Chapter 5 - The Insane And The Lost

Jesse and his friends snuck around the Founder's Palace walls under the bright full moon. Reaching the rear part of the building, they found an open window.

According to that sleeping guard, who I punched hard and captured later, told us that he heard that Aiden was planning to steal the Eversource from the founder tonight. He also told us that the secret treasure room is located in the back of this place... As for why he didn't report this to his leader, he was too lazy. Man, I don't feel so bad for punching that man anymore... No, focus here. Once I found that bastard who ate my friend, I will make sure he pays the price.

Lukas took out a few blocks that he brought with him and began making a small staircase up. After the group reached the window, they found themselves in the throne room. The room was empty, no guards or anyone else.

"Come on guys. We can't let Aiden run around loose." Jesse hopped in the spacious room and immediately began to search for anything hidden. He noticed that there were minecart tracks that led to a broken wall.

Found it.

Through the now broken door was a staircase with rail tracks leading down. Not wasting time to activate the minecarts, everyone ran down.

They reached the room at the bottom of the Sky City. It was filled with chests, each labeled with different kinds of names.

"What is this? Sheep?" Lukas opened a double chest labeled as Sheep and took out some kind of egg. "Not what I was expecting from a Sheep chest."

Ivor took one. "I've never seen one like it. Maybe we need to throw it," he assumed. Throwing the fragile egg, it spawned in a sheep.

"Did it just hatch a sheep?" Petra said in awe. "That must mean that all these other chests contain various animals and monsters."

Ivor jumped up and down all giddy. "This could be the Eversource that the guard mentioned. Oh, this is the best day of my life!"

"Hey. Let's focus on what we came here for." Jesse said as he walked further inside the room. "Aiden must be somewhere here."

"You looking for me dumbass?"

Everyone stopped doing what they were doing and gave attention to the ominous voice. It was Aiden and his gang.

Jesse immediately pulled out his sword. "You murderer!"

"Oh? You know that I ate your little pig?" Aiden said cockily. "I will say, it tasted like a good fine pork chop. But it could have been better with a bit of a burnt taste."

Feeling his body burning with rage, Jesse began to take a sword stance, prepared to strike.

Aiden took out his enchanted diamond blade. "What are you going to do? Kill me with a pointy stick? Ha! I'd like to see you try!"

Jesse's friends showed up with their weapons on the mad man. Aiden's friends took out a few creeper spawn eggs and threw it at the new Order, occupying them so Aiden could focus on the leader.

"Why are you doing this?!" Jesse yelled in fury.

Aiden sprinted up to him and slashed down with his sword. Jesse easily blocked it.

"Jesse. It should have been me who killed the Witherstorm. I am the one who had the right to become a True Hero! Me and only me!"

Grunting, Jesse tried to resist his weapon. "What? Listen to yourself! What you're saying sounds insane!"

"HA HA HA HAAA! ME INSANE!?" Aiden looked at him with crazed eyes. "I AM THE ONLY ONE WHO ISN'T INSANE HERE! I AM THE BEST. I... AM... PERFECTION!"

"What..." Jesse gritted his teeth as he pushed his blade even harder, "Is..." With all his strength, "WRONG WITH YOU!" The sword was knocked down to the floor as the maniac was pushed back.

"JESSE!" Aiden screamed with his fists up. "WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS IN MY WAY!"

Jesse quickly pointed his shimmering sword at him. "SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH YOU PSYCHOPATH!"

"NO! This isn't how it's supposed to HAPPEN! She told me it would be DIFFERENT!" He searched for anything to help him until he spotted a gaping hole caused by the creepers from early. Aiden grinned as his friends threw a spawn egg at Jesse's face. He ran up and pushed him into the void. "HA! Take that you stupid Hero... AH HA HA HA HA!"

Swimming out the lake, Jesse walked up to an oak tree and punched it as hard as he could. "Damn that bastard! What kind of loose screw does he have?!"

Someone ran to him. "Jesse! Are you alright?"

He glanced back to see Lukas down on the surface with him. "Lukas? You fell too? What about the others?"

As if to answer his question, the rest of the gang showed up. Everyone looked worried at him. "What happened up there?!" Ivor said.

Petra nodded. "We fell down as soon as we were cornered. None of us know what happened between you and Aiden."

Jesse spoke with a bitter tone, "That guy has completely lost it! We need to get back up there now!"

