Grayson's point of view-

Our footsteps echoed off of the large arched walls, the light from the torch in my hand flickering against the darkness. It was cold with my breath visible even within the black shadows. Every once in awhile I would glance over my shoulders to see if the others, mainly Drake, were okay. He was stumbling and would occasionally twitch or hiss in pain before holding his head. His headaches were getting worse.
I looked back ahead of myself, then looked up in awe at how massive the corridor seemed to be. In all actuality, it wasn't really something to gasp in awe over. The corridors in the palace were a lot more massive and so much more grand. I was just excited to finally find this place after so long. Would all of the loss we suffered be worth it by the end of this day?

"It's stuffy in here." Mia wheezed out before sneezing.

I looked over my shoulder for just a moment to gaze at her. "Well I assume that this place has been untouched for hundreds of years, maybe even thousands!"

I held up my torch higher to let the light hit more surface area. There was no light up ahead, almost as if we were walking into a never ending void. The walls were mostly smooth and dull but occasionally there would be a small bump of stone that was not smoothed out. They were a tedious dark grey with nothing really interesting about the arched hall. The light from the small flame showed dust particles floating all about almost leaving the walls barely visible.
The same adrenaline and rush of joy was filling my body as when we entered the magic library. I knew that I should not have let my happiness over take me just yet, but after all of the h**l we've been through, I couldn't contain it.

  "Can you believe this? We're the first people to step foot in here for centuries! Maybe even the first humans to ever step foot in here period!" A wide smile spread on my cheeks until they were sore.

I heard a few chuckles come from behind me. "Well...we haven't gotten to see the amazing part yet. Just wait for when we actually hatch that dragon egg!" Mia's joyous voice echoed against the walls.

I laughed, readjusting the straps of my backpack and satchel. "I know. I'm just...I can't wait to finally see that dragon and... and to get this entire mess behind us." I referred to our problem with Herobrine.

My body jumped when the walls began to echo with the sound of loud coughing and erratic wheezing. I gasped as I spun around with my eyes immediately resting on Drake, who was with Lalea at the back of the group. I watched as he was coughing into the pit of his elbow until tears were streaming down his face from lack of oxygen. Lalea held his chest and wrapped her arm around his side to prevent him from collapsing.
A heavy pressure weighed down in my chest as I witnessed him cough up blood before Lalea could not longer hold him, and he fell to his knees with a painful grunt. Chocked up noises and gagging rose from the back of his throat as if his body was trying to hurl but his stomach was empty. All that slipped from behind his lips and teeth was a bit of crimson liquid and saliva.
My fists balled up in anxiety and worry as he gasped for breath once his episode seemingly came to a halt. My fingernails dug into my skin despite the green fabric that was between my nails and my palm. Drake then started to cling to his head as he whimpered and clutched his teeth in pain. He seemed to be holding back a pain filled scream.

"I-I'll be fine...just...k-keep moving." He muttered, attempting to stand but failed inevitable.

I actually somewhat cringed. In a way he had the appearance of a fresh walking corpse, with the pale skin that almost had a green look to it, almost milky eyes and his alarmingly slender form. He used to actually have some form beneath his shirt but now his ribs were visible through the badly torn and baggy fabric. The many blood stains and wounds along with the dark circles around his eyes made him seem even more cryptic. I despised comparing to a zombie but that was all I could think of when gazing his weakened body.
He groaned before choking on saliva and spitting it out into the small puddle of thick red in front of him. I sighed, turning my body and pushing past the others as I walked over to my best friend. My arm was aching and shaking from holding up the torch for so long, so I moved it to my other hand. My shoulder almost seemed to pop as I let it fall limply back down to my side. I held the torch up high as I knelt in front of Drake.

"Do you need anything? Water or something?" I asked, concerned for his current wellbeing.

His pale face looked up with his chapped lips slightly parted, quivering as he gasped and exhaled through his mouth. His blood stained hair fell over his forehead, his hair nearly covering his mismatched eyes and his hood casting an ominous shadow over his features.

"W-water would be...n-nice."

I nodded, stripping my backpack off of my back, then moved my satchel to look through it. I forgot that I had an extra water bottle in there. I don't know how or when I got but I remembered that I did have it. I pulled it out, giving no hesitation to hand it over to him. His trembling arm rose up, his frail fingers slowly wrapping around the glass before he weakly pulled it from my grip. He drank down about half of the bottle before pulling his lips away from the brim. He gagged a few times but was able to keep it down.

He handed it back to me before his arm fell back down. "Thank you. Maybe that will...help with the headaches for a bit." I could hear the doubt in his voice.

