[Austin POV]

I felt something against my back, painfully hard and jagged.
My vision was blurry and all that I heard was the constant high pitched ringing sound... I groaned and attempted to roll off the jagged object, successfully doing so and being greeted by soft soil that soothed my aching back.

My vision slowly cleared up and the thick, grey smoke dissipated into the rainy skies above. I looked around...

Another creeper had snuck up on my without me realizing.

It made a crater the size of a elephant, massive and eerily smoking from different places. Dirt, dust and rock bits were blown out in a several directions and forming a strange star l

Seriously, as if last time hadn't taught me anything... I swear if another creeper ends up taking my victory away from me, I will make a server dedicated to slaughtering creepers.
I rubbed my sore neck, and used a nearby tree trunk to help me onto my feet. I felt dizzy the whole way up, head pounding with pain.
My bag somehow remained strangely unscathed on my back, all the wonderful hungry quenching meat still intact. I breathed a small sigh of relief.

"Man... feels like a visit to Poopsvil..." I muttered to myself, wiping the dirt and rubble off my shirt and pants.

I need to head back before they start to wonder where I went. Last thing I need is a search party out to find me at night and a long winded lecture from dear old brother...
With my satchel firmly on my back, a pained but still smiling face and a strangely good mood, I began my short journey back to the strangled bush of a house.

~~~~~~~
[McJones]

The atmosphere was tense, with weapons held out ready to engage.

The stranger had asked for one of our own... the nerve of some idiots.
I figured some sort of hacker entered our private world without permission - altering the code in a server such as this was a rookie technique, anyone could do it.
They could be dangerous. One little press of a button can give this man anything he requires... and I don't think we'll have a fighting chance regardless.

I felt a small push from behind me. I turned only to grow increasingly concerned as Jared stepped up with a determined face.
"Yes. I'm Jared." He proclaimed softly.
"What do you wan-"

A flash of baby blue light blinded us and sent us staggering backwards. A loud crack sound, similar to that of a stick breaking, filled the small room a mere fraction of a second later.
Whilst I was rubbing my temporarily blinded eyes, I heard Jeff screaming something loudly but unclearly.

"JARED!" He cried, hands reached out and fingers spread.

The room was silent, only the soft crackling of torches were heard faintly by the walls. Jared has disappeared along with the mysterious character, where they resided now was empty and void.
Jeff looked at me worriedly, nervously shaking and mouth beginning to droop into a frown. This was the most unexpected...

"Is he... dead?" Dodger asked in a whisper-like voice behind me.

I looked at the frightened faces of my fellow adventurers - there's gotta be some hope.
Then it struck me.

Before I began my theory, I pushed my glasses closer to the bridge of my nose.
"No. The man that took him away I think I recognize... though from elsewhere. He has good intentions..." I mutter almost incoherently.

Dean huffed a breath of air, before sheathing his sword. The others did the same, swiftly sheathing their stone blades in one singular motion, but I was too cautious to do anything at the moment...

The entrance door crashed suddenly.

Jeff jumped from surprise and proceeded to smash his head on the ceiling.

Chad quickly ran to the wall beside to the door, holding his blade close by his chest and other hand firmly on the doorknob. I nodded gently, signalling the others to once again raise their blades.
Chad mouthed the words '3....2...1...' silently.

As he pulled the door open, a figure flopped inside like a piece of wet paper forced to stand.
Austin was burnt around the right shoulder, bleeding from the hairline and looking like he hasn't slept in days. Jeff screamed again, I rushed to help him onto his back.

"Hey McJones..." he whispered, looking at me with sparkling eyes.

"Yes...?"

Without warning he slugged my in the nose, which sent me falling backwards onto my bottom.

"You didn't do your whole speech on creepers! I forgot what not to do and blew up!" He shouted in his enthusiastic, sarcastic voice.

My nose hurt like crazy~ I wanted to yell at him for being stupid, I wanted to exclaim the disappearance of Jared and even cry my sentiments away... but instead all I did was laugh. Austin had never failed to pull me out of the dumps.

The others gradually joined in... we were a mess incredibly early on, but we were a team.

After we helped Austin recover, bandaging anything that looked slightly red upon Jeff's request, we told him about the disappearance of Jared. He took everything rather calmly, stating if the overlooker of this world knew of his existence and allowed the stranger in, it's fine.
I told him of my code theory soon after but he shut it down faster then Mario Party top 100.
"It ain't basic ~ only you and pristine Microsoft programmers know how to do that..." he replied, sipping on a glass of water.

"Jared is fine. Wherever he is he'll be back soon."

~~~~~~~~~

[Jared]

I stood by the gates, awaiting to be teleported back by the wizard. It was silent for about twenty minutes ~ my growing impatience getting gradually stronger. After what seemed like thirty minutes, I cried out in rage and began my trek back to the tower.

