(the above is an image of yours truly, being awesome, as usual. see the author's note for more details about my incredible radness.)

Chapter 9: A Black Cloud

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- Kai's POV -

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I'd stood in front of the fire, watching it destroy everything with a flaring passion so intense that not a single touch of the house was left unscathed.

The Fire Brigade had come with water to spare, and they had needed every drop of it to quench the flames. Tali looked on in horror, face silhouetted by an orange light, and Dad was holding her hand. Iris was still against the backdrop of a black, smokey haze.

I'd stood there for a long time.

Eventually, Mum had put her hand on my shoulder. "Kai," she'd said, softly, "I have a lot to tell you about."

"Do I happen have destructive fire powers, Mum?"

"You sure do."

Then she had explained the whole story, never skipping a beat with her words.

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A week later, we were living in the potions store storage area. It wasn't fun.

Mum and Dad were busy looking for better residence, while Iris, Tali and I still had to go to school. I would've figured I could skip out on at least one day, ugh. No fair.

I grabbed my stuff and jumped out of the classroom as quick as possible, racing ahead despite the weight of homework-related stress to reach the Oak Tree before anyone else. Then I'd be able to snag a bench.

Once I'd reached there, though, Eve was stretched out across the wooden boards, taking up the whole seat from feet to head. "Oh, hey Kai," she said with a smile. "Sorry, no room for you today."

I groaned. "My house burnt down, Eve."

She raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, not hearing that excuse again. A burnt house is not related to a free bench. Anyway, do you what actually happened?"

"Spontaneous combustion of gun powder after it was left beside the furnace for some reason," I said quickly. Mum had told me to lie. "Plus, the furnace was cooking. Uh, it was cooking beef, I think. Well, I'm not sure, actually. It couldv'e been pork. Yeah, it probably was, last week was Tali's pick and Tali loves pork, so that makes sense." I froze. "Wait, none of this matters."

Eve laughed. "Good observation, dingbat."

Once Flora and Xav had joined us, Zoe had followed with Scott, and from the sound of it there was news to be learnt of.

"Guys, guess what?" she questioned, perked and wide-eyed. "Guess!"

"They announced an extravagant firework parade to commemorate my awesomeness," said Eve, staring up at the sky.

"Mrs Ylvis finally retired," answered Flora.

"You guys managed to realise that I'm better than all of you," Xav taunted.

"Xavier sucks," I said.

"I hate this game," Scott muttered.

Zoe waved all our wise offerings away with a wave. "No, no! It isn't good news. It's pretty crappy, actually."

"Xavier doesn't suck, then?"

Xav rolled his eyes. "Shut up, Dare."

Zoe interrupted any future comebacks with her declaration. "You know how the amount of Endermen attacks have been rising recently? Well, they discovered a link."

Even before Emerald and Jonathan's deaths, Endermen had been launching assaults all across Minecraftia, with many fatalities involved. No one had really known why, though; however, apparently all the attacks were quite similar in nature, as if by the same Enderman. They'd continued afterwards as well. I'd known that Jonathan's parents had died after their son's death, but not what of. We hadn't been told by Iris, who was the only one who knew. The news came in two days ago. We all quietly suspected the Endermen.

Eve sat forward suddenly. "What was it?"

Zoe sat down on the ground and all our gazes followed her. She'd seized our attention.

"All the murders occurred to people of the same two families," she stated, voice hushed. "Parker and McKinnon. Even the ones hugely at a distance. Cousins of cousins of cousins."

McKinnon. The group went silent.

"And now," Zoe continued, tone even heavier, "there aren't any Parkers left, and the only McKinnon still alive is Ice."

What? No. No way. I'd never doubted Zoe before, because she'd never been wrong with her gossip. Ever. But now I wasn't so sure. Iris had aunts and uncles and cousins, how could they all be dead?

Scott spoke up first. "Does Ice know?"

I shot him a glare. "Of course she would know. She's their family." Why didn't she tell me? I could've helped her. Poor Iris, now she's alone. All alone except her friends and us Dares, but who are we to know how she's feeling? Who am I to apologise for the murder of her family - every last member?

"What're you guys whispering about? You look like elementary school girls talking about that boy they're all crushing on," said a voice from behind us, and it was such a break from the somber atmosphere the news had created that we all jumped a little.

I looked up and smiled. I had to keep a brave face for her sake. "Hey, Rainbow. How was class?"

