{*SKY*SKY*SKY*SKY*SKY*}

Sky paced back and forth around his cell, casting worried glances at Mitch, who hadn't moved in nearly five hours. The burns were… disgusting, all red and charred. He looked like he'd just stepped out of a horror flick. Except this wasn't a horror movie.

This was life.

"Jason?" Sky asked.

Jason looked up. "Huh?"

"Do you think… is Mitch… will Mitch be okay?"

"I hope so. I really, really hope so."

"Yeah. I mean, even though he's an idiot, he's our idiot."

Jason didn't have time to respond, because a distraction appeared in the form of a small green dragon. Not a girl with wings, but an actual tiny dragon. Her wings, or at least Sky assumed it was a female, were folded tightly around her pastel green body, and her head was covered in delicate crests, perched on the end of a long, slender neck. The dragon's tail lashed from side to side, a wickedly sharp barb on the end taking thin chunks of stone out of the wall wherever it collided.

Sky barely noticed this, because he was more focused on what the dragon had in its mouth. Food. She had food in a basket that she was clutching in her jaws.

"Wispice! Please!" Jason moaned, throwing himself against the bars. Wispice?

"Ggmmph mph amm mmpphh," complained the dragon around the basket of food. She shrank into the slightly smaller form of a young, slim girl, holding the food in her hands. The bundle of her cargo was almost as big as her now. "In case you didn't understand, I said give me a minute." Her wide, friendly eyes settled on Sky for the first time. "Oh! Hi, Sky! I'm Wispice and Mint, but you can call me Wisp. I hope we can be friends, even if we are enemies by unfortunate circumstance now." Wisp beamed at him.

"Umm… okay."

"Yay!" she squealed. "I brought you guys food, and—oh my Herobrine, is Mitch okay?" She was staring, terror suffusing every detail of her face, at Mitch's broken, bleeding, burnt-to-a-crisp body.

"No, Wisp, he's not okay. Can you take care of him?" Jason asked, sounding slightly hopeful.

"Oh, poop. I can't, Jason, I'm really sorry. See, we're initiating Ty tonight, and that takes a while."

"What?" Sky and Jason said together.

"What do you mean, initiating him?" Sky asked.

"Well, I can't tell you everything. But we have this ritual that he has to go through."

"And if he fails?"

"He dies." Wisp shrugged. "So who wants cookies?"

|EMBER|EMBER|EMBER|EMBER|EMBER|

"Ember, it's time to go! Rose knocked out Ty already, so we need to start early!" Aradyn shouted.

Oh. Shit. Ember clawed her way out of her bed. The stiffness had diminished somewhat, along with the worst of the pain, but she was still sore. Her wings trailed limply along the ground as she stumbled down the staircase.

Ty was sprawled on the floor, his face frozen in an expression of pure panic. That was an effect of Rose's ability to send people into unconsciousness: they literally fainted out of fear. His green wings were stretched out beneath him like huge emerald leaves, and his headphones were resting lightly on his lolling head.

Ember crouched beside his apparently lifeless body, unable to fight away the irrational fear that crept upon her. She brushed her fingers against his neck, feeling his strong, steady heartbeat under her hand. Good. He was alive.

He stirred slightly at her touch, his wings rustling and his eyes fluttering, the long black eyelashes tangling together. "We should get him to the chamber as soon as possible," Aradyn reminded Ember. "Before he wakes up. Otherwise this could get messy."

"Yep. Em, can you teleport us?" Rose added.

"I think so." A sudden flicker of doubt gnawed its way to the forefront of her mind as she stared down at Ty's sleeping, helpless form. "What if he doesn't make it?"

Then he is weak and deserves the death that comes to him.

She knew that. If Ty failed, then he would be unworthy to serve Herobrine, and he would face the consequences, as was only right.

I can't wait to watch this, Zariah thought happily.

[+TY+TY+TY+TY+TY+]

Ty opened his eyes. What had…?

Rose had attacked him.

He'd been knocked unconscious.

And now he was lying on the freezing floor of a dark room.

As he moved to sit up, he noticed four pairs of eyes staring at him. A green pair, bright in the murkiness. That was Wispice. A red pair, eerily illuminating the shadows. Rosewing. An icy blue pair, glittering sapphires in the darkness. Those belonged to Aradyn. And a purple pair, softly lighting the gloom around them like the dying coals of a fire. Ember.

The hybrid girls were standing in a semicircle, a pedestal with a cloth over it and a small… something next to Ember, who watched him dispassionately like a cat debating whether or not the mouse she has cornered is worth sparing long enough to play with. Rose looked like this was the most exciting that had ever happened to her, whatever 'this' was. Aradyn's blue eyes were sympathetic. Wispice seemed to not know what to think, and her slight bouncing, up and down on her toes, somewhat reduced the stern demeanor of the group.

But only somewhat.

Clawing his way to his feet, Ty realized that there were bars surrounding him, thick iron ones that were woven in an intricate latticework. He was in a cage, and the realization made his heart pound harder and faster than ever before. "Guys… w-what… let me out!" he choked, terrified. He couldn't handle the restraints. He needed to fly, to run, to escape the dark enclosure.

"No can do," Rose smirked. "I don't think he's going to pass. Look how panicked he is already. I bet you housecleaning duty he doesn't make it ten minutes, Aradyn."

"Don't be a downer. You can do it, Ty!" Wisp cheered.

"D-do what?" he stammered. "E-Em-b-ber?" Get me out of here, he wanted to scream. Anyone, get me out of this cage.

"This is your test. Whatever you do now is up to you," Ember said formally, coldly. If hadn't known, he'd never have ever guessed that she'd been crying in his arms only a few hours ago. She whipped a cloth off of the small object that sat on the plinth next to her.

"What is that?" Ty gasped, staring at the black, slightly glowing stone.

Here is the last chapter! I ended on a cliffhanger! Because I'm awesome! Y'all can just sit here, suffering in terror for my beautiful characters lives! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Or... I could possibly post the first chapter or two of my next story. I have them typed up... SHOULD I DO THAT?

SOTC: 'I Hate This Part' by the Pussycat Dolls.