It took awhile, but the sweetness of the watermelon finally satisfied Axel. Olivia talked to Petra the entire time, although Petra refused to say anything about her last adventure until everyone listens to her. She shot a glare at Axel every time she said that.

"Okay Petra, BUUURRRPP I'm all good now."

Petra isn't amused by him, and if looks could kill, then Axel would be smoke.

"Soooo, as I was saying, I went to go investigate a woodland mansion with Jack and Nurm after our meet-up last time."

"PETRA!" Ivor yells in my ear again! I really need to teach him some curtesy. "No one wants to hear about a boring woodland mansion."

"Okay then! Since I keep getting interrupted..." Icy death glares are sent to both Axel and Ivor. "I'll get to the point; we discovered a new monster."

My eyes flash open, and my instincts kick in. Before anyone else can make a move, I slam my hands into the table and jump to my feet.

"Monster? How strong? Is it unique? Did it drop any loot? How did it attack? Was it docile beforehand or-"

"Whoa Jesse, take it easy." I remain standing and cross my arms, there's this really terrible feeling in my gut that's telling me to prep for war, forcing me to be on extreme alert.

"Does that mean this monster isn't dangerous? Do we even have to worry about it?" Olivia looks relived, she obviously doesn't share my reaction to the news. In fact, everyone seems rather calm about it. Except for Lukas, but he just looks confused. Probably wondering why I have such a strong hatred towards something I know nothing about.

The still reasonable part of me is wondering that too. But most of me is thinking about where I left my sword.

"Oh no, you have to worry about this thing." Petra sits up, her expression hardening. "I've never seen anything like it and..."

Petra doesn't continue and looks away from the rest of us. Her face scrunches up in anger and she is scowling with such fury that even Axel starts getting worried.

"Petra..." Lukas chimes in, concern dawning on his face. "Is everything al-"

"I had to run away!" Petra smashes her fist onto the table, you could hear the wood splitter. "We couldn't handle it, Jack, Nurm and I, we all had to run from it. IT! There was only ONE, and WE couldn't handle it!"

Olivia scoots away from the table, shocked and afraid. Axel is just starring, a few drops of sparkling sweat already on his forehead. Ivor is just madly shaking his head, his stubborn old ears denying the information. And Lukas, he just looks at me. He's looking at me and I can see him trying to make a connection between my fire and this thing.

Me? Every cell inside me is fuming with rage, I have never felt such a strong desire to kill something. If it's strong enough to defeat my friends, some of the greatest warriors working together, then it can't be around anymore. I need to protect my friends, there is no room in this world for this demon.

"Petra, calm down. There must be a weakness we can exploit. Tell us everything about your encounter with this thing." Petra sits down, regaining her composure. I should probably do the same soon.

I turn back to the others, I can hear Axel whisper to Olivia. "Full on leader mode..."

"Is it okay if you guys can stay longer? I would prefer to have us all together figuring this out." I sit down too, not wanting to make the atmosphere even more tense. Although my heart is pounding, fueling my limbs for action.

"Extremely difficult things to kill? That just makes the fight that more exciting! Magnus can watch over Boomtown while I get to kill some really awesome things!"

"I'll have to send a message to my assistant, but of course I'll stay." Olivia still is a little shaken, but she smiles determinedly.

"NO doubt it! I love adventures! Although I hope this mystery won't involve any white pumpkins..." Ivor puts his hands on hips and tries to look heroic and noble, although his clearly uncombed hair ruins the image.

"No kidding... but I wasn't planning on leaving." Lukas smiles at me, and raises an eyebrow. Gesturing to everyone's support, I know he wants me to tell them about my personal really important thing... but it'll have to wait. This monster is much more of a pressing matter.

Petra takes another deep breath, gathering our attention.

"It doesn't look as bad from a distance... almost like a bush with a tail. But as you get closer, you realize how big it is. Around the same size of a horse, but it's hard to tell. It's cat-like, it was always low to the ground when attacking so I never got too good of a look."

Olivia rubs her chin, gazing up thoughtfully. "What did it look like?"

