sorry I scared you, the prototype is a little creepy-looking. Mind if I come in?" Dianite asked. His metal mouth curved into a small smile when I looked even more shocked than before. Even though it was just a creepy suit of armor grinning at me, the thought of my god, who hadn't had a face in years, smiling, was a wonderful thought.

"A little?" I joked, stepping out of the way. "Sure, come in."

He wobbled over to the table where I was preparing breakfast, and clumsily pulled out a chair and sat down. "Deviser made a very basic model, but I wanted to use it anyway. Any way to have a body."

"Well, hopefully it won't take him too long to make a better one." I made a cup of tea and sat down next to him. "Anything to update me on? Besides the mech suit?"

He sighed, which looked funny on the robot face. "Mianite has to speak to you and the sky people. Andor found something out overnight. We have to meet him in the Nether."

I almost spat out my tea. "What? The Nether? Now?" I jumped to my feet. "But... I'm not even sure where the nearest Nether portal is! There might be one near Sparklez's place... no, there was just one in his old place. But then..."

Dianite grinned again, got up, and put his metal hands on my shoulders. With a burst of light, we teleported from the kitchen, and arrived on a Netherrack platform. The suit wasn't made to handle teleportation very well, and Dianite almost fell upon arrival. I let him lean on me for support.

"Does Mot have to come too?" Mianite asked, scowling at me. What had I ever done to him?

"Yes, he does. He isn't related to you or Helgrind in any way, so he has as much of an advantage as you do," Dianite said firmly.

"Whoa, whoa, hang on. Can someone explain this?" I looked around as, one by one, three sky people and one wizard appeared on the platform.

"Sorry I'm late," Sparklez wheezed, out of breath. "I flew down to see if Tom was coming, but he's got Thaumeria. Looks like it's just us four." He turned and saw me. "Well, I guess Mot makes five."

"Then I guess you can begin," Mianite said, nodding to Andor. The nervous-looking boy was standing beside the god, looking incredibly awkward (it might have been the fact that he was a foot shorter than Mianite). Clutching his old boomerang for support, he cleared his throat and started to speak.

"I was unable to track my father for a very long time. I was wondering if sending him to the Nether had killed him for a while. Then, yesterday, I sensed something that seemed like his body. It's somewhere hovering above the ocean of lava behind me. However, Mianite and I are repelled when we try to venture any further than this. You five, on the other hand, have no relation to Helgrind, so you can advance freely. I need you to see what's holding him back, and bring him home, if you can." His voice broke on the last part, and I felt incredibly sorry for him. The poor kid had lost so much.

Sparklez looked just as sorry for him as I felt. "We'll do our best, Andor." The other four spread their wings and started to fly over the lava ocean, while the poor boy watched them longingly. I was about to fly after them when a metal hand was placed on my shoulder.

"Look, Mot. There's going to be some pretty bad stuff out there. If you, you know, ever want to bail out..." Dianite began, his voice fading into a mumble.

"Are you saying I'm not going to be able to handle what the sky people are doing?" I snapped.

His gaze softened. "No, no, it's just that... sorry. But just take this, okay?" He reached out and handed me a small teleportation device. "If you click the button, you'll teleport to me. You know, in case."

"Got it." It warmed my heart to think that he cared so much about me. "Bye, Dianite."

Five Netherrack islands sat in a river of blood. Each island had a statue of one of the five sky people, and a waterfall of blood gushing onto it. A voice hissed instructions at us.

"Go to your island," it whispered, it's voice creepy and robotic. The sound of it made me wince. "Swim up the blood falls. You will be faced with many difficult tasks. You will be unable to fly. It will be unlike any other mission you have ever been on. Now go, and do what you can. Prove yourselves."

I didn't like the sound of that, but it didn't seem to bother the others. Each went to their respective islands, took a deep breath, and plunged into the blood. With no island of my own, I took Tom's island and started swimming up my waterfall. The fact that we were being separated right from the beginning made me very, very uneasy.

As I swam up the fall, Tom's distorted voice yelled at me. "Why couldn't you be better? You're always so lazy. Be more like the other heroes!"

Shocked, I exited the blood and saw a pit of lava surrounded by a bunch of Dianite's heads. "Who's there?" I called out, but it didn't seem to be an actual person speaking.

"See! You did this to your own god! You were his loyal follower, and then you betrayed him. It's your fault Dianite's dead in this world too! It's always your fault!" the voice shrieked.

"Is this Tom's nightmare?" I wondered aloud, appalled. I had never known that this is what he thought of himself.

"Dianite was quick to replace you with Mot!" the voice cried, making my eyes widen with shock. I was a part of Tom's nightmare? "He's so much better than you. Be more like him! Dianite never wanted you anyway. You were just Mot's temporary filler. Now that he's here, you might as well leave. Jericho has Firefoxx, and Sparklez has made other friends now. Forget Syndisparklez. You were never truly wanted."

I couldn't take much more of this. I swam faster and faster up the blood waterfall, desperate to avoid hearing any more of Tom's private thoughts. I shouldn't have come. This was a terrible idea. But I couldn't bail out yet.

Finally, I reached a glass dome, and the voice faded away. All I had left to do was climb up this strange pathway, and then I could reach what seemed to be the top. I leapt from landing to landing, carefully making my way up to the top. After a while of trying, I reached what seemed to be a jail. Sparklez was standing over me, and he helped me into the cell.

"What is this?" I asked him in a hushed voice. "And did you have nightmares too?"

He looked slightly pale. "Er... yeah. Ianite was saying some things to me. I don't really want to talk about it. But, anyway, this is Dagrun's jail. This is where the four of us woke up when we arrived in Ruxomar. This is where our journey began."

