Liam's POV

It took three days for Tia to finally recover. She drifted in and out of consciousness everyday. I had to feed her mushed up bread because she could barely open her mouth. Her body seemed to have gone into shock, and it was a little like how Jerome was. It was a little scary, actually. I thought she might have actually got the same thing Jerome had. But on the third day, she sat up suddenly and groaned, holding her head. "You OK?" I ask, and she shakes her head. "I bloody hope not because if this is OK then life isn't worth living." She groans again, massaging her forehead with her hand in a desperate attempt to quell the headache. 

Chuckling lightly, I offer her a pork chop, the last one we had. "This is a lot better than that mush you've been feeding me for the past few days. It has been only a few days, hasn't it? I haven't been in some sort of weird conscious coma? 'Course I haven't, I would know if I was." She talks to herself, but my ears prick up at "conscious coma". "What do you mean, conscious coma?" I ask. She shrugs. "It's when someone is in a messed up state but certain things can provoke them to get them out of it. Since I'm a quart god I can make myself get out of it. But I didn't want to because it hurt too much..." she trails off and looks at me just as I open my mouth. "I know what you want to ask, can I heal Jerome, right? The answer is I don't know. Now you need to complete these challenges so let's get going." She keeps ordering me around and I was getting tired of it. Then again, this was coming from the ex apprentice of a demigod, so it was to be expected, I guess. Disobeying her would just provoke her-she'd told me that ever since she became a quart god she had had really bad mood swings and anger issues. 

Then again, she was a girl.

Snickering to myself, she looks up. "What?" she demands. I just smile mysteriously and shrug. She looks at me weirdly before sighing and heading towards the temple, then pauses. I follow her curiously. "It's your test, so I won't help you. You go on ahead" she says, gesturing ahead of her. Nodding, I storm into the temple and she suddenly grabs my arm. "Idiot, look for traps." she hisses, not wanting to disturb anything that was possibly inside the temple. "Hey, I'm not an idiot!" I protest loudly, a grin on my face as she curses. Suddenly a swarm of bats swoop down and Tia clicks her fingers and they all freeze. "I thought you said you weren't going to help me?" I snap, dodging past the frozen bats. Her face is red and she is panting with the effort of keeping them frozen. "Just go down the stairs" she gasps, following me down before clicking her fingers again. We listen quietly to the confused shrieking of bats, before they settle down again. 

"Be quiet next time" she snaps, storming ahead. "Might as well do this all for you!" I grab her arm roughly and stride in front of her, tripping over a tripwire. Arrows shoot over my head and I duck. I look up sheepishly to see Tia shaking her head at me and sighing as she floats above the tripwire. "Stupid flying people" I mutter angrily and she laughs quietly. Stumbling to my feet, I reach across and grab the floating girl, clinging to her as she flies above the tripwires. 

"Baby" she sneers and I curse at her. Her foot suddenly catches the last tripwire and lava suddenly pours from the roof. She pushes me onto clear ground before lava envelops her. I eye it warily, not sure if she could resist lave or not. She floats out a few seconds later, brushing flecks of lava off her clothes. "Looks like I'm fire proof" she grins, floating behind me. 

___________After a few more challenges__________

"Well that was easy!" I laugh as we enter a small library, an enchantment table in the middle. Letters are flying from the books, being enveloped by the glowing obsidian and diamond table. The book flips in the middle, flicking the pages by itself. Behind it is a single bench with a scroll on it. The blood red ribbon is sealed with an ender eye. 

"Too easy" she mutters, eyeing the library uncertainly. She grabs my hand when I reach for the scroll. "What?" I ask, watching the scroll intently. "Look around you." she says, gesturing around us at the room. A diamond sword, covered in dust, is hung on the walls, a small metal shield hung to the side of it. It is encrusted with emeralds, and shines dully even though there is hardly any light. "What about it?" I ask uncertainly. "Someone or something wants us to prepare for something. Something you will need to fight. I'd suggest you prepare yourself. By enchanting or taking the stuff off the walls." She glances round the room then eyes the scroll. "It will start when you touch the scroll." "How do you know all this?" I snap, looking at her suspciously. Had she been here before? "It's called being observant. It's one of the many skills I learned to master when I was with Ridge." she says, her voice trailing off quietly as she utters his name out loud. 

"Let's start it then." I grin and grab hold of the scroll, shoving it quickly in my backpack, my hand tensing on the axe. Nothing. "Honestly, you over think everything." I grin, turning round swiftly and heading towards the door.

BOOM.

Ridgedog's POV (Some flashbacks about Tia)

Standing in my office, about half a year in after Tia became my apprentice. Gazing outside the window, up at the stars. They would be celebrating now, cheering. For today was the day that Mexxy kicked me off the thrown and became the King of Voxeltopia. They would be cheering from him and his heroic victory of "saving the kingdom of the mad man." It was an insult. I wasn't mad. I was just...troubled. My hands ball into fists. They would probably be watching me now. Laughing at me failures, drinking in his honour. I grit my teeth-I needed to hit something badly. 

