Swimming in the golden water proved more difficult than the prince had originally wagered. The water felt thicker than normal, and the water kept getting in his mouth and made him sick to his stomach. On top of that, from the shore the mound looked like it would only take a couple minutes to reach, but after swimming for considerably more than that, the prince realized it was much farther and that the mound was also much larger. It now appeared to be a small island, but the prince swam on. When he finally reached the shore he looked up and realized that the seemingly small island was actually an enormous dessert. He saw a spot off in the distance where the river continued into the dessert and started walking towards it.
Once the prince reached the river he found the immortal hammer was already there waiting for him. The prince was bewildered and demanded an explanation for what was going on. The knight told the prince to follow him, and they started walking along the rivers path. While they walked the knight explained to the prince that this place had been their destination the whole time. The MICRO DESSERT. He went on to explain that due a temporal anomaly here called a sphere vortex, this gigantic dessert was able to reside in a much smaller area than normally would be necessary. The sphere vortex also acted as a transition between dimensions. The queen and him believed that the dark rider who murdered his father resided in the dimension that this sphere vortex led to.
After seemingly hours of walking the two came upon a small body of water where the prince guessed the two canals came together. On the far shore a large spherical object invaded the shoreline. The sphere seemed to be made of glass that was half submerged in the small body of water. What appeared to be a perpetual storm raged inside the glass, and gave no hint to the contents of the sphere. It looked as though the object had just blinked into existence in that exact spot, because everything around it seemed to have been bent to its will. The shore jutted up one side of the sphere creating a cliff face. The two adventurers easily scaled the sphere and peered down at the swirling storm beneath them. The prince looked up to the knight and asked him how they were going to enter the vortex? The knight smiled, put his hand on the princes shoulder and pushed him off the cliff.
The substance that the prince believed to be glass was actually some sort of semi-solid liquid that allowed him entry and immediately reformed the instant his body had passed through. Once inside, the swirling clouds enveloped the prince and everything went black again. The black lasted only for a moment and then the prince found himself slowly descending inside a cylinder of light. The light slowly faded and dropped him on a small circular platform with a triangle shaped insignia carved into it. Looking around, it appeared he was at the end of a tubular cave. As usual the prince had no idea what he was doing so he decided to just keep moving forward.
The tunnel was short and when he reached the end he found an enormous underground cavern. The cavern housed an ominous pyramid that was encircled by a dark forest. An eerie green glow emanated from the pyramid, and on closer inspection, the apex of the pyramid seemed to float above the rest of the structure, held up by some unseen force. The immortal hammer came up beside him moments later and they started walking towards the pyramid. Once they entered the forest, the prince noticed that the trees bared a strong resemblance to the ones he saw in the wave forest, but these were purple and had no foliage. The prince could also swear he saw eyes watching them from a distance, but could never be sure due to the darkness inside the cavern.
After passing through the forest they came upon a large triangle shaped door at the base of the pyramid. The prince tried to open it, but it was to no avail. From behind him he heard the knight offer to open it. The prince turned around to see the knight raise his hammer and start to swing. He jumped out of the way just as the hammer exploded the stone slabs that were once the doors to the pyramid. The knight urged the prince to draw his weapon (the prince did so, but was still entirely unsure of how to deploy the blade). So with hilt in hand they walked inside. It was pitch black, except for a small circle of green light in the center of the room. When they reached the illuminated spot, the room filled with light as torches lit with green flames. The room was large and filled with staircases that led to platforms and rooms beyond their sight. A sound came from the side opposite to the entrance, where a large dais stood. They both looked up to see the Black Unicorn saunter up to the edge of the dais with the dark rider walking beside her. The same burst of anger he felt back on alpha olympia engulfed him again, and he felt the blades presence once more.