{Ben and me}

Stepping out of the mines for the first time in days was like setting foot on the sun. It was probably even worse for everyone else.

"Holy Notch!" Maria exclaimed.

It took us all a second to get used to the light and see anything around us.

Wow. I blinked and glanced around.

The mines had opened up in a forest. If I peered through the trees, I could see a town. Vitriv, my home.

"Everyone take off your armor. We're going into town and I don't want to draw attention," I told the team.

Nervously, they all put their armor into their inventories, anxiously looking atound the woods as if they expected Herobrine to jump out at them.

I took of my own diamond armor too and lead the way into the town.

Obviously, it didn't look as good as the times beore Herobrine's rise to power, but it looked a bit more fresh than when I had left it. There weren't that many of Herobrine's guards posted on the corners, there were more open shops, and the streets were fuller than they'd ever been.

But of course, it still had the feeling of death and despair, but it went along with something else: hope.

Looking around at the shabbily dressed people and the garbage on the ground, Rax noted sarcastically, "Well isn't this just a lovely place?"

"All above ground settlements are like this," Art told him. "When was the last time you went to the surface?"

"Over a year ago," Bradley answered for Rax, which I thought was weird. Didn't they hate each other? And I was almost positive that Rax had only been a member or the Resistance for 6 monthes. Why had he already been down there for so long?

Rax didn't nod or anything, he just messed with some bottles from the hot bar around his belt.

"So what are we going to do, Ender?" Maria asked me. "How in minecraft are we going to find Ben?"

I gulped and answered honestly. "I don't know. That's where you guys come in."

...

"You can't do this, Xiro," Ben muttered into the dark of the makeshift cabin. It wasn't very hard for him to believe that their new "friend" was releasing Gregor's father from his bonds. Monsters were the servants of Herobrine after all.

Xiro made a weird clicking noise they hadn't heard before and blinked his red eyes. "Who said that I'm Xiro?"

Ben was starting to get pretty freaked out by now. He unsheathed a sword from his belt and asked what the spider meant.

The white of Ben's iron blade glittered in the dark as "Xiro" spoke. "That's all you need to know. Now you should go to back to bed and not tell anyone who comitted this crime, okay?"

"Why should I?' Ben hissed.

"Because I'll tell them that it was you. Monsters stay up at night. I could've easily 'seen' you."

"Or done it yourself! Anyways, it's my word against yours." Ben peered into the dark curiously. "Who are you?"

The creature inhabiting Xiro let out a cold laugh and leaped against Ben. Caught by surprise, Ben was thrown against the wall and passed out.

Present day

Later Ben would wonder why he had dreamt of that memory of all of the encounters he'd had with Herobrine. Especially it being 3 years later.

But for now, he was just blinking his eyes open. The last thing he remembered besides the dream was leaving the underground battle that Ender had lead. Did one of the retreating soldiers of Herobrine manage to knock him out? How? Weren't all of them gone?

And some small voice in the back of his mind said, Not Herobrine.

Whatever that meant. Ben knew enough to know that it was always Herobrine

Hefting himself into a sitting position, Ben tried to make sense of the blur surrounding him.

He was in a room. A bedroom to be specific. And it was a nice one at that.

He himself was sitting on a double bed and looking out into a comfortable living area.

Swing over the side of the bed with expected pain, Ben began to walk out into the small living area.

A large window gave him a view of pine forests and snowy mountians, all so close within reach.

Just as he was about to break the window and get the heck out of there, the door opened behind Ben.

"Hello, Ben. Trying to escape already? That was always like you." A cool and familiar voice noted calmly.

Ben whipped around, his nerves on edge. Who-

A boy stood firmly at the doorway. A boy that Ben knew.

"Welcome to the home of the Warriors of Notch," Gregor said.

...

"Before we left," I said, " a scout found a liquid called ML Exma. At least, that's what it was labelled when it was run through the systems. And thank Notch it was labelled at all."

My team nodded. We were sitting in a relatively empty pub, trying to think of where to start for our mission (although Rax kept looking at the different brews on the walls).

"Where's the liquid from?" Art asked eagerly.

"The mountains of Moran. Anyone heard of them?"

Only Bradley nodded. "They're empty and desolate, with harsh forests and strange beasts. I've heard they have wolves the size of horses."

