Guess who's back?

It's me. If you guessed me, you're right.

Sorry for the break, but it was really something I needed to have, because writing and doing my homework at the same time was looking to be impossible.

Anyways, from now on I'm going to be back for good, hopefully. Enjoy this chapter!

Krios

We Drive Shell Into A Cliff

The ride was quiet.

We didn't know where we were going—we were just getting as far away from Cratre as we could. My legs still ached, but Jax had handed me a health potion, so the pain wasn't as bad as before.

Cal had stopped crying a long time ago. Jax was silent. He hadn't cried, but I had a feeling he'd felt the loss as hard as Cal. Even though Sam and Jax had constantly bickered, now there was a sort of emptiness in the air that hadn't been there before without Sam's constant attitude.

After a few more minutes of silence, I said, "I think we should rest. It's getting dark."

"Good idea," Jax said. "Look, there's a cave over there."

Shell sat down in the middle of a field of sunflowers, all of them pointing at the setting sun, which drew streaks of purple and pink through the sky. I would have enjoyed the sight had my mind not have been so preoccupied.

Luckily, the cave Jax had found was just big enough to fit all three of us and Shell, which was good because a dragon sleeping in the open would probably have attracted some unwanted attention.

Shell trotted to the back of the cave and curled up. Jax disappeared and came back with an armful of sticks.

He started a fire, and we just sat there for while. Just staring at the flames.

They were more tame, more relaxed than the ones that had engulfed Cratre. The mere memory made my heart pound with dread and fear.

Finally, Jax spoke, his voice hoarse. "So. What now?"

"Cratre was our last hope," Cal said forlornly. "I don't know what else we can do."

"Center of the world…" Jax mumbled, putting his head in his hands.

"Well, maybe we just didn't look hard enough?" I said, trying to sound positive. Instead, my voice sounded weak and hopeless.

"I think we should just go to sleep," Cal spoke up. Her eyes were puffy, and she sounded weary. "Maybe we'll think of something in the morning."

I knew that Cal just wanted to go to sleep, but honestly I shared the sentiment. It had been such a long and tiring day, and I was sure that if I racked my brain any further, my head would explode.

Even Jax didn't have the energy to protest, which was a testament to how screwed we were. He pulled out two sleeping bags and gave Cal an apologetic look. "Sorry, I only brought two…"

"You can have the sleeping bag," I told Cal. "I'll find some leaves to sleep on or something."

Call nodded and took a sleeping bag. I turned and found some unusually thick moss on the ground next to Shell's head.

"Mind if I lie down here?" I asked Shell, who just grunted without moving. I took that as a yes.

The moss was surprisingly comfortable, but it was small, so it felt like lying down on a pillow the size of a towel. I shifted and looked at Shell, who looked sleepy.

"You don't snore, do you?" I asked. "Because I'm a light sleeper."

Shell blinked at me, but I wasn't sure what that was supposed to mean.

Something occurred to me. "You lost someone too, huh? You lost Dan."

Shell perked up, glancing around like Dan was going to appear out of nowhere. The gesture crushed my heart.

"I'm sorry," I said softly. "Dan's not here."

At that, Shell huffed a little and laid his head down, looking sad.

I sighed and shut my eyes, thinking I would be tossing and turning all night.

I went to sleep in an instant.

?-?-?

I was in the Nether.

There was an enormous castle in the distance, and below that, a hall of quartz.

Inside of the hall, nether portals lined the walls, and it disturbed me how similar the quartz hall was to the blackstone one in the Aether. The design was similar, and the pigmen walking up and down the hall was also similar to how people walked down the blackstone hall in the Aether.

All the pigmen looked busy, carrying chests, blocks of gold, and carts full of gold tools around. Suddenly a portal shimmered, and Klith stepped out of it.

Every pigman in the hall froze and turned to Klith, who just raised an eyebrow coldly.

"Well?" he said.