"Oi! Wizard! Can you please send me back?" I yelled towards the top of the tower, projecting my voice with my cupped hands.

Silence.

"...please?" I hastily added.

Once again, the only response I got was the echoes of my yells ringing through the mountains.

I sighed, deciding to await the return of the wizard by the tower. He can't keep me here - if I remain here, nobody will know of the secret revival technique.

Then the show would blow.

I decided to lean against the metallic wall as the metal absorbed some of the lava's heat and became pleasantly warm. As soon as my back made contact with the surface of the iron, the block gave away and I fell backwards into the base of the tower.
I wasn't exactly sure what was happening, but the next instant I was down on obsidian floor along with shards of iron and it hurt like hell.
I lay by the floor, speechless and completely in shock...

'For a omnipotent being of wizard magic, you are terrible at making walls...' I muttered to myself, before grasping onto some vines and pulling myself from the crinkled iron bits.

I landed in the hollow base of the tall tower, which was strangely illuminated with vivid torches. Vines grew from every single crack and crevasse, decorating the iron walls with a breath of the wild. (Ahaha~)
It wasn't long before I scoped out my situation, glancing around at my surroundings looking for clues. Some iron walls had strange metallic banners in front of them, almost camouflaging to the background. This was intentional... I somehow knew.
With one furious swipe I took down the silky banner and was greeted by a stone button that stuck out against the metal wall like a sore thumb. Then I used my sore thumb to press it.

In retrospect it was stupid - if it was an explosion trap I was good as dead, but instead a clanking noise loudly erupted from below my feet. The very next millisecond, I was tumbling down a flight of stairs.
Too add insult to injury the stick frame holding the banner also fell alongside me and landed squarely on my chest.

The room I found myself lying in was a strangely beautiful wooden cabin (Of course it couldn't be a cabin, I was underground...). The walls were ladened with smooth oak planks and the air tingled with the slight smell of cinnamon. Glass windows covered a small water fountain and a wardrobe...

I was of course mesmerized by this scenery...
...but the chest behind the glass pane also kept stabbing at my curiosity, so I simply had to punch a hole in the glass and climb inside. No regrets!

I opened the chest slowly - my jaw dropped at the contents inside.

Because, simply put, there was NOTHING in the chest.
"Damn you Todd!" I yelled at the top of my lungs.

After a solid minute of cussing at the air, I sighed and climbed back out of the hole I made.
I turned down a strange looking hallway and came across a dead end with another silvery banner cover the way.
Without even thinking, I smashed the banner and struck the button behind the wall.

Suddenly my head jerked do the side and my legs rapidly left the ground.

The journey starts with fire...

That was the phrase that stuck in my mind as I tumbled down a grassy hill into a lake.

~~~~~~~~~

[McJones]

I saw Jeff drop his hoe and begin his sprint towards something, before stopping dead in his tracks. His eyes were wide and his face void of colour.
A sickening feeling crawled into my stomach as I pushed open the door to see what was going on. Siding where Jeff stood, I panted rapidly for breath.
"Jeff... what is up with y-"

Austin walked to us slowly, alongside Jared, who was limping, dropping with water and bleeding from several places.

"Miss me?" He said with a cocky smile.

I shook my head and laughed,
"No not really, can't get too attached to somebody that blows up too often."

~~~~~~~~~

Jared sat by the stove with a steaming bowl of mushroom soup and a blanket wrapped around his wet body.

"...so then I pressed the button and I got teleported back!" He exclaimed with a mouthful of mushrooms.

Dean nodded slowly, looking confused and focused. Dodger and Jeff engaged in a game of chopsticks in the background. Chad looked at Austin reprovingly, in which Austin merely nodded back with a frown.

"He gave me this book..." Jared continued, after swallowing.

I took the book from his right hand, in which he immediately used both his hands to chug the remainder of the soup.
I flipped through the pages - most of them runes and advanced language I don't understand. There was however, two pages of English that was scribbled in.

I cleared my throat, making sure everyone was listening.
"Okay, so in this book... it reads:

Hello fellow adventurers, 'tis is I, Todd the legendary wizard or almighty over-looker of this grandeur world. I am here to aid you on your quest.

As fellow Jared probably already informed you; I have given all of you a rune. This rune in combination with a legendary item often regarded as the totem - or life restorer, can bring a person from the dimension of reality back to this one.

Questing for this item is not only beneficial ~ but necessary for you to exit this world with a victorious stature.
I shall offer you plenty of clues, but the rest is up to you to decipher.

The totem is born from fire - a vibrant hellish fire that burns eternally. Thus makes sense the journey shall begin with fire.
The last men to see the totem has vanished in the foliage of the jungles - the diamond dwellers, they are strong warriors that have been cursed at the sight of the legendary object, but I'm sure you'll be fine.

