=Sabre's POV=

I was in shock.

Rainbow's past was amazing! It was so full of adventure and discovery! And artifacts, those sounded pretty cool. He had a best friend named Blue Steve... And.. sadly.. that best friend had died..

I was a little sad. Rainbow must not think of me as his best friend anymore.. Just some random stranger. I glanced at him. He was staring at the floor.

"Sabre, Rainbow Steve, on conclusion of this story, I have something very important to tell you." Elemental commented. We looked at him. "What is it?" Rainbow asked.

"Sabre, you are actually vital to this story." Elemental smiled. I was confused. I didn't have anything to do with Rainbow's past.. "huh?" I asked. "You are-" He stopped abruptly.

"I'm what?" I asked. "You okay?" Elemental shook his head. "Terribly sorry, Sabre, Rainbow Steve, but I must deal with something important." He said, right before disappearing.

"Wait!" I shouted, but he was already gone. I huffed. "I can't believe he just left us on a cliffhanger like that! I hate cliffhangers!"

=Nathan's POV=

Moose and I were still screaming, even though we had already hit the ground. Wait, we weren't killed by the impact-? I quieted down, opening my eyes. I sat up with Moose, looking around at the new and strange place.

There were portals on every wall, including the floor, as well as lava flowing down the corners. There was also a weird looking antenna on the ceiling, pointing down at us where we were sitting.

Moose also quieted down, looking around the room. "What the heck man-?" He asked, seeming genuinely confused. So was I, in all honesty, but I stood and helped Moose up, instead saying, "Oh, yah, uhm, this is the Portal Room of the Great Beyond. I think we went splat."

"Wat-? WE'RE DEAD!?" Moose shreiked. I was pretty sure we were. "Yah, we're so dead it's sad."

"NOOOOOO-!!" Moose shreiked.

"Uhh, Moose?"

"WE'RE DEAD, WE DIED!!"

"Moose-"

"Hey we should go haunt Shark-"

"GEORGE MILLAR!!"

"WHAT!?- oh"

There was a man with dark skin and red hair standing at one of the wall portals, staring at us with an annoyed expression. I bit my lip nervously. "Sorry, Mr. Grim Reaper, sir-" Moose apologized.

"I don't think that's the Grim Reaper, dude-" "I am NOT the 'Grim Reaper', young man. What are you two doing here, and how did you find this place?"

"Oh, that's easy!" I perked up, "We were looking for two of our friends who went missing, and then we came across a really deep cave inside a mountain, then something, ..or someone... shoved us in, then we fell all the way down and went splat."

The man stared at us like we were stupid. "I think that pretty much sums it up." Moose said. "Can we go haunt our friend Shark now?"

"wh.. You two are not dead, you've simply fallen through a magical portal to the In-Between, a portal hub between dimensions and worlds." The man explained.

"ohhhhhhhh..." Moose and I mumbled. "so like, we're not dead?" Moose whispered to me. "No, I don't think so." I whispered back.

The man huffed, rolling his eyes a bit. "Where are you from? I must be sending you back home now." He glared at us. Suddenly, though, an idea popped into my head.

"Wait, sir, you seem like nice guy, could you please help us find our lost friends? One has brown hair and wears green, and the other is all rainbowy!" I explained.

The man raised an eyebrow. "Sabre and Rainbow Steve?" He questioned. "Yah!" Moose and I shouted. "Do you know where they're at?" Moose asked.

"Don't worry about them, you two. They were rescued from their captor, and are relaxing and rehabilitating under my care." He explained to us.

I glanced at Moose, smiling. "When will they come back to us?" Moose asked, "Like, when are you sending them.. home..?"

The man blinked. "Their home has been destroyed by Nightmare Steve, don't you know that?" He asked. "No, no," Moose said, "Not that kind of home. I'm talking about the metaphorical type of home. Where the heart is."

"Wow bro, that was deep." I mumbled. The man sighed. "As deep as it may be, it's time to go. Where are you currently staying?"

"Oh, we're a bit south of that magical portal, where the camp and the big crater are." I said. The man stared at me, looking a little shocked. "Big crater-?" "Yah, that's what I said."

He shook his head. "Farewell, Nathan. Moose." "Wait, how do you know our-" Moose got cut off as the floor disappeared below us. We screamed as we fell into the portal, linking hands once again.

(lmao sorry for the absence on literally all of my books I've just been sick with these things called unmotivation and writers block and only coming up with good ideas at 3am)