This was a bit late…though, honestly, I don't know what counts as late for this fic anymore.

RenThePyro—Yeah, but it's not that subtle here. You'll see. You're pretty much dead on with these guesses. Haha, hopefully I'm not too predictable. And thank you! I'm glad you like this, and thanks for your loyalty in reviewing. :)

-{0}-

She had wings, maybe. That was how she breezed so fast through the drifts and the trees. It wasn't an adamant sense of purpose that drove her to such speeds—just wings.

In the bitter cold of the dusk, as the last yawning bits of sunlight were dimming, she was running. Her speeds didn't faze her in the least—her expression, twisted with something like desperation, would not be changed.

"I'm going to find you again," she yelled, tipping her head back so her words could reach the sky, brush its ever-changing colors. "I will, I swear it!"

Her muddied skirt billowed around her legs, otherwise bare to the cold. The tunic she wore was thin and loose, clinging to her frame in the wind she created as she ran. "And I will not slow. I will not rest. May the gods mark my words. If I fail in this, I hope to die."

She ran. Her wings did not tire.

"I will find you."

She ran. Feriah's wings did not tire.

"Heiro."

-{0}-

"Then they're from Caelum," Jordan murmured behind us, slow and quiet. I stood still and watched Azure; she was motionless, eyes resting on the glowstone shards. They were like shattered pieces of the sun, so bright and hard to look at. I could feel their heat from where I stood—like comfort, solace, somehow.

"Follow him," I rasped. "We have to follow him." I paced up to her, and she flinched when I put my hand on her shoulder. What's wrong with her? She's never been like this before.

Knowing they'd follow, I started past the shattered glowstone, into the darkness where the light couldn't reach. It was where we had to go—but in a way, it sort of always was. I sensed the weight at my sides as the walls closed in, the cave narrowing to a tunnel. As Azure shuffled behind me, the glow of her sword illuminated the wall in front of us, broken by a single missing stone block. Just like the bedrock was above us.

"He mined through. Recently, by the looks of the stone," I said, gazing at the sharp crevices and edges of the block. Definitely fresh—small stones still clung to the sides, refusing to fall. The hole fed deeper into the wall, maybe four or five blocks, but in the gloom it was hard to tell.

I didn't hesitate to climb into the hole, scraping my hands raw as I went through. "Watch your sword, Azure."

I was staying as calm as I could. They wouldn't understand any of my distress about my dreams and how prophetic they could be. I didn't know when I'd work up the courage to tell them. Or maybe courage wasn't the issue, just my stubbornness.

Why was the boy scared of us? Did he recognize me too? Was he a Caelumite? Wouldn't know till we found him again.

Feeling the other edge of the hole, I left it, steadying myself on solid ground again. As soon as I saw Azure's sword, I began to jog down the tunnel, hands out to touch the walls. I didn't want us to waste time—you move fast in panic, and the boy had definitely panicked.

"He can't be getting far," I called, not knowing how far away the other two were. "He doesn't have a light with him."

"Sure, be optimistic," Azure growled, behind me. "He probably knows these tunnels, Jade. We don't. I'm guessing it's for mining, for Caelum. We're literally in the dark, but most likely he lives down here."

It was a decent theory, but it didn't explain his terror. Still, I didn't respond. We kept going. The little light we had was enough.

There were a lot of turns and forks, and we knew at every path we chose, we could be leading ourselves away from him. And, judging from how far our light reached, he could've just been hiding in a small crevice till we passed. He was small enough for that.

I didn't voice my doubts, because doing so would make them more real—even though there probably was no middle ground between real and fake. But it's what I made myself believe.

We called for him, for anyone—someone else had to be down there besides him. But it seemed empty, deserted. There were no torches to line the walls and keep the deep underground shadows at bay, and veins of iron and coal snaked across the stone, not harvested. None of it made sense—the tunnels couldn't be mines.

Squelch.

"Ah, dammit," I scoffed, almost immediately after hearing the sound.

"Slime?" Azure asked uncertainly, gripping her blade and standing frozen.

The glow was enough to see the giant gelatinous monster as it leaped into view, small green drips flinging themselves off its body as it moved. The thing was huge—it towered above us, only a few blocks away. I didn't know how to read slime expressions, or even if they had any, but its dim eyes focused on us, and it looked like murder in its gaze.