Every pigman immediately sank into a kneel, bowing to their king. Klith's eyes scanned the crowd, and his eyes finally landed on a pigman near the back who wasn't bowing. He stared openly at Klith, his jaw agape. I noticed he had a jar full of some swirly blue liquid in his hands.

"You," Klith said to the pigman. "You have what I want."

The pigman yelped and began to bow, but Klith snapped his fingers at the pigman irritably. "Don't bother bowing, just get over here."

"Oh! Yes, sire!" The pigman scurried up to Klith.

"The cobalt acid," Klith said. The pigman handed him the jar. "The radioactive titanium?"

"Gathered, sire." The pigman said.

Klith observed the jar, turning it over. "How dull. But I suppose appearances can be deceiving." He unscrewed the lid and poured some of it onto the ground. It sizzled and bubbled as it hit the ground, burning a deep hole through the quartz and into the netherrack below. Klith's eyes lit up, and he laughed, an insane sound that sent chills down my spine.

"Perfect," Klith laughed.

The dream transformed, and the quartz hall disappeared. What appeared next made my jaw drop.

It was Sam. And Trevor. And Dan, and everyone else, lying unconscious in an obsidian cell.

"Sam!" I yelled, running up to her. I tried to touch her, but my hands just passed through her. Frustrated, I tried to wake her up, but to no avail.

A voice said behind me, "Don't lose your hope. There's still a chance." I swiveled around, but there was nothing.

"Ask Cal about the melons," the voice said. "She'll tell you what you need to know."

My surroundings began to fade. "Wait!" I shouted, looking around. "Where are you? Who are you?" I turned, and saw two glowing white eyes watch me from afar.

The cell continued to fade.

A thought appeared in my head, and I cried desperately, "Herobrine, talk to me!"

The eyes watched me, and right before the dream faded to black, I heard the voice say, "Seven hundred fifty six. Nine hundred thirty eight."

?-?-?

When I snapped awake, it was light out. Shell snorted in his sleep, and Jax laid on his side, silent. Cal was awake, staring blankly at the wall.

I stood and stumbled over to her, and she glanced at me. "Oh. Hey, Ton—"

I grabbed her by the shoulders. "Melons. Melons! What is it? What does it mean?" My voice was ragged and frantic. I shook her. "What do you know that I don't?"

"Hey! Get off me!" Cal said angrily, and pushed me off. At those words, I gave a slight start. "What's the matter with you?"

Jax sat up, instantly awake and anxious. "What is it?"

"You think I wouldn't tell you if I knew something?" Cal yelled, standing.

"I'm sorry!" I yelled back. Cal glared at me for a moment before sitting back down on her sleeping bag. "I'm sorry," I said again, more calmly.

"Yeah, yeah." Cal snapped.

"I'm sorry," I repeated. "But I had a dream. Klith's got the remaining materials for the Hellstorm. And Sam and the others are alive. At least, I think they are. And this man told me to ask you about melons. Said I'd know."

"Melons," Cal repeated.

"Yes, melons." I said frustratedly. "I know. It sounds crazy."

"And who told you this?" Cal asked incredulously.

I paused. "Herobrine. I think."

Cal stared at me like I was nuts. "Toni, are you sure this dream wasn't—"

"—just a dream?" I finished for her. "Yeah. I thought that too when I first started dreaming these things, but now I know better. These dreams aren't fake, or hallucinations. They're real. And I don't know how, but they are true. So rack your brain. Think of something—anything about melons! I don't know how it'll help, but just try."

Cal was silent after my rant for a moment. Jax rubbed his eyes and slid out of his sleeping bag. For a second I was afraid Cal would just go back to sleep, but she sighed. "Melons…melons…melons…"

"A jungle, perhaps?" Jax suggested.

"No, never been to one." Cal muttered. "Melons…wait, I think I remember something."

"What is it?" I asked anxiously.

"Don't rush me," Cal snapped. After a moment she snapped her fingers. "Right! I dropped a melon on myself once, when we were flying to Cratre."