"Dark green, these big ol' fins running down its spine." Petra tightens her lips and hits the table, fists clenched. "To be honest, that's as much of a description I can provide. We were twenty blocks away, we were trying to see if it was friendly. It was broad daylight and we weren't too concerned, until it suddenly just raised its head. And in a split second, it was already halfway towards us."

"That's nearly impossible." Ivor has his professor face on, all drama gone. "Not even the fastest horse can go that fast without a build up."

"Well this thing can!" Petra got on her feet again, glaring at Ivor and daring him to contradict her. "We barely got our weapons out before it was upon us! It rammed into Jack, almost with the same amount of strength as one of the Wither Storm's tentacle."

"Is Jack okay?" Olivia's voice shakes, her face taunt and frozen, and her knuckles white clutching the table so hard. "He didn't-"

"No Olivia, he was knocked into nearby pond." Petra lets out a sigh, and everyone else follows suit.

Axel pats Olivia on the back, everyone knows she's thinking about Ellegaard. Although none of us are panicking like how we did with the Wither Storm, we are all getting scared. One can feel anxiety hanging in the room.

"It was incredibly fast, with long fangs and claws too. I managed to slash it across the face, not sure how much damage I actually did, but it was enough. Jack told us to run, but the thing roared at us while we were turning. I looked back, and its green spit was being sprayed at me."

I don't know why, nor did I see it coming, but my fire blew up the moment Petra said 'spit'. For a moment, the fire seems like a real thing, something with its own mind. But then I realized my muscles were also tense, and my own rage pouring into my blood. The fire is just reacting to me.

"Hey dude, you okay?" My flicker over to Axel and then to the others, all of them are starring at me with concerned faces. It must be really bad, even Axel was able to notice it so quickly.

"Did it hurt you?" I turn to Petra, who is peering at me suspiciously. "Was that spit... poison or something?" Acid, I really want to say acid. But that doesn't make since, I don't know anything about this thing.

"No, my armor kept me safe and it must've decided we weren't the effort. We never saw it again." Petra slowly sits down, almost as if she were an old and frail lady who has seen many troubling years.

"Do you still have that liquid? Or were you able to examine it at all?" Lukas asks, looking at me when he finishes. He knows, he knows that was what set me off. Even if the others were convinced at me transforming it into worry over Petra.

"We scraped it off my armor and put it in an empty bottle." She reached into her back pocket, digging around for it. "Luckily we got it off quick, or my armor would in really bad shape."

Can't be worse than mine. I remember Lukas's horrified face when he saw my armor. I have to make sure no one enters the workshop until I tell them what happened. I don't want my friends getting even more panicked.

Petra holds up a bottle of shinning green liquid. We only have a moment to look at it before Ivor snatches it, examining it himself.

"I wanted to look at it too!" Axel huffs and crosses his big arms.

"Oh shut up! I'll be able to figure it out much faster than you." Ivor pops the cork off, and Axel mumbles something about just wanting to look. Ivor sniffs it, and then jerks it back away from himself. His other hand starts rubbing his nose vigorously while tears slip from his eyes.

"Acid..." Ivor croaks, his voice incredibly strained. "Stronger than anything I've seen... or smelt."

"Here let me see it." Ivor hands me the bottle, and I get up to grab an empty bucket. I place it on the table and pour only a few drops. It immediately starts to sizzle, chewing away at the iron. The drops disappear after a few seconds, but it leaves a small hole in the bucket.

Most people would stare at this, thinking of the implications of how dangerous something is if it can eat at iron so fast. And that's what we were all doing, I myself also feeling inexplicitly afraid of it. All of us... except Axel that is.

He lunges for the bottle and grabs it, his eyes alight with dangerous mischief. "Okay lets see how powerful this stuff really is."

"Axel..." Olivia stands up now too, trying to reach for the bottle. "That isn't something to play with."

"Oh come on, watch this!" With that he dumps the rest of it on the bucket. It splashes, and we all back away from it hurriedly. Although one strain of it leaps up farther than the others, and splats right onto my arm.

