Chapter 2:
Back at home, Mitch and Jerome went out to town to sell what we didn't need from our mining trip. Ian went to the blacksmiths in town, and Adam continued to help me train with a blade, but quite frankly I didn't want to hurt him. He moved fast with the make shift wooden sword he had, I had one as well; we used them to practice fighting.
"Ty, I swear you're getting worse!" Adam laughed, lightly striking me in the gut, then countering my pathetic attack and gently striking my shoulder. Well sorry; I didn't want to hurt you. I quickly slashed down at his stomach, catching him off guard and grazing his shirt. He laughed. "Good, but you basically missed." He determined, rubbing the top of my head. I sighed, rolling my eyes.
"Whatever." I quietly stated as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders, leaving the wooden swords in the yard and leading me back inside.
"Oh, I was meaning to ask, have you used any of your diamonds? I mean, you could have, like, two new pieces of armor by now, what are you doing with them?"
"Saving, I don't know what I want really." I shrugged. Adam went into the kitchen, returning minute later.
"Hey, we should go to town and do a bit of shopping, the fridge is empty again." I laughed, following Adam outside and down the crunching road. His sword at his hip, he looked ready for a fight, and yet at peace. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, cattle and sheep grazing in the overgrown fields or at the forest line. The trees softly swayed with the wind, and the sun cast a shadow of peace over us.
"I can already smell the bakery." Adam started, basically running into town.
"Hey, wait up!" I called, running after him. I saw Mitch and Jerome, stopping as Adam disappeared inside the bakery, bent over to catch my breath as Mitch and Jerome came over.
"The fridge empty?" Jerome simply asked. I nodded. "I thought so, come on, let's go get him." We walked into the bakery, and I jogged over to Adam, who was looking over all the different cakes and cookies and freshly made bread, still warm.
"Now, I know we need bread." Mitch confirmed. "Shit, what else do we need?"
"We should get cookies." Adam stated, tapping the glass.
"I think we're running low on meats, we'll have to stop by Mr. Hatchet's place." Jerome added. "And fruit, we need some fruit too."
"We should get the warm cookies." Adam repeated.
"Um… stew? Do we need mushrooms, or… no; no one's been sick lately, never mind." I mumbled.
"Hey Ty, do you think you could find Ian? He should know what we need, we'll wait here."
"Adam, we aren't getting the cookies." Jerome stated as the door closed behind me. I walked down the street, smiling to people when they said hi, or anything of the sort. Eventually arrive to the blacksmiths, I found Ian and Miss. Israel talking, Ian's sword being polished in her lap, both of them sitting.
"Ian." I began. He looked over, giving me a warm smile.
"Hey, what's up, I thought you were training."
"The fridge is empty." I simply informed him. He laughed.
"I figured as much, you don't really come into town otherwise. Thanks for the polish Cameron, I'll see you later." Ian determined.
"Bye, Ian!" She cheerfully called as Ian waved over his shoulder, walking along with me.
"Ok, so we need bread and fruit from Megan, flour, eggs, and sugar from Hazel, and meats from Astro." Ian listed off.
"I'll go visit Hazel, meet you at the bakery."
"Wait, you should probably take some money with you." Ian insisted when I turned away. I turned back, taking the money; then starting for Hazel's shop as Ian went into Mr. Hatchet's store. When I entered Hazel's store, the familiar scent of sweets consumed me. She smiled as she saw me, and I smiled back, approaching the counter.
"Hey Ty, what can I get you?"
"The fridge is empty." She laughed.
"Of course, just a moment." She went into a room behind the counter, as she usually did, returning a bit later with 3 small bags, 2 large bags, and a small, rectangular box. I thanked her, paid her, and left. Getting to the bakery, I found everyone waiting outside.
"There you are, here, I'll take some of that." Adam confirmed, taking the two larger bags, the ones containing flour. I saw Mitch had the bread, Jerome had the fruit, and Ian had the meat. After that, we started home, the bright blue sky slowly beginning to turn into a cotton colored pink and orange, and sooner rather than later, a deep blue that just got darker and darker. When we got to the house, the automatic porch lights had already flipped on from the lack of sunlight.
