#lotta fun

Uncomfortable. That was the only word Jesse could use to perfectly describe the nave he sat in. Pure, unfiltered discomfort.

Two days after Lukas’ funeral, Nell came knocking on his door in the middle of the day saying her ‘support group’ was getting together soon, and offered to walk him there. As she guided him out of Obsidian Town and through the seemingly infinite field of grass, past the northwest forest where the once-active shrine laid, a horrible realization consumed Jesse’s mind: he’s going to be surrounded by enemies with no protection. No sword, no arrows, nothing.

He had been too consumed with the loss of Lukas to properly plan his visit to the ‘support group’, he had practically forgotten about Nell’s offer as well, but there was no point in dreading his past poor planning now.

Here he sat in the nave, hundreds upon hundreds of feet below the surface and away his friends, of The Awakening.

Jesse was unsure when the service would begin. Every eternal minute he waited was another nail being impaled into his head, telling him this was the worst decision he’s made in his entire life.

What was he doing here?

‘You’re here for Lukas.’ He reminded himself. Not just Lukas, but for Aiden, Maya, Gill, Cassie, and Stella too. They were his friends as well.

Nell must’ve seen Jesse’s hands shake as they rested on his legs, she reached and held one of them, giving him a smile. Jesse gave her a small, forced smile in return.

Jesse was seated in the middle of a bench, pressed between Nell and a middle aged man, in the third row of the nave. There were seven rows, fourteen including the other benches on the left side, and they were all packed. He scanned the nave and everyone in here. They were all sitting and talking to one another. Not a single person was standing. If Jesse attempted to leave now, they’d all notice.

The chattering of the people, which was the only minimal source of comfort Jesse had, turned to hushes, then to silence.

Jesse brought his attention to the front of the room where the stage stood, it had hanging banners, red flowers in pots, redstone torches aligned on the walls, and three men who stood behind the podium. The names of the eldest, white haired man and the older, dark skinned man to the right had slipped Jesse’s mind, but he remembered the horribly pale, blond man to the left of them: Cecil. Out of the three, Jesse, Aiden, and the others fought Cecil--back when he and Radar worked together--the most.

The eldest man, with a smile on his wrinkled face, began talking. Jesse couldn’t listen. He can’t. He tore his hand out of Nell’s and gripped onto the edge of the bench in front of him, focusing on the stone floor below, breathing in and out of the mouth hoping it’d calm his nerves. He remembered the older men being blind, but Cecil wasn’t. What if Cecil spotted him in the crowd? What would he do? Would he run? Fight his way through?

Why didn’t he tell his friends where he was going? Why didn’t he tell them about Nell? He should have. One of them could have joined him. He’d feel safer. He’d be safer.

Jesse heard the creaking of wood followed by tens of footsteps. He brought his eyes back up to see the people from the first row form a line by the small staircase that led to the stage.

“Are you alright?” He heard Nell ask.

He nodded as he watched a person step on stage, approach a basket set on the podium, place something inside, nodded, then stepped down. Another person repeated this process.

“What’s going on?” Jesse asked, continuing to watch the people.

“People’s payment.” Nell answered.

Jesse’s body jolted. Payment?

“I didn’t bring any money--!” He felt the panic begin to rise again.

“Relax, you’ll be okay.” Nell hushed him, “You can ‘pay’ with a confession.”

The people of the second row stood and came to the stage as the first row returned to their seats.

“What? What does that mean? What should I even confess?”

“When you step up there, put your hand over the basket and tell a truth.” She vaguely explained.

Jesse looked back at the people. Maybe him sitting in the third row made it hard to properly see what the people were doing, but it seemed everyone was giving money. He didn’t want to be the only one. What if he let important information slip? The men heard his voice before, they were bound to know it was Jesse. Maybe he could deepen his voice, confess in one quick breath, then leave. He still needed to come up with a confession, even a white lie would do.

Nell nudged him, “Don’t worry, people have confessed to some pretty awful things before.”

She directed his attention to the people sitting beside him, who had risen from their seats, and began walking to the stage. Nell hoisted Jesse up by his arm and began guiding him to the line.

“If you confess to something embarrassing, I’ll be sure to make my confession worse.” Nell promised. Her tone was optimistic and fueled his anxiety rather than helped it.

Jesse prayed for the line to go slowly, that the truths people told would be long and time consuming, but instead he found himself moving closer to the stairs every few seconds. Each step he took, he could make out more of the men’s appearances. Every strand of hair, every crack and wrinkle in their faces, the scars of severe burn marks, and every other despicable detail. They repulsed Jesse.

When one person stepped off the stage, the men would turn to the next person coming on. Each time they turned their head, Jesse swore Cecil’s eyes locked onto his.

“Thank you.” Jesse heard the oldest say to the middle aged man. When the man walked off, they brought their heads to Jesse’s direction.

‘You’ve fought them before.’ Jesse told himself as he put his weight on the first step.

‘Just be quick. Get it over with.’ He dragged his feet across the wooden planks, his eyes beholding the men before him. He saw Cecil had now closed his eyes, a light smile on his face. The same smile he wore whenever he witnessed Jesse and his friends in misery.