I gave him an awkward but encouraging thumbs up. "Exactly. Maps of the range are rare, but maps leading towards it aren't as bad." I pulled one out of my inventory, showing the paper to my team. "There aren't any trading posts along the route, but we can make a few detours."

The team nodded again. If anything had survived and flourished in Herobrine's reign, it was the trading post industry. People began to loot and plunder after the initial war so the trading of valuable objects became popular.

"When do we start?" Maria asked. "We only have a few hours left of sunlight."

"Exactly," Bradley said, "so we've got to use them."

"That's the spirit." I smiled.

We set out immediately, not having any time to get new supplies and went throught the woods, folling a map that Braden held for us.

"We can hunt food," Rax pointed out. Sasha barked at that. I wondered if she was a hunting dog. The thought reminded me of my dad's personal hunting dog. He too was killed when Herobrine massacred my family.

Our trek first lead us through s regular oak biome. We spent our time hunting what animals we could find, not really caring that we could be killing people's property. Technically, as Art pointed out, being part of the Resistance was already putting us on the wanted posters.

Rax and Maria became good friends as we walked. For some reason, a spark of jealousy burnt in my gut upon seeing that. I mean, I'm the one who saved her in the first place.

Rax and I eventually moved towards each other.

"So, you're a lot more confident now that you're sober, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I really regret all of that."

Rax gave a low, soft laugh. "You're a good leader, you know that right?"

I shook my head. "I'm not a good leader. I just lead good people."

Rax shrugged. "Maybe that's it. Maybe that's how you become a good leader. By leading good people."

I wondered about that for a second and tried to change the subject. "I know about skirmish 52.C. And I want you to be honest with me. I know you're not a person to talk about yourself, but work with me here. Who was Ervin? And why do you hate Bradley?"

Looking dark and angry all of a sudden, as if the memory had triggered something, Rax launched into his story. "We were a patrol at Red Rock. All of us had just been initiated into the Resistance."

"You, Bradley, and Ervin?"

"Yeah. Ben himself sent us to investigate the area. They'd been getting weird gamma signals directed from there. Let's just say that Bradley messed it up for the both of us. In the end, it was Herobrine killing Ervin, my best friend. Thats all there is to know."

"There's two sides to every story," I reminded him.

Rax shook is head.

"Under no condition, Rax!" Bradley suddenly yelled, storming towards us furiously. Braden, Maria, and Art stopped and watch curiously.

"You let him die!" Rax yelled back, raising his voice for the first time since I'd met him.

"Ervin-"

"You can't say his name!" Rax interrupted.

"Ervin told me to stay hidden and under no conditon come after him!" Bradley roared, no longer the relaxed, intelligent boy, he normally was.

"Go up 20 blocks ahead," I discreetly told the others. "Make camp for tonight. I'll handle this."

Bradley and Rax were still at it, screaming back and forth in such a diatribe that I made sure to keep my distance.

But, tired of it, I yelled, "Shut up! What in the name of Notch happened? Are you so immature that you can't solve it?"

Rax glared at me and then at Bradley, his brown eyes hard. "It's hard to get along with a person who's responsible for your best friend's death," he grunted, teeth clenched.

"Or maybe the one who did what your best friend wished," Bradley snapped back.

"You think Ervin wanted to die?" Rax said, his voice tense.

Bradley glowered, like he didn't know what to say.

"Yeah, you let him die. Yet you always avoid talking or even thinking about it! Why won't you just admit that Ervin's death was because of you?"

I never could've imagined Rax talking so much. It was unsettling, and so was all this arguing. It needed to stop. NOW.

"The only reason that Rax's friend is dead is because of Herobrine!" I shouted. "Now we'll never, ever avenge him you don't stop whining at each other and help the rest of us find Ben! Or- or we're going on without you!"

Bradley seemed somber to my threat. There was no way he'd go against the Resistance, I thought.

"Then have fun on your mission," Rax spat. "Because I'm not going to forgive a murderer."

"Rax, don't do this," Bradley warned.

Rax didn't answer. Instead, he just walked away into the dark woods.

Bradley and I glanced at each other and then back to the place where Rax dissapeared. In that moment, I remembered that Bradley had night vision. I wondered if he could still see Rax, walking away from where he needed to be; where he was needed most. The idea was sad.

And then there were two, I thought.

-------------------

BEFORE YOU GO

So , what's your favorite part of Ender's personality, so I can use it more?

Describe this chapter in one word.

And finally, who's your favorite book character and why?