At first, there's only silence between the two of us. Silence which is at first simply filled with my brain pulsing with its own heartbeat as a unmercifully tight band squeezes against my skull. My arm burning within, as the area around it gets pierced with icy needles.

Reuben eventually snorts loudly, pushing against my legs. I roll my eyes at him, shaking my head as he whines at me. I'm not telling Lukas, he's probably super worried about a bunch of other stuff right now. I'm not bothering when with something I can just tough out myself. Once the Order gets their minds in the right place, which can't be too long from now, I'll deal with it. But I can tough it out until then. 

He coughs awkwardly as we turn a corner. "So I know we haven't exactly been friends, and I don't know you every well, but is there... is there something wrong?"

"You mean something other than the world ending?" Reuben snorts at me again, nudging against my weary legs again.

"Well, uh, I meant with you personally." Lukas scratches the back of his head as we walk, which is thankfully not at a very fast pace. "I asked Axel and Olivia about it, but they said you're fine. Probably just stressed or something."

Reuben, again, squeals at me, which makes two of us frustrated. "Hmm... yeah, I'd say there's a lot to stress about right now." Reuben snorts, and I lightly glare down at his head as we walk forward.

"I'm serious Jesse, I've never known you to be weak, but it really seems like your struggling and-"

"It does?" I mentally kick myself, I need to just tough this out. Blurting that question out probably didn't make it any better. Certainly not helping my headache or arm at any rate.

Lukas's eyes shy away, mouth pressing together in a frustrated line before they snap up again. "Yes, you are. You always seem out of breath, and you're basically dead to the world when you were asleep-"

"Lukas, you don't need to wor-"

Reuben squeals loudly, cutting me and hitting against my left leg. With a huff, I reach down with my right hand and rub his head. Raising an eyebrow as he gives me the stink eye.

"What's up with you Reuben?" He snorts at me, my four legged friend rolling his eyes at me. I know exactly what's bothering him, and yeah, I still don't really want Lukas to know about the purple parasites crawling up my arm. Burning every cell they come into contact to.

When I stand back up again, my legs groaning at me, Lukas has his mouth open, but my attention snaps to something green behind him.

"Creeper!"

The pulsing thing comes into light, hissing furiously. I grab Lukas and yank him away-

My ears ring and I'm thrown forward, vision gone as my balance gets thrown out the window. I stagger, my entire body recoiling and weakened by the explosion. I feel my feet slip on something, gravity pulling me back  as I scramble to make sense of everything.

Confused or not, I tell when I start to fall. My arms shoot out, my right arm thankfully latches onto something and supports most of my weight. But as the world sharpens back up again, the muscles in that arm quickly wear thin. I won't be able to pull myself up, not when I just have my left arm dangling helplessly as it hurts more than my right.

"Ohmygosh! Jesse!" Lukas thrusts one of his arms down, eyes wide. "Here! Grab my hand!"

I bite my lip, but nevertheless shoot my left arm up. Lukas clamps down on my forearm, the gray skin seething as his fingers dig into my arm. My breath staggers as I try to ignore it, focusing on using my right arm to push me up.

But when Lukas starts to pull me up, every single muscle in that limb tries and then fails. The entire limb bursting in pain as the muscles try to do something and just wither when unable to do so.

The pain blinds logic and I yank my arm back from him. I lose grip with my right, gravity sending me down into the ground below. My arm limp by my side, my vision blurring as I try to hoist my body up. My very sore and exhausted body.

"Oh crap! Jesse?" I lift my head at Lukas, or at least the fuzzy image of Lukas, the thud in my head distorting his words. "Are you okay?"

"Fine. Just fine." My lungs, my poor whittling lungs, heave with attempts to get as much air as possible. "Probably a few more bruises to add to the collection though."

I can't tell how he responds, my senses haven't recovered enough for any fine details. I hope it's not anything important though.

"Just... just sit tight down there. I'm going to get the others." Even with my ears still buzzing a bit, my throbbing blood loudly, the worry is tight in his voice.

"Don't be so worked up about it Lukas, I'm good. Just a little fall." I can't tell his reaction, but I see his fuzzy image and the pink blob of Rueben vanish. I guess I'm alone now.

