A year has passed since Mordroc's demise at the hands of Dirk the Daring. Having pursued the evil wizard through the depths of time, Dirk confronted Mordroc in the chamber where Daphne lay in a deep, magical slumber. Using the wizard's own magic against him, Dirk managed to get the Ring of Death onto Mordroc's finger. Expanding like a balloon, Mordroc floated into the air where Dirk was able to pop the bloated wizard with one mighty swing of his sword. True love's kiss brought Daphne out of her trance, and together Dirk and the princess returned to their home in the enchanted forest, prepared to live out the rest of their lives in peace and happiness. Or so they thought.

Billows of smoke began to rise from the enormous, copper cauldron occupying the center of the castle tower room. Waving her hands purposely through the air, Mordroc's sister, the witch Mordread, caused the thickening cloud to spin wildly, flashes of multicolored light producing eerie, flickering shadows along the walls. Reaching into her black dress, Mordread tossed a blue powder into the boiling liquid in the cauldron. Smoke stopped pouring out of the cauldron, and a strong, unnatural wind whistled through the room, blowing Mordread's dress and stark white hair streaming behind her. The spinning cloud began to thin, leaving a glowing haze to linger in the air, slowly pulsing red, blue and green, suspended above the cauldron despite the fierce wind.

The witch yelled out over the continuing gale, "Bing, bang, boom!" Electric charges exploded through the thin fog, claw like flashes trying desperately to grab whatever might be within reach.

"Zing, zang, zoom!" Mordread's hoarse voice boomed, causing the floor and walls to shake. From within the cauldron another burst of energy snaked its way up into the air, colliding with the magical electricity still grasping through the haze. Where the two mystic forces met, a glowing orb appeared, spinning as wildly as the wind blew, and within the golden orb an image began to take shape.

Green trees and yellow flowers appeared under a bright, midday sun, swaying slowly in a warm, summer breeze. A thatched roof, white house sitting in the center of a grassy clearing, the smoke of a cooking fire rising from the small chimney. At the side of the house a smiling hero swings an axe, chopping a fallen tree into fire wood. The front door to the house opens and a beautiful princess steps out, calling to the hero that supper is almost ready. Dirk the Daring walks to Princess Daphne and they embrace in a passionate kiss.

Mordread sneered, blue and red light reflecting off the witch's glistening, grey skin, "The two lovers, hero and princess. The two evil ones who destroyed my brother!" The witch tilted her head back and began to chant in a low, barely audible voice. The cauldron's contents once again began to churn, spitting forth another blast of energy, causing the haze to thicken and the two faces inside the orb began to waver. As the fog grew darker, a different image materialized inside the orb, a strange golden land, filled with spinning arms on hundreds of clocks. At the center of the image stood a tall, shining, gold castle, clock topped towers stretching high into the sky.

"The Vortex of Eternity will be the reward for your despicable deed. An eternal curse from which there is no escape. Never growing older, never dying, trapped forever!" Mordread took from a nearby table her magic wand, a large glass bubble atop a long, iron rod. First waving the wand several times overhead as she chanted, the witch plunged the glass end into the cauldron. Abruptly the wind ceased, instantly sucked back into the cauldron, and as Mordread raised her magic wand the dark fog leapt into the glowing glass bubble, sparks shooting off in all directions.

"And with this enchanted wand I will imprison you, house and all, to be transported to the Vortex." Arms held high, the witch Mordread began to cackle a wicked laughter as the wind and smoke returned, emanating from the magic wand. Spinning around the room, centered where the witch stood, the smoke circled closer and closer until Mordread was obscured from view. With a loud clap of thunder, witch, wand, smoke and wind disappeared, leaving only the sound of Mordread's sinister laughter to echo throughout the shaking tower.