Three days in the Amber Dungeons pass by uneventfully—at least for Eleanor. While the other children are mesmerized by the alien landscape and strange creatures, she keeps glancing at Xander—waiting for the boy to do something. Anything. But no. While he allows his hatred to run free, the boy still looks and acts the same—sleepy. Always sleepy. Like the mildest wind would blow him over.

“Do something, dammit! I’m bored out of my mind here!”

Eleanor grumbles as she wipes the gun in her hands till it gleams. The weapon which she received from Tessa Tate still remains new and unused, as the devil has a rule to never kill unless in self-defense.

So she waits and waits and waits. By the time the sun sets on the third day, Eleanor blows wind out of her nose and leans back on her wheelchair.

“Damn tease. If you weren’t going to make a move then don’t get my hopes up. Sigh… I was excited for nothing.”

Eleanor looks at the other students in the lodge working on their reports and casually writes down a fifty page paper of her own. She rolls the stack and puts it in her bag before going out to the balcony for fresh air.

“Huh… If I knew it was a false alarm, I would have spent more time studying this pocket dimension. Judging from the stars, this land must have come from a version of the Andromeda Galaxy… I wonder how it got here. And the other shards… these so-called zones… sounds like they all came from different places… different realms… Are they merely reflections of the real things or…”

A cold wind brushes Eleanor’s hair and she decides to return inside.

“Whatever. Once I seal the crack, this place will naturally disappear.”

On the forth morning, as the students are preparing to leave the dungeon, Donna day rushes to inform the upperclassmen that Xander disappeared.

“I looked all over for him but his roommate said he didn’t return to his room last night!”

The roommate in question steps up to say that he last saw Xander sitting alone outside, moon gazing. The students start talking among themselves, questioning where the boy could have gone.

“Hey, didn’t Lady Eleanor also go outside last night? It was around five p. m. , I believe.”

“Oh please, what could she have done to him?”

Donna Day hears that and rushes to interrogate Eleanor.

“What did you do to him, you rotten woman?! Of course it was you! Who else could it be?”\

Eleanor smiles at the accusation.

“Oh? And what if it was me? What can you do about it, freckles? Ohoho! Ohohohoho!”

“Why you… you vile, evil… thing! Tell me what you did right this instant!”

Donna screams and grabs Eleanor’s shoulders and shakes her with force. The other students rush to tear her off, but in the struggle, Eleanor falls off her wheelchair and coughs blood all over the floor. Red and silver blood oozes out of the girl’s orifices. Her eyes. Her ears, nose, and mouth bleed like an overfilled balloon. The children who never saw Eleanor’s sickness in full before, scream and jump back at the horrific sight.

“T-this is… how could…”

Donna’s face turns white in shock. She tries to reach for Eleanor, but Joanna yanks her back.

“Get away from her! Elle! Elle, are you alright?! Talk to me!”

Eleanor says she’s fine, but her words aren’t convincing with blood spraying out with every cough. Donna watches with shaking knees and looks down at her own hands. The scene becomes chaotic, until one upperclassman picks Eleanor up and says he’ll take her back first.

“I’ll take her to the teacher. You guys stay put and wait for further instructions!” Kaiden Kline, the fourth year class president, says.

The man carries Eleanor in his arms and rushes out the door. The other kids try to follow but the upperclassmen block their path. Amidst the chaos, Donna Day is able to slip out and chase after them.

“Miss Eleanor! Miss Eleanor, I’m so sorry! I didn’t know… I…”

“What are you doing here? Get back to the lodge now!” Kaiden says, but he doesn’t stop walking as blood continues to bleed out.

Kaiden, Eleanor, and Donna travel across the vast grassy landscape until they reach the floating crack. Donna’s eyebrows tangle when she sees that the crack is switching color between purple and a reddish tint. But before Donna could raise her concern, Kaiden Kline reaches for the crack so she quickly does the same.

A red light wraps around them and when it dissipates, the three are teleported to a different place. But instead of the yellow brick chamber of Umber Tower, they find themselves standing in a hellish landscape. The land is red like blood with black jagged rocks sticking out of the cracked ground like demon’s fangs. The air is filled with yellow smog as black clouds fill the red sky.

“W-where are we!?” Donna turns around in confusion. She looks at Kaiden, but he’s as confused as she is.

“Wherever we are, we need to go back now!” Kaiden swallows his saliva and looks for the transport point, however, there is nothing around them besides rocks and soot. “The transport point—it’s gone!”

“Senior, where are we?!”

“I-I don’t know… I…”

Suddenly, an ear piercing screech erupts like thunder. A giant shadow passes over the three. As they look up, they see an enormous two headed vulture whose skin appears charred with oozing puss and blood.

“Drop to the ground!” Eleanor shouts as the vulture swoops down for them!

Her warning comes too late as a giant talon grabs Kaiden and instantly crushes his rib cage in its powerful grip. The man cries out in pain and drops Eleanor to the ground. The monstrous bird gives out a raspy shriek as it flies away with a victim in its claws.

“Miss Eleanor!”

Donna rushes to Eleanor’s and notices that a sharp rock is lunged deep in her torso like a knife!

“Miss Eleanor! Miss Eleanor, stay with me! I’m a priestess. I can heal you. Please, stay with me!”

“Ugh! Run… Run away… it’s… not alone…”

Another shadow passes overhead the two girls. Donna looks up and sees another two headed vulture coming right for her!