We Get Wrong Directions

If you visit Hiemx on a good day, it's like the beginnings of a winter day. Good scenery of the snowy mountains nearby, cool but not cold weather, and occasionally light snowfall.

Sadly, we did not come on a 'good' day.

I squinted against the blizzard as snow whipped against my face like dozens of tiny daggers made of ice.

"How much farther to Hiemx?" I yelled to Sam.

Sam shouted something that I couldn't hear.

"What?" I shouted.

"—only 600 blocks—"

I groaned. 600 blocks was 600 blocks too many. We'd be walking in this blizzard for ages. The blizzard was so fierce, so strong, that I couldn't even see anything through the cloud of snow blocking our vision.

I heard a shout, and turned. It was Trevor, and he gestured to something. I squinted and saw a spot of black amongst the gray and white snow.

Trevor's horse then turned and trotted into the black spot.

A cave.

Sam followed, and so did I. We descended far into the cave, placing torches as we went, and met a dead end.

"Why are we in here?" I asked Trevor.

"At the rate we're going, the horses are going to collapse." Jax answered instead of Trevor. "Then it would take even slower to get to Hiemx."

"Good thing you're worried about the horse's welfare." Sam said sarcastically, her voice muffled by her netherrack patterned scarf.

Jax scowled. "Hey, I'm just trying to look at the big picture."

"Why? You guys don't even have a deadline. Aren't deadlines, like, a vital thing for quests to save the world?" Sam pointed out.

"I suppose, yes." Jax said. "Maybe that's just something for us to find out."

"Yeah, maybe, Zack." Sam said.

"MY NAME IS JAX!"

Sam snorted. "Whatever, Zeke."

Me and Trevor chuckled at their bickering.

"You know she's doing that on purpose to annoy you, right?" I told Jax, to which he just grunted and turned to his horse.

Sam shivered. "It's cold. Trevor?"

"Yes?"

"You didn't happen to bring the tent with you, did you?"

"As a matter of fact, I did."

Jax let out a bark of laughter. "The tent? How would you be able to bring the t-t-t—" Jax stuttered to a stop as Trevor pulled out a handkerchief and tossed it on the ground.

Immediately the handkerchief unfolded outwards, expanding and inflating until there was the full-size tent that Sam had been staying in when she'd gone to the archery contest.

"What, you thought that I carried furniture and all my expensive tools in my pocket?" Sam said.

Jax peeked inside the tent. Sure enough, the inside of the tent hadn't changed at all.

"You had a portable tent this whole time?" Jax said incredulously.

Sam shrugged. "Well, yeah."

Jax's eye twitched. "You realize that we could have stayed in there, right?"

"But who knows? Doing that could have trapped you in some inter-dimensional limbo you wouldn't have been able to escape." Sam said ominously.

At Jax's look, Sam shrugged. "Hey, I don't know how the enchantments on this tent work."

Jax sighed in annoyance. "Fine. Let's just...get in the tent. It's warmer in here, if even by a little."

"What about the horses?" I asked.

"Trevor tied them to some stalagmites." Sam said. "Quick, let's go in. I'm freezing."

We all rushed in, taking off our coats and hanging them up on a nearby clothes rack.

"What keeps this thing from expanding?" Jax asked, intrigued.

Sam shrugged. "I dunno. We bought it from this guy like six years ago."

"Wait, but doesn't that mean that the Pocket enchantment will wear off soon?" Trevor asked Sam.

"In a few years, probably. That's why I ask you to carry it around. So that if it suddenly expands in your pocket, you'll be the one that's flattened and not me." Sam joked.

For once, Trevor's expression was sullen. There are some things you just don't joke about.

"I think the horses have recovered enough," Jax said. "We should go."

"What?" I asked. "But we've only been here for like five minutes!"

"Still, we need to get to Hiemx fast." Jax argued. "Like Sam said, we don't know when we're supposed to finish this quest, so it'd be nice if we finished it quick as possible."

I sighed and got ready to struggle through the harsh blizzard outside again. "Great."

?-?-?

I squinted through the blizzard. "Is that a light?" I muttered.

Or, rather, tried to mutter. The whistling of the wind was loud enough to drown out any word I said, so basically I was just mouthing the words.

We're here, I thought gratefully.

Sure enough, as we got closer, the outline of multiple buildings became visible. Lanterns swung in the wind frantically, and I could see multiple lanterns with their lights extinguished.