"I agree. Even if he was my friend before, I won't overlook his stupid actions. We can't leave Aiden with those spawn eggs, the people in Sky City will be in danger." Lukas took out his iron shovel. "Guys, we need to dig up some blocks to pillar up."

The team agreed and started digging the ground. Monsters began to fall from the sky which made everyone dig faster. Gathering up enough dirt, they all grouped back together.

Ivor pointed at the direction he was digging. "I found a lit portal while I was digging. It looks exactly like the one we came from."

"Let's come back to it later. I still need to pay back Aiden for what he did," Jesse said. He looked at the sky. "Let's go."

With dirt blocks in their hands, they began to pillar up to the morning sky.

Reaching the entrance of the city. Making out what was happening in front of them, they were baffled. Monsters from every dimension roamed around the area, terrorizing the people left and right.

Lukas shook in horror. "What is he doing?! Aiden has truly lost it!"

"More the reason why I need to get to him now!" Jesse said.

"I have never seen such stupidity in my life!" Ivor gave him a speed potion. "Jesse, take this and do what you need to stop Aiden."

Jesse nodded. "Thank you. I'll handle Aiden. You guys help the others."

Sitting on the throne, Aiden played around with the spawn egg in his hand. The doors suddenly swung open as one of the palace guards rushed in.

"You there! Where did you take the Founder to?!" the guard urgently asked.

Aiden grinned. "When that royal woman went back to her room, I killed her in her own bed... But I must admit, she has more fighting power than I expected."

"Y... You WHAT?!" The man held his iron sword and charged at the deranged person. "I won't forgive you!"

With no hesitation, Aiden threw the spawn egg at him, releasing a blaze on him. The fiery monster distracted the furious guard, which Aiden took the chance to back stab both of them through the head, killing the man and the blaze.

He looked down at the drops of the dead. "Heh. No one can beat me now."

Another person walked inside the room. Aiden turned around to see Jesse once again. "What!? How did you survive? I saw you fall!"

Jesse positioned his fighting stance. "Just now I heard that you kill the leader of this city. I just don't get it! Why are you like this!?"

"Don't get it? DON'T GET IT!? You were always one step ahead of me. Who won the building competition? Jesse. Who defeated the Witherstorm? Jesse. Who did the Order trust to become the new leader? JESSE. And who did people always look up to? Always Jesse Jesse JES-"

"Just Shut UP! I had enough of your shit talk! All I hear is nothing but GIBBERISH!" Jesse prepared his blade. "I'll end this madness right here right now."

In rage, Aiden unleashed his wrath upon him. Drinking the speed potion, Jesse swiftly dodged his brutal slashes and swung his sword towards his chest. It didn't penetrate through his tough armour. It only cracked it a bit.

Aiden kicked, knocking him a bit back. "I killed you once. I can DO IT AGAIN!" He ran towards Jesse, throwing eggs at random. Creepers and Skeletons spawned near Jesse.

Jesse moved away from the creeper explosions, dodged the skeleton's projectiles, and grabbed Aiden's arm. With all his might, Jesse swung him towards the skeletons. Aiden tumbled down the ground but quickly stood up and killed the skeleton next to him. "Just DIE ALREADY!"

Jesse tackled him down to the ground, holding his dominant hand in place. "Give it up!"

Aiden spat at his face. "Never! She told me that I would become a king here! The true Hero of this story!"

Curious, Jesse put his blade closer to his neck. "She? Who are you talking about?"

"S... Someone with long silver hair!" The blade inched closer. "I... I was only doing what I was told to do. Nothing else! I swear I won't ever do this again. Just let me live!"

"Let you live? After you stole what was left of my friend and brought destruction and suffering to this whole world... I'd say your end is near."

Not caring anymore about his dire situation, Aiden unexpectedly grabbed his sharp blade as he tried to resist the pain. He somehow managed to throw Jesse's sword away and punch Jesse to the floor. "You think I will lose to you that easily!? I'd rather die slowly by lava than be killed by the LIKES OF YOU!"

Sneaking out his backup iron sword, Jesse stabbed him through the cracked armour and dug into the body. He moved the blade through the skin as hard as he could, causing it to give the monster intense burning pain.

"Ah... AAAAH! ...W... WHAT? THIS Can't... be..." Aiden stumbles down to the floor. His whole body weakened as he laid flat on the ground. Soon after disappearing into a puff of smoke.

"Sleep forever."

