A lonely seven-foot man trudged the dark endless tunnel. His long hair swayed and tickled the back of his legs with each step. His broad and flexed chest glistened against the torch's blue flame; clear hints of dried blood accompanied his body as the same light from his torch illuminated the surfaces of his path.

Zef turned off his night-vision earlier to trek the tunnel, as it irritated his eyes additionally the sense of warmth coming from the torch calmed him against this alien world.

For what it felt like a long time, he finally had time to think things through, and right now, he thought about the two empty vials he found at the entrance of the Archway when he lit the torch. "The girl came from here," he concluded. They were now places in their belt pockets.

He also noticed how dustless and clean this Shadowverse world was. There wasn't an indication of dust or dirt anywhere; also, the air he breathed was as if it was in a well-kept building, strangely cool and well ventilated.

Outside the massive tunnel, he recollected the endless sky with grey, dull behemothic clouds covering the heavens with hardly an inkling of a sun. Yet light did pass through the gaps, faint as it was.

He breathed in and exhaled slowly, looking at his feet; nothing clung to them, no dirt nor dust.

He bit his lip as a shiver crawled up his spine; this place gave him the creeps. Seemingly the trail of blood was still evident on the floor, quite so that it gleamed against the clean yellow surface.

That girl was clearly fleeing, but there's no track of a pursuer. Should I head back now?

His thought's suddenly gone as he caught the flame reflecting off a shimmering surface. His body tensed, and he observed the strange apparition that shone a distance away from him. Closer, he got and noticed that there were two portals or gateways entrenched on the walls to his left and right, some feet ahead of him. They were both similar to what he had escaped from in that previous cavern from that enormous centipede. The one on his left had a pitch-black color like the previous one. In comparison, the one on the right had a majestic golden color. Both gateways still looked like they were made out of liquid mercury.

He stood still and stared at the trail of blood, which seemed to have come from the golden portal.

Zef tsked and thought about his options. He could turn back to or choose one of the portals and enter to see what was inside.

Quite frankly, it was a hard choice. The golden shimmer enticed him to choose it. Yet a memory emerged in his mind about a tale his grandfather told him that if he should be in a situation where he had to choose between two doors, where one showed a scenery of Hell and the other heaven, he should choose Hell. He asked his grandfather why and he replied, "because child of my son, the one who tells you to choose heaven wants you to enter hell, so be warned of the tricks they play."

Zef stood between the two and thought about turning back, but he remembered he had only one ration left. He could head back to his world and hope the centipede didn't have the patience to wait for him; otherwise, he would have to embrace death. His other option would be to stay at the cavern and fight off the creeps, but that required energy and food, which he lacked. Last but not least was to traverse the tunnel ahead or choose one of these portals to enter and find some time type of hope which sounded stupid.

Zef stood there and worked the gears in his mind; he stood there for an extended period until he lost patience. He needed to do something now. The need for answers made him slowly walk to the dark gateway, plunge his blade into the dark portal and check the effects. As previously done in the previous gateway, a ripple did occur; he was about to pull out the sword and check its state, but a sudden force quickly pulled him faster than he could breathe.

The cold touch of the portal embraced him, followed by needles pricking his skin. His eyes rolled upwards; agony filled his mind. Luckily the ordeal only took a few seconds; later, he stumbled on grassy terrain, sputtering and coughing his lungs out.

Zef tried to collect himself as nausea made his stomach churn. He took several minutes until he was strong enough to stand on his feet, wobbly as they were. His senses informed him of a new environment different from the one he was in earlier. He gasped at the grass, which reached his calves; they were as purple as cough syrup.

He looked around him in wonder and found himself in another cavern. Unsurprisingly, the torch he held was no longer aflame, so he planted it on the ground to mark this place. Different scents entered his mind making him a bit dizzy. He closed his eyes to concentrate while he held his breath to filter the data his nerves pounded into his cortex. His mind registered numerous scents of vegetation surrounding him.

He lifted his head and, like a wolf, sniffed the air, and there was something else that scent of liquid yet not water. He opened his eyes to zoom in towards that direction and caught a large pond occupying the center of the cavern, he looked around it, and there were pockets of strange plants and flowers, here and there. He also noted some trees at the north and eastern section of the cave. His advantageous height allowed his eyes to scan the area. Yet again, he realized he was in another cavern, a much larger one, probably as big as the largest stadium, and lying in the middle of the cavern was a pond, pristine and quite milky.

He looked at the ground and took a squatting position, he sniffed the dirt, but only the scent of fresh grass entered his nose. He tried to look for any marks of passage on the grass or soil, yet it was clear nothing passed through here for months. He scooped a chunk of dirt; it was dark and rich.

He dropped it and dusted off his hands. Frowning, Zef got up and stared at his feet.

His antennas felt a change in the air behind him. He looked behind and found the portal gone making him curse in his stupidity. What stood behind him was a wall, smooth and dark as if it was shaped or crafted by an intelligent being. His eyes followed the wall as it curved extended upwards towards the center of the cavern.

"A dome roof," he reasoned to himself, but it didn't stop there as his mouth gaped wide open.

Right on the center of the dome was a humongous white crystal shaped like a pentagram. There were specks of gold and silver on its surface. A strange feeling hit Zef as he looked at the majestic crystal dangling from the roof of the dome. He zoomed with his keen eyesight at the center of the crystal and saw a small amount of liquid collected there and watched a drop fall towards the pond.