Warnings: Mentions of death

~Jerome's P.O.V.~

     "Ladi- erm. Gentleman and, uh, me I present to you, Seto's domain!"

       Making a wide gesture with his arm, Mitch motions to the large swamp in front of us. Small islands pepper the water, never containing more than two or three trees, and lilypads cover a good fourth of the surface of the murky water.  In the centre of the swamp, situated on a massive island filled with gardens and trees, is a small castle. It's nothing fancy-in fact it's more of a mansion than anything. Built of mostly wood and cobblestone, it's where Seto resides. Another key feature is that every island, big and small, are connected by a network of three block wide bridges, all build of oak and spruce wood. But I don't see the forcefield Mitch mentioned. And it seems kinda... Quiet. Empty.

        "So... Where's this forcefield you were talking about?" I ask doubtfully, having never actually been here before.
        Mitch turns to me, wings ruffling, with a surprised look. "You've never been here? Man Jerome, you're missing out!" He exclaims, grimacing as he stoops down, and picks up a rock. "The shield is invisible, and there's a second stronger one surrounding his house. No one but Seto really knows how it works, but if something isn't supposed to get in, it's not getting in."

       And with that, Mitch chunks the stone at the swamp biome. Just as it crosses the barrier where the swamp biome meets ours, a faint purple mist forms directly in front of the stone. There's a soft flash where the rock makes contact with the forcefield, and then is bounces right back, the purple film vanishing.

        "Neat, but will it be able to handle... This?!"

        I jump forward, clenching my hand into a fist, and drive it at the barrier as hard as I can. The forcefield might stop most things, but it's never met a white gem with the power of super strength.

      "No, Jerome, wait! You'll-"

       To my uttermost surprise, nothing appears to intercept my punch, and suddenly the force behind it is throwing me forward, and stumble and fall flat on my face. I groan, grabbing at my nose, and sitting back on my heels.

       "-pass through..."
       "Noted." I grumble, spitting out a collection of bitter tasting dirt from my mouth. "Let's just hurry up and get over there so Seto can heal you, and we can get on our way."

~~~

       Knock knock knock knock knock

     Stepping back, Mitch and I wait in silence, waiting for Seto to open the door at any moment. For now, we've agreed to keep our gems hidden, so Mitch has his hand stuffed in his pocket, and I keep my sleeve pulled down a little more. The hard part is going to be explaining Mitch's set of mystical wings, made purely of light... But we'll cross that bridge when we get there. There's a shuffling sound from behind the door, and the knob turns to let the door creak open and reveal...

     "Brice?" Mitch and I speak in unison.

There standing in the doorway, is none other than blond haired, blue eyed, Brice. There's a large bandage wrapped around his calf stained red, and he's reflecting our exact same confused expressions.

"Mitch? Didn't I see you like, pinned under a stone pillar or something? And aren't you supposed to be off like, delivering something?" Brice questions, furrowing his brows. "And when did you get wings?"
Mitch dodges around the question. "We'll come back to that. My question is where's Seto? And I mean, I can guess why you came here but, where's Seto?" He repeats, craning his neck to look over Brice's shoulder.

And then suddenly, there's two more people joining the scene.

"Brice? Who's-"
"PETE?!" I exclaim, making everyone wince due to my loud voice.
"And... Is that, Nooch?" Mitch questions, as Matt steps into view, freezing at the sight of us.
This time Pete jumps in, pushing past Brice, with Matt right behind him. "Mitch? Brice told us you were dead! And Jerome, you're not even supposed to be here!"
"You're supposed to still be in the Nether on a raid!" I point out.
Matt frowns-as much as he can for behind a cyborg. "Mitch, are those wings? What the actual fudge?"
"Where's everyone else in the raiding party?"
"Where's Seto?"
"How did you gets wings?"
         "Why are you hurt so bad, Mitch?"
"How are even still alive?"
"How are you alive?"
"Hold up, is that... A white gem?"

The sea so questions suddenly comes to an alarming halt, and everyone's eyes are drawn to my hand. In making wild gestures, my sleeve rode up, and now my gem is shining as bright as day. A sinking feeling settles in my gut as Pete frowns, pointing at Mitch.

"You have one too!"

My eyes shift, to see the very edge of Mitch's hand peeking out of his pocket. Mitch and Matt both open their mouths to say something, but Brice holds up his hand, signalling for silence.

"Nobody say anything. Why don't we all come inside, and we'll all catch up with each other and explain any questions." He suggests peacefully, sending everyone a meaningful glance.

Everyone mumbles their agreement.

