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Chapter 58: Final Warning

You ever had one of those moments where, looking back, you were convinced that something was a wonderful idea that would work perfectly, right up until you actually attempted it and realized how bad an idea it actually is?

That's how I felt as I drew my bow and stared up at the horde of phantoms that were circling above our heads, with us suspended several hundreds of blocks in the air on a relatively small platform.

Paige swore loudly, her face pale. "P-phantoms! I-I forgot about these!"

"W-what the hell are phantoms?!" Andr shouted, looking startled.

"Absolute menaces," I groaned, trying to keep my aim steady at the awkward angle. "These flying bastards are probably the worst thing I've ever seen before in my travels."

"They're just flying pests…" Blake whispered, her eyes alight with alarm. "They swoop down from the sky, targeting people who linger in the darkness. They're a huge problem in the city since it's hard to always keep them at bay when they decide to attack."

Paige swore again as she drew her own bow. "They generally never bother people they can't see, but they're usually found around areas with people that aren't of sound mind, like those who…"

Paige suddenly realized what she was saying, and glanced at me. "Like those who can't sleep…"

My own eyes widened as the group suddenly stared at me. "W-wait, you're telling me these flying rats are here because I'm suddenly unable to sleep properly? What kind of shit luck is that about?!"

Susie, despite warily watching the descending horde above us, tried to regain control. "Cameron, now's not the time to worry about that. Just start shooting them!"

Me and Paige nodded and readied our bows, but the phantom's were flying much too erratically for me to get a clear line of fire, not to mention I was still sorely lacking energy to begin with.

The phantom horde soared lower and lower, and were now only ten blocks above us and appearing increasingly aggressive by the noises they were making; the sound of a large group of people all hissing and sighing in ghostly tandem as they sized everyone in the flying machine up. Luka screamed as they approached, trying her best to bury her face into Susie's stomach.

Me and Paige aimed a few pop-shots at the phantom's when we could, but it didn't appear to do much other than aggravate the already aggressive creatures. One of them suddenly made a loud rasping noise as it dived down, staring straight at me.

Despite the constricted space of the boat, I nevertheless still whipped my sword out and swatted the hostile creature away. Before I could attempt to think of a sassy remark, however, another one suddenly swooped in from behind.

One of the ghostly creatures had bitten me right on the arm before I could even react. I shouted in pain, but the creature didn't let go, instead only biting down harder as I flailed the arm around trying to swat it away.

Meanwhile, the others were all dealing with their own pests. Susie and Luka were doing their best to stay low and dodge any attacks that came their way, while Blake did her best to defend Zach using a few knives. Andr, with her decent reach, was managing to keep most of the phantoms away, but it was clear she would need assistance before she was overwhelmed.

Worse still, the problem was only growing. What had started as a group of four phantoms had suddenly evolved into a large horde of nearly a dozen, with more phantoms suddenly appearing to join in diving at us. Without the space to maneuver around and properly fight these things, we were fighting an uphill battle.

Diana was on the floor of her boat, trying as hard as she could to stay away from the creatures. I yelled to her to grab her bow and start shooting, to which she responded, "I-I can't! W-we're too high, I-I don't wanna look down!"

I swore and swatted at two more phantoms, trying my best to ignore the throbbing in my arm where the first phantom had bitten me.

However, suddenly, a little pain in my arm became the last thing on my mind.

I glanced over at Paige, who had been (relatively) calmly shooting arrow after arrow into the phantoms, attempting to shoot out their wings, and she seemed to be doing a great job of maintaining control…

Right up until I saw one of the creatures barreling towards her back, with reckless speed.

I barely had time to shout before, with a firm jolt, Paige was hit squarely in the back. She was knocked forward, hitting the boat I was in with her face. Hard.

Knocked out cold, she didn't have any chance to save herself before she slipped off the flying machine.

My heart stopped, and without thinking about anything else, I instantly leapt after her.

The wind was screaming in my ears, my breath was being torn from my lungs, and the voices of my friends were rapidly disappearing behind me as they watched me fall, but I didn't care. All I could see was my sister's unconscious body, free-falling through the sky.

I managed to catch up to her right as she began to regain consciousness. I grabbed her and held her tightly against me as we kept falling, faster and faster…

"A-Aira! I-I need wind!" I shouted, trying to focus.

"T… Trying! J-just focus…!" Aira shouted back in my mind, her voice straining.

"Br… brother…?" Paige whispered, confused.

