What happened?

We all stood still as we tried to process what just happened. The ringing in my ear vanished, and there was nothing but silence.

Kai looked around at all of us. "Is everyone okay?"

We all nodded.

He turned to me personally and asked me if I was really okay, and Faye looked at me in anger.

Jaden put his hands on his knees and looked at the ground breathless.

"What did you just do?" I asked him.

He took a moment before speaking. "I sent them back through the portal. They won't be coming back. I made sure to close it permanently," he mumbled.

I looked over at everyone, to see if they understood what he was saying. Everyone seemed to be just as confused as I was.

Kai walked up to him and grabbed him by his shirt. "You need to start talking now! Explain everything to us. From the time you stayed at the cave, to the time we found you in the forest. And you better not leave any details out!"

Jaden Looked as if he was going to pass out, he tried pushing Kai away from him and tumbled over. He was drained and totally out of it again just like we found him in the forest.

Kai paused and tried to pick him up and take him back to his room. Before leaving he turned to Faye. "Don't think I'm letting you off the hook either. You also have some explaining to do."

He then walked away from us and we followed him back into the castle.

Once inside, we saw that everyone was safe. However, a lot of people were injured.

I walked over to Yara. She was sitting in a corner while covering her arm. Her head rested against the wall with her eyes closed, as a few people took a look at her.

Leo and Jake were standing next to her watching.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked them.

Leo stood next to me. "She has cuts from one of those demons. They're trying to remove the venom from her arm. I think she will be okay, though."

I watched them as they wrapped up her arm. Then they took her to a room where she could rest.

As I walked around all I could see were injured people. Even some of the kids were hurt.

Kai suddenly walked up and grabbed my wrist. "Malaika, come on. Let's talk for a moment. Don't worry, everyone will be fine."

We then entered a room, where Jaden, Dean, and Faye were sitting near a fireplace.

Kai and I sat down near them.

"Alright Jaden, are you feeling up to telling us what just happened?" Kai asked.

Jaden nodded. "I'm finally able to now. Starting from the beginning….

(From Jaden's perspective.)

(When we discovered the cave, Kai trusted me to stay for a while and watch it to see if anything would happen. I had all the weapons I needed, and I wasn't afraid. The cave was very visible, and It was full of demons all around it, as If they were guarding something. I hid behind the trees watching it for a long time. At first, nothing happened, but after hours went by, I saw a person come from inside the cave. I had no idea who it was. It was a man with dark hair. I couldn't see his face clearly but he was wearing all black, and he was holding something in his hand. It was a rock, a glowing crystal like rock. He walked right through the group of demons with it raised in the air. They suddenly began to screech and back away, making a clear path for him to walk through. When he came through the demons followed, leaving the cave unguarded. I quickly came from behind the trees with my weapons in my hands and went through the cave. It was completely dark inside, but I started to see a light in the distance. As I got closer to the light and closer to the other side of the cave, a demon noticed me and tried to attack. I quickly fought him off and decapitated him. The man noticed me and quickly ran up to me pretending to thank me for saving him from the demon, but as he got closer to me he must have injected me with something, making me pass out. I know it was reckless of me to go into the cave, especially when I didn't have a plan in mind, but I was really curious. Anyway, the next thing I knew I was lying in a bed, in a strange dark room. All of my weapons were gone. The door was also locked, and I couldn't get out. I was trapped there in silence. After some time, two people finally came in. One was standing at the door with its face covered. The other one was a man with sandy hair.

"Who are you? Where am I?" I asked him.

He then pulled out a weapon. "Follow me," he said.

We walked through a small dark hallway, with one bright light flickering on and off. As we walked I noticed that there were a few people with weird gun-like weapons walking behind us. We only had swords.

He took me into a new room, and told me to sit down at a table.

The man with dark hair that I saw in the cave began asking me questions. The other man with sandy hair stood behind him.

"What's your name?"

I didn't respond.

"Where did you come from? Are there more of you here?"

Again I gave no response. The man with sandy hair began to get angry.

"I told you, this would be useless! Why are we wasting our time? Maybe if we put him in the torture ring, he'll give us the information faster!"

The man with dark hair sighed. "Be patient! Why don't you go and wait outside? I'll take care of this?"

The man with sandy hair left the room and slammed the door behind him.

"Sorry about him. He's very short-tempered. But I'm not. Why don't you ask me some questions instead? I'm quite sure you have a lot of questions and we need to start trusting one another."

