Responses to Reviews

EnderBlazeHybrid—Hmm, you sound like you're disappointed. Why?

Guineapig126—Well, Jade has pretty bad luck throughout the story, so…

I'm still accepting OC's at the moment, but they will not be main characters. But they may be important in the story somehow. A note to EnderBlazeHybrid: I just can't use Kevin because he wouldn't fit anywhere in the story, but if you send me a different OC, I may be able to work something out.

Anyway, enjoy the tenth chapter of this fanfiction.

-{0}-

The boy and his horse sped through the grassy hills, the moon their only guide. The wind tousled his rather short dark brown hair, almost blowing his eyes shut. The horse on which he rode was galloping beyond his full speed, breathing hard with the strain.

"C'mon, Swift," the boy said, patting the animal's side. "We're almost to the mountains; just a bit farther." He hated to push the horse so far, but they couldn't afford to go slow. They were running for their lives, or rather Swift was, a band of assorted hostile mobs were trailing them not far behind.

Swift struggled to scale a rather steep hill, covered in wild poppies, letting out gusts of air every time his hooves made contact with the ground. When they reached the top, the mountains came into view. The horse's eyes widened as he quickly surveyed the distance he would still have to run, but he knew there was no other option. Ignoring the cramps in his flanks, he set off on a dead sprint, dark eyes now narrowed with determination.

Mounted upon the animal, the boy quickly drew a few of his throwing knives from his belt, ready if the mobs came too close. Turning his head, he saw the group, just a few blocks behind. He quickly sent a knife spinning through the air, which found a home between a creeper's eyes. Although it was near impossible to throw knives while riding a horse, his accuracy was flawless. He never missed.

The creeper was at the front of the pack, so when it collapsed, it stalled the others, who had to clamber over its green body. Yes, he thought. We have a chance.

To the horse, it seemed the mountains kept getting farther and farther away. But the pain in his sides just became stronger and stronger. He whinnied to the boy, and they both knew that he wouldn't be able to reach the mountains without killing the mobs first.

"It's okay, " said the boy, a grim look on his face. "I'll take care of them."

The horse galloped just a few more paces, then turned halfway around and stood still, chest heaving. The boy leaped off his back, facing the pack. He knew his throwing knives were no good at close range, so he drew both his swords, a diamond and an iron one, sheathed in an X over his back.

"You think you can take me down? Bring it!" He yelled into the band of mobs. They didn't hesitate to charge at him, surrounding him and surging forward. A spider leaped at his face, mandibles snapping. He dropped to his knees to avoid it, swinging his blades and taking the legs off many a zombie and skeleton. But of course they weren't dead yet. Now they were right up in his face, without limbs to keep them standing. Great.

SSSSsss…

A creeper. Or many creepers at once. It or they were about to blow, but the boy saw this as an opportunity. He leaped to his feet again, purposely sending himself careening into the mobs opposite of the direction of the hiss. Surprised, they couldn't react. He hurled himself into the air, using a spider's face as a springboard. While he was still airborne, the creeper went off, launching the boy still higher into the night sky and way over the mobs' heads. He sailed almost horizontally through the air, struggling in midair to land on his feet. It half worked; he landed upright but stumbled, falling onto his back. All of this was very difficult with full size swords, but he knew what he was doing.

"Damn," he grunted, scrambling into a ready position. The mobs were so startled, especially that poor spider, that they were momentarily frozen in place.

"Yeah! You want some of this? Huh? Yeah, you got nothin'." His mocking voice brought the night creatures out of their stupor, and they whirled, but attacked with a new strategy. The skeletons that still had legs began to fire, knowing they were too far to be attacked by him. He twisted and turned, trying to dodge the bone-tipped projectiles. It proved very difficult. Most simply whizzed past the boy's ears, but one or two embedded themselves in his shoulders and back. The boy squeezed shut his eyes and grit his teeth as his nerves reacted. Pain is merely a message, he thought. One you can ignore. He proceeded to pull out the arrows, grunting. Fortunately, the skeletons' aim weren't the best, so the clumsy shots hardly went deep.

Moving fast, he whipped out four knives, iron ones, which he held between the fingers of his right hand. One by one, he passed them to his left and threw them, and one by one the skeletons fell to join their legless brethren. Except these really had been killed, unlike the others that simply rolled around in the grass.

Now without archers, the mobs knew they had underestimated the boy. Yet they continued to attack, trying to win by using their sheer numbers. Knife after knife he threw, but he was running out quickly. He couldn't last for much longer.

That was when something…peculiar happened.

An Enderman appeared at the scene, behind the boy. He froze as he recognized the unmistakable shllllip of the Enderman teleporting. Lavender particles whisked around the boy's head, and his pulse sped up tenfold. Silence fell, and the rest of the mobs suddenly backed off. Even they were scared of the tall, black menace. It was recognized worldwide as the most terrifying creature…and the most mysterious.

Slowly the boy turned around, and did what he regretted about two seconds later. He locked eyes with it.

The nine-foot monstrosity suddenly began to tremble violently, and its bottom jaw seemed to unhinge as it opened to reveal six rows of night-black fangs. It looked straight back at the boy, and that was when the…peculiar thing happened.

As soon as it looked into his eyes, the color of pure flame, it let out a strangled cry, and it froze to the spot. It was difficult to tell, but there seemed to be nothing but terror in its blank purple eyes. Its jaw snapped shut, cutting off its shriek, and the creature vanished, teleporting somewhere far away. A thin trail of purple specks was the only hint at where it had gone.

The boy could only stand in shock. Why hadn't the Enderman attacked? Why did it look terrified when it looked into his eyes? The boy knew his eyes were unusual; they were orange and yellow. The warm colors changed all the time, as if his irises were brands of fire. Is that why the black beast had fled? Maybe, but that wouldn't make any sense. Turning around, he saw the rest of the mob group was also hurrying away, as if they had simultaneously realized that they had important business elsewhere. Still confused, the boy sheathed his swords and collected his knives, then made his way over to his horse.

Swift seemed to have regained his breath, as he was no longer breathing hard or with difficulty. The boy hauled himself onto the horse's back, urging him still towards the mountains, looming just two chunks away. Still uncertain, he managed to hurl one more comment at the departing mobs.

"Yeah, that's what you get when you mess with Jordan Phoenix!"

-{0}-

Short chapter, I know. I'm just giving you another point of view, here. Just so you know, I'm not the kind of author that will tell you which POV it is. They don't do that in real novels, now do they? Then again, they don't do authors' notes after each chapter in real books, either. Hmm…..

-This chapter has been updated.

-Angel