She sighed and sat down around our huddle, in between Eve and Zoe. We all tried our best to appear as though we hadn't been gossiping about her. I had a feeling I was the worst at it. "Sucked, as usual," she said, pulling out her lunch. "Mr Uriah was an ass today. Set Helix up for three after school detentions."

"He's always an ass," Xav commented as he leaned over to pinch a cookie from her open inventory. She slapped his hand away.

Rainbow nodded in agreement. "Good point."

She's in a good mood today, I reflected, astounded. Maybe Zoe's gossip was crap after all. That would be a first.

We were all eating happily, all under the shade of the tree's bushy leaves, sharing food and words. Zoe Green's pale cheeks were flushed their usual pink, and freckles dotted her face like dark stars. Her hair was messy and red-brown, pulled up into a low bun that threatened to burst at any moment. Her hair was really thick. She was best known as always being quick to speak, especially when she didn't need to; although, in the public, she was pretty shy.

Scott Sparx had blonde hair with red dyed through it in a chaotic web, and his eyes were a stony, very dark brown. He was from somewhere extremely south, and he'd grown up with snow all around in some white-frosted biome of ice. I'd visited one like that once, but if you ask me, any green, sunny forest could beat it. He was rough around the edges, and very loud with opinions, but he was still fun to be around and a loyal friend.

Xav's brown brush cut was darker than Flora Falcon's, but his skin was much lighter than hers; he was tan, but Flora's tone was a honey brown similar to her hair. Her eyes were big and green and bright, and his were an almost constantly amused hazel.

When Eve Mystique stepped into the sun, her hair would burst alight like bright red flames. Her eyes were so deeply blue that from a distance they seemed purple, and although she was short, she packed a punch. She was by far the snakiest of all of us, excluding Iris. She was always cool to listen to you when it mattered.

While Xav and Eve fought over the apple Flora had offered them to share, I noticed a long shadow loom up behind us. When I turned around, I almost looked away again. It was Phoenix.

He gave us all a wave. "Hey, guys," he said warmly, hopeful grin on his face, "my brother ditched me for cake. Mind if I sit with you?"

We all looked to Iris, not even discreetly. She didn't say anything, but she did move over, offering him a place beside her. Mouth pressed hard but eyes bright, she nodded towards him in invitation.

"Come sit down," she said, not unkindly. It was weird.

He took the spot she'd offered with a thankful smile. "Dunno if you guys know about me yet, but I'm Phoenix Black, the new bloke from Dargon."

Xav went to give him a high-five. "Welcome to the huddle," he said. Phoenix left him hanging, his face undoubtably confused, staring at the hand. Xav withdrew it with a laugh.

"Dargon must be really north, huh?" Yeah, I agreed. 'On the morrow', not understanding a high-five, the simplest and most humble of all non-lingual communication. He'd probably never high-fived someone in his life. How truly saddening.

He scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. His hair was still light even out of the sun. "Sorry," he apologised. "Got homeschooled."

Eve poked Xav's head. "Don't worry about it, man," she told Phoenix. "This dude here probably messed it up somehow."

"Eve, you can't mess up a high-"

She smacked his head. "I missed your hand. Does that count as a mess-up?"

Xav mumbled something inaudible and then flicked Eve's forehead. Eve hit him back, and thus began war.

"Ignore them," Zoe said. "They act like this all the time." Sitting next to the hot new kid, Zoe looked ready to burst in excitement. Hot? Stop it, man, you're making everything worse, I thought bitterly. Just keep silent, inside your head and all.

"What have you guys got next?" Phoenix asked. "I have P.E."

Eve replied "maths" over the top of the sound of a slap battle, and Flora said "Environmental science."

"Plant nerd," teased Scott, tone hinted with affection. It was hard to actually tease Flora.

She only smiled. I tried to remember what I had, but nothing was coming to mind. Zoe attempted to hide a squeal of happiness but failed. "I've got P.E too! We're swimming this week." She blushed a little. "Did you remember your bathers, Phoenix?"

He breathed a nervous laugh, glancing downwards. "I actually can't swim," he confessed. "Most of the water is frozen in Dargon."

I thought . . . I thought Dargon was in a jungle? Damn, my geography must be really messed up. "Don't worry about it," I said to him. "I can't either. Can't stand the water."