-A Day Ago-

That is a lot of colored portals... I wonder if giving Aiden a boost was the right move. Maybe I overdid it. I shrugged. Well, I'm sure Jesse got this. After all, I still need him in the future.

Looking around the wide hallway that stretched for quite a while, I searched for a specific portal.

If my memory serves me right, it should be a golden skeleton looking portal.

I stopped walking as soon as I spotted the portal. I entered the green swirling gate and found myself instantly falling on the grass floor. Standing up, I scanned my surroundings.

Graveyard? Check. Swap biome? Check... It's not nighttime so I don't know if there are two moons yet, but I can see the big mansion from here... Oh man. I feel a bit nervous knowing that I would find some of my old favorite YouTubers here. Hopefully they know something about this fake world, but with me speeding up this timeline, I don't know if that murder mystery event will start. Eh. Shouldn't be a problem.

I began walking towards the mansion. The road didn't feature a horde of zombies because the sun was up. Well only a few with helmets on.

After walking for thirty minutes, I reached the gigantic building. I sipped my invisibility potion so I wouldn't be found out by the White Pumpkin and entered the building. The room was filled with portraits. They had the faces of Captain Sparklez, TorqueDawg, Cassie Rose, StampyCat, LDShadowLady, DanTDM, StacyPlays, and finally me, Alpha.

Everyone is facing forward while I am facing away in the picture. I wonder how there is a portrait of me already... Strange. Strange indeed.

*SLAM*

I jumped slightly as the doors boomed open. Cassie Rose walked in with a worried tone. "Winslow! Where are you? Come out, I don't want to be alone again." She glanced around and sighed. "Not here either..." She noticed the new picture above her. "Oh look, a new person is stuck in this world. Hmm... Strange how I can't see their face. Quite mysterious. Hopefully that invitation machine detected her arrival."

I did see an invitation book nearby but there was no need to look into it.

Cassie completely forgot what she was here for and began grinning. "I think that's good enough. I'll prepare the other invitations and finally be free from this stupid dimension!"

Sounds similar to my goals. Heh. Good thing that I don't have to wait anymore.

As the moons of this world began to rise, zombies spawned at in abnormal rate outside. The new guests sat down in the main big room, waiting for the host to welcome them. No one came yet, so they began to chat a few things among themselves.

This new person is taking too long... Maybe I should just start making my move.

Cassie stood up. "This is taking forever. Where is this host at?"

"I don't know. I am already becoming impatient here. Maybe we should just go back," TorqueDawg said.

"But there's a horde of zombies outside," Stacy said with irritation.

"Darn. We are stuck here..."

"I think we should look for the owner of this mansion," Cassie suggested. "They could be dozing off somewhere."

Stampy jumped off his seat. "I agree. Waiting here is making me all queasy. Especially with all the sudden googlies outside."

"Then let's split up in groups in two and try to find the host," she nodded. "That way we can find them faster."

Everyone agreed and split up.

Captain Sparklez and TorqueDawg walked to the kitchen door.

"TorqueDawg, you know I don't care if you took it... Just give it back."

"And I'm telling you for the last time, Sparklez. I didn't take the stupid thing!"

Sparklez opened the door. "I think we could avoid a lot of unpleasantness if-" They noticed someone rummaging through the chest and cooking food in the furnaces.

TorqueDawg shoved Sparklez away. "What the... You make us all sit and wonder what the heck is going on while you're cooking the food... You should've done that before your guests arrived, idiot."

The silver woman glanced behind while eating a cooked beef. "Ouf. Iv yumf guifs."

"I didn't quite get that. Do you mind repeating that without-?"

TorqueDawg interrupted Sparklez. "We've all been waiting for, like, hours. It's rude!"

She swallowed her food. "Sorry but I'm not the owner of this house."

"What?" Torque grunted." Then who are you and what are you doing here? Did you get an invite too?"

"I didn't. I just found this mansion and was getting hungry. So, I sneaked in to 'borrow' some food," she said as she continued to take as much as she could. "Oh. And my name's Alpha."

"Alpha huh? What are you, some kind of thief?" He shook his head. "No. More importantly, do you know where the master of this place is?"

"I don't."

"Nothing here as well I guess... Well Alpha," Sparklez pointed at his new friend, "this is TorqueDawg."

"Sup."

"And I'm Captain Sparklez. Though maybe you already know that."

