A fire burned bright within the grasp of night. Trees circled the lively flame, and behind them were even more trees. A giant volcano could be hulking nearby, not too far from the fire. It pierced the smoky sky with its flat top, and it loomed over the circle of trees like a beast. Smoke poured out of it at a steady stream, and it seemed to be dormant, not like the raging beast it once was. Four figures could be seen sitting around the fire. An armored figure, easily recognizable as ImmaDrizzit, lays next to the fire, putting his hand on his side. A white-robed figure, Diana, sat next to him, closing her eyes as she held her staff close to her, golden energy seeping out of it. Cell-3 sat next to Diana, with his detached right arm held in his left hand. Deatheater sat on top of a nearby rock, staring at the fire with red glowing eyes, eager to snatch a soul. He had not been the same after he had absorbed the dragon’s soul. The rest of the team had went to carve materials from the dragon’s corpse, supposedly for crafting. Cell-3 began to speak, staring at deatheater... “Hey... well done back there...” He says in his usual robotic voice. “Us twelve really do work well as a team.” Deatheater nods his head slowly, and suddenly the silence had conquered the group of four once again. Not a word was spoken for five minutes, with Diana trying to heal ImmaDrizzit, and Cell-3 fidgeting with his right arm. Deatheater kept his feet on the rock, looking at his scythe, an instrument of death. The rustling of bushes is heard. Cell-3 looks towards his left to see eight figures emerge out of the trees. It was the rest of the team, each holding different parts of the dragon. ManofLight was holding a horn, eyeing it with great interest, while Foofer had a vial filled with the dragon’s flame, nodding as he looked at the flames spinning inside the capsule. As the rest of the team sat down around the fire, each holding dragon parts and putting on surprised faces, Foofer fiddled with the thick cork on top of his glass vial. He opened the vial, and the flame whooshed out. Foofer dropped the vial and quickly “caught” the flame with his other hand, controlling it. He exhales as he closes his hand around it. Robo Owl, Who was carefully tampering with part of the dragon’s wings, looks over at Foofer... “What’re you doing?” He says with curiosity and fear. “Learning a new spell...” The Dragon Bender responds with a focused tone. Foofer continues to close his hand, the fiery flame enveloping his scaly fingers. He smiles, and he suddenly opens his hand and thrusts his arm in front of him, aiming for a tree. A fiery ball of green flame goes flying out of his hand, and hits the tree. The tree soon disintegrates into a pile of green ash, and the ash pile explodes into a blinding light. “Nice light show...” Says ManofLight, rubbing his chin. “It’s called Cursed Flame...” Responds Foofer, sitting down next to SovietSpaceKitty as he closed his hand. He showed her the spell for a few seconds, and SovietSpaceKitty soon learned it herself. She seem mesmerized by the spell, as if she had seen nothing like it before. Artemis, who was holding some of the dragon’s scales and teeth, began to speak... “So... What now?” She says in a curious and victorious tone, as if she was expecting an obvious answer. Cell-3 responds, throwing his right arm on the ground furiously... “We relax. We have time before Zen will attempt to resurrect the next dragon. There’s a town nearby here called Valkyr where we can stock up on supplies and craft weapons. The people there will be happy to see us, and maybe they’ll throw a party just for us!” Hammerfist looks at Cell-3, holding the dragon’s eye in his left hand, and starts to speak in a gruff tone... “You said we would arrive before the dragon would be revived last time. Look what happened. I don’t think we have time to rest and relax.” “Calm it down, Hammerfist. I’m sure that Zen will think twice before rushing to resurrect the next dragon. Did you see what we did to Flammaetoris?” Says Cell-3 in a laid-back tone. Hammerfist sighs furiously, but he starts to lay down next to the fire. The team begins to find places to sleep for the night, with Phoenix insisting that he sleep on the fire. The rest of the team finds leaves and bushes to make makeshift beds. Cell-3 prepares to pop up his dome as a starry image is painted across the canvas of the sky like streaks of flashing white. The team eventually settles down, most of them laying next to the fire. ImmaDrizzit starts to open his eyes, and he pushes himself up, looking around him, his eyes heavy. Diana takes notice of him as she flashes her eyes open, and she pushes him back down, insisting that he rest for the