Sky's teeth clattered in his mouth as he shivered and attempted to sleep. All he had was a single torch to give him warmth and light. Sky didn't even have his amulet to comfort him; Lord Enderlox had taken it away. Squids would constantly swim by to taunt him relentlessly. But as miserable as he was, Sky knew that things could be a lot worse. At least Lord Enderlox had been "kind" enough to heal his broken arm. The reason why, he still had no clue.

There seemed to be no escape out of the prison. One time Sky had managed to jump out of the cage when the squids had opened the door to feed him. Sky had only swum five feet before getting caught.

Grunts of pain and frantic splashes disturbed his thoughts. Sky looked down and saw the two squid guards sinking in the water. His eyes widened with surprise when he saw dark blue blood in the pool. Sky felt the hair on the back of his neck rise as he heard the cage door open.

"Please wake up." a voice asked timidly. Sky looked up to see a squid staring at him. One of its tentacles was holding a butter sword. "Here to help."

Sky shied away from the squid instinctively. "Why should I trust you?" Sky said harshly.

"I'm different." the squid replied as it tossed the sword to Sky. Sky hesitated for a moment before picking it up. He suddenly felt a lot safer with the sword in his hand. Most importantly, it was made out of butter.

"Thanks, but why are you doing this?" Sky asked.

"You're the First." the squid replied cryptically.

"The First of what?"

"The Prophecy..." The squid suddenly gasped and stood completely still. Sky watched in awe as the squid's eyes turned as blue as the morning sky.

"Uh, hello? Are you still there?" Sky asked in utter confusion. He waved a hand in front of the unresponsive squid. "Earth to squid!"

"Lord Ender was punished by his brothers for giving the gift of fear to man. He was cast into the End and was trapped for ages." the squid chanted. "The Eighth has fallen... The Eighth has fallen!" The squid shook its head violently and its eyes turned black again. It whimpered slightly and quivered.

"Are you okay?" Sky asked with concern.

"You need to go." it said quickly, ignoring Sky's question. "No time left."

"But what happened to you?" Sky asked. "Your eyes changed color and you started saying these weird things!"

"I'm different." the squid repeated in a shaky voice as it jumped back into the pool. Sky decided to save the million questions whirling around in his head for later as he followed the squid into the water. "Open that door." the squid said, gesturing with its tentacle. "Go through a painting. The skull one."

"Then what?" Sky asked.

"Avoid iron doors. Go through wooden ones. Find the exit."

Sky raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure about this?" Sky asked skeptically. "How do you know this anyway?"

"I listened and saw." the squid replied vaguely.

Sky decided to trust the squid because he had no other option. He mumbled the directions under his breath one more time. "Got it."

"Good luck." the squid said. "Lead the Army. Save us all."

"Uh, sure. Thanks." Sky replied as he exited the pool and walked up to the door. He had one hand on the doorknob when he paused and turned around. "What's your name-" Sky began to ask, but the squid had already left. Feeling a sense of uneasiness, he opened the door and shut it behind him.

He found himself in a strange gallery hall. Dozens of paintings hung on the walls, and they were so close with each other that the myriad of colors seemed to mix and morph together. It was making Sky's head hurt. The skull, he remembered. Sky walked through the skull painting to find a tunnel concealed behind it. At the end of the tunnel there were two doors: one iron and one wooden one.

He went through the wooden door to see two other doors. Sky avoided the iron door and opened the wooden one to see two more doors. It went on like this for about ten minutes, and Sky wondered if he was just going around in a circle and if the squid had tricked him.

He opened another wooden door to see a hallway. Sky thought that he had finally found the exit. He heard the sound of a rope snapping as he activated a tripwire. Sky's vision darkened as he was struck by a Blindness Effect.

He saw a sign by the door that read "Nightmare Halls." He swallowed nervously as mysterious purple runes glowed in the air. The faint smell of brimstone hung in the air. Sky heard the ghosts of whispers and screams as the runes slowly faded away. The walls suddenly seemed too narrow and made him feel extremely claustrophobic. "You're going to be okay, Sky." he said to himself weakly, putting a hand to his sword. Sky panicked when he realized that it wasn't there anymore. He swallowed nervously and mustered up the courage to speak. "H-Hello?" Sky's voice echoed around the dark halls. The torches on the walls emitted cold and pitiful lights that only made him more uneasy. "Is anyone there?" There... there... there...

"Sky..." someone rasped. Sky whirled around to see Seto lying on the floor. His skin was sickly-green and red blood slowly oozed from a large bitemark on his neck.