He gave me a smile, and luckily I didn't blush. Hopefully that set of embarrassing events will never be continued. His eyes were a bright, mystical violet that seemed to glow with their own light. They were pretty cool. My eyes though, unfortunately, were not as cool anymore. They still burned amber. Mum had warned that they probably would never dull again; I was already sick of surprised stares.

"Kai, right? Nice to meet you. Like, awake, conscious you."

"A-ha, yeah," I replied. Notch, I hated remembering that. Iris made sure I always did.

Suddenly, Zoe blurted. "Are you dating anyone?" I sighed internally. I could only have expected her to hold on this long.

Phoenix raised his eyebrows. "Nah, not my thing. Why do you ask?" He winked at her. "Any proposals coming my way?"

Zoe's mouth dropped open and her recovery was slow. "N - No," she stammered.

Interrupting, Iris waved her hand. "This is embarrassing for all of us, Zoe," she scolded with a slight smirk. "Leave the flirting to Eve, she's the best at it. Or, even better, leave it to Kai, because then we'd all be amused."

I gave her a disappointed glare. "Says you. That time Gendric asked you out you punched him in the gut. Same with Victor, and Hugo. You gave Lysa Andrews a look so bad she started crying. Oh, and you slapped Isaac, and Beca, and -"

"Shut your trap," Iris said, rushed. Her face was unforgiving but the slight pink in her cheeks betrayed her. "Anyway," she continued, "I have P.E, too, so I can intimidate the teacher into not making you swim if you don't wanna, Phoenix."

She was in a really good mood, huh. I wondered if it had anything to do with Phoenix's handsome face and his careless smile. Wow, that would not end well. "Thanks!" he answered, eyes dancing. "That's really helpful. I can't stand water, either."

"But ain't Dargon in a jungle biome? Heaps of water in those," Scott perked up, which meant that I hadn't been the only one who'd thought so.

Phoenix stiffened a little. "We must be talking about different Dargons."

Flora spoke up. "There's a Dargon in far-Eastern Minecraftia," she offered to keep the peace. None of us argued, but the Dargon she had mentioned lay in the east, not in the north like Phoenix had said he was from. Oh well, I thought dismissively. He might've just gotten mixed up, somehow. After all, he is blond, so I should cut him some slack.

Suddenly, someone was peering over our group nestled in the grass. "Phoenix," he said, and I recognised him as Ember Black, Phoenix's brother. Similar in face shape and eye colour but not much else, the brothers seemed quite different from each other. Ember's voice was cold and hard, and he denied himself any eye contact with any of us except Phoenix, who tilted back his head to frown. "Let's go."

Phoenix apologised to us and headed off after his brother.

"Weird," commented Scott. I agreed.

Xav looked over at me. "Kai, d'ya mind grabbing me a piece of steak from the canteen?" He flicked me an iron ingot. "Please?"

Groaning, I got up. "Fine. But you had better share some with me."

"Yeah, yeah. Just hurry up."

With a huff I headed off, hands in jeans pockets. I'd always been into bright colours, but recently I've taken a liking to Iris's trend of dark denim and darker shirts. Iris had one black-dyed leather jacket her dad got her all the way from Sunset, a western town, and she treasured like she would her life. Now, especially. My favourite item of clothing was the humble skeleton bone necklace I got from Iris five years ago; that is, if it counted as clothing. I supposed it did, since I wore it every day. Screw labels.

I turned the corner around the canteen block, only realising too late that I had zoned out and it was not in fact the canteen block. Wow, I thought uselessly. Good job.

It was the library block, and I cursed when I figured that it meant I'd wandered around aimlessly through the whole stupid school. Turning another swift corner, frustrated, I went the back, technically-not-allowed path between the school library and a classroom block; it would get me to the canteen faster. It was silent apart from the distant voices of students doing their lunchtime stuff.

That was, until I heard voices a lot closer. Right ahead of me, beyond the next turn.

Oh man, they obviously want secrecy. I should totally listen in, Zoe would love me for it. Creeping up with light feet, I pressed myself against the wall, reaching as far as I wanted to go a few inches from the corner of the building, a right angle away from the voices. Their shadows stretched across the brick path; two of them. I tried to listen.

"- You're not meant to befriend them!" Someone hissed. "Just watch them!" They were speaking softly but harshly, and I had to strain my ears to hear them.

The other person replied but I couldn't catch a word. "Remember the oath," the first one reminded. "You had to . . . Yes, I know, but you're not . . . We can do our job from a distance, so no, I won't . . . Are you listening to yourself? . . . Stop, but . . . No, I am not speaking loudly." Suddenly, the shadow on the left jerked. "Did you hear that?" it questioned.

