Paramount Discretion

[Shay Cormac]

Shay felt his feet hit the ground once again. Not much felt different from what his feet could tell him, but when he opened his eyes, Shay was greeted by once again, more surprises. Shay's mouth remained gaped open, observing all this new city had to offer, and what it offered was nothing like Shay could ever predict, let alone imagine. All around him, flying vehicle-like contraptions, huge intricate metallic buildings. Not only that, but the civilians seeming to walk around the streets were... very diverse, to say the least. Obviously, Shay looked out of place in this town, everyone else wearing very different clothing in terms of fashion sense, and that made Shay an easy target to be stared at. He could handle it, of course, but it didn't make it any less uncomfortable for Shay.

Avoiding the embarrassment of asking a local what exactly was happening, Shay decided he'd roam the streets a while to get a feel for the place instead. Much to his dismay, Shay already found multiple civilians looking on at him, trying to hold back giggles. Breathing heavily, Shay puffed out a bit of air stuck in his chest, before popping up his collar, walking onward to the city in front of him. Taking in his surroundings with the least amount of confusion Shay could let sink into him, he noticed this might not have been Earth he was walking on. Well, that much was obvious now that Shay thought about it, he got sucked out of his own dimension, but... this wasn't anything like he had seen previously, not even close. Everything here just seemed alien, literally. Some of the "people" here weren't even people, strange appendages, apparel, and other features that weren't possible on human bodies. Shay didn't mind them being around, he was just very intrigued at the whole ordeal, making him think even more than he was before.

As much as Shay enjoyed a little time to think for himself, here even he could admit it wasn't doing much for him other than procrastinating, in a sense. Looking upwards at a bundle of signs on a wall that thankfully happened to be in English, Shay read the direction to a local tavern, and made haste towards the building. It didn't take long before Shay recognized the shape of the building, seemingly in contrast to the rest. A tavern is a tavern, after all. Walking to the front of the building itself, Shay could already see some more threatening looking individuals leaning against the walls, eyeballing Shay carefully. Shay gulped a bit, opening the door present to him, quickly leaving the conspicuously menacing fellows to do whatever it is they were doing. Just as expected, as soon as he opened the door itself, Shay's ears were greeted with the wondrous sounds of playful music and the conversations of multiple citizens, although his excitement was quickly turned to genuine interest when he actually listened in, not recognizing the type of music playing at all, neither most of the languages the locals were speaking.

Nobody seemed to notice Shay, thankfully. As much as he liked them, taverns were admittedly usually not full of swell people to be around. Looking through the building's interior, Shay could easily spot the bartender behind a counter. Going over to... her, yes, definitely a her judging by body shape, Shay had hoped this one was friendly enough to make a nice conversation to. Make a friendly face, check. Walk confidently, check. Find it in your guts to talk to an alien in which you could barely describe the looks of, Shay needed to work on that one a bit. Checking his flanks, Shay put his hand on the counter, grabbing the attention of the bartender herself, whose eyebrow was already raised at the sight of Shay. Putting aside the mug she was cleaning off, the bartender came up to Shay, leaning in just as much as he was, indicating she was already waiting for a conversation starter by winking.

"I... get the feeling you might not have all the time in the world, but could you go about answering a couple of questions for me?" Shay looked into the strange woman's eyes, the latter still smiling. Shay was relieved she took kindly to his interruption of her work, but even then, he couldn't help but feel a bit irked by the whole thing. "Well, honey... You look a bit out of place, here. Do you happ'n to be one of them Prime fellas that stop by every now and again?" The bartender flirtatiously asked Shay, raising her chin up, seemingly amused already. "I'd believe that's what they call me, correct. In that case, wh-" Shay began to say, before being stopped abruptly by the bartender, raising her hand, to which Shay took the cue to stop talking, trying not to cause any trouble. "Now, now, I know what you're gonna be say'n, sweetums, no need to talk no more, now." The bartender opened her eyes, her smile widening playfully.

Shay stood up straight, nodding his head. He took his hand off the counter to fold his arms and listen in to whatever this girl had to offer him in as many words as he could take in. The bartender began speaking, looking around the tavern, masking the words in her sentence with the music and noise of the stage and the citizens respectfully. "You... You're in Coruscant, as you prob'ly already know... Since yer a knew Prime here, and trust me, I've met 'em before, you might wanna go back and direct yourself at a local inn to sleep in for the night, hun. Either that, or go 'round the city a while, and get you're surroundin's straightened up, 'cause from what I hear, this gotta be one of the most important places you can be in the Omniverse, deary." The bartender continued looking around, hiding the suspicions of Shay being a Prime by seeming to ignore him slightly. It was enough to work, as anybody who Shay noticed was trying to eavesdrop previously had given up. The woman continued to talk as Shay played along.