"Grrr…" I growled, trying to focus on slowing our fall…

We were now seventy blocks in the sky, and falling fast towards the city. The buildings were beginning to overtake us as we kept falling down…

Suddenly, right as I realized I wasn't going to be able to stop our fall…

I noticed a small patch of blue not far in front of us.

Water.

It was a long shot, but at that point long shots were what I had.

As Paige began fully registering things again, and as she suddenly began to realize we were falling very, very fast, I held her tightly to me as I angled forward to fall towards the patch of water directly in front of us…

We were fifty blocks up. Thirty. Twenty.

Paige finally was registering what was going on, and began screaming in terror.

Fifteen. Ten.

I ignored everything and prayed as I braced for impact…

*SPLASH!*

With a loud splashdown, we managed to just barely land in the water.

Paige's screaming was instantly cut off as bubbles and water surrounded us.

Luckily for us, the water we had landed in was just deep enough for us to fall into it at speed and get enough cushioning to gently hit the dirt at the bottom.

As soon as I realized we were still alive, I kicked up and dragged the two of us to the surface.

Both me and my sister gasped as we broke the surface of the water, before we rapidly paddled back to the shore.

Paige was panicking. "W-what just happened?! I-I was just shooting at phantoms, a-and then we were falling, and then-!"

I ignored her and looked up. Hundreds of blocks above us, barely more than a little dot in the sky, the flying machine was still there, and phantoms were still flying around it.

I was about to abandon everything and try again to fly up there, with newfound energy surging through my tired veins…

… wait.

I… why did I feel so… energized…?

Confused, I looked back where I was.

We… we were at the water's edge, in a grassy area in the city.

The pond I had run off to earlier that week. Where Quinn had knocked me out.

The water had revitalized me. No longer did I feel like I had barely had any sleep. Suddenly, it felt like I had just taken a twenty hour nap, and I felt fantastic again.

And then, in an instant, I remembered.

My memories came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Of a potential escape route I had attempted to find.

The pond itself.

"I-I remember!" I shouted, looking to Paige, who still seemed quite panicked.

She looked up at me, startled. "R-remembered what?"

"Why I came to this lake! I-I remember now! I-I… I gotta get the others here, quick!" I shouted.

Without waiting for an answer, I tore off, and within moments…

"I… I feel awake again! L-let's go, Cameron!" Aira shouted in my mind.

And suddenly, my feet left the ground, and I was rocketing up into the sky, Paige left to gape in surprise and confusion at my rapidly shrinking form.

I flew higher and higher, quickly getting to the flying machine. As I got closer, I could hear the chaos of my friends fighting the phantoms, and it only spurred me on faster to fly higher and higher…

Soon enough, I was close enough to see what was happening… and it wasn't pretty.

Diana, amazingly enough, actually had dropped her blindfold, and was carefully shooting at the phantoms as best she could. Though, even from here, I could tell she was keeping her gaze firmly locked where it was, and she was shaking quite badly, affecting her aim. Andr was still swinging her fists at the phantoms, but she looked exhausted, and the phantoms didn't show any signs of giving up yet. Susie and Luka were still sitting there, with Susie trying her best to swat at the flying rats with a boat's oar to keep them away. As for Blake and Zach, Blake was flat on the boat, holding a gray Zach to the ground to keep them both safe as possible, with Blake nursing a nasty bump to her head (likely from a phantom slamming into her rather than trying to bite)

The phantoms were battered, but they still were refusing to give up their assault, and I figured it wouldn't be long until more showed up, prolonging the battle.

However, I was done with playing around. "HEY. PHANTOM BASTARDS."

Everyone, including the phantoms, looked over at me holding out my sword at the ready, looking murderously calm while casually flying in the air.

My friends looked surprised for a moment before realizing what was going on, while Blake and Luka looked flabbergasted at me being suspended in the air. The phantoms, on the other hand, attracted by my shout, abandoned my friends and started diving straight for me, all in one big group of twelve.

They didn't stand half a chance. They dived and bit and dashed and flapped and Notch knows what else, but I didn't let them land a single hit on me. Meanwhile, with total freedom of movement again, I whirled around the horde like a tornado, stabbing and slashing and cutting new holes into the wings everywhere I could.

It didn't take long for the phantoms to realize I was way out of their league and they began to flee, but they didn't get too far before I had already closed the distance and slashed them good and proper. Before long, the lifeless bodies of the monsters were falling down into the city below, their bodies slowly disappearing.

Once I was satisfied that the phantoms were truly gone, and were reduced to little more than small bits falling to the ground, I looked back towards the flying machine and, carefully, landed amid cheers (some more confused than others) from my friends.

