Note: TIME TO SWITCH TO SOME OTHER POVS :O

 Lewis’ POV

 “Morning Simon, I brought you a coffee.” I call out from a few floors down. I can hear him mumbling and groaning as I flick a switch, starting up the machines. Activating my flying ring, I take off into the air, flying cautiously with the steaming hot cup in my hand, and landing gracefully next to his bed.

“Mmm” he hums under the covers, popping his head up. The short ginger dwarf had a massive king size bed that took up too much space, but I wasn’t going to argue against it-I had been down that road too many times, and he ended up threatening to set his beard on fire if I didn’t let him have one.

 It had only been last night that the end of the survival games had finally dawned. I shivered at the memory of spotting Minty being thrown off a tree by Nilesy, the crunch of her bones as they shattered against the floor, and the everlasting blood pool that had circled her. At least it was quick, I think, but it was little comfort when I remembered the slower, more torturous deaths, such as when Rythian got his hands on Sips…

Simon watches me from the safety and warmth of his bed as I shudder, my eyes distant. “It’s over now, friend. We’re safe now.” He tries to soothe me, but to no avail.

“Yeah, but for how long? Who knows when Ridge’s next games will be?” I say bitterly. Just as he opens his mouth to reply, he is interrupted by Lomadia’s voice calling my name.

Quickly, I fly away, leaving a sighing Honeydew to grumble “Love birds” and tug himself out of bed to follow me.

 Simon’s POV

I had only just woken up when Lewis came up. I didn’t want to wake up at all. I just wanted to curl up underneath the cover of the bed, dark, warm and safe, safe in the land of dreams where nothing could go wrong, and when it did, it turned out it was only a nightmare and you wake up. Was that all the games were? Just a constant nightmare that we all have simultaneously?

 Following Lewis downstairs, I watch as he embraces his Lomadia. “Hannah,” he breathes into her ear softly, his voice saturated with love and relief.

“You OK?” she murmurs back as he nuzzles her head softly, shifting her flowing, blonde hair.

“Now that you’re here, yes” he smiles, gripping her tightly as if she was going to disappear.

“Hey, where’s my hug?” I sniff, and grin when they pull me in for a cuddle. I wished I could protect my best friend and his lover from Ridgedog, but all I could do was dig holes, which he could fly over, and blow up stuff, which wouldn’t even blow a hair out of place on his smug little face.

“Enjoying yourselves are we?” a voice whispers close to us. I yell, pulling away from the two, knowing exactly who it was.

“Show yourself, you bugger!” I roar, taking out my pickaxe and swinging it in midair. He chuckles and appears, floating as usual. Lewis pulls Hannah and I behind him, and I almost swear at him too, but I know he means well, and I wouldn’t be able to do anything anyway.

“What the hell do you want, Ridge” Xephos snaps.

The demigod chuckles sadistically. “I want to play a game” he laughs.

“We’ve already played one of your stupid games, Ridgedog!” Hannah yells, curling her hands into fists.

He tilts his head. “Well, we know who wears the pants in this relationship, don’t we?” he laughs again, drifting closer.

 “I want to play another one. Tia?” he says quietly, and hands suddenly grip my arms tightly, pulling me away from the safety of Lewis and Hannah. I yell out again, and turn my head. Tia is the one grabbing me.

“Duncan was right.” Xephos says quietly, glaring at the girl we used to be friends with. She says nothing, just waits for a command, like she was a dog.

“Do the honours of teleporting him, will you? I will teleport these two” he snaps, grabbing hold of the two and disappearing.

 As soon as they are gone, Tia spins me round to face her and she suddenly hugs me. “Simon, I never wanted any of this to happen. Please forgive me. The game he’s playing…I thought of it, because he would have hurt me if I didn’t” she says quickly, checking the room suspiciously to make sure Ridge wasn’t listening.

I nod, and sigh. “Alright, I get you. But try and be a little bit softer next time you grab me.” I tell her, rubbing the bruises on my arms.

“He…turned me into a Quartgod” she admits, and I facepalm-like I hadn’t seen that one coming a mile away. “I need to teleport you now. Sorry about this” she apologises, before everything goes black.

 Rythian’s POV

 “Tee, where are you? Zoey?” I call out. It was as if everyone had disappeared, and I shivered. Surely they wouldn’t play a prank on me this early after the games? “Zoey?” I call out louder. Fear is gripping my bones but I shake it off. They had to be around here somewhere. Going round the edge of Blackrock castle, I sheath my red   matter katar. Something wasn’t right.

 “So insecure.” A voice suddenly says to my right. I swing round my katar, but something catches my hand. I grunt as I try to pull it away.

“What the HELL have you done with Zoey and Teep?” I roar. The smarmy idiot appears, grinning his signature cocky grin at me.

“Oh, they are somewhere safe. For now. Want to join them?” he smirks.

