Just before the spider could sink its fangs into the six-year-old's neck, a sudden blast of flames shot it away from the child. Shocked, the 22-year-old AntVenom stopped in his tracks. He didn't notice the other Minecraftian enter the room, let alone expect them to attack the mob with fire magic. Not too far from him, the spider hissed in pain before taking its last breath, then vanished in a puff of white smoke. His first impulse was to approach the mysterious person and find out who they were, but he was still worried about the condition of his younger self. Ant cautiously walked over to the child, while carefully making sure the stranger was always in his line of sight. When he reached the youth lying on the ground, a quick observation proved that the child was only in a state of shock, and nothing more than that. Ant glanced back at the stranger, who appeared to have moved slightly towards the two from when Ant had first been watching them. He glared in the other Minecraftian's direction. The pyromancer was grateful for the help, but he knew that you should never be too friendly to absolute strangers.

To his surprise, the younger AntVenom immediately ran over to the unknown Minecraftian, before the oldest of the two could warn him. The older of the two stood in silent confusion, before slowly walking over to his past self, who was standing right next to the stranger, holding on to their right leg. In the dim light, Ant was able to tell that the other Minecraftian was male, and quite a bit older than himself. Without a word, the unknown person gestured to him to follow. Ant didn't question the gesture, and trailed behind the other two, but still kept his sword at hand, just in case that it was a trap. He passed many of the library's bookshelves before finally reaching the exit, which opened up into an immense central room, much larger than the one in Anti's base. There was two birch staircases that lead down to the lower floor, which the three descended down one of them, before heading into the parlor. Ant had been so deeply studying the building's interior that he almost didn't notice the other two stop.

His attention turned to the older Minecraftian, who excused the child in the room before facing the other Minecraftian in the room. In the light of the room, he could fully study the other's appearance, who had dark black hair, similar in color to his own, and sharp, bright green eyes. Before Ant could even say a word, the other silenced him with a stern look. "Do you even have the slightest idea why you're here?"

The 22-year-old quietly shook his head, which was the only thing he could do before the stranger continued. "Take a minute to think. Do you recognize this place?"

He tried to recall any memories of the place, but he couldn't. However, the building still seemed oddly familiar to him. Ant assumed it was just similar to another place he had been to, and attempted to change the subject. "Why is that important, anyway? What I want to know is who you are and why I'm here."

The Minecraftian across from him gave a hint of smile. "You already know who I am. It's just that you don't remember."

Ant narrowed his chocolate brown eyes in annoyance. It was clear that he wasn't getting anywhere with the stranger. Just as he was about to interrupt them before they could speak, something stopped him. A name surfaced in his mind, and it appalled him. The name was that of his father's, which he had been told very little about many years ago. His expression must've matched his shock, for the older Minecraftian's own expression changed to a calm smile. Suddenly, it occurred to Ant that this person might actually want him to believe that they were his father, who, to his knowledge, was probably dead. Ant quickly turned away from them, a frown etched into his features. "You're lieing to me, aren't you?"

The Minecraftian's gaze lowered to meet the floor. His expression shifted to that of a somber frown, and the emotion in his dark brown eyes told of the truth. "So this is what I get from trying to keep my family alive, that my own son doesn't believe me."

Ant stood in complete silence as he tried to take in the information. It seemed impossible that this person really was his father, but he didn't deny it. There was something to them that made him trust them, but he wasn't sure what exactly. Before Ant could say anything, a blistering pain shot through his head, causing the pryomancer to stagger backward before another burst of pain effectively made him black out. When Ant regained conciousness, he found himself surrounded by endless darkness. He was unable to move, and continued to float in the blank darkness. He could hear voices, yet they were faint, as if they were coming from the end of a long tunnel. Some of the words he was able to hear perfectly clear, but most were too distorted for anyone to make sense of. However, Ant could at least distingish the different voices as people he knew. "I always knew there was something special to him, but I never knew it was because he was a Dreamist. I should've expected as much."

Ant recognized the voice as Anti's, but he had never heard of the term 'Dreamist'. He attempted to listen closely to the conservation, but the rest became too warped to make any sense whatsoever. As he pondered the meaning of the term, he felt as if the awareness of his surroundings faded in and out, leading each thought of his astray. The voice of the Captain's brought him back to attention, but he was just barely unable to make out the words. Ant's head felt as if it was spinning, as he was dragged deeper into oblivion. Even though everything was nothing but darkness, his conciousness began to fade with every moment that passed. It seemed like hours had gone past in the total blackness, and he still hadn't figured out where he was. That was unimportant to the pryomancer, for he only wanted out of it. Finally, the darkness consumed him, leaving only his limp body to float in the never-ending shadows.

Slowly, but surely, the 22-year-old returned to reality, finding himself lying in the same exact bed he had awoken from after being taken to Anti's base. Ant's breathing was shallow at first, but regained strength as he began to fully awaken. For a brief moment, he forgot how to speak, due to the odd darkness he was in previously, but quickly remembered. "What happened?"

His voice sounded very weak, which, yet again, was probably due to his past state in the blackness. Storm kneeled down to meet his eye level, and explained how after Ant had collapsed, the rest of the group brought him back to the hideout. Just as she was about to continue, the weakened Minecraftian stopped her. "How long was I out for?"