"That was amazing, Cameron!" Susie praised.

"You showed those things who's king of the sky!" Andr agreed.

"That was so cool, mister!" Luka shouted, looking amazed and filled with wonder.

"Wha… what on earth was that?! When have you been able to fly?!" Blake yelled, looking thoroughly lost.

"Eh… long story." I replied, rubbing the back of my neck. "Let's just say I've been able to for a while, but it's… well, finicky would be putting it mildly."

"I-I'll say…" Diana whispered, her blindfold re-secured over her eyes now that the danger was past.

"W-wait! What about Paige, is she-!" Susie started to ask.

"She's fine, she's at the pond I went to." I responded. "Speaking off, we gotta go. There's likely more phantoms that will show up before long, so we wanna be somewhere safe before then."

"Uh huh. And, uh, how exactly do you plan for us to do that when our flying machine expert is on the ground, and we're stuck hundreds of blocks in the air?" Blake retorted.

I hadn't thought that far ahead. I briefly thought about maybe trying to glide our way down now that I was much more in control of my elemental powers, but with such a large group, it would be risky. And I didn't want to consider what would happen trying to take a few people in short trips, since we'd be wasting too much time.

And then I remembered.

"That's easy. It'll be a little awkward, but…" I explained, quickly reaching into my bag and producing the small pack of ender pearls Andr had given me for my birthday.

"A-ah! That's perfect, actually! I could probably also try teleporting some of us down, if you want?" Andr replied.

"We're a little too high for that. It would just be safer to use these and ensure we all get down safely." I decided.

The group of us nodded, and we quickly devised a plan. Andr and Diana would use one, holding onto each other, Blake and Zach would use another, and Susie and Luka would use the last. I, meanwhile, would try to fly after the pearls and guide them so that they would land somewhere safe and not, say, on the other side of the city.

I had just given over the pearls to each group and was about to get ready to start flying, when suddenly a wide eyed Luka suddenly tore away from Susie and shouted, "Wait! I wanna fly too! Can I go too?! Please?!"

Startled, I started saying that that was a very very dangerous idea and Quinn would never approve, but Luka continued to beg, and after a harried conversation with Susie, I eventually realized it would take too long to convince her not to, and just started grabbing some of the rope I still had left over from the bracelet.

Susie seemed worried, but I assured her that I would be extra careful. She gave back the pearl she had since she would be grouping with Andr and Diana, and begged me to protect Luka first over the pearls.

"I actually would prefer if he focused on both, not gonna lie…" Diana mumbled, but was quickly shushed by Andr.

Before long, I was carrying Luka in a piggy back carry, with her securely tied to my torso. I reminded everyone to throw the pearls towards the lake, and said I'd see them at the surface.

And then, pausing for only a moment for a deep breath, I jumped.

The wind was once again screaming in my ears, only this time everything was far more controlled and I felt far safer than before. Luka, having been eagerly awaiting the drop, was cheering and screaming in utter glee as we free fell from hundreds of blocks up.

The pearls were thrown right behind us, and after slowing down just enough to let them pass, I rocketed after them, adjusting the wind ever so slightly as we all fell to change the pearls trajectory towards the patch of land near the lake.

In what felt like almost no time, I slowed down just as we were a few dozen blocks over the surface as the pearls finally reached the ground, and the silhouettes of my friends suddenly all appeared in the ground almost instantly.

Paige immediately realized we were back on the ground, and began checking on the others, looking up just in time to see me and Luka slowly floating down and safely touching down. I looked over at my friends, and they all looked perfectly fine, aside from some slight dizzy spells. Diana in particular looked extremely happy to be back on solid ground, almost completely flat to the ground and whispering something that sounded like a prayer in relief that she was finally off that damn flying machine.

Luka was especially happy with how everything had gone, still excitedly talking about how cool it had been being so high off the ground and all that. The moment she was released from the makeshift harness she immediately charged over to Susie and began excitedly talking to her about the entire experience.

Paige finally managed to reach me, her entire body shaking and her face extremely pale. "Good Notch above, I was so confused and worried when I realized everyone was still up there, and then they just all appeared here all at once, I almost thought they fell off…"

"Hey, it's okay. We're okay, no one's hurt…" I started to comfort.

That was the last thing I remember saying before, quite suddenly, I was grabbed by the arm and, somehow, thrown over Paige's shoulder, landing hard on my back as she roughly leaned her knee into my chest, looking murderous.