Crap. I forced myself to stop breathing.

Footsteps wandered closer, and I pressed my back as hard against the wall as I could, shutting my eyes. Eavesdropping was not appreciated by many. I was probably in big trouble.

When I opened my eyes again, to my shock, I saw that it was Iris who turned the corner. "Dude, what in Notch's name are you doing?" she questioned, incredulous. "You haven't even bought the steak yet!"

Whipping around to look behind her, I saw that no one was there. "Did you see people where you came from?" I asked. "Anyone?"

Her eyebrow raising made the hope fleet from my chest. "You were the only one here, Kai. Any reason in particular? You look like you've seen a ghost," she commented.

I looked down at her. "I might have," I said gravely.

"Okay, that was a cheesy line."

"You started it and left me with no choice."

"Fair enough. Now c'mon, everyone's waiting. Especially Xav. Poor dude's been starving for twenty minutes."

We left the library path, confusion littering my mind as I mentally searched for answers, but found nothing except for a stupid idea; no, thought, really: they couldn't have been human to get away so fast. They disappeared in less than a second, flat.

But I banished it from my head, for now, at least. I'd tell Iris later. What a shame that I never got Zoe's gossip.

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- Iris's POV -

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I didn't have the heart to tell Kai of my suspicions. He liked Phoenix's company, I knew that, and I couldn't ruin another thing for him. Hopefully he would learn to understand himself.

Nya had broken to me softly what had happened to my family a few mornings ago, while Kai and Tali still slept. Her voice had been pitying and compassionate, and apologies slipped out almost too often. I loved Nya, she was practically a second mother to me; I hated that my business made her sad. I hated the news she brought even more.

One of my cousins had only been a month old.

But still, I pushed it out of my mind, and tried thinking like Kai would in the situation. Mourn, and then live, he would say. Living's the important bit.

So I tried, and instead thought of today's disappearing people Kai had told me of.

I also thought of an Endermen, and the basic traits I'd read of in the textbooks we'd been reading for years; they hate the water. They have a remarkable teleportation ability. Their eyes are purple.

They killed my family.

I hated old sayings, but if there was one necessary to quote in the situation, it was keep your friends close, but your enemies closer. It rang truth, now.

They said something about befriending someone? I dunno, it was pretty jagged. Kai's voice worked through my brain. The one I could hear was saying that they had to watch them, not befriend them; yeah, that was it. I wonder what it means, huh?

Oh, Kai, I thought, a whisper of a smile along my mouth, if only you could look further.

I would get my revenge on the Ender Dragon's Child through my own schemes. I would twist and turn her plans to suit me. I would destroy her followers, and then destroy her.

That was my revenge.

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- Kai's POV-

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The two periods I had after lunch were a bore; biome studies and maths. Maths, especially. Notch, I hate maths.

Halfway through biome studies and Mr Laywood's outstretched dabbles about the impact of over-mining in deserts, I was mentally exhausted enough to doodle on my page. Ask anyone and they would say that I had no artistic talent, but I personally thought myself a miracle worker. Seriously, it takes polished skill to draw stick figures that awesomely. Pure, molten, cooled then crafted skill.

I drew a scraggly-looking diamond sword, and remembered the one in the attic; the one that had made me want to kill. It was still strange to look back on, as if I could still hear my own voice; end their life.

Mum had told me about the sword's history - it was in the story I learnt of a week ago.

Herobrine is real, I said mentally, still a little bit taken aback. And my mum knew him. Kissed him, even. Notch, ew, ewww, let's not think of that, ever, ever ever. Gross gross gross, yuck.

He sounded pretty cool; ruler of the underworld, the hell of all hells, the Nether itself. Mum also told me about the Wielders, and how I was apart of a magical lineage spanning decades, and that since the extinction of the Parkers and out of the the few McKinnons left, we were some of the last still standing. She also told me about how she met Dad, and her cat, Zazzles, and all her university friends, even the ones who died.

She told me about how Clare murdered Emily, and that when they faced off in the Nether against Herobrine, Mackenzie took an arrow to save Mum's life. And that Clare had died to make sure Herobrine stayed buried forever. She told me about the Sangue Rosso, Herobrine's potion that made her invulnerable to the fragile nature of a Wielder's awoken life, the potion that allowed her to live normally. She told me about how Herobrine's Blade had suddenly appeared next to her bedside one morning, summoned by the fact that she was the only awakened Wielder still alive.