"Now, you could also be waitin' for other Primes t' show up, but try not to cause any harm to 'em, dear. You'll only attract the attention of Judge Dredd, and lemme tell ya, you ain't wantin' to meet him any time soon, mintloaf. Practically leads and keeps the Empire police forces standin', and trust me when I say the'll knock you out quick, honeybuns. My best advice is still t' stay here in the city, lay low a while, and then go off explorin', like y'all Primes do." The woman cued Shay that she had finished by giving him another wink, to which Shay replied mouthing the words thank you as eligible as he could. Shay was definitely entertained with the girl's strange accent and tendencies for nicknames, which seemed fitting for a bartender. Looking back at the woman, Shay put his hand back on the counter, before nodding at the front door, telling her that he was leaving to avoid any unnecessary conflict with the drunken tavern regulars. As Shay turned away to leave, the bartender placed her palm on the top of Shay's gloved hand, much to his surprise. "By the way, dear... Did I catch your name? I'll be listenin' in, keep track of you in case you need it. Y'all Primes need guidance, and I can't give my real name right now for legal reasons, but you can always come back to this ol' place if you ever be needin' some information, 'cause I got my sources."

Shay looked behind him once more, smiling. Nodding his head, he bowed slightly, trying to flatter to girl, which seemed to work as he looked up to find the alien woman blushing a bit. "My name is Shay. Shay Patrick Cormac." With that being said, Shay quickly spun around and left the tavern just as discreet as he entered in.

[Shay Cormac]

Shay looked back at the tavern only once, before walking off into the lively streets of Coruscant once again. Thankfully enough for Shay, anyone who was leaning over at the front of the tavern was gone now, leaving him to wander off completely unnoticed.

"Right then... An inn. Hopefully those are decent here." Shay murmured to himself, looking up at the polluted sky. Taking in a couple breaths, Shay never noticed how dirty the air was here, the only other thing that could compare to this being a few smoke stacks back in New York. It was unbelievable to him that technology had to have advanced this far at some point in his timeline.

Continuing to walk off into the streets, he decided to hastily make his way and backtrack towards the signs that directed him to the tavern in the first place. He swore himself that he could remember there being directions to an inn beside one of the signs themselves. Speed walking in the least suspicious way possible, Shay had hoped nobody was looking onto him believing he was in some sort of hurry.

Finally, Shay had jumped his attention to the signs again, and conveniently enough, an inn was indeed in his general vicinity, although the complete opposite direction of the tavern he was previously a part of. Sighing, Shay scratched at the back of his head, and deciding to make no hold-backs, began walking once more, hoping to himself that he'd be able to rest soon.

Along the way there, Shay did notice how ungodly tired he was, considering he was stripped of his sleep by that Omni fellow. The thought of sleeping on a nice, made bed felt appealing to him, considering he was the only Prime around, at least at the moment, so nobody could interrupt him. Shay wondered about this for a moment, pondering how rare it was for a Prime to be roaming around like this. Maybe there were indeed a lot like him, but today in particular nobody was around but Shay himself.

Dismissing the thought, Shay continued his calming walk towards the inn, easily being able to spot it across the street in front of him. Instinctively looking both ways, he saw no vehicular object passing by to put Shay six feet under, but rather seeing a bunch of locals walking about and going on with their daily lives. Shay crossed the street, ever so slightly amused by the seemingly calm city, even though something in the back of his mind told him that this wasn't all too normal for the city.

Shay put his hand on the handle of the door to enter the building, a bell ringing above Shay's head as he opened the door itself. It certainly looked luxurious compared to the rest of the city, sort of "old fashioned," whatever Shay thought that amounted to now. Making a single waving motion with his right hand, Shay went over to the man behind the counter. He was still alien-like, although much more human-looking than the folks at the tavern. Shay thought this to be a bit strange, shaking his head to quickly get back on track, looking at the man again.

"Good... evening, sir. May I have a single room for the night?" Shay tilted his head upon speaking, trying to look as friendly as possible. Only now did Shay notice how uninterested the man was. Shay winced a bit at the realization, hoping he didn't make a bad first impression. The man lowered his hand, grabbing something from the bottom of the counter itself. Shay revved back a slight bit, only to be ever so slightly relieved when the man pulled his hand back up and dropped a singular key in front of Shay.

