"Say hello to Buer for me," the one armed Ninja, Demon leered, from the portal above us before it snapped shut.

We all lay in a pile of limbs and pain on a hard stone floor. Only Boris managed to avoid the mess.

“I can’t believe we just got done like that,” I groaned. Trying to extract myself from the pile. Once we wriggled free of each other I looked around to assess where we'd ended up.

In each direction a dark, stone walled corridor stretched out as far as I could see. Burning torches lined the walls to providing an eerie flickering light. I felt like we'd been transported to Bowser’s castle.

"What the fuck is going on Clive?" Mal shouted. Grabbing my shoulder and spinning me around. He was a good 5 or 6 inches shorter than me, with a wiry frame, built for speed. Despite that, he still had some solid strength to him.

Meeting his eyes, I was about to answer when I noticed the identifier box above his head.

Malcolm: Human: Level 8.

I saw his own eyes widen, staring above my head. His head spun to check out the other two, before coming back to me. "You wanna start explaining what the hell you’ve gotten us into?"

"Hey,” I said. Gesturing for him to calm down, with my hands. Boris growled at me by his side, and I took a step back. Boris loved me normally, but there was no mistaking in his eyes what would happen if Mal and I fought.

“I haven’t got a goddamn clue mate. Thanks for saving my ass, but right now we need to get the fuck out of this place. I'll explain everything I know, once we're safe. Though I’ll warn you it’s not a lot.

"Safe?" Joel asked.

As if in answer to his question, a deep roar reverberated down the corridor. I felt no more needed to be said, and sprinted off down the hallway. I didn’t need to check if they’d followed as Mal came shoulder to shoulder with me. “You better have something fucking special to tell me about what’s going on cos seriously man, this is fucked up,” he said. I hated that he could run alongside me at my top speed, and chat casually. It reminded me that being the fastest wasn’t as important as not being the slowest. I found myself glancing back at the struggling Daz, and felt guilty as hell. They’d all just came and saved my bacon, even if that was only temporary.

Looking beyond Daz, I couldn’t make out what was clomping behind us yet, though I suspected it was the huge demon, Buer. Whatever followed was pulling closer to us by the second.

Up ahead a set of huge double doors came into view, a small crack of familiar blue light shining through. I dared to hope that there was a portal back into our own world on the other side of those doors and somehow managed an extra burst of speed as we came close. I dove into the door with my shoulder once I was in range, opening it just enough for us to enter. Now facing back down the corridor, I could clearly see the demon Buer coming fast. My friends darted past me into the room, as Buer raised its hand out toward us.

I can honestly say that I wasn’t surprised in the least when a fireball shot from the it’s palm directly toward us. I dove into the room, finding refuge behind the other door. It had remained closed as we entered, and though I felt the heat from the ball as it swept past, it didn’t cause me harm. This time.

I desperately clambered back to my feet, taking in the room and in particular the portal. This one didn’t show what was on the other side, but I suspected it led back to our own world.

I pointed screaming desperately, voice hoarse from all it had been through with me recently. “Through the Portal!”

Jumping through would be a leap of faith, but as I saw Joel narrowly avoid another fireball, as Buer made his way into the room, both insanely heavy doors smashing against the walls in his wake. I knew the portal was a leap of faith, but we had no choice now.

I ran for all I was worth as the room became a scene of fire and chaos, I threw myself into the pulsating blue disk.

The portal lead to somewhere outside. I landed heavily on hard, dusty ground this time. My friends landing around me.

After regaining my feet in record time, I set off running again. It didn’t take me long to acknowledge we were not on Earth. Wherever we were didn’t fill me with hope for the future.

The barren landscape stretched as far as the eye could see in every direction. It was predominantly flat, but marked with jagged rock outcroppings. Hues of red, black and grey seemed to dominate the entire dreary scene.

At least there were places to take cover, but I couldn’t see it being long before the demon ran us down. We all staggered when it’s roar swept over us, seeming to be some kind of physical attack.

I was torn with hiding and just running, till the running didn’t work anymore. Mal and Boris had gained a lead on us all and seemed to be heading to one of the closest outcroppings. Joel kept pace with me, but I sensed Daz was dropping behind.

Risking a glance back, I saw I was right. But I was also lucky to see a figure appear from nowhere. Buer had been laughing and wildly and hurling fire balls at us until that moment. Now he turned to face the new figure.

I knew I should have kept running, but unfortunately for me, the figure was a beautiful woman. It was a well-documented weakness of mine that I always took a moment to admire the fairer sex. Especially when they had long wavy purple hair hair blowing in the breeze, tight fitting gold and white robes with golden armor and they hovered twenty feet in the sky like a superhero. I felt like we might just have been saved.

I stopped running, and had to squint a little to make out her identifier tag.

Ferro: Level 92: Paladin of Justice: Nephilim

“I’ve been looking for you Buer! Imagine my surprise when I sensed your presence polluting this place further,” she said, her voice strong and confident. It was the tonic I needed.

Buer looked like he was about to answer, when she hurled a silvery red lightning bolt at him. Taking a hit directly in the shoulder despite trying his best to get out of the way. It was powerful enough to spin him around and I couldn’t believe the panicked squeal he made. The Paladin was clearly far more powerful, and he knew it, too. Using the momentum from the woman’s attack, he fled back through the portal. The moment he disappeared the portal blink out of existence too.

Feeling a surge of relief, and I looked up at Ferro and knew I was in love. She didn’t seem to notice us at first, until I shouted and waved my arms at her.

“Hey! Thanks for the save, that was awesome.”

She turned to face us, and I was troubled to see her perfect features ruined with an expression of disdain.

“God?”

“Huh?” I responded intelligently. She looked infuriated.

“Which God do you stand for?”

“Er, well, none really,” I answered.

Her response was to spit at me before simply disappearing as if she’d never been there.

“What the actual fuck,” Mal said angrily.

“I have no idea, but at least we’re alive,” I said trying to be positive. Despite being completely alone, and deserted in an unknown barren land.

All that was left to do was drop to the floor and stare at each other in pure shock. Except everyone was staring at me.

“What now?” Daz asked, breaking eye contact with me to look around nervously.

“Get away from here, I reckon. If that demon comes back through to hunt us then we want to be as far away from here as possible. Then we need to find a way back home.”

“That it?” Mal asked. “No explanation, nothing?”

“I’ll talk as we walk,” I said, suddenly feeling more tired than I can ever remember feeling before.