We got everything put away where it should go, and as I went upstairs, I grabbed an apple, biting into it as the ripe juices seeped from its core. I went into my room, leaving my door open for the time being, setting the apple down and grabbing a bottle of water, sipping it as I grabbed a quill and jar of ink, flipping to my last recorded entry. I wrote down the date: 3rdS/1stP/26thD, then the fact we'd gone shopping and what we'd bought, as well as how much it all had cost. Then I wrote the diamond count and what that added up too for the total amount of diamonds collected since I arrived here. 15 today, 9 to a person…
We've collected a total of 60 diamonds since I got here, 12 to each of us. Amazing, right? It's only been 6 years.
Someone gently knocked on my door, and I turned to see Adam, then smiled.
"Yeah?" I asked, setting the quill aside and fixing the cap onto the ink jar, closing the journal and placing it into a drawer.
"You not hungry? Jerome's going to freak if you start to skip breakfast and dinner. Come to think of it, did you even eat lunch?" Adam asked, sitting on the edge of my bed as I sat next to him. I gave him an apologetic look. I hadn't eaten lunch. "Ty, is something bugging you?" Adam gently asked.
"Sort of, but it isn't something I feel comfortable talking to someone about." Hey *insert name here*, I just thought I should tell you I'm gay and I'm in love with Adam, don't tell anyone, ok? Yeah, doesn't exactly work too well.
"When you feel ready to talk, you can sit any of us down, ok?" I nodded, smiling. "Good, now eat that apple and at least let me tell Jerome you ate lunch." I laughed, agreeing. He left after that, and I heard him tell Jerome I had eaten a rather large lunch and wasn't feeling as hungry at the moment, so I was eating an apple instead. Jerome felt ok with that. If only he knew…
I got up and shut my door, walking to my dresser and going through it, pulling out the iron sword they'd given me so long ago. It was in terrible shape. I found a few hidden health potions as well. Setting the sword onto my bed, I grabbed a small bag and slipped the health potions inside, leaving plenty of room to store more stuff. I went to my locked chest and pulled out my key, unlocking it. I had plenty of money, they didn't know about it though, thank god! I don't need them questioning me anyway, considering I 'can't fight'. I grabbed a bit of silver, locking the chest again and leaving the rest of the money in there, placing what I'd grabbed into the bag.
Leaving the blade and bag on the bed, I went downstairs; making sure my door was closed, finding them in the living room with some hot chocolate. The 4th season was coming in a few months and it was already getting colder. At night at least.
"Hey!" Jerome stated, standing and passing me a cup of the hot beverage.
"Thanks." I quietly stated, sipping the drink.
"So anyway, with it getting colder, I don't think we'll need to do the patrols, but until the snow starts falling, we'll stay at them, the snow slows them down anyway." Ian explained, looking to us all.
"We'll need to be cautious of open areas, especially since Enderman prefer open areas to small spaces in the forest." Mitch added.
"We've always patrolled in the fields Mitch, besides, we haven't seen Enderman since… before we found Ty; we'll be fine!" Adam assured, sounding confident over the subject.
"People have been reporting Enderman lately, they've started showing up everywhere, in massive groups too." Mitch exclaimed, pulling out a handful of different papers. "They ruined a bunch of farms up at Millow's Wood, the central city reported an entire section of homes destroyed. They even destroy the entire town of Gromwell!" We all took some of the papers, reading them over. Mitch was right.
"They're returning, and hitting us back hard. This can't be good." Ian concluded.
"Guys…" Jerome whispered, slowly standing and picking up Betty from the table. We looked outside, and off in the distance as the full moon rose, was a black, tall, slim silhouette.
"Oh shit, don't tell me there's actually an Enderman out there." Adam whispered in protest, looking outside. "Damn it, ok, let's get going, we have a long night ahead."
