Drake's point of view- (Three days later)

I knew I was ignorant for leaving at sundown. I still don't exactly know why I left my mountain top home. I guess something just compelled me to leave. Maybe it was hope that I would finally find Grayson and Mia again. It's been around a month, and I still haven't seen them. My skin was covered in goosebumps, and my breath came out as a mist. The clouds in the night sky looked like they would soon unleash a storm of freezing snow. I rubbed my arms in attempt to use my hands body heat and friction to keep them warm.

  "It's freezing! Why didn't I get warmer clothes?"

I looked down at my tattered blue clothing. I've been wearing the same clothes for years. It didn't bother me if it seemed gross, because in the badlands, clothing can be the least of your problems. That is, unless the temperature drops. I knew I should have better prepared myself for the winter. Along with my old clothing, I wore leather gloves, and a hooded gray cape.
The trees still bore all different kinds of colored leaves that swayed in the cold wind. Green, orange, yellow, and red. The worn path of gravel that I walked upon had leaves scattered about, but the grass remained a brownish green, and never fully died despite the inadequate weather conditions.
My head was pounding. The strap of my backpack slipped off of my right shoulder. Hastily, I searched for a bottle of water to help ease the migraine. Once my hand found one, I pulled it out so quickly that I nearly dropped it, causing me to have to juggle it. I opened it, and began to gulp it down. The water was cold and refreshing. Slowly the migraine began to vanish but a pinch remained, becoming more of an irritation.
I put the cap back onto the bottle and slipped it back into my backpack. I swung it back over my shoulders and continued forwards. The night made me paranoid. The amount of mercenaries had risen dramatically down here in the southern part of the Badlands over the past month. I knew I had to be careful, because I'm wanted in the land for treason by the empire. Not only that, but monsters prefer to lurk in the darkness of the night.
I've become so paranoid since my departure with Grayson and Mia. I tend to stay away from civilized areas, and keep my distance from people. It's better for me to just scavenge through the rubble and debris of lost villages and cities, and avoid getting caught.
I kept my hand on the hilt of the diamond sword by my side. A pitch black mist past my line of vision in a haste. In a panic, I drew my sword but I quickly established that my eyes were just playing tricks on me, but I knew it wasn't from the paranoia. I put my sword away.

After stumbling back, I muttered to myself "This just keeps getting worse" as I covered my white eye with my palm.

My hand dropped down to my side as an uneasiness began to fill me. Chills ran down my spine, but wasn't because of the cold. There's another life force somewhere around here. I'm not alone. The life force felt familiar, but not enough for me to have known this person face-to-face.

  "Maybe it's just that Nightmare that's been following me." I didn't even know if I believed that myself.

I hate those Nightmares. Every time I saw one, it just reminded my of the day at the volcano. The day I lost my best friend, Armen, that I fought so hard to save from a demon's possession. I destroyed a sacred diamond, one of the three that kept the demon alive somehow.
In the midst of the chaos, Armen's body was destroyed by the force of the demonic Herobrine, and my friend was killed. Herobrine took the form of a Nightmare, and now seems like he has been unable to wreck havoc on the lands now that he has no proper vessel, but he has a partial link to a...particular one.
For some reason, watching my freezing breath rise and dissipate, calmed me down, but only to an extent. I could hear sounds like groaning up ahead. Zombies. While they were part dead, they had a life force, but it weaker than a dying being. It wasn't what I felt earlier. What I still felt was lurking around, just waiting in the darkness.
I looked up and saw them up ahead on the path of gravel, dirt, and leaves. I could see though my naturally blurry vision that there were about five zombies. One had leather armor, and one with golden armor that held an iron sword.

  "Alright, be careful Drake." I said to myself. Lots of time of loneliness tends to give you a habit of talking to yourself.

  "Let's hope there aren't any phantom ones in that group."

A "problem" I've been having has been making me see things that aren't there. It's like seeing ghosts. It's gotten me into trouble at times and is very irritating, but I have no way of making them stop.