"That'll be 500." The man spoke so nonchalantly it almost scared Shay, even worse, he had no idea what he meant by "500." Could Shay have been so daft to try to get a room at an inn without a single coin in his pocket? Frantically looking about, Shay suddenly smiled upon remembering the words said to him by Omni himself about this Omnillium. Now that Shay thought about it, he could definitely feel a bit of energy circulating him, although why, he wasn't quite sure.

"Ah... Give me a couple seconds, here..." Shay worriedly spoke to the man, the latter rolling his eyes. Shay quickly jogged out of the inn, looking to his left to find a nifty tight little alleyway that nobody was looking into at the moment. He began to think of how strange this might have looked to any onlookers, but what he needed was to practice with this strange new power "gifted" to him, if he could even call it that.

Leaning against the back wall of a building, Shay looked down and reached into one of his now completely empty pockets. He didn't know why he felt the need to do this, the thought simply coming to him that this would work. Closing his eyes, Shay focused as hard as he could, trying to channel this strange energy he felt in the bottom of his pouch on his waist sash. For some reason, it began working, a tingling feeling beginning to flow through his left arm.

To what Shay assumed was a couple seconds, actually being a couple minutes, Shay could finally feel something materializing in his pocket. The feeling surprised him, but not enough to throw him out of focus. With the energy flow finally stopping, Shay opened his eyes to see a light in his pouch fading away. When the light completely disappeared, Shay reached into the previously hollow pocket, pulling out some gold coins. Smiling, Shay ran back into the inn, only to find the man with his hand over his face, slowly sitting up upon the bell ringing again.

"It took you about four minutes, hopefully you finally came back with something." The man once again spoke with clear disinterest as Shay ran to the counter.

"Yes sir, I... Well, hope you can accept this, anyways." Shay pulled out the pouch itself, dumping the gold coins on the counter, making the man behind it jump back at the sudden noise. The man's eyes widened as he looked at the amount of coin present on the table whilst Shay put the pocket back on his sash, tying it up firmly.

"Is this... gold...? Just... Whatever, have your room, it's 505, second floor..." The man tossed the key to Shay after finishing his broken sentences, still trying to hide the fact that he was largely surprised at the amount of currency before him. Shay gave another waving motion, walking up the stairs on the left, immediately finding his room slightly in front of him.

Using the weirdly shaped key, he found the keyhole on the door's handle, and opened the door to his room for the night, closing it behind him. Taking in his relatively small surroundings, Shay was mildly impressed with the quality of the inn itself, Shay's new room almost comparable to the cleanliness of his old room back at Fort Arsenal. Slowly walking over to his bed as he took in the room itself, Shay sat down and began to undress for the night's sleep, not planning on resting on all his gear again, anyways.

Taking off the majority of his clothes, Shay leaving only his comfortable pants to sleep in. He folded his uniform nicely, wrapping his weapons up in his waist sash so he wouldn't lose them. Before he finally placed himself on the bed, Shay took out the ring holding his ponytail together, leaving his relatively long black hair to messily drop down to his neck.

Covering himself up with the nicely made blanket below him, Shay adjusted his head on the pillow, closing his eyes only slightly before noticing a strange prism of a device on top of the drawer to the right of his bed. With the curiosity of a small child, Shay reached over to grab it, holding it in his hands, observing it's strangely flashy buttons. Looking over again, Shay noticed a small booklet below where the device was itself. Using his other free hand, Shay got up and grabbed it, reading the cover.

"Manual... Tele-...vision... Remote...?" Shay muttered to himself, clearly confused at what he was deciphering in his hands. Reading this manual further, Shay opened up the three page booklet, finding a picture of this "remote" and words pointing to the colorful buttons. Of course, the big red one at the top interested him the most, so Shay almost immediately traced his attention to what he assumed this button did, only reading the word "Power." Pressing it, Shay jumped when the box-like object in the far front of the room parallel to the bed flickered with a strange light, seeming to activate at the remote's control.

A couple seconds of Shay looking at the light seeming to form moving photographic images, it began to emit sound in sync with the smoothly animated images being shown. Starting off at what he read was a "News" channel, Shay smiled in fascination, quickly finding his way to work the remote device, editing the sound of what he assumed was a "television" to become quieter or louder, keeping it quiet since it was so late in the night, however. What interested Shay the most about this contraption was easily the ability to change these "channels," as he had read they were. Shay kept his finger on the button to scroll through such channels, finding something different on the television each time.