It took it and put it away before both Lalea and I helped him back to his feet. I made sure to hold my torch away from him to keep the flame from burning him. He was shaking violently, sending shivers through my body and I gripped him. Once he was standing nearly straight, I stepped back, grabbing my backpack and putting it back on. I moved my cape so the leather bag was not on top of the tattered brown fabric of my cape.

  "It's no problem. Remember, when you need something then just ask."

He nodded before his coughing resumed but this time it did not last long and was not as violent. Once he was able to properly breathe again, I turned around and went past the others to continue on down the dark hall. Jane coughed as she inhaled the dust particles plaguing the air. She held her sleeve over her mouth with watery eyes as she tried to breathe normally again. We had to get out of this hall before the dust became too overwhelming for us all.
Then finally the light from the flame allowed me to see an end to the long cryptic hallway. My back straightened as the light shifted up ahead, showing a flat surface that looked like a door. We approached it, seeing words engraved onto the wall, this time in English so I understood.

  "This Labyrinth will test those who seek to hatch dragon eggs. Only those who survive are worthy to set eyes upon the form of a new born dragon."

A strange feeling tugged at my chest. I looked over my shoulder and readjusted the right strap of my backpack.

  "It's as if I was meant to find this dragon egg. As if I was meant to find this place."

I stepped forward, felt the ground shift beneath me. I jumped back, bumping into Xavier. I held the torch lower to see pressure plates on the ground. Then I flinched as the door opened and an almost unnatural light swept into the hall.
As I walked through the doorway, I gasped with my eyes beginning survey the circular room. I stepped foot inside, hit with a wave of awe yet a comforting feeling of familiarity. It remained me of the magic library. The walls had the same texture and hues of grey on the floor and the pillars. The soothing grey trimmed along the blue-green color of the walls. Evenly spaced inside of the walls were holes that water poured out into walled pound, two separate ones that went from the door way I stood in to the one on the opposite side of the room.
The sound of running water was relaxing, as well as the usual but peaceful turquoise glow that the water seemed to give off. It was like it took some weight off of my shoulders. The edges of the circular roof were diagonal with dark blackish green details on the stone that made the room feel more detailed and made it appeal more to the eyes.
In the center of the room was an erected statue of the magic goddess. Usually most depictions of her showed her with her arms extended but this time that was not the case. Her head hung low with her arms gently extended with slightly bent elbows. Her hands were together with her palms faced upwards. I slowly approached it, not sure if some sort of trap would be set off.

"What is that statue?" Xavier asked as everyone entered two at a time.

Lalea was holding Drake up, his body sweating and his face occasionally twisting from sore pain in his limbs. I could tell that he was having problems with breathing normally as he breathed from his mouth with an occasional gasp as if he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs.

Lalea answered, even though I saw Drake's mouth open to reply but the blue haired Mage beat him too it. "That's the goddess of magic. Some believe that she is the reason why the earth and it's inhabitants have magical abilities."

I saw the ex-spy's green eyes light up. "That's cool! I mean, I don't really believe in Greek or Roman gods or whatever but...cool!" He exclaimed as he started to walk around the statue.

Mia and Endy tilted their heads in confusion. "What's Roman and Greek?" Mia asked. I forgot that those empires fell centuries ago therefore the people of today had no knowledge of it. I was surprised that Xavier knew.

"How did you know about Rome and Greek?" I questioned.

He shrugged, his hands jittery as if he was trying to keep himself from touching the statue in case it set off any trap. Eventually he put them into his pockets. "The library at the palace had some books on those and I read some on the airships when I was board. There were a lot of books that had information that many people theses days have no clue about. It is sad how everyone just...seemed to forget about the history with our own planet, our own ancestors!"

I chuckled. "You don't have a clue on what this generation has missed. This generation and many others before it." He seemed confused, but he was the only one not around when I told the others at the cave that Drake and I were from centuries in the past.

I walked around the magic goddess statue as well, quickly taking in detail before my attention moved to the door. The statue of the magic goddess had the same grey color as the floor, with the exception of the details on her dress, fingers, face, and her hair. They were a dark shade of bluish-green like on the walls. Her eyes were closed, her hair uneven against her back. It kind of looked as if her eyes could open at any moment.
Finally my attention turned to the dark grey door behind the statue. There did not seem to be a key hole or anything that would open the door. There was no sign of how to open it, at least not to the naked eyes.

  "There doesn't seem to be any key hole to this door or any words engraved onto it the could help us open it."