Alpha finished looting the food storage. "I heard of you but that's about it. Wait for a moment guys, I need to take something out of the fridge." She walked over to the iron trapdoors that resembled a frozen machine and closed her eyes. In an instant, her hands blinked, destroying the painting next to her.

The two men looked at what was behind that painting. There was a glowing sword piercing somebody wearing a white pumpkin, which turned them into dust. The two were shocked. Alpha murdered someone in front of them.

Sparklez backed up. "W... what did you just do?"

"Killed the killer." She picked up her sword and turned to face him. "If I didn't, one of you would've died."

"I don't understand. What are you talking about?"

"Look up."

The two followed her instructions. There was a hidden dispenser located right above their heads.

"What is that doing up there?"

"I would stand away from that if I were you."

They backed up. As she flicked the lever behind the painting, multiple poison arrows spouted from the ceiling and soon after, a small part floor sunk and returned back to normal.

Sparklez shivered. "Whoa... I see what you're saying now."

TorqueDawg stared at the trapped floor. "Pah! So, this whole invitation thing was to get rid of us. How did you figure that out?"

Alpha smirked. "I have my ways."

"Hello? Everything okay in there?" *Click* The door opened as the pink haired girl with a Japanese school outfit walked in. She paused as she saw Alpha. "Who are you?"

TorqueDawg folded his arms. "Some kind of assassin named Alpha."

"Assassin!?"

Sparklez waved his hands. "No no. Don't listen to him. Alpha saved us from a deadly trap."

"Okay..." Lizzie, also known as LDShadowLady, sighed in relief as she studied the silver woman. "Hey. Wait a minute. I recognize you!"

"Do you?" Alpha approached her with the blade still equipped. She placed a hand on Lizzie and whispered, "I recognize you as well Elizabeth."

"H... Huh?"

Alpha let go of her and walked out of the room. "Come to the main room and bring everyone along. I need to tell all of you guys something."

TorqueDawg glanced at Lizzie who seems to be startled. "What did she say to you?"

She shook her head. "It's nothing. Nothing at all. Let's find out what she has to say."

I waited in the room. As everyone gathered around, I stood up from my seat.

"Who are you?" Dan asked.

"Alpha. As for you guys, I already know you. Stampy, Dan, and Stacy."

"How... Are you one of our fans?" Stacy assumed.

"You could say that. But that doesn't matter right now. I have an important question to ask... Do you remember the real world? Real Earth? With actual curves and different angles."

"Real Earth? I..." Lizzie held her forehead. "I... ugh..."

She looks like she's in pain... In fact, everyone around me is getting a headache.

"Do you remember anything at all?"

Stampy fell to his knees. "I... can't... Ah... my home... f... family?"

Everyone was murmuring their own thing while they looked lost. I sighed and slapped them all. "Wake up!"

They snapped back to reality. Sparklez held his head as he was a bit dazed from the experience.

"I think I know what is going on. You can't remember our real world." I rubbed my nose. "But why can I remember..."

"It is strange," Dan said. "I remember having thousands or even more fans, yet... Well, it's no use."

Stacy sighed. "Right... The problem is that we can't recall our distant past. And if we do, our brains begin to fry up."

"Hmm..." I thought for a moment. "So, how are you doing in this world so far. Ever thought of going back home?"

"I'm just happy griefing others in this world so far. I don't feel like leaving this world yet," TorqueDawg said.

"I'm happy living here so far. But honestly," Stampy looked down, "I want to return home one day. I feel like I left someone without warning."

Lizzie nodded, "Me too. I feel the same way as Stampy. I feel like I have a... husband? Ugh... Just hurts thinking about it."

"I feel like I have my own family to take care of. But," Dan shook his fuzzy head, "the problem is that I don't know how to do that."

"Well, I don't recall having anything to big that I must take care of... Must be my memory... but I definitely would like to see the real world again," Stacy said.

Sparklez nodded. "I basically share the same thoughts as Stacy. The only thing is that we have no clue how to escape. I guess that's why we lost hope and dismissed the idea. Plus, I don't want to get a headache thinking about it."

I observed them. So that's what they think. I wonder if Jesse has this thing too... Anyways I have a good idea.

I smirked. "I have a plan. A way to escape. How about we join forces?"

"A plan?" Dan was interested. "What kind?"

"It's simple. We gain the attention of an Admin and obtain the same powers as him, or at least something close."

Sparklez was shocked. "Admin? Is there someone like that?"

I nodded. "Yeah. But it might take a while before we meet him."

