The sun was bright in her eyes, the scarf doing nothing to combat the light as it was tied up on her head. The courtyard wasn't particularly busy, but the hallways were filled with roaming guards, something petra noticed when she peeked through the windows on the outside.

Maya was sitting on the steps that led inside, watching the redhead with a keen glare. Petra huffed and turned to her students. The two came through this morning, Maya had explained after Aiden left. They would come here every morning to be taught and return home in the evening. Petra assumed that she herself will be teaching them, while Aiden's goon sat on her ass like a prize.

The first one that greeted her was a tall, pale man. "I'm Gregory." His voice was deep but clear. His overalls were brown and the sweatshirt underneath was black. His short, curly and ebony hair was swept behind his ears.

"I'm lucas." the fair skinned short one spoke, the blonde short hair covering portion of his face as he squinted at Petra with his left blue eye. His clothing preferences seemed… tight. The tank top under the open red jacket hugged his torso. The blue jeans strangled his thighs and ankles. Some characters they are, she thought.

"My name's Petra. Until different plans are made, I'll be teaching you building and mining techniques."

Gregory was looking at Maya, she noted. "That's Maya. She's… the supervisor, I guess."

"Can she hear us from here?"

Perplexed, Petra hesitantly and slowly turned her head to Maya. she was socially occupying herself with some guards that came her way. "I… don't think so. I can't hear them talking, so she shouldn't be able to hear us."

The two men quickly glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes. Gregory returned his attention to Petra.

"We know who you are." He whispered. "We've seen you at the building club."

At first she was surprised of course; hearing that made her shiver. The second thought was that Aiden sent someone to make her spill some secrets. The squint she gave them was full of suspicion. "I never seen you before." she responded, dismissing the news.

"Don't worry. We're usually in the background. We're the real deal."

Maya had yelled, telling them to start working. Petra pretended to teach them, rummaging through a chest prepared near her for supplies.

"How are you here?" She asked softly. "How are you in the courtyard right now?"

"After that speech your friend made, Lucas and I got ourselves a way to explain that we'd offer to be builders. No one knows us. Most of our members don't know we exist."

She gave them each a crafting table along with wooden blocks and sticks. The items looked homely in their hands, having probably used them multiple times.

"We need to get our leader back before those days are up." Lucas pressed his palms into the table. If the situation didn't call to not arouse suspicion, chances are he would have slammed them to match his tone of urgency. "After today is when the clock starts ticking."

They made a sword, along with other simple tools. It seemed easy for them. Petra couldn't help but check her surrounding much too often.

"He's in a cell in the castle's lower levels. I haven't been there since this morning, but I'll be back there tonight." Her heart went rapid at her statement. "I… I can tell him that you both been here.

Gregory hummed. "I never seen so many guards out here." he noted. "The founder usually had so few on patrol when it's this early."

Then they were given cobblestone to create a furnace. She introduced coal, explaining its uses and had them make torches. When she checked over her shoulder, Maya was still sitting at the steps, pushing her strands of hair behind her ears. "He might have some guarding the cell maybe, or will have some tomorrow." They began to cook fish. Petra watched their reaction to the pops and sizzles, making her wonder If the citizens even cook their own food. She cleared her throat. "How would you two get in the castle, besides the courtyard? I don't think you're allowed to go any further than here."

"I would study the guard's patterns and cycles," Gregory suggested. "but we don't have that kind of time, not to mention your friend seems unpredictable."

Guards eyed them from the windows of the corridor. "Very unpredictable." The redhead agreed.

"Where did he even come from?" Lucas inquired. "Where did you come from?"

The lesson moved to ores, specifically iron and its many uses. While they were busy with the buckets, shears and such, Petra answered the question. "We found an enchanted flint and steel that opened a portal-" she chuckled at their raised eyebrows- "and Aiden took it. The one reason we're here was to get it back and find our way home."

Gregory and Lucas listened, giving a moment to take in the idea of other worlds, and that people can go to different ones. The tall male hummed. "I see. If you can help us get Milo, we can get rid of Aiden so you can get… that… thing."

"And by get rid, you mean…" She gave him a questionable look.

"We get Milo, and do whatever with Aiden. Toss him into the void, kill him, whatever."

She found herself leering at his words; Petra hadn't made the idea of killing people so thrilling, like Aiden had easily done hours before. Sure, he's a fucking nutjob, but she knew him. At the moment, killing people she knew didn't sit right with her.

"Leaving him alive would be a shitty decision." Lucas chimed in, staring at her. "Let him rule and your group just up and leaves to go portal shopping? While we run everyday from his authorities?" Gregory patted his back, trying to dispel the other's tone. Lucas scoffed. "When I heard his speech I wanted to pounce and kill that fucker where he stood, having milo looking like a damn animal-" The taller man warned him once more, and the other finally calmed.

"I get it." Petra surrendered. "We couldn't just leave and have this world in his hands." Her voice was intentionally low besides the whispering. It felt like she agreed to have a hit on somebody.

It was quiet for some time until the late afternoon hit; she called for a break and they ate the fish cooked earlier. Maya was walking over to them, checking their progress. The weather had proven quite warm and she wasn't wearing her leather jacket. She stood over Petra's sitting form, putting her weight on her left leg whilst her left hand rested on her hip.

"You noobs seem to be making good progress." her looked at Gregory. "Petra's into tall guys, you know."

The redhead rolled her eyes so hard it was practically audible.

