Luke's point of view-

The sun was going to rise very soon. I could see the faint lighter blue beginning to peak of the over the mountains. I woke up early and cleaned up my camp earlier than usual, preparing to go into cultist territory. I don't think they will willingly give me any information, that I'm positive they have. I'll have to do my best to force it out of them, one way or another. I was so glad that my arm was feeling better, otherwise all of this fighting would be so much more difficult.
I walked on the gravel path getting closer and closer to the Red keep, where slaves were held, and countless innocent people were killed in cold blood. I felt chills go down my spine at the remembrance of the horrid things they did to poor souls. I grabbed the hilt of my sword, not anticipating the slightest for any cooperation. I knew that these guys weren't at all peaceful, and they would probably turn me into some slave at any chance they got to take me down. Perhaps it would be better to use a long range attack first.
I got out my bow, and readied an arrow in it, as I got closer to the moving lights in the distance. If they attack, then I refuse to show mercy. I pulled the arrow back, trying to stay one step ahead of whatever attack they might throw at me. I could hear them talking, as I tried my best to stay hidden in the cover of the darkness that still remained in the sky.

  "Didn't they say that the punks went north?"

  "Uh, I don't remember." Another one replied.

A third one said, "Actually, I think he's right."

  "You mean we've been searching out here like dumb a**es for nothing!"

I chuckled at their stupidity. Why are there so many idiots in the badlands? 

  "You wouldn't happen to be talking about an Enderman hybrid, now would ya'?" I said, walking closer into the light of their torches.

They all turned to me, with gasps escaping their mouths. They glared at me with anger and discuss.

  "Who are you?!" One with a raspy voice demanded.

  "Just answer the question!"

The three pulled out their swords, but only one attempted to charge at me. I lifted up my bow and released it as fast as I could. It hit him on the bridge of his nose, instantly killing him, and making his body fall onto the dirt. The next one charged, making a move at my throat. I dodged, drawing my own sword, as I discarded the bow. I blocked his next attack, and swiftly drew my dagger. I lunged into the bottom of his jaw, the blade visible through his open mouth, and going into the top of his head. I pulled it out, and stabbed him in his heart.

I chuckled and shook my head as the body fell. "You aren't nearly as creepy or skilled as the other one I fought, and he wasn't all that good either! You guys must be such shames to the cultist name."

I could see the last ones eyes burning with fury. He exhaled and inhaled rapidly, showing just how p***ed he was.

  "I'm going to mutilate you!"

He sprinted at me, the hood over his head falling down. I tried to dodge, but he saw through me, and lunged his blade where my head ended up. The blade narrowly avoided my face; out of the corner of my eyes, I could pieces of my hair being cut, and falling down like nearly microscopic feathers.
I bent down, just as he swung to the right at my head once again. I could feel the blade barely touch the top of my head, but it was enough that it knocked my hat off, causing it it fall down onto the dirt. If I was any later at getting down, he would have cut into my scalp.
I shook my head, and looked back at my opponent, whose blade was pushing against my own. He stepped back, as I once again grabbed my dagger, but he learned all too quickly what my new tactics were. He grabbed my wrist, and twisted it. I hissed as he bent my wrist back, making me release the small weapon from my grasp.
He jumped to the side as he took another swing, this time lower down. The tip of the metal cut into my arm, but not too deep. I quickly turned, and hit his hand with my blade, making him let the weapon go. I kneed him in his stomach as hard as I could, knocking the wind out of him. He fell down to his knees, gasping for breath.
Taking the advantage, I kicked him in the bottom jaw, knocking out one his decaying teeth. As he now laid on the ground, dazed, I went back and grabbed my hat. I turned back to him as I put it back on. He spat out blood, as he attempted to sit back up.

  "Amateurs. Oh well, it's makes my job easier, I guess."

I stomped down on his chest to make him lay back down, as I kneeled and held my sword to his neck.

  "So, care to tell me what exactly you were talking about? What do you know about the hybrid? And don't you dare try to lie to me. I will see through you."

He looked up at me, obvious fear for his life in his eyes. In his delay to answer, I pressed the sharp tip of the iron blade harder on his neck, drawing a speck of blood.

  "Why should I tell you anything? Death doesn't scare me!"