My attention turned back to the others, seeing Nathan kneeling in front of the statue to examine it. Endy was walking around it with her eyes wide and bright. She probably had not seen many statues of the goddess, as most of them are down south of the country and the place that she lived was rather desolate of people. She basked on how she had not seen anything like it since she left the imperial cities years ago.

The auburn haired made an assumption as he looked up. "Perhaps we have to do something with this statue. It just seems that it wouldn't be in the center of the room unless it was important."

He had a point. The statue just seemed a bit out of place and too different than most for it not to serve some sort of purpose. Drake walked up to the statue, gently pushing away from Lalea and stumbling on his feet. I flinched, expecting him to collapse but fortunately Lalea stayed very close behind him just in case. The hybrid reached out and let his fingers caress the hands of the goddess statue. With the bandages and his fingers underneath burned raw, I knew that he could not really feel the texture of the stone.

  "Nathan's right. This has to have something to do with opening that door...The hands of this seem like there's supposed to be something placed on them."

I put my hand on my hip, going into thought about what to do. There wasn't anything though that dark hallway leading down here that could have helped, at least not anything that I was aware of. I began to walk around the statue once again, pondering on how to solve this situation. The formation of the hands repeatedly caught my eye.
A small gasp left my throat as an idea came to my head. This it the hatchery. The sole purpose of this place is to hatch the dragon egg. Of course normal people who found this place would not be able or need to be let in without a dragon egg.

  "Take this." I handed the torch over to Nathan.

I took off my backpack and opened it, reaching in and carefully grabbing the dragon egg. I placed it onto the goddesses hands, adjusting it so it was straight. My heart was racing as we waited for something to happen. For a moment we waited, but nothing happened.

I sighed in disappointment. "Well, I guess I was wro-"

The eyes of the statue suddenly opened, laminating in a bright magenta glow. I yelped in surprise and fell back onto the floor. A groan slipped past my lips before I opened my eyes, feeling them widen as the door on the other side of the room began to slowly descend into the ground. Another room was revealed, filled with more shadows than the room we were in. The eyes of the magic goddess closed, the bright magenta light extinguishing.

I pushed myself up and steadily grabbed the dragon egg. "Never mind."

The others slowly stepped into the other room as I put the dragon egg back into my backpack. I put the straps over my shoulders, then walked around the statue to join my friends. The sound of scraping against stone echoed in both room as the door began to slowly close. I gasped before my brows lowered, and I jumped to get into the room. I got into the room in the nick of time just before the stone door came up and sealed off the other room.
My body slammed onto the stone ground and slid across it's surface after my leap. I groaned as I laid on the stone, feeling my back pressing against someone's feet. I felt the side of my chest and arms beginning to bruise from the impact. A hand grabbed my shoulder and pulled me up. I got to my feet, turning and looking up at Drake as he helped me keep a steady balance.

"Thanks... Ow. That hurt." I hissed, holding my aching side in pain.

Drake tilted his head with concern in his eyes. "Are you alright Grayson?"

I nodded, before popping my back. "Yeah. I'm okay. Sore but I don't think that anything is broken."

Suddenly there was a sound of igniting flame and a bright light coming from behind us. Drake and I both turned away from each other, watching as touches spaced evenly on the walls began to light themselves one by one like a chain reaction. The flames lit up the room, allowing us to see and to take in detail. The walls were decorated with a zigzag pattern across the center of the wall, wrapping all the way around the square room. There were four pillars at each corner and a door opposite to the one we just entered. I did not even check to see it it had a lock because something else had already gripped my attention.
The floor was covered with skeletal remains and gold and jewels. It was like a temple that many had entered and no one had survived. The sight of the decayed made my spine shiver and made me swallow a gulp in my mouth.

  "Guys..." Mia's shaken voice called out. "Are you seeing this?"

Drake answered, not even looking away from the skeletons. "Yeah...we see it."

I looked up at the ceiling, seeing words engraved into the stone. I could not read it, as it was written in the magi language. I told the others to look up, Lalea being the first to speak. She clarified that it was the magi language before she read it out loud. Afterwards I heard her mumble that "this wasn't good". Why did she mean by that?
Suddenly there was a faint rumbling beneath our feet with dust falling from the ceiling. We began to look around, our eyes wide as we spotted movement in the pile of bones. I gasped, watching as some of the skeletons began to pick themselves of the ground and stand up straight. About eight or ten rose up, each grabbing a weapon from the ground.

  "Uhh...Lalea? What did you just read?" I asked, drawing my sword.

Lalea gulped, drawing her own blade. "These are dead guards that swore themselves to the dragons to protect this labyrinth and the dragon that will be born from that egg. If we die then they'll just hatch the egg themselves."

