"Aria, you have one heart..." Reginald rests a hand on my shoulder. I sigh and turn to him. "I know... I'll make it quick." A smirk plays on my lips, and Reginald gives me a warm smile. "Of course you will..." With that, I feel his power shift through us both just as the Evoker shouts "NO!". His ravager roars and charges forward, but we were already in the air above him. Reginald lets me go, and I twirl as I fall. The sound of the sword slicing through the air echoes, and the wave it releases rings across the landscape. I see the Evoker raises his head, and he dives off a split second before the wave cuts down on the Illager beast.

The creature releases a massive roar of agony, and I land on one knee. Carefully, I stand and raise my sword just as a Vex swipes at my head. It clashes against my sword, and I push it away. Ducking down, I feel the second skim the back of my head. In instinct, I kick out behind me and feel my foot collide with the gut of another Vex. The fourth, however, slices out towards my face. I barely move in time to miss a severe hit, but the blade grazes against my old wound. I hiss and flip over completely, landing a swift kick on the back of the Vex. Just as I straighten, I raise my sword right as the Evoker's fist slams against it. I feel the ground beneath us shake in response, and the Illager smirks. 

"Impressive."

I growl and push him back, and he shakes his hands. He starts to walk around, and I mirror his movements. I can feel myself losing control of my ender half, and the constant low growl I kept releasing was only a sign of that. I could tell the Evoker knew more than he was letting on, as his smirk only grows wider. "How long do you think you can hold on to your sanity?" The cackle he lets off makes my blood boil. I launch forward and slice at him, snarling as he summons the fangs around him. My sword cuts the head off the nearest one, clearing a way through for me. At the last second, the Evoker raises his hand. An axe is in it, and it collides with the blade of my sword. 

And holds.

I snarl and push against him. His smirk finally falls, which makes one form on my lips. "You'll break before I fall." He says, pushing up against his back leg. His lips curl into a frown, and he starts to speak again. "You will never win against him! He always wins! You have no chance-" He is interrupted as my head collides with his own. He stumbles back, and I twirl around. My foot crashes against his chest, making him slide back even further. I stand tall, flipping my sword in my hand.

"You talk too much."

 The Evoker snarls and charges at me this time. I can barely contain my smirk as I raise my sword and begin parrying each attack. His rage was starting to break through his 'macho' façade. I could see it in his eyes. Finally, pieces were starting to fall into place, and I simply needed to make sure I made it through this fight...

Alive, preferably.

I feel my back tingle, and I notice I am close to the wall a moment too late. My back pushes against it, and I grunt as the Evoker suddenly stops attacking and instead pushes our weapons against each other. His whole weight presses down against my sword, and I feel my spine press into the stone wall. 

It hurt.

My smirk falls as the final piece of the puzzle falls as well. The Evoker growls, putting both hands on the handle of the axe and pressing further in. I struggle to stay standing, stuck in a slight crouch to keep my strength behind my blade. I could feel something different in his fight now, and I grunt as I feel the pain slightly spike in my back. I needed to act soon, or this would be the last battle I have...

Pain flares from my leg, and I finally stare straight at the Evoker's eyes. Tears were starting to fall from his eyes, and they were falling on my right leg, soaking through the pants where my ender half had fully spread. I lift my gaze tobhim again, and my eyes widen as I finally whisper out three words.

"You're a player...."

The pressure against my blade suddenly lessens as the Evoker's eyes widen. They narrow a moment later, and the pressure returns brutally. My back screams in pain as it slams against the stone once more. A cry slips from my lips. I see Anthony's head turn towards us as he slices away an Illager. He was too far away to do anything, but it didn't matter anyways. I knew I am at half a heart, if I'm lucky. I could feel it slowly dwindling the more the Evoker pushed me into the wall.

"You don't know anything..." he mutters, and I try to reason with him. "Maybe I-" I am cut off as he shouts and increases the pressure against his weapon. "YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING!" I could feel my life drain faster, and I was out of options.

