While Dave and Will were enjoying a bit of well-earned friendship, they forgot about the army of Viners heading down the disorientating spiral stairs. Dave and Will weren't aware of this, just as they weren't aware that they were being watched by something much worse that a Viner.

Through a cleverly built slit in the sandstone wall, two evil eyes watched with silent pleasure as its fleet advanced towards Will and Dave. By the time the two friends saw the first glimpse of green, they had only had a split-second to grab their iron swords. They weren't going to go down without a fight.

Will charged at pack, swinging his sword violently, but only killing a few Viners. He caused most of the rest to blow up, sending him flying across the small room, yet again into the fountain.

Dave, on the other hand, was standing on a small dirt platform, which he had hastily constructed. He was rapidly shooting arrows with his nearly broken bow, which he had deemed lucky – and called Old Faithful.

Old Faithful did a good job, but the Viners were getting closer, and Dave was running out of arrows. He would just have to get his sword out and do it for Will. The thought of Will lying in the fountain alarmed him, so he decided to hurry up.

Without putting anymore thought into the matter, Dave leapt off his platform, yelling, "I can, and will, swing my sword!"

Will opened his eyes. He then wanted to close them again. He was in the nether, a place where he thought he would never have to live, but it seemed he had been wrong. He had been condemned to spend the rest of his sanity in a place worse than hell itself. If only he had led a more meaningful life, then he might have gone to a better place. But he hadn't, so had would have to live with the fireballs, the snorts, the screeches and the rest of the fireballs.

He got up, and looked around. He looked past the ever-burning Nether Rack, the ever-glowing Glowstone, the ever-dark Nether Brick and the ever-mysterious Soul Sand. He didn't care about anything except for the emptiness. There were no fireballs, snorts or screeches. There wasn't even the sound of lava crackling, bubbling and burning, and the fires weren't making any noise either. It was completely silent. That was until he heard a strange, eerie breathing sound that was coming from behind him.

Strangely, there was nothing there except a silent lava pool. He was certain the sound was coming from that direction. This was until he felt a ghostly cold tap on his right shoulder, and he heard the sound again in his still-painful ear.

He whirled around, but only to be faced with the same scene as before. He was absolutely terrified now, so he turned back to the lava pool. He just wanted to end this by 'taking a dip' in it.

But someone had beaten him to it. A pale skinned figure with blood red eyes was stood in the lava pool, so only his head was visible. That was the last thing Will ever saw.

Dave was faced with the final Viner. He looked a bit bigger than the other ones; he also seemed to be a bit tougher. He still wasn't dead after five hits.

On the sixth hit, however, something peculiar happened. For a split-second, he wasn't a Viner; he was a pale-faced figure with blood red eyes. But that was only for a split-second. After that, he was gone, but something told Dave he wasn't dead…

Dave remembered suddenly that Will was still lying in the fountain. Dave ran over to him, but he feared he was too late.

He frantically rummaged around in his rucksack. He couldn't find any Golden Apples. All he had were melon slices, and they were useless. He nibbled on one to try and console himself. He jumped up suddenly, recalling Will had never had time to eat the Golden Apple that Dave had given him. He rushed to Will's rucksack, and sure enough, there it was.

There was no time to waste. Dave shoved the apple in Will's already open mouth. He pushed the jaw up and down, and then he gently tipped Will's head back. Somehow, Will managed to swallow the chewed apple. A flurry of purple bubbles and sparkles appeared by Will. Then, with a earth-shaking burp, Will sat up.

"Dave, I saw him! We need to go, now!" he said with a trembling voice. Dave nodded, then set off up the stairs.

They climbed the stairs, tip-toed through the room the Viners had come from, (it wasn't particularly special, only it didn't have any torches) then they came to a button. They pressed it, and in a huge cascade, sand fell from the ceiling, creating a staircase to daylight.

When they stood on the sand at the top of the stairs, they saw that they were at the end of a huge desert. They also saw the huge building that they had come out of. It was a mighty pyramid.

With a synchronised shudder, Will and Dave turned around to face the large plains biome, with a small village not far off. They looked at each other with large smiles, then they set off towards the completely sand-free village.

Beta-read by beeabeeon49