The skeletal undead began to approach us, two behind us, two pairs coming from each side and two blocking our way to the door. A majority of them bore iron armor that would make it difficult to get a clean hit on the bones. I growled, ignoring the possible set backs and charged at the skeletal guards. I screamed as I swung my blade, the skeleton holding up his own to block my attack. At least this was not my first brawl with the undead.
I made another attempt to attack and strike a blow, this time able to strike the armor iron chest-plate that covered it's ribs. It jaw opened, almost like it was laughing mockingly at me. I clutched my teeth together as my grip tightened around the hilt of my sword. We brandished our weapons, until eventually I thrusted my blade and struck it dead center in it's face. I felt my blade rattle as it traveled through the bone and shattered the bridge of it's nose. I pulled my blade out, letting the skeletal remains fall limply back to the ground.
I looked back up, catching my breath as I gazed at everyone else's battles. Nathan was using both his sword and the torch in his hand, though the flames were rather ineffective. Drake was slow in his reactions, as to be expected when he had that fatigue and fever. The skeleton swung, the very tip getting snagged on the fabric of Drake's tattered shirt. I couldn't tell if the blow drew blood, but I knew that it left a small rip. Drake's eyes were full of rage and yet I saw a glimmer of something else like that of insanity. The smile and gleam of a psychopath. I shook my head, hating that I kept comparing him to such awful things. He's my best friend. He's closer than a friend, more like brother to me. I should not be saying those awful things.
Then my eyes rested on something swinging from around the neck of the skeleton that Drake was fighting off. A rusted iron key. My eyes widened, my head looking over my shoulders to gaze at the black door. Sure enough, this one did have a key hole and there was no doubt in my mind that the key that skeleton had would be our ticket to opening it.

I turned my head and called out to Drake. "Drake, get that key!"

The hybrid nodded before turning his head back to face the enemy. He jumped away from his opponent, crouching down in his short period of rest. He twisted, pulling his sword far behind himself as he focused on the skeletons movements. He took in a deep breath, then pushed his left foot against the floor. He stomped his feet as he charged and closed the short distance between himself and the undead guard. He let out a grunt and short, loud cry as he slashed at the enemy. His blade went from below to above, and quickly severed the skeletons head from the rest of its body. It was almost as if he let his rage overtake his state of mind for a moment.
Before the body even fell over, Drake reached out and took hold of the key. The string slipped off of the stub that remained of the skeletons neck. Drake turned his head, not even saying a word as he tossed the key over to me. I held up my hands and caught it between my palms. My arms lowered, taking the key in my right hand. I saw Drake shake his head, his lips lowering as he held his head and hissed in pain. Another headache.
I turned around, nothing coming to mind of what I could do or say to help him out. I sighed quietly, hoping that no one heard. I approached the door and placed the end of the key inside of the key hole, twisting the iron until I heard a loud click echo through the room. We all looked to the door as the heard the familiar sound of it descending into the floor. I guess all of that was relatively easy, but I should be thankful for that. We just have to get to the end of theses puzzles fast before anything else goes terribly wrong with Drake.

  "That was simple, I guess. I expected it be more of a challenge." I shrugged.

Mia gave a reply. "Well, we fought a massive imperial army. We have expert experience!"

I laughed and mumbled before my smile faded. "... Yeah. I guess so."

I looked down and saw a stairwell that descend downward into the island. It was dark, ominous, and was already hitting my nostrils with the suffocating particles of untouched dust. I could see a few spider webs here and there but those would not bother me. Not unless they got stuck on my face and in my hair. The stairwell was circular and descended counter clockwise into the stone.

  "Well... this looks fun!"

I chuckled nervously as I looked at the others. None of them laughed along. A sigh went past my lips before I turned back to gaze down into the darkness. I stepped onto the first step, with Nathan behind me to give some light with the torch. I went slow with the first few steps until I got used to the rhythm and descended down with ease.

...
Lalea's point of view-

We walked carefully down the steps, the flickering light of the flame slightly disorienting in our current situation. Xavier slipped, falling onto Endy and causing her to fall forward and hit me. Fortunately I stayed standing, with Endy quickly regaining her footing. She pushed Xavier off of her and waited until her was standing firm. He laughed and pulled Jane closer to himself.

"Sorry! I didn't hurt your arm, did I lass?" He inquired with a tilt of his head.

Endy giggled and shook her head. "No. I'm fine."