Until a thin, black, blocky arm appears slams against the side of the Evoker's head, causing him to crash against the ground to my right. He flips over and lands with his axe dug into the ground, causing him to stop on one knee. I gasp and slightly fall forward, straight into Reginald's open arms. A grunt escapes me as his arms graze my back, and he retracts them to my sides instead. "That wasn't the wisest choice..." He mutters, and I ignore him. Instead, I once again try to reason with the Evoker. Pushing against Reginalds chest, I move until I am standing just a bit in front of him. "As I was saying... Maybe you are right... Maybe I don't know anything..." I hear Reginald warble in confusion, but I gesture for him to stay silent. In all honesty, there is alot I don't know. So many questions were floating in my mind, but I knew I wouldn't get the answers to any of them just yet. The Evoker slightly straightens himself, as if readying for a fight. I simply continue speaking.

"I do know that our chance of escaping here are getting slimmer and narrower every second we waste fighting meaningless battles like this!" I suck in a breath at the end, attempting to subdue the rage that was slowly seeping into my words. The Evoker looks startled, and he steps back. I shake my head and continue. "Look, I don't know what happened to you that left you here like this. I don't know how long you have been here, or what happened to those who came with you," The Evoker visibly stiffens, and I quickly continue, "BUT! I do know that I need all the help I can get to get my friends and I out of here. I can't keep trying to do this on my own and pretend like everything is fine." My eyes slightly turn to watch Reginald, who gives a nod of approval. It seems like he was finally catching on to my plan. I return my gaze to the Evoker, who now had three Vexes around him.

Only three...

I keep that in mind, but continue to speak to him directly. "Look, all I want is to get my friends- family- back home safely, and I can't do that alone. We can't hope to defeat him alone..." This seems to gain his interest, as he crosses his arms with a grunt. "What are you getting at?" He growls, and I raise my empty hand in what I hope to be a peaceful gesture. "I am asking for help. If not for me, then for my friends..." Carefully, I move my hand to my opposite shoulder and slowly swipe out. My HUD shows up with half a heart still full and shaking. I can see the expression on the Evoker change instantly, and when his eyes meet mine again, a flicker of understanding passes by before he covers it with a stone cold look once more. I try to stay optimistic, speaking once more. "There may honestly be no chance of me getting out of this place, but my friends don't deserve to be trapped here because of my mistakes" I can hear other voices shouting something, almost like...

A warning.

I swiftly swing my sword arm out and release the blade. I hear the surprised screech of the oncoming Vex, but it is soon followed by its death shriek as the blade implants itself in its chest. Finally, I hear it stab into the ground further away, so I lift my hand up with the other in surrender. "Please, call of your troops. Helps us defeat him, and end this once and for all."

"It's impossible-"

"Because you keep saying it is!"

The Evoker snaps his head towards me as I step forward. "Everyone I have met so far continues to claim that our endeavor is meaningless, hopeless, impossible. I say you are wrong! If you help us, with your abilities combined with our own, we have a chance!" I slowly extend a hand towards him, trying to remain hopeful. "Please, help us. Help me get my friends out of here..." I can see the struggle playing out in his mind, as his human side battles within him. I lower my other hand, slightly feeling it tingle in response to my sword being so far away.

"No..."

I lower my outstretched hand, a sigh escaping me. "Then you leave me no choice. I will not let you harm them." The Evoker steps forward, thrusting his arm out. "You are in no condition to fight us! You said so yourself! Stand down and let us take this village!" I shout and charge forward, ignoring Reginald's arm as he reaches out to stop me. I still had a bit of the potion left in me, and I only needed to make one solid hit...

And pray it won't be my last.