I felt someone tapping my back, and turned.

It was Trevor. We were all wearing thick jackets with fur hoods, and the brown fur surrounding his face made him look like a bizarre snow covered animal. He pointed, and my eyes followed the direction in which he was pointing, the stables.

There was snow blocking the way, so we had to spend a few painful moments clearing away the snow so that our horses could get in.

After we led the horses into the stables, Sam led us over to a hotel nearby.

We walked in, and Jax bought us two rooms—one for Sam and Trevor, and one for me and Jax. But for the moment we all decided to gather in one room and talk.

"So what's our plan?" Jax said, leaning forwards.

Sam snorted. "You ask like we're going to war. What is there to say? We ask for a map to the center of the world, then we go there, give Klith a good butt-whooping, and then come back in time for supper."

"Easier said than done." Jax said, an annoyed look on his face. "We need to find out what Klith is planning in order to stop him."

"How? It's not like we can ask him." I pointed out.

"We'll find out." Jax said, a blank look spreading on his face. "But for now, rest. Because after we get a map, we're out of here."

?-?-?

Pain.

Blood.

A never ending firestorm.

A bloodied fishing rod.

An enormous mushroom cloud, piercing the clouds and a sending a wave of death washing over the world.

Red, serpentine eyes.

Total extinction.

Wake.

Wake.

WAKE!

I jolted awake with a start, my heart racing as if I'd just run a marathon. I stumbled to get out of bed, and got caught in the blankets. I tripped and face planted.

Gasping, I got to my knees and stared into the trash can beside my bed. I felt like throwing up.

What had made me so terrified that my heart had gone racing?

I struggled to remember my dream, but the details were already beginning to fade.

Only one word resurfaced in my mind.

"Extinction." I gasped as I got to my feet, drenched in sweat.

"What?" Jax said as he walked into the room with a cup.

"Nothing. What's in the cup?" I asked.

"Coffee."

"Gross. Is there anything else to drink?"

"Did you want me to get you some apple juice or something?" Jax's voice was dry.

"No. I'm not thirsty."

"Ok, Toni. Well, I was about to wake you up, but clearly I don't need to." he noticed my face. "Uh, you okay? You're pale."

"Am I?" I said, more calmly than I should have been.

"Well, yeah. You're—"

"Where's Sam and Trevor?" I interrupted.

"They're in the lunchroom eating breakfast." Jax eyed me, looking concerned. "You should wash up. You look horrible."

"Thanks." I said sarcastically. "Okay, see you there."

"Okay." Jax hesitated, but walked out.

Something hit me then. "Wait, but where's the—"

Click.

I blinked.

"...god dammit."

After washing up, I wandered throughout the halls until I found my way to the lunchroom.

After piling sausages, scrambled eggs, and toast onto a styrofoam plate, I walked over to Sam, who was snickering at something Trevor had said.

Sam blinked upon seeing me. "Dear God, you look like crap."

"So I'm told." I said, setting my plate down and getting to work on one of the sausages.

"So where's this map place you say your friend owns?" Jax asked.

"Oh, right downtown somewhere. Don't worry!" Sam added upon seeing Jax's less than thrilled expression. "I remember perfectly where it is! Assuming..."

"Assuming what?" Jax asked.

Sam frowned. "...assuming it hasn't been closed down and replaced by a shopping mall."

Jax sighed. "Well, that's just great."

"Don't worry, Josh! I'm sure it's still open!"

"My name is Jax, Sam!" Jax shouted as he stood, nearly overturning the table. "JAX! How in the name of Notch do you forget that?"

"Short term memory loss."

"You do not have short term memory loss!"

Me and Trevor just kept eating, ignoring Sam and Jax's bickering. After eating, we headed out.

Despite the huge blizzard last night, it was actually pretty pleasant outside. The ground sparkled with a fresh sheet of snow, and off in the distance, kids were sledding and making snowmen and doing all the things you typically do when it snows.

I turned towards Jax and Sam to see if they were enjoying the scenery like I was.

"Go screw yourself with your short term memory loss! It's not even true!"

"Are you discriminating against people with short term memory loss?"

"What!? That's not even what I'm implying here!"

Okay, so still arguing.

I rolled my eyes and went back to watching people shovel snow.

The place really was beautiful, though. I marveled at the beautiful scenery.