Jesse stood in front of the podium and hovered his shaking hand over the full basket.

“I once…” Why was his voice so brittle?  

The dark skinned man lifted his head upon hearing Jesse’s voice.

Jesse swallowed, “I once broke my friend’s sword. I felt awful, so I made him a new one. He never found out.”

He pulled his hand back, ready to leave, but the man on the right stepped close.

“I don’t believe I recognize your voice.” His voice was deep and deceitfully calm. A smile was on his face, and his foggy eyes created the illusion of softness.

“Is this your first gathering?” The man asked, his hands were clasped together.

He doesn’t want to do this anymore. Please. Please let him sit back down. Please let him go.

“Yes.” Jesse answered quietly, looking down.

“Ah, it is always wonderful hearing a new voice.” The man raised one hand and placed it on Jesse’s shoulder. Jesse’s body stiffened.

“I am Brenner. Who might you be?”

Jesse felt all eyes in the nave pierce through him. He could feel them watching. Don’t panic. Don’t cause a scene. Don’t.

His mind couldn’t create a false name in time, “Jesse.”

Brenner’s smile grew, he pulled Jesse close and spun him around to face the crowd.

“We have a new member in our family!” Announced Brenner as he held Jesse close.

Jesse looked on in horror as the audience stood up and cheered for him. His eyes darted over the crowd; from complete strangers, to kids, to elders, to people who lived in his town, they all watched him. Clapped for him. Celebrated his presence.

He wanted to go home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Jess studied what little of the shrine he could make out. Had it not been for the sunlight outside, it’d be nearly impossible to see the ruined shrine’s interior. The inside actually looked far nicer than what Jess imagined. When he heard the words ‘abandoned shrine’, he expected massive cobwebs, walls seconds away from crumbling and a ceiling moments away from caving in, or giant, collapsed columns with their remains spilled over the floor. But amazingly, the place was in decent condition.

The walls and floors had minor cracks throughout them, the biggest being those the size of Jess’ arm, and there were four, sturdy columns in the room that supported the ceiling. Speaking of which, chunks of the ceiling were missing, most likely due to the quakes throughout the years, and had fallen onto the ground and the benches. Rain must’ve seeped through the cracks above, as mold had formed in the corners of the room, on the benches, and on the thin, red carpet that led to a broken, battered stage at the end. An odd, earthly scent clashed with a powerful, rusty odor which Jess’ stomach wasn’t sure how to feel about.

“This place’s definitely seen better days.” Gill said aloud. His voice echoed through what was once a nave.

Maya took out two torch sticks and struck them against the wall, setting both ablaze. The room brightened, tinted orange by the fires, and two doorways became visible. One was on the left of the ruined stage while the other was in the center of the left wall. Neither appeared welcoming.

“Here.” Maya handed Aiden a torch.

The four followed the moldy carpet past the benches then stopped in front of the stage. Jess turned towards it, beholding the torn banners and the eerie symbol placed between them. Something about seeing the symbol in a wall of a forgotten shrine, luminated by a flickering source of light, made Jess feel as though the shrine were haunted.

He dragged his eyes away from the symbol and locked onto the door-hole by the stage.

“Should we start our search there?” Jess pointed to the hole.

Aiden glanced at the door then shook his head, “Nah, we wanna go through that one.”

He pointed to the other doorway, which was more refined and had a wooden frame unlike the one Jess suggested.

Aiden walked around the benches and headed to the doorway, the others followed behind.

“I’m not sure where that leads to, but I do know this hallway branches off to a bunch of different rooms.” Aiden explained, extending his hand with the torch in front of him as he entered said-hall.

Jess followed behind Aiden, Gill and Maya behind him, small bits of ember occasionally flying into his hair. They truly needed the torches, not only because of how dark the hallway was, but because the smoke overpowered the putrid smell of rust and mold.

It didn’t take much walking for them to soon encounter their first door, however, they didn’t enter just yet.

“Hold on, I want to check something.” Aiden said, and continued walking through the narrow, pitch black hall, the light of his torch revealing five more worn down, wooden doors as he passed them. The brightness of the fire faded the further he went, but before he became completely consumed by the darkness, fire and all, he stopped. His whispered cussing bounced off the walls.

“You okay?” Gill asked, squinting at the flame of Aiden’s torch, barely making out his silhouette.

“Yeah.” Aiden huffed, returning to his friends, “Remember those stairs that led to the real big room underneath?”

“Uh huh?” Gill responded.

“It’s been completely blocked off by rubble. Even if we managed to move the rocks, I’m pretty sure the trip down wouldn’t be safe.”

“That’s alright.” Maya said.

She glanced at the walls, “We got six rooms to search through. They should have something.”

“Exactly.” Aiden looked at the three.

“We’ll go in pairs. Maya and Gill, you check out the rooms on the right side. Jess and I will go through the ones on the left.”

“Got it.” Maya approached the first door she saw and swung it open with her free hand.

Gill followed behind, “We’ll holler if we spot anythin’!”

Aiden didn’t waste any time, he opened the first left door at the beginning of the hallway and tilted his head, signalling Jess to follow. Not that Jess needed to be told, he was already rushing inside, eager to see what the first door had to offer.