I sigh, backing up against a wall and sitting down. My muscles sigh out in relief, my lungs thanking me. Bit by bit, my eyesight returns back. And through the headache, I can see the holes littered in the ground. I can see why Lukas didn't want to jump down to me this time.

Hesitantly, my hand hovers over the sleeve of my arm again. It hurts so much, the muscles withering and cramping on the inside. Even the bone emits this light sting, and I know it's only going to get worse. Maybe Reuben was right, I probably should've told Lukas.

Gulping, I grab the sleeve, pulling it up. I immediately decided that it was the right call not to tell Lukas, my arm looks like some horror scene. My skin all gray and dead, bright unnatural purple roots throbbing around it. Sucking the life out of me, killing me from the inside.

Whimpering, I pull the fabric back over it. I push my head against the wall, the urge just to ball up under everything sparking up. Everything suddenly so overwhelming, all of it crashing down on me.

I mean, come on! I'm trying to figure out some way to kill a Wither Storm! Before I saw that thing, I thought facing an iron golem was pretty scary. Not to mention I'm physically wasting away because of something it did to me! I just- how am I suppose to handle that?

My lungs wheeze as panicked breathes fly in and out of me. I can't believe this, I just- I'm with the Order of the Stone, which actually isn't that great of a thing! I mean- these are heroes that are causing all these problems to begin with! I looked up to these people and they're the ones making everything so difficult!

Like surprise, surprise! The person who made the mess too begin is because the rest of the Order wrote him out of history! A mess that killed one of them already! And the other two think arguing with each other is more important than saving the world! And because it just can't be easy, the one Order member that actually has something to defeat this monstrosity has locked himself away in some fortress that's infested with endermen and is so poorly maintained that it has a huge lake in it!

I heave there on the ground, fear blasting through my system stronger than my blood. The Order doesn't seem to be doing anything, and if they don't pull through and do something, what's going to happen to my friends? They're already so scared, so fearful of the death chasing them, and if the Order can't protect them? Who will?

My eyes flicker down to my arm, my arm withering up and dying, with nothing I can do about it. It's because of this I can't protect my friends, that I'm constantly lagging behind, struggling and pushing myself just to keep up. Yet there's still nothing I can do about, I'm completely helpless in this situation! I have no power over it, all that's happening is just me whittling further and further away.

A warmth comes from my pocket, so out of place in my whirlwind of emotions. So calm amidst all the pain and exhaustion boiling within me. So different.

A twitch runs down my right arm, and I reach down to grab the object. My hand eventually grabbing the amulet as its source. A dark blue glow coming from it as I pull it out. The same dark blue that pointed at Ivor's location on the map.

All the slew of emotions, all the fatigue, the weariness, and even the twisting contorted mess that used to be a fully functioning limb, spark up anger. Ivor did this. He created the monster. It's his fault my home was destroyed. It's his fault that my friend's lives are at risk. It's his fault that my body is slowly crumpling up beneath me. It's his fault my life got ruined.

I stagger to my feet, blind fury masking the pain. My arm still writhes up, but it's now a scream. A scream at me to go get the man who did this. He's the one who made the monster, he's the reason my arm suffers in agony. He's the reason for all of this agony!

And I'm not letting him get away for that.

Using Ivor's light from the amulet, the glow infuriating me more and more as I get closer, dodging the holes and making my way into a library. Fiery breaths heaving from my lungs, exhaustion put on hold for vengeance. After all, he's the reason Redstonia is dead. My hometown is dead. Why Gabriel is dead. Why the world is dying.

I stomp to where a bookshelf door is left cracked open, shoving the amulet back into my pocket. Ivor's going to pay for this, he's going to pay for everything he's done!

Enraged blood boils within as I climb up the steps and through the door, seeing the vile green robed man mutter to himself as he sweeps the books near a sword rack. It doesn't seem like there's one ounce of regret in his body.

Oh, oh I so plan on changing that one.

My sword hisses as it slides out of its sheath, Ivor whipping around to face me. Shock on his crazed face.

"Hello Ivor." I grin at him, rage screaming at me to get him. It's time for him to pay for what he's done! The lives he's taken and all the lives still in jeopardy!

"Jesse," His face scrunches up, another flare of fury igniting inside me. "I honestly didn't think you'd survive this long. Do you even know how to wield that sword properly?"