"Y'know... I think I could get used to this." Shay had yawned out, stretching his arms outwards as he continued to observe this television. Watching carefully, Shay pulled himself under the covers, and experimented with this new technology for a long while, slightly dozing off to sleep with each passing moment. In his final moment of consciousness, Shay looked out the only somewhat covered window at the left of the inn's room he currently resided in, enjoying the night sky. Although not as beautiful as what he believed New York had to offer, it was nice nonetheless. Soon, Shay found himself in a deep sleeping state with the remote device cuddled in his arms, snoring lazily.

[Shay Cormac]

Groaning, the bed creaked under Shay's back as he rose from his bed, a line of drool coming from his face to the pillow he was laying on. Almost disappointed in himself for ruining yet another one of his pillows, he wiped his mouth, murmuring to himself, not having the energy to do much else. Well, it wasn't his pillow, at least. Shay had remembered he was still in this "Omniverse."

Sighing, Shay put his legs over the side of the bed, sitting down, realizing the T.V. remote still in his hand. He looked at it for a second, before putting it back, placed on the drawer beside him, his clothes and weapons still there, thankfully. Shaking his head, Shay got up, not caring to make up the bed, knowing it would be done anyways. He had ever so slightly hoped that whoever was going to be cleaning this room when Shay left didn't see the puddle of saliva on the pillow he was sleeping on just a few minutes ago.

Wincing a bit, Shay walked off to the small kitchen of the room, looking at a small refrigerator, the name of which he didn't know of course. Crouching down, he saw the handle that looked like that of a door's. He pulled on the handle slightly, opening it. He was slightly surprised to feel a small, cold breeze come out from the inside. Shay looked at the interior, seeing a few cylinder canisters to which he assumed was beverages inside. Taking the metallic and cold can from inside of the cold storage device, he closed it's door, thankfully magnetizing itself to the refrigerator.

Shay walked back to his bed, sitting down in the middle of it, trying to figure out how to open the drink itself. He continued to look down as he reached for the remote at his side again, turning the T.V. on once more to keep his ears occupied with noise. Shay jumped up a bit as the beverage opened up with a loud pop, a couple of wet fizzes coming out of the drink. Hesitantly taking a sip, Shay noticed how sweet it tasted, before deciding it was safe to consume. Shay looked up, watching the News channel again, only this time actually paying attention to what the screen was showing.

"...On any note, the Stormtrooper death rates increasingly get higher with each new Prime to enter the Nexus."

Shay listened in on the womanly reporter's voice booming through the speakers. Shay thought about the two Stormtroopers he had met upon first arriving at the Omniverse, scratching his chin. He didn't realize how violent Prime interactions with these soldiers had gotten, surprised at why anybody would attack such people. Before he could sympathize as much as he wanted to, Shay then remembered how generally bad the Redcoats were back where he lived, even if he worked for them at the time. The only one he could truly respect being Colonel Monro. Shay continued to listen in.

"Many citizens are in conflicted emotions about the incident which only happened nearly only a couple of weeks ago, where two Primes who now identify as 'Thor,' and 'Bluddflagg,' slaughtered a squadron of Stormtroopers almost immediately upon entering the Nexus. It comes to no surprise that such acts are causing controversy among the people of Coruscant, many critics tearing down the Empire's acts to try and work with Primes as a whole."

Shay winced again, only much harder this time. Shay supposed he was just subtle enough that he didn't already get people attacking him because of his status as a Prime, although he still didn't quite understand what that title truly meant. He did go back on how he didn't get too many friendly faces greeting him at the tavern. Shay had hoped there might have been more people like that bartender woman, although he really did doubt that was the case now.

"Fueling the fire, was the recently formed 'New Babylon' gang located in the Endless Dunes, though our sources cannot exactly identify where their base of operations are located just yet, this newly formed gang's motives are to take down the Empire's control."

Squinting, Shay leaned in upon hearing this. This sounded awfully suspicious on both sides. The more and more Shay made the comparison to the British as he did with the Empire, the more he doubted the practicality of stepping foot into a place where he clearly wasn't widely accepted. Shay still couldn't scratch out the word "gang" from his head, knowing all the trouble the Assassin gangs back in New York had caused. Even if this was some sort of propaganda stunt made by the Empire, ignoring this would be too risky for Shay. He couldn't abandon citizens and innocent lives, even if they weren't of his own city.

