The Blackwyrm Chronicles #1: A Misadventure like no other...

Chapter 43

(The next morning...)

I opened my eyes and allowed a dreary smile to appear on my face, only to be pushed out of bed.

"Shit!" I squeaked, eating wooden planks as I fell to the ground.

I heard Luna laugh her ass off as I scrambled to my feet.

"Yeah, yeah," I grumbled, "Laugh it up, fuzzball."

I heard someone knocking at the door and sighed.

"Get dressed before Soren enters the house please."

"Oh, right," She replied sheepishly.

I rolled my eyes and pushed myself to my feet. I then popped my back and shambled to the front door. Opening the door, I saw Soren standing outside and smiled at him.

"Come in, my friend," I told him, "My team is just starting to wake up, so give me a few moments to get them up."

Soren chuckled, "Very well. When your team is up and ready to go, we'll head over to the portal that'll take us to Mareth."

I nodded, and set myself to the task of waking my friends up. Thankfully, I didn't have to try too hard: Dorrian and Ben were already awake, Luna was currently getting dressed, Stanford stumbled out of his room while trying in vain to comb his hair, and Nova poked her head out of her room. That meant...

"Shit...Ana's still asleep." I hissed, "I'd rather try to wake up a dragoness than wake her up..."

Five minutes later, I was able to wake Ana up and get to safety without dying.

Analise shambled out of her room and glared at me, "Count yourself lucky, asshole."

I sighed, "Come on Ana, get dressed so we can leave for Mareth. Soren's patiently waiting for us, so let's not keep him waiting for too much longer."

She huffed, "Fiiine..."

A few moments later, everyone was ready. Most of us were still bleary-eyed, but we were ready nonetheless.

"So we're going to Mareth?" Nova inquired curiously as she ran a brush through her hair.

"Yeah, we're traveling to Mareth today," I confirmed.

"Oh joy." my sis mumbled in a small voice.

I chuckled, looking at Soren, "Lead the way, Soren. We're -mostly- ready."

He nodded, "Very well. Follow me then. It'll take about thirty minutes to get to the portal on foot."

Leaving the house, we followed Soren to the portal that would take us to the realm of death: Mareth. The portal itself was located in what appeared to be a cavern, which was blocked by a large gate with guards outside to make sure no one got in unnoticed.

"Open the gate please," Soren commanded.

"Of course sir," One of the guards replied.

A few moments later, the gate was opened, and we walked into the cavern.

Seeing the portal was...huh, how do I explain this? Well, for one: a mixture of awe and pure terror washed over me.

"Bloody hell..." Dorrian murmured, "What is that?"

"What you see before you is the portal to Mareth." Soren explained, "I understand your shock: everyone reacts differently to the ancient power of this gateway. It shouldn't exist, yet it does."

The...portal was a pale hue of red: it shimmered as if it were comprised of water, and the aura around this gateway, as Soren called it, seemed to be malevolent and foreboding. The closer we got to this thing, the more my subconscious mind told me to get as far away from it as humanly possible. I shook my head and forced myself to continue moving onward.

Luna shivered as she stood beside me: "This gateway seems to be incomplete. It's almost as if it's...damaged."

Soren nodded solemnly, "Mareth used to be a place of great power: magic used to flow freely through the realm, but now it's little more than a shell of its former self. I must warn you once more: getting used to the alien environment of Mareth will take a few days, so I suggest you stay within my fortress and get adjusted. I don't want anyone fainting on me."

I put my helmet on and turned around to regard my team. Dorrian looked fearfully at Analise, who seemed just as unnerved as he did. Ben had one of his knives drawn, and Nova had her hand cannon at the ready to blow something's face off.

Soren chuckled, "You'll be inside my fortress the instant you enter the portal, so you don't need to have your weapons at the ready."

"This is providing me with a sense of comfort, dummkopf." Nova snapped back, "I don't know about you, but I'd much rather have a mini-boomstick of death in my hand when I'm about to saunter into an unknown realm."

Soren shrugged, "Fair enough. Two people at a time may walk through the portal-anymore, and the portal may be overburdened."

I nodded, only to catch sight of my boss. The silent look of horror on his face told me he had more on his mind than just the realm of demons we were about to enter. I thought of all the times I gave him a rough time and silently hated myself. I may be his second in command, but Stanford has been the one to bear the double edged sword of leadership for the longest time. While we both may have lost men before in times of war, the loss he had to endure during the Dread Decades will be something I'll never understand.

"Hey." I began, catching my boss's attention. "One foot in front of the other, right?"

A ghost of a smile teased the corners of his lips. "One foot in front of the other."

We shared a brisk nod before I turned my attention back to the portal in front of me.

"Let's go." I breathed, taking a step forward.