"Cameron, you fucking lunatic, what the hell were you thinking?! Since when could you fly, and why on earth would you just leave me alone like that?! Do you even realize how worried and confused I was?!"

I choked a little, before managing to roll out from under my sister and hold my hands up in surrender. "O-okay! Okay! There was a lot happening, and there's a lot I need to explain, I know, but right now, we have slightly more pressing matters to attend to! You can kill me all you like once we're back at our house, okay?!"

Paige still looked like she wanted to skin me, but she took a deep breath and relented, letting out a dry sniffle. "You made me so worried…"

"I know, I'm sorry. But listen, I can get us all out of here. No tricks, no strings attached, and we'll even get to go to bed before sunrise. It's just going to be… a bit of a bumpy ride." I explained, looking back towards the pond.

It looked just the same as it did when I first came here, maybe a little more disturbed from having me and my sister crash into it earlier at high speed. And yet, I remembered exactly why I came here the first time, and what I had to do.

"Just… please, no one panic when it happens, okay?" I warned, as I took a deep breath.

The others slowly nodded, with some taking a step back. Susie, on the other hand, stepped forward. "Are… are you going to do the thing I think you're doing…?"

I nodded. "We're going home tonight. I promised you that."

Susie looked concerned, but she must've seen the newfound confidence in my eyes. She nodded, and backed up with the others.

I closed my eyes, took a deep breath… and started thinking with all my might about the lake at home. The scenery. The landscape. The fun me and Susie had had when I first taught her how to swim. More than anything, how much I wanted to be there, so we could be home and safe.

I could feel the wave of calm washing over me. A few gasps and startled noises came from my group of friends, but I didn't stop.

The familiar energy started building. Water from the lake started building in my hands, growing bigger by the moment, until the energy was about to burst…

And I shot it straight into the lake.

A second later, and the surface of the lake suddenly opened up to reveal a wild vortex of water. Our ticket to escape.

I stumbled a bit, but I caught myself before I could collapse. I took a deep breath, shook my head, and stood upright again.

Paige looked utterly flabbergasted. "W-what… what on earth is that?!"

"I-it's our ticket out of this city." I explained. "I've used this before, and it worked very well. Susie can attest to that."

Susie seemed a bit muted. "W-well, that's a bit of a strong word… it worked, but it wasn't the easiest thing to be a part of…"

I shushed her. "Point is, it's the most direct way we can use to get us out of this city. Let's get moving before we're seen."

Susie was the first to act, as she had already done it before, and she carefully took Luka's hand. Luka, by contrast, looked extremely excited, and looked like she was about to bolt for the portal.

Susie and Luka quickly jumped in, disappearing in a flash and a slight gurgle of water. Seeing those two disappear, Diana, with a bit of apprehension, followed after, alongside Andr. Blake hesitated quite a bit, but eventually grabbed Zach and, carefully, pulled both of them in, disappearing into the swirling waves.

That left me and Paige. I held my hand out to my sister. "C'mon, once I jump in it's gonna close behind us."

Paige looked very, very concerned, but she looked up towards my eyes, took a long, deep breath, and finally took my hand. She seemed to be trying very hard to not panic. "I… you have a lot of explaining you need to do, mister…"

"I will. I promise. I promised Susie I would, and I promise you I will." I agreed, mentally trying to not panic about needing to explain everything to her and the others once we reached the other side.

Together, we stood at the edge of the vortex, made sure we had everything and no one had left anything behind…

And we jumped in.

After a wild ride being tossed this way and that by the rolling waves, and being squeezed almost to death by a very terrified Paige, we finally were spat back out on the ground.

I quickly got to my feet and looked around. I was so excited to be back home and away from the city, that for a moment, I didn't even notice anything off about the lake.

And then…

"W-wait… what?" I stammered, looking around, confused. This… this was not the lake we were supposed to go to.

We were in a very dark, very isolated roofed forest. The trees around us were thick, gnarled, and a strange pale white I had never seen before, and the entire area was quiet. We were in a large area containing the lake we just popped out of and what appeared to be a set of ruins of some kind, with collapsed stone pillars and the remains of glass windows.

Paige slowly managed to stand up. "This… this is the lake near your house?"

"No. No this is not." I remarked, suddenly quite alarmed.

In my mind, I quickly started asking, 'Uhhh, Vivianna? What the hell happened?'

"I-I don't know. There was no way you could have chosen the wrong lake, you did the spell properly. It… it's like we got re-routed to a completely different lake, but that should be impossible…" Vivianna responded, sounding just as alarmed.