  "That can be arranged!" I pushed it deeper, but not deep enough so he wouldn't be able to talk.

  "He was with two other people!" He shouted out.

I glared down at him. "Who?" I growled.

  "A man and a female elf. They escaped from our base at the Red keep! We got word that they went north!"

  "Was the hybrid injured?"

He tried to shake his head slightly, but was barely able to perform the movement.

  "A few bruises and gashes! I don't know a lot. I'm new to this!" He pleaded.

I chuckled. No wonder they were so pathetic. I hate weaklings like these. Especially ones that you'd expect to be so much stronger, and put up more of a fight. What a pity.

He continued. "There were no fatal injuries on him! I assure you that he's not dead!"

I could see the look of uncertainty behind the fear in his eyes. After a few seconds, I pushed the blade into his throat. He gasped as blood came out of his mouth.

  "He better not be." I said, as I pulled the blade sideways, slitting his throat open.

Mia's point of view-

I sat on the ground, waiting for the boys to wake up. Grayson awoke not to long after he passed out from lack of oxygen, and after arguing forever, we finally came to an agreement that I would take the rest of the night shift to watch over us. The rest of the night passed hastily, but I still felt tired throughout the shift. At least the boys were okay, well, Grayson was. Drake's condition would be a mystery until he woke up.
Grayson rested in his sleeping bag, with his sword in his right hand. It was quite worrying with the possibility of him cutting himself be accident in his sleep. I looked over at Drake, who was a bandaged up mess. I had wrapped his entire torso in bandages, covering the wound that I had inflicted on him the previous night, and the other old injury on his abdomen. I had also wrapped his wounded hand, and changed the bloody bandages on his head. Because of all of the mending, we had run out of bandages in just one night of our journey.
Over the night I had also dragged Drake to his sleeping bag, and found his gloves on the ground, and put them away into his backpack. Why are boys so exhausting?
I shook my head, trying not to fall asleep. I was irritated by the bags under my eyes, but I was able to easily ignore them. I kept looking up at the sky, the dark clouds being no help in trying to tell what time of day it was. On my watch overnight, Drake kept tossing and turning after the incident. Mumbling in his sleep, like he was having those nightmares he told me about. I didn't wake him up, though. I just wanted him to rest as much as he could. His fever kept coming and going as well.
Even in the cold weather, his body was sweating, and his breath came out heavily and raspily, like he was struggling to breathe. An expression of pain came on his face every time he shifted in his sleep, and it was really bothersome. I sat up straight, and turned to the direction of Grayson, as he sat up, rubbing his tired eyes and yawning.

  "Good morning, Grayson." I whispered, trying not to wake up Drake.

  "Morning!" He yawned as he stretched his arms.

  "Has Drake woken up at all?" He asked, cracking one eye open to look at me while he stretched his back and legs.

I shook my head. "Unfortunately, he hasn't, but his fever keeps coming and going. I didn't know what to do."

He looked over at Drake and sighed. "I'll make him drink a health potion when he wakes up. That should help a little."

He rubbed the bandages on his wrist, where the ropes cut into his flesh last night. I looked at where his cape didn't cover his neck, seeing purple handprints that I hadn't seen last night.

  "Say, Grayson...do you still plan on keeping it a secret from him? Cause I'm not sure if he'll believe that the cultist caused those bruises on your neck."

His put his hand on the marks, and flinched. He sighed again as he reached into his satchel.

  "Drake did that, huh?" He asked. I nodded.

  "He might believe that it was from the cultist."

I crossed my arms. "Grayson!" I said in a loud whisper.

He pulled out a long, red scarf, and wrapped it around his neck on top of the cape. I opened my mouth to tell him to just confess to Drake about what had happened last night if he didn't remember, but he spoke up first.

  "Why did you hesitate last night to help me?"

I didn't expect that question. My body tensed up as guilt washed over me. Why did I hesitate, anyways?

  "I-I don't know... I guess, before I saw his eyes.. I was just having trouble realizing that it wasn't Drake. It was hard bringing myself to hurt my friend."

  "I guess that's understandable." He said, before we both became silent.

I decided to tell him. "Grayson, I know you don't  want to hear it, but you can't keep it from him."