 “What the hell, Ridge? The games are over, let them go!” I yell, trying to thrash away from him. Hands from behind me suddenly grip my arms tightly, restricting my movement. I wriggle away, but they pull me in tighter.

“Stop moving” Ridgedog snaps, but it only makes me wriggle harder. His hand suddenly reaches out and grasps my purple mask and I stiffen.

“Don’t even dare!” I hiss. He just grins and lifts up the mask, revealing the ender flesh underneath, the black, pulsing skin, the thick black vein.

“So, Enderborn, how is your little transformation going?” he taunts.

“I’ve stopped it, it doesn’t affect me anymore!” I spit, desperately trying to kick the person behind me, who I know from instinct is his little pet Tia, who is a traitor to the Yogscast.

 “Time to play a game” Ridgedog chuckles, clicking his fingers. I teleport into a room, collapsing on the floor, and lifting my mask up just in time. Zoey gasps, and reaches in to hug me.

“You OK Rythian? Did he hurt you?” she demands, putting her hand on my hair. This calms me down, knowing she was safe.

“I’m fine” I growl, before pulling her a little too roughly into my arms, and holding her close, putting my head into her neck and bracing myself for the nightmare to start.

 Martyn’s POV

 Sitting round the campfire surrounded by friends, I smile and lean back on the logs. This was perfect, the calm atmosphere after the storm. I look up at the sky. It was morning, but it was cold. The campfire illuminated every shadow in the trees of the forest, protecting us from outsiders, and it kept us warm and safe. Glancing round at my friends, I smile. Toby, Strippin, Sparklez, Parv, Turpz, Lewis 2 (as he was called) and Henry were all gathered around the fire, laughing and joking as if the whole nightmare of the games was just that-a nightmare.

 “So what do you want to do today, guys?” I ask, lounging backwards, my Sapling blade still in the sheath. I never really fought much, but it was there when I needed it.

“I dunno; let’s just relax, we’ve got nothing better to do” Toby yawns.

“Why don’t we play a game?” a voice calls out. We all jump, and get to our feet. The fire suddenly roars up in a flash, and standing in the middle is Ridgedog, looking majestic as the fire ripples around him, bringing no harm to him or his clothes.

“Ridgedog?” Toby squeaks.

 Confidence seems to flood me from somewhere, and I draw the Sapling blade out of the green metal sheath, levelling it flat out towards him, the hilt buzzing with power. Toby, still trembling, withdraws the red one, shimmering slightly with the reflection of the flames. Ridgedog pays no attention to the swords, knowing they cannot harm him.

“What the hell do you want now, you monster!” I growl. I was not one for violence, but he deserved no mercy. He narrows his eyes at my challenge.

“I just told you, idiots,” he seethes. The fire roars around him, turning a strange blue colour, before it reaches out twisting round him. It suddenly shoots out of him, grabbing each of us, burning us. Screams of pain echo from all of us.

 Clutching my neck, feeling the fire slide into my throat, burning me from the inside. “I’m sick of you mortals. Such idiots do not deserve to live” he growls. The fire intensifies. I let out a blood curdling scream, listening to the wind picking up, the trees wailing at my pain, flowers retreating back as the forest sprite within me cries out as the fire begins to burn at the life around me.

“Ridgedog.” A voice says quietly behind us.

“Let’s see what your nature can do against my fire, Martyn” he spits at me, and I scream again, blood beginning to pour out of my mouth, begging him to let me go, stop burning everything around me, and I scream and scream and scream and scream…

 A force suddenly knocks Ridgedog aside, and the pain ends as suddenly as it begins. Everything around me stops burning, including my throat, which I clutch, gagging and sobbing for breath. Ridgedog curses loudly, ripping whatever it was that knocked him over, which turned out to be Tia. She used to be good friends with us before Duncan said she was taken by Ridge. “What the hell do you think your doing?” he snarls at his apprentice, who wriggles uncomfortably as he lifts her up with the collar of her clothes.

 “Focus on the game.” She gurgles, trying to pry herself away from him. He drops her, and she scurries away a little bit, before standing up beside him.

Everything suddenly goes white, and the last thing I hear before I get teleported to the waiting room is Ridgedog yelling, “Do that again, and I’ll kill you, you understand me?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good. Round up the others, and let the game begin.”

 Sips’ POV

 “Sjin, you big baby, where’s the uranium gone?” I call out, knowing the exact response.

“Myranium, Sips?” he giggles.

“No, Myranium.” I reply, trying to keep the grin off my face. I loved the big idiot really. I remembered in the games, the moment we had, the one both of us had not mentioned lately…

 Screams of pain. “Please, I’m sorry, just let me go!” I groan as the knife enters my side and blood spurts out. Rythian simply chuckles, his purple eyes insane. He pulls the knife down, and I wince and cry out at the sound of my skin peeling away as he rips it in half painfully slowly.

