Day 6

Time: 12:58 p.m.

Location: Jerry's Tree

"Demon, demon, demon!"

The word had become a chant by now, and Jordan tried his best to tune it out. It stung, knowing that those he had protected were shouting that at him. But what really hurt him was the burning anger within his heart. He hated them for this. Lightning crackled overhead, but the sky lacked any clouds. This only fueled the mob's rage.

"Come out, you fucking monster!"

Jordan's hands curled into fists and he spun towards the railing, but Ryan pulled him back. "No, Jordan! Don't listen to them!"

The demigod glared at his friend, eyes blazing from behind the replacement shades. He growled and shrugged the batman off, stalking over to the railing. The words echoed in his head, bouncing off the walls of his thoughts and feelings. "Monster! Animal! Demon! Beast!"

On and on and on...

He grabbed the shades off his head and jumped over the railing. Lightning crackled and he was warped to the top of Jerry's Tree. All he had to do was raise his hand, and it started raining. Then came the thunder, then the lightning. The people below didn't seen to notice the storm until one of them looked up and realized that there weren't by clouds. The fire sizzled, the rain fell in torrents, and the sun shown above. There was a scream when the earth under their feet started opening up, swallowing a few pitiful souls.

He jerked his hand to the side, and lightning shot down on son of the people, leaving only ashes. The ground shook again, crumbling away under them. They screamed an ran. The rain fell the entire time, extinguishing the fires that had raged around Jerry's Tree.

Jordan grinned cruelly, white eyes bright with anger. He curled his fingers towards him, and more lightning struck at the remaining people.

"Jordan!"

It was Seto. The demigod turned slightly, just enough to glare at him. "Jordan, stop."

He sneered and dropped his arm, turning around fully. He couldn't put his fury into words then. All he knew was that the spirit was in his way. His friend was against him. He was siding with the mortals! When he raised his hand again, Seto steeled himself and floated over to him.

Jordan struck, bringing his hand down in an arch. Lightning crackled, running straight through Seto. The ghost didn't even wince as what would have killed him passed through his body. His shoulders slumped in slight defeat. Jordan would have killed him then if he hadn't already been dead. "Jordan, stop before you hurt yourself. You already harmed your own people, do yourself a favor and calm down."

-"Calm down? Calm down?!"- Jordan screeched, and his voice changed in pitch. It jumped down and seemed to echo; it wasn't human. Nowhere close to it.

-"Give me three good reasons why I should calm down!"-

Seto swallowed, taking another few steps closer. "Jordan, this isn't you...You don't want to be like your father, do you?"

Suddenly, the lightning and thunder stopped. The rain let up soon after, falling into a drizzle, then to nothing. The rumbling in the earth came to a slow halt, and Jordan collapsed to his knees, gasping as if he were in pain. Wincing, the demigod brought up a shaky hand to his chest, grasping where his heart was. He shouldn't have used so much power, now he had to face the consequences. He stood up, still holding his chest, and stumbled over to the edge of the tree. What he saw nearly made him fall off the edge.

Bodies. The dead ones of the people he had tried so hard to protect for years. He hurt his own kingdom. What used to be his people were strewn across the ground, some completely unrecognizable and some just piles of ash. Another bolt of lightning shot the earth, and the demigod disappeared off the tree.

When he came back up, Ryan and Nick were sitting against the bark of the tree. They were silent, jumping to their feet when Jordan approached them. Seto was floating nearby, unwilling to get close to the living souls in case they would see him. When Ryan opened his mouth to say something, Jordan simply shook his head and started walking to the Nether portal, green sword dragging the ground behind him.

Seto followed him, head hanging down. He understood how Jordan felt, having lost people close to him before. But not like this. The ghost sighed and looked over his shoulder, where Ryan and Nick were slowly making their way towards Jordan.

"We're going to find Jerome," the demigod spoke quickly, softly, as if he was afraid of his own voice. "With or without Sky. And I need to have a talk with my father."

Location: The Nether

A brown, fury creature was thrown roughly into his cage. He looked up, dull amber eyes not even bothering to widen in hope. He had hallucinated so many times by now, he was sure that the baca standing in front if him was an illusion. He sighed and let his head fall back into his arms.

After the scar had healed over, it had turned a silvery color against his blue skin. Whenever he found himself thinking about it, his mind and body would kind of... shut down, like he didn't want to think about water or the scar.

A hand shook his shoulder, and he jerked away from the touch as if it burned. The illusion before him blinked, slightly surprised at the blue one's reaction. "Husky, Husky it's me, Jerome. Buddy, look at me."

When Jerome got no response from the mudkipz, he kneeled down next to him. "Husky, is anyone in there? Hello?" Worry was evident in his tone. Not only was Quentin unresponsive, even though he was definitely awake, he didn't seem to be quite all there. "Husky... Please, buddy. I can't help you if you don't talk."

Jerome saw the scar when he reached over to touch the blue one's shoulder. His dark brown-almost black-eyes widened and he quickly retracted his hand. "My god, Quentin. What happened to you?"

He was surprised when he got a response. A shaky, weak sigh escaped Husky's lips, and the dull amber eyes went up to meet Jerome's concerned brown ones. "J-... Jerome? I- are you actually h-here?"

"Yeah, buddy, I'm here."

Husky stared at him in disbelief. This couldn't be real, they had forgotten about him. They had left him for dead. But the worry in Jerome's eyes was true; it was actually there, unlike all the hallucinations that had plagued him for the past month. For the first time in a month, hope started sprouting within his chest. "Jerome, you didn't forget me?"

