"Okay, does everyone have Potions of Water Breathing?" Olivia asked us.

We all nodded, a few of us muttering "yes" or "yeah".

"Boots with Depth Strider?"

Again, we nodded. We were in Soren`s lab, in front of the End Portal. We were preparing to head in, after hearing that Jesse just might be in the End. I even had a few Ender Pearls onme, just in case. We were pretty much ready.

"Let`s just get in the portal and find that shortie already." Em grunted, crossing her arms.

"We`re preparing, because last time we were there, the whole place was completely flooded." I reminded her.

"Well, we have everything, right?" Em climbed up the steps, looming over the portal. "So let`s just go already."

With that she jumped into the portal. Petra gave a sigh of frustration, then climbed up the steps and jumped in herself. Everyone jumped in until only Olivia and I remained,

"You okay, Lukas?" Olivia asked me, giving me a worried look.

"Yeah," I sighed. "It`s just that… what if Jesse`s dead? Then what`ll we do?"

Olivia narrowed her eyes. 'That might be true, but we still have to try to look for him."

I didn`t reply.

"Besides, Petra would make a pretty rough leader." she half-joked.

"Yeah…" I replied, looking up at the portal. "I think we should head in now."

Olivia nodded. "Right."

I let her jump into the portal first, before jumping in myself.

The time between going into the portal and ending up in the end was as disorienting as always. In a moment, I was standing right next to Olivia waist deep in water. I guess we didn't need the potions after all.

Everyone else was turned towards the edge on the giant floating island.

"What are you…" I started while wading towards them, before looking where they were facing. I understood why they were so interested.

There was some small structure made of bedrock floating in the air. Between the blocks was one of the most confusing blocks I have ever seen. It was like i was looking at a million stars in the sky, all crammed into a single block.

"Amazing!" Ivor yelled out with delight. "I have read about these!"

"If you know what they are, then tell us!" Petra growled.

"According to my sources, they are the portals to 'The True End!'"

I heard a few gasps. I narrowed my eyes. That may be one of the most convenient things in the world, but I had my doubts. We barely knew anything about the True End, and these things could be a trap!

"Why do those things give me a bad feeling?" I heard Olivia say.

"We must go up at once!" Ivor yelled out loud. He pulled out a cobblestone block that he got from who-knows-where, and started building towards it. Axel gave a shrug, looking at us. I kept my eyes on Ivor. In no time he was at the top, and he even built a platform around it. I was pretty fine with it, until he pulled out a lava bucket and let it run down the side of the platform away from us. Petra gave a facepalm, and Axel started to climb up the cobblestone stairs followed by Em and Olivia. I went after them.

By the time we were at the top, I heard the sound of the lava making contact with the water below, forming stone.

"So… how do we get to the End place?" Axel asked. I had the same question.

"According to my books, you need to throw an Ender pearl." Ivor explained.

Everyone turned to me.

I took a deep breath. Okay, the last thing I`d ever want to do is chuck a Pearl at some weird portal thing that may be the only way into the True End.

"Ink sacks…" I muttered as I pulled out the Ender Pearls from my inventory.

"Give me half of those." Petra demanded. I obeyed, splitting the stack in half and handing one half to Petra. At least I might not be alone on this.

I stepped back a few blocks and got into the throwing position, hesitating.

"Just do it already!" Em shouted after a moment. I took a deep breath, throwing the Ender Pearl right at the Portal block.

Those seconds were the most confusing seconds of my life. I felt every single emotion possible at the same time, but feeling nothing, and it felt as if time had sped up.

Then, it all stopped.

I fell face-first onto cold, hard End Stone, taking some damage at I fell. I head was still dizzy from the portal, and I nearly collapsed again as I got up. I looked around to realize I was on a small floating platform made if End Stone. Around it was more platforms hat I realized were floating islands, and I could see in the distance a huge floating island with weird purple things covering the top of it.

I heard Petra`s scream, ands a thump behind me. I turned the warrior herself flat on the ground, before she jumped to her feet.

"Why is it so cold here?" was the first thing that came out of her mouth. I realized that it really was cold, which was strange, because I wasn't shivering.

"So… what happened?" I asked her.

