The song for this chapter is: Skyfall by Adele
The world around me had changed dramatically. Stone was replaced by Netherbrick. The budder blocks replaced by pools of lava. As soon as I noticed groups of zombie pig men racing around the flooring, I understood that I was in the dimension of the Nether.
I inspected the intricate plan of the layout of the certain area. What I did not notice was the massive castle in the middle of the area. The castle, also built out of Netherbrick, seemed to be the spawn of the zombie pig men.
"What do you think you're doing, breaking into my humble home?!" a loud male voice echoed throughout the surroundings. The voice shocked me so much that I spun to the direction of it and my vision fell on someone I thought I would never meet.
"You're… you're…" I trembled.
"Herobrine. Yes." The king of the Nether stood in his tower on top of the Netherbrick castle. He scanned my figure with his dead white eyes and continued, "And you are?"
"Uh… why would I tell you who I am?"
"Ha! I know you!" My eyes suddenly opened to the thought that Herobrine knew who I was, "You're a recruit of the Sky Army. You've come looking for your precious leader!"
"No… Wait a minute. What do you know about Sky?"
"For one thing, he's with the squids."
"Everyone knows that."
"But he's alive. How could you possibly figure that out?" Herobrine smirked.
"Sky's alive?!"
"Yes indeed. I see you want him back."
"Of course!"
"Alright. If you complete the favor I give you, I will tell the squids to release him."
"What kind of favor?" I queried.
"I want you to find the One with the Golden Necklace and bring her to me."
"She's…?"
"An old friend." Herobrine shooed me off, "Now you may leave. And remember I'll be watching you…"
He mysteriously vanished when I blinked. Not figuring out how he completed this action, I spotted a portal and ran into it. I ended back in the stone building covered in budder.
Kitty sat in one of the corners, alone. I slowly walked over to the corner and crouched next to her. Her pale skin was stained with dried tears. More fresh ones streamed down her cheeks.
"I didn't find him. Fury is gone," she cried.
"No luck in the Nether either," Kitty didn't seem to be pay any attention to me, "Listen, we can find your brother. I promise…"
"No! He's gone! I've looked everywhere!"
"Everywhere?"
"Yes." She stood and grabbed her bags. We made our way outside the building. Kitty wiped her tears and glanced around at the tall trees that stood in our path to Fury.
"Let's keep on going," I told her. She shyly nodded and followed me into the forestry.
Eventually we ran into a dead end with trees too close to each other.
"Damn it," I whispered, "Where now?"
"You need some help?" a voice asked from behind us. Kitty and I spun to encounter a girl around my age with black hair, royal blue eyes, and wearing blue jeans and a black T-shirt, "You two seem lost. Going on a date or something?"
"No, no. We are definitely not on a date!" Kitty told the girl, "But I can say that we're lost. See I'm trying to find…"
"Come with me," the girl interrupted. I shrugged and followed the girl. Kitty rolled her eyes and lagged behind.
The girl, Kitty, and I ended up in a small campsite. The area was on flatland with a farm next to it. Not many people were visible. There were only two teenage boys farming and three others strolling around.
"So what is this place?" I questioned the girl.
"You're at the HQ of the Illusionists. By the way, my name is Beatrice."
"Huh? The Illusionists?"
"Yeah."
"The Illusionists went missing for over three years."
"Where'd you hear that?"
"Sky Army."
"Explains it. Sky was keeping our group a secret cause he thought we were threatening. Threaten my butt!" Beatrice picked up the pace of her walking and led us to a building taller than the others in the camp. She opened the door for Kitty and almost shut it on my face, again. I opened it to find about six people already sitting at a long conference table. They all stared at me. Beatrice and Kitty sat in chairs near the back wall. I nervously joined them and placed a chair next to Beatrice.
"Do you have something against me?" I whispered in her ear.
"No of course not," she replied.
"Then why…"
"Cause I don't like Sky. That's it."
"Nothing else."
She turned her chair to face me. "You seem like a nice guy. So I won't be harsh to you. But when I see your leader, he's…"
Beatrice's eye began to turn blank white. She became angrier and angrier as she thought about Sky. The white eyes reminded me of someone else. Herobrine.
"Is there anything that you haven't told me yet?" I carefully investigated her.
Quickly her eyes transformed from the white into turquoise.
"How did you do that?" I asked her in shock. From what I remembered, her eyes were dark blue.
"My eyes change with my emotions. No big deal." Beatrice commented and turned her chair to face the conference table. I hoped she wasn't lying.
Half an hour later, Beatrice took us out of the conference room. She introduced me to a young woman by the name of Susan. She had flowing brown hair, shining brown eyes and wore a stylish Tardis dress.
Susan told about herself. She was also part of the Sky Army but not as well known as some of the others. After the final battle, she realized that her leader who she was so devoted to had been kidnapped by the squids. Although she wanted to take revenge on her enemies, she did not have the strength to complete her task. So instead of going to the squid dimension, Susan took a wrong turn on her path and ran into the camp of the Illusionists. She met Beatrice, the former executive leader, and she was allowed into the group.
"And that's why I'm here," Susan concluded.
"Wow," I responded, "You were that desperate for Sky that you attempted to go into the squid dimension by yourself?!"
"Not quite. I tried asking Quentin to assemble a group to help me but he replied that there were only so many people left. And then I went to Ty. Ty's response was worse. He told me that Sky was missing and would never return. That burnt out my heart. So I stormed out of HQ and made my way to the portal to the squid dimension."
"Ty could have been a little more… sensitive."
"I know!" Susan sighed and leaned back on her wooden seat.
"Are you going to go back?"
"What's the use? I'm happy here."
I stood up and stared down at her.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"You don't need any help so I'll just be going on my way." I started walking away, hoping that she would call out.
"Wait!" I faced Susan and saw her standing still. She glanced at her feet while taking peeks at me, "Can you stay… for just a little while more?"
"Susan, I'm sorry. I'm with my friend and we're trying to find her brother… I just can't stay."
"Okay," she smiled and the only person I saw was Sierra. For some reason I couldn't get her out of my mind. She had haunted me ever since I last ran into her under that tree. I never wanted to forget that moment. Suddenly my thoughts were interrupted by Susan, "Jordan? You there?"
"Yeah!" I perked up. She and I made our way back to the center of Illusionists HQ. I met up with Kitty and we packed our things. Beatrice and Susan waited at the path where Kitty and I would part our own ways. As soon as we arrived, Beatrice pulled me aside from the two girls.
"Remember when we were sitting in the conference earlier today?"
"Yeah."
"And you asked me if there was anything that I wasn't revealing to you?"
"Yes… where are you going with this…"
"I'm Herobrine's daughter."