"Of course not, I-"

"Well, look at this," a voice that Husky had learned to fear chuckled. Footsteps echoed against the maroon brick floors. They stopped just outside the two's cell. "Such a joyful reunion. Too bad I need to cut it short."

Jerome glared at their captor with a snarl, brown eyes alight with anger. He stood up, spreading his arms out in a protective manor. "You monster," he shouted at the demon, "What did you do to Husky?"

Suddenly, a line of solid water snaked through the netherrack bars. It took the form of a fish and swam around their heads. "Oh, I was just getting a bit of data from him."

"About what?" The baca growled out, eyes never leaving the fish made out of water. Husky trembled behind him, eyes wide and fearful. He knew very well what was about to happen. He just wished he could do something to save Jerome from the same fate he had fallen into.

The demon before them smirked, clenching a fist. The water fell to the ground, quickly evaporating on the hot surface of the nether brick. "The element of water, of course. I needed a bit of information before I could control it, you know."

Jerome glared at Herobrine, fists clenching. "Why?"

"So I could destroy the Overworld. You know the four main elements, yes? Well, all I need now is your element, and then air, and then the fifth one. Ecnorite."

"Ecnorite?"

Herobrine nodded. He held out a hand, and a small silver key materialized. "But I need information on yours. Earth, or as some know it, life."

Jerome steeled himself, narrowing his eyes to hide the small twinge of fear that strung at his heart. He wouldn't give the demon what he wanted. As the demon turned the key in the lock, he got ready to fight.

"And if you retaliate or if you do not tell me what I want to know, that fish will meet his end."

This made Jerome freeze, eyes darting down to Husky, who looked so miserable it was unbearable to look at. The baca swallowed. Tell Herobrine what he wanted to hear or let his friend die? He could always try to make a run for it, but he was sure that Husky wouldn't be able to make it. And he wouldn't leave a friend behind to face this monster alone. The stubbornness inside Jerome arose. He didn't want to do either of these things. All he wanted was to get Quentin out of this hell.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour, the fluffy sighed. "Fine... I'll tell you what you need to know." He meet the demon's smug gaze with a resilient glare. Shoving down the fear that welled up, Jerome swallowed and spoke again. "But only as long as you let Husky go."

The demon frowned, scowling darkly. He thought for a moment and a slow grin worked its way over the scowl. "Fine."

The demon stalked forward and grabbed Jerome by the wrist. "He's free to go, as long as he can get out." With that, and one more glance between the two Overworld beings, Jerome was dragged away.

Husky's eyes widened when he realized where the baca was being taken. "N-no! Jerome!" But before the baca could turn around, he was teleported away. Husky stumbled to his feet in a fit of anger an terror, but fell back to his knees. What had he done? He had just sat there while his friend was taken to the torture chamber. The mudkipz shuddered involuntarily, rubbing the scar over his shoulder. He knew exactly what Herobrine was going to do. Even though Jerome was willing to talk, that didn't mean that he wouldn't be tortured.

But he also knew the devastation that was looming over their heads.

Herobrine needed only three more elements to master, two now that he had Jerome. If he conquered all of them, he would go to the Overworld and destroy it with the very essences that made it. Husky thought back to what the demon had told him just after the placement of the scar.

-When Notch and I made the Overworld, we created elements. Four main ones, and the fifth most powerful. Air, water, earth, fire and ecnorite. These were the building blocks of the world. I already have control over fire, and now I have water. When I conquer all of them, I will be unstoppable. Not even god can save you then.-

The world was nearly doomed, to say the least.

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Location: Torture chamber

Two hours.

Two hours, and he was in pure hell. Jerome didn't think that it could have gotten any worse until the demon pulled out a knife and dipped it into lava. Then he began etching something into Jerome's shoulder. The baca cried out in pain. He could feel his fur burning; he hoped it didn't catch on fire. He had been aflame before and it wasn't very fun. After what felt like another five hours, the blade was discarded into a pot.

By the time the demon had put the blade away, Jerome was twitching in pain and fear. He knew it could have been worse. From Husky's appearance, and how he had been missing for a month, he knew it could have been much worse. When he glanced over at the carved wound, he winced. It was already scarring into that silver that was on Husky. But the drawing itself is what disturbed him most.

The sketch of a tree, barren of leaves, was carved into his shoulder. It might have symbolized something. Maybe it was a warning sign of the impending danger that lurked in the Nether, or how life was nothing but a fantasy here. Or maybe it signaled that he should give up hope in surviving the eminent doom of the Overworld.

Or maybe it outright said that life as he knew it was over.

Some of you, back in chapter five, thought that the one being tortured was Jerome. Hehe... well, I would like to thank you for that, because you gave me this idea. So it looks like Herobrine is trying to conquer the elements. Hmm... Oh, and Ecnorite. I was originally going to call it something else, but... eh, whatever. So Ecnorite is like the king of all elements. Like, the main four combined... yeah. And I need someone to represent air. (Like Husky was water, and Jerome was earth/life) And let me clear another thing up. By life, I mean plat life/nature. Yup.

Oh, by the way. It's very clear that Jordan has control over the weather. Should he have more powers? Less? If so, any suggestions? I already have a thing planned out, but I want to hear you peoples's ideas. :D So, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter. Remember to leave a review, maybe drop a favorite or a follow. Whatever, it's up to you. See you in the next chapter, peopleses!