"Seto?!" Sky said shrilly as he knelt down by the fallen sorcerer. "Oh Notch, who did this to you?"

Seto gazed blankly at Sky. Sky could already see the life fading from his brown eyes. "Jerome and Quentin..."

"They did this?" Sky asked in disbelief.

"The virus..." A small ball of fire formed in the sorcerer's hand, making shadows dance demonically on the walls. "Mustn't... Turn..."

"Seto, what-"

"Goodbye..." Sky screamed in horror and shock as Seto suddenly dropped the ball of fire on himself. The acrid smell of burning flesh filled the air as the flames greedily devoured the sorcerer.

"SETO! SETO NO!" Coughing from the smoke that stung his throat, Sky turned around and ran as fast as he could. Once he was far away enough, he choked out a sob and sunk to the ground. Sky had just watched his friend burn himself to death, and he had been powerless to stop him. "I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming, I'm dreaming..." he repeated over and over again. "Please let this just be a dream..." But everything seemed too real.

"NO PLEASE! GET AWAY FROM ME! NO!" The blood drained from Sky's face. That had been Ian's voice. There was a loud scream of agony followed by a disturbing crunching sound. Sky held his breath and stood very still when he heard zombies growling. The zombies slowly shuffled away until Sky couldn't hear them anymore. Sky silently made his way to where Ian's voice had been.

There was a gaping, bloody hole where Ian's stomach had once been. His ice-blue eyes were filled with tears of pain. "S-S-Sky?" Ian said shakily as he slightly convulsed on the floor. "I-I-It hurts..." he whimpered. Ian clutched Sky's hand tightly as he coughed up bright-red blood. "R-Run..." With those final words, he closed his eyes and released his grip.

"No! Not you too!" Sky yelled as he felt Ian's wrist for a pulse. He panicked when he found none. "Ian wake up! Don't leave me here!" Sky almost gasped with relief when he saw Ian open his eyes again. He scrambled backwards in horror when he saw that they were coal-black instead of blue. The zombie Ian grabbed Sky's leg and growled, making him scream in terror. Sky kicked Ian away and stood up quickly. Adrenaline ran through Sky's blood as he grabbed a torch and beat Ian's head repeatedly with it until the zombie stopped moving. Pools of red and green blood stained the floor.

There was no time to mourn his dead friend. Sky heard low growls coming from behind him. His heart nearly skipped a beat when two familiar zombies staggered into view. Jerome and Quentin's ragged arms reached out to Sky as they shuffled towards him. Sky's mind screamed desperately for him to run, but his feet seemed permanently glued to the ground as his body went numb. He noticed that Jerome's fur was matted with blood and gore and that Quentin's flippers were a horrifically beautiful shade of blue-green. Both were staring at him coldly and blankly. They were just a few feet away when Sky broke out of his trance and began to run. His feet thumped against the cobblestone floor and his heart pounded furiously against his chest as if it were trying to break out of his ribcage. The zombies were close behind him in hot pursuit.

Just when he thought that he wouldn't make it, Sky reached an iron door. He opened it and slammed it shut. The zombies moaned as they tried unsuccessfully to break in. Sky panted with fear and exhaustion as he stepped away from the door. There was an audible crunching sound as he stepped on something. He lifted up his foot to see orange shards. Sky looked around to see Jason lying on the floor a few feet away. Sparks flew from his broken space suit as blue blood spilled from his shattered helmet. "JASON!" Sky knelt by his friend. "Not you too! Who did this to you?" Sky asked desperately. "Why is this happening to us?"

Jason laughed suddenly and coughed up blue blood, sending shivers down Sky's spine. He couldn't recall Jason ever sounding so cruel in his whole life. "Who did this to me? Why is this happening? You actually don't know?" The space man guffawed as he quickly stood up, oblivious to his numerous fatal wounds. "Oh, this is priceless. I'll tell you what happened. You happened."

Sky was taken aback at his friend's harsh words. His voice shook as he stuttered through his tears. "I... I don't... Why would you..."

"This is all your fault, Sky!" Jason screamed. "We all decided to look for you when you and Deadlox got kidnapped! Then we got trapped in these damn tunnels and Jerome and Quentin got infected by a virus! Everyone's dead because of you, Sky! Everything that happened to us is your fault!"

"I'm sorry!" Sky cried out as he buried his face into his hands. "I-I didn't mean to kill them! I'm so sorry, Jason!"

"Sorry doesn't cut it, Sky." Jason said coldly. "Sorry isn't going to bring any of our friends back to life." Sky looked up to see Jason pointing one of his guns at his head. "Maybe I'm dying, but if I'm going down, I'm making sure you're going down with me."

