Warnado sat up until Amanda had drifted off. And then he sat up until everyone else had fallen asleep. And then he just sat up on his bed. How could he? He didn't get the weariness that had overcome the others. It didn't seem possible. His heart was still pumping endlessly, and his eyes wouldn't stop leaping out of his skull every time he thought he saw an unfamiliar shape or heard an unfamiliar sound. Usually it was just Tyron rolling over or groaning, but that didn't reassure him.

There were a lot of things on his mind. Amanda was in the next bed over and he spared a long, yearning look. It petered out over time and he ended up looking at his robed knees.

The attack had been pretty horrific, and out in the fields he really didn't know if he or Amanda were going to make it out. When that enderman had knocked her down he had wanted nothing more than to save her, and all he'd managed was that pathetic, jam-coated throwing star. It had worked, kind of. But only barely. He needed to get his magic under control.

He looked away from his knees and saw the demon gauntlet on the other hand, then looked away quickly. He had always pondered on the full extent of that thing's power, but had limited his use of it. He had found it on the corpse of his father after he succumbed. Tempted by the power of the demons, he had become reliant on it, and eventually it had destroyed him, plunging his human and demon halves into war with themselves. Now, Warnado was only technically a quarter demon. Could he get away with it? Would indulging the demons be faster than mastering his magic? If Amanda would be safe, could he bear the cost even at the cost of his own life?

He was a child of the prophecy. Could he ever fully hold off from pursuing this power? He had to one day kill the Wither or the Queen Creeper or the Basilisk or whatever else was in the prophecy that he couldn't fully remember at that moment in time. Could he morally justify limiting himself like this?

He warped in a taco and chewed nervously. He realised he really had to work on his tendency toward comfort-eating, otherwise he'd really start packing on the pounds pretty soon.

At that moment, his thoughts were ruptured by a coarse, wheezing cough from the other side of the room, followed by a groan. Warnado stood up and walked over to Kay's bed. This was another thing that was worrying him.

On the one hand, he was terrified for Kay. Kay had teleported off to fight the Ender and gotten his ass summarily kicked. Apparently she'd somehow shattered his breastplate and most of the ribs underneath which was by no means a good thing. He'd also been asleep ever since. Honestly, Warnado had been starting to wonder if his friend would ever get up. At least him groaning was a more definite sign of survival than faint breathing accompanied by utter limpness.

On the other hand, he was terrified of Kay. He'd formed a pact with the Book, the being that had caused Amanda so much pain. That had turned Fristad into an enderman and then the Dreamweaver! And then Kay had started teleporting around, shooting lightning and incinerating things with a weird, grey fire that dimmed into purple in the open air. He had occasionally even barked an instruction to the Book aloud. He wasn't just begrudgingly cooperating with this thing like Fristad, he was actively inviting it in and trying to harness its power! And what he had shown was that this creature had power to harness for those willing to do so. If Kay lost control, they were all in trouble.

He found himself standing over Kay, who was trying to stifle his groans. His green eyes were squinted, but the spark of consciousness was in them.

"Water…" He croaked.

Warnado summoned a plastic bottle into his hands and screwed the cap off. He lifted it uneasily to Kay's lips. The wounded man moved to grab it, but then fell back in pain. With some coaxing, Warnado was able to dribble it into his mouth until Kay fell into another coughing fit and started choking.

When that had passed, Warnado knelt beside him and started trying to get his attention. It was clear that he was already exhausted by being awake, so he didn't have long.

"Kay, what were you thinking?" Warnado hissed. "The Book is dangerous!"

"It…" Kay heaved and coughed. "Was useful. That was an excellent field test."

"A test of what? How easily you can get your ass kicked by the Ender?"

He laughed terribly. Warnado could hear the squeak of his struggling lungs between each cackle. His eyes were clenched shut.

"I beat the Ender. One on one. She couldn't do this if she… if she wanted."

Warnado paused. He looked at the rise and fall of Kay's chest. He felt the floor of his stomach practically fall out. He had been fine with assuming the Ender was responsible. That was a threat they understood. But this opened up a whole new level of danger that was even stronger.

"Th-then what did this?"

Kay's eyes lumbered toward him. "The Entity did this. It did this with ease."

