Recovering a quick as his body would allow, Gameknight scrambled to his feet and ran. He wasn't sure where he was going, but he knew he needed to keep moving. Another fireball exploded behind him, sending a wave of scorching heat against his thankfully protected backside.
  
Gameknight drew his bow and fired three shots as fast as he could before darting a few blocks away and doing the same thing. Ghasts always aim at where you are, not where you're going to be. They're slow, so I can just aim at where they are. Gameknight reasoned as he sprinted again to the side. He could hear the deafening noise of fireballs exploding and tearing up the fortress behind him. If he wasn't careful, he would trap himself on an island. The exact thing had happened long before when he was fighting the first spider queen, Shaikulud. He likely would not have survived that battle if his sister, Jenny, not interfered.

Gameknight froze, the arrow he was holding going slack against the bow string. He hadn't had time to think about it much, but what was going on in the physical world? What did his family think? He hadn't even tried to contact them. But why hadn't they tried to contact him?

A fireball detonated at his feet, sending him backwards and causing his head to slam against the stone and his helmet to go flying. He slid a couple blocks and felt his HP go down. Now was no the time to worry about this. Sprinting to his feet, Gameknight dodged another fireball as he frantically searched for his bow. There. At the other side of the plateau. Racing toward it, he began to race, not caring to run in zig zag. The Ghasts where above him, not in front or behind. In seconds, he reached it, but instead of stopping to pick it up, he snagged it in a slide and came up kneeling and started to fire.

The herd was huge. Is it a herd? Or is it a pack?  What do you call a bunch of ghasts? Gameknight knew the battle was lost before he drew the next arrow. There was no way he could fight that many. Was there a spawner somewhere? There had to be if there were that many. Baby like cries filled the air and a wave of fireballs rained down, giving Gameknight a few seconds to act, or die.

Running seemed like the best option, so that's exactly what he did. As he ran across the wide bridge, he saw a chest on a high platform in the distance. He needed to get there and get out of there, but how was he going to do that? There were to many to fight on his own.

A lone wolf howl sounded in the distance. Could it be his friends? None of the ghasts appeared fazed by the noise, almost as though they hadn't heard it. His head gave another painful throb, causing red to rickshaw around his vision. Or maybe it was the fire.

Gameknight rolled to dodge another fireball. He was running out of ideas, and if he didn't come up with something soon, he'd get to experience the taste of fireball, which didn't exactly sound like a gourmet meal. Perhaps an alternative would do better. An arrow suddenly flew over his shoulder, striking the closest target. Could it be his friends? Hunter maybe?

Spinning around, Gameknight raced towards the source of the arrow, not sure if it was friend or foe. Gameknight suddenly realized his mistake. The Ghasts where behind him not on top of him, and he wasn't running in zig zag.

Gameknight had lost his helmet in a recent tumble and some lucky ghast struck home. Imagine someone pulling a knife from molten stone and stabbing your head with the red blade. Now imagine multiple knifes doing the same thing as fast as whatever force controlling them could muster. If you can imagine this, your pretty close to what Gameknight felt as a large fireball slammed into the back of his head. On contact, the firey ball exploded and shattered the blocks below him.

Just my luck, Gameknight thought as he began to fall. The bridge was only so thick, and the explosion had just punched through it. Gameknight flung his arms out and grabbed the edge of the opening- barely. His body sung to the side as momentum carried his weight as he struggled to hold on. His head gave a sudden, nasty throb, almost causing him to let go. The pain drowned out the heat of the lava ocean far below, and Gameknight realized in a daze that he was still smoking from the fireball impact. His main priority was holding on, despite his sudden head throbs, so he decided ignoring the smoking fact would be more helpful at the moment. His head did a quick 360 and Gameknight could've sworn he heard a child's bedtime music. Was Herobrine trying to put him to sleep? As little since as that made, a cry from above dragged his attention back to reality.