night. ImmaDrizzit nods, and slowly finds himself in deep sleep, forgetting his wounds and snoring softly. Diana catches a glimpse of a hooded figure and a lightly armored figure sitting on a nearby rock. She smiles, trying to stifle a giggle, and she closes her eyes. Cell-3 tampers with the dome, cursing in an ancient robot language, while Deatheater and Artemis sit on the rock, next to each other. Artemis eyes Deatheater cautiously, biting her lip nervously. Deatheater’s eyes flash a crimson red as he opens them, and he turns to Artemis... “Beautiful Sky... isn’t it?” He says, in a very joyful tone, unusual for a reaper. Artemis nods, and she opens her mouth, looking down at the ground, as she starts to speak... “You did well back there...” “Couldn’t do it without you...” A joyful yet grim voice responds. Artemis began to feel an unusual feeling tug at her heartstrings. Something she had never felt before. It felt satisfying and mesmerizing. It felt as if she was happy and full. It felt as if her heartstrings were finally at harmony with their tune. Whatever it was, Artemis liked it. She starts to notice something shiny in Deatheater’s hand. He fiddled with it, feeling the object’s edges, before he hands it to Artemis... “For you. It’s a ring. I’ve... enchanted it with something special...” He says, his hand opened out towards Artemis. On his palm was a ring, with the band carved from a black shiny stone and an orange jewel that seemed to have fire inside it. Flames seemed to dance inside of the mesmerizing stone, like little tiny flickers of light. Artemis slowly reaches out for it as Deatheater looks at her with eager eyes. His eyes weren’t red anymore. Artemis slips the ring across her pointer finger. She looks at it for a few seconds, and she looks down while she whispers two words... “I’m grateful...” Deatheater nods and starts to get off the rock. Artemis follows until the two hear a mysterious sound, as if something was being ripped open. Cell-3, Who was still fidgeting with the dome, looks up towards the duo... “Did you hear that? It sounds like an inter dimensional rift...” He says... “Should we go check it out?” Says Deatheater, his voice nothing but a grim sound again. “Depends. We’ll have to decide as a team.” Deatheater nods and proceeds to wake up Foofer, who was laying beside him... “Cell-3 needs to talk about something...” Says deatheater as he looks at Foofer’s tired yellow reptilian eyes staring back at him. Foofer nods and sits up. After the whole team had been aroused, Cell-3 stood next to the fire. He began to talk over ManofLight’s complaints... “Well... it seems that an inter-dimensional portal has just opened. I should explain... Whenever a great dragon dies, the energy that leaves their corpse has enough power to create a rift to another dimension. Keep in mind that this rift is formed temporarily. Each rift we come across will contain a “Rift-Keeper”, or a guardian created by the remainder of a dragon’s power. Defeating this Rift-Keeper will yield great rewards. However, it will take time to defeat the Rift-Keeper. If we go to the rift now, we won’t have time to stop by at the town of Valkyr for very long. However, if we continue on to Valkyr, the rift will eventually dissipate, and all potential loot will disappear. Also, these rifts usually disappear after the Rift-Keeper has been defeated. We cannot escape to other dimensions through them, since they are basically just arenas. So, we must decide as a team: Should we enter the rift, or should we skip it?” Questions and arguments are heard among the group as the team hastily decides what to do. [spoiler]I’m so glad that this post ended up to be short. I need a break. Anyways, on to choice endings. We’ll have a lot of these in the story, and there will be usually two (sometimes three) choices to choose from. [/spoiler] The choices here will be: ([b]A[/b]) Go into the inter-dimensional rift and defeat the Rift Keeper. Spend less time at Valkyr Town. ([b]B[/b]) Skip the Rift and go to Valkyr town to rest, relax, stock up, craft, and potentially party. Give up the mysterious loot hidden behind the Rift. Think carefully. These choices will affect the outcome of [b]how[/b] the story is written [i]drastically[/i]. It will alter the outcome of the story. And as always, choosing one choice will mean that you won’t ever see the outcomes of the other choice, which could potentially be better or more appealing, or just downright bad. Make the right choice. [spoiler]Also I accidentally got SovietSpaceKitty’s gender wrong. Didn’t realize it until now. RIP. Please forgive.[/spoiler] [spoiler]Special thanks to Soviet Soldier.[/spoiler] Edit: Just realized that TotallyNotThor had no dialogue...my bad.