"Oh." The five of us cautiously approached the iron doors, but there seemed to be no way to open it. "How do you think we get..." I began, but was cut off by an explosion. The iron doors burst, and flames lit up the area around it. We all jumped back in fear, but there seemed to be nothing behind it. The explosion was just letting us through.

"This is creepy," Firefoxx said, shuddering as she exited the jail. I couldn't blame her. The sky was dark red, and everything seemed quiet. "I don't like it."

"Nobody seems to be around," Jericho observed, peering over the edge at the rest of the town. "Usually this place is so busy." Suddenly, we heard a squelching noise behind us. We jumped, and saw a golem made of flesh approaching us. It's round face was ugly and distorted, and it was less than half our height. The wizard hit it with his sword, and it died instantly.

"Look over here," Sparklez called. He had run up the cobblestone steps to the castle above us. When we followed him, we were faced with a row of chests. "The signs say that we need to collect keys. I guess the castle doors will open if we get all three." He squinted at the entrance, which was made of dead flesh and intestines. "Is it a door?"

I felt like I was about to puke. "I'm not sure I want to know what's inside that castle. Let's just go look for the keys."

The others, who didn't seem to be bothered by how disturbing this place was, nodded and walked back down. I followed, gripping the teleportation device Dianite had given me for comfort. We explored the empty streets, and I found myself getting more and more repulsed as we continued. However, nothing compared to when I reached the end of the town.

"Is... is the ocean made of blood?" I gasped, absolutely horrified. Jericho, who was walking up behind me, leaned over and peered down at it.

"Yeah, I guess so." He frowned at the look on my face. "Are you okay? Is this too much for you?"

How were the sky people fine with all of this. "Yeah, I'm alright," I lied, forcing myself to look away from the blood. I tried to stay on the regular path, while the others climbed up ships and onto buildings to gather the keys. Something felt wrong about this place. Something was off. And I didn't really want to stick around and find out what.

"Hey, look!" Sparklez cried suddenly, pointing upward. "Pictures are forming in the sky!"

Sure enough, shapes had begun to form in the scarlet abyss above us. Jericho, Firefoxx, and Waglington shrugged and kept looking, but Sparklez and I sat down to observe it together. While I didn't want to look at most of this town ever again, I found that I was unable to look away from the changing sky.

But this was the worst part.

A scene was painted in the sky. It was Martha and Steve, and they were watching a baby girl trying to walk. "Steve!" Martha gasped. "Look! Our little girl's walking all on her own!"

"Great job!" Steve cheered, grinning at the girl. "She's amazing. Just like her mum."

Martha rolled her eyes. "You flatterer, come here..." They embraced, and then the scene dissolved into the sky. Immediately, another one began to form. This time, Spark and Ianite appeared. My heart began to shatter at the sight of my friend, who I had left behind.

"Where's my little man?" Ianite giggled, tucking a strand of her long hair behind her ear. Another wave of pain struck me as I realized that this was the Ianite from this realm, not the one I knew. Or was she really just the same person, but with different experiences?

"Right by your side, milady," Spark laughed, walking faster to keep up with her.

She giggled with him. "You always had quick feet, even in your old age."

"It comes with the task of keeping up with you." The scene faded away, and was replaced by Andor and Alva. Andor couldn't have been older than ten, which was his age when he used to play with Alyssa. The two siblings were fighting over the boomerang in this image.

"I want to throw!" Alva begged in her little kid voice. She tried to reach for the boomerang, but Andor held it out of her reach.

"No. It's too big for you. Go throw a leaf." He sighed and turned away from her.

She stomped her foot. "A leaf don't throw like that!" she whined.

"Then throw a stick," he snapped. Freya walked into the scene, shaking her head.

"Andor, let the little one play with the boomerang," she scolded her son. "Grandmother would've encouraged it."

Helgrind rushed in, and took the boomerang out of Andor's hand. "Freya, you know I don't like them playing with my boomerang!"

The scene faded, and it was replaced by the worst one.

I appeared in the sky, with Alyssa. But the strange thing was that she looked to be about nine or ten. She had been six when we left Ruxomar. Was this a possible future, if we hadn't gone through the portal?

"Dad?" she asked, walking up behind me and giving me a hug. "When are you going to go see Dia?"

I ruffled her hair. "In a bit, kiddo. Are you going to be fine by yourself, all alone, this weekend?"

"Of course!" she laughed, and my heart melted. "You need your Dia-time, and I need my alone time!"

"You brat," I teased. Alyssa giggled and ran away. But, when the other-me turned away from her, the sadness on my face was very clear. All of the pain Dianite made me feel, all of the depressed thoughts I had, all of it seemed to be contained in that one face.

Something inside me snapped. I suddenly felt as if I needed Dianite. I was never meant to be away from him.

And I definitely wasn't meant to be here.

"Umm... Mot?" Sparklez asked hesitantly, but his voice sounded like an echo over the pounding of my heart. "You're crying. Is this too much for you? Maybe you should head back."

My hands shaking, I pulled out the teleportation device. My trembling finger hovered over the button. "I... I'm sorry, Sparklez. I wasn't meant to come here. This is too much for me. I don't want to let you down, but I can't stay here any longer."

"That's okay," he said quietly. "I'll tell the others. Do whatever you think you need to do."

I took a deep breath, forced myself to stop shaking, and pressed the button.

Still sobbing, I appeared in what seemed to be an empty room. Dianite, who was now in a better suit, looked horrified when he saw me. "Mot? What happened?"

I started to tremble again at the sight of him. "I couldn't stand it. Everyone else was fine, but... I wasn't meant to be there."

He hurried toward me and put his arms around me, holding me close to him. "It's okay, boyo. I understand."

Letting my tears soak his metal shoulder, I decided that there was no place I would rather be than in the arms of the man I loved.