My grip on the sword tightened as I charged at the undead. Fortunately the ones closest to me had no armor. I pulled out my sword, and lunged it into the closest ones chest. Quickly, I yanked it out, and lunged the blade in it's jaw, and into it's brain. It's common knowledge that you have to destroy the brain to kill a zombie.
The second unarmed zombie came up to my right. I pulled my sword out of the first zombie, then swung it at the other. It slit the creature's throat, then I swung it into the side of it's head. The body dropped down, now completely dead.
Another one was next to it, also unarmed and unprotected. I attempted to slash its throat, but my blade felt like it only made contact with air. The zombie became transparent and faded away; a phantom.
My eyes widened in terror as a green grotesque hand touched my shoulder. I spun around and frantically swung my blade. It slashed its chest and cut off its entire right hand. A leather helmet covered it's critical area. Fortunately it was just leather. Once I calmed down, I lunged the sharp end of the blade into its forehead. It had not trouble penetrating the cap.
Now on to the hardest one. It had golden leggings and a golden helmet. In its right hand it held an iron sword. Despite being partially dead, it seemed to have a brain still functional enough to use simple weapons. The zombie sloppily swung its sword, but it was easy for me to avoid each attack. I'm thankful zombies are remarkably slow.
I slid to the left, as I moved my sword over it's fingers that rested on the wooden handle. The sharp edge swiftly cut it's decaying fingers, and caused it to drop the weapon. I dragged my sword upwards, and knocked off it's helmet. I lifted my diamond sword, ready to make the final blow, but I was unable to deliver it. An arrow shot out from the trees, shot past my chest, and pierced the zombie dead center in it's forehead.

  "What the-" I spun around to see who ever shot it.

There was a rustling in the trees, that moved down into the bushes. A few feet away from me, a man came out from the bushes. He began to walk at a fast pace towards me. His mismatched orange and blue eyes did not look the least bit friendly. His breath was still visible as it rose from the black mask covering his mouth.

  "Thanks?" I wasn't too sure if I should be thankful. Something about him seemed off.

He was just mere inches away from me, with a look in his eyes that showed lack of mercy.

  "Wow! Um, personal space." I stepped back holding up my left arm, with my right hand on the hilt of my sword. He's uncomfortably close.

He swung his iron blade, and inflicted a deep wound on my abdomen. I felt the pain as the thin sharp metal cut through the skin. The lower part of my shirt became soaked in my own blood. Luckily the wound wasn't deep enough to have hit any organs.
I held my arm over it in reaction to the sudden pain, but I kept my awareness high. The man swirled his sword so that the blade faced away from me, then he swung it down in an attempt to hit me in the head, but I recovered from the earlier attack and dodged; my hood falling from my head.

  "What the heck is your problem?!" I yelled at him, but only then did I notice his familiar appearance.

The image in my mind was a blur, but I remembered the moment at the river all to well. This is the very same imperial assassin that attacked Grayson and I that day. How did he recognize me when my head wasn't in view under my hood?
His sword came at me once more, but this time I knew the situation. I held up my diamond sword in defence and blocked his attack. Again and again he tried to strike me, but failed in inflicting any injury. I attempted to get him back, but that was a mistake.
The second my arm moved away from my own body, he lunged and cut my arm, just below my shoulder. I hissed, but I was too focused on the fight to let it bother me. My arms were starting to feel weak, but my opponent showed no sign of weariness. He's professionally trained in the strongest army in the country, which means that he knows his way in fight, with strategic, agility, and stamina. I might have no option but to uses magic in this case scenario.
For yet another time, he swung his iron blade, but my own blade hindered the attack. A joint like electricity coursed through my arm, giving me a feeling of adrenaline, as the plasma in my body became visible on my arm in blue and purple light.
The imperial assassin noticed the bright glow, and immediately knew what I was doing. He jumped away from me, just before I sent out the magic blast. The ball of energy shot from my right hand at a great speed, and impacted the earth in a small explosion. A huge crater was left behind in it's wake within the earth's soil, and the blue flames turned orange then quickly died out.
It wasn't supposed to be that powerful; It wasn't supposed to be that powerful at all. I don't want to kill him, I just want him back off. I'm losing control of my magic again.
In the midst of my shock, the assassin saw his advantage and got behind me. He kicked the back of my left knee, then wrapped his right arm around my neck, forcing me to fall on my knees then my chest. His arms around my neck kept my head up, but they were constricting my airways and making me struggle to breath.

