Is there anyone actually reading this?

'thoughts'


"Here is your meal."

A guard promptly dropped the tray containing seven small bowls of rice gruel in front of their cell, and left.

Axel prodded at the small bowl with his finger and whined.

"I can't fill myself with this. And they didn't even give us water at all! And a spoon!"

Olivia poked him in the ribs harshly, "Be thankful they are actually giving us something to eat at all."

Jesse sat in a corner of the cell, pinching the bridge of his nose at the incredulity of their situation. Next to him, Gabriel looked about two seconds away from doing the same. Lukas is still unconscious because of a harsh blow to his head— if they ever meet whoever it was, then he's going to smash their face in for good. Ellegaard did the smartest thing by ignoring the idiots around her and fell into a meditative stance, but her hands are somewhat restricted by the cuffs they all wore.

Pause. Rewind. How did they even get here?


Going through the portal again was not a good experience, Lukas promptly decided as he turned a bit green around his face.

He was hiding behind a barrel of beer—and oh god the awful smell—in what looked like a grand palace of sort. The others are either hiding, being chased by a platoon of crazy soldiers or captured. The blond journalist knew for a fact that Axel and Olivia had their hands tied in this situation, literally, as they were moved to a cell earlier. Last he saw of Petra and Gabriel, they were forced back by at least a dozen soldiers, and he couldn't do anything to help them, as he was running away from his own mob. Gabriel and Petra were with him, but they separated at some point. And he knows about Ellegaard's situation about as well as his own. Which is nothing.

But still, their group have the worst luck, like ever. When they traveled through the portal that Otto had pointed to, he had expected to land at some sort of happy meadow, like most other times. But no, the universe seemed to make it a habit to prove them wrong all the time. They had landed in what was probably the worst place possible; the tea table that the princess is currently having dessert at.

Needless to say, they got chased out of there a split second later by some startled guards. And separated, as no one knows the way around the place. The palace was painted in mostly gold, ruby, and some white here and there as well. Otto had warned them to not cause any attentions to themselves and fly under the radar, but they did the exact opposite not even a second after being in this strange place. Really, did they have a curse placed upon them by Ivor or something? Knowing that crazy scientist, it's not too farfetched to assume the worst.

Assuming that everyone got caught, then now he should gather informations. Like at what cell they are holding his team at, or a map of the palace. Or maybe-

"There he is!" Someone shouted, and whoever it is—he will curse them all to hell until the day he die—pointed his finger straight at Lukas and alerting his companions at the same time.

Lukas cursed his horrid luck, not for the first time that day and wisely retreated. He made a beeline for the nearest corner. Spotting a pair of unexpected guards in front of him, he drew his iron sword. A strike from the back had both of them out of the game, and he continues running. At some point, Scarface #1 had rung the alarm bell, but he could care less about that now. Idiot #8 swing the sword at him, but he blocked it with his own and kneed the poor lad in the stomach, and finally kicked him back to his friends in midair. Idiot #8 crashed into the others behind him as they screamed obscenities.

He left them behind the cloud of dust and ran for his life. Reaching a room with black as the main theme, he hid behind the door. The sounds of the soldiers echoed in the distance, but became further and further apart until there was nothing left. He was about to sigh in relief when the door swing open. Two people walked inside. The blonde assumed the one leading is the owner of this room.

The man wore a simple black suit, consisting of a black long-sleeved shirt and black pants. His legs was bandaged to the ankle, but there was no visible injuries, so the blond guessed that it was just for show. He wore an azure armor with numerous metal plates on it; it could be a type of stone, Lukas wasn't sure. But it was shiny, so he went with metal. It forms a protective guard along his chest, waist, shoulders and thighs. He also wore a leather strap across his right shoulder to his lower left side that hold a shiny black scythe in place. His jet black hair fell over his left eye, very spiky and about mid-back in length. His coal eye swept around the room, checking for anything abnormal.

The man trailed behind him had a pair of mismatched eyes; blue on the right and purple on the left. He also look really feminine. If not for a little bit of beard that stuck out on his chin; most likely that the man didn't shave it this morning, Lukas would've really thought that he was a woman. He has long and straight platinum silver hair that ends at his thigh, and wore a battle kimono of aqua and green-ish leaves. The journalist could see the white lining on the delicate kimono and black pants. The man also carried a bow on his back.