"Wait, hang on!" Mitch suddenly sprinted from the room and upstairs, and as the others got some armor on, Mitch came down and gave us all hollowed out pumpkins. They were hard and solid, and Mitch slipped it on over his head in place of a helmet. "Apparently, from what I've heard, the Enderman don't like being looked at, Notch knows why, but you can look at them if you have a pumpkin on your head with a carving placed in front of your own face. They see the face, which most likely turns out terrible, as their own I guess, I can't remember what the woman had said; something like that, but at least we can see them, right?" Mitch confirmed as we all slipped the pumpkins on. I got into my armor, and looking around, we all cracked up laughing. We looked ridiculous.
"Wait, someone should stay and watch the house, we can't let them take anything from us, we'll never get it back otherwise." Ian suggested. They all looked to me.
"Me?" I demanded.
"Ty, you fight best in comforting surroundings, it's not that we're saying you'll do badly-"
"It sounds exactly like that." I argued, crossing my arms.
"Ty, you don't even have a sword to use." Ian continued, calm. I sighed, nodding.
"Alright, I'll stay." I determined, not wanting to argue about it anymore. I already had a headache, I didn't need it to turn for the worse. I watched as they left for the monster infested fields, staying here inside. I went upstairs to grab my sword, despite it wouldn't be much help. I stopped when I heard footsteps, slowly approaching my door. I heard a soft, high pitched hum, and threw my door opened. I slowly grabbed my sword, not looking at it, seeing it from the corner of my eyes. It acted like I hadn't picked up the deadly weapon.
Slowly, I got closer to it, but when I went to slash it in half, it teleported away. Sighing, I closed my blinds, going to everyone else's room and doing the same thing. In fact, I did it with all the windows in the house. Then, I locked the front and back door, sitting on the couch with the sword in my lap. I reached for my drink, taking it and drinking the smooth, still warm liquid, then glancing over all the papers.
"Why would you attack now, after secluding your self's for so long…" I mumbled to myself. I got up, taking the papers with me as I slowly flipped through them, pulling out a large map we all shared and laying it out on the kitchen table. I took pins and started marking all the area's that they've attacked, including here. It didn't seem to have any specific pattern… I grabbed some red, yellow, and green pins, marking everywhere that hasn't been attacked with green, marking the lower 'crimes' with yellow, and the larger things, like destroying parts of towns and cities with red. Then I saw the pattern.
Taking in a sharp breath, I climbed onto a chair to get a bird's eye view of what I'd just marked. It can't be, Enderman aren't this smart...
We'll find you.
The Enderman are literally attacking in an order that spells out words, who the hell told them to do that? The Enderman are smart, but they follow the orders of… but she's… so… I shook my head, leaving the map there so I could show the others later. I gathered the papers, walking back into the living room. I jumped, taking in a sharp breath. Outside the glass doors, was an Enderman, staring me down with soulless purple eyes, pupils shaped like slits, the same as mine. I placed the papers down on the table, picking up my sword and approaching the door. The Enderman softly hummed. I slipped the old sword into the door handles, preventing the doors from being opened.
I sat back down, making sure I kept an eye on the Enderman, but somewhat relaxing, closing my eyes as I finished off my drink. I opened my eyes and nearly screamed, the Enderman suddenly inside and its face literally 5 centimeters from mine. Fuck my life. It screeched, meaning the pumpkin didn't work, considering I looked it in the eyes or something, picking me up and partially throwing me back down, causing the pumpkin to break. I took off the bracelet, and before it hit me again, it paused. I looked up at it, and it just stared down at me.
I slipped the bracelet back on, changing back, but it still didn't move to attack. Standing up straight and slowly dusting myself off, I simply pointed outside the glass doors.
"G-Get out." I stuttered. The Enderman teleported away. I sighed, lying on the couch again, placing a hand to my forehead. Ugh, headaches… I sat up again, going to the kitchen and grabbing a bottle of water, drinking it, placing the empty bottle in the sink and going back into the living room. Lying down, I shielded my eyes with my right arm, eventually feeling myself turn over as I fell into a deep, well needed sleep.
I threw myself onto the black silhouette that resembled a man, but he blocked my sword with his own, both of us trying to push the other down. The only detail I could make out was his crystal white teeth, sharp and pointed, his mouth curled into an evil halfhearted smile. I knew my eyes were glowing brighter than they ever had before, my wings stiff and frozen in their position behind me. My tail was between the wings that sat up high on my back, stiffly curled at the tip.
