They were gone. At first we spent some time looking around in hope that we could find them, but soon it was clear that they were gone. There was no finding Maria and Art. Herobrine had taken them, and he had left a message.

  What did it mean that he needed them more than we did? Didn't he know how much I needed Maria? 

  "Ender," said Rax, patting me on the shoulder, "it's time to begin."

  Dawn was breaking over the mountains, the square sun rising over a range of cubic peaks. I hefted my bow and slung it over my chest. Now was the morning, and it meant that we were going to continue after Herobrine.

  He or one of his henchmen had been here recently to steal the girls and leave that message, so his fortress couldn't be too far away.

  Bradley, Braden, Rax, and I began our trek. It wasn't as hard as the day before, but this time we held down by the new loss.

  For three days we went on like this, rarely talking, simply traveling. All we could do was press on. We hunted the sheep and cows easily found in the mountains and fought off the wolves we wished weren't there at all.

  Eventually the mountains stooped to low, rolling hills, full of grazing animals and surrounded by oak woods. It took me a few hours of being in this biome for it to finally hit me that we were out of the Mountains of Moran. 

  That night was the softest of all to bear. We rested in tall grass under the shade of large acacia trees. 

  Then the next day, as we were traveling through the fields, we found what we had been looking for.

  "Guys, look at this!" I called to my friends. The gamma sensor was going out of control, bleeping and screeching. Its little arrow seemed fixed on a point. 

  "It's pointing to that farmhouse," Braden said, motioning to a small looking shack surrounded by a peaceful yard or daisies.

  A cow bellowed behind me. I didn't understand. Why was Herobrine hiding out in this kind and calm place, surrounded by sheep and tranquility?

  "What is Herobrine doing here?" I asked.

  Bradley shrugged. "I suppose it's our job to find out."

  We made our way to the farmhouse. Our weapons drawn, we opened door, expecting to see a monster, but instead found something, or someone, else.

  A farmboy, no older than 17 glanced up at us and he calmly cleaned the floor.

...

  Gregor was ecstatic.

  He had finally done something to harm Herobrine and his forces. He, Jane, Ben, Lora, Ridge, and Grace made their way to another town, where they planned their next attack on the guards.

  "So this town is in a valley, correct?" Jane confirmed. The pub around them was loud and noisy, as they normally are. People cheered and alchemy sets rested in the corner as brewers tried to make new things to give people nausea.

  "Yes it's in a valley, you walked down it," said Ben.

  Jane rolled her eyes and Gregor laughed at the two friends. Although he couldn't deny that he was feeling something for Jane, he wasn't worried Ben would steal her away.

  "So how do you think we could most effectively loosen the guard's control of this place?" The town was called Ancravallis and the people seemed wild, but poor. Jane stared her friends down, as if she expected the perfect answer from each of them. It made Gregor want to laugh.

  "I suppose we could do the same thing we did at Aqua Oppidum," said Ridge, shrugging. "But I suppose that's less exciting."

  An idea came to Gregor. It was one thing to have your freedom handed to you, but it was another to earn it for yourself. The people of Ancravillis would cherish what freedom they had if they fought for it.

  "We create an attack force," he announced to the group.

  His friends didn't have a chance to respond.

  The noise in the pub died down as everyone turned their attention to the front door. In walked two large and brutal looking guards of Herobrine. And they had their eyes fixed right on Gregor and his friends.

  "You! Stop!" They bellowed, voices echoing through the pub and into the street.

  As they'd done so many times, Ridge, Lora, Ben, Grace, Jane, and Gregor drew their weapons. Gregor was getting used to the sword he'd taken for his own use. In the past few days it had saved his life more than once. He hoped it could again.

  "Flee or fight?" Asked Jane frantically as the guards came crashing towards them.

  "Fight then flee!" Ben called, using the commander voice Gregor knew he hadn't brought out since Ender lead the Resistance.

  It was six against two. Although the guards were larger, it was obvious they were going to lose.

  Gregor ducked under one and parried his sword, pushing up on the guard's sword arm and kicking him so he fell down. This gave Lora and Grace the opportunity to open fire. Gregor looked away from the gore and helped Ben, Jane, and Ridge take down the second guard.

  They had it almost finished up. Jane and Ben both sparred expertly with the guard as Ridge tripped him up, trying to get him to lose his balance.

  By the time Gregor had his sword out ready to fight, he was done for.

  With both the guards gone, it should have been time for celebration, but with one quick look out the pub it was obvious that wasn't going to happen.

  Guard after guard, a sea of blackness, was headed right towards them. Gregor glanced around, his head swimming with the frightened faces of his friends and the challenging ones of the bystanders in the pub. They looked at him, as if saying, Well now what are you going to do?

  "Guys, it's time to flee!" Ben called.

  Gregor was terrified.

...

  "Are you here for Herobrine?" The boy exclaimed.

  Astounded, we all raised our weapons. How did this boy know we wanted Herobrine?

  "What do you know about Herobrine?" I growled, pointing my arrow straight to his heart. The boy may have looked innocent, but in the prettiest packages come the ugliest monsters.

  "I know plenty about Herobrine," the boy said certainly, as if there wasn't a thing in the world he was surer about.

  "What do you know?" Rax challenged.

  "He- he's possesed me," the boy stammered quietly.

  "What?" This was not the story I'd been expecting. I'd awaited another tale of parents and frends dying at Herobrine's hand. But Herobrine possesing a farmboy? That was new.

  "During the night, he has complete control over my body and I don't know what he does."

  I lowered my bow and slung it over my back. It seemed he was telling the truth. Now we just needed to find out how. How was such a thing possible?

  "Well Herobrine can posses large groups of people, which means that they do his bidding, but he can also directly posses one person, and I don't know why that's me," the boy told us with pleading eyes.

  "If he posses you during the night, then where is he in the day?" I asked.

  "I'm not sure. He goes off somewhere."

  "Well we've been tracking him during the day and it lead us here. Do you have any gamma weapons?" I asked.

  "Gamma weapons? Of course I do," said the boy as if it were obvious. "A month ago, Herobrine's guards armed the country side. Most of the farmhouses in this area have gamma weapons with them."

  Perplexed, I looked to my friends, who seemed equally as confused.

  "Why would Herobrine give weapons to a bunch of farmers?" Bradley asked.

  I racked my brain for an answer. The countryside was probably the only area without gamma weapons everywhere. Why? In the towns guards patrolled the streets with them. This threw off the gamma sensors of the Resistance so they couldn't track Herobrine down.

  "I've got it!" I exclaimed. "Well, I think I do. It's just a theory."

  "What?" Asked Braden.

  "Maybe he just gave them to the farmers so that this area would have a good source of gamma, throwing off the sensors in case anyone came here looking for him," I said.

  My friends looked unsure. "That could be the reason," said Braden.

  "And if his guards ever needed a quick source of weaponry, they've got it right here."

  Now they were nodding. "I suppose that could be the reason," Bradley said, shrugging.

  "But even though we found that out, we're still stuck. This means that we can't track Herobrine," I said, feeling hope leave my body.

  "Ender are you dumb?" Asked Bradley.

  I turned to him, surprised. "No."

  "He'll be here tonight. He's going to posses that kid and we'll be able to talk to him for a full night."

  The guy paled at this. "You're not going to do anything to me, are you?" 

  I glared at Bradley, just to make sure. "Of course not," he said.

  "Well then," I paused. "What's your name?"

  "Habuin," the kid said, looking as if I was about to rob him.

  "Well then, Habuin, do you need any help around the farm?"