What laid in the room they entered were the remains of a small library. Towering bookshelves covered the walls, a few had fallen to the floor and broke into pieces, and were filled with dusty books of a variety of sizes. A tattered ladder with missing steps leaned against a bookshelf which stood beside an old writing desk, who had clumps of black ink all over it’s old, wooden top. Chests, all closed, were placed in front of bookcases by the desk, and had a few books on their tops. The stone floor had a large, round, torn carpet with intricate golden-yellow and deep red designs sewn into it, along with the symbol Jess saw before. Despite how worned it seemed, the carpet was still in good condition, and looked as though it took months upon months to make. It made Jess wonder why someone would leave it behind.

By the door they came through, there were two unlit torches on each side. Aiden fed fire to them; the combined strength of the three flames revealed tiny symbols painstakingly carved into the walls. As Aiden started removing the books from the chests, Jess brought himself closer to what walls weren’t covered by the shelves and started running his fingers over the symbols. As he felt each bump, scratch, and tiny hole thoughtfully chiseled into each unique symbol, he imagined what Olivia would do if she beheld what he saw.

She would get on her knees, fingers would carefully trace each individual line that created each miniscule detail, trying to figure out what each shape represented or what the shape was meant to be. She’d wonder how long the symbols have been around for, and how important they were to the people who created them.

Speaking of wondering…

“How many shrines are there?” Jess asked his first question.

Aiden looked up from the chest and thought for a moment, “Around Obsidian Town or around the world?”

Jess slowly raised his brows, “Do you know how many shrines are around the world?”

“No.” Aiden chuckled, “But there’s four known shrines around our town, I wouldn’t be surprised if that number shrunk with all those quakes over time though.”

Aiden moved to the next chest to the left of him after he found nothing, and began digging around, “Apparently The Awakening has been ditching old shrines and building up new ones whenever something goes slightly wrong for years.”

His fingers reached the bottom and felt a soft, sandy substance, causing his eyes to brighten.

“They did it again after we beat ‘em, nice to know some things never change.” A smug smile spread across his face. He took his hand out of the chest and saw the tips of his fingers coated in a red, glittering dust. He grabbed the leather pouch from his jacket’s pocket, opened it, and carefully started transferring the redstone powder into the bag.

Jess, not wanting to stand around and only ask questions, brought himself to a chest on the farther left side of the library, and started searching as well.

“Was there a specific reason why these were built?” He asked, hand digging through the forgotten items, “Are they all made for worshipping The Hero, or is each one built with a specific reason? Do people live in them?”

“I dunno about people living in them--” He halted and swore under his breath as the red powder slipped through his fingertips and clouded his vision red.

“You’d probably have to ask Hadrian and Mevia for more details on shrines. Or Gill.”

Aiden scraped as much of the powder he could and poured it into the pouch, “Most of them were made for worshipping. The Shrine of Eyes? Worshipping, but was also used for attempted summonings.”

Jess remained still for a minute, staring aimlessly into the chest as he thought to himself.

“Why do people worship The Hero?”

Aiden opened his mouth but quickly closed it, clenching his teeth.

“That’s…” He pressed his lips together, “We only know the surface level of The Awakening. Radar knows a lot more, but he probably won’t share much.”

He closed the chest and tightened the strings of the pouch, “The Awakening has this crazy theory that The Hero is a god who’s been banished to another dimension--another universe?”

Aiden stopped to think, then continued, “He was made to represent the worst in everyone, the exact opposite of the Impossible Man. I also remember a lot of people linking the earthquakes we get with The Hero judging us and ‘trying to escape’ his banishment. There’s a lotta theories out there.”

He stood up, “So my only guess is The Awakening hopes them being suck-ups will be enough to make The Hero spare our world. It’s such a weird rabbithole I don’t wanna get myself into.”

“All I need to know is they’re doing bad things,” Aiden slammed the chest closed, “and we gotta stop them.”

“Don’t they have a lot of members?” Jess tilted his head, “Isn’t it overwhelming?”

“Didn’t stop us last time.” Aiden grinned, but his pride was short lived as he remembered something.

“But first we need to get our Jesse back.” Aiden mumbled as he dragged his feet to the next chest.

Jess could see a sadness form in Aiden’s eyes as he began searching through the chest.

‘Ask another question. Change the subject.’ He told himself. Jess glanced at the carpet then back at Aiden.

“What’s the uh, what’s that symbol supposed to be?” He pointed to said-symbol in the center of the carpet.

Aiden turned to the rug, “Oh, that. It’s supposed to be The Awakening’s empty eye. It’s their way of showing loyalty.”

Jess focused on the empty eye and scrunched his brow, “How?”

“Shoot, you’ve never seen it before, right. Well it’s--it’s when you do this.”

Jess watched Aiden begin to roll his pupils to the back of his head, further and further till only his thin veins were visible on his empty, white eyes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Stella tapped her foot impatiently, her worried expression growing. Cassie Rose was leaning against the wall by the door of the old, wooden house, her hands in her hoodie’s pockets. Olivia stood in front of the door, staring at the “Closed” sign, the once bold red bleached by the sunlight.