I smiled, holding back a giggle as I saw her cheeks turn red. The darker color stood out on her ghostly pale complexion. My own cheeks grew a bit warm in amusement, knowing that she had taken a bit an interest in the ex-spy. She made it quite obvious since we all left Luke's gravesite... I felt the urge to tease her for liking him just as she had teased me for liking Drake, but I did not want to do it while Xavier was right behind her.
I jumped when I walked into Drake, who stopped abruptly in front of me. I looked over his shoulder, my ears perking up as I heard gurgling noises coming from his mouth. I couldn't see his face very well past his hood, but I could see his nose, lips and chin. From his nose, two streaks of red came from both nostrils and left streaks on both of his lips and his chin. The blood dripped to the stone as it was joined by blood that was beginning to leak from the corner of his lips.

  "Drake?" I gasped out his name, my arm raising up and grasping his shoulder more tightly than I had intended.

Grayson, Nathan, and Mia stopped in their tracks, hearing the concern in my voice. Endy, Xavier, and Jane stayed behind me, not wanting to push past Drake and I to continue further down. They and myself knew that something was wrong with him. I wheezed and gasped with an alarming gurgle continuing in his throat. My heart was racing and pounding painfully from fear.
Drake began coughing, blood immediately pouring out from his mouth. He hunched over and held one arm over his stomach and the other promoting him up against the wall. Vomit poured from his mouth and splattered against the stone with some specks flying and hitting the wall. The red liquid slowly ran down from step to step as the puddle let red streaks run freely down the grey stone.
He resumed gasping as he tried to get air into his lungs, his ghostly pale face growing red as he struggled to breathe. He coughed up a few more specks of blood before he turned to look at me. A weak smile spread on his cheeks, though I knew that doing so brought a bit of a minor pain to his cheek muscles. He let out a low chuckle before his eyes rolled to the back of his head with his eyelids closing and his trembling body collapsing. I swiftly reached out my arms and wrapped them around his torso before he painfully collided with the steps.

  "Drake? Drake!" I called out with my voice echoing against the walls, shaking him but he remained limp in my arms.

Grayson was quick to get up the steps and get in front of Drake and I. He asked if Drake was alright but all I could really inform him with was the fact that he was bleeding and out cold. The blonde growled but his concern remained gleaming brightly in his emerald eyes. He took his cape and wiped away the blood from Drake's face before he took his body and pulled him away from me. I unconsciously let out a whimper as Drake's body was taken from my embrace.

"Grayson... He-He's..." I choked up with tears forming in my eyes. I don't think I've ever cried over someone as much as I have with Drake. That's because I've never felt like this for anyone besides him.

The blonde sighed, putting Drake's limp arm over his shoulder. "He'll be fine, Lalea... We just have to move quickly."

With that, he turned around and began to walk down the steps, this time more slowly than before. I watched as Drake's feet dragged on the ground, wearing away the fabric of his boots as the top scratched against the stone. My arm raised up and began to lightly tug at the strap going diagonally across my chest. My eyes fought back tears.
I flinched as I felt a gentle touch on my shoulder. My head turned, gazing up into the eyes of my old friend.

  "Drake will be okay, Lalea." Endy tried to reassure me.

I pushed her hand away and continued on down the steps. "I sure hope so. You better be right." I forced up a chuckle to brighten the mood but my fear and worry continued to linger.
...

Mia's point of view-

We reached the bottom of the stairwell, entering a dark room. It was circular and the walls seemed to be mainly a dark shade of blue with out lines of grey around rectangles carved into the stone. Inside each rectangular space was a statue of stone that were sculpted to resemble men in heavy set of armor. Each one had an image of a dragon on it's chest plate.
On the floor was a star in grey lines that emerged from each of the compartments that held the statues. Along with the star on the floor, the ceiling had many symbols circular on the roof. From everything that I had seen, those letters were the alphabet in the magi language, or possibly just some really long spell. On the opposite side of the room was another black door similar to the previous ones that we had seen, but there was not a key hole. Instead there was a square box as if there was something we had to place inside of it to open the door.
My ears perked up, my head turning to Grayson and Drake as the hybrid stirred. His eyes fluttered open, the lack of color in his orbs still making my stomach twist. He groaned again and the shaking in his body became more intense as he regained consciousness. His lips were moving with silent words slipping from behind his lips and his eyes only half way open. The Ender particles floated around his upper body. Usually while he was asleep, there were more than when he was conscious but now there seemed to be more than there should have been. Like he was still unconscious.

Grayson seemed to notice him shift, and looked over to him. "Hey, buddy! Are you... Drake?" His brow lowered, noticing that Drake was unresponsive to his voice.

  "I'm sorry...I didn't mean to..." The Mage was muttering, seeming to still be half asleep.