The black haired man turned around and looked at the other straight in the eyes. Suddenly, there was a noise behind him, and he's sure as heck that he did not make that sound. The white-haired man disappeared from his view.

Pain came from behind his head, and he knew no more.


Even without years of experiences in combat, Gabriel could tell that they are losing.

He kicked a nameless soldier in the gut, causing his saliva to fell out as he gasped in pain. But the warrior paid no attention to it and immediately send the man flying with a roundhouse kick to his midriff. Petra is slicing through her enemies like butter, no pun intended to her golden sword, and the warrior could see the hesitation coming from their enemies in approaching. But Gabriel was losing stamina, and at a fast rate. Petra was already showing signs of fatigue and exhaustion, and he knew for a fact that they would not last longer if they continued this battle.

They had landed face-first to the white tea table that the princess is hosting a small tea party with two other female servants. Quick as ever, Petra immediately composed herself and held one maid hostage, allowing the rest of the group the time to escape. They were shortly separated, with Petra tagging along with Gabriel and Lukas. They ran for a while before bumping into Axel and Olivia. Unfortunately, the guards got the two before they can save them.

Shortly after, a guard attacked Lukas from his side, and the blond was sent flying into the empty barrel lining on the other side of the wall. Gabriel immediately charged to help him, but was stopped by a long silver-haired man with a pair of mismatched eyes. The warrior had narrowly dodged a couple of arrows shot his way, and shuddered to see the green bubbles floating on it. It is one of those new arrows coated in potion. That, he has no doubt would do him great harm.

The unknown man grabbed the sword from a fallen soldier's grasp, and charged. Gabriel had to admit that his opponent is fairly skilled with a katana. They trade blows, and the warrior made sure not to touch his opponent in anyway. The man seemed to be a poison specialist, if those bottles on his waist are any indication. And from his various uncomfortable experiences with Ivor, Gabriel know not to engage poison specialists in hands-to-hands combat. Petra suddenly charged in and kicked the man across the hallway they are fighting in.

She shouted, "Let's go. They are closing in on us!"

Gabriel nodded. True to her word, a new mob had formed and is currently charging at them. After a few twist and turn, Gabriel had pretty much lost all hope, because they are literally being pushed back into a corner, with the rest surrounding them. He looked around, there is a window, far back from the mob.

He exhales. He doesn't care if he got caught here. Getting Petra to safety should be his first priority. He had failed his teammates once, and was not about to do the same to his disciple's. Bracing for impact, he grabbed Petra's arm and jumped up with all the power he could gather with what little stamina he had left, and grabbed the wall lamp. The lamp's cracking noise can be heard, so he had to act fast. He threw Petra towards the nearest golden chandelier, because which palace doesn't have one?

She immediately grabbed on to it on instinct and swing herself forward, landing in a backflip safely behind the mobs. The wall lamp broke off from the wall and he fell down.

The last thing he heard was someone screaming his name.


"Go faster!" One of the guards yelled.

Axel glared at the man and I resisted the urge to smacked him on the back of his head. Not that I could, because of the chains bounding my hands.

We were captured pretty fast, because we were at the bottom of the dog pile on the princess' tea table. Axel landed face-first on top of the apple pie that is apparently the main guest of the tea party. He did say it was delicious before we were captured. It was quick and overall, painless.

The two of us were chained in a line, with the head of the guards holding the chain and walked us to our cell, almost like a dog. I groaned inwardly. We had broken almost all of Otto's rules for going into a new world, and now I don't know where the others are; nor their safety. I definitely saw Gabriel, Lukas and Petra just before we were captured, though.

"Get in!" The guard barked, kicked us in and locked the cell. Couldn't he be a little nicer? The jerk.

We sprawled across the stone floor and Axel doesn't even bother to get up. I checked my cuffs. Two bad my wrist are tied together, otherwise I could have get the lock picking tool I had in my hair. Not just the lock picking tool, I also have a lever, a button, and some redstone dust in a pouch under my shoes. All of my other supplies and weapons were taken away. Thankfully they didn't do an overall check. But now that I think of it, I really need to improvise for situations such as these; where I could not reach my hair.

"I wondered if everyone got caught." Axel said, effectively snapping me out of my musing. I glanced at him and shrugged. Who knows.

"Most likely. The question is if we will be held in the same cell." And if we all are, then I'd have to question these guards' sanity. Not that I haven't already...

Axel snorted. "Doesn't matter. As long as one of us aren't caught, we can all get out in no time. Jesse will come and help us, since he's the most likely to not get caught. He is a sly one."