And then walked into a brick wall. For the second time this week.

"We're here!" Sam proclaimed.

"And not a moment too soon," Jax deadpanned as I stumbled backwards, slightly disoriented.

In front of us was a lone brick building with a large rusty metal sign on the front that said 'Rafi's Map Store'.

We pushed the dirty glass doors open and stepped in. The tiled floor was pretty dirty, and snoring with a paper covering his face behind an ancient-looking counter was a man with dark skin who looked like he was in his twenties. Sam knocked meaningfully on the door, making the man wake with a start.

The man rubbed his eyes, and jumped upon seeing Sam. "Hey! Sam!"

"Rafi!" said Sam in response. "It's been so long!"

Rafi got up from behind the counter and gladly shook her hand.

"I see Trevor, too. Hi, Trevor!" Rafi said. Trevor smiled a little and waved.

"But who are those two behind you? Could it be...did you actually make friends?" Rafi asked, like he couldn't believe it.

"Why are you so surprised?" Sam said, sounding amused.

"Well, considering…er…the type of person you are…" Rafi gestured to Sam in general.

"What, egotistical? Don't worry, I haven't been that bad since I last met you." Sam assured him. "But let me introduce you to my new…er…acquaintances. This is Toni and Jerry. Say hi, guys!"

"My name is NOT—"

"Jerry's a little touchy."

"I SWEAR TO—"

"Sorry." I shrugged at Rafi, who just smiled as if this type of thing happened all the time.

"Any friend of Sam is a friend of mine," he said. "I've known Sam since I was in college, and she's known me since she was eleven and could barely draw back a bowstring."

I smiled. "That's cute."

"Yeah, we've known each other a while." Rafi said.

"Okay, so…quick question. Do you have any maps that would fit the description of 'the center of the world?'" I asked.

"Literal or metaphorical?" Rafi inquired.

"That's...a good question, actually." I admitted.

Oh, why couldn't Notch just have given us a map and specific directions on how to save the world?

"Well, I think I have two maps that fit your description. Be right back. Uh, literally." Rafi quickly retreated through a door in the back.

As soon as Rafi left, Trevor dropped his smile and turned to Jax and Sam.

"With all due respect," Trevor scowled. "you two are acting like children."

"With all due respect?" Sam repeated. "That wasn't respectful at all!"

"Maybe, but I have to address the elephant in the room, which is that you two are squabbling like children!" Trevor said. "Sam! Stop teasing Jax! Jax! Stop taking the bait! For the love of Notch, a twelve year old girl is behaving better than you two!"

"Uh...thanks?" I said uncertainly.

Rafi burst back into the room only to find Trevor shouting down the protests of Sam and Jax.

"Uh, is this a bad time?" Rafi asked.

Once again, it was up to me to be the responsible one. Besides Trevor, but he was busy yelling. "No, it's fine."

He put two maps on the counter, and I looked at them both.

"One of the locations is actually pretty close," Rafi said, tapping one of the maps.

"Really?" Jax stopped arguing and took the map in his hands. "Huh. That was...surprisingly convenient."

"It sure was," Sam said, grateful to break up the argument. "Come on, let's just go there, stab Klith, save the world, and be back in time for supper. That steakhouse is still open, right Rafi?"

"Steakhouse?" I asked, interest piqued.

"Wait." Jax raised his hand in a 'hold the phone' gesture. "We've had it easy for too long."

Sam scoffed. "Oh, really? What are we, protagonists in a book? This is real life. So maybe one of the maps isn't 'the center of the world'. Then, we use the other map, and do the same thing we agreed to do!"

"Stab him?" I said dryly.

"Stab him." Sam said firmly, like she was making a promise.

"Okay." Jax said skeptically. "Fine. But we're taking the other map, just in case."

"No, no, no." Rafi shook his head. "This map is written on very fragile paper. If it burns, is shredded, crumpled up, or wet, it will be useless. I'll keep it."

"I don't think—" Jax started, but Sam cut in. "Yeah, we'll take the one." Sam smiled brightly at Rafi as she snatched the map off the counter. "Have a nice day, Rafi! Let's get a bite at the steakhouse when this is all over, eh? Ta ta!" Sam turned on her heel and strolled out of the shop.

We all blinked at each other, slightly bemused. Nonetheless, we followed Sam out of the store, all of us waving to Rafi except Jax, who seemed to be muttering.