"Gameknight!" He heard someone yell, pulling him through the sleepy fog and filling him with a new determination. The lava far below seemed to loom closer, as though it might be able to snatch him from his small sliver of hope beneath his fingers. Sweat slipped down his face as he reached with his other hand up to the edge. As he did so, a fierce screaming ignited in his brain, almost causing it him to slip yet again. He knew it was Herobrine, trying to make him fall, but why? Didn't he want him to kill or be killed by the clone? He could almost hear the laughter and he knew he was missing something, but now was not the time to stop and think. Fighting the noise, Gameknight reached up and firmly grabbed the ledge and pulled himself up with all his strength and determination.

It really drained him. Ignoring the noise and fighting through it sent him into a small fog that thankfully didn't last very long, but it left his nose burning. Probably just the ash. Gameknight reasoned as he hauled himself to his feet and looked for his friends. He spotted them on the other side of the bridge, finding fighting Ghasts and other creatures that had joined the commotion. As wanted desperately to go and help, but the it was the perfect distraction for the chest that he needed. Turning, Gameknight drew what was left of his energy, which was remarkably not much, and ran for the chest.

It was next to a blaze spawner. Using his picaxe, three quick blows and it was no more, but Herobrine's screaming was taking every morsel of his energy. His knees gave out as he bent down to the chest, sending his head forward and smacking it into the side. His nose burned more consistently and it had the faintest impression that it was wet. Weird. Pushing himself to his knees, Gameknight pushed the chest open and looked for its inhabitants. A lone blaze rod sat at the bottom, glowing a fierce red. With no time for sight seeing, he stuffed it in his inventory and stumbled out. Time To go.

...

"Stitcher!" Gameknight yelled as he raced toward them. Among the group was Stitcher, Herder and his companion, Crafter, and Survivor. Hunter and Digger had not made it up the latter before it's collapse; maybe they were nearby. The new group scrambled under a nearby cover. An arrow flew over his shoulder again, but this time it wasn't Stitcher.

"Hunter!" Gameknight said happily as he turned to greet her. Digger with his packages in tow ran up to greet them, but the celebration was cut short. "We need to find the portal. Now." The urgency left no room for question and Hunter and Digger turned down a hallway and ran. Rooms spun in and out of focus as Gameknight followed, but the increasing burning in his nose kept him grounded, though who knew for how much longer. The more Herobrine screamed, the more Gameknight resisted, and the more his nose burned. There probably was a connection but Gameknight was too tired to figure it out.

The reached a pillar that Digger had craved steps into and raced down. Well, that's an understatement. Gameknight pretty much h fell down the stairs and it took his friends hauling him to his feet for them to keep going. His head roared. He fought it. His nose was on fire. Why was this so exhausting?

Eventually the reached the portal and began to pile throughout, leaving Hunter and Gameknight on the hill. The army was trying to reach them, but by the time they got there they would be gone. Gameknight placed a block of TNT and jumped into the mortality Hunter as soon as it was lit. The wavey, disorienting field his nothing for him, and as soon as they stepped out of the field, Gameknight was greeted to his friends concerns.

"Are you OK?" Crafter questioned as Gameknight stepped into the light of the underground room. A collective gasp informed him he was not.

"Uh, Gameknight?" Herder questioned, his dog at his his side. "What's... wrong will  your face?"

"What is that?" Digger questioned with a frown. What were his friends talking about? Walking over to a pool of water, Gameknight found himself staring in. Then he noticed what was wrong. Large amounts of red ran down his mouth and chin from his nose, staining the neck of his shirt. Was that blood?

His head throbbed and he tried to fight it, but instead everyone thing blurred, sending him face first into the pool of water. He felt hands grabbed him and pull him back up, but he didn't have the energy to do anything. Exhaustion swept through him but he fought it, making his nose burn again. His friends called his name but the felt far away; he was floating. At least he thought he was. He couldn't tell, and he didn't want to open his eyes.

"Child, open your eyes." Said an old voice.

Gameknight eyes opened immediately, and found a white empty space. He recognized the voice. "Oracle?"

"Yes. This is not as hopeless as it appears to be, nor is it as confusing as you think. Just look where it's not expected, and you'll find some light."