I laughed. "Trust you? You guys just threatened me!"

He paused and then nodded. "And again, I'm sorry about that. But I'm sure you still have some questions right?"

I frowned at him. "Of course I do! Where am I? And who are you people?"

"My name is Derrick Johnson, and this is my workplace. The man you just saw is a friend of mine."

He was probably pulled in like the rest of us, but I didn't understand where he got all of the technology that they were using from.

He continued. "Well, I told you a little bit about me, now it's your turn."

"Okay fine. My name is Jaden. I've been around here for a while, but I've never seen this place before. Where did you get those weapons from? I could hardly find anything to defend myself with at the start. And where did you originally come from? How did you guys get here?"

The man suddenly stood up from the table. "Why don't I show you around? I'll tell you a little bit more about myself as we walk."

I paused for a minute but then agreed to follow him.

We walked out of the room, and the guard that was standing by the door followed us out.

We then walked to a wall that was at the end of the hallway. Derrick began poking the wall as if he were putting in a passcode. White spots appeared after his fingers made contact with the wall. When he was done it slowly opened up like a portal.

My eyes squinched as a bright light suddenly shined through. I walked out slowly and I saw a bright blue sky with stars stretching across it.

As I looked around I saw that there was so much more space. There was no longer any snow. There was a large open grass field, with hovering vehicles, large machines, and technology far more advanced than I've ever seen.

There were tall trees around us that scratched the sky.

"This… this is amazing. I've seen strange things in this world but not like this." I said.

Derrick nodded. "Yes, this is a beautiful and unique planet."

"Planet? So we've been pulled into another planet?"

"Correct." He said.

"But by who? Who brought us here?"

He looked away from me. "Um… I'm not sure. We're still searching for answers. Speaking of answers, are you going to tell me now? How many are with you and how did you get here?"

I told him that I was alone, but I didn't think that he believed me.

He turned down a corner, and I followed him.

We were now in a large hallway, no longer connected to the outside.

As I looked to my right, I saw a huge glass window. On the other side of it was a giant rock, and there were people in white suits surrounding it.

They were carving through the rock, and using the pieces to make weapons.

"What is that?" I asked.

"That is a piece of rock that we found after a meteor hit a long time ago. It's unique."

I turned to him. "Really?"

"Yes. It's our greatest weapon. We're not only using them to kill off the demons. We can also get them to do whatever we want them to. You see, not all of the demons are brainless. Some of them are actually intelligent. Those are the most dangerous ones."

He pointed to one of the demons in a cage. It was larger than the demons I've seen before. It even had on armor for some reason.

"Since they all fear these rocks, they are under our control. We are now the dominant ones over them, they have to do whatever we say. We've built an army of them and we are getting stronger everyday."

I wondered what they needed an army for, but I was too afraid to ask.

Derrick pulled out a rock from his pocket. "These rocks also have other abilities. They open up and close portals for you to travel through, however you must be careful how you use them. If you were to smash the rocks together they act as a calling card for the demons to appear to you. If you smash them together for a second time you would send them back to the portal, but this requires too much energy and whoever did this would be drained and bring harm to themselves. It would, however, close the portal permanently. Pretty unique huh? We used some of these rocks in the technology we have now."

I looked at him with amazement. "What else can they do?"

"I'm not sure yet, but we are still researching."

As we reached the end of the hallway, we entered through a door. The scenery of this room was completely different. Now it seemed as if we were inside a fancy mansion.

"This is my home. You can stay here for a couple of days before you head back. I assumed this would be a much better environment than the room I had you in last."

I frowned. "Thanks, but I wasn't planning on staying."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay for one day? I've got plenty of food for you to eat. You must be starving. Also, I have a nice room that you could stay in."

"Why are you so willing to let me stay in your home after I snuck into your cave? And why did you share your secrets with me, when you hardly know me?"

He smiled. "Because I wanted you to be a part of my team. You seem like a strong young man, and we could use all the help we can get. You can stay here for one night and think about it. If not, you can leave and go back where you came from. What do you say?"

None of this was making sense. I knew that he wanted something from me and I wanted to find out. I wanted to know more.

I didn't trust him, but I knew I was strong, so I thought if he tried to hurt me, I could take him.

"Okay, I'll think about it."

Derrick's smile got bigger. "You must meet my family. There in the other room."

He took me to the living room where I saw a lady and a little girl sitting on a couch.

"This is my wife Marissa, and this is my daughter, Lia."