"That…doesn't make any sense," Jordan suddenly cried, readying his two blades. I whirled to look at him, to see the utter shock on his face.

"Dude, the bedrock's right above us," I said. I reminded myself that they probably didn't know as much about hostile mobs as I did, but it was no excuse for him to be confused that one was spawning in a cave. That was common knowledge—even young children knew it.

"N-no." His voice was shaking. "Mobs shouldn't be here, not near the Blithe. It kills them…"

I exchanged a glance with Azure, who looked angry and confused, but a moan from the slime took my attention.

Slimes don't moan. Even when in pain, they don't really make any sound at all. I had doubted they'd even had the ability.

I watched, stiff as the giant green cube stopped hopping towards us. Its dull eyes were wide, way too wide; I hadn't noticed it before. Its movements were strained and small. Now it wasn't even paying attention to us.

Its body heaved, like it was trying to collapse in on itself. More pitiful, unearthly moans escaped its small hole of a mouth.

It was in agony.

"Oh, Notch," I muttered, stepping back. Its body began to tremble violently, and the film that covered it began to liquefy and melt from its skin, pooling at our feet, on the stone. "Kill it, please, kill it…"

No one moved.

The slime body vaporized, then and there, white mist curling from where it was.

"Wh-where are the medium-sized slimes?" Azure asked quietly.

I didn't respond. But Jordan did.

"Because it kills them," he rasped. "The Blithe. It kills them from the inside out."

-{0)-

He was still long after the three funny people left down the hole—so certain it lead to somewhere better than there. There, the bedrock prison tunnels.

The tunnels were beautiful in a vicious sort of way. They twisted and turned, leading up and down and in a million circles, tricking the captives into thinking if they just kept going, they'd find a way out.

There was no way out. Not for them. Only for him.

She had told him to watch these funny three—the one with the flimsy bow, the one with the jagged blade, the one with the orange eyes.

How much he'd wanted to kill the boy. The fool deserved a death worse than what he knew how to give.

But below the bedrock, they'd all die. The Blithe, while it didn't affect him, would settle into their brains and eat away at their wills. Turn them into insane beasts. The exciting things the captives did, down here in these tunnels! Watching it happen was an excellent way to pass the time. How their pupils would dilate till their irises vanished, the way they'd rip at each other's skin, the walls…how they'd collapse, wanting to breathe but not knowing why.

How they'd die.

Bedrock traps everything. Even souls.

But the bedrock had a hole. The same hole that had caused him so much trouble in the past years. He cursed himself—it should have been filled a long time ago.

Within the folds of his robes, he withdrew an Ender pearl, glossy and green, the only color in the bedrock tunnels.

He tossed it—it gleamed, reflecting light that wasn't there as it flew before his dark, hidden eyes.

He pulled a long staff from where it had been hidden by his side, a serrated blade stemming from one end. It spiked towards the small orb, piercing it directly in the darkened center.

The fractures that webbed from the single puncture spread across the surface in a near instant, and the glassy shards vaporized.

The vapor turned black and gray. The black and gray fell towards the hole in the ground, gaining weight and mass as it fell.

Like rain, it filled the hole. It solidified as if frozen—it was bedrock. He had created bedrock from a single Ender pearl. The heart of an Enderman.

Twirling the strange staff in his hands for a moment, he hid it back at his side. As he walked away, his feet made no sound.

-{0}-

Azure lunged. I had no time to react.

Suddenly, Jordan was pinned against the wall, eyes still dazed. Her forearm pressed his neck against the stone, other hand raising her blade.

"Azure!" I shrieked, pulse skyrocketing. I wanted to move but couldn't, the shock of the slime's strange death still paralyzing me. "What are you doing!"

"Quit pulling this shit on us!" she cried. She was looking him straight in his orange eyes. "Why are you here, Jordan? Why'd you show up in the middle of nowhere, demanding to travel with us? Why the Nether did you say you have no memory?"

"Azure…" he murmured, barely focusing on her. "You don't understand…"

"So make me understand," she snarled, pressing her arm deeper into his neck. "You fucking make me understand, or I swear to Notch I will kill you right now. I don't trust you enough to care if you die or not."

I couldn't fight her. In her state, she'd probably swing at me. Jordan was no help to himself, staring at her with a gaze that held emotions I couldn't understand.