"I'm going to ruin your life." The man simply stated in a dark, twisted voice, throwing me into the air. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see everyone staring at me shocked. I could feel the conscious of my mind slipping away, the part that thinks things out and keeps me sane. As my subconscious took over, I heard him ask one more thing. "Are you ready?" I dove down with the speed of a dragon, my sword over my right shoulder as I went to swing at him, but everything suddenly turned to black for a split second.
I shot up, my breathing messed up and my heart pounding. What the hell… I've never had this dream, that couldn't have been me, right? I brought my left hand to my forehead, the throbbing kicking in and causing me severe pain. I guess the expression was readable on my face, because something tapped my shoulder lightly; causing my head to snap to it, but it was only Mitch pressing an ice cold bottle of water to my shoulder. I looked around rather quickly, I could have sworn I was in my room, but I was sitting in the living room, taking up almost an entire couch, Jerome sitting at my feet, Adam and Ian in the chairs across from us.
Slowly feeling my wrist, I sighed, relaxing, remembering I hadn't taken the bracelet off. I took the water from Mitch, sipping it as he slipped my legs of the couch, sitting between Jerome and I.
"Thanks." I muttered, just now realizing how dry my throat was.
"You have a bad dream? You just suddenly shot up from the ball you were curled into." Ian pointed out. I nodded, draining most of the water from the bottle and setting it down beside me.
"You want to talk about it? It helps me to talk about my dreams." Jerome asked, looking at me still.
"I don't know, it isn't the dream I usually have, it was something completely different, but you guys were still there and… I, I think I was there, but I don't know, either that or I was controlling someone else's body." I simply started.
"You dream about us?" Adam asked, seeming pleased about it.
"Every night, but most of the time it ends with you all hate me or something like that, other times you're just too happy and it freaks me the hell out, but you know, whatever." They all frowned, confused. "But, I was fighting someone, and I couldn't see him at all, his entire body was a pitch, solid black, although I could see his perfectly white teeth, and he simply told me he was going to ruin my life and asked if I was ready." I finished off, taking the water and pouring a bit onto my hand, then spreading it over my forehead, cooling it down majorly as I sighed. Jerome felt my forehead.
"You're burning up Ty." He simply stated.
"What time is it?" I asked, stretching, ignoring Jerome's statement.
"9am, you really slept late today."
"Oh shit, sorry. So what are we doing today?"
"Ty, you're staying home, you are really burning up, you're sick as a dog." Jerome argued, leaving the room, but poking his head back in. "You hungry?" I nodded. "Good." And with that I could hear him start to cook, cutting something up.
"Sorry Ty, we'll bring you back something though." Ian assured. "In fact, I could go get that old sword you found fixed up and you could actually have a sword to use."
"Oh, you don't have to do that." I insisted, a sad smile coming to my face.
"I think someone should stay here at all times with Ty, he could seriously be sick, his temperature is at least 110." Jerome stated as he brought me a warm bowl of soup.
"Then wouldn't I be dead?" I teased as he sat back down, knowing he was exaggerating about the actual temperature.
"Ha ha, very funny Ty." Jerome replied, rolling his eyes. I took the spoon and began consuming the little chucks floating around in the soup, tasting mushroom, red and brown. I tasted some other ingredients, but couldn't figure out what they were. The soup was heaven though, so I didn't complain.
"So who's going to stay here with Ty then, to make sure he doesn't get worse?" Mitch questioned. I looked up to see everyone staring at Jerome.
"I would love too, he's like family." Jerome insisted. "Besides, I'm the one who knows how to treat illnesses anyway. Go off and have fun, try to find more reports so Ty can map them down, we saw that by the way, why the different colors?" I stood, motioning them to follow me into the kitchen. I set my bowl down on the counter, then pulled 3 more chairs to one side of the table, by the other chair that sat there, placing the back of the chairs against the sturdy wood.
"Stand on the chairs, the Endermen are writing out a message to us." They stood one by one onto all the chairs, staring intently at the message.