"S-Susie?! Andr?! Diana?! Are you guys here?!" I called out, trying to locate my friends. They had gone in first, so surely they would've shown up here first too, right…?

Suddenly, Paige put a hand on my chest. "Someone's here."

I felt myself pale, and looked where Paige was pointing. Standing next to one of the pillars, almost completely hidden in shadow, was a figure. It was much too dark to make out anything else, however, but it was almost certainly a person.

"Who's there?" Paige called out, shouting towards the figure. "We can see you there!"

The figure stirred very slowly, as though only just now becoming aware of our presence. It stood up straight, and began walking forward towards us.

Paige, rather smartly, had already drawn her bow and had an arrow ready. I followed suit with my sword. This was unfamiliar territory, and we didn't have a clue what was going on.

Slowly, the figure stopped, just at the edge of where the moonlight would make it more visible. For a moment, me and Paige stared at the figure, and although we couldn't see it's face (if indeed it had one), I got the distinct impression it could see us just fine.

And then, suddenly-

"Well, well, well… you managed to escape, Cameron."

That voice…

All the color drained from my face, my knees turned to jelly, and my sword became heavy in my hands. "Y-you-!"

"Indeed…" the cold voice of Herobrine agreed, taking one last step forward.

Herobrine was cloaked, so we couldn't see much of him, but we could very easily see his white, shining eyes. They were bright even in the darkness of his hooded cloak, yet they held no cheer or joy.

Paige instantly grew a lot more guarded, pulling her bow back all the way and taking aim. "Hold! Not another step or this arrow goes through your eyes!"

"Oh, no need for that. I'm not here to cause trouble… yet." Herobrine responded, sounding quite calm and collected. "I just couldn't resist pulling the two of you here for a… chat, if you will."

Despite my heart being filled with fear, and my own worries starting to take over my mind, hearing Paige shout a warning to Herobrine snapped me back to my senses, and I became a little braver. I pulled my sword back up and held it out protectively in front of both me and my sister. "What do you want? I've done nothing to you-"

"Incorrect." Herobrine boomed, taking another step forward towards us. "Your continued existence is exactly the problem, boy. I warned you once before that crossing paths with me was a bad idea. Unfortunately for you, our paths are fated to cross no matter what."

Paige glanced back at me. "You know this guy?"

"Not really… but he's dangerous. I know that much." I whispered back, moving forward to be more in front of my sister, to keep her safe.

A strange sound cracked over the area. It sounded like one of the trees themselves had moved and was watched our conversation. I didn't dare look away, however, as that would've made me an easy target for the monster before me.

For a moment, no one said anything. Then, Herobrine glanced to the side. "Tell me. Do you know what this building once was?"

Me and Paige were silent. Herobrine accepted that and continued, "Well, it's a very important place to me, you understand. I watched my best friend in the whole world get married in this place. It used to be a church, if you can believe it. One of the oldest and most respected churches in the world."

Herobrine gazed towards the broken stained glass. Even though he wasn't facing us anymore, I got the impression he was gazing at it with something akin to contempt. He spoke again, "The power of time is a very strong force. With enough time, even something as blessed and ancient as this place eventually falls into ruin. Becomes abandoned. Forgotten. Erased from history."

"Thanks for the history lesson." Paige sarcastically remarked, still with her bow taunt. "You wanna explain what exactly you want with us? Because we have places we need to be."

I heard more noises. Creaking and shuffling all around us, and unless I was hallucinating, I could swear I saw a shimmer of something orange amid the whites and grays of this darkened forest.

"I wouldn't worry, as you both haven't left your silly little portal. I just thought it might be a good idea to warn Cameron… that it would be a lot easier for him to give up the things that that old fool gave him. It would save both him and I a lot of pain further down the line.

With a jolt, I realized he was talking about Reginald, and the various documents he had given me. Instinctively, I reached for the pocket in my bag that they were still neatly tucked into.

"Yes, I'm no fool, boy." Herobrine warned. "I know exactly how that fool managed to worm his way out of our little deal. A cowardly move, but still admirable, in a way. However… you should know that if you follow his words, then your death is all but certain. You can either ignore the calling, live the rest of your pathetic life in denial, and I will step away until your eventual passing… or you can answer, and be doomed to suffer for the rest of your mortal life. It's your choice. I'm just here to make sure that you're aware of your options."

I… I didn't really have a response. Perhaps I didn't need one, as once Herobrine finished talking, I suddenly felt like the floor was falling underneath me. Paige shouted in alarm, and Herobrine gave us a wave as we fell through the grass and dirt, falling back into the watery vortex.