"Ridge, are you OK?" a voice calls from the door. I turn round swiftly to glare at Tia for interrupting my thoughts. She knew all about my history. We kept no secrets between us. "Today is the day Mexxy got the thrown." I say simply, turning back to the window, cursing him with every word under the moon in my head. Light footsteps advance near me until she is next to me, looking out at the emptiness of the cloudless, starry sky. "You should go to bed Ridge" she says quietly, and I can feel her eyes trained on me. "Not tired" I grunt back, not edging my gaze from the stars. How beautiful they were. I remember how I always used to fly up as far as I could, to relax and let my mind forget all the troubles I had been through. "Staying up and thinking about it isn't going to help. It's like when you get drunk, you stay up and think of all your problems and then wake up with a headache, regretting everything they have ever done. It's an endless cycle for an alcoholic. It's the same here. If you keep thinking about it now, when you wake up you will feel ten times worse and it will carry on. Just relax and go to bed, and just try and forget about it tonight."

I listen quietly to her speech before I sigh quietly. She was right about this, at least. "Fine" I sigh again, turning swiftly and nodding my thanks before going over to my bedroom. She was right. As soon as I tucked myelf into my bed, the silk sheets wash over me, quelling the rage by lulling me into a soothing sleep. I frown. I left the lights on. I poke my head out of the sheets, groaning that I would have to get up from such a comfortable position. Tia is in the doorway and she smiles at me before flicking the lights. I smile back before my eyes shut. "Night." she whispers before shutting the door quietly.

______________________________________________________________

Waking up, I can smell toast from all the way up here. Poking my head out of the sheets, I smile at the smell. There's a note on my bedside table and my eyes squint against the sunlight-Tia must have opened the curtains-and read the note. "Stay in bed, I'll bring breakfast to you." Smiling and sighing softly, I sink back into my bed, relishing the comfy warmth. Soon after, the door clicks quietly open and I sit up, plumping the pillow behind me. 

She pushes her foot against the door, kicking it a little so that it opened. The door hinges had always been rusty. "Remind me to fix that later." I murmur, eyes fixed on the plate of buttery toast balanced on a tray. I suddenly remembered I didn't eat last night, and my stomach growled. "There's no rush. Morning, by the way." she says with a small smile. She was still scared of me for some reason. I knew I had my moments but there was no need to be scared of me now. Then again, I was always cranky in the morning. She sets the tray on my knee, trying to avoid touching me at all. She was always like that. My lips twitched into a little smile, remembering the first time I had ever hugged her, the way she blushed and avoided eye contact by having a staring contest with the floor, stammering when I asked her what was wrong. 

"I never know what you like on toast because you change your mind everytime I make it so I brought all the spreads." she says, gesturing at the jam, the marmalade, the chocolate spread, the cheese spread and even more butter. There was a cup of steaming hot tea on the edge of the tray and I sip it gently, smiling-she always made the best tea. My hands linger across the variation of toppings before I pick them all up. "I'll be creative today and use all of them." I laugh lightly, shaking the bed a little. She stares hungrily at the toast. "Didn't you make any yourself?" I ask with a frown. She shrugs. "I didn't have time." I gesture at the plate of six slices of toast and she picks on up carefully. She glances at the spreads before going for chocolate spread.

She was always eating chocolate. Chocolate cereal, chocolate toast, hot chocolate, chocolate everything. "Why do you like chocolate so much?" I muse, biting into the plain, buttery toast, relishing the golden softness as it slides quickly down my throat with a swift gulp. "J'ai bon appétit (I have good appetite)" she replies with a wink before setting down the jar of chocolate spread and leaving the room. I smile as she exits, but it soon fades as I open my mouth to eat the rest of my slice of toast.

_____________________________________________________

I couldn't get to sleep. This was the day my first child had died. Tossing and turning, I tried to relax. But I couldn't. My thoughts kept drifting back, memories clouding my vision so all I could see was the past. Rolling out of bed, I glance at the still night air. Maybe a walk would clear my head? Creeping down the hallway so I don't disturb Tia, I pause outside her room. The only noise was her heavy, slow breathing as she slept soundly. Phasing through the door, I glance over at her. She looked so peaceful when she slept. I glanced over at her desk, running my eyes over the work she had been doing late every night, pictures of traps for my latest games. How many times I had come in here late at night to see her still awake, frowning down at the paper, the scribble of her pencil and pen against the paper, sometimes scrunching it up to throw it in the bin. She never seemed to notice my presence, and sometimes I would watch her work for hours on end.

I didn't know why she fascinated me so much. There was something...strange about her that I couldn't place. Glancing over at her sleeping figure, I tap the lamp-it was cold. She must have grabbed an early night for once. Suddenly, I'm striding over to her. She took my mind off all my troubles, letting me focus on her. And then I'm suddenly climbing into bed beside her, wrapping my hands gently round her waist, and cuddling up beside her, the warmth lulling me into sleep. So I rest my head on hers, and let her slow, rhythmic breathing take over me as I focus on that and nothing else, letting it slowly take me into a deep and peaceful sleep...

__________________________________________________________

I missed my apprentice.