"How's that relevant?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, you're right." Cal said, furrowing her brows. "That can't be right. What am I supposed to be remembering, anyways?"

"Wait, didn't Klith almost catch you because of that?" I asked.

"Yeah," Cal said, "but I don't see how—" Suddenly a look of dawning appeared on Cal's face. "Oh. Oh my god. I'm an imbecile."

"What? What?" I said, giddy with anxiety.

"When we overheard Klith talking to that pigman," Cal said, "I heard him say some coordinates."

My jaw dropped. So did Jax's.

"Well? Can you remember?" Jax said, jumping to his feet.

"It's hard," Cal groaned as she also got to her feet and began to pace around the cave. "It's like trying to remember an old classmate all the way back in preschool. Hold on. I think one was…twenty four. Twenty five? No, it was twenty four."

"Just twenty four?" Jax pressed.

"No, twenty four thousand." Cal said. "And the other one was…negative. It was negative…damn it! Why can't I remember?"

"Did the twenty four thousand come first?" Jax asked excitedly.

"Ye…um…yeah! The twenty four thousand was first." Cal said, snapping her fingers.

"Positive?" Jax asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure." Cal muttered.

"The X is positive, and the Z is negative?" Jax said in disbelief. "That means we've been going the completely wrong way!"

"Then we just need the last coordinate!" I said excitedly.

We were all silent for a moment. Shell was awake now, staring at all of us with a bored expression.

"I…I think the other thing started with a four," Cal said helplessly.

"Four thousand? Or forty thousand?" Jax pressed more.

"I…I think forty thousand? Uuugh, Ender heard it too! If only she were here right now…or even Ben…" Cal groaned in exasperation.

"Even if that's all you remember, that's still game changing information!" Jax cried. "We can just get to the coordinates and then go from there!"

I suddenly remembered something. "Wait! In my dream, just before I woke up, Herobrine told me, 'seven hundred fifty six' and 'nine hundred thirty eight'!"

Cal squealed in joy. "We've got exact cords!"

"Twenty four thousand seven hundred fifty six," I said, "and negative forty thousand nine hundred thirty eight. These are the cords of the Hellstorm. Shell, get up. We've got somewhere to fly."

Sam

I woke up with a killer headache.

I groaned and sat up, clutching my head. It felt like there was someone playing the drums inside my skull. And matters were made worse by the heat. The cruel, unrelenting heat. I sweated heavily, and the ground under my hands were hot.

"Everyone okay?" I heard someone say. I opened my eyes, and saw Dan sitting against the wall, battered and bruised.

"Nope." I said without hesitation.

"Acknowledged," Dan said. "What about everyone else?"

"Well, apart from you, me, Sam, and Ender, everyone else is still unconscious." Ben, who had a gash on his forehead said.

"I checked all of their pulses. They're all alive." Ender said, looking weary. "But all of our stuff's gone, and I don't think any of us can fight in this condition."

"Yeah, and if I move too quickly, my brain sloshes around like a smoothie." I groaned. "God, it is hot in here. Where are we, anyways?"

"We're in a cell, if that wasn't obvious enough." Dan said. "It's all made of obsidian, so there's really no chance of getting out."

I glanced around. Sure enough, the entire cell was made of obsidian, just as Dan said. The room was dimly lit by torches on either sides of the cell, and the only opening I could see were through some thick obsidian bars at the front of the cell.

Through the bars, I could see a large cavern. The entire cavern was made of deepslate, and there were several patches in the wall that were filled in by glass. There was lava behind all of the glass patches, which led me to believe the entire cavern was submerged under lava. That explained the heat, at least.

Pools of lava were scattered all over the cavern, and there were several Nether portals at the back of the cave. Pigmen scurried through the cavern, holding scraps of metal and chests full of materials.

But the thing I was focused on was the thing in the center of the cavern.

In the center of the cavern, there it laid. The Hellstorm.

It was an enormous square the size of a grain silo. The outside was made of a metal I recognized as netherite, and in the side there was a glass panel allowing you to see inside the bomb.