Drake's arm then shot up and was placed against his left eye as he screamed. It was the same scream he usually let out when he was having an excruciating headache. His teeth were gritting against each other and tears were slipping from underneath his heavy eyelids. Then his eyes opened and the pain faded from his face. His arm fell limp to his side and his stare shifted to one that was cold and blank. Almost lifeless.

  "Drake, are you okay?" Grayson asked hastily, panic beginning to arise in his voice.

Grayson moved Drake's arm, but strangely Drake did not move. He did not buckle. Grayson noticed this as well and stepped in front of Drake, no longer supporting him in standing. Drake stood still, continuing to seem out of it. Grayson waved his hand in front of his face, but to no avail in snapping the hybrid back to reality. I took a step away, feeling a bit alarmed from seeing a faint glow in both of Drake's eyes.

  "You are not real... They're still alive..."

I tilted my head as I took in Drake's faint words. The only thing that I could imagine was going on in his head was that he saw us get killed. Most likely he watched himself murder us with his own hands. I remembered his screaming that he was repeatedly getting nightmares like that. The thought made my stomach feel even more twisted within my torso. What if he thought that he was seeing ghost?

  "No, no, no..." I saw Drake gritting his teeth and clutching his fists.

Grayson took a step forward, but only got halfway into saying the hybrid's name before Drake's shining eye shot completely opened as his balled up right fist came hurtling towards Grayson's head. The blonde had little to no time react, Drake's fist colliding with his left cheek. I gasped and flinched as Grayson cried out in pain then fell over onto the ground.
Drake gasped, the Ender particles fading and the dim glow in his eyes fading as well. He gasped, staring straight ahead of himself before he started blinking rapidly. He then looked down, gasping as he saw Grayson laying on the floor in pain. Grayson removed his hand from where he was struck, revealing a streak of red running down from his left nostril.

Drake began to back up, his eyes wide in horror. "G-Grayson... I'm sorry! I-I didn't know that..!"

Grayson groaned and stood back up, looking down at his fingers smeared with blood. He forced up a chuckle. "I-It's okay! Y-you didn't mean to."

  "It's not okay, Grayson!"

Suddenly, the door that we entered through shut close. Like in the previous room, torches began to light one by one and illuminate the walls. Each torch was placed evenly between the guard statues, the lit sticks all held within black iron holders nailed into the stone. Suddenly, the statues began to move with their arms swaying and stone feet stomping heavily against the ground. I gasped, my body turning as I looked around the room and saw them all slowly getting closer. I drew my sword despite knowing that the thin metal would not stand against the thick stone.
Everyone held their stance, with Xavier protectively pushing Jane behind himself. He seemed to nudge both his daughter and Endy to the center of the room in oder to keep them safe while Jane was defenseless and he did not want to risk Endy's injury getting any worse.
Grayson looked over, his eyes resting on the square opening beside the door. His eyes widened and lit up before he sprinted towards it while removing a strap to his backpack from his shoulder. One he reached the door, he pulled out the dragon egg and hastily place it inside. We waited with racing hearts but nothing happened.

  "Why isn't it working?!" Grayson shouted in a panic, digging his fingers into his scalp.

My head turned once again as I heard Drake beginning to cough before he fell to his knees and began to vomit up blood.
The statues, more appropriate to call them golems now, inched closer and closer. Some bore weapons while others had only their stone fists. I then saw one of the golems approach Drake and lift up it's arm over it's stone carved, helmet head. As Drake let out a few gags and deep inhalations, blood and saliva rolling down his lips and chin as he slowly looked up at the inanimate foe before him. His face distorted in pain with tears in his eyes. He hissed as his body trembled and twitched. He didn't look like he could move, crippled with pain.
Before the golem could strike him, Lalea jumped between them and cast a shield of glowing blue magic. Her feet slid slightly on the floor, getting pushed back ever so slowly. I felt at a loss for how to get out of this. Not of our weapons would be effective. Only magic would have a possibility of stopping them.
Just as that thought came to my mind, Lalea's shield broken and shattered into a million pieces before they faded in the stale air. She growled before firing a ball of blue flame. The blast was powerful enough to knock it back slightly. I guess I was wrong about magic being able to stop them. We needed to get that door opened.
I looked back over to the door, dodging a swing made the golems stone sword. I saw an inscription written against the black surface, barely visible to the eye. I dodged another swing, looked over my shoulder as Lalea helped Drake up. He looked dizzy and disoriented.

  "There's words on that door!" I called out to Grayson. "Can you read any of them?"