"You wouldn't hesitate, I know." His voice was a bit stronger this time. "But I won't try to explain. I don't know anything about myself, Azure. But if you need to test me, if you need to believe you can trust me…then the choice is yours."

His blades clattered out of his hands. His body went entirely limp. "Kill me, Azure. I won't fight you."

She froze.

What are you doing, Jordan? No! You know she'd do it!

"This is why I hate you," she growled, voice a bit softer than the iron it was before. "You're playing the good guy. Act like you'd do anything for us—but for what? Why are you even with us?"

He was still. "If we weren't traveling in the same direction, then I wouldn't be." His answer was simple.

"Bullshit."

"Azure, just stop," I snapped, finally gaining the willpower to step in. I was feeling a bit disoriented, somehow—it had taken me too long to do anything. "We can't start killing each other. Let him go."

Surprisingly, she reacted almost immediately. When she stepped back, Jordan exhaled deeply, eyes downcast.

"You know what, fine," she muttered, still glaring. "I don't trust you, I don't even like you. But right now I just…"

It happened fast. Her eyelids drooped, her sword clattered to the ground, and small sparks flew everywhere. She swayed on her feet, stumbling back against the other wall.

"What…" I croaked, shuffling forwards, but I couldn't get to her in time. She fell to the ground, eyes closed. She wasn't even conscious anymore.

"Oh, Notch," Jordan muttered, kneeling next to her. "She's mentally weak, isn't she? The Blithe got to her first. When she wakes up, she'll…"

"Tell me what that is," I demanded, crouching next to him. I touched Azure's shoulder, shook her a little, but she didn't move. Her breaths were irregular, shallow, shuddering. "The Blithe. It's this weird feeling I'm getting, isn't it? It's what killed the slime."

He nodded. To my horror, but not to my surprise. "I know something about this place," he muttered. "Things like this. The Blithe…it's like a curse, y'know? Or a disease, but it doesn't spread and mutate like sicknesses. It calms you, tires you, destroys your will. Then your humanity. Next time she wakes up, she might try to kill us."

"What are you…" I tried to speak.

"It's more physical for hostile mobs. Kills them of pain, but it's an easier way to go than this." His voice had that shake to it again. "I think…I think, somehow, there's a way to keep the symptoms at bay till you build up a tolerance to it. That's how people live here, in Caelum."

I stared at him, a coldness spreading through my chest, a heavy weight in my throat. "S-so…how do we…"

"We get out of here. We get out of its range, deeper underground. It'll lose its effect on her if we hurry."

I stood. I tentatively picked up Azure's sword by its hilt—it was heavy, unbalancing. In the other hand I grabbed Jordan's blades. I was exhausted; all I wanted to do was sleep. Right there, on the stone floor. I could hardly force myself to remain standing.

"C-carry her, Jordan…" I mumbled. "Pick her up. Let's go."

He looked reluctant, but he listened, gingerly lifting Azure's lanky form off the ground. He seemed afraid to touch her, like she'd wake up and attack him. And he was weaponless; he couldn't carry anything else but her.

I stumbled down the tunnel, feet dragging as I made myself move faster and faster. A fuzziness clouded all my senses. There was a pounding in my head—not my heartbeat. It moved at a different pace.

It was my fear that kept me going. It was a driving force—one Azure didn't have.

I hardly registered it when I saw the boy from earlier approach, hands shaking, saying, "Follow me."

When we came to the edge of the darkness, standing on a cliff, overlooking a gargantuan light-filled chamber, I let myself crumble to the ground, dropping the blades. The sparks that hit me were painful, but my mental state nullified the feeling.

Next to me, Jordan dropped, laying Azure in front of him. "It's…okay now," he said, talking to her or me, I couldn't tell. "We're far enough now."

I couldn't see the boy anymore.

Then I couldn't see anything anymore.

-{0}-

…Yeah, okay, there's more than ten chapters left of this.

Blithe is sort of an ironic term, I guess, because it means happy and carefree. It's one of my favorite words...oh, this was a fun chapter to write.

Soooo. Thoughts on Feriah in the beginning?

Review!

Also, I didn't edit this chapter. Too tired. Or lazy, either one. Hopefully it's okay.

-Angel