Why can you never get a straight answer out of these people? The white started to fade as darkness closed in, as did the Oracle's voice.

"Wait!" He called, as the waved slammed down on him, trying to drown him. He kicked to the surface and gasped, only to be pushed down by another swell.

"Oracle!" He yelled as he broke the surface again. Laughter filled the air instead and a wave sent him down, down, down.

"Keep trying little friend. You're not going to get very far." Gameknight looked around and saw himself floating a few feet away. A smile twisted the figures features.

"Why are you letting him do this?!" Gameknight yelled as another wave pushed him under. He gasped as the dark fluid slid into his lungs and began to suffocate him.

"Do you think I have a choice? I am you, and not your better half. Soon, I think, you'll begin to realize more of you is missing than your code." He snapped coolly. Gameknight coughed and coughed but the fluid remained in his lungs, refusing to leave.

"Times running out Tommy. Ha look at that; Timeless Tommy." The creature snickered. Gameknight's lungs burned like acid.

"Stop fighting it! You won't win!" The figure snapped as he watched Gameknight struggle. Gameknight wondered if he ment the black waves or Herobrine.

Another wave slammed down, pushing him further beneath. Kicking harder, Gameknight reached for the surface. His fingers found air and he burst through, gasping like a fish for the desperately needed oxygen.

"I'm raising an army. One you won't see coming. Goodbye, my friend." The creatures whispered as the biggest wave Gameknight had ever seen slammed on him, sending him spiralling throughout the endless black water and without the direction, carrying him away, away, away...

Gameknight gasped  and hacked as he sat up sharply only to flop back down and do the only thing he could do- breath. Red splashed across his vision but pain didn't follow. Quite the opposite.

Gameknight  closed his eyes and took a slower, more controlled breathe. He was aware someone else was in the room, but he wasn't sure who. He opened his eyes and saw Morgana the witch holding an empty bottle and frowning at him.

"So what is this anyway?" She asked pointing to the red stuff on the top of his shirt. Gameknight reached up and whipped his hand under his nose and looked. Red layered his blocky fingers and he smell the coppery tange that blood always seemed to have.

"Its called blood." Gameknight replied as he wiped it on his pants. "It's something that happens when we get hurt in the Physical world. Instead of looking HP we bleed." He e explained to the witch as wiped it off his face. Most of it was dry now, except for a new line that had started when he woke up, but it's had stopped.

Morgana frowned as she handed him a piece of cloth. "You Physicals are weird. You can't even be injured correctly."

Gameknight rolled his eyes. Tell me about it.

"You have your friends quite a scare. Maybe you should talk to them?" She suggested as he moved off of the bed and got up. Hardly a suggestion seeing as Hunter pretty much broke down the door, followed by everyone else.

"Care to explain?" She said, crossing her arms, but Gameknight could see the relief in all of their eyes. He was OK.

Gameknight smiled for the first time in days. His head felt clear again and it almost felt normal. The sleep must have helped, he realized. Despite this fact, the dream wondered into mind but he pushed it away. He'd deal with it later.

He nodded and explained the blood thing and eventually the dream too. He pulled out Charybdis' blaze rod and they continued to brain storm.

"Maybe you should so wash your shirt." Crafter suggested, pointing to the red hallow that it now had.

"Yeah, I think I'll do that-" Gameknight froze.

"What happened?" Stitcher asked suddenly, seeing his hesitation. Gameknight's eyes were wide and he ran outside, looking up at the empty sky.

"Gameknight...?" Herder asked, unsure of an answer.

A small smile lit his face as he looked at them.

...

Gameknight999 are you out there?

The words were repeated and Gameknight froze, sure he'd miss heard.

Jenny? Dad?

This is actually Shawny, but yeah there here. Right next to me, actually.

HI SON. Said a message. Tommy smiled lightly as he looked at his friends. His Dad probably just hit the caps lock button.

Are you OK? Are you gonna come home? Jenny asked. Gameknight smile wavered.

That's where it gets complicated... Gameknight said and began to explain. This was going to take a while.