Sid stopped. He had reached the end of the stairs. In front of him was a giant archway.

It loomed high overhead. The archway looked older than time itself, and yet the intricate carvings that covered the arch were as clear as when they must have first been made.

Near the bottom, scores of tortured faces almost seemed to move about as their mouths hung open in obvious suffering. The faces thinned out as it rose up.

Towards the middle, it shifted to grasping hands. Their fingers so intricate on some you could even see hangnails. They seemed to almost wave as they reached out for something just out of sight.

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Past the hands were more faces, but these ones were different. Instead of a shambling mass, they seemed to be in perfect order. Each stared firmly ahead, as if they were royal guards standing in front of the palace entrance.

But, these faces were also strange. Several of them had odd features. Some had slightly elongated skulls. Others had long earlobes that nearly drooped down to their chins. On some, it almost looked like they had a second pair of eyes above their other ones.

For a good stretch above these faces there was nothing but a solid arch. No carvings adorned this section.

Then, to top it all off, on the very top was a single eye. The eye was closed, but even so, was obviously massive. It was at least ten times Sid's height.

And Sid stood at the bottom of it all. He ignored the carvings, he ignored the sheer size of it all. Sid just stared forward.

Sid just stared at the shade of a woman looking back at him through the shimmering portal.