"I'm a patient person," Lizzie said. "Anything to meet the one I love again."

"Anything? Even if it involves causing pain and suffering to many others including yourself? Because this is no easy path."

Stampy's eyes widened. "What?! I won't join you!"

"I'm not forcing you, but," I stared deep into their eyes, "do make your choice wisely. This might be your only opportunity to leave this world and see your loved ones."

TorqueDawg turned away. "Feh... I don't remember anything important in our real world. You guys have fun. I don't care."

I shrugged. "I guess that's your choice, Torque. Anyone else?"

Sparklez raised hands. "I... I will join. I don't want to stay here. I'd rather go live in something more real than this blocky world.

Lizzie agreed next. "It feels lonely without him by my side... So, I'll do it. I'll believe in your plan."

"Clingy much?" I snickered.

"N- I just missed him, that's all!"

"Right right..." I looked at the others who haven't decided. "What about you?"

Dan hesitated a bit before nodding. "Why not. I'm not sure what sort of pain you're talking about, but I'll go with you for now."

Stacy panicked as more of her friends joined my team. "Um... I'll go too! Maybe your plan isn't as bad as it sounds."

Stampy was last. He nervously walked back and forth murmuring his dilemma to himself. "I'm not that crazy enough to become some kind of bad guy. But it's your chance to go back home. But at the same time... Oh I'm panicking... Oh I wish..."

I sighed. "Stampy!"

"Huh?! What is it?"

"How about this. You can join me and see for yourself if you want to stay. If you don't like it, you can leave my group and skip the opportunity."

"I..." Stampy hesitated. "I... Oh fine. I'll join your group for now. But I'm leaving as soon as you do something funny."

"By the way, do you guys know where Cassie went?" Lizzie asked. "She disappeared as we began searching the house."

"Is she the one with red hair?" I asked.

"Yes. Wait, you know where she is?"

I looked down in sorrow. "I found her trying to escape the zombies outside as I was making my way in the mansion. But as soon as I found her being attacked by the massive zombie horde, it was too late."

Everyone was stunned. "W... What..."

"Yeah... Even if I used my powers, I wouldn't even reach her in time."

"Your powers?" Stacy wondered.

"Watch." I closed my eyes. My whole body once again went into chaos. The feeling was unnerving.

I feel like if I use this ability too much at once, my body will break completely. It has some kind of cooldown that I would have to control. But using it a few times right now should not be a problem.

I opened my eyes and instantly weaved behind her with my blade touching her back. Time resumed to normal. "Don't move if you don't want to be cut..."

Stacy froze. "Wha-"

"I'm joking. I won't cut my new teammates. I just wanted to explain how my powers work."

"You didn't really explain it properly, but I assume it comes from your strange looking sword," Sparklez guessed.

I grinned, "Bingo."

TorqueDawg looked at my pulsating blade with interest. "Where did you get that?"

"It's a secret."

"Of course," he grunted.

"So, what's the plan, Alpha?" Stampy asked.

"Let's wait till morning. Then we can prepare and leave to a different dimension."

Dan curiously looked at her. "How? No one has the portal key."

"Ask Stampy. He stole it from you."

Dan suspiciously glanced at his orange friend. "Is that true?"

Stampy revealed a green enchanted flint and steel. "H... How did you know?"

I smirked like an idiot, "Would you believe me if I said I know a bit of the future?"

"I find that hard to believe," he huffed.

"Ha. Well, that's all you're getting from me, Stampy."

The zombies began burning under the warm sunny morning. They all opened the front exit. Lizzie stretched her hands. "Finally. I get to breathe fresh air after being stuck in that empty mansion."

"Well not exactly fresh. I can still smell the rotten corpses from here," Stacy complained.

"So, when you guys are done getting your gear at your base, come back here. I'll wait for you guys over there," I pointed at the golden portal. "You can take your time."

Everyone nodded and headed out.

Only me and TorqueDawg remained. He turned to me. "I didn't join you guys, but I hope you achieve what you're looking for. I'm going back home."

I pulled my sword out as he walked away. "You were destined to die in that room. Should at least thank me."

He didn't look back as he waved. "Sure. Anyways goodbye."

As he left, I looked at my pulsating blade. I shouldn't just... I flicked my sword harshly and placed it in my inventory. No. Focus. Just focus and concentrate on what's next. Next stop will be the redstone portal. And this time I have a team to help me in this next mission. We'll get that redstone heart in no time.