Immediate danger.

Will casually snuck into the abandoned house, taking a page out of the man he was following and acting like he was fully meant to be there. The portal was in the attic, and simply going up there left him covered in dust from bumping into walls in the stretch corridors.

The portal itself was small. Smaller than the one at his place. He took a deep breath, grabbed it with his own aether and **** it open. No point hesitating now. The plan was to follow this person and he was going to do it.

Will jumped in.

Then found himself in free fall for all of four seconds, enough to disorient him and make him trip and fall as he landed on cold hard ground.

‘Hah! Idiot.’

‘Shut up…’

They were definitely in the other world alright. The heavy atmosphere, thick with aether, was easily felt. More importantly, it was dark. Only a faint source of light came from above, enough to at least notice he was in a cave. Or a hole, rather. A rocky hole at least six or seven meters deep and curving to the side right at the entrance. It was why so little light was coming in.

‘I should be able to jump this, right?’

‘I’d be very disappointed if you couldn’t.’

The first jump… didn’t turn out well. Will easily managed to jump the six meters, but ended up hitting his head on the top of the curve. Good thing enhancing his body for agility also boosted toughness.

‘Ahahaha!’

‘Okay, missy. If you’re so confident, why don’t you get us out of here?’

‘Sure. Watch and learn, loser.’

They swapped control of Will’s body in practically an instant. Ishtar stretched a bit just to get used to the feeling of moving again, then leaped from one wall to the other in a normally impossible parkour trick. In a couple of smooth, flawless moves, they were out of the hole without hitting their head.

“Damn, I’m just too good. How do I do it?”

Before Will could answer, a loud, bone-chilling screech made Ishtar turn around in a panic. Seeing what was coming their way scared the smugness out of her.

“WILL! HELP!”

She surrendered control immediately, leaving Will to deal with… the two velociraptor-like creatures coming their way. They were only a bit taller than Will, had yellow scales and purple, jagged stripes along their thighs. They had small but sharp-looking teeth and a tall, orange crest on top of their heads. At the end of their long, thin arms, on their little hands, was a large orange claw, and a very similar one on their feet.

The two creatures screeched again and rushed towards Will, leaving little to no time to get ready. One of them jumped at him first, feet claws first.

It was almost like seeing a sword come down in slow motion. His body reacted in time, stepping to the side with an strengthened body and delivering a swift kick under the neck of the dinosaur.

The creature choked and stumbled back, but there was still the other to worry about. It kept its distance , approaching slowly and threateningly. But if it was willing to keep its distance…

Will raised his hand and fired a blast of energy at it with little time to aim. It hit the dinosaur in the leg, making it let out a pained screech. Both creatures, realizing Will was no easy prey, began to run away, limping and stumbling.

Will did not pursue. He had no reason to, and besides, he couldn’t even if he wanted to. His legs were shaking and his head began to spin. He realized his breathing was quick and heavy as well.

‘Woah, holy crap. Good job.’

“Ishtar, what the fuck!?” Will gasped, holding his chest. His heart was beating so fast to the point it almost hurt. “You can fight, too. Why would you suddenly throw me at them!?”

‘I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It’s just… I hate those fucking things!’

“You… You hate dinosaurs?” How could anyone hate dinosaurs? They are pretty cool.

‘Those are veedromes, not the type of dinosaur you read about in your world. Their claws have a paralyzing venom that also slowly kills you. But even more than that… I just fucking hate reptiles. They creep me the fuck out, Will! I can’t deal with them!’

“Ah. A phobia, then. Huh. Didn’t expect you to have one.” Will sighed. The adrenaline rush was coming down, his heart rate slowing. “Say… How do you feel about spiders?”

‘Hate them, but I can deal with them. Reptiles though… Ugh, I can’t explain it. The scales, the short arms, the claws, the venom…’

“Okay, okay. Gotcha. If we ever see spiders, then you deal with them. I’ll take care of the reptiles.”

‘Deal! Love you, Will.’

“Shit, where are we anyway?”

It was a deserted wasteland much like the land near the incubi settlement. Dry soil and reddish-brown hills and rocky formations all around. If there was one noticeable difference, however, was that there were some small, thin trees and bushes that still had some green to them. And in all the open space, no signs of the man they were following.

Will clicked his tongue. “Great. Lost him. What do we do now?”

‘Damn lizards… We’ll just have to look around. Maybe we’ll find a settlement or something, perhaps a clue. Then again, if more things like those veedromes are walking around, then this can’t be a very safe area. Maybe the guy…’

Then, the loud and dull sound of an explosion startled them. Turning to the sound, they saw a cloud of smoke and dusk just behind a hill.

“I’m gonna regret this, but with no other clues…”

Will began to make his saw towards the obvious signs of danger.