She was peacefully laying on the bed, eyes shut, facing the ceiling. I screamed her name and shook her, and I continued doing that until Pandora and the others came in.

Lukas was covering his eye, his glasses sticking out of his pocket.

"You alright?" I asked.

"Fine... I'm fine." He put his glasses back on, and left his eyes open, revealing cuts all around his eyelids, and a red, bloody eye.

"You sure-"

"Let me see the wound," Pandora cut me off, and pushed me aside.

After noticing it was on her shoulder, she ripped off the sleeve and looked at how bad it was. It was so bad I instantly turned around.

To describe it in words would be impossible.

"Amiko!" Pandora screamed into the hall.

"A who now?" I asked.

"Your guide. Without your friend, you might have some trouble searching around the Realms, Amiko will help you," Pandora explained.

"Without our friend... you mean?"

"Not that serious yet," Pandora faced Skylar. "But it will be if I don't act soon. Do not worry, she will be okay by the time you're back."

"What do you mean?"

"Amiko will explain."

Just as she said that, a girl- about the age of 18- stepped into the door. She had pale skin, chubby cheeks, and dark Asian eyes. She was wearing a thick jacket, even though it wasn't that cold. Her hair was tied in a bun, and she wore square-framed glasses.

"Hello travelers! I will guide you on your quest!" she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Who are you?" Theo asked awkwardly.

"My name is Amiko, a daughter of Glacia! It seems you are one, too," she pointed at Aurora.

"I thought I was the only-"

"I assure you, you are not. There are many more Heroes that are children of Glacia, but many of them just don't show it to anyone and live normal lives. I chose to not be like that," Amiko explained.

She was definitely a little older than all of us, but her attitude made her seem like a small girl, always smiling and happy, without a care in the world.

"What's going to happen to Skylar?" I asked, even though I had asked that about seventeen times in the last minute.

"She will be fine, but I need time. Go with Amiko to the Realm you need. She is accurate... most of the time," Pandora said.

"Most of the time?" Lukas asked.

"No one is perfect with the doors, not even Pandora," she pointed at her master. "I am the best one to navigate through them, but I still make mistakes. We don't have any time to lose. Let's set off!"

Amiko walked away, along with my three friends, but I needed to ask Pandora one more question.

"Will she be okay?"

"I promise you she will. She'll see you when you're back," Pandora smiled, and then pulled out some things from a cabinet next to her, which I hadn't noticed. "Go now. If you don't save us, maybe none of us will live to see tomorrow."

And with that and a "Thank you," I left the room and followed our new tour guide.

Before we left, we told our mounts goodbye, and that they would stay here with Pandora.

We explained to Amiko that we needed to go the Cursed Lands to find out how they are creating the gateways to the Sky Kingdom, and our world.

"The Cursed Lands...? I've always been bad at that one..." she muttered but then quickly said, "I can find it!"

I wasn't sure if my friends had heard what she said, but we continued following her. Amiko set her hand out and stopped at each door, and then we continued. Some were shorter, and some were longer, but finally, she found a door on the third floor.

Since all doors were identical, I couldn't see a trace of how this could be the Cursed Lands.

"I think this is the one. Be careful. Once this door is open, everyone in the radius of ten feet will be thrown into it, meaning all of us could go in if you opened the door just to peek," Amiko explained. "So, when you guys are ready."

Lukas looked at us. "Are we ready?" he asked.

Theo looked unsure, and Aurora seemed terrified (about having a sister or going to some random Realm, I couldn't figure) but I replied with "Yes," and went for the doorknob.

"Are you sure?" Lukas grabbed my arm. "How do you know if it's the right one?"

"Lukas, if you're going to live with notions on every single door, we will never get out of this hall," I responded, though I was just as scared myself.

He pulled back and nodded, letting me twist the spherical doorknob, and open the door.

I was blinded by a flash of light, and then was pushed into the door by something I couldn't see. Then everything went black.

I woke up in a warzone. The sky was orange and cloudy, with smoke coming from all directions. And explosion sounded a few hundred yards away, making my right ear go deaf. I looked around for my friends, but then realized I had no weapon.

I looked around for my friends and my weapon, and spotted my sword first. Some soldier was whacking a spaceship with it, making my blade split into half.

"I just got that!" I screamed at him.

He looked in my direction for about two seconds, and then started shooting.

Unlike my battle with Death, time didn't slow, but thank goodness the guy had storm trooper aim, otherwise those bullets would've turned me into Swiss cheese.

I ducked behind some metal wreckage I found and waited for the guy to appear again. There was a shield where I was hiding, and I grabbed it, hoping to slam it into the guy's face.

Once he peeked his head to my covering spot, I slammed the shield onto him with a loud CLANK! making him tumbled backwards. I kicked him in the stomach and grabbed his gun, throwing the shield at his face.

I accidentally pressed something on the gun which I didn't care about, and quickly pulled the trigger. A huge ball of electricity blasted from the gun and exploded on the guy's body, shocking him.

He shook around for a little bit, and then he fell unconscious, that I could tell because he was snoring like a pig.

I crouched and walked around the warzone. Many areas were on fire, with so many spaceship wreckage, if combined they would make the Death Star.

I couldn't spot any more soldiers, nor my friends, which made me worry that they were taken hostage. I didn't know who was battling who, and I was afraid I might've been firing on the wrong side.

As I was walking around in the extreme heat of the fires, I noticed a city ahead, with tall skyscrapers. I was hoping there wouldn't be as bad as this place.

I started running across the coarse dirt, which felt like stepping on burning hot coal, toward the city. Explosions continued sounding in every direction, making me run faster. I heard a voice from my right scream, "Kid, watch out!" and then a guy tackled me as a glowing orange mushroom cloud surrounded me.

I thought I was going to die, and shut my eyes. I did feel pain, but when I opened my eyes, the guy was standing in front of me, somehow deflecting the huge impact of the explosion. He had an eyepatch on one eye, with white hair and an army jacket.

His pants were jeans -I don't understand why he wore them for a war- along with huge boots that stretched to his knees.

"Why did you save me?" I asked.

"Well, you were going to die, and I don't want any innocent casualties," he spoke slightly like Death: deep, hollow voice, but this man's voice was a lot lower and not raspy.

Another explosion sounded behind me. I quickly stood up and looked around, still no sign of my friends.

"Have you seen my friends?" I asked.

"Were you the ones that fell from the sky?" he asked back.

"What? Um, I don't know. I passed out before we arrived," I explained.

"Used the Hall of Pandora, huh?" he sighed. "Every time I use one of those doors, I almost die. And so I just decided to stay in this Realm, but as you can clearly see," he gestured around us. "I'm probably going to die here, too."

"So, yeah, where are they?" I asked again, concern creeping into my voice.

"The one with the huge snow coat and glasses was carried away by one of my soldiers. The blond one and the kid with the huge axe, fought the things attacking us, and... somehow the wind pushed you to where you were, I guess," he shrugged.

"Do you know where those two are right now?" I asked.

"I think one of my soldiers brought them back to camp, but I don't know for sure. If you want, I'll take you there, because, except for the continuous mines exploding here and there, the battle for today is over."

"What do you mean 'Battle for today?' "

"Kid, you ask way too many questions. I'll just take you back to camp and I'll explain what's going on there, alright?" he patted my shoulder. "Because I have a feeling that our invaders are your problems as well."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The Cursed Lands are opening gateways to every Realm, including this one," he explained. "And you're looking for a way to close those gateways, aren't you?"