Valentis had barely a moment to gather his thoughts before he and the rest of the volunteers stepped outside into the ruins of the city, they were suicidal heroes in their attempt; whether or not they succeeded or failed, the gods would judge them all kindly for this act, that was for certain.
His old muscles were still spry enough to skillfully wield his Bo staff, which quickly became evident as he came across a scamp, he had seen these monstrosities before in his travels - low level conjurers would summon these from the plains of Oblivion to act as cannon fodder or a long range harassment, these Scamps however seemed different, almost feral, its almost as if the ones that get summoned are inherently different from the true thing.
It gave a guttural hiss that sounded like a wet rusted blade scraping against metal before it began to summon its magicka, just before it hurled a bolt of fire at Valentis he stood firm, in a  defensive stance, staff crossed diagonally across his chest and imbued his staff with two magics, Protect, and weak fireball.
The wood changed, it looked as if the wood had become infused with iron, and at the same time cracks started sprouting around it looking like veins of fire tracing along its hard surface, it took mere seconds to occur
And not but a second later than he had prepared himself the scamp threw its fireball square at Valentis' chest, it would be a direct his on the old mans cloak had the staff not been there.

The scamp had barely time to think of attacking again when its initial attack exploded on the mans staff; seemingly doing nothing at all, but in a swift movement Valentis had covered an impressive distance between himself and the scamp in a very short time, shifting his stance to an offensive one, he thrust the base of his staff into the Scamps left ankle causing it to explode violently; flesh and bone scattered around the area.
Having imbued his staff with Weak fireball, it's affect on the beast was truly exceptional, in a scream it fell to the floor barely touching the floor before Valen quickly snapped his staff around his head in a arc and bringing it sharply upwards into its jaw, breaking its neck and finishing the disabled foe in a single stroke.

Scamps weren't much of a threat to this old man, he had faced far worse than these, but he knew that the gates of Oblivion heralded somethings far worse than these blights.

By the time he had recovered himself, the gates to the city had opened, the last few combatants had been finished off and he stood there with the rest of the group, all of them seemingly unharmed.
Now there lied the true task at hand, which was on the other side of this gate.

It stood tall, not quite the same height as the city walls, but not far off.
It was constructed out of a volcanic rock arced with ancient runes and veins of magma coursing through it like the blood in their veins, the gate almost seemed alive, the energy it exerted beat and pulsed like the beating of a heart, you could hear an ever increasing thrumming the closer you stood it it, it was truly enchanting in a odd sort of way.
They stared into the heart of a demon, knowing that they must kill it, yet it almost seemed as if they were being invited into its blazing core, it wanted them to enter its forbidden halls, to walk on its salted earth, to breath it sulphuric air...
It did not have them same allure as Akivir, but it was close.

After the first man enterted the gate, the anticipation could have Valentis waiting no longer, and like the man before him he uttered no words as he stepped once more into the unknown.

The transition of the atmosphere was stark, it was like entering a completely different world after gliding through a warm jelly, the gates energy offered no resistance when you pushed into it, it almost drew you in gleefully accepting you into its abode.
The first thing that hit Valentis was the air, its feel and smell.
It was oppressive, the air hung with a heavy feeling in it, weighing down all those who walked and breathed in it, and it smelled of thick smoke and charred flesh, acrid and bitter was the taste it left in your mouth if you breathed too deep from your nose.
The sight was a brilliant crimson glow that emanated on everything, which just made its obsidian black constructs and charred black earth all the more darker and its shadows more ominous.
This place overloaded your senses, the alien sights, the strange noises against an eerie silence, the eye watering smells and strangely cold feeling to this place.
It was alien, there was no doubt about it- so alien that it blew Akivir out of the water in terms of how foreign this place was.

But Valentis loved it, this sense of adventure, this breach into a new alien world, its everything his old bones needed, a small smile curled on his wrinkled and weathered face.
He would take great joy in exploring this god forsaken land, and he would take equal enjoyment in making its master suffer for bringing it to mundas.