Finishing the strangely satisfying drink he had already scarfed up, Shay threw the can to the nearest trash bin, before hopping off the bed once again. Picking up his folded outfit, he began to put it on again, starting from the undershirt, all the way to the coat itself. As Shay buttoned up his clothing, he left the T.V. on to listen in on anything else.

"Although recent incidents, the Empire is once again proving that they are able to handle the problem in the case of dangerous Primes. The three now identified as 'Sivo,' 'Jon,' and 'Crona,' were taken into custody as a result of an attack held out by Sivo in the middle of the city, to which both Jon and Crona disrupted the peace by carrying out the fight. It is unknown what were Sivo's motives, but we do know that the Empire does have these dangerous individuals under control."

As Shay tightened his boots and wrapped his waist sash, he grumbled to himself. Was this really all the Empire had to talk about? Primes this, Primes that... All of it made Shay uncomfortable at the very least. Thinking about this last report, it awfully sounded like a mad, manipulative power grab. There had to have been more to the story than just that, because there's no way in high hell that a couple of Primes would have gotten arrested for defending themselves, to Shay's understanding. If that was the case however, then this entire idea of the Empire would get a little bit shady, to say the very least. Shay continued to mutter at himself.

"What a load of shite... Might be best if I just leave this place as soon as I can. This... "New Babylon" seems dangerous anyhow. I can't let the same thing that happened in New York happen here, no matter what it may be."

Placing his pouches on his belt and sheathing his weapons, Shay stretched a bit, before walking back to the door of his room. Hastily opening the door and closing it behind him, Shay rushed downstairs, throwing the key to his room on the counter, not looking back once. Shay jogged out of the inn, before realizing he had no clue where to go from here. A tavern was easy enough to find, an inn wasn't that much harder, but a gate to jump verses? Shay thought it a bit strange how he had so easily accepted that's how gates worked, seemingly by some sort of magic, but he's seen enough as an Assassin to know not to ask how things worked, as it was probably beyond his understanding.

Shay, sighing, looked up into the sky littered with flying cars. Gladly he did too, because he then got the idea of calling down a Taxi to help him out with this. Perhaps a driver would know where Shay needed to go. Thankfully, they flew pretty low as well. As Shay saw a Taxi approach his general vicinity, he began to jog in it's direction, waving at the driver, which Shay had hoped he saw. Shay smirked as the Taxi began to lower to the ground, before floating just a foot above the street.

The back door of the strange flying vehicle moved upwards with a mechanical whir. Shay looked inside of the floating car in front of him, noticing a wide seat, before taking a short hop and jumping in the car itself, causing it to sway slightly. Shay looked in the front of the flying Taxi, before yet another alien-like individual turned his head to face Shay, this time a lot more "alien" than Shay expected, a tubular appendage replacing his mouth, with bulgy black eyes. Shay, surprisingly to him, didn't flinch at this, thinking it would be rude to even raise an eyebrow. As expected of the alien's mouth, it spoke with a strange buzz in it's voice.

"You, ah... Speak English, there?"

Shay smiled, nodding his head, trying to put on a friendly face. He wasn't quite sure where this would head him, but he soon replied.

"Yes, I do indeed."

The alien looked back to the front of him, raising the Taxi as the door closed. Even now, Shay could admit he was getting a little dizzy, despite his experience with heights.

"A'ight, where ya headed?"

Shay's smile faded a bit as he heard this, not quite sure how the response Shay had in his head would suffice as a clear answer. Thankfully, Shay still had half his pouch full of gold, which should suffice in this case.

"Well, I was meaning to head to the gates... The Endless Dunes, preferably."

The alien looked back a bit, starting to fly off slowly. Shay gulped, realizing how hard this would be to get used to.

"The gates? Well, kid, I ain't know where exactly the Endless Dunes would be, but from what I hear, they're all about in the same area. I'll drop you off when you get there, but I gotta let you find the Dunes yourself. Good enough for ya?"

Shay leaned back in his seat, shrugging slightly. Can't have everything your way, he thought to himself.

"That'll do, thank you sir."

The alien pushed his feet to the pedal of the flying Taxi, steering himself upwards, nodding at Shay.

"Okay, that'll be-"

Shay, interrupting the alien, flicked up a gold coin from his pouch, catching it in his fingers as it glimmered in the sunlight.