"How's that Wither mark doing for you?" the brunette smirked at how the woman wanted to ignore her so badly, noticing how her head tilted to the left arm but stopped midway.

"I'm fine." she spoke sternly.

"What?" Maya whined. "Just asking how you're feeling. Trust me when I say this, you were sick as a dog with that sickness and all."

"I said I'm fine." she barked, warning her.

"Alright." she shrugged. "Good to know." before leaving she gave the men a quick check over, returning back to her spectating spot. The three were finished eating; Petra sighed with annoyance.

"She's very rude." Gregory stated. Petra absentmindedly nodded.

"She's only acting like that because she thinks Aiden's going to spoil her."

"Are they together?"

"No. something must've happened for her to think he'd want her."

"So…" Lucas murmured, putting pieces together. "Are you his girlfriend?"

If the kid was someone else, she would have taken it as an insult. "Hell no. One of my friends-her name's lukas- she was with him. They've broken up, though."

He settled with an oh, and they continued with their lesson. She taught them about armor and the difference between the leather to the gold. The silence was excused for the men actually having no idea about the concept. Soon they did their tries at creating armor.

"What about that?" Lucas broke the silence, gesturing to her arm. "Are you sick or something?"

"I'm not sick, trust me." She laughed. "There was this monster, this Wither Storm, and I got infected trying to hold it off to save my friends… you guys have no Idea what I'm talking about, huh?"

"What the hell is any of that?"

The sky turned a dark orange. Petra closed out today's lesson with showing different blocks and giving descriptions. In between that was the story about Jesse and his group of funny nerds, The Order of The Stone they held their gullible faiths in, and the monster that nearly destroyed their town. There was the sound of combined chatter that soon turned into clashing scrambles of shouting. The three caught guards running through the corridors. Gregory and Lucas looked about defensively. Petra's eyes searched for Maya in time to see Aiden and Ivor approach her. Her friend gave her a faint smile. Aiden seemed annoyed.

"Fucking crowd out there with their fucking sticks…" He mumbled. "Petra, I had it where the students went home, but that crowd's talking about hurting people leaving and entering the castle. I was going to have you to the cells, but you and them two can go to the barracks for tonight." He slid a palm down his face. "Fuck…" he drawed out. Maya soon came back, presumably checking on the guards. "Maya, where's Gill?"

"I haven't seen him yet."

"Oh fuck. Lukas and him are still out there." He began walking and the rest followed suit. The throne room was loud; just past those large double doors was a crowd of townspeople hollering. Petra looked to Gregory, shaking her head and dismissed the Idea of being in the cell for tonight. He nodded and let Lucas know. Aiden told maya to take them to the mess hall.

"Sure thing." she obeyed. "Come on, idiots."

Petra's mind worried for Lukas as they entered the mess hall to the right of the throne room. It was empty, with the exception of a few guards talking about the crowd outside. They sat near a window to view the angry mob. The yelling was barely muffled by the glass. The redhead spotted Lukas and Gill approaching; her breath hitched.

"Fucking worrying about her." maya groaned. "It's probably the only reason he's thinking about those shitheads outside." she took in how Petra's palms were pressed on the window, eyes darting at the crowd, searching for her friend. The brunette rolled her eyes. "I'm sure your girlfriend's fine, Petra."

"Fuck off." the other quickly blurted, glancing to Maya then returning to the view. Gregory and Lucas darted back and forth between the two women.

"Did I upset you? You feel like you owe her something?"

"What's your deal, Maya?" Petra growled, giving her full attention to her. The other grinned.

"Why do you care? What? Is it because she was fucking your pathetic leader, so you gotta be her white knight-"

The students didn't think Petra would react and grip Maya's collar as if it were her neck. Their faces were centimeters apart. Maya laughed as strands of hair fell in her sight.

"What are you going to do? Hit me?"

"I should knock the Seven Shades of Shit outta you." she replied shrewdly. "Why shouldn't I?"

The mob outside was groaning and coughing. Lucas caught sight of a purple cloud.

"Because, You'd be getting your friends in trouble."

Petra's angry expression lessened.

"Lukas could get in trouble, or Ivor might just be blind before tomorrow. That's why you should get your hands off me."

Slowly but surely she let her go, but kept her glare as she slumped her back against the window. Footsteps alarmed them, only to find out it was Gill and Ivor, coughing lightly. Maya went over to their side.

"What happened?" She asked while they sat.

"The crowd got violent." Gill began. "They tried to hurt Lukas. Aiden threw some Dragon's Breath out there."

"Where is he now?"

"I didn't see. He's with Lukas, though."

She huffed. "Okay. Look, I'll be back to take them three to the barracks after they eat. I was supposed to feed Milo, but you can just drop some food by, alright?"

The bearded man nodded. She left and Ivor took the seat next to him. Petra watched her leave. The mess hall filled with low conversations of guards' reaction to the purple cloud while food was being brought out. The only beings quiet were the group of five. Ivor and Petra shared concern glances before eyeing the wooden floor at their feet. They were each taken aback by the scenarios that were ending just as fast as they started. Petra was especially winded, mentally, at least. As much as Maya enjoyed pissing her off, she didn't have the freedom to do something about it. Doing anything wrong could put her friends in danger. She looked at Ivor's eyepatch when he didn't notice. I don't want him to be blind.

Just as they took in the people and surroundings, Lucas awkwardly hummed, gaining their attention.

"So… what the fuck is a Dragon's Breath?"