All Olivia could do was keep facing the store, she could hear the footsteps and chatter of the citizens walking along the road, which only made her bury her face into the hoodie more, praying no one would recognize her. She still couldn’t wrap her head around the fact the people here were active at night, just imagining people enjoying their breakfasts and heading off to work at 9 PM weirded her out.

“Maybe we came at a bad time.” Stella said out loud, her fingers picking at the skin of her face.

“He said he’ll be here in a few minutes, we just gotta wait.” Cassie tried to reassure her friend.

“I know, I know.” She took a couple of deep breaths to settle her nerves. These past minutes felt like hours.

Cassie looked at Olivia, “You got a Hadrian and Mevia back at your place?”

Olivia quickly glanced at the redhead, “Yes, they were the more… Interesting people.”

“Yeah?”

Olivia kept going, “They ran games, liked sending people to mines, sadistic--oh my gosh, they were so twisted. I think they were the worst senior citizens I’ve ever met.”

Cassie bursted out into laughter, Stella didn’t comment on Olivia’s description. She didn’t need to. Her bugged eyes said it all. Olivia’s cheeks got hot.

Cassie took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, “That’s great. Would love to meet them one day.” She said through chuckles.

“Well, if it makes you feel any better, our Hadrian and Mevia are nothing like your’s. They just run a little shop and dress a little weird.” Stella said, clasping her hands together.

Olivia grinned, “Mine’s dressed pretty weird too, it’s nice to know they have one thing in common.”

Cassie Rose opened her mouth, ready to say more, but the doorknob started jiggling. Faint clicking sounds could be heard on the other side. Stella and Olivia stepped back, and the door swung wide open, the small bell tied to the knob dangled wildly.

“Hello, girls!” Greeted a jolly looking Hadrian, “Sorry bout the wait, I--”

Hadrian’s eyes locked onto Olivia’s face. His body froze, his mouth hung open, and before Stella or Cassie had the chance to say anything, he swiftly slammed the door in their faces. The three stood there awkwardly and exchanged concerned expressions with one another.

Stella leaned forward, ready to knock again, but Hadrian cracked the door open and barely brought his face out.

“You…” He said in a whisper, gazing at Olivia, “You wouldn’t happen to be from… From another universe, would you?”

Olivia blinked, Stella and Cassie looked as surprised as she did.

“Who did--” Stella sputtered, “How did you--”

“Hadrian? Who are you talking to?” The four heard Mevia coming closer. Hadrian jumped and shut the door again. The girls listened to the muffled conversation; Hadrian said no one important was there, Mevia kept pushing to see who it was, Hadrian kept refusing, then the two started shoving each other. The ruckus continued growing until Mevia successfully kicked the door open.

She let out a loud gasp and pointed to Olivia, “Please, please tell me you’re from another universe.”

Olivia saw Mevia’s barely contained smile and wondered if she really needed to answer her.

“I am.”

Mevia was beaming. She slowly turned to Hadrian, who was clutching onto the door frame, her smile growing stronger.

“Don’t do it.” He pointed at the blue haired lady. Mevia opened her mouth.

“Don’t you say it.” He growled.

“I…”

“Mevia, I swear to all things possible--”

“I was right~!” She sang, her finger jabbing into Hadrian’s arm.

He hung his head in defeat and loudly groaned, “You were right.”

“I’m confused, what’s going on?” Stella questioned, giving the two a baffled expression.

Hadrian pushed up his glasses, “I’ll tell ya inside.”

As the girls followed the man into the store, squeezing their way through the tight spaces and carefully stepping over the scattered candles, he went on to explain what had happened after Jess, Aiden, and Gill had visited. He repeated everything he’s been told by Jess and Aiden to Mevia, they both took note on how out of character he was, along with Olivia being mentioned, and that’s when Mevia theorized the possibility of another universe coming into play. Hadrian told the girls he thought her idea ‘was the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard’, and ‘there’s no way, it’s impossible’, but turns out he was wrong. Mevia wore a smug smirk as he talked about his loss.

Throughout the summary, Olivia watched Hadrian gesturing with his hands, holding her breath every time his thick, unbuttoned, dusty yellow and purple striped cloak swung close to the flames of the lit candles. If his cloak wasn’t making Olivia nervous, then it’d be his long, striped pants that looked as though they’d get caught on the many items laying on the floor, or hooked on whatever was sticking out of shelves, and make him trip. The only article of clothing he wore that wasn’t considered a hazard was his pinned, yellow dress shirt, which was somewhat covered by his loosely worn cloak.

Olivia didn’t even want to start on the flowing red and black dress Mevia wore. While it had laces tied around her chest to keep it from slipping off, the dress’ straps would slide down her shoulders, and the fabric would fly everywhere every time she spun around to face the girls. How could they wear outfits like these in this mess?

But was it fair for Olivia to criticize their jumbled store?

She thought back to her home, how she had an entire room dedicated to creating redstone contraptions, and how disordered it was. Powder was smeared everywhere, half-crafted items and broken materials would lay on every surface, her tools and torches were sloppily thrown onto tables; calling her workshop ‘messy’ would be generous. When Olivia scanned Hadrian’s store, she couldn’t help but find charm in it’s chaos, and feel the importance and history of every object placed in this store.