~~~

       Here's a basic recap of all the explanations:

      Brice, Matt, and Pete, all demanded we share our part of the story first, so we did. The quick briefing evoked an assortment of different emotions from the three- terror and shock that Notch is dead, and a black gem is ruling, surprise and slight hope about the transformation of our gems, as well as the information of four others, curiosity in our powers, worry for Mitch's health, since he still has multiple gashes and broken bones, but overall an understanding of our mission, and a promise to help in any way.

       "Well I may not be Seto," Brice stated along the way, casting his gaze at Mitch. "But I could probably fish out some healing potions or enchanted apples to heal you. Just hang tight." And with that, he dashed away into the basement.

      And then it was Petes and Matts turn to explain. They explained Brice's side of the story, and how he just barely managed to escape Jerome's village by horse, sustaining some pretty bad injures along the way. He made his way to here, Seto's house, and would've died if Seto hadn't been home to practically drag him inside and fix him up. After Seto learnt about the unusual gathering of mobs, he immediately got his things together, leaving to both study and stop them, and leaving Brice in charge. As for Pete and Matt, they explained how they had to make a quick exit from the Nether fortress, and only they escaped. They first planned to head back to the village, only to find it in the midst of the siege, with flames colouring the night sky. They fled as well, also towards Seto's place, where they arrived just after Seto's departure. The reason they had to flee is what they're currently explaining now.

      Pete nods sadly, his mouth pressed into a thin line. "We're really guilty about leaving the others to die, but we had no choice! We barely got out ourselves."
         "Because the Nether..." Matt continues ominously, "It's-"

        Before he can finish, suddenly the door is bursting open, and a tired and disheveled figure is stunk bing through the doorway. The four of us turn as Seto tiredly slams the door behind him, looking none to healthy. He's covered in scratches and bruises, his hair is all over the place, and his purple cloak is torn.

       "Sorry I'm late guys." He huffs, rubbing his temples. "Had a nasty little run in with an unexpected opponent. It's all good now, though. I dealt with everything, and we shouldn't be seeing any more of the weird mobs any time soon. Now, where's-"

       But then his sentence stops short when he sees us, and in particular, Mitch, his eyes alighting with curiosity and confusion, but also glee.

       "Mitch? Jerome? What are you two doing here? Should you guys be like, dead or something? And Mitch, how on earth did you get wings? Or am I just delusional..." He mumbles, firing off questions, and raising an eyebrow.
        "We-"
        "Aw man, Seto you should hear what they went through!" Matt exclaims giddily, interrupting me, and drawing everyone's atttention. And guess what? They have white gems! White! Can you believe it?"

       Matt turns to Seto, opening his mouth to ramble on, but his words dwindle out when Seto falls strangely silent.

       "Yo dude, are you okay? Your eyes they're... Looking a little pale." Mitch asks in concern.

        I pry my eyes off of Matt, turning to see what Mitch is talking about. There's an odd sickening feeling as my gut churns, seeing Seto's eyes glazed over, and practically white.

        "White gems?" He clarifies, unsettlingly quiet, turning to Mitch and I.

         Mitch and I nod. My throat runs dry as suddenly, his eyes flash white, and purple mists of magic twirl around his fingers.

        "Seto, what're you-"
       
        SMASH.

~~~
Question of the chapter:

Why do you think Seto is acting so violent?

Hint: Take a look at all the italicized text I've been putting at the beginning of the last few chapters