  "Don't take this personally. Well, that's a lie; it is a bit personal." He said as he tried to restrain my arms under his own weight.

I tried to overcome him, but he kept putting pressure on my back. My vision was beginning to blacken as my lungs tried to get air. I have to use magic again. I hoped that it wouldn't go wrong and go out of control once more.
The purple glow from the magic on my hands began to surround the assassin, and forced him to let go of my neck. The weight on my back disappeared, allowing me to stand but I stumbled as my brain tried to get more oxygen. I grabbed my neck and rubbed it to help get air inside, as the spots and blackness faded from my vision and I was finally able to breathe again.
I turned to the assassin, who was levitating about seven feet off the ground and still engulfed in the purple aura of the spell. I exchanged a smug smile at him, as he struggled against the invisible bounds.

  "Not again!" He recognized the spell.

  "I've improved quite a lot in my levitation magic, but of course you don't care. You've been through this before though so I assume you know what comes next." I said to him, as I pulled up my hood, the glow on my hands getting brighter as I raised my hands.

  "Is this all you got? Why not just kill me with that other spell, huh?" He snarled.

I replied "I'm not going to waste my energy on a something like killing you. I don't intend on killing anyone. Besides, I have bigger problems to deal with."

I lifted up my hands as high as I could, then forced my hands in a pushing manner, using my magic to send him hurtling into the trees. Once his body disappeared from my sight and his scream faded, I stood there for awhile waiting to see if he would return, but the the wound on my abdomen stung. I looked down at it, seeing specks of dirt covering my shirt and in the wound.

  "I have to get home and clean this before infection sets in." I hissed. I continued walking down the path, holding my arm on the injury to help decrease the amount of blood loss.

  "I shouldn't be too far now." I hugged my cape around myself, trying to stay warm.

For awhile I walked, until I reached where I needed to go. I pushed and shoved the shrub out of my way. The magic circle should be around here somewhere. A sigh of relief escaped my mouth when I finally located it. It had golden chalk in the center in the shape of a crescent moon, and a larger circle surrounded it draw in purple chalk.
Even through harsh weather conditions, teleportation circles such as this can last hundreds, perhaps thousands of years. While I can teleport on my own thanks to my Enderman side, I can only teleport short distances without magical help. These circles allow magic users such as myself to teleport anywhere as long as another circle is present in that location.

  "I need to keep track of this one. It's so far from home, I forget where it is." I said to myself, looking over my shoulder to see if anything was behind me. I can't let that guy follow me.

Honestly, I was surprised I didn't go insane from loneliness, but if Grayson can last so long, like he did in the Arctic base, and when we first went through the portal, then I can withstand it too. I stepped into the center of the circle, and closed my eyes, imagining a vivid image of his home in the crag mountains surrounded by ocean waters.
Magic essences swirled around me, moving faster as the magic summoned the wind. I could feel the atmosphere around me change, so I opened my eyes and found myself back home. My hair fluttered as the wind around me died down, but the natural cold breeze remained, making me shiver even more since the sun was down.
I removed my cape, and tossed it over my shoulder as I walked over the closest water fountain made in the light stone. The water inside was bright and glistening even without a light source reflecting off of it. I got down on my knees, resting my backpack and cape on the stone beside me, then took off my shirt and set it aside as well. I cupped my hands together and scooped up a hand full of freezing water. Even through my leather gloves, it sort of stung like dry ice because of how cold it was. I splashed the water onto the injury, trying to clean it out and wash away the blood.

I hissed. "Dang that stings. I forgot how much it stung." Not to mention how bitterly cold it was.