I narrow my eyes at him, stalking him. "Seeing how you're monster has failed to kill me, I'd say so."

He takes a couple steps back, grabbing one of the swords on the rack and whipping it out. Stone blade up against a golden one. I can still stop him, I won't let him get away with everything he's done to the world. Everything he's done to my friends!

"What makes you think you stop me? You should never even have bothered coming here." Ivor narrows his eyes at me, nodding at the door. "Leave. Before you make yourself the villain in my story."

I glare at him, flexing my grip on the handle. "You've already made yourself the villain."

With that, I swing at him. Relying on muscles throughout my whole body to send a powerful blow at Ivor. He grunts when he blocks it, pushing back at him with resent in his eyes. I'm sure he just hates it how he couldn't just kill me too.

He lunges forward, knocking me back. His chuckle, my arm withering, he needs to be taken down! I cry out, slashing upward with my blade. He deflects it, and I furiously jab the tip at him. Forcing him to jump back.

"You sure have a lot of spirit, too bad you lack the skill to harness it."

Screaming at him, pressure and wrath pounding together, I attack him again. Not caring about my withering left arm, just on moving my right arm faster and faster. Putting more strength into the sword, cutting at his defenses.

Ivor suddenly counters my attack, hate snapping into panic as I quickly scatter back. Keeping my left arm limp as it writhes, glaring at Ivor as I raise my sword up again.

"I'm not letting you get away, not this time."

He smirks at me, resent flaring inside me. "I'd like to see you try."

Ivor lunges, hate keeping my strength up, keeping me pushing back at Ivor as he relentless attacks me. I won't fail, I won't let this madman-

Our swords grind together, Ivor moving our blades in some sort of circle. I grunt, jumping back and getting my sword out of that weird twisty move he was trying to pull on me. I curse in my head when I see that the door is straight to my right. I'm such a fool, I'm not blocking the door anymore!

With a grunt he swings at me again, stone and gold clashing against each other. He presses our blades close, so that our faces are less than a foot away. My rage able to see just the vileness in his face, a mad light in his eyes as he smirks at me again.

His cold evil fingers suddenly clamp down on my left arm. I screech, any ferocity dying along with my arm. My face spasming from the cruel, heart wrenching agony that screams from my arm. All other sensations lost as the searing pain encompasses my being.

Then he lets go, leaving my mind a mess as I vaguely feel my sword ripped from my grasp. Tears blurring the world as something suddenly slams into my chest, the dull impact from the ground distantly vibrating throughout me as I cradle the limb sending bolts of torture and misery right into my mind.

"I was impressed when your friend crossed the line from bravery to foolishness." The blurred tip of a gold blade only inches away slowly comes into focus, Ivor's words fuzzy in my head. "But I'm afraid you leap across it."

"You..." My voice croaks, phlegm piling up, and I can't even scoot back when I reject any thought about even twitching my arm. "You w-won't get away with this."

The sword point lowers, a trail of horror surviving even with my arm drilling agony into me. "Who's going to stop-"

"Ivor!" Petra's roar gives me only fluttering relief, not when my arm demands that it can't be ignored. Although I have to admit it's nice when Ivor's sword vanishes from my face. Giving me time to think about how horrendously terrible my arm is right now.

"Jesse!" I distantly hear Petra and Ivor clash, as I glance over at the other three people. Their shapes still a tad bit blurry, but fear over all of their faces as they rush over to me. I'm probably, I wince as I try to contain the pain, I'm probably not the greatest sight at the moment.

Axel and Olivia hoist me help, my legs wobbling beneath me as the fierce energy I used to fight Ivor has left its mark. I can't even see correctly and it's really hard to think with my arm still blaring like crazy!

"Dammit!" Petra runs back over to us, her sword at the ready as Axel, or someone, has to keep me steady. "He's vanished! Stay on alert!"

"As much as I love to waste my time on you, I believe we're done here." Everyone else's attention snaps to Ivor's voice, and out of the corners of my blurry vision I spot a few of my friends start to charge, when glass suddenly shatters.

The world seems to slam into me, but when I raise my head and hear an insanely high pitched laugh, I figure it's just time. My head, with my blood still pounding fiercely inside it, somehow processing that everyone is now running at the door as Ivor moves almost as a blur. My right arm snapping back to grab hold of the table.