“You killed her.” He whispers, tilting his head as blood flows onto the grass.

“I didn’t mean to!” I yell, and scream again as his knife dips further into my blood, moving it around.

“You hung her. You have to pay” he hisses. I cry out, twisting away from the knife.

“SIPS!” a voice rings out. My breath catches in my scarred, mangled throat.

“SJIN!” I scream as loud as I can, ignoring the blood rushing down my twisted flesh of the ruins of my neck. Rythian suddenly plunges the knife into my stomach, then my chest, before ripping the knife out, making me scream again.

“Goodbye Sips.” He smiles, and then a sword rips through him, making him cry out. A cannon goes off. Rythian slumps to the floor, dead.

 “Sips!” Sjin gasps, ducking down next to me, kicking the now dissolving Rythian away.

“Sjin.” I groan, weakly holding up my arms. He pulls me onto his arm, lying me on his lap as he bends his head down to let me hold him. Without thinking, I suddenly tug his head down. He follows, and our lips meet. He holds me tightly as we gently kiss, stroking my cheek with the back of his hand, before lifting up, smiling sadly, tears streaming down his cheek. Half of my body had dissolved now.

“I love you Sips.” He chokes, rocking me backwards and forwards gently. Those words…it’s as if they take all the pain away, and I feel happy.

“I love you too, you big idiot.” I laugh weakly. He suddenly and roughly shoves his lips against mine again, sobbing into my mouth.

“Don’t leave me Sips! I can’t do this without you” he pleads, rubbing his head onto my cheek.

“Of course…you can…” I’m gasping for air now, death coming quickly and swiftly. I reach up with every ounce of my strength to wipe the tears off his bloodstained cheeks. “Keep fighting for me buddy.” I whisper.

 The last thing I see is Sjin saying my name again, but the noise is drowned out by the sound of a cannon exploding as everything goes white.

 I smile sadly at the memory. I turn round to see Sjin watching me curiously. “What’s wrong, Sips?” he asks. Without thinking, I slam him against the wall, wrap my arms around his waist, and kiss him slowly. His hands slide around my neck, and I can feel him smiling under my lips as we deepen the kiss. One of my hands slides up his shirt to his hair, tangling my hand in it, gripping it tightly as I move my head. This kiss seems to break my senses, and causes my heart to go into overload.

 “Sorry to interrupt you gentlemen…” a voice suddenly says in the room, amusement ringing in it. We rip away from each other, whipping round to find the source of that smarmy, annoying voice that brings only bad news. He’s hovering as usual, surprisingly visible. He has a smirk on his face that makes me want to slap him. Then again, I always want to slap him anyway.

 “What the hell do you want Ridge?” I snap. I glance back at Sjin, who is flushing, his cheeks red, and I smile a little.

“I want to play a game” he grins.

“A-another one?” Sjin stutters behind me.

“Yes, another one. Come along you two, you’re going to be late. And another thing…” he says, glancing at the two of us. “Try and keep your pants on in the waiting room, please” he grins, and before I can shout an insult at him, there is a flash of white and I am teleported away.

 Tia’s POV

 Everyone was rounded up except one. That person, Ridge left for last. When he had teleported the flustered dirt duo out, I step out of the shadows, and meet Ridgedog’s amused eyes. “I didn’t see that coming.” I admit, casting a second glance round before opening the door for him.

“Me neither…” he murmurs, floating outside the door and lifting up into the air. I kick off the ground to fly up to meet him, waiting for his command. He turns to meet my gaze with amused but wary eyes.

“Time to pay a visit to your ex master” he declares, before we float silently towards the castle in the distance.

 We phase through the forcefield instantly and float towards the castle windows. Duncan sees us before we float through the window, backing away, his eyes on mine. “What the hell have you done to her now, you sick idiot?” he croaks, watching me hover above the floor.

“I’ve turned her into a quartgod.” Ridge replies. He glares at Ridge who glares defiantly back. “I’m playing another game” he suddenly says, hitting the floor with his feet and striding towards the trembling scientist, dragging him across the room to me. He stumbles and trips until he drags him to me, shoving him at me. I catch him, and hold him protectively behind me. At one point, he was the one protecting me. Now it was the other way round.

 Ridge snarls at me, and reaches to grab him again, but I move away from him, pulling him with me. He slaps me in the face so I let go of Duncan with one hand and slap him back. Duncan freezes, and is suddenly teleported away out of my hands. Before I can react, his hand shoves up and grasps my throat, holding me roughly against the wall. “You’re testing my patience, girl” he hisses. I gasp for breath, choking and wriggling. I kick out at him, but fail to connect with anything. Sneering at me, he drops me to the floor, letting me shudder and gasp loudly, sucking in oxygen.

“Time to play.”