The Northern Adventurers League No More.

7 young adults/older teens stand in a semi-circle around a purple door, which sports what looks to be a white equals sign at about head height. One of them stands in front of the door, while the others gather around him in the semi-circle. The stallion in the middle is the oldest of the group at 21. He's a pegasus with the physique, and clothing of a typical jock. His friends know him as "Austin." Then, from left to right in the semi-circle there's a female gryphon called 'Tipps', who is 19. The youngest of the group, a 16 year old unicorn mare called 'Willow', then a small dragon they called 'The Rock', because of his love of professional wrestling. Then, filling out the rest of the semi-circle are a 19 year old stallion named Andy, sporting a nice satchel. Nar, at 20, wearing his signature straw hat, and holding a fancy looking axe in his magic grasp. Then, his girlfriend, Amy at 18, an earth pony. Despite not being the youngest of the group, Amy is the shortest. "Alright everyone!" Austin shouts, despite not needing to do so to be heard. "This is it. What we came here for." The group waits in silent anticipation for Austin to continue. "Layer 5. The deepest anyone has ever gotten in the Astral Highway System. Some would say we lack the experience to attempt such a thing, but we know that's crap! We've been exploring this place for years, and we're more than ready for this!" The group lets out a cheer. Well, all except for Willow. "If anyone wants to turn back now..." Austin pauses. "It's too late!" At this, the group cheers once more, only, Willow lets out a cry. "Wait! Are we really sure this is a good idea!? Didn't that one book say that a team of 20 went in one time, and only 3 came back?!" Willow shakes uncontrollably as she pleads with her friends to re-consider. Her shaking is slightly subdued as Nar's arm plops onto her shoulders. When she looks up at him, a bright smile beams back at here. "It's okay Willow. That was over 100 years ago, and we've got all the equipment we'll need to get through it. If anything shows up, I'll keep you safe, got it?" To this, Austin adds "Yeah! And we're all here too! We can take anything this place throws at us!" Before Willow has a chance to respond, Austin swings the door open, and shouts back to the group one last time. "Northern Adventurers League! Forward!" The group responds in unison with shouts of "Onward!" before everyone follows Austin past the threshold, into Layer 5 of the Astral Highway system. Austin leads in the front, followed by Tipps, The Rock, Willow, Adam, Amy, and Nar brings up the rear. It's pitch black on the other side. Not as if there were no light. No. It seemed like the entire highway was just... devoid of any other color. The group could see each other just fine, so it didn't seem like they'd need any light yet. Regardless, Austin removes a flashlight from his pack, and turns it on. The area seems to extend well beyond the limits of his flashlight. "Alright. This is strange, but nothing we can't handle. Just keep close together. If I suddenly disappear or something, just turn around and get out." Normally, when Austin made comments like that, he'd make it clear he was joking. The fact that he was dead serious didn't sit right with Nar. Maybe he was just being paranoid. Nar shrugs the thought off, but takes a quick glance behind him to make sure the door was still there. Good. It hadn't mysteriously vanished or anything. After some though, Nar reaches into his own pack, and removes a glowstick from it. He cracks it, then leaves it on the ground in order to leave some sort of marker in case they need to find their way back. The group presses on, but only manages around 10 more steps before Austin stops them. They're not more than 30 steps from the door at this point. "Guys. I think I hear something... Or rather, someone." As the group stands in silence, they all perk their ears in an attempt to hear what Austin claims he hears. No one says anything, but it's clear to Nar that everyone else hears something. He can barely make out any noise himself, but there IS something in the distance. Austin kills his flashlight, and gives a quick glance back at the group as the noise becomes more clear. It sounds like... people! Quite a few of them too! Willow's comment from before they entered pops into Nar's mind for a brief moment. Maybe it was the missing members of that 20 man team. Maybe they'd been trapped here. As the voices grow closer, with no apparent source, Nar looks back towards the door. Still there. Austin then calls out from the front. "Hello? Is someone there?" The voices suddenly increase in volume. They shift from what sounded like wailing, to desperate, anguished screams. Austin turns his head back towards the group. Even from the back, Nar can see the fear in his eyes. "Guys, we need to-" Austin's sentence is cut off by a startled, terrified scream. Something grabs hold of his legs, and quickly pulls him into the voices. Tipps curses before she's pulled in. Willow screams bloody murder as the group tries to turn to run. Nar watches as Adam faints in front of him, and Amy simply falls to her knees, sobbing. As Tipps begins screaming for help, Nar picks Amy up onto his shoulder, and grabs Andy by the strap of his satchel. The Rock roars, emitting a torrent of earth from his jaws as Tipp screams in desperation, just before her scream is added to the others. As Nar turns, and begins to sprint back towards the door, The Rock roars defiantly. Only for his roars to turn into anguished screams. Willow sobs "No! No! No!" as she tries to follow after Nar. 20 steps now. Willow unleashes a bloody scream as she's dragged in. 15 steps. Something grabs hold of Andy's leg. 10 steps. Nar stumbles forward as Andy's satchel becomes far more light. 5 steps. Nar slings the satchel over his free shoulder. Nearly there. Nar opens the door, and dives through, slamming the door behind him. The screams stop. Nar looks to the door, silently begging every deity he knows that it will not open. His pleading is interrupted as Amy lets out a terrified scream, and begins thrashing about. Nar tries to grab her shoulders to calm her down, but she responds by clawing at his eyes. Nar instinctively shoves Amy away after she manages to draw blood from just underneath his left eye. She quickly scrambles to her feet, and starts a sprint, only looking back to make sure Nar isn't following. "Amy! Wait!" Nar calls out, but he's not able to catch up to her. Nar chases after her screams until he can no longer hear them. Nar wants to simply stop, and collapse to the floor, but it's too dangerous to do that here. With adrenaline pumping, Nar turns, and looks for the door they'd used to get to this highway. He can process what happened when he gets out of the Astral Highway System.