Vaguely, I realize the door shuts as I cough out some phlegm that refuses to leave. But my top concern is keeping my balance, the exhausted muscles in my right arm trying to keep me steady. They kinda manage to, but I end up having to lean against it anyway. Only now do I even notice Rueben still with me and trying to comfort me through this deep ocean of suffering.

I groan quietly, needing to get rid of more phlegm, wishing that whatever potion did this could have slowed down mental abilities too. Physically, I don't care right now. But if it slowed down the pain I'm feeling, I think it would be the one thing I liked Ivor doing.

A flare of defeat rises amidst it all. I failed, hard. I was no match for Ivor, and I would've died had my friends not showed up. I didn't-

The world, or time, snaps back up. I blink rapidly, my mind struggling to get back to the faster world. However, very very slowly, the absolute terrible agony Ivor left in my arm settles back into normal levels of withering. Which amazingly doesn't even seem bad anymore compared to what I just went through.

"Goddammit Ivor!" I lift my head at Petra as she pounds her fists in the bookshelf, Axel and Olivia also looking ready to kill him. Lukas too, until he caught sight of me panting and clutching my arm to my body as if my life depended on it. Concern washing over his feet as he heads to me.

Yeah, I don't think I'll be able to talk my way out of this one.

"Jesse?" I distantly hear Reuben's soft oink as I look away from Lukas. "You okay? Ivor really, uh, well really he got you good."

I lift my eyes back up, seeing the same look of concern plastered on Olivia's face. Fury livid in Axel's and Petra's though. Yet even in my scattered state of mind, there's fear shinning in their eyes. It could be fear of anything, at Ivor, for my well being, that we're trapped in here. But it's there, and I don't want it there.

A weary smile somehow cracks on my face, my voice gruff as I speak through the phlegm. "I would not recommend going into your first sword fight against someone like Ivor, doesn't end well."

"I'll say." Olivia steps closer to me, her hand lifting towards my left arm. "We should probably have a look at what he did-"

"No!" I move the arm, as horrible as that feels, across my chest and away from her. "It's not bleeding, probably just twisted or something. Just give me a moment to recover, I'll be fine. We really need to focus on getting out of here though."

Purely just to get attention off of my arm, I gesture to the door. "If you have any bright ideas on how to open the door though, now would be a great time to share them."

"Ooh! I got an idea!" Axel runs over to the door, Petra close behind and Olivia hesitantly following. Lukas, with that really stubborn concern on his face, hangs back with me.

Thankfully though when Axel shouts for Magnus, Lukas turns his attention to Axel. Giving me a moment to let the façade fall, to just pant through a build up of phlegm and continue scraping up scraps to repair a more stable mental state. Trying to get my arm to relax just a bit more so I can let it go limb without wincing.

"Well all right... but I have another idea!" With a deep breath, and on a complete impulse, let the arm fall to my side. Refusing to cradle it again even when it blares in pain.

"Is it yelling for Ellegaard?"

"Well, uh, not anymore."

Lukas sighs, and I really see how much everything's been weighing on him, an air of... hopelessness encircling him. "Face it guys, they aren't the heroes we thought they were. They aren't coming back for us."

Olivia and Axel gasp, pure shock rippling through their faces. Burning more of the energy in high demand all throughout my body, I think of something to say. Anything to say to dispel the crushed faces of my friends, to get back some sort of hope.

"That doesn't matter." All their heads swivel to me, all of them looking at me with hope that I just have to give them. "We don't need the entire Order, we just need Soren and his bomb. That's it."

Petra scoffs, arms crossed her chest. "Let's say we punch through the books, this fortress is still massive. I for one don't want to roam around these stupid hallways anymore. Although hunting down Ivor would be nice."

Axel nods as he scowls. "Couldn't agree more on that one."

I push against the table thing, a flutter of relief going through my hallow body when I don't lose balance, and I pull out the amulet. Ivor's light fades away, which still somehow manages to tick me off, and none of the others even give a flicker of light.

Growling at it, I open my mouth when the white light blares to life. Soren's light glowing powerfully, and I grin at the others. I grin at them despite my arm withering, despite my body utterly exhausted, despite my head throbbing and lungs burning to breathe through the phlegm.

I smile at them, simply because they need me to.

"Soren."