Sky backed away, his golden eyes glued to the barrel of the gun. "Jason, put the gun down! Please! It doesn't need to be like this..." Sky pleaded. Jason gazed at Sky coldly and tightened his grip on the gun. "Jason, listen to me!"

Why should he? Seto's voice suddenly asked.

Yeah, why should Jason listen to you? Ian said icily. You let me die. You didn't even lift a finger to help me.

Sky whimpered and put his arms over his head in a futile effort to block out the voices of his angry friends. And then the worst voice of all spoke. You watched me die, Sky. You watched as Lord Ender stole my body and released my soul. Leader of the Sky Army? Don't be stupid. A true leader doesn't let their friends die right in front of them, do they?

The space man paused for a moment before lowering the gun. "I've changed my mind, Sky. I'm not a murderer like you." He spat with contempt. Jason shifted the gun's aim so that the bullet shot past Sky's shoulder. Sky whirled around to see that the bullet had hit a button on the wall. The iron door opened and Jerome and Quentin let out bloodthirsty moans as they approached the two. "I hope your soul rots in the Nether." Jason said with sadistic glee as he watched Sky back away from the zombies into the corner. Sky screamed in pain and horror as Jerome's claws dug into his flesh. He smelled Quentin's foul breath as the zombie pulled Sky's head back to sink its fangs into his neck...

Sky's golden eyes suddenly snapped open and he let out several shuddering gasps. It took him several moments to realize that he was lying on the floor, soaking wet with sweat and tears. His throat was hoarse from screaming so much. Jerome, Quentin, and Jason were gone, and the hallway was bright again. Sky looked up to see Lord Enderlox sneering at him. "Good evening Sky, or should I say good afternoon? You slept through the whole day." Lord Enderlox paused. "I did warn you what would happen if you tried to escape again. Did you really think that it was going to be so simple?"

Sky tried to muster up a spiteful remark, but all he could do was break down into traumatized sobs. The Nightmare Halls had manifested every single thing he feared and made them so vivid and intense that it had completely shut down his mind and logic.

"Just as I expected." Lord Enderlox muttered. "You know, one can learn a lot about a person just from their fears. And I must say that your results are quite interesting. I was expecting the squids to at least make one appearance. Instead, your greatest fear is losing your friends. How touching." Lord Enderlox said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Sky managed to sit up and calm himself down slightly. He glared at Lord Enderlox, who smirked in return and continued.

"Fear is a powerful emotion, Sky. It can completely dominate the five senses and can turn even the bravest of people into the most cowardly of all. But there is one thing that can overcome fear, and that is hope. I recall you telling me that you believed that your friends would save you, right?" Sky nodded slowly. "Well, Sky, I intend to completely destroy that hope of yours."

Before Sky could react, Lord Enderlox whipped out a sharp knife and stabbed him in his chest. He cried out as he felt the blade pierce his back, impaling him. The winged creature pulled the knife out and let Sky's body fall limply onto the floor. He gasped and convulsed on the floor as blood quickly pooled around him. Sky could tell that Lord Enderlox had hit several major blood vessels. Mercifully, the initial agonizing pain quickly receded to numbness as his heartbeat slowed.

Lord Enderlox knelt beside the dying Sky, his face completely void of emotion. "Where are your friends now?" Lord Enderlox whispered.

Somewhere in Sky's muddled mind, he registered the fact that he would never see his friends again. They were back at home base, blissfully unaware that Sky was dying. And yet he was glad, because at least they were safe and unharmed. Although he'd never live again, all that mattered to him were his friends.

Sky couldn't feel the tears that glistened his golden eyes. He was still upset that he was going to leave the world alone. He sought comfort in Lord Enderlox's face, because although his eyes were black and not red, he still looked exactly like Deadlox. And then Sky was consoled by the knowledge that Deadlox and his parents was waiting for him somewhere in the Aether. His vision blurred and began darkening around the edges, signalling that Sky's time was almost up.

Ty... Jason... Seto... Quentin... Ian... Jerome...

Thanks for being there for me...

The darkness dominated his vision and then brightened. Sky felt the inexplicable feeling of flying as he rose high and above into the white clouds. The world spun around below him, but Sky didn't notice. He felt strangely peaceful and he just felt so free...

Lord Enderlox watched Sky's eyes and was reminded of the inevitable sunset, when the golden, fiery sun slowly fades out and the sky bleeds red and darkens. A ghost of a smile lingered on Sky's lips. "Mom? Dad?" he said quietly. "Are... you... proud..." Sky never got an answer. The light was gone. Evening had come.