It made contact, and it set me off. I shriek loudly while failing my arm about desperate to get the sizzling acid off. It disappears in just a moment, but it didn't vanish. It seeped into my skin, burning every single tissue. My fire bursts up, heading straight for the acid.

It got worse, much worse. My fire didn't do anything at all to it. Once it touches the acid, it goes out. Like if someone poured water on regular flames. I have no way to get rid of this liquid agony inside of me. I can't even see anything, tears blurring my entire sight.

Someone, quite forcibly, grabs my arm and holds it in place. I start yelling, trying to push them off. Another person holds me in place, despite all my thrashing about.

The fire in me is running rampant, swirling and raging inside me. It just absolutely hurts, like every fiber in my arm withering. The acid is starting to spread and I scream. If this keeps up, my arm will fall off and every other cell will explode due to the swelling, helpless, inferno.

I stop, freeze more actually, when my arm goes numb. I can't tell what's happening anymore, I can't see it or anything. There are murmurings around me, but they get ignored. I instead focus my flames together, trying to condense it down.

Once I have all of that energy just sitting in my head itching to explode, I push all of it into my arm. I scream again, the nerves waking back up to send me a horrific agony.

The acid is putting out my fire, but it's shirking while doing so. I summon more fire more flames to send into my arm. And for the first time, I realize that this fire is not endless. It's soaking up my energy incredibly quickly. But it's almost gone, I've almost gotten rid of it.

Just when I feel the flames starting to dwindle does it finally dissipate. I collapse into whoever is holding me up. I feel so exhausted, much worse than simply working out. No, it feels like every single blasted cell inside me got the life squeezed out of it and then I went to go kill a giant enderman.

I groan, and look around me. My friends are practically pressed up against me, but they're just a bunch of blurry shapes. I know Axel is the one holding me, and Olivia is the one in front of me.

I can't make out their words, all of them mumbling and talking over each other. I can hear their concern, and can see them fret.

It isn't suppose to be like that. I need to be strong; I can't show weakness. They'll never be able to rely on me again if I show I can't handle something. There's a huge problem we have to deal now, I refuse to be sitting on the sidelines and let my friends take the hits.

I plant my feet, and push up against Axel. The room immediately sways, it's worse than being on a boat. Clenching my jaw, I refuse to allow myself to lose balance. I straighten my back and regain my composure, despite the groans my body gives me.

Lukas finally breaks through the others and grabs my shoulder. "Are you al-"

"Yes." I must be strong, I can't let my friends worry more than they need to. Lukas is even touching me now, his endless strength seeping into my weakened body. But now he knows. He knows how broken I am, and one look at his face tells me that he wants me to back down.

"Okay that's a no. Jesse, you should-"

"No, I shouldn't." I grab his hand and push it off. His strength snaps off, and my flames spark up to support me. My flames, my fire that helps me stand, can be put out by this creature's spit. I need to deal with that immediately.

I turn to Axel. "I encourage you to not play with the acid again." His jaw nearly hits the floor and his eyes are extremely close to popping out of their sockets.

Someone grabs me again, this time it's Petra. "What's wrong with you?"

The wild inferno backs down a bit and I blink a few times. "Nothing."

There isn't anything wrong with being strong for your friends, nor is there anything wrong with my fire. Petra scowls though, her eyes hard.

"That's a lie Jesse, everyone here can see it."

"Jesse..." Olivia doesn't grab me at least, but I shudder when I feel her hand. "You were just screaming and thrashing, I've never seen you in such pain before."

"Which is impressive," Ivor's voice is surprisingly soft. "You've even died before."

The flames in me swirl viciously, flowing through my body like blood. All I can feel is hate, such strong rage against... everything. Those vile creatures, the horrific acid, and if my friends could just leave me alone.

"If you really want to know..." I scowl at them. "That acid was the worse thing I've ever felt. Burning everything and leeching the life out of me. I felt like my arm was being forced to stay in fire before it finally dissipated."

I stamp out those furious flames, my friends are just trying to help. I don't treat them like that, it's wrong. I need to be a good friend and a strong leader. Not the polar opposite of both.

