Diamond Pantheon

"We've been poking things into the rift. It seems like there's some space on the other side with chemistry similar to my own facet, but whenever we put things through they get flash-cooked at extremely high temperatures. "

Interestingly, I recall a similar thing on Dunia many years ago. In a cave near the city of Chandra, an elf by the name of Unwinder discovered a portal in a subterranean ocean. Most things that traveled through the portal were burned to a crisp, though Unwinder was able to get a few things through eventually, though at the cost of several animal lives. Someone was even brought through the portal back to Chandra. The individual was completely unfamiliar with magic, which is quite common on Dunia.

"Interesting. How did they get things through? Oh, and the wolf is smelling danger."

"Err... Unwinder had a swarm of bees as a familiar, which he could use to experience distant places. He summoned a celestial dolphin and stored a bee inside its digestive tract. The dolphin went through and was damaged, but the bee survived. It is unknown how the human got through."

"The wolf is smelling danger, eh. I don't see how you can add that as an afterthought. Hmm. Well, I'd better keep a close eye on the young sslug, and a watchful eye for any sign of the shadow."

Can we trust the wolf?

Diamond Master wrote:"If you can provide me with whatever I may need when the time comes, I will accompany you to places I do not mind myself. My most immediate need is live, squirming sustenance to chase down."

"This is what the Steep Wolf pup said to Athena when she asked for its allegiance. I do not know if this means that it can be trusted or not, but I believe that it can be, so long as to aid us is still beneficial. I am not familiar with these creatures - if this pup did turn against us, how difficult might it be to defeat or subdue it?

"Also, I have noticed something odd: when the Steep Wolf spoke to Athena, it said that to travel through the rift chilled it to the bone. But the temperatures that AIiCE and I have observed seem to be extremely hot."

That is interesting. The lore says the Steep Wolves come from the Icy Wastes - perhaps that has something to do with it? You said there was a space on the other side of the rift?

Steepest Durin can confirm that lore, but it seemed in my histories that some of our eldest gods traveled through unnatural rifts to the Immortal Facets.

"Maybe the temperature is directional. If there was some sort of temporal shift across the rift, it might cause such an effect. Moving with the shift (toward the Hero realms), time would be slowed relative to you, and so everything would seem colder, and moving with it (away from here) time would be condensed, so everything would seem to be moving very fast to you, and therefore be very hot."

That makes sense to me.

It's also possible that it is different each time.