“I can’t breathe.” Olivia heard Cassie mutter. She turned to see Mevia giving the redhead a crushing hug.

Mevia let go, “Sorry, sorry! I’m just excited my favorite girl came to visit! I’m a little sad Gill’s not with you though.”

Cassie wanted to comment how their last visit was merely two weeks ago, and the fact they also lived extremely close to each other, but she decided to let Mevia’s enthusiasm remain.

Stella had taken a seat on one of the many cushioned, wooden chairs who faced the small stage, while Hadrian was searching through a tower of boxes.

“I know we gotta have one flint’n steel here…” Hadrian said, taking junk from the box by the handful and dumping them onto the floor.

“It’s for a crafting recipe Aiden found in your journal.” Stella explained.

“Oh no, ain’t mine!” Hadrian said, “Got it from some crazy bearded guy. ‘Sides, you know my handwriting’s nicer than that.”

The two continued conversing.  

‘I guess Stella already told them what’s been going on.’ Olivia thought to herself.

Mevia suddenly jumped and faced Olivia, “You! I have so man--so many questions!”

She was choking up. Olivia and Cassie noted her voice cracking.

“You okay?” Cassie asked the older woman.

Mevia nodded wildly, fanning her eyes, “Yes, perfectly fine! It’s just really, really weird to see her again, you know?”

Despite her shaky tone and the few tears running down her eyes, she was beaming. She didn’t look too sad, and she certainly didn’t feel sad over seeing this Olivia.

“I’m only a little overwhelmed. Thinking about--” Mevia rubbed her eyes and took a quick breath.

“Okay, questions!” She clapped her hands, “What am I like in your universe? Is Hadrian a killjoy like he is here?”

“I heard that!” Hadrian shot back.

“You were axe-crazy and Hadrian was a real bad liar.” Olivia said. Mevia bobbed her head.

The woman then recalled something, her eyes sparkled and she rushed to the top of the cluttered stage, grabbing a cracked head from the pile of statue remains. Mevia held the head with both hands and spun it around so it’d face Olivia and Cassie when they caught up with her. The head was a man with an unchiseled beard and a determined expression.

“Do you have your own version of ‘The Impossible Man’?” Mevia asked, tossing the head from hand to hand as if it were a toy.

Olivia opened her mouth and thought for a moment.

“I… Actually don’t know much about The Impossible Man.” She did remember her book describing the man, but her knowledge was still limited. It’d be nice to hear more about him from a person who lived in this universe.

Her response was met with the dropped jaws of Mevia and Stella.

“Shut UP!” Mevia threw the head to the ground, “You don’t know?!”

“Mevia, please be careful with the statues.” Hadrian pleaded.

“Sorry! Anyways! Quick lesson!”

Mevia slid to the center of the stage, “Picture this:” She started, flicking her hands up and splaying her fingers.

“You have a man who’s done it all! Traveled across the world through the most wild biomes, fighting different, ferocious monsters and making companions along the way! He’s explored the deepest oceans and the tallest mountains!” She swayed herself over to the statues again, fingers running along the edges where stone had cracked.

“He destroyed countless beasts in the Nether and single handedly slayed the dragon in The End!” She said as she swung an imaginary sword.

“But isn’t that--” Olivia began, but was interrupted by Mevia.

“Impossible?” A grin crept across her face, “Exactly.”

Olivia went quiet for a moment.

“For someone who’s done so much,” She said, “why isn’t he called by his name?”

Mevia shrugged, “Well, no one knows what it is! He’s been called a number of names throughout generations, from Aaron, Alex, Daliso, Milagro, to--”

“Steve.” Hadrian added with a chuckle.

“Oh, that’s my least favorite one.” She laughed. “But I don’t think it matters what his name is. He impacted our world, he represents the good in everybody, people see themselves in him, he’s an inspiration, and I think that’s what’s important.”

Mevia stepped off the stage, “Heck, he inspired Hadrian and I to explore the world when we were younger!”

“Good times...” Hadrian commented, a warm smile on his face.  

Olivia sat on a chair closest to the stage--Stella had gotten up to help Hadrian search through the boxes--and thought to herself. She pondered about The Impossible Man and her universe.

“We had The Order of the Stone,” Olivia said, “They were a group of people who killed the Ender Dragon, along with going on many adventures.” She chose to leave out the fact The Order lied to everyone about the dragon, she didn’t want to ruin the mood.

Then Olivia recalled a detail, “You and Hadrian were a part of The Old Builders! There were two other members: Harper and Otto. Do you have them in this universe?”

Mevia’s smile weakened, a flash of sorrow flickered through her eyes, and her shoulders dropped.

“Used to.” She answered

Olivia’s face fell, “Oh, I’m… I’m sorry.”

Mevia’s hand swat the air, “Don’t be! Don’t worry, it’s all in the past now. Back in our adventuring days.”

She walked to a small, round, brown table covered in papers in pens, knelt to the floor, and placed her hand on a loose wooden plank. She removed the plank and took out a diamond axe.

“We may not leave our house as much anymore, but if something or someone dangerous breaks in, we’re more than capable of taking care of ourselves.” She gripped the axe, holding it over her shoulder, and focusing on the wall in front of her.