He growled. "We've been over this! He has enough to go through, and I don't want him to be scared that he could kill us!" He yelled.

  "What the heck are you guys talking about?"

We turned in the direction of the low voice. Drake sat up, rubbing his head and groaning.

  "Oh! Mornin' Drake!" Grayson said, a blush coming on his face in embarrassment that he had woken him up.

  "Are you feeling okay?"

Drake didn't answer right away. It sparked more worry into us.

He finally spoke. "My head and my chest hurts, and I don't remember much from last nig.." He stopped, his eyes widening. He kept gasping and gagging.

  "Drake? What's wrong?" Grayson quickly asked.

Drake's hand lifted up to his mouth, as he jumped out of the sleeping bag. He went over to the trees and bushes, falling onto his knees. All I could hear was the sound of him throwing up. Grayson ran to his side, patting his back. He stopped and wiped his lips.

  "I..I remember..seeing bodies... Torn apart...guts and blood...everywhere." He gagged again.

  "Did you see that at the Red keep?" I asked.

He shook his head as he stood up, and leaned his body on a tree. "I don't know. I just remember people being killed, and this feeling of...guilt." He started breathing heavily again.

Grayson replied, "Did you see something like that at the Red keep? Cultist have been known to dismember bodies."

Drake shook his head. "I don't know! Was it a dream...or real? I can't tell the difference anymore!"

  "Aren't you supposed to be a master of lucid dreaming?" Grayson questioned.

  "Yes, but.. I can't tell if was real or not!" He yelled as he grabbed onto his head.

Grayson took a bottle of pink liquid out of a smaller pocket on the side of his satchel, and held it out to Drake.

  "I took those health potions out of your backpack last night while you were unconscious. Drink it."

Drake took the bottle. "Wait, what were you doing in my backpack?!"
  "Doesn't matter. Just drink it."

Drake rolled his eyes. "Fine."

He snatched it from Grayson's hand, and opened it, then drank it down, getting some of it on his chin. He wiped it off, and handed the bottle back to Grayson.

  "We have to keep track of all of these bottles. Jesus!"

He put it away, as he and Drake both went back to their sleeping bags. They rolled them up, and put them away to get ready for today's journey.

  "So...if you're feeling better, we can head to Grayson's house now, right?" I asked Drake.

  "Yeah. I'm okay now, so we can get going." He looked up at the sky.

  "It might snow or rain soon, so we better get a move on."

I nodded, and grabbed my stuff as I stood up. Both of them seemed bothered by Drake's condition. For a moment, none of us really knew what to say; it was just quiet as  we began to walk into the bushes to get back on the path. Grayson didn't have his hat, so I assumed that he lost it when we were captured. Joy rose inside me when his plain blonde hair reminded me of the gift I had made both Drake and Grayson.

  "Grayson! I have something that I forgot to give you! I gave Drake his already." They stopped as I got into my backpack.

I could see a blush on Drake's face, as he rolled his eyes, knowing what I was going to pull out. I took two flower crowns out of my backpack, my own and Grayson's. I put my own on, and spun around with arms held out to hand it to him.

  "Flower crown!" Grayson cheered, as he snatched it up and quickly put it on his head.
I saw a smile make it's way on Drake's face. Grayson turned to Drake.

  "Drake, you have one? Put it on!"

His blush got deeper. "No, I'm-I'm good."

  "Come on."

Grayson and I both looked at each other, then back to the hybrid and cheered in sync.

"Put it on! Put it on!"

  "Alright. Alright." He reached into his backpack and took it out.

I clapped my hands and jumped up and down. It fell slightly slanted on his head. I grabbed both of them, and pulled them into a big hug, squeezing them.

  "Flower crown buddies!"
  "Ow! I didn't realize you had such a strong grip!" Drake said.

I let them go. "You're really happy!" Grayson commented.

  "Yeah, of course! I like seeing you guys smile and being happy. It makes me happy."

I jumped a little when Drake growled. His put his hand on his head, and rubbed the bandages.

  "S-say...what happened to my head?"

Grayson shrugged. "You hit it...a lot."

Drake turned around and continued to walk through the vegetation. We followed behind.