It had been awhile since I sustained an actual injury. Nothing like scratches or bruises, but an actual scar. The last major injury I got was when Grayson, Mia and I crashed in the airship, and I got a large gash on my head. It healed, but a tiny scar still remained on the mid-right side of my forehead.
The scar on my stomach looked clean enough, I just hoped it actually was clean and my bad eyesight wasn't mistaken. The scar on my arm was very small, and would heal quickly. Grabbing my shirt and cape with my right hand and my bag with my left hand as I stood and walked over to the staircase of my home. I made it inside the place I called my room, and went to the other side of it, setting the rags of clothing on the table next to my voodoo puppets. I never really used them; well not for negative things at least.
I pulled a healing potion from my bag, then dropped the bag on the ground. A thick pink liquid rested inside the glass bottle. I opened the cap, and drank it down, the bitter liquid making my wounds feel less sore, but the rest of my body still felt exhausted. I put the cap back on and kneeled down, shoving the bottle into the bag, then reached in and grabbed my bandages.
I wrapped some around my abdomen, the bandages immediately soaking up some blood. I took off my cold,wet leather gloves and shook them to get the water off, then tossed them on the desk.
I sluggishly walked to my bed, then collapsed on it face first, not even bothering to put the sheets over myself. The bags under my eyes were heavy. It didn't take long at all for my to fall asleep.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

It was dark, with no stars or moon in the sky, yet I could see my surroundings. The grass and the leaves on the trees looked like they were a dark blue and vines covered in leaves hung down from the trees. The ground had dead shrubs and long grass with a lake sitting next to me.
This place wasn't all too new to me, but it still creeped me out. Most of my dreams were set in this place; well, not really dreams, more like a material plan in the mind where He likes to communicate with me. I didn't create this place, but I knew who was behind it.

You're a mistake. A failure. Nothing but my little puppet. A deep voice called from the darkness, echoing in my ears.

A tall, dark, and legless creature floated out for the shadows behind the unnatural trees. It's claws were made of a dark bluish purple crystal but that was the most I could see of the details on it's  body, since the darkness hid most of it's features. What stuck out the most though, was it's glowing white eyes.

  "Why can't you just leave me alone?" I yelled at the ghost, no, not a ghost; a demon.

  "Oh, and for the record, I am not your puppet! Now quite saying that!"

The form of the Nightmare began to shift, making noises that sounded like cracking bones, making me feel even worse. It took the form of a human body, with brunette hair, blue jeans, and t-shirt, and gray shoes. He looked similar to my human side, but with hair growing on his chin. It was his old body, before he possessed Armen.

Or what? You can't hurt me! I can do whatever I want with you, and you can't do a thing!

My head began to hurt. My eyes squinted, but I refused to let anymore of the pain show. I have to stand my ground and remain strong until the end. I growled.

  "Do me a favor a quit messing with my magic, will you?" I didn't know why I even bothered.

I'm not messing with your precious magic. I'm simply giving you more power to defend yourself. Although, I do like making you freak out.

I turned on my heels, facing away from Him. "Whatever. Even when I don't need defense, you...mess everything up!" I yelled. He could see my anger.

You know that it's all your fault. Everything, from the very beginning, even things you have yet to yet to remember, both from this life and your past life. The pain in my head kept getting stronger.

You were supposed to protect Armen. That was the whole point of your lousy existence, but you failed him. It's all because of you that he's dead.

My hands shot up to my head, my fingers digging into my scalp. My head hurt so much. I don't want to hear this anymore! I'm tired of being constantly reminded of what I did. Reminded that my best friends blood was on my hands. I destroyed the diamond, which resulted in his death.

  "Shut up!" I yelled, my eyes shut tight and I stumbled backwards from the pain.

My knees gave out from under me, causing me to fall on them. I didn't even get to open my eyes when I felt pressure on my chest, and was forced into a lying down position. I started coughing and choking as my mouth filled with a thick liquid. Herobrine stood over me, kneeling down over my face with his foot on my chest, not affected by the splatters of red hitting his face from every bloodcurdling hack that came from my body.

  Be prepared Drake. He stared at me with emotionless glowing eyes, with a wide grin across his face showing his bright, yet sharp teeth. He began to chuckle.