Inside the bomb you could see an assortment of wires, gears, tubes, and multiple glass spheres that held various strange substances.

Bright blue flames swirled around inside one sphere, and in another there was a swirly looking liquid that looked like someone had mixed two types of blue paint together.

"Oh no," I said. "That's it."

"The Hellstorm," Ben said grimly. "In all its destructive glory."

Ender cursed. "What do we do?"

"Nothing," I said. "We just have to believe in Toni and the others."

"And do you really believe they can pull it off?" Nikai asked with a scowl.

"At this point, it's more about hoping than believing." Dan said.

"Either way, we'll have to wait." I said tersely.

"I don't like waiting," Dan admitted.

"That makes two of us, Dan."

Toni

As the wind whipped my hair around my face, I found myself wishing for a haircut.

Cal probably didn't have this problem—her hair was a lot shorter than mine. But when was the last time I'd had a haircut? Around a month ago.

Yup. I really needed a haircut.

But I'm going off topic. The point is, we were going fast.

Like, really fast.

So fast that if I fell off of Shell, he would be three hundred blocks away by the time I managed to hit the ground.

It had already been twenty minutes or so, and we were already two thirds of the way there. if we kept going at this pace, we would reach the bomb in ten more minutes. However, even that was pushing the time limit a little too much. After all, Klith had already gathered the materials needed to create the Hellstorm. For all we knew, he could have activated the bomb twenty nine minutes ago, in which case we were totally and utterly screwed.

Earlier in Cratre, I'd been feeling the anxiety like tar in the pit of my stomach. Now, I felt like if I thought too much about what we were doing, I'd have a mental breakdown.

I'm going to throw up, I thought. And Shell's speed isn't helping.

"How close are we?" I groaned.

"Still pretty far," Cal said.

"Hold on," Jax said. "I think I can teleport us all, including Shell. It'll be faster."

"Teleport us…midair?" Cal asked. "That sounds horrifying."

"Trust me," Jax said. "I've got enough XP for this."

"That's not what I'm worried about," Cal muttered.

"Okay then," I said. "Go for it."

Jax bent down and spoke to Shell. "Hey, Shell. You see that cliff over there? Could you fly into it's shadow?"

"Wait, what?" Cal said. "We're not…tell me we're not flying into that cliff."

"Okay." Jax took a breath. "On three."

"Jax?"

"One…two…"

"JAX!"

Cal screamed as Shell shot towards the cliff at the speed of light. I grabbed Shell's saddle, and we flew directly at the side of the cliff. Right before we could slam into the stone, Jax raised his hands, and we vanished into the side of the cliff. I felt like I was falling through the air for a second, and then we suddenly reappeared in the sky. Cal slipped back a little, and I grabbed her before she could fly off.

"I thought we were going on three!" Cal gasped, clutching her heart.

"Sorry," Jax said apologetically. "Anyways, we're here."

I looked around, but didn't see anything. "I don't see any bomb."

"Well, obviously it wouldn't be out in the open." Jax said.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Cal admitted.

We were just in the middle of a regular old plains biome. There was nothing suspicious other than a herd of cows grazing peacefully a few blocks away. Shell set down on the field with a thump, and the cows let out terrified moos and ran away. My stomach rumbled as I remembered eating at that amazing steakhouse in Janlyn.

Salty, delicious steaks. My stomach moaned. Warm loaves of bread, right out of the furnace.

No, I told my stomach sternly as I slid off of Shell's back. Not now. We've got more important stuff to handle!

Sweet cookies. Light, fluffy cake. My stomach complained.

"Toni, you okay? Your eye's twitching." Jax said.

"Huh? No, I'm fine." I said, covering my twitching eye.

"Well, I guess I understand." Jax sighed. "We are about to fight the most notorious supervillain in the world."

Cal elbowed Jax in the side. "Maybe don't think too deep into it? That's what I do before taking huge tests. I don't think about it too much. If I do, I just get more stressed."

