For a moment there was nothing. No movement or sound. Then the air started to quiver a bit. A tightening pressure filled the cave, and Anou covered his head, knowing what was to come. The air flickered with red light, then a hot, roiling black miasma that seemed to blind and choke. A wave of terror and negation flashed through them all, then everything rushed to a single point: right in the circle of stones. The air quivered more, then the red light expanded like a blood drop in water, growing to fill the space of the circle. It throbbed, and gases which smelled like a mixture of a chemical processing plant and a sewer erupted from it in a thick, greenish haze that slowly dissolved rocks outside the circle.<br/><br/>Anou slowly stood, looked into the portal, and then at the others. "Well, here we go." He swallowed, then made his way towards the portal, willing to go first if no one else would.