"Will this do?"

The alien's eyes went wide looking at the coin, realizing his passenger must have been somebody from Camelot, that being his best guess.

"Gold coin? Er... With the distance, that'll be... about 5-"

Shay dropped ten coins in the currency collector on the door to his right, before looking back, bowing his head.

"Keep the change, you deserve it."

The alien looked back, shrugging his head as he flew off into the depths of Coruscant. The flying Taxi's speed got increasingly higher, much to Shay's displeasure. Shay looked out the window, the feeling of dizziness soon being replaced by awe and wonder as he looked at the abnormally tall buildings and sprawling city-life. No matter where Shay looked, all he could see was flying cars go pass, citizens walking around going about their daily lives, or lit up and active buildings.

Shay leaned back in his seat, inhaling deeply. This kind of life was Shay's favorite. Moving, urban environments that never run out of things to do and explore. Although Shay knew he couldn't understand much of this Omniverse or what it had to offer, it definitely was a nice "break" from his life back at home, if he could even call it a break at all. The thought of him staying here for so long didn't bother Shay as much as he thought it would. Before he knew it, the Taxi started to lower onto the ground. Upon the Taxi reaching ground level, the door opened for Shay once again, in the middle of a strange stone circle in the middle of what looked to be a park. The alien driving the Taxi looked back at Shay, before speaking.

"Alllright, kid... We're here, watch the step. If you ask, you're in the middle of the Coruscant's gate center. Basically, ah... think of that 'Nexus' place where them Primes drop off at. Thing is, the gates were always hidden to make it easy for them Primes to get there easier... It's a lot harder for Secondaries to get to any of the gates, seeing as they seem to move around somehow..."

As Shay hopped out, he leaned back into the Taxi, nodding his head again.

"I'll figure it out, thanks for bringing me this far, sir."

Shay waved at the driver, before the door closed again, and the Taxi raised itself back into the sky, before flying off into the horizon. Shay took in his surroundings again. Where he stood, a stone circle placed in the middle of a very tiny grass plain, although beyond that was nothing but dense, green forest area, filled with trees of various sizes and branching outwards in almost all directions. Remembering what he saw at the Nexus, it was obvious finding any one of eight gates would be relatively difficult in this situation. Looking at his gloved hands, Shay balled his hand into a fist, letting his Omnilium flow through his body.

Closing his eyes, Shay crouched down, holding his hand to his head, focusing as hard as he can. Shay could see in his eyes his destination, although they were not open. It was strange he could imagine to detect such an energy, but his instinct and the energy inside him told Shay to venture somewhat to his left. Vague, but it was a start, at least. Shaking his now somewhat hurting head, Shay slowly walked towards the direction his mind told him, before quickening his pace slightly.

Walking into the forest itself, Shay took this time to stretch his arms again, finally glad he's actually out walking again. Although the trip from the sky was nice, and definitely a new experience, Shay himself always loved a good walk, especially with this kind of weather. Even if Shay was more suited to the cold, the air around him was perfectly warm with a gentle and cool breeze coming by every so often to bristle the leaves up in the trees above him. It reminded Shay slightly of River Valley, only a bit more peaceful, although that might have been because he was in the middle of multiple wars going on simultaneously whilst venturing those lands.

Before long, Shay saw a slight opening in the dense forest, leading to a slight patch of grass flatland, similar to where he was dropped off beforehand, though this time, instead of a stone circle, there was a gate similar to the one Shay had used to enter Coruscant, although this one was... sandier. It seemed to fit the description of the Endless Dunes themselves, the gate being held up by a pile of sand, and the gate's exterior being made out of what Shay assumed was sandstone. Walking over to the gate, he looked inside, noticing the entrance of the gate being covered up by what he saw was glass. Sand, glass, sandstone... If all this didn't speak a barren desert, Shay wouldn't know what did.

Shay continued to look inside of the entrance, and as he expected, it really was nothing other than a couple of rocks and a lot of sand. A lot of sand. If Shay looked hard enough, he could notice the air getting hazy, even... Shay cringed at the sight of this, looking down at his heavy winter clothing. Shaking his head, Shay took a deep breath, putting his hand in the entrance, and although it had a glassy exterior, it didn't stop his hand from entering and causing the portal to ripple at his touch. Looking behind him for a final time, Shay jumped into the beginning of the Endless Dunes, a bright white light blinding him once again.