The Evoker growls and rushes towards me as well, slashing out with his axe. I quickly duck and slide beneath it, then stand and attack one of the Vexes that were following him. It dies instantly. I swiftly turn on my heel and dodge his attack, pushing him back in order to lash out at a second Vex. It dodges my fist at first, but an arrow suddenly pierces the back of it's head, and it crashes to the ground. I spot Alexa in the distance as she lowers the bow with a slight nod. I return it and focus back on the battle at hand. I see the axe coming down towards my head, so I dive and roll to my right. Just as I stand, the weapon is swung towards my legs. I jump over it and aim a punch at the Evoker's head. He stumbles back holding his nose, and I take this time to take out his last Vex by grabbing it's wing as it flies past and slamming it against the ground.

As I stand, I see the Evoker growl before he rushes forward. Mist and particles were forming at his fingertips, and I feel the ground quake. With wide eyes, I launch backwards as fangs rupture the ground and nearly take my leg with them. Falling on my back, I quickly flip over, feeling the cool iron graze my leg as the axe crashes against the ground I was just at. 'He's faster now...' I stand just as the Evoker was charging. I had nothing to block with at the moment, but a smirk was finding its way onto my face. Leather brushes against my hand at the last second, and I lift it to intercept the axe coming down at my head. I catch the head just beneath it, where it connects to the handle. I can feel the shock from the Illager before me, and I smile before shoving my sword up and slicing clean through the handle. The head of the axe flies off and over my head while the Evoker is thrown backwards. As he lands, I am before him already, landing a swift kick to his gut. He stumbles back, and straight into my fist. As he starts to fall to the ground, my foot slams against his head, and he rolls across the ground. Just as he stops, he tries to rise.

But the point of my sword touching the back of his head makes him stop. I feel him freeze, and all movement around us stops as well. I slightly huff, feeling the ender skin shifting to cover most of my face again. "Yield." Is all I say. Blood drops were falling from the Evoker's face, crashing against the ground beneath him. I stand over him, feeling my heart race. If he tried anything now, one or both of us wouldn't survive. I could see Anthony standing triumphantly off to the side. Multiple items were surrounding his feet where Illagers lay, unmoving. He barely held a scratch. Alexa was surrounded by Pillagers that were littered with arrows, and Mobius was slamming his war hammer into the face of another before jumping back onto the Iron Golem's shoulder. Reginald was standing where he was before, watching me carefully. He was ready to act if it was needed, but I could tell it wasn't necessary.

"I... yield..."

Lowering my sword, I hear the other Illagers and Ravagers suddenly stop. They all look this way, and slowly back away from the village wall in submission. Gazing at them all carefully, I return my eyes to the Evoker before me. He lifts his head slightly, and his eyes widen as he sees my hand outstretched to him. He glares at it at first, until I offer him a small smile. "Can you stand?" I ask, and the Evoker blinks in surprise. Suddenly, a small smile crosses his face as well as he takes my hand. He stumbles as he stands, but otherwise he is able to hold his own weight up. He shakes his head while brushing himself off. "I'll admit... I didn't know you could do all that with half a heart." He looks me over and I shrug. "Well, I've already been impaled by the Wither King, then fought his whole army, and barely escaped here." His eyes widen, and I simply shake my head. "A story for another time." I feel my body slightly shrink back to it's new 'normal' size and my Ender half retreat back to only my right side. The Evoker nods and gazes around. He grunts something, and the Ravagers nod before turning and disappearing into the forest again. The remaining Illagers follow, but the Evoker stays by my side for a moment. "Got a name?" He asks, and I nod. "Aria. You?"

"It's been a while since I have heard or said it, but I remember it clearly." He starts to walk away, but turns towards me just as he nears the forest. "The name is Peter." I nod to him, and he returns it before vanishing into the woods. Reginald walks up next to me and I slightly chuckle. "You're getting a little attached, ya know." I can feel the blush, but he covers it up well. "I am simply worried about you since you are the leader of your group, and you are reckless." I only nod and turn towards the damaged village wall. "Get used to it, the others already have."