And, she told me about Special Energies.

So it turns out, the whole fire thing was genetic. Man, was it so cool! I had fire powers. Actual, burning fire. Mum had also mentioned after the burning-of-the-house incident that when she was in uni, she burnt down her apartment, so it was a situation that ran in the family. Some sort of Fire Wielder initiation.

One thing still worried me; Iris's name in the room of paintings. I mean, powers are cool, but Mum had told me that they do not bring cool things your way. She ordered me to never use them purposely, because right now, danger was everywhere, and I had to keep them hidden as long as possible.

Well, I suppose the burning house probably gave it all away already, but oh well.

Iris was a Wielder, I knew. She had powers as well, and even though Mum and I didn't know what they were yet, one look at the girl who they were within and you'd know they'd be powerful.

But I didn't want her to be powerful. I wanted her to be safe, and these Energies didn't bring us safety; only danger.

Snapping out of my zone-out on my classroom desk, I broke my gaze from the teacher to stare out the window. It was a very cloudy day with a storm oncoming; wait, here it comes. Rain started falling on the glass panes, and I grieved over the lost clearness of the view. It was usually pretty nice from this spot in the school.

As darkness rolled in and thunder roared, a new sound took over everything; a siren. A loud, desperately singing siren, and then a voice from the school speakers.

This is an emergency. All students are to immediately report to the hall in Block Seven. I repeat to all, this an emergency. Move quickly. This is not a drill. Move to Block Seven.

It kept going, sirens whirring and kids starting to scream from other classrooms. I wiped my hand over the condensation that had settled across the glass beside my seat and peered outside.

A black cloud loomed over the horizen, blacker than anything I'd seen before. When I looked closer, I saw purple, too. Lots of purple.

Then the cloud moved forwards. It was marching, I realised. Marching towards us.

It wasn't a cloud. It was an army of tall black creatures, pushing through the rain despite how it should have been hurting them. I noticed something hanging above the hundreds of them approaching; an actual cloud, one of purple dust, shielding the Endermen soldiers from the water falling from the sky like warning tears predicting the oncoming grief of a city.

This is not a drill. This is an emergency.

The sirens roared as the screams grew louder and the army got closer.

This is an emergency.

Iris, I thought. Wielders. Danger.

Endermen.

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- An Unknown POV -

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The boy's voice pierced through the silence of the End's solitude. He was arguing with the General again.

"It's a school! You cannot march upon it! A school has children, General, children who will run and cry and scream and get themselves killed!"

The General looked down on his fears. "I care not for the lives of children," she spat. "Only for my task."

The Ghost glared at her, defience shining in his existence despite the lack of emotion in his eyes. "You say that, and yet, you are no more than a child yourself." His voice was cold and cruel.

Instead of flinching, the General returned his gaze with hers of steady violet. "You are correct, Machia. I am a child. The Ender Dragon's Child."

"Steve would have been disappointed in you. Not even he would unnecessarily storm a schoolyard."

"Herobrine is dead, and takes none of my sadness with him! You are the ones who murdered Lillian Kratos years ago that night. I am not like him. I only destroy for purpose."

The Ghost scoffed. "This isn't a purpose. It's an excuse for more heartache."

"I could kill the city, if you'd prefer."

"The only ones who need to die are Nya and Kai Dare. Let the rest live."

The General laughed, the disjointed and terribly wicked sound echoing across the ancient stone of her long-time home. "Let the rest live? My, you certainly are naïve for a ghost, Machia." She gestured towards the black sky. "My Dragon's reign will bring death to all! Why not let theirs come early? It is more a mercy that you seem to realise!"

"You are no longer anyone I know," spat the boy. "Nor have ever known."

The General smirked. "You're quite right."

She gave the order to march.

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Uh oh. Who will die? People, but only I know exactly >:)

Relatively quick update, I suppose? As you might've guessed, the next chapter will have a CRAP TON of action and fire and death and stuff. Fun for all!

And yes, that is what I look like. Do not be alarmed. Tis simply myself in my natural habitat; performing a double-chin in front of a flash camera. As you can see, I am flawless in my chinning talent.

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QOTC: ASK THE CHARACTERS ANYTHING! Write a question to a specified Wielder Chronicles character of your choice, and I'll answer it as that character!

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Love you all!

- Jazz

Bonus: Bring on the Clare.