We walked through the light red portal, and was greeted by darkness...then harsh, blinding light.

"Bloody...hell," I echoed Dorrian's words, trying to take in too many details in too little time.

The first thing I noticed was the sky, which was a light shade of red. It may have been blue at one time, like how the sky is in Alysia, but I could tell it hasn't been blue in a long time. Looking away from the sky, I noticed that we were indeed in a fortress. The pine walls of the fort looked roughed up, but I could tell that they were made to last. Outside of the fort, there were tall, ancient trees-Their shadows casted strange silhouettes into the fort. The sounds I also heard beyond the safety of this camp made my skin crawl. My senses were also on high alert: Considering Luna was right beside me, I wasn't going to leave anything to chance. Sure, we have the safety of a wall to keep our foes away, but a wall could only do so much. I drew my sword with my free hand and began to look around warily for any signs of enemies.

I looked at everything this camp had to offer as Soren passed through the portal and told us to wait for everyone else. Even though Soren's fort was small for, well, a fort, it was still impressive: I saw a forge, an apothecary, a sandy area that had training dummies and targets in it, a mess area that comprised of a cooking fire with several wooden benches arranged in a circle around it, and a small building near the mess area that I presumed held provisions such as food and other resources we wouldn't be able to live without.

Soren regarded me with a raised eyebrow as he walked through the portal. "Helix, you're safe in here-."

He was cut off as a crimson blur tackled him to the ground.

"It's about damn time you showed up!" The person -Sasha, I believe- snapped impatiently, "We've been waiting ages for you to show up!"

"S-Sasha?" Soren breathed, "Hello to you too. Please get off-I think you cracked a few of my ribs..."

She laughed evilly, "Did I now?"

"Mom? Are you roughing up dad again?" Came another voice, "Please don't break him any more than you already have."

Sasha flashed the person who had spoken an innocent smile, "No...I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Ah, Tanis," Soren began as his wife got off of him, "How are you?"

She smiled as she helped her father up, "Better than you by the looks of it. I see you have visitors. What's the occasion?"

Sasha and Tanis were both easily as tall as I was. They wore shimmering armor that looked as if it were created using the scales of a dragon, and they also wore curved scimitars at their belts. Their armor looked to be fairly light-weight, which showed crimson scales on their hands, forearms, and face. The armor concealed most of their bodies, but I could guess that there'd be scales on their legs as well as on their abdomens. As stated previously when Soren told us about them, they both had crimson-covered tails. Sasha's green eyes had a mischievous glimmer to them while Tanis' golden eyes had a kinder light to them. Sasha wore her shoulder length hair down while Tanis had her hair in a ponytail.

"They're here to help us bring Thaleous down," Soren explained as Dorrian and Analise walked through the portal, followed by Nova and Ben. Stanford brought up the rear, and he looked around in amazement as he took in the sights.

"Good," Came a deep voice, "The bastard deserves to be struck down-no, even killing him seems like too light a sentence for the monster."

Soren nodded grimly, "Oh, trust me Stefan: Thaleous will be put through hell before we give him the luxury of death."

To put it bluntly: Stefan looked badass. His black scales glinted in the harsh light of day, and his bright blue eyes regarded us with an impassive interest. I could tell at first glance that Stefan was a seasoned killer. I nodded to myself and made a mental note to not make this guy angry.

A suit of armor clanked up to my group, "What have we got here, Soren? You've brought newbies into Mareth? What is wrong with you?"

Soren rolled his eyes, "Mind your manners Simon. They're here to help us take Thaleous down, and they're hardly newbies."

"Ah, so they won't be used in Grigori's 'experiments', as he loves to call them," Simon replied as he studied my team , "You're lucky. I'd keep an eye out for the madman if I were you-just don't take anything he offers you, and you're golden."

Simon the possessed suit of armor was awesome, yet freaking weird: elaborate markings covered the pitch black and dark gray metal of his armor. The paldrons of his armor were snarling wolves, which were pretty badass in of itself, and his helmet was completely enclosed except for the faceplate that only showed his two glowing pale blue eyes.

Nova cautiously approached the hunk of metal, "You...can hear me?"

"Yes, of course I can," Simon replied irritably, "What makes you think I can't hear you? I'm not deaf, mind you."

Nova jumped back with a yelp of surprise, "Holy shit!"

Simon cocked his head to one side in bewilderment, "Why so jumpy? I'm but a suit of armor. It's not like I'm a spooky demon or gods forbid, a blood-thirsty rabbit."

Soren rose an eyebrow, "A blood-thirsty rabbit, Simon?"

"Yes!" He exclaimed, rounding on him, "Have you seen the fiends? Grigori said I was crazy, but I had to stomp on the infernal thing before it had the chance to bite his face off."

I gawked at the spectral being that towered over me.

Simon gazed at me: "Greetings," He began merrily, "Welcome to hell-err, Mareth! I am Simon-just call me Simon. Unlike Soren over here," He pointed a metal thumb at the Warlock beside him, "I only go by one name. I'm simple that way."

"Um...Hello," I replied awkwardly.