A wave of exhaustion crashes down on me, and my fire suddenly doesn't have the strength to support me. I can't break down in front of my friends, not now. Not when one of them has been beaten and there is a new problem to solve.

"I appreciate the concern guys, I really do. But right now we need to focus."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I feel so old and tired. It's probably because of everything that has just happened or something. But why would it all be hitting me now? And surely Lukas would've pointed it out?

Olivia sighs, shaking her head. "What do you even want us to do? Go out and try to capture something not even Petra could handle?"

"HEY! Mark my words, I AM going to get my revenge on that thing!"

Ivor looks at me. "She does have a point, how do we attack against something that is very strong and has no known weaknesses?"

"Because we aren't attacking, we're defending." I start to grin, the wonderful flower of ideas starting to bloom again.

"Defending? BOO! I want some action!" Nearly everyone groans and smacks their foreheads at Axel's response. Petra even slugging him on the shoulder.

"Ivor, restock your potions. Particularly speed and strength, we need to even the playing field a bit." Ivor nods and dashes out of the room, his green robe fluttering behind him.

"Olivia, can you go tell the workers building the new walls about the creatures. Just tell them to be alert and set a watchmen or something." Olivia hums in agreement and makes her way out. Although she pauses at the door.

"Do you want me to keep the citizens in the dark?"

"Tell them that's there's a new threat, and to not leave Beacontown without taking a lot of precautions." The redstone engineer nods and exits.

I turn to Petra, but she cuts me off. "Uhh, Jesse can I go and practice? I know you want to prep your town and make sure everyone is safe, but-"

"Of course Petra. I want you at the top of your game if we have to face down this creature." She smiles wide and begins to leave, but I clear my throat to get back her attention.

"But Petra, you're an aggressive fighter, and that's generally good. But this creature is also one and that gives it a big advantage against over you. So please work on being defensive and having to protect others."

She sighs, groaning and moaning like a teenager. After producing a grunt that would impress a bear, Petra gives me a sideways glare.

"I can't practice defense by myself."

I roll my eyes, letting them end at Axel. "Axel, can you go practice with Petra? Try fighting like an animal."

Axel grins wildly. "YES! Oh man, I love to fight, more so when using my bare hands." Axel shows off his arms, shooting a cocky smirk at Petra.

"Oh you gotta another thing comin' big guy. Come on." Petra grabs one of his arms and hauls him out of the room. I give Axel a thumbs up before he leaves; he'll need all the good luck he can get.

So now it's just me and Lukas, and I can already hear his disappointment. Hopefully he'll scold me for one thing, not also a bunch of smaller things too.

"You should tell them."

I huff, rolling my eyes. "They have bigger things to worry about."

"But there's a connection between you and that thing." I look at Lukas and see his pleading eyes, begging to me. I have to turn away.

"They just got shocked by one crisis, I'm not going to overwhelm them."

"If you don't tell them soon, they're going to figure it out themselves." His voice gets hard, irritated.

"Not for awhile, I think everyone's focused on something else at the moment." I face him again with a raised eyebrow and prepared to not fall into his eyes.

"So? There were two obvious times during the last ten minutes alone to show that there's something different about you."

"I covered it up fine."

Now Lukas rolls his eyes. "Which is even more worrying, but you nearly blew up just hearing about those things. What if you are actually in front of one?"

"They'll know by then. I won't be leaving Beacontown in some time, so unless these monsters have the intelligence to plan an attack and the motivation to do so, I won't be facing them."

"It comes in daylight, and it only has to see someone to attack. It's entirely possible one will wander near Beacontown, see all the people, and attack. And guess who's going to be called to kick it out..."

I sigh and give up. "Me."

"Exactly. Then the citizens might even be able to see what you're hiding."

I stop arguing and consider what Lukas just said. I do want to tell my friends, I really do. But all of us have learned to dislike powerful people. The Admin, the Old Builders, and Soren when he had the Command Block. I wouldn't be able to stand it if my best friends get suspicious of me.

"They'll understand, they've been through everything with you and will support you through anything. They'll stand with you."

"Okay," I hold up my hands in surrender. "I'll tell them tonight.

"I mean, what's the worst that can happen?"