"That portal thing started cracking, and I went into it as fast as I could." she replied.

"It… broke?" I stuttered.

Petra nodded.

Well, isn't that beautiful? Now there's no way in OR out!

"And… what's with all these islands?" Petra asked me, looking around. I shrugged.

"There's a bigger one all the way over there." I pointed, showing it to her.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked me.

"What?"

"We're going over there."

"Wait-" I didn't finish my sentence before Petra pulled out a stack of End stone and started building to the next island. Letting out a heavy sigh, I followed her. It took a while and the mining of a few islands, but eventually, we had built a really long one block wide bridge to the giant island. I nearly fell off of the side when I saw what was on it. There were tall, and I mean really tall Endermen all over the island. Petra covered her eyes, but it was too late for me. One of the Enders turned and looked at me, green eyes glinting. Wait, green eyes!?

I look a deep breath, waiting for them to come charging at me, but it didn`t. They only gave me some nasty glares before turning away. I nudged Petra.

'What?" she hissed.

"They didn`t attack me."

'How many looked at you!?' she asked me sharply.

"About five…"

"You're kidding me.

"No, I'm not."

She uncovered her eyes. One looked at her, and she looked back. She reached for her sword, but it turned away.

"I am officially losing my mind…" Petra muttered. She looked up, glancing around. 'What`s… that…?"

"What?"

"Look at that." She pointed towards something that could have made my jaw drop all the way to the Nether if I didn't feel so uneasy. It was one of the tallest towers i`ve ever seen, and it was made of some block I've never seen in my life.

"Let's check it out." Petra said.

'What if we die!?" I asked.

"Then we`re dead." she replied. She started walking towards it.

Hesitating, I followed after her. And still, no Endermen attacked us, which confused me. What confused me even more was their eyes. What kind of Enderman had green eyes? It look a while, but we finally made it.

It was made entirely of light purple blocks, and the thing reached so high I couldn't see the top. I strained my neck, looking for an ending.

"Is that water?" Petra suddenly asked.

At first I was going to agree with her that she really was crazy, since there's naturally no water in the End, if the End even is natural, but I understood what she meant. Some water was pouring from a long road stretching from the tower, and it was already half-way down. I held my breath. What if that was Jesse!?

Soon enough, the water hit the ground, and surrounding Endermen backed away from it. Something from the long road jumped down, free falling right towards the water, barely landing in it when landing. I realized it was a person.

At first, I thought it was Jesse. They had the same dark brown hair and bright green eyes, but after a moment, I realized it definitely wasn't jesse.

He was around the same age as him, but he was dressed differently, and definitely taller. He looked up, eye widened with panic (Hair was covering his other eye).

"Do you guys know someone named Jack!?" He asked frantically.

I stepped back. Okay, here's what just happened. Some weird kid came flying from the sky down a waterfall and is now asking about someone named Jack.

"Jack? Who`s Jack!?" Petra asked, reaching for her sword.

"Jesse, I mean." He panted, standing up. His entire body was shaking, and it looked like he has just seen a ghost.

"You know where he is!?" I gasped. We had finally found Jesse!

"Uh, yeah, but something really, really, really, really bad happened…" the kid breathed.

"What happened!?" Petra asked sharply, pulling out her sword.

The kid put his arms up in defense. "I didn't kill him or anything, man! I don't even have a weapon!"

He pulled out an iron pickaxe and tossed it on the ground, showing he was unarmed.

Petra didn't lower her guard. "Take us to him."

"U-uh, yeah, sure thing."

He started up the really long waterfall, Petra going behind him with her sword still out. I sighed. Why did Petra have to threaten anyone who mentions any of her friends? Still, that guy could be setting up a trap. I followed Petra up.

When we finally reached the top, the kid motioned us towards a doorway into the tower.

"I don't know if you care, but the name`s Crest." the kid squeaked.

"Okay, toothpaste boy, lead us to Jesse." Petra demanded. Crest didn't reply, and brought us to a huge doorway to a gigantic chamber, and stepped inside.

He pointed to a collapsed figure in the middle of the room. Petra immediately got into a fighting position, and I stepped back.

That was not Jesse there. was no way that could be Jesse.