A/N: Sorry it took so long to update!
When they had finally finished in the mines, there really was a lot of lapis there, they headed into the forest for a 'lesson' on growing trees. It mainly consisted of Martyn rambling excitedly about, in no particular order, the properties of different trees and what they liked. Martyn's thoughts jumped around so much that Rythian got dizzy just listening to him, much less watching him sprint from tree to tree, performing various tasks. The self-proclaimed 'King of the Saplings' certainly lived up to the title. Rythian had gotten Martyn into a fit of laughter with his odd pronunciation of certain words when the scent drifted into the glade. Smoke. Martyn froze, his eyes wide with terror, as the foul smell permeated the air.
"Come on!" He yelled, already out of the clearing. Rythian scampered to catch up. They raced through the trees, the ground a blur. Martyn was panicked, taking quick shallow breaths. As they ran the stench grew stronger and a thick gray smoke began to blur their vision, making Rythian cough. They finally burst into a clearing, and it was not a pretty sight. Fire raged around rapidly collapsing buildings, leaping hungrily into the air. It was clear this had been a small village, now it was ruins. Luckily the fire hadn't spread to any of the trees. Martyn ran through the wreckage to a small well, drawing up buckets of what looked like liquid lapis. He was splashing it on the fire, which immediately settled back. After several more buckets most of the serious flames were out. Rythian beat the rest out with his cape, discarding the charred remains. He'd have to get a new one. They stood next to the well, panting and streaked with soot. Martyn pulled up another bucket, rinsing off his arms and splashing it on his face. The fire had eaten everything. It had raged unnaturally fast, even consuming the stone. Next to the main building was a large crater, lined with black and purple runes. Rythian peered down at them, they looked familiar. The smoke make his eyes sting, forcing tears. As his vision blurred the image became clearer, a word in a language he was all too familiar with. This was dragonfire.
"Martyn!" Rythian beckoned him over. Martyn peered into the hole cautiously and whistled.
"Wow. I wonder what caused this?" The sprite toed one of the lines, making it spark slightly.
"Dragonfire. Somehow there was at least an enderman here, if not the Queen." Rythian adjusted his mask nervously.
"Well, it's gone now. Along with the entire village." Martyn sighed. "There was a really sweet girl here. She always brought me dinner on Christmas."
"I'm sorry." Rythian patted Martyn on the shoulder. The sprite nodded.
"Let's check the houses. Maybe someone survived." He didn't sound very optimistic. Rythian walked to the nearest structure, a blackened and crumbling mess. He searched it, methodically going from corner to corner. He repeated with the next, and the next. He kicked over burnt timber and shards of stone. Piles of charred possessions, a little girl's doll. One of the last houses wasn't entirely burnt, lying just on the outskirts of the village. There wasn't anything there, but as Rythian turned to leave he heard a faint thumping noise from beneath the floor. Under an overturned armchair lay a couple of askew floorboards. Rythian pushed away the thickly cushioned chair and lifted the wood. A small dark basement, coated in ash, greeted him. It too was mostly burnt, the only surviving thing the far wall and a bookcase. The thumping got louder near the wall and Rythian could see the faint outline of a secret door, blocked by the house's huge cornerstone and a collapsed pile of ceiling beams. There was no way to move the huge pile of debris. Rythian bit his lip, accidently drawing blood, and reached for the energy in his chest. Concentrating carefully, he stepped forward, appearing the next second on the other side of the wall. A little boy had his back pressed against the wall, staring at Rythian with wide eyes. He screamed, curling into a ball and sobbing.
"Get away! Mommy! Help, help! There's an Enderman!" Rythian realized that, in this dark room, all the boy was really able to see was his glowing eyes.
"No, no. It's okay, see? I'm not an Enderman." Rythian spread his hands wide, a universal 'I come in peace' gesture. "My name's Rythian, what's yours?"
"Toby." The boy stopped sniffling for a moment, looking at him with guarded eyes. Rythian opened his mouth to continue when he heard shouting.
"Hello! Who's in there?" It was Martyn, standing on the other side of the door.
"Martyn! There's a kid in here!" He shouted, then added in a quieter voice, "That's Martyn, he's a friend."
"Rythian? How in the universe did you get in there?" Martyn asked incredulously. Rythian grimaced.
"I, um, teleported." He said. There was a long pause.
"Any way you can get back out? Preferably with the kid." The sprite had the air of someone putting aside an issue for later.
"I think so, one second." Rythian turned to Toby. "Here, grab my hand." The boy looked at it suspiciously but followed Rythian's instructions. Rythian made sure he held his hand tightly before moving, twisting the wall out of his way. He stumbled slightly on the other side, his hand going numb where Toby's grip cut off circulation. Martyn had a bewildered look on his face, staring at the wisps of purple that resulted from the teleportation. Rythian extracted his hand from the boys grip, shaking it out. The boy looked at the burned and blackened room and began to whimper, tears spilling down his cheeks.
"Mommy? Dad?" Martyn held Toby's shoulders.
"I'm sorry. No one else survived." Martyn was much better at this than Rythian, who was standing awkwardly off to the side.
"Do you know what happened?" Rythian asked. The boy nodded, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"A bunch of Endermen came to the village, they seemed nice at first. But they were looking for something and they said they could sense it nearby. And when we didn't have anything they burned the village square and said we had three hours to find it. Mom made me hide." Toby swept his long brown bangs away. "I didn't want to, and then it got really hot. But I couldn't get out."
"Did they say what they were looking for?" Martyn asked. Toby nodded.
"An experiment? I don't know what that is though." Rythian's eyebrows shot up. Experiment? Likely they were looking for him and realized the portal came out around this area. "Where do I go now?" Toby sniffled, looking around the empty husk of his village.
"You could come back with us." Martyn offered. "There's plenty of room at the camp, and there's always work to be done!"
"Really!" His brown eyes went wide. "That would be fun!" Martyn gestured for them both to follow, heading back to camp. He didn't even glance back at the burnt village. Rythian lingered for a moment, staring at the hazy runes in the crater. A sudden frission of fear struck him and he hurried after the pair, glancing over his shoulder the entire way.