Grayson continued, "Well, that son of a b****h cultist slammed your head on a pole multiple times, so that probably inflicted most of the damage. At least he's dead."

  "He's dead? We killed him?"

  "You killed him?" I then asked. I still had no knowledge of this.

He shrugged again. "Yeah. Actually, you killed him, Drake."

  "Me? Curse my bad memory. I wish I could remember that."

  "Yeah. You passed out, though. You're okay now, right, well, other than the fever?"

Drake pulled up his hood, and put his hands in the pockets of his jeans. "Yeah, I suppose. But to be honest, I've felt a lot better before."

I smiled again, seeing that he had not taken the flower crown off yet. Although, he was still covering it up with his hood. We got out of the vegetation, and back onto the gravel path. I had to pick bits and pieces of green off of my clothing, but it wasn't much. I felt something cold and wet on my head. I looked up, see the white flakes beginning to make its way down from the sky.

  "Look! It's snowing!"

I shook my head as more flakes melted on my hair, and dripped down onto my head. I pulled up my hood to stop the freezing cold liquid. As we walked along the path, I finally decided to ask a question.

  "Where is your house exactly, Grayson?"

He pointed straight into the distance. "Less than a mile, or so that way. We're not too far from the Red keep, so make sure to keep your eyes peeled."

Suddenly, he walked into Drake's back. The Enderman hybrid stood there completely still; the only movement he made, was his arm slowly reaching for his sword. Grayson shook his head and walked around him.

  "Drake, what are...you..."

They both stared straight ahead. I followed their gaze, that landed on a man up ahead. He wore black clothes, purple and white armor, and a weird hat. His body faced frontwards, while his head looked back at us, looking over his shoulder. Even from so far up, I could see the same look of shock in his eyes as Drake and Grayson had. He held an iron sword in his hand, and was slowly lifting it up. As I was about to say something, Grayson pushed both me and Drake back, walking ahead of us, and drawing his purple sword.

  "Grayson..?" Drake mumbled.

  "Stay.Back." He said slowly.

Drake and I looked at each other, then back at our friend, who then charged at the man. He cried out as he lifted his sword as high as he could. The man pulled out his sword all the way, and stepped back as he blocked Grayson's attack. The ex-mercenary swung lower but the man in armor dodged. Grayson swung again but the man once again dodged it.

  "You were always good at attack, Grayson, but I was top in the class at dodging. Don't you remember?" The said.

"...What..?" I said slowly.

He knew this guy? At least, that's what I'm picking up. Grayson tried again, and managed to cut him in between his metal shoulder pad, and his chest plate. Retaliating, the man swung his own sword upwards, cutting Grayson's cheek. The man kicked Grayson in the chest, knocking him onto the ground. The patches of white on the ground were sprinkled with red.
As the man held up his sword to kill Grayson, Drake held out his arm, glowing a bright blue and purple. The blue and purple quickly became only white, and went down his arm like lightning. He screamed and fell onto his knees, then onto his left side.

  "Drake!" I called out, and kneeled next to him.

He was gasping with wide eyes and holding his chest tightly. I looked back up at the fight, seeing Grayson hit the other man's sword away, and rolling to the side. He got back up to his feet swiftly, and continued to attempt to kill him.

  "Just give me the hybrid, Grayson! I'll leave you alone!" The man said, as he dodged another of Grayson's attempts to hit him.

  "To h**l I will! Unlike you, I would never betray my best friend! Besides.." He growled.
  "...Me and you have that score to settle!"

They attacked each other again. My attention directed back to Drake, as he started coughing, trying to regain his breath. I helped him back onto his knees. Past the sound of the blades clashing together, I could hear Drake mumbling.

  "I can't... I-I can't..."

I kept my arms on him so he wouldn't fall over again. We both looked up, back to the fight our friend was entwined in. Dodging over and over again, Grayson was only able to get a few minor scratches on him. Drake lifted his shaking hands, grabbing his sword and pulling it out of the hostler.

  "I have to..do..something." He stood up, stumbling on his feet. His body shook from illness.

I grabbed his arm, trying to stop him, since Grayson told us to stay out of it, but he pulled his arm out of my grasp, and ran to help his other companion.

  "Drake! Stop!" I called out, but he didn't listen. Was he always this stubborn?