Warnado thought back to that bronze-clad figure that apparently ruled the Tower. It had spoken so strangely and so sparingly he'd almost assumed it wasn't real. That it was some sort of Ronald McDonald-esque mascot. But it was very real, and it had overpowered both Kay and the Book.

After conveying this last message Kay attempted to rise and then collapsed back, crying out in agony. It was like the memory of the thing that had beaten him had renewed the pain of the beating.

At that moment Shadow came in. The short, white-haired girl came over and willed a small light into being above Kay's bed. He shrank from it, but she leaned in. Warnado could see the lines of pain on his face, and the cold sweat beading on his brow. He felt sick and looked away. Wodahs the living shadow was shifting around on the far wall, as though to get a better view.

A rune glowed on Shadow's shoulder and her hand lit up green. She placed it on his forehead and he slowly began to slip back into slumber. Warnado tried to sense the aura of the spell. As far as he could tell it was a healing spell, but more focused on reducing pain than actually healing. As her palm dimmed, Shadow staggered a little and Warnado moved to catch her but she had already steadied herself.

"I'm fine," She assured. "Healing magic is just taxing. That should soothe him."

She began to walk away but Warnado stopped her.

"Listen, Shadow…" he whispered. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Sure, but let's move away from the others, don't want to wake them up."

Warnado nodded. They opened the doors and went up to the surface. It was still night-time and the moon loomed huge.

He turned to Shadow and decided just to cut to the chase.

"Shadow, do you think I'm strong enough for all this?"

Shadow didn't answer immediately. "It's a difficult thing to say. From what I understand your magic is strongly rooted in your subconscious, with strong emotions and dire situations drawing out stronger spells. Like when you trapped Fristad in a portal to another world when Amanda was threatened, I also heard you cast quite potent spells during your escape from the Tower." She paused. "I imagine you want more conscious control over your magic. You have improved ever since we started practicing but it's a slow process."

Warnado shuffled from foot to foot.

"I know, I know. It's just… did you hear what Kay just said in there?"

"Yes, both about the Ender and the Entity."

"Okay," Warnado nodded nervously, looking briefly at Shadow's predictably unreadable face. "Then you know that even though he became powerful enough to beat the Ender, something I have failed to do twice now, and he was still beaten by the Entity in seconds. I'm supposed to help bring down Herobrine and that's just assuming I get out of here. How can I justifiably commit to a slow process while beings like the Entity kill and maim and kidnap on the daily!"

"With what I know about you so far, that's the path I'm aware of."

"Suppose," Warnado began slowly before picking up momentum. "There was a faster path. What would you say to that?"

Shadow's gaze was now fixed on Warnado's gauntleted hand. "That entirely depends on what risks that path entails and whether you think those risks are warranted by the situation at hand."

Warnado jerked his arm up and placed the gauntlet in front of her face. In a tone split between confusion and pleading he asked: "You tell me, does this thing scream risk to you?"

Shadow calmly lifted her hand and pushed the gauntlet aside to be able to look at Warnado's face, straight through his obfuscation spell. "For that you'll have to explain to me how demons and related artefacts work in your world because it might be quite different from what I know."

"I wish I could tell you!" Warnado snapped. "All I know is that I found my dad dead when I was 5 and this thing was the only thing he still had on him. He didn't exactly leave a full rundown of our heritage!"

"Have you ever tried… tapping more deeply into its power, any experiences that could give clues?"

"No…" Warnado admitted. "I'm scared to."

"Once we are at the shelter, you could give it a try if you want to. When I'm not starved for life force I'll be able to safeguard you."

"Thank you," Warnado sighed. "I'm sorry, I'm just terrified… Listen, if I don't make it through this, please make sure Amanda does. Take her back to your world if possible. Kay had promised to do that, so if he's alive I guess let him do it but…" He looked at her pleadingly, incapable of finishing the thought, let alone the sentence.

"I can't make promises that I don't know I can keep but I will try my best, I can say that much."

"Thank you," muttered Warnado, almost comforted. "I suppose that's all I can ask. Anyway, I'm going to get some sleep."

Shadow nodded. "I'll be keeping watch for a bit, good night Warnado."

And with that, Warnado descended back down the rough-hewn stairs and returned to bed. And finally, after many more hours of lying there, he managed to sleep.