Beyond is a realm that's directly connected to Apollo (my characters' world) and can be accessed via a special type of portal. These portals may appear anywhere in Apollo, usually of their own accord and seemingly at random, before disappearing a few minutes or hours later. (They can also be forced to appear by a skilled spellcaster.)

Beyond is a hellish landscape; jagged dark mountains, ravines, deserts, and sparse plains. There is no apparent day/night cycle. The sky is always thick with grey clouds and it's always windy; temperatures change seemingly randomly; sometimes it's hot and sometimes it's freezing. It rains frequently, and the air smells of ash and decay. Almost everything looks to have a monochrome or desaturated appearance, as if colours just aren't important here.

(TBC...)

The strangest thing about this world is that its geography/layout appears to be very similar to Apollo's... and it's not a coincidence.

Beyond is an alternate version of Apollo. This means that countries like Vallis, Aether, etc exist in Beyond, but they are a dark, fractured mirror of themselves. There are no towns, no cities, no technology, and no signs of civilisation. The world is devoid of intelligent life and overrun with monsters (including ones that are much, /much/ worse than the Unfeeling).

(TBC...)

Some believe that Beyond is what Apollo looked like millions or even billions of years ago. Before the world had formed into what we know today, when it was nothing but mountains and empty deserts and oceans filled with unimaginable creatures.

Others believe that it's a warped parallel version of Apollo from a timeline where the world was torn apart by some catastrophic event, and this version was sealed away inside its own magical realm. Such people shudder in fear of what could possibly cause their beloved, beautiful planet to become this nightmarish wasteland, empty of humans and other sentient races.

Perhaps we will never know the reason why Beyond exists. All we know is that it /does/ exist... Although, actually, most people have no idea that it does. Few people have ever stumbled across an open portal to Beyond, and those who venture inside usually don't come back.

(TBC...)

Many of the animals living in Beyond are distorted versions of regular Apollo animals - rabbits, deer, birds, and so on. The seas are inhabited by giant, prehistoric-looking fish and sharks. In the cold subterranea beneath the mountains, Unfeeling and other cave-dwelling creatures lurk in the dark.

That orange light in the sky is always there. It looks very much like the aurora borealis and moves/shifts/ripples in the same way. It's one of the realm's main light sources since the clouds block out the sun or stars... if there even are any. The aurora seems to shine from below the clouds, casting a sickly orange glow across the world.

(Done)

(Doom Eternal OST I N T E N S I F I E S)