“The second something dangerous waltzes in here--WHAM-O!” She chucked the axe with all her strength. It flew across the room and hit the wall, releasing a loud crack and causing Stella to jump. The axe was now stuck in the newly formed hole in the wall.

Mevia turned to Cassie and they high-fived.

“Please do not throw axes in our humble store.” Hadrian whined, rubbing his temples.

“I needed a visual demonstration!” Mevia exclaimed.

“No you did not!” He grumbled.

Hadrian shoved the boxes aside and brushed himself off. He came to Cassie and Olivia, Stella following behind, and showed them the flint and steel he had found. Whoever had owned this--whether it was Hadrian himself or a stranger--really made the most of it. The firestriker was crooked and stained with soot, the tool was practically useless.

“Thank you again, we really appreciate your help.” Stella said.

Hadrian handed her the item, “Not a problem. Now get outta here! Shoo before Mevia decides she wants to show you three more ‘visual demonstrations’!” He chuckled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The library only offered redstone powder for Jess and Aiden, while the room next to the library had been taken over by debris, so any items that could’ve been in there were crushed and not worth the risk of getting harmed if they attempted to move the rubble. The last room at the very end of the hall held weapons and many, many dead redstone torches. Aiden was able to find enough powder to completely fill the pouch and last him and his friends for the rest of the week. Jess kept mental notes of everything to tell Olivia what he’s learned during his time here.

Aiden tightened the strings of the pouch, ready to get the others, when a series of knocks caught their attention. They turned around to see Maya and Gill standing in the doorway.

“Any luck?” Maya asked.

“Lotta dust.” Aiden said, showing her the heavy pouch. “What about you?”

“We got several pieces of flint!” Gill answered, lightly patting the jacket pocket he put the rocks in.

His eyes scanned the room, “Hey, I got stabbed here!”

Jess looked at Gill, then at the room, then back to Gill. What was he supposed to say? Gill sounded optimistic, was he supposed to apologize? Laugh nervously? Stay silent? Was there even an appropriate way to respond to what he’s said?

“Good to know?” Jess said, his eyes wide.

Maya changed the subject, “We found a storage room, we thought we’d find some gold there, but a lot of the chests were empty or destroyed.”

“That’s okay, just glad we got something. We should get going though, I don’t think there’s anywhere else we can look.” Aiden said. Before they returned to the nave, the group double checked the six rooms to make sure they didn’t leave any torches lit, then began their walk through the tight hallway.

“Maybe we’ll run into some gold later on?” Jess suggested as they continued walking.

“I don’t think people leave gold laying around.” Aiden turned his head a bit to face Jess with a smirk, “But maybe, who knows.”

Once they got out, Aiden, Gill, and Maya were discussing the flint and steel crafting recipe, and how things would play out depending on what Stella was able to translate when they returned home. As the three talked, Jess caught a glimpse of the door hole by the stage from the corner of his eye. He brought his head around and stared into it.

“Can I look through there?” Jess asked.

The others brought their attention to the hole.

Maya thought to herself for a moment then said “I think there’s only one room at the end. You probably won’t get much outta it.”

“Just in case?” He tilted his head.

“Alright,” Aiden agreed, “but make it fast.”

Jess nodded and scurried through the doorhole, entering another narrow hallway. The hallway, much like the previous one, was nearly pitch black. However, the further he went, the colder it got. As he descended further into the hall, his eyes were no longer any good. He had to rely on his hands to feel for doors.

He stopped when he felt his foot hit the end of the hallway, but something felt off. He lightly kicked the dead end and realized he was standing in front of a door.

“Told you there was only one room.” Maya said. Jess almost jumped out of his skin, he didn’t think it was possible to walk quietly through this ancient place.

Maya could hear his quick breaths, “Sorry.”

“It’s good, we’re all good.” Jess collected himself then faced the door again. He extended his arm and let his fingers run against the rough, jagged, wood, trying to feel for the knob. Once his hand came into contact with a cold, round object, he wrapped his hand around it and turned.

He opened the door a crack. That’s the most he could open it. He thought the door might’ve been stuck, so he pressed his body against it and pushed harder. It didn’t budge.

“Can you not open doors?” He heard Aiden whisper.

“No, something’s blocking it!” Jess whisper-shouted back. He peeked into the crack.

The first thing he noticed were the stone bricks stacked halfway to the door and prevented him from completely opening it. The second thing he noticed was the room was empty. Actually, that wasn’t true, there were stains on the cracked floor, a ladder on the left wall, and on the wall across from the door were two lit redstone torches. While the other rooms were ruined and in poor condition, it was clear people had used them, lived in them. This room was devoid of life.

‘Wait…’ Jess peeked back into the room. Why were the torches lit?

He scanned the room again; his eyes landed on the ladder which pulled his attention to the ceiling. There was a trapdoor. Where did it lead to?

“I think... “ Jess mumbled, “I think someone’s been in here.”

The air became frigid.

“Let me see.” Aiden said, pulling Jess to the side. He got close to the crack and studied the room.

“Who wou--” Aiden started but immediately shut up and pressed his head against the door.