And just like that, we were gone once more…

Another moment later, and suddenly, I opened my eyes.

I shot straight up, disoriented and confused at what had just happened.

Susie was near me, and she appeared relieved when I moved. "Oh thank Notch, you're up! You and Paige came out of the portal, both of you passed out, I thought something went wrong…"

I glanced over. Paige was shaking her head. She looked over at me.

In a moment, we shared a look. I had hoped for half a second that that vision I had seen was little more than a wild fever dream, but both Paige and I could tell just from a look that we had both seen it.

"Y-yeah… I-I think I just tried a little too hard with the magic…" I lied, promising myself to add this to the pile of things to explain later.

Susie looked relieved, and quickly helped both of us stand up.

It only took me a moment to recognize the area as being our correct destination. It was still pretty dark, but light was gently beginning to peak out over the horizon. It would be a brand new day soon enough.

"We've already made sure there's no mobs in the area." Susie quickly explained. "Blake was especially eager to go run out and intimidate any mobs in the area, so we should have plenty of space to get Zach taken care of and returned to normal before we should get home."

I nodded, looking around at the group. Luka was sitting alongside Diana and Andr, looking quite excited and still blabbing about how fun the water tunnel slide was (with mixed receptions from the other two), while Blake was still with Zach, who was still very gray but had color down by his shins. He had plenty of time left.

"Right… first things first, Zach needs our attention." I intoned, moving to Blake's side. "Blake, are you ready to help?"

Blake nodded. "Whatever you need, I'm ready."

The process of making the remedy for Living Death was complex, far more complex than even Susie remembered it having been. It required no less than twenty different herbs, some of which we were only able to find thanks to Vivianna being able to help me pluck them from seemingly ordinary places. All water we used had to have come from the lake. Preferably, according to Vivianna, she would've wanted me to conjure a water cauldron just to be absolutely sure it wouldn't be contaminated, but she figured that it was a calculated risk we could take, since Zach still wasn't in critical condition yet, and we didn't want to risk using so much magic after everything that had already gone wrong so far.

Finally, after a long time, and Blake gladly handing over some of her jet-black hair, I scooped up the pink potion into a small bottle and handed it to Blake. "Here. This should work. Make sure he drinks all of it."

Blake nodded, nervous, but quickly moving back to Zach, who had turned slightly grayer but was still amazingly on his feet.

She carefully took the bottle and tipped it down his mouth, trying very hard to not let any of the precious potion drip out of his mouth. Soon enough, it was all gone.

For a moment, nothing happened, but thankfully, just as Blake was starting to grow concerned, Zach's form started shining with a soft, pure light.

Within moments, the light faded, leaving Zach still standing, his proper colors back on his body. It took another moment, but slowly his eyes fluttered open.

"H-huh…? W-what… what time is it…?" Zach asked, confused and utterly lost.

That was all he could get out before Blake practically tackled him to the ground, utterly relieved Zach was better. Zach, understandably, was thoroughly lost, but accepted the hug and did his best to calm his friend down.

For a while, it looked like everything was finally calming down. We were home, away from the city. Zach was back, albeit a bit out of touch with everything that had been going on. We were all safe. Finally.

…

"Oh… and one last thing, Cameron…"

Ice cascaded down into my stomach as I heard words right in my ear. I froze in place as time around me stopped.

Herobrine leaned into my peripherals. I had no idea where he even came from, but somehow, it was like he hadn't even paused from our conversation in that weird ruins area.

"I'm giving you one last chance to avoid an early death." he quietly remarked, glaring deep into my eyes. "And just to let you know that I'm serious…"

He walked forward, towards the still figures of Blake and Zach, frozen in time. "Should you dare cross me one more time…"

With one swift motion, Herobrine tossed something into the air, before suddenly vanishing in a puff of smoke. Time suddenly began to move again.

I barely had time to even register what just happened when, all of a sudden…

*FSSSHHHHHHH!*

A giant piece of primed TNT landed right before the feet of both Zach and Blake.

For what felt like an eternity, no one moved.

I acted first. My muscles unfroze, and I tried to shout for them to move.

Zach moved quickly, managing to leap into Blake and tackling both to the ground.

Unconsciously, I starting moving.

And in that moment…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!*

A few hundred blocks away, in the house, the distant sound of an explosion was enough to stir a sleeping Snowy awake.

Startled, she bolted upright in bed. Something had happened.

Quickly, she leaped from her bed, threw on a shirt and some shorts, and dashed out of her room.