The teenager started to fidget with her hoodie's zipper, which is what she always did to try and avoid a question asked to her. She stared at the ground as she did this. He gave her a look of annoyance before pressing her to answer. "Well? It couldn't have been that long."

Faded gray eyes met chocolate brown for a second, before Storm looked away from the older of the two. She sighed in defeat, as she knew that he wouldn't stop asking until he recieved an answer. "Fine. You were out for nearly an entire week."

The response caused Ant to go into complete silence. It seemed like he had been unconcious in his dream-like state for only about a day, at max. There was no way that it could've lasted so long. That moment, the term he had heard Anti say in the Shadowlands, as he had dubbed it, came to mind. Ant turned his head in Storm's direction, only to find her gone. He huffed in mild annoyance, now that what the meaning of the term was would pester him until he found out. Suddenly, he broke out into a coughing fit, causing him to shake violently with each one. The pryomancer struggled to get up, but Ant could barely move, as his time unconcious had managed to drain almost every ounce of energy from him. As he felt himself being pulled into the darkness, he silently wished to be out of this nightmare that was his life.

The dimly lit mineshaft provided enough light to reveal the fairly large group of Minecraftians, with the only other light source being the tablet-like metallic device carried by one of the figures. It cast an eerie red glow on the face of the commander as he studied the screen. A bright red colored square indicated their destination, and a pure white colored one marked their current position. Aero's face held a confident smirk as he went through the plan again in his head. It depended on surprise, which was in their favor as the group, undetected, traveled down the many abandoned passageways. Only about an half a hour had passed since the group had first entered the mineshaft, thanks to the tracker still hidden in Ant's bag. Suddenly, one of the scouts ran up to the commander, alerting him that they had found a trapdoor down one of the corridors. After hearing this news, his smirk widened into a devious smile. Without a sound, the commander followed the scout, with the rest of the soldiers trailing close behind.

Grinning, Aero swiftly unlatched the trapdoor and gestured for a few others to follow. They quietly descended down the wooden ladder, armed with miscellaneous types of guns. As soon as the commander noticed Anti with his back turned, he shot the pryomancer with a paralyzing blast from his S-4 Typhoon laser blaster, effectively causing the Minecraftian to crumple to the ground. The blast wouldn't kill him, but it would knock him out for quite a while. The soldiers that Aero had brought with him proceeded to search for anyone else within the perimeter. One of them let out a cry of surprise before being forever silenced by Sparklez's diamond sword. The Captain's eyes narrowed immediately when he noticed the commander. Aero only responded by aiming at the other Minecraftian and then fired several blasts at him. The commander intended to kill this time.

Almost every one of Aero's shots were avoided, however one directly hit the Captain in the torso, leaving him to fall to the floor lifelessly. Meanwhile, Storm had ducked behind a bookshelf as soon as she heard the first shot fired. She had witnessed the entire scene, only being able to watch as the two Minecraftians were shot down. Her heart pounded in fear and worry, as she tried to decide whether she should try and fight the armed soldiers, and if the other two were okay. Storm took a deep breath before dashing out of her hiding spot, and quickly notching an arrow in her bow. She released it, successfully striking one of the soldiers in the chest. The teen fought furiously, before being hit in the shoulder by a bullet. She cringed in pain as her right arm, the one she used for aiming, was hit. She heard a sharp crack and suddenly felt a burst of pain as one of the soldiers forcefully punched the female Minecraftian in the face.

Storm collapsed to the floor, barely propping herself up on her knees, with a thin stream of blood running from where she had been hit. She couldn't muster any more strength to fight, knowing that she had failed her friends. A foot slammed against her side, making her fall over completely. Everything around the injured Minecraftian began to fade away into darkness, and just before she did, Storm could faintly heard Ant cry in pain. It was all her fault that this had happened... all her fault...

(A/N: Hai ther, people of FanFiction! That's right, I'm back with a new chapter of Fire Within! Sorry that it's so late, last chapter's writer's block made it so that this chapter was behind. Also, 11 reviews!? That's so awesome! Thank you guys SOOOO much! Anyways, since I promised, here is the reviewer questions! :D

Bluebird5555 to TrueMU: You have a jetpack?! What?!

TrueMU: Yeah, of course I do! You haven't noticed already?

Bluebird5555 to Ant: Quick, set yourself on fire and run through the base like a human fireball! That'll teach 'em not to mess with you!

Ant: I'd love to, but I have no idea how to do such a thing. It would be awesome, though!

Star Of Roselight to AntVenom and CaptainSparklez: Do any of you have a crush on Storm? I mean, before the whole "I'm a backstabbing traitor" thing.

Ant: Why would I? I'm already with Grail...

Sparklez: Not at all. I was still suspicious of her being some random fangirl at the time, so no.

Star of Roselight to AntVenom and CaptainSparklez: THERE'S A TRACKING DEVICE IN YOUR BAG!

Me: *covers Roselight's mouth* Nuu! Don't tell 'em! Also, the device is in ANT'S bag, not both of their bags. Plus, I think it's a little too late for that...

Bluebird5555 to Aero: I don't like you.

Aero: Hmph. I can't say my opinion of you is any better.

...And that's the end of the reviewer questions this chapter! If your question wasn't answered, it will be in future chapters! Please ask away! I love getting reviews! :D ETERNALDRAYGON, OUT!)