“What’s up?” Gill asked, who was quickly shushed by Aiden.

The four stood in silence for a moment, then they heard it. The faint sound of footsteps nearing the trapdoor. While they weren’t approaching the trapdoor itself, they were close. They were coming from above.

Then voices.

“We’ll start… He gives us… Or…” A deep voice said.

Aiden could only hear bits and pieces, which was far more than what the others could understand.

“Few days… Should… Portal…”

Aiden’s body tensed when he heard the last word. He listened for more, but the voices dwindled and he was left with a haunting silence.

He carefully closed the door then faced his friends, “They’re planning something.”

“What? Who is?” While Jess was confused, Maya and Gill seemed to know what Aiden was referring to, and were instantly on edge.

“We gotta go. We need to tell the others.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Cassie, Stella, and Olivia were sitting around the coffee table studying the items, the recipe, and the old flint and steel. Cassie kept rereading the directions over and over, attempting to make sense of them, while Stella held the flint and steel from a distance, rotating it around to get every angle of the tool. Olivia was sitting on the floor, brainstorming how they could possibly craft the odd variant of the flint and steel along with thinking about what Mevia had told her.

Olivia felt a yawn coming and attempted to suppress it, not wanting to come off as uninterested in what they were currently doing, but failed.

Stella peeked at her, “Oh right, time difference! Do you need to sleep?”

Olivia wasn’t sure what time it was; their trip to Petra’s was about an hour or two long and she had no idea how much time they'd spent in Obsidian Town, but it was obviously late. The sky was now a deep blue with stars scattered throughout, and the waning gibbous had risen high.

Olivia shook her head, “No, I’ll be okay, we need to figure this recipe out.”

“That’s true, but Cassie and I are well rested and we’re going to be busy all night. You shouldn’t force yourself to stay awake.” Stella said.

Olivia stared at the table for a minute.

“If I wake up early enough,” she started, “I could continue working on the flint and steel. I do know my way around redstone, so if Jess and the others bring some back, I could definitely make some progress.”

Admittingly, she’s never seen redstone be used for flint and steel before, but hopefully her and Jess would be able to figure out what to do.

“Sounds perfect!” Stella clasped her hands together.

“What the heck’s taking them so long anyways?” Cassie asked, looking up from the paper

Olivia didn’t know how far the shrine was from town, but it's been nearly half an hour since they’ve returned from Hadrian’s, and the others had yet to return. She started wondering if Jess needed to rest as well, but remembering how enthusiastic he was to join Aiden on his scavenger hunt made her doubt that.

Suddenly, the front door swung open and Aiden, Jess, Maya, and Gill rushed in. Before either of the girls could greet them, they began frantically--and sloppily--explaining what had happened at the shrine. Their words would clash together, everyone was interrupting and talking over each other, no sense could be made.

Stella raised her voice, “Please--One at a time, please!”

“Yeah, all I could hear was flint and something about a door.” Cassie said.

Olivia popped out from behind the girls, Jess gasped and ran up to her.

“Olivia! Gosh, I found out a lot of weird stuff, and we went down this hallway, and--” Olivia put her hand up to quiet Jess down.

“I would love to hear what you’ve learned, and I’d like to share what I’ve found out as well,” Olivia breathed in, “but I am also getting tired. Why don’t we go to our room and we can talk there?”

“Oh, yeah, fine with me!” Jess turned to Aiden, Maya, and Gill. They needed a moment to tell Stella and Cassie what happened, he could come back down after he and Olivia were caught up.

As they headed towards the stairs, everyone gave quick goodnights and returned to discussing what had happened in the shrine.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Gill had hurriedly told the girls about what materials they found, while Maya was in the process of telling them about the empty room and what they had heard. Aiden was sitting on a bar stool and had placed the pouch of redstone dust on the table. He leaned back, trying to relax, but his whole body felt stiff.

Those voices had to have belonged to Awakening members, barely anyone went anywhere near the shrines, even he and his friends rarely went to them unless necessary.

‘Were they talking about the portal in the Shrine of Eyes?’ He asked himself, clenching and unclenching his fists.

‘Or are they creating a new portal?’

Aiden heard footsteps from the second floor. Olivia and Jess, most likely.

‘We’re gonna need to alert the guards, have them keep an eye on who’s going to the mines or acting suspicious--’

Another sound came from above him again, this time, a clattering sound. Aiden glanced at his friends who rather didn’t notice, or didn’t care, about the noise.

‘What are they doing in that room?’ Aiden thought, bringing his head to the ceiling as he listened to more footsteps.

The guest room was on the right side of the house.

His bedroom’s on the left.

His bedroom’s above him.

The noise was coming from his bedroom.

Aiden scrambled off the stool and told his friends he’d be right back. He rushed up the stairs, his breaths becoming faster and shorter with each step, and opened the door. His eyes darted around. The window by his desk was open. He took a step in, scanning every inch of his room, thinking the intruder could still be inside, but then the world froze when his eyes landed on his bookshelf.

Olivia’s hat.

It was gone.

He didn’t have to look out the window, he already knew who it was. He rushed out of his room--colliding with the wall--and ran down the stairs nearly tripping several times, and bursted out of the house, not giving his friends a second of explanation.