The look in the man's face looked scared and clueless, like he didn't know what to do, as the hybrid charged at him. I could see that he tried to jump back to avoid getting any injuries inflicted, but the move was useless. Drake's sharp diamond blade cut through his side, and as he lost focus on Grayson, the purple metal was able to cut into the bridge of his nose.
The man fell down, holding the wound on his side. Grayson held up his sword, his face becoming red with fury. I pulled out my own weapon, and ran to help them. As Grayson brought down his sword, the man narrowly avoided being stabbed in the heart. The blade grinned against his shoulder pad, letting off a few sparks.

  "By the way, nice flower crowns, dorks!" He said mockingly.

He lifted up his foot, and kicked Grayson in the stomach. Grayson fell down onto his knees, gasping and coughing as the wind was knocked out of him. The man rolled over and hopped back onto his feet, but when he held his sword back up, he was only met with Drake's diamond blade pushing back on his own. I could see a expression in his eyes as he looked up at Drake, that almost looked intimated. I covered my ears as I heard a loud pitched noise, like the sound of an angry Enderman.
Drake pushed him back. He stumbled, as he once again had to hold the gash his side. He kept stepping back, with his eyes darting around. I looked back at Grayson as he stood up, holding his chest. I followed his wide eyed gaze, and saw that the man was now nowhere to be seen. In the small patch of snow and mud, footprints led into the forest.

  "You let him escape? Why did you let him go?" Grayson asked, angrily.

Drake didn't answer right away. His hand caressed his head, as his eyes teared up.
  "Last night...I remember...I..."

  "Drake..." Grayson said in a dark tone. "What did you do? What are you remembering?"

He took a few deep breaths before answering. "I...gave up...some of my life force...to save you."

  "What?" I whispered. What was he talking about?

Grayson then said, almost in a whisper, "Drake...how?...W-why?"

  "That's why I feel weaker than usual. I used too much magic. I didn't think my mana would run out that quickly... It started to use my life force as replacement for my mana."

Grayson's scowl turned into a look of concern. "That's why you looked like you were in pain."

Drake nodded. "Yeah. Basically."

I didn't understand what that meant. Was he dying?

  "Does that mean that you're...dying?" I felt my heart race at the possibility that he would answer 'yes'.

He shook his head. "No. It will regenerate in time. It just means that my immune system isn't going to be as strong for awhile, and you know for a fact that I haven't been at my best lately."

  "Thank God! I was scared there for a second."

  "Yeah. If I get injured, I'll be more subjectable to infection. I'm not too sure, but I think it's possible that I could just randomly pass out as well."

Grayson let out a deep breath. "It's okay, Drake. We'll watch over you just incase anything happens. Oh, and uh..." He looked down at the ground for a second.

  "Th-thank you, for sacrificing such an important element of yourself to save me."

Drake faced us, with a smile on his face. "No problem. I'll do it a million more times to protect the two of you."

I could feel a blush make it's way onto my cheeks. I love touching moments! It's just so cute! I looked back at the footprints on the ground, the burning in my cheeks fading.

  "Say, Grayson?"

The blonde turned to me with a hum. "Did you... Did you know that guy?"

He growled at looked down as his cheeks turned red. Drake answered for him, seeing his discomfort.

  "We know him, I guess you could say. He attacked us once and shot me..with a...poisoned arrow." His human cheek turned red in embarrassment.

I remembered them telling me about that when we first met. How Drake was injured and sick after they were attacked.

  "Yeah." Grayson nodded. "He's an empire assassin. He was after me the last time we met, and Drake got caught in crossfire, but this time, he was after you, Drake."

  "Figures..." He sighed as he hung his head down. "Did he say that? I didn't hear, 'cause, you know, being in pain on the ground."

I didn't really know what to think about his tone in voice. It sounded like there was some irony in it, yet he also sounded like he was blaming us for something.

Grayson nodded. "Yeah. He said that he would leave us alone if I let him take you in. I would never let that happen. He's not taking anymore from me."

Suddenly, his eyes grew a bit, and his cheeks tinted red. He lifted his hand up to his head, looking like he was trying to grab something. I assumed that he had forgotten that he no longer had his hat. To avoid looking like a fool, he brushed his hand through his blonde locks, and started walking along the path.