As soon as we were out of the store, Jax said, "I don't like that guy."

Sam frowned at Jax. "Oh, so you can detect evil presences lurking around too now?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jax angrily started.

"Would you two shut it?" I snapped, surprising both Sam and Jax. "I realize that you two don't get along, but could you just...not fight for at least five minutes? Let's just plan for raiding Klith's base."

Sam and Jax looked at each other.

Sam shrugged. "Eh. Works for me."

"I guess I'm being a little immature." Jax crosses his arms. "Fine. But I have my limit, Sam. Now, we better come up with a good game plan, and fast."

We got up to our room to discuss.

We did not have a good game plan.

Sam suggested going in guns blazing, (or, well, bows blazing, I guess) and Jax suggested going in sneakily.

I had voted to sneak in, and Trevor was going to be the tiebreaker.

"Come on, Trevor. I have like a dozen explosive arrows in my quiver. We don't even have to go in. I can just launch a bunch of them in and boosh!" Sam made a little sound and spread her arms, imitating an explosion.

"I dunno." Trevor said. "Both of them are nice ideas, but I feel like just bursting in and shooting will get us killed. I'd like to sneak in."

"Democracy rules, Shaft." Jax was triumphant. "We're sneaking in."

"Alright, alright. You don't have to rub it in my face." Sam grumbled. "You guys are no fun."

"But tomorrow. Right?" Trevor said, looking at Jax. "No need to rush, right?"

"If you say so." Jax frowned.

We all went to our separate rooms, and I sat down in the bed, lying down with a sigh.

Jax turned the lights of as he laid in his bed, throwing the covers over himself. You'd think that having a long and possibly life threatening venture the next day would make you a little anxious, but not for Jax. He was out like a light, snoring like a broken chainsaw.

I wasn't sleepy.

I tossed and turned, trying the bed at all angles, even upside down. But I just couldn't go to sleep.

I let out a loud, throaty groan, and checked the time, and did a double take.

Three A.M.

I sighed and stared at the ceiling. Eventually, I fell into a deep, uneasy sleep.

?-?-?

The restless pigman tossed the bottle of dragon's breath to Klith, who smiled. "Well? Is this what you wanted?"

"Hmm. Yes. You have made me quite pleased." Klith said, inspecting the swirling gas/liquid mixture inside.

"Well, I'm not pleased!" The pigman shouted. "You said we'd be equals, that I'd have at least a tenth of the power! I wasn't greedy—I didn't ask for everything, or your entire treasury, like other people! I just asked for a tenth! And you treat me like your stupid servant!"

"I understand that you are not happy. But this is necessary. You must be patient." Klith said, lowering the jar and glaring at him.

The pigman didn't take the hint, and continued, "Patient my foot! You can go hang yourself from a cliff over a lake of guardians if you expect me to get something for you again! And you promised me riches!"

Klith set down the jar, his fingers twitching. "Don't cross the line, pigman."

Had the pigman been any smarter, he probably would have stopped talking. "What are you going to do, then huh? Kill me?"

"..."

The pigman took this as a chance to go on. "What, going back on your deal? I'm done, I'm sick, I don't want..."

Klith pulled his scythe off of his back and swiftly decapitated the pigman.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." Klith said, as the pigman's body dropped to the floor and began do dissolve.

Suddenly, someone beside him I hadn't noticed earlier snorted. He a lanky looking man, with a disturbing resemblance to a scarecrow. "See? That's why you use fear instead of being nice. Then they think they can walk all over you. LHM and RHM, they're just naturally loyal, but others—"

"I don't need leadership advice from you, Fisherman." Klith said coldly. This time, Fisherman took the hint. Klith sighed. "Keep watch over the girl. Do not engage. If they all die from this next challenge, it doesn't matter."

"And if she lives?" Fisherman asked.

"Add four more people to your kill count."

"Heh. Now we're talking." Fisherman smacked his palm with a glowing fishing rod like a gangster with a baseball bat.

"And you." Klith pointed to a pigman guarding the doors, who squeaked involuntarily.

"You've just been promoted. Tell the janitors to clean this up and get me the remaining ingredients of this list," Klith took the list from the pigmans dust and handed it to the guard. "unless you want to get snapped in half like this pile of dust over here."

"S-sir yes sir!" the pigman quickly rushed off, relieved.

"That's better." Fisherman smirked.