He sprinted through the busy streets of the town, shoving whoever he couldn’t avoid out of the way. When was the last time he ran so fast the world had been reduced to streaks of colors, and the wind that rushed past him had muted all sounds? He can’t remember, but it doesn’t matter right now.

The instant his foot stepped through the entrance, his head whipped around, looking for any signs of the man. How Aiden wished the sun was still up; the light the moon and stars provided wasn’t enough.

Standing here panting wasn’t helping, he needed to start looking. Fast. Maybe the forest to Petra’s? Or maybe he could run along the town’s border and run into him.

Aiden’s mind flooded with the possibilities of where he could go, but then he looked ahead and saw something--someone--in the distance straight ahead getting smaller and smaller.

‘Get him.’ Aiden’s mind commanded.

He darted off, holding his breath as he got closer and closer to the man, soon being able to make out his red suspenders and dirtied, white shirt.

“JESSE!” He shouted, still running towards him.

Jesse turned around, a look of absolute repulsion was on his face. He held Olivia’s hat to his chest.

Aiden screeched to a halt and hunched over, taking in mouthfuls of air.

“Jess--” Aiden began, still heaving.

“Where did you find this?” Jesse muttered, hugging the hat tighter.

“We--I found--” “WHERE?!” Jesse barked, taking a step closer.

Aiden brought his eyes to Jesse, whose hands were shaking and pupils had shrunken.

Lie. He needs to lie. Say whatever he can to get her hat back. What would his friends say when they find out he let it get taken?

“Look,” Aiden started through heavy breaths, “that doesn’t matter. I need to--”

“Doesn’t matter?” He heard Jesse repeat in a sharp hush. Jesse stared at Aiden with his mouth parted, he was gripping the hat so hard his knuckles were turning white.

He dragged himself closer to Aiden, “Doesn’t matter? Doesn’t matter!?”

He kept repeating those sickening words over and over, getting louder and louder as he brought himself closer and closer to Aiden till he was practically screaming them into his ears.

Jesse grabbed the collar of Aiden’s shirt and pulled him down to his face, locking onto him with his wild, bloodshot eyes.

“After what I’ve been through…” Jesse’s voice was shaky, “You think you deserve her MORE!?”

Aiden’s jaw clenched. He could see the green of Olivia’s hat from the corner of his eye. His hand immediately shot out and grabbed a strap of the hat, holding onto it like his life depended on it. He tried pulling it closer to him, but he dragged Jesse along with it, who refused to let it slip his grasp. ‘Don’t rip it. Don’t rip it.’ Aiden told himself.

“You have everything Lukas owned, and you can’t let me have this one small thing?!” Jesse growled. His free hand was beginning to curl into a fist.

“Because I--”

Jesse didn’t want to hear his sickening voice, “Because you ‘need’ it! Because you and everyone else thinks you’re so great! Because you’re selfish!”

Aiden couldn’t see Jesse’s fist flying towards him in the darkness until--

CRACK

Bright colors invaded one eye while the other could vaguely make out Jesse’s hand swinging back to his face. He didn’t have time to move, he could only squeeze his eyes and brace himself for the impact--

CRACK

Colors flashed, and despite not knowing whether his eyes were still closed or trying to adjust to the darkness once again, and his face burning to the point he thought it was melting off, he still held onto the hat.

Don’t hurt Jesse. Don’t hurt him. Take the hat and go home.

He could feel anger flooding into Jesse’s body when he realized his grip wasn’t weakening.

“You just hate seeing me happy, don’t you?” Jesse hissed. He began scraping the heel of his shoe against Aiden’s leg, hoping to shred his skin off. He hated fighting Aiden. Hated it. Not only did he have to look at his miserable face, fighting him wasn’t nearly as fair as fighting Radar, or Stella, or Cassie.

“You know I wou--”

Jesse began to pry Aiden’s fingers off the strap, bending each finger in unnatural angles. The strap was beginning to slip.

“You can’t stand not having any attention! It always has to be about you!”

“Jesse--”

“Just like the day Olivia died!”

“SHE NEEDS IT BACK, JESSE!” Aiden shouted.

Jesse gasped and let go of the hat, causing Aiden to fumble back with it.

“Who?” Jesse asked in a whisper.

What did he just say?

What did he just say?

Why did he say that?

Why?

The world and all it’s sounds came to a stop. All Aiden could hear were those questions booming through his head, clashing with the sound of his pounding heart, and the blood rushing through his body. His eyes were stuck on Jesse, he was trembling from anger and impatience.

“Who needs it back?” Jesse asked again, still in a harsh hush.

“Stella.” Aiden lied, but he sounded so serious he could’ve fooled himself.

“Stella found it, and she wanted to keep it by Lukas’ stuff…” He wanted to add more, but he couldn’t think of anything else.

But he didn’t need to.

Jesse only nodded, his hands still fists, as he began walking backwards. His eyes were still piercing through Aiden as he stepped further and further away until he turned and ran through the field.

Aiden watched as he grew smaller and smaller, and when he could no longer see any part of Jesse, he ran.

Cold sweat rushed down his face as he bolted back to town, back to his friends, with only one question blaring in his mind: