I closed my door quietly behind me, and made sure I was silent while walking past Alyssa's room. The last thing I needed was for her to wake up. I climbed down the ladder and left the castle, closing the gate behind me. From the chest outside of the house, I took out my favorite diamond sword in case I needed to fight once I arrived in Ruxomar. Before I went to find Ianite, I stopped and took one more long look at the beautiful structure. Chances were that I would never see it again.

I began to jog toward the Aethoria portal when I saw a puddle of water sitting next to me. I stopped for a second, and looked down at myself. My half-green face stared back at me, Alyssa's flower crown tucked into my thick hair. I tightened it to make sure that it wouldn't fall off when I left the realm, and continued to the place where Ianite had said she would meet me.

When I arrived in Aethoria, the goddess was already waiting for me. "I just checked," she said when she saw me, a worried look on her face. "Redbeard is sound asleep. This shouldn't make too much noise, so I doubt he'll wake up. And if he does... I suppose I'll have to persuade him to see my side of it."

"Okay, good." My voice was high-pitched with fear of what I was about to do. "So, how is this going to work?"

"The person building portals in Ruxomar has left one empty, so we'll be able to connect through that one. I'll dial up the portal to that spot, and you'll go through. If you get through safely, tell me by deactivating the portal. If you don't deactivate it within half an hour, I'll assume you're in danger and come after you. Got it?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Once I'm safe, what should I do?"

"Stay in Ruxomar for a while. Make sure it is completely and entirely safe for the others. Then, in perhaps a year or so, reactivate the portal. I will sense that it has been reactivated, and construct the portal again. From there, we'll decide what to do."

"Okay." I took a deep breath. "I'm ready."

Her hands trembling, Ianite constructed the portal with the white blocks she had made. Using the block with the purple circle, she dialed up the code to the portal in Ruxomar. She pressed the button that would activate it and stepped back, gesturing for me to do the same.

The portal flickered and burst to life, shimmering particles coming off of it. The portal was activated. "Well, I suppose this is where we part," Ianite said, tears in her eyes. "If I never see you again, then... it was nice knowing you." She reached out and gave me a hug. "I hope you live a long, happy life with the one you love."

I blinked back my own tears. "You... you too, Ianite. Goodbye." Looking out at Aethoria one more time, I stepped into the portal, and was immediately sucked out of the world.

I collapsed to the ground in another, much more brightly lit place. Squinting, I stood up and tried to take everything in. A man with brown hair was backing away from me, horror on his face. I recognized him, although my memory of him was fuzzy. He must have been one of Mianite's servants.

And then, in front of him, was a man I definitely recognized. Spark?" I stuttered, taking a longer look at him. This was the man, Sparklez, that Ianite had told me so much about. He looked exactly like a younger version of Spark, except that his glasses were red instead of green.

"You're... you're Mot!" he gasped, too shocked to move.

"Er... hello," Mianite's servant said, looking terrified. He moved behind Sparklez, who drew out his blade. "Captain, if you would be so kind as to stand between that man and myself, I would greatly appreciate it."

Ignoring him, I took a longer look at the world around me. We were near Dagrun, but... everything looked different. "This doesn't look like my home," I muttered, stepping down from the portal.

I suddenly felt something brush past me, but nothing was there. Sparklez turned and nodded to the invisible figure, as if greeting a friend. "MOT?" the figure suddenly yelled, making me jump back. It was Dianite's voice, and it took me a second to realize that this was not, in fact, the Dianite that was trying to kill me back in Mianite.

"Dianite?" I fell to my knees, looking up at where my god seemed to be. "Mi'lord!"

Sparklez frowned. "Dianite, is this the Mot you know? It's the real guy?"

I could sense him shrugging. "He looks the same, and seems to be the right guy. He's a little bit taller, though. I guess ten years does that to you."

I was having trouble processing this. "Dianite, that's... you?" Why was he in spirit form?

"Umm," the god cleared his throat. "Yes, Mot, it's me. Dead, but here."

I was too shocked to speak. Mianite's servant built up the courage to walk past me and inspect the portal I had come from. "I don't understand... how..."

"Wait a moment," Dianite said, making me jump. "Where's the child? You didn't do anything to her, right?"

"I... I left her back in the other world, with Spark and Jeriah, where she's safe," I explained. "I would never harm her!"

"Ah good. Wait a second!" his voice grew sharp, making me flinch. "You left her with Jeriah? What were you thinking, leaving her with a wet blanket like him?"

Sparklez burst into laughter, then extended his hand to me. "Nice to meet you. I'm, well, alternate Spark."

I shook his hand. "I can tell. You look quite a bit like the old man. Except, of course, much younger."

Dianite let out a small laugh. "I have to say, I prefer Sparklez. There's his age, of course, and the fact that he isn't making children with my sister."

His face turned red. "Umm... thanks, I guess."

I looked back at what was left of my god. "I never expected to make it back to you, Dianite."

"I'm happy that you made it somewhere safe, Mot." He sounded genuinely concerned for me.

"Well," Sparklez said, clearing his throat, "Perhaps you'd like a tour? Or maybe you'd like to see familiar places? I could take you to Katsir."

"Sounds good," I said. "Although I'd like to visit Urulu first." I missed my old home in the desert. I wondered how it looked after ten years without use.

"Oh okay. Well, whenever you're ready." He began chatting with Dianite about something. While he was occupied, I turned back to the portal, and quickly deactivated it. My work was done, at least for now. This seemed to be a safe place, but seeing as my god was dead and everything seemed to have changed, I had to be sure before bringing the others into it.

"I'm ready," I said. Sparklez led me over to a portal that looked identical to the one I had come through, except that it was dialed to go to Urulu.

As I had done before, I stepped into the portal, and vanished from the world.