As if on cue, our prison door banged open and a random guard kicked a brunette in, and slammed it shut. Jesse winced at the rough treatment and stared at the both of us. I snickered. "Sorry, I didn't hear what you just said."

"Forget it." Axel grumbled.

"Axel, Olivia, are you alright?" Jesse asked, and ignore our inner jokes. Probably for the best.

Axel quirked an eyebrow. "Yep. Anything to share?"

Jesse nodded. "After we were separated, I ran eastward towards something that looked like a horse stable. I saw a man there and he swung a black scythe at me. Which I blocked with my sword by the way." Axel whistled, and he continued. "We trade blows for a while, but I was careless and he kicked me towards a wall. I went unconscious until someone slapped me up and now I'm here. You?"

"We got caught go quickly that it was almost embarrassing. Anything from the others?" I inquired.

"I do. Lukas got away, while Gabriel and Petra were pushing them last I heard. Ellegaard is-"

At that, another voice spoke up. "Right here."

We whirled around to see my teacher staring us in the face. There was no visible injury on her save for a small bruise on her shoulder, most likely when she hit the wall.

"When did you come here?!" Axel exclaimed, and Jesse had to shush him. Normally I would have done it but I'm too busy gawking at Ellegaard to care.

"From the very beginning. I was just wondering when you would notice me. And before you asked, I hid under the bench they called a bed over there." I snapped my mouth shut with an audible click.

Oh well, at least we've got company in this closed off, cold and stoney place of a cell.


That pretty much summed up the situation at hand. Lukas had woken up at some point; it was too hard to keep track of time in this secluded place. Twice a day, a guard would bring a tray of food, usually rice gruel, to feed us. Occasionally he brought some water as well. No one had come to interrogate them yet, save for the princess herself.

The princess was a beautiful young girl that couldn't be over the age of sixteen. She stood high and proud, looking down on them with barely concealed contempt shown through her emerald eyes. Her pale blond hair was tied up to a short ponytail ending at the nape of her neck, with small red rose earrings and light rosy cheeks adorning her features. She was crossing her arms on her light aqua gown that sparkle through the darkness of the cell. The princess, Jane, didn't believe that this is an accident at all, and set for their execution date to be next week, at twelve o'clock on the city square. Then, she walked away, the two men trailing behind her could be identified as the sniper that fought Gabriel and the scythe wielding man that fought Jesse.

The silver haired man had stayed silent throughout their conversation with the princess, but the other one introduced himself as Derek. Jesse immediately tensed up, as he had tested the man's skill first hand and found out that Otto's concerns were truly justified. Derek didn't do anything other than asked a bunch of questions related to their situations and allegiance. Jesse visibly relaxed after the trio left. And of course, they didn't give away any hints about Petra.

Axel is scarfing down the rice gruel, while Olivia is eating it in a more dignified manner—as dignified as a person whose wrists are tied together could anyway. Petra is nowhere to be found, most likely she hasn't been caught yet. Gabriel is visibly tensed, and Jesse guessed that the survivor's guilt really got to him.

His mentor had never been the same after Magnus' death. He hadn't recognized the man because of amnesia, and not even when Ellegaard told him stories about the Order. Gabriel was aware that save for Ivor, Magnus is the only one in their group that showed some hesitation about claiming the Ender Dragon's death by the Order's hand. Ellegaard had talked him down to it in the end, only because he had always trusted the engineer and her genius mind. Despite them fighting days on end like cats and dogs, Magnus respected Ellegaard's intelligence and would followed her plans if it was a serious situation that was a life or death matter.

Soren was never found. Axel theorized that he'd been blown away by the Wither Storm, but even then Jesse had found no trace of his body. Some of his supplies at the End has vanished, including some of his research notes that even Ellegaard had no idea about. They drew a final conclusion that he had decided to travel the world and avoid confronting them for whatever reasons; which was most likely guilt. Lukas vowed to track the architect down to question him properly about his cowardly actions back them. Everyone knew that Lukas, believe it or not, was most upset by Soren's display of cowardliness at what was probably the most important moment.

Suddenly, a cried from the guard snapped the brunette out of his musing. Everyone looked up as the last guard was knocked out. A familiar voice cried out to them, dangling the keys to their cuffs.

"Guys! I'm glad you are safe and all but we have an emergency!" Petra cried.