"Well, taking an exam and taking on a psycho with deadly powers are two different things," Jax said dryly.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." I said. "Let's not worry too much."

"But," Jax put in, "don't relax. That's good. Don't worry too much, but don't relax."

"I feel like that's a paradox, but I know what you mean." Cal said.

"Yeah, let's do this!" I cheered.

Sweet, crunchy apples.

Shut up, I told myself.

As fired up as we were, sadly, our hope didn't last.

We searched practically every square inch of that field. Every flower, every patch of grass, even some suspicious looking pebbles. We searched and searched and found…

"Zilch." Cal cursed, swinging her Netherite axe at the ground. "Nada. Zero. Nothing. There's nothing here."

"No, you're wrong. Herobrine wouldn't have sent us here for no reason." I turned to Jax. "Try the X-ray thing."

"It's not X-ray," Jax grumbled. "And I already tried. There's nothing. No caves, no nothing. Except…I did find something weird."

"And what's that?" I said.

"Well, there's this patch of ground where…I don't feel anything." Jax said, running a hand through his hair.

"What do you mean, you don't feel anything?" I said.

"Usually where there's solid ground, I feel…something." Jax said. "It's like sticking your hand into sand. Wherever there's sand, there's solid ground. Caves are like pockets in the sand. But this…it doesn't feel like anything. It almost feels like touching stone."

"Quick, take us to it!" I urged.

Jax nodded and led us over to an inconspicuous looking tree.

"Right under here," Jax said.

Cal frowned at the tree. "It looks like a regular tree."

"It's not the tree," Jax said, "it's the spot under the tree."

"What do you mean, the spot under the tree?" Cal repeated.

"I think we might have to resort to the age-old method of digging underneath," I said.

"Well, do any of you have a pickaxe?" Jax asked.

Me and Cal glanced at each other.

"Okay, so that's a no." Jax sighed. "But don't worry, the…er…nothing isn't that deep down. Just below the surface, in fact."

"Well, that's good news at least." Cal said as she pulled out her Netherite axe. And with that she swung it down towards the dirt.

Cal raised her axe again and paused. "Hey, do you guys hear somethi—"

Before she could finish, the ground underneath her collapsed, and she fell with a shocked look on her face.

"Cal!" I dived forwards and grabbed her hand. Underneath Cal, there was a deep hole. I glimpsed dispensers right before fire exploded out of their faces, and I felt a wave of heat hit me. If I dropped Cal, she would be roasted.

"AHHH! AHHH!" Cal screamed. "THIS IS NOT IDEAL!"

I began to slide down, towards the pit. Cal's feet dangled just above the flames.

Jax grabbed her other arm, and together we dragged Cal out of the pit.

"I…am never…going near any type of fire…again." Cal gasped.

Jax snapped his fingers, and obsidian erupted in front of the dispensers, blocking their flames.

"This…this is a deep pit," Jax said.

"No kidding," Cal panted. "I can't even see the bottom."

Jax picked up a rock on the ground and lightly tossed it into the pit.

There was silence for a few moments before a splash echoed up towards us.

"So there's water." I said.

"That water might only be half a meter deep," Cal pointed out. "And then we'd break our legs."

"Wait," Jax interrupted. "I've got an idea." Jax extended his hands towards the pit.

He just stood there for a moment, and then blades of obsidian stuck out from the sides of the pit, spiraling down into the pit and making a staircase down.

"That's gotta be the most treacherous stair case of all time." Cal said, looking pale.

"Well, unless you want to break your legs…" Jax shrugged.

Cal looked at the pit and sighed. "I hate this."

Yeah, this is a filler chapter. And it's kind of short. But hey, this isn't the worst content I've put out.

Also, I'm pretty sure Jax's obsidian staircase violates at least ten architectural regulations.

This chapter was kind of depressing, and one of my more not fun chapters to write, but mostly because I didn't have the motivation to.

I'll be writing more, I promise!

Krios