She bumped into Silk, who seemed to have woken up earlier to grab an early morning snack. She had also heard the noise, and without saying a word, the two of them dashed out into the dark night.

The noise had come from the nearby lake, and the two rushed there as quickly as they could.

When they crested the last small hill, the scene that was before them was so bizarre, they could only stare for a moment.

Before them were all of their friends, with Susie, Andr, and Diana all sitting up, having looked like they were blasted back a fair few feet quite suddenly. Cowering in Susie's arms was a stranger, a young girl from the looks of things. A girl that Snowy recognized as Paige was also nearby, though she still appeared dazed.

The three that were upright were staring towards a large crater in the ground, the sulfurous smell of which instantly triggered Snowy's senses. It wasn't a creeper, it was a full-blown package of TNT.

At the center of the crater, three figures were present. A dazed, burnt and bleeding Zach and Blake, and…

Snowy's heart nearly stopped. C… Cameron, he…

His leg was worse than broken.

The entirety of his right leg was scorched, bleeding, and bent at an unnatural angle. His clothes from the stomach down were blasted full of holes

Snowy almost instantly charged down, and was at her master's side in mere milliseconds. Despite that, she knew almost instantly that touching Cameron would almost certainly cause further problems. Still, she was almost unable to look away from Cameron's bent leg, despite how painful it looked.

"W-what… what…?" Snowy stammered.

Suddenly, Cameron stirred, and suddenly let out a strangled cry of pain.

Susie suddenly appeared nearby, shakily pulling out a potion. "C-Cameron, w-why did you try to kick that?!"

Cameron barely managed to drink the potion, which seemed to be a form of pain-reliever. "I… I had to… get it away… from them…"

"Consider this my final warning, Cameron."

Suddenly, a booming voice, coming from everywhere and nowhere, completely made everything quiet. Everyone suddenly looked up, startled.

The hooded form of Herobrine stood above the group, looking down at everyone from the trees. "Should you dare stand before me again, and try to become something you aren't, a broken leg will be a mercy compared to the agony I can and will give to you. This is your last warning."

Herobrine turned away, with his cloak covering his form…

And then he was gone. It was like his cloak turned him into nothing but a shadow, fading in the slowly rising light in the distance.

For what felt like an eternity, the silence deafened the entire world. No one could say anything.

Then, Cameron coughed, but he looked less like he was in pain…

No, instead, it looked like he was… angry.

"Bastard… you tried… to kill… I will… I will…"

That was all he could say, before his injuries caused him to pass out.

…

…

…

"So… Cameron. How are you feeling…?"

"Better. I know you're good, Susie, but still, I don't understand how you managed to patch me up so quickly."

"Well, don't call me so good just yet. You're still going to need to stay off the leg for at least a few days. Just because it wasn't as badly broken as it looked, doesn't mean it didn't break."

"I know, I know. I wasn't planning on doing anything that intense."

Me and my friends were all back in the living room. Susie was dutifully checking the brace she had put together to help keep my leg supported. Snowy was nearby, doing her best to keep me company after the horrible mess that had happened, while all the others were spread out, either leaning against the wall or sitting at the dining table or counter. Apparently, after I passed out, it spurred the others to finally get back into action, and soon enough both me, Zach, and Blake were taken to each receive care. Luckily, I had it the worst, since I had the incredible idea to kick the TNT towards the lake. I only had the thought of getting that thing as far away from anyone as possible. It hadn't occurred to me that bringing my leg close to a fuming explosive was, you know. A bad idea.

I leaned back in my chair, wincing slightly as Susie ensured the brace was as tight as possible. "Well, that should hold, but I'll need to keep an eye on it for a few days," she remarked, standing up and closing the med-kit she had open.

I nodded. "Sorry I keep needing you to patch me up."

Susie shook her head. "Don't. I love doing this, so I don't mind. Besides, I've learned so much about healing humans from you."

I didn't know how to feel about that statement, so I shook it off and leaned back into my armchair, adjusting my leg on the stool my leg was propped on.

Susie set her med kit on the table, and then turned back to me. It looked like she was about to say something.

I knew exactly what it was.

'Later. Not… not now. Can it wait just… a little longer?' I asked silently.

Susie pursed her lips, but nodded. She knew I wasn't in the best state to be talking.

Zach and Blake were both upstairs, and Susie quickly headed that way to check that they were okay. They received some pretty nasty damage, but otherwise it wasn't nearly as harmful as my broken leg had been.