"Surprised to see me?" Simon asked with the faintest hint of amusement on his voice. (Which sounded...weird. The only way that I could possibly describe Simon's voice is that it doesn't sound natural-like how a regular person's voice should sound. It even had a slight echo, which seriously freaked me out.)

"Can't say I'm not," I replied evenly, "I mean, I've never seen anything like you before now, so yeah...I'm pretty damn surprised."

Simon nodded to himself, causing his armor to creak and clank in response, "Hmm...Can't blame you honestly. Most people who come to this fortress are surprised to see me. Soren keeps calling me a hunk of metal, but I know I'm far more sophisticated than a hunk of bloody metal," He huffed indignantly, "My imposing stature and looming presence scares even the fiercest of warriors."

Soren snorted, "He's a big softie: Simon is just trying to intimidate you."

The suit of armor looked at the warlock, "Excuse me? I beg to differ: I am not a 'softie', as you so eloquently stated. I am a fearless warrior."

Soren rolled his eyes, "If you can't tell, Simon loves to talk. It'd be a miracle if anyone was able to shut him up for more than five minutes."

"Really now?" The hunk of metal demanded, "I thought you enjoyed my thorough and engaging commentary?"

"Some days, I feel like lighting myself on fire because you won't shut up," Soren grumbled, rubbing his temples.

Simon was about to speak again, but was cut off by mad laughter that came from the apothecary.

"Simon! Simon! I need you for an experiment of mine! Don't worry, it'll only burn through your armor a little bit! It may also hurt a little, but pain is irrelevant!"

A sigh emanated from within Simon's armor, "Grigori, I am not in the mood for one of your so-called 'experiments'. What is it now? A new explosive? A super acid that'd eat through even the hide of a hellhound? Well? Speak Grigori Slane."

The madman gave him an annoyed glare, "Shut your mouth, rust bucket. I am not an imbecile."

Simon snorted, "For one, I don't have a mouth. Also, you're right: you aren't an imbecile. You're a madman."

Grigori chuckled. "Thanks Simon. I can truly rely on your kind and comforting words. I'll remind you about how kind you can be when I throw this vial of acid at you."

The man named Grigori was no taller than Dorrian. (So he's really freaking short.) He had a head of wild pale blonde hair, and his beard was just as wild. His eyes may have been blue once, but they were now so pale they were almost white. He wore a white lab coat that appeared to be stained with a menagerie of strange liquids.

Grigori idly held a vial of dark blue liquid in one of his hands: "Eh...I think I'll find a random demon to test this on instead....at least the demon won't insult me..."

He walked off, continually grumbling to himself about various other things that were fairly incomprehensible.

"What the..." Dorrian murmured, "Have we all gone mad?"

"I think we have," Nova replied, "But that's just my opinion."

Luna snorted, "I think we're all still somewhat sane. It's just this place-Mareth. It's so..."

"Different," Ben concluded, "I've heard stories of this realm, but they were only stories. Hell, I thought this place was a myth."

"Oh. That'd make things so much easier if this realm was a myth," a woman began as walked over to the group of people that had formed. She held her hand out, and I shook it, "I am Gwyneth. I believe Soren has brought you here to fight Thaleous, yes?"

I nodded, "Aye. My group and I stopped a hoard of demons that were trying to invade an important city in Alysia. He's pissed off a few people, me included, so yeah: we're here to help."

Gwyneth nodded, a faint smile on her lips, "I believe Thaleous has made more than a few people angry, so I cannot fault you for coming here to seek revenge."

I chuckled, looking at the faces of Soren and his team, "I think we're all driven by a little revenge. Heh, you people have more reason to kill the bastard than I do. I mean, you've been here for decades fighting him."

"True," Soren replied, "We're all here for our own reasons, but I suggest we all get to know one another so some level of trust can be developed."

"Well, for what it's worth," Nova began, "I at least know you people look out for each other. That's how you're all still alive in this little realm of horrors. I still have yet to know all of you, but I already feel like I can trust you-I know I'm jumping to conclusions right off the bat, but hey, it's a pleasure to meet all of you."

Simon looked at her quizzically, "You confuse me. You were extremely jumpy one instant, now you're overly-friendly. I can't seem to find a plausible explanation to this change in behavior."

Soren looked at the possessed suit of armor in irritation, "Shut up Simon."

Catching sight of Gwyn, Simon walked over to the female kitsune, "Ah, a reasonable individual who knows how to be kind."

"Hey! What about me?" Sasha demanded.

He looked at her evenly, "You are volatile, unpredictable, and quite frankly: mad as a hatter."

Tanis chuckled, "Way to describe my mother, Simon."

Stanford poked my shoulder, and I turned around to look at him.

"I'm...slightly confused," He began.

I grinned, "Aren't we all?"

Stan looked around the fortress, his face displayed the mix of awe and nail-biting fear we were all currently feeling right now.

"So dad," Tanis began, "What now? Now that you've brought help, what's our next move?"

Soren pondered her question for a few moments, "For one, I'll need to pay a visit to Vastiin so I can get enough supplies to feed everyone here. I say we go to Vastiin for now. I'd rather everyone not starve to death."

Tanis cringed, "True...who all's going with you?"

"You and Simon," He began, only for me to raise a hand.

"Can I come along?" I asked expectantly.