I'm only beginning to have my fun.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

My eyes shot open, and I jumped up from my bed and ran to the open floor-to-ceiling windows. Bile rose up in my throat, and my stomach ached from the inside. I barely even knew what was going on as my lips and chin became covered in a wet but thick substance.
My right arm stayed over my aching stomach, while my left arm pushed on the stone floor trying to keep me elevated. My blurred vision could barely see the red falling down on the stone of the mountain.
Once it stopped and I was finally able to catch my breath, I ran my right hand up and over my chin. I looked down and saw the sticky material on my fingers. Blood. I growled as I wiped the blood off with my arm.

My arm fell back to my side as I mumbled, "I'm tired of being sick."

I've was having many issues since I got out of the portal. I've been getting fevers and random symptoms at random times, losing control of my magic, but of course headaches and 'nightmares' were the most common of my problems. It was getting so common, that I just started to ignore them and act like I was fine, but deep inside though, I knew how bad it really  was. Yet I preferred to continue ignoring the issue.
My stomach growled. I sighed and looked over to my bag lying on the ground. I walked over to it and opened up the flap, then searched through it for any leftover food. My hand pulled out only a few raspberries and blackberries.

  "Really? Is that all I have? Oh well, it's better than nothing I guess."

I shoved them all in my mouth, not bothering to savor the individual tastes. The wind blew in from the windows making me shiver and I finally realized that I had to sew up the tear in my shirt. I sighed, going to my bedside cabinet, opening the drawer, and pulled out a needle and blue thread. The shirt was still covered in blood, meaning I'd have to clean it before I patch it up. I tossed the needle and thread back into the drawer, and grabbed an old bristle brush.

  "Uhg." I sighed once more, grabbing the blue cloth, feeling annoyed, and walked out of the temple-like structure. I looked up at the clouds as I walked to the fountain.

  "It's going to rain soon. Great, just my luck." I said to myself sarcastically.

Do to my Enderman side, I had this disliking for getting wet, but unlike Enderman, I'm not harmed by water because my human side contradicts that trait. Walking over to the fountain, I got down on my knees and dunked the shirt and my hands into the cold water. I flinched from the cold, my fingers instantly feeling like they almost couldn't move as they began to freeze. I rubbed the stain with the brush, feeling myself becoming irritated. Irritated and agitated. A pain began to return to my head. My hand rose up to my forehead but my fingers were already numb.

  "Stupid headache. Every time it feels worse and worse." I growled.

The ringing in my ears started to morph as if it was turning into multiple voices in my head. I couldn't tell a single thing they were saying, but sounded like me, yet they were so much darker. I suddenly got the urge to dunk my head into the water and not resurface. The images in my mind playing a gruesome scene of me drowning myself. I could feel my eyes drying out as I stared intently into the water, lost in shock of the images flashing before my eyes.

  "Stop it!" I bolted up to a standing position, digging my fingers into my head once more.

The images stopped. The voices faded to nothing. I hyperventilated from what I had witnessed.

  "No, no, no. That's it." I grabbed my belongings and speed walked back up into room. I mumbled under my breath "I hate water even more now."

I looked down at the wet cloth in my arms, not very impressed with my work. "Not the best clean up, but I guess it will have to do. I'm not getting near any water for awhile, but I'm also not going outside freezing from wet clothes."

I looked outside at the dark clouds. "Well, I'm probably going to get wet anyways, but..."

I sighed, "Whatever, I just want to stay dry for as long as I can. Besides, it will be so much easier to sew it back together."

I hate using magic for my own benefit but it's the fastest way to dry it out. I have to head out for ingredients to make more potions and I refuse to be freezing out there. I set the brush onto my bed. My hand glowed a bright purple, the light engulfing the shirt and causing it to float up into the air. I didn't intend for it to happen, but it began to spin around uncontrollably in circles.

  "No, no, no!" I reached up, trying to grab it, but like an explosion, all the water came off in boiling drops in different directions. It could feel the water burn my skin.

The shirt dropped to the ground, now completely dry. I looked down at my burning arms, but a few red marks were left behind from the scalding water.

  "Thought that would be a lot worse. Still, I lose control of it again. D***t." I wasn't usually one to cuss, but I was just getting tired of not being able to control the power of my magic. I was getting tired of everything. Tired of not having Grayson or Mia by my side to comfort me.