They offer up a clue of where the totem resides. So finding them isn't an option.

Be weary though, I'm not the only one that planned to interfere on this journey. One of my many... Experiments... has escaped my tower. He'll most likely come across you sooner and later, so for that I am sincerely sorry.

Best of luck for your future expeditions.

~ The Wizard."

As I finished, a flood of questions rushed into my mind... the diamond dwellers... the eternal flame...
Jared nodded at me.

"Yes, that's what he said to me." Jared muttered, scratching his chin.

Austin and Dean looked dumbfounded, Dodger raised her brow with a frown and Chad slowly slid a slice of beef into his mouth. The group was dead silent (well Chad was chewing his steak rather loudly, but otherwise silent as a winter night).

I glanced at everyone with confidence. I knew a leadership speech was needed in a confusing situation as this...
"We need to get armour." I said firmly, standing to the front with a serious expression.
"We need iron supplements. We need-"

"Buckets!" Jeff screeched.

I pointed my left hand immediately at Jeff's excited face,
"Yes! We need Buckets!" I exclaimed.
"So then off to the mines!"

Everyone cheered, Jeff the loudest.

~~~~~~~~

It turns out Dean and Chad already made a huge stairwell leading downwards into a rather large cave system. So we followed them slowly and cautiously down the steps, attentive and ready.

Jeff of course - along with Jared had decided to remain on the surface and begin farming so we don't have another food problem.

As the stairwell went deeper, we broke up into different groups. Chad and Dodger left the first, opting to explore a small cavern with stalagmites hanging ominously.
Austin, Dean and I stuck together till we reached the end of the stairwell.

We arrived in a sort of rouvine, with stone walls leading to as far as the eye can see. Lava and water flowed from different locations, the lingering smell of smoke entered our nostrils. We began a small trod forward, carefully avoiding potentially dangerous areas.

"You guys go right and I'll go left." I stated clearly as we came across a tall wall with separate pathways.

The two of them nodded.

The path I followed was a long winding hallway that went higher as I went. The further I went the darker the lighting got and soon after I was forced to place a torch, sadly discovering that my path had reached its end. A tall wall stood in my way - lined with obsidian that I couldn't mine without diamond. I had to head back to Austin and Dean, hopefully the had better luck.

I started my journey back to the other route, pointlessly angry at my stupid luck. Their hallway was as standard as mine, which concerned me increasingly.
Then a more twisty cave system came into sight, ending the massive walls of the rouvine and instead growing more cramped.

They were a couple of meters away, looking forward and their backs turned to me. Strangely enough they weren't moving, only staring at whatever lay before them.
I approached them carefully because I knew whatever was ahead must be dangerous...

"Guys what are you doing?" I asked as I approached them slowly.

Dean jolted and snapped around to looked at me, exasperated.
"Holy crap dude! Don't scare us like that!" He exclaimed, looking at me with wide eyes.
"Especially not when we're a few centimetres away from lava!"

Sure enough, in front of them lay a drop that lead to a ravenous pit of molten lava, bubbling ferociously. There was a two meter gap from where we stood and what I can only describe as a stone branch attached to the left wall.

Austin looked troubled,
"Hm... maybe we can carefully build a bridge..." Austin edged nearer to the ledge, stumbling backwards as crinkling sounds were heard.
"No... its too dangerous. Let's just go around it shouldn't be too bad."

I couldn't believe what he was saying- Austin the foolishly courageous; doubting himself? This seemed strangely scary...
"Coke on guys it's just a two meter jump! People do this in elementary school long jump events - we can do this!" I exclaimed.

Austin and Dean, in turn, looked at me like a just broke character.

Before they had a chance to react, I quickly backed up about three meters or so, and began my sprint forward. Austin slowly realized and reached his hand out, mouth open and ready to shout.
I really didn't see what the problem was...

As I left the ledge of the platform and flung across the pit, I felt the scared look of Austin and the shocked expression of Dean pierce my back. My feet had reached the stone branch and I breathed a sigh of relief.

I turned to face them with a cocky grin.
"See guys? It's not that ba-"

Suddenly the solid platform beneath me began crumbling and cracking along the seems. I haven't time to react as the stone shattered into pieces and fell towards the pit below.
I heard Austin's mortified scream as I slammed into the slanted floor below and began tumbling helplessly towards the pit of lava. Pain tore tore my joints and I was still heavily confused by what had just happened.

I mustered up the last of my remaining strength to throw my grip onto a stray rock, but ultimately broke off regardless and I continued my descent into lava.
Immediately, I felt the lava consume me, spreading blinding pain from my back to the rest of my body. I was unable to speak - still laden with adrenaline and shock.

Then there was plane of black.