Grayson examined the door while hastily putting the dragon egg back into his backpack.  He squinted, the poor lighting against the black surface making it difficult to see. He shook his head, saying that it looked to be written in the magi language. I could see his face sweating, panic setting in from the door not opening as he had expected.
My head spun once again as I faced the golem. I ducked down and stepped back it swung it makeshift stone blade. My back hit something, or more likely someone. I turned around, Endy's eyes and my own meeting.

"Endy! You have to go read the inscription on that door!" I demanded.

She nodded and swiftly charged over to Grayson's side by the door. As I watched her, I was suddenly struck with a painfully hard blow to the back. I could have sworn that my spine popped. I cried out in pain as I fell over, landing hard against the floor. I hissed as my eyes cracked open, looking up at the golem as it rose it's sword up. The stone blade came down, but I was lucky enough to roll out of the way just in time.
I got back up to my feet, watching Xavier pull Jane until they were behind the golem that had targeted them. He did not bother drawing his sword, knowing as well as I that it would be ineffective. Nathan screamed as his shoulder was struck and he was sent back to the wall. He dropped the torch he held in his hand, the flame quickly going out. Thankfully he was just short enough that he did not hit the torch nailed to the wall. A smell ember came down and landed on his brimmed hat but luckily it did not set it aflame.

I listened in on Endy reading the words engraved onto the door. "Friend to foe and friend again, a warrior meets his tragic end. Journey of past, remorse, and regret. A life given to pay his debt. Gift of value yet reminder of pain. A fate that was not in vain... What the heck does that mean?!"

"Figure it out!" Drake barked as he pushed himself away from Lalea and swayed on his feets. His legs shook like he was applying weight onto two thin twigs.

I used Xavier's tactic and swiftly got behind the golem. At least there was advantage for us, because the golems movements were rather slow. I saw Grayson's back straighten and saw his eyes widen as I gazed at him from afar. He reached into his satchel and pulled out something familiar. It was mostly black with a bit of white. On top of that white was two wide specks of black and orange in the center. Yarn hung freely down and slightly swayed. I gasped with my eyes growing larger when I recognized the yarn made object. Luke's hat...
Grayson tossed it into the square box then stood there frozen in place, waiting for something to happen. I could see his chest rising and falling, the world growing distant as I too waited for something to happen. The anticipation felt like it was gnawing away at my insides.
All of the sudden, there was a bright light blue glow. The hat started to float with in the light beam that the box had cast down. The stone golems all grew completely still, not one of them moving an inch. The room grew silent with the exception of heavy breath and then there was loud sound erupting from the door. The torches all extinguished simultaneously, leaving us darkness. The only light was the blue magic that was levitating the hat that belonged to our deceased comrade.
Everyone's attention was turned towards the loud sound, watching the door begin descend down and let bright light shine into the darkness. It was a bright golden glow almost like the sun, followed by a scorching hot sensation coursing throughout my skin.
Once the door was completely open, we were met with another room, but this one was different. Instead a majority of the floor was a pit that was yards deep, full of lava a few yards down from where we stood. We didn't move into it right away. Xavier walked up to Grayson's side, his light green eyes widened and tearing up as the site of Luke's hat.

"Luke's hat..? How could...how could that have opened the door?" He questioned with a low voice, a mild shock running through his bones.

Grayson slowly shook his head, his eyes not ripped away from the hat. "I don't know... It is like only we were meant to be here, like I said earlier. It's like we were destined to come here."

Xavier hesitated and swallowed a lump in his throat before he replied. "So...does that mean that Luke was...destined to die there at that field?"

The blonde sighed and swallowed a lump in his throat as he closed his eyes for a few seconds. "...I...I guess so... I-I mean..."

He shook his head, not wanting to continue with the heartbreaking conversation any longer. He looked very uncomfortable with talking about Luke at the moment. For a moment, I could have sworn that his green emerald eyes were tearing up with gleaming specks of water.
He waited for all of us to walk into the other room before he took back Luke's hat and entered the room before the door closed it off. He stepped forward and entered the boiling hot room. I flinched as I looked at Nathan and saw him pop his shoulder back into place. He hissed in pain and I cringed before shaking my head and taking my focus away from the dreadful sound of popping a bone back into it's socket. My skin was drenched in my own sweat from the excruciating heat that the lava emitted. The room was similar to one that Drake, Grayson, and I tackled at the magic library.

"This looks like that one room that was at the magic library. Remember? The one were it had that invisible floor?" I asked Drake and Grayson in they could recall.

Grayson replied first. "Yeah. I remember that!"