  "At least it wasn't destroyed."

I coughed into my arm, and getting my shirt and the cleaning brush, then went to the drawer. I opened it, tossing the wet brush into it, then grabbed the needle with blue thread already attached to it. I sat down on my bed, the covers still tossed aside from this mornings "incident".
I hesitated to do anything, my hands still shaking from the cold and my previous feeling of fear.

I exhaled. "Alright Drake, just...be careful." I steadied the needle tip to an end of the tear.

Slowly, I poked the needle through dragging the thread through it, and repeated the process, until the tear was gone. The stitching was mostly even, but I was still impressed with it since I still accomplish the task even with my shaking hands. I put the materials on the table, put on my shirt, then grabbed my gloves and put them on as well.

  "Alright. Glad that's over with."

I took my cape off the table putting it around me, and buttoned the single button at my neck. I looked out the window, seeing the small droplets of water fall to the earth. The aroma of of the fresh water was one thing about rain I found pleasant, I just didn't like getting wet. I pulled up my hood and sighed.

  "Yep. At least it doesn't snow here. I guess I'd rather be wet then freezing, but then again, it's still really cold."

I walked to the edge of the table, and pushed on a certain area on the west wall. The stone acted as a button, descending into the wall, and open a door on the other side. I walked around, going through a doorway and turning right to face and open door with a texture on it that matched the cobblestone wall.
I rubbed my arms, both from the cold and the sensation of being watched. It was a feeling I had gotten a lot lately, but it was easy for me to brush it aside as paranoia acting up. I walked into the small room, where a ladder lead down into a secret room below. I closed the door behind me, being sure to conceal the rooms location in case anything came by.
Even in the darkness, it was easy for me climb down the ladder and make it down to the small cobblestone room. Nothing was inside of it. Only a couple one way windows that I could see through, but no one would be able to tell that it was glass from the other side. To others, it looked like stone and surrounding dirt.
I moved over to the southern part of the room, and pushed on the wall, revealing a secret door made of stone. On the other side of the door, was a massive stone room that I had carved out. The entire southern wall was a massive one way window, that was currently getting drenched with rain water falling for the clouds. Most of the floor was a hollow square, with metallic rods coming out of each side, giving off a powerful feeling of electricity. At the bottom, was a magic chalk circle. A titanium box levitated in the center, the magnetic rods and magic circle hiding the magic signature of the powerful item held within it.
A sacred diamond. One of the last two that still exist, since I destroyed the other one. It's like a life line to Herobrine, and only Grayson's sword can destroy it. This particular diamond was in this mountain to begin with, it was the reason I built this room.

  "It's fine. As usual."

It was a daily routine for me. Check up on the diamond and make sure nothing happened to it. Magic users such as myself would usually be able to sense it's strong magic, but the magnetic signature from the electromagnetic rods hid its energy.
I began putting magical items in this room, trying to make it a little more worth it to come down here everyday. Grayson had given me the idea to hide all all of my magical artifacts down here and preserve them. Of course it was hard having to hold back my Mage instincts to use the artifacts, but I managed.
Shelves hung along the northern and southern wall, filled with magical artifacts like rare potions and journal on magic spells and lots of other rare and potentially dangerous items involving magic. Chests laid against the wall below the shelves, filled with other items. My head ached on the inside and burned on the outside. My legs became wobbly under me, causing me to have to support myself on the stone wall. I coughed into my arm a few times.

  "Fever's coming back." I said as I felt my body begin to shake.

The pain in my head caused a ringing in my ears that sounded like laughing. As if someone was finding amusement in my pain. I moved so that my back touched the wall and slid down on it so I could sit on the ground and recover as much as I could. For minutes I sat there, feeling fatigued and waiting for my symptoms to become less harsh so I could bring myself to stand. I looked out the window once more, seeing the heavy rain turning into nothing more than sprinkles of water droplets.

  "I need more health potions. I've been using them a lot and now I don't have enough ingredients to even make one. I have to find more ingredients to make a potion to help with this. I just hope I have enough strength to keep myself walking."