Klith's eyes darkened. "Don't push it, Fisherman."

?-?-?

I woke up with a gasp. This time, I wasn't as screwed up as the last time I'd woken up, but I was still kind of a wreck.

"The princess wakes," Sam, who was standing over my bed, quipped.

"What time is it?" I said as I rubbed my eyes.

"Well, Jax woke up at like eight and has been preparing for the last few hours, and Trevor only just woke up as well, so it's around 11:50." Sam told me. "Jax said we have to hurry, but I don't see the trouble. I mean, we still have like nine hours till night. It's not like we're getting chased, right?" Sam paused. "Actually, we probably are getting chased, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." I said absentmindedly.

I was somewhere else in my mind as Sam went on about Jax. What was my dream? Could it have been real? I got the gist of it, sure. This...Fisherman was out there somewhere, watching me from a distance. What kind of name was Fisherman, anyways?

And Klith. Klith seemed to be...collecting things? But why?

"Hey!"

I resurfaced from my thoughts with a start. "Yeah?"

"I've been saying your name for a whole minute. You spaced out." Sam said. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing." I lied, albeit horribly.

To escape Sam's suspicious gaze, I quickly changed the subject. "Well, are we going out or what?"

"Yeesh. Everyone seems to be in a rush. Okay, I'm ready." Sam said. "Just switched to a different bow and stocked up on some arrows."

I glanced over at her bow, and sure enough, it was made out of some sort of black metal with purple streaks.

"Endsteel. Multiplies the arrows you shoot in exchange for less damage." Sam grinned. "I'm fine with that, though."

Jax burst into the room wearing iron armor and looked at us.

"Let's go."

We got on our horses and rode off towards the large red X on the map. Eventually, the snow and ice faded away until we were riding through the plains, animals of all kinds dotting the area around us.

It was just your regular, long, slightly boring horse riding trip, until we finally got to the X.

"Wow." Sam said.

Sure enough, in front of us was an enormous cave, the opening so huge that multiple ghasts could probably fit through without any leftover space.

"This feels wrong," Jax muttered.

"Well, wouldn't that mean we're in the right spot?" I reasoned. "I mean, obviously if the most evil person to ever exist uses this place as his lair, it would feel a little off."

"I suppose," Jax said reluctantly.

We all looked at each other, pretty nervous.

"Uh," Trevor piped up. "I think I'm going to stay up here. You know, as a lookout."

Sam gave him a 'seriously?' look, but Trevor just gulped. Sam sighed, and we rode our horses down into the cave.

Sam seemed to not be worried, whistling as we all descended deeper and deeper along a stone path, placing torches as we went along.

"Don't you feel nervous?" I asked Sam. "I mean, we're probably about to meet the Klith. You know, the guy who massacred like thousands of people and is literally an equal in terms of power to Notch?"

"Oh, I'm terrified." Sam told me. "But usually I turn feelings like fear, or anger, or sadness into productivity so I don't feel as horrible."

"That's reasonable." I said. "But even then, I don't get how you're so cheerful all the time."

"Oh, it's simple. I just think that moping around and shouting all the time is a waste of time and kind of counterproductive, so I channel all my energy into being cheerful instead. Even when I'm mad." Sam explained.

"Try telling Jax that," I muttered, making Sam chuckle.

"I can hear you!" Jax shouted, which made us crack up more.

Suddenly, a growling sound filled the darkness.

The laughter instantaneously died out.

"What was that?" Sam asked.

While we were talking, we'd reached the bottom of the cave, and it seemed to be artificial. The floor was entirely comprised of mossy stone brick, and we couldn't see five blocks ahead, despite all of our torches.

Suddenly there was an enormous roar, and a bright orange light filled all of my senses. The orange light spread across the room, spraying the walls and igniting huge columns, which burst into flames.

The orange light was clearly fire. But where was it coming from?

We got our answer a few seconds later as the room was completely lit up by the flames surrounding us.

An enormous dragon, one with red scales that were all the size of shields, was standing in the center of what looked like an enormous colosseum that we were in as well.

The dragon glared at us with red, serpentine eyes.

"Oh." I said in a small voice. "That's what it was."

"Alright," Jax whispered. "We scatter on three. One..."

Not waiting for us, the dragon charged, its maw opening to swallow us all.

And as it closed in, a terrifying thought filled my mind.

This is not Klith's base.