Comparing it to that, I stepped forward and got down onto my knees at the edge of the pit. My hand reached down, sweat rolling from my fingertips. A drop fell and decended into the boiling magma below. I could almost hear it sizzling as it collided with the burning lava.

"What are you doing?!" Grayson almost seemed tempted to push me away from the edge.

I let my arm swing down, seeing if there was any invisible floor but my hand did not touch anything. "Testing it. It doesn't seem to have an invisible floor this time around."

I stood up and backed away before I did end up falling into the lava below. I turned around as I heard Drake vomiting again, seeing him on his knees with Lalea kneeling next to him and rubbing his back. After that stopped, his head started to sway and his eyes drooped as if struggling to keep himself from passing out again.

"We have to get out of here...the s-smoke, th-the heat... we have to get out of here." He repeated. With his fever and the lava, he was probably overheating.

Nathan then spoke up. We looked over to him, seeing him gazing at a couple long inscriptions embedded into the wall. There was one that looked like a verse of a spell while the other line of words was separate and move parallel with each other. They also had boxes around them, as if they could be pushback into the wall. A puzzle of some sorts.

Nathan reached up his gloved hand gently caressed the engravings. "What does this say?"

Drake coughed before looking up and speaking. "The top part is a riddle... The second part is the alphabet in the magi language."

"What does it say?"

This time, Lalea answered. "What force and strength cannot get through, I with a gentle touch can do, and many in the street would stand, were I not a friend at hand."

Grayson let out a breath of frustration. "Great. More riddles."

"I don't think that it's referring to any of us this time. It seems more like it's referring to an object that isn't associated with any of us."

Drake clarified, adding that what ever the answer was had to be entered into the alphabet code, which would allow us a way to cross to the door on the other side of the bed of boiling hot lava.
We all thought deeply about what the answer could be, pondering shifting into frustration. I grunted and started pulling at my hair as I kept thinking until my head hurt. Or maybe it was just because I was pulling my hair. I released the strands blonde with pink and shook my head in a failed attempt to be rid of the pain. I sighed in relief when Drake spoke up again.

  "What force and strength cannot get through, I with a gentle touch can do." He repeated the text. "So it must have something to do with opening something but you can't just break it."

He continued. "A friend at hand... This seems more literal. The answer should be something small enough to fit in your hand and able to open things!"

Grayson had his gloved hand against his chin as he thought hard about it. His eyes then grew as if a thought came to his mind. His head lifted up, a wide smile on his face and bright eyes. "Like a key!"

Drake nodded. "Exactly! Perfect!"

The Mage in the black cape and raven hair stepped up beside Nathan. Endy then pushed down three letters on the lower inscription, the stone going into the wall. I assumed that the letters she pushed down were 'k.e.y'.
We all jumped as the narrow room began to shake and a rumbling sound hit our ears. We all looked down to the lava as a platform emerged from the wall. Thick stone went out about halfway until it stopped over the lava. On the other side of the room, the door opened to reveal a massive, bright room. Even from afar it felt...grand and comforting.
Grayson stepped closer, lifting up his foot and hung it over the stone. Cautiously, he slowly lowered his foot and applied weight before he stepped forward again. He slowly walked across, showing obvious nervousness as he let out a few shaken, weak chuckles.
When he called us to come across, Xavier went across first, practically holding Jane against the wall as they made their way over but she was barely to the point where she touched the wall. I understood that he was trying to keep her from falling. I assumed that any father would do so, especially one that was growing so over protective as he was becoming. He lost his wife so being over protective was more than understandable.
Next went Endy, then Nathan. I was hesitant to go over, still trying to work up the courage to do so.

I turned to Drake as he prepared to cross. "Ladies first!" I said jokingly. I didn't expect him to give me such a cold stare.

His gazed softened, shifting to an expression that was more remorseful. He walked past me without saying anything. I felt like I did something wrong and although I was relieved that he spoke, what he said was not reassuring nor comforting.

"Don't say that...please." His head hung low with his hood over his hair. His deep voice was lower than I wished it would be. "I know you mean well, but...don't."

He continued forward. He showed no caution or fear as his feet lead him across. My chest felt heavy as guilt ran through my veins. What did I do wrong? Why did he have a problem with me saying that? My head turned, watching Lalea walk past me and step onto the platform.

"He doesn't like that joke. Judging by his aura after you said that...that joke brings him painful memories."

I followed behind her and whispered so Drake did not hear. "Why?"

She shook her head and whispered back. "I don't know."

I looked over her shoulder at Drake. I don't know how I came to the assumption but I think I knew why it bothered him. Armen...