[Anthony's POV]

Aria will be furious when she finds out... I don't even try to believe that she won't learn of this. Nothing ever slips by her, and I could only pray it would work. I make my way through the Overworld after making it out of the mineshaft. It took a bit more effort than I had anticipated, but it wasn't terrible. Now, all I had to do was find that village and...

I skid to a stop, finding the massive wall heavily armed and fortified. A few NPCs lock eyes on me and raise their weapons. I slowly walk forward, hands raised. They don't lower their crossbows, and I feel unease settle in my heart. "U-Uh... H-Hi? Name's Anthony. I'm friendly, swear it."

Nothing.

No one moves, and I instantly notice they were not players, but just mobs in the game. I feel unease sink in once more, so I stop my approach. I needed to get in there and talk to Justin and Claire. Claire might just be part of the game, or a player who gained amnesia somehow, but she was vital in this plan. So was Justin-

'Of course, you idiot.'

Taking in a deep breath, I push the air out of my lungs, shouting a single name. "JUSTIN!" I watch the gate carefully, noting how the villagers slightly dropped their weapons at the name. Keeping my hands up, my gaze remains on the closed gate that leads into the village. I feel the earth shake before his iron body comes into view. Said golem slightly tilts to look through the iron bars, and when our eyes meet, he clanks, "Anthony? What are you doing here?" I gesture to the guards with my head and let a smile slip to my face.

"I will graciously tell more when I don't fear an arrow to the chest." Justin nods, then clanks to the guards to lower their weapons. They do so, and one opens the gate for me. I quickly move through and turn to face the golem. "So, want the long end of it, or the short and 'not so sweet' part?" I could tell he wanted to get to business, so I wasn't going to meddle with small talk.

"Another entity has joined and wants to kill Aria?"

I gape at him, and he nods his head. "Reginald beat you to the point. He gave us a slight run down, and told us to expect you to show up soon." I only shake my head. Of course he did. "Wait, then why did you ask what I was doing here?" I turn to the golem, and his face falls. "I had hoped that for once Reginald might be wrong." I gesture down the street with an understanding nod, and the golem gives one in return. We begin walking towards the tavern, and I give him a longer version of what is happening and more specifics. By the time we make it there, I hear some sort of garbled speech float through the door. Justin opens the door, and gestures for me to enter. When I look through, I see a familiar enderman speaking with Claire, and I turn to Justin.

"As I said, he beat you to the point." I only shake my head and walk in. He closes the door behind me, and I slowly make my way over to the bar where the blue-eyed enderman was leaning. Claire turns to me, a smile on her face. "Anthony! Welcome back to my tavern. Heard you've brought some new adventures with you, eh?" Reginald turns to me, and I shake my head.

"I would say you have no idea, but it looks like Reginald has told most of it."

The Enderman nods his head as I join them at the counter, and Claire leans forward. "Well, looks like you need some help from a potion master with Aria still down for the count right now." Despite not liking the way she worded that sentence, I nod. She smirks, then turns around and disappears into the backroom. I let out a sigh and turn to Reginald, who also watches me carefully.

"So... How'd you know I'd come here first?" I ask, starting the conversation while we wait for Claire to return. The enderman slightly smirks. "Out of the entire group, you are the most... ambitious and impatient when it comes to matters like this." I start to protest, then catch myself and slightly nod. "Yeah, you're right on that one. And we have to go through this village to get to the Mansion by the portal, so it makes sense." Reginald nods, then...

"What doesn't make sense is you trying to go out on your own again, Anthony."

I quickly turn towards the dining area of the tavern to spot Mobius walk out of the shadows with Anastasia by his side. I look at them in shock, turning my head towards Reginald slightly. He wasn't fully facing me anymore, but I could still see the smirk on his face. I turn to Mobius once more, and the avali has his arms crossed. Anastasia has a similar stance going on, but I note the gleaming sword on her hip. 'Nice...'

"Anthony, what were you thinking?"

'Not nice...'