The air of the house felt tense. A lot of my friends were quietly talking in small groups. Silk and Diana were with Paige, who was leaning against the wall nearby not saying much. Meanwhile Andr was quietly whispering to Snowy, sitting on a cushion on the floor nearby so they could talk without needing Snowy to leave my side.

Both Snowy and Silk seemed extremely surprised by the turn of events that had happened over in Blockington, and they seemed equally upset that they hadn't been there to help when we could've used them. We assured them that it wasn't their fault in the slightest and honestly, we had more than enough trouble just with the group we had anyway.

Despite all of this, everything that had been going on... I could still feel eyes on me. Every now and then, I could feel one of my friends glance over at me, as if they wanted to ask me what the hell was going on. I couldn't help but feel uncomfortable as so many eyes and whispers echoed around me, just like that pale woods me and Paige had been in...

Suddenly, a knock on the door came, bringing all of the quiet conversations to a quick halt. The mood very quickly relaxed though, when we heard Quinn's voice. "Is… is this the right place…?"

Andr was quick, and reached the door first, allowing Quinn inside. "Huh… this place is much more… homey than I was expecting."

Luka, who heard her adoptive father enter, charged in from the bedroom where she had been quietly resting after the chaos, and immediately grabbed Quinn's leg.

"Easy Luka! I'm okay, it's okay…" Quinn immediately started saying, almost immediately noticing how Luka seemed a bit upset.

"It… so much… I was so scared… the… explosion…" Luka blubbered, unable to form a coherent thought. She continued to cling to Quinn's leg even after being told by Quinn and us that she was okay, and the danger was over.

Susie came down eventually, and realized Quinn had arrived without her knowing. "Oh! Mr. Quinn, I didn't expect to see you so quickly after yesterday…"

"I wanted to get here as quickly as possible. I just… had some kind of gut feeling. Luckily, it looks like you all got out okay…" Quinn replied, before suddenly noticing me with my propped leg. "Well, more or less, I guess."

"Don't ask… long story." I replied, and Quinn seemed more than happy to accept that explanation.

Quinn and Luka both stayed for only a while longer, but eventually Quinn was able to convince Luka that they needed to go traveling for a little while. Luka didn't seem like she wanted to leave our house, especially since she had bonded quite well with Susie over the last few hours.

Eventually, however, the pair of them left, and Quinn made a promise to me that this would not be forgotten, and that if we ended up meeting again sometime in the future, he would be in my debt. I tried to explain that we already were even considering the whole 'not turning me in' thing when he initially found me, but he was convinced I had done far more for him than he had for me.

Once they were gone, I tried once more to relax into my armchair. I had to believe that things were alright now, now that we were all out of Blockington, and everyone was (more or less) alright. Quinn and Luka were saved, Zach and Blake were receiving care upstairs, Paige was safe…

…

And yet…

"Master…?" Snowy whispered, looking at me. "You… you're making a face."

"Am I…?" I quietly asked, trying to buck up my courage.

"Do… do you need to do something?" the small wolf asked.

I glanced over at her. A part of me wanted to bluff. I still wanted to keep everything hidden. I didn't want to suddenly dump a whole bunch of information about what Reginald had told me, about why Zach and Blake had suddenly been attacked and the reason we were locked up in Blockington in the first place. It all was connected, and quite frankly, I was tempted to just ignore it all was happening.

But then I thought about Paige, the fear I had seen in her eyes that night so long ago and how she wanted to leave. I thought about the first time I saw Zach's gray eyes when he was under the Living Death curse, and how worried Blake had been for his safety. I thought about the promise I made to Susie, and how I promised that I would explain everything that had been bothering me for the past several weeks.

I knew that if I kept trying to ignore these things, they would never get resolved.

And more than that… my friends were personally attacked. Zach and Blake were lying in the sickbay upstairs because of how close they were to me.

I didn't care who Herobrine claimed to be anymore.

No one attacks my friends like that.

No one.

"Snowy. Can you… gather everyone here? I think… I think it's time I finally started explaining everything to everyone."

Oh good god almighty.

A full year.

Gods above, I never thought even I could be so slow and tardy to writing my own story.

Wish I could say I had a reason, but really, I just couldn't finish this chapter for the life of me. The ending in particular was the most difficult part and quite frankly, I'm still not 100% sure I'm on board with it. But, it is what it is, and I'm happy with how the chapter turned out, regardless.

I hope you guys don't mind my tardy behavior or how infrequent chapters are coming out. I'm doing my best and just trying to deal with stuff outside of writing.

Hope to see you all again, and until next time, my lovely readers…

Stay awesome! =D