Philza stood at the edge of the platform, looking out into the dark.

Philza stepped forward first. His wings, tucked tight against his back for so long, twitched. One step. Then another. The portal swallowed him whole.

The others followed—Niki with her jaw set, Ranboo with a nervous glance back at the void they were leaving behind, and Technoblade last, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword.

The trip through the portal was brief. Icy. And then—

—light. Blinding, golden, warm light. The overworld air hit them like a wave, thick with the smell of flowers and fresh grass. Sunlight fell across their faces for the first time in three hundred years.

And in front of them, where an old L'Manburg wall should have stood, was a field of alliums.

One of them spotted them. A kid with messy brown hair, maybe fourteen, wearing an oversized cloak. He froze mid-step, then turned and sprinted toward them, waving wildly.