Fire let his gaze sweep over the swampland, trying to spot potential danger. Fire's friends were sleeping, using their nether wool winter clothes as makeshift cushions. Fire knew all too well what the server had in store for them and he hoped that they would encounter nothing of it this night. Occasionally a zombie or a skeleton showed up in the tall grass but they didn't pose a threat.

After a couple of hours Fire sat down on the rim Unchosen had built, he knew that he shouldn't let his guard down but the night had not been eventful until now and he hoped that it would stay that way. Fire opened his inventory and brought out the enchanted iron sword he took from the armored zombie in the graveyard and inspected it more closely. It was definitely the product of a smithy and not of a crafting table, it was quite long but for Fire's size it was a short sword with a tiny handle. At the first look it seemed to be quite dull but on inspecting it more closely you could see a purple sheen along the edges of the blade, the Sharpness enchantment. Fire could also feel small amounts of Fire energy leaking from the blade, indicating an imperfect Fire Aspect enchantment.

Fire tried swinging the blade a few times and was satisfied with how well the blade was balanced, at least the blacksmith had done better work than the enchanter.

Fire stood up and put the sword back into his inventory, then he took another look around the area. Again, he found nothing of significance.

A bit later Fire spotted a blue light a fair distance away, the source of the light was what seemed to be a translucent blue floating dress. Fire recognized it as a ghost light, a creature of Air. Although it was sentient, it was not intelligent enough to lure somebody into drowning, at least not on purpose, it was practically harmless. Fire relaxed since no real danger was present.

The ghost light remained the most exciting thing Fire saw that night.

The next morning Fire woke up his friends after sunrise and they took down the platform again. Everybody was refreshed by the sleep, only Ambigious started out a bit groggy. Even though Fire had been up the entire night he didn't feel tired.

They started marching in the direction of the jungle again, which now was a whole lot closer. Fire could already see individual vines and leaves while the others just saw a mass of green and a bit of brown.

Unchosen asked: "So, Fire. How big is your base?"

Fire replied: "It depends on how you see it. For normal Minecraft standards it is giant. It is all underground so it is hard to estimate its size but I would say that it is still fairly big, even for the server's standards."

"Underground, hmm?" Ambigious said, then added: "Makes sense, you want to hide it from unwanted looks after all."

Fire laughed and replied: "No, a simple projection or a not so simple ender field warp could hide an above ground base just as easily. You don't need elaborate hideouts when you have magic. I have both of those spells active on my base but it being underground is just another layer of security."

"You and your magic." Ambigious said and shook his head.

After walking for about three hours they sat down under a willow tree once again to eat some food and drink some water. While they had enough water, they were almost out of steak and only about half of the leaves were left. Fire assured the others that the food would last them until they were in the jungle where they could eat some of the fruits and berries that grew there.

They started walking again at noon. It wasn't nearly as hot as the day before, the sky had been covered by a thin layer of clouds that scattered the sunlight. This unusual lighting gave the swamp a whole new atmosphere, it seemed like an unreal landscape where nothing would cast shadows. They didn't mind the change and continued walking, glad that the sun wasn't burning down on them.

They were drawing near the edge of the swamp, which was easy to notice since they weren't on the big central landmass anymore. Their path was interrupted by small black streams again, they had to maneuver their way around them or jump over, which was easier now than when they were worn out from battle.

While they were walking on a bigger stretch of land freeZe asked Fire something, she sounded uneasy as she spoke: "There is something I want to know. Back in the graveyard after the skeleton hit you with that spell. Something happened to me, it was a feeling that was slowly growing and in the end I don't think that I was really in control anymore. The more I lost control the stronger the lightning in my hands would become and when it took over I just zapped the skeleton like it was no big deal. Do you have an explanation for that?"

After avoiding a root Fire answered: "You know how I told you about magic back in the cave? Magic has of a mind of its own if there is enough of it. So if you pile enough magical energy into something it will become sentient. This is the whole reason why magical creatures exist and also the reason why the less powerful creatures aren't very smart. After you activated the blaze core, you also activated your life force reserve for the first time. I don't have all the details in my head but this triggers some kind of reaction, your life force gets a mind of its own."

TehLulz asked: "Kind of like a second personality?"

Fire replied: "That describes it quite well. The mind and the life force share the same body but only one of them can be in control. This is usually the mind of the mage. When the mind is affected by strong emotions it loses control. In freeZe's case that emotion was anger. When this happens the life force can take over the body temporarily. Mind and life force are still emotionally connected though, which is why your life force avenged me for you. When someone first discovers their magical potential and doesn't train it, they will stay extremely unstable because their life force will always try to use its power when gains control. Becoming a mage involves a lot of strengthening the connection between mind and life force so that they eventually become one and the same."

"Good thing I am getting training from your sister then." freeZe said and smiled.

Ambigious said: "Careful, water right up ahead."

In the afternoon the edge of the swamp was very close but still a few kilometers separated them from it and that distance consisted mostly of a large lake.

They decided to build some boats again as the water was largely deep enough to use boats. Fire was impressed by Unchosen's idea of using wooden shovels as paddles, claiming he would have never come up with that. Unchosen was sure to have heard a little joking undertone in the way Fire said it but he knew that the compliment was genuine.

They paddled away silently, pushing aside lily pads that were in their path. The water in the middle of the lake was fairly deep, Fire estimated it to be at least fifty meters with another ten meters of sludge below. When they arrived at the other end of the lake the jungle was just a few hundred meters away from them. After exiting the boats they started walking towards the giant jungle trees.

Fire stopped the group shortly before the biome transition: "I think we should camp outside the jungle on a platform again. Camping inside the jungle can be dangerous as there are things like snakes that drop onto sleeping travelers. Ideally we won't have to camp again after this night, no promises though."

"Seems like a good idea to me." TehLulz agreed and already started stacking up with sandbasalt.

Once the platform was built they gathered in the middle as Fire wanted to say something.

He explained: "I can stay up another night to guard but that won't be ideal because even though I don't need much sleep, two nights without it is when I start getting tired. So it would be good if you could guard through the night in shifts. You can discuss the order yourself."

"Totally understandable." Ambigious said and then added: "I'll take the first shift if you don't mind. Because if you wake me up in the middle of the night I am about as useful as no guard at all."

freeZe said: "I'll go second then. Everybody okay with that?"

Unchosen asked TehLulz: "Should I go third or do you want to?"

TehLulz replied: "I'll go last."

Fire was pleased with how quickly they had resolved the order, he said: "The sun is setting, I'll go to sleep then."

Before laying down he gave Ambigious his bow and arrows, the he said: "Even if you don't have any experience with the bow it is still better than nothing."

Ambigious replied: "I got this, don't worry. Now go to sleep everybody, we need to be fit for tomorrow."

Ambigious started patrolling the edge of the platform with the ghast bone bow in hand. Everybody else fell asleep with Fire being the last one. Fire's sleep was deep and dreamless so when he was woken up by TehLulz it only seemed like a few seconds had passed. The sun was just creeping up above the horizon, dying the whole swamp in a reddish color.