I stutter to reply, but Anastasia continues on, barely withholding her tears. "You need to stop trying to be so tough and strong that you can do everything on your own. Look where that led Aria!" She slightly sucks in a breath at her comment, and I feel my body stiffen. She was right, but I could tell it wasn't what she was meaning to say. Her head shakes, and she tries to calm down. "Listen, we all care about her, but if we split up like this now, then she's a goner."

'Dang it...'

"You're right."

I see her eyes slightly widen, and she wipes the tears that did slip through away. "I... am?" I nod my head and move forward a bit. "Yes, and I'm sorry. I just... didn't want to lose anyone else."

Mobius walks closer this time, gesturing to his eye. "I've gotten a few things figured out here. You won't lose me so easily this time." Despite the humor in his voice, I understand what he was trying to say. I suck in a deep breath and turn to make sure Claire was back. She walks through the door with a large chest. She drops it down on the counter and pushes it to the side with a huff. Whipping her forehead of sweat, she looks towards us, and I lock eyes with Reginald.

He nods.

So, I start the debriefing.

"Here's the plan..."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

[3 hours later]

After a lot of final preparations and many... many revisions to the original plan, Reginald teleports us to the Stronghold entrance deep within the dark oak forest. Anastasia and Mobius were with us while Claire and Justin stayed back at the village, just in case Entity showed up. I knew Peter was nearby, but I also recall him nearly getting killed by Entity at the same time Aria was.

Aria...

I could already feel the yelling I was going to get from her if-when-this worked. 'Optimism man, optimism.' Mobius looks over to me, laying a hand on my shoulder to gain my attention. I turn to him, and he gives me a nod. "I have a weak connection already to the main server. Once we get within the End, I should be able to get it stable enough to send out a signal." His eye flashes orange, then yellow, then red, and I slowly take in a deep breath. I turn to Anastasia, grasping her hand in my own. She tightens her grip, but the determination in her eyes was astounding. 'She never ceases to amaze me.'

Without another word, we begin our descent into the dungeon. Everything is silent except the tapping of our feet against the cold stone floor. I could tell Reginald was going through the motions, possibly checking in on Aria. My suspicion is proven correct when he turns and nods to me. 'She is still resting.' I return the nod and face forward again.

A memory of our first visit here flashes through my vision, and I can see our group splitting up and heading our separate ways. I only smile as I follow the familiar blocks of dirt to the portal, a shiver running down my spine when I stand where he stood a month ago.

I can feel the power flowing from it, reacting to the pearl on my back. I turn from it and watch Mobius. He had screens floating before him, each glowing different colors. He was typing like a mad man, and it took everything within me not to comment on how he looked like a certain character from a webcomic we both like. His eyes flick up to meet mine for a moment, and he smirks. "Yeah, yeah, I know, shut up."

I stutter out a laugh. "I-I didn't even say anything yet!"

"Yeah, but I could tell you were thinkin' it."

At that, I can only nod my head.

I watch him carefully, noting his facial expressions change from a smirk to a frown. It shifts further into a scowl before he roughly brushes the screen away. They dissipate into nothing as he speaks. "The signal is still too weak. I'm losing it before I can even get anything written up." He glares towards the portal, slightly growling out what we were all fearing.

"We have to go into the portal."

I sigh, turning towards Anastasia. I could see the fear in her eyes. I give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. Last I checked, we defeated the Enderdragon and with Reginald with us, the endermen should leave us alone." I turn to said mob for confirmation, and he nods. "Most are players anyways, so they will aid you if needed." She visibly relaxes, but now I had to hide my unease. Despite knowing and saying all of that, I couldn't shake the fear from the reminder of what happened the last time we went through this portal.

I turn to face it, mostly to hide my arm rising to my chest as a phantom throb flows through it as a reminder of my past. A hand is suddenly in my free one, and I turn to her with an appreciative smile. Anastasia gives a gentle squeeze and returns the smile. Turning the other way, Mobius appears, his eye a soft yellow now with a tint of blue behind it. He gives me a nod, and the enderman behind him only glances over to me. I smirk.

I take a deep breath in...

Then I jump.