I stood, feeling better than before, but I still felt burning on my head and chest. I left the room, and went back outside, being sure to close the secret doors behind me. Going back into my room, I grabbed my backpack, putting the straps on my shoulders. I looked around for my belt with my sword holster attached to it.

  "Where the heck is it? My diamond sword was still in it!" I felt something hit my leg. I looked down, finally realizing that it was on me the whole time, with my sword.

  "Was I really that tired last night? Fell asleep and forgot about it? Well, that's not the question. The question is, why did I not notice it earlier?" I rolled my eyes at myself and sighed. "I'm losing my mind."

While leaving, the rain cleared up, leaving gray clouds and wet stone behind. I walked over to the edge of the "yard", and looked over the edge, seeing the wet steps that wrapped around the mountain, leading down and hanging over the salty sea.

  "Perhaps I should just teleport down there. Some of it's broken and I don't want to fall into the water." I remembered what happened earlier at the fountain. I'm not going to let that become reality.

  "Nope. I've made up my mind. I'm teleporting." I said at a fast pace.

I walked past my yard, passing the altar dedicated to the "Magic goddess". The Orcs that lived here before me must have built it, but it accompanies the magic stone embedded within the mountain. That, and the magic sleeping water is what drew me to live here, but mainly my reason for staying here was because of the diamond.
I got to the edge, and looked down, locating where the stair case came to an end. It ended where the badlands begun. The bright gray and turquoise stone on the mountains turning into red and tan sand, dirt, and clay, that was a vast majority of the badlands.

  "Luckily I've learned how to preserve more of  my mana. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to use magic as often as I do now, but... I can't let myself lose control of my magic so much. More mana or not, I have to not use my magic as much as I can today..."

I focused on the area where the stone stairs ended, and lifted up my hand, as it began to glow a dark color of purple.

  "...with right now as an exception."

It began to look and feel like the world was spinning. It was almost nauseating, but I had grown used to it. I closed my eyes, letting the world settle, then I opened them again, finding myself at the bottom of the mountain. I still had no clue where to go, but I was feeling better, and had hope I'd find what I need, and hope that I'd make it without problems. Well, not too many problems at least.

Luke's point of view-

I woke in my sleeping bag, covered in white snow. I tried to sit up, but fell back and hissed when I felt the stinging pain in my right shoulder. I held my left hand over it and rubbed it in reaction, knowing that doing so wouldn't heal it. It was a minor sprain, but still painful. I'll deal with it though, I've been through more painful things in my career.

  "That idiot." I growled. My growl shifted, and became short chuckles when I realized his mistake.

  "That idiot. He should have killed me when he had the chance. Twice we've faced and he slipped up both occasions."

I rolled over on my left side, then used my left arm to push myself up on my knees. The snow fell off of me, but some flakes stuck to the fabric of my clothing. I dusted off the snow from my body as I stood.

As I removed my hat and dusted the snow off, I said to myself "He's smart in his words, but ignorant in his actions."

I put the hat back on, then got on my knees to roll the sleeping bag up. I shoved it into the straps on top of my bag, then swung the bag over my right shoulder, forgetting about the injury. I cringed, and hissed, adjusting the strap while putting the other one on.
My body ached from my violent shivering from overnight. I knew I should have followed him, but with my injured shoulder, I did think I could accomplish the task at the time. I regret not chasing after Grayson's little buddy, or I at least regret not following him to see where he went.

  "F*ck. Now what am I supposed to do?" I sat there, wondering what to do. I can't just wander around everywhere in hopes of finding him. It would take up too much time.

  "How long do I have anyways?" I said as I recalled the emperors threat to me. I gulped.

An idea came to my head. I wasn't sure it would be effective, but it was better than nothing.

  "I'll have to find a mercenary division squad and ask if they've seen him, but God that's embarrassing."

If I do that, then wouldn't it make me a failure? I couldn't complete my own task that I was assigned on my own? I have too. I have no other choice. If no one can give me any information, then I'll have to resort back to the first plan, that is very time  consuming. I began to walk into the area filled vastly with large pine trees, covered in white, making my way to the path. I could be so rich! I'll have so much respect from the emperor and my peers. I could go home... I could stay alive.