  "Grayson.." Drake said, a puzzled look on his face. "You're doing it again. Looking like you know more than you're letting on. 'Keeping secrets?"

He looked away from us, taking his flower crown off of his head. He let his hands fall to his sides, but I could still see his arm shaking and turning white as he gripped it tightly. The look in his eyes and the red on his cheeks was enough to confirm to me that Drake was right.
He was hiding something. If he got mad about Drake keeping Herobrine from us, then why is he doing the same thing; keeping things from us? After a few awkward seconds of silence and trying to look through each other, Drake sneezed.

  "Aw! That was cute!"

He blushed and sniffed as he wiped his nose and his upper lip. With his other hand, he wiped the tears from eyes, and sniffed again. He let out an embarrassed chuckle.

  "Let's get going. The snow's going to get you more sick, and we don't need it getting any worse." Grayson said, waving his hand like he was brushing off our previous conversation, then continued to move forward.

I looked up at Drake, hearing a small growl of annoyance rise in his throat. I didn't say anything, I only followed them as we headed off. I could tell that it bothered Drake that Grayson knew something that he wasn't telling us, but the more I looked at his unsuspecting expression, it shifted to one that seemed more bothered. His eyes kept darting around like he was suspecting something to jump out at us at any moment. I had the urge to tell him about last night's events, but if Grayson didn't want me too, then I would try my best to resist that urge.
...

Drake's point of view-

We had a few quick short conversations on our way to Grayson's place, but for some reason, all of them had this strange feeling behind them. Like every laugh and chuckle we shared wasn't genuine. It just felt like we kept trying to make the awkward moment disappear, but it just wouldn't lift. Every once in awhile, I could see some black mass at the corner of my eye, but every time I turned to see what it was, there was nothing there. That constant feeling of being watched is just too unsettling. I looked back up at Grayson, who walked ahead on the path. I was a little irritated that he didn't tell us what his deal was with that empire assassin, but who am I to judge? It's not like he's the only one who's been keeping secrets.
We finally got to the edge of an ancient looking stone mountain. Even vines hung down from the stone, and moss grew on the sides. Although it seemed so old, ancient things can hold lots of beauty within them. The grass was a bright green, even though it was obvious that it snowed here, which should have wilted the grass a long time ago. A large pond was to the east, glimmering a shining blue from the little sunlight that peaked through the dark clouds. I walked up to it, and looked down into the water, seeing many fish both big and small, swimming in the depths. A rim of ice was around the pond as well, but it didn't seem like it would be a problem.

  "This is so pretty!" I turned around when I heard Mia's cheers of delight.

Grayson spoke, with a grin on his face. "It is, isn't it? Glad I picked this place out."

  "Wait a minute... What do you mean 'picked this place out'?" I asked, walking back up to them.

He exchanged a smug look, and put his hand on the stone. He pushed on it, revealing a secret door behind the vines.

  "Welcome to mi casa!"

I pushed the vines out of the way, and walked inside of the room, that had the west wall rounded off, leading to a door. The large room was lit by lamps hung on the wall, with small flames inside, and a few lights from small fireflies flew in the small patches of darkness on the ceiling.
In the middle of the east wall, was a bed with red covers, and in the far eastern north, was a desk with a feather pen in a small container of ink. Chest and baskets of food were on the floor by the wall. Shelves hung on the walls filled with items, as well as a few maps. I could recognize at least two to be maps from the east, and one from the west. The rest of the maps, I couldn't identify the locations that were drawn on them.

  "Mi...casa? What is that?" Mia asked as she walked inside, followed by Grayson.

Grayson responded. "It's an ancient language known as Spanish. I guess it's not common in the badlands. Heck, I've never met anyone who spoke Spanish in the whole time I've lived here."

  "Either that, or the language was wiped out. I guess we'll never know, but, Grayson, this place is amazing!" I said, continuing to look around in aw. Dare I say, this was better than my place, so far.

Mia gasped as she looked around, with her hands up to her chest. "This is amazing!"

She looked up at the ceiling, seeing the small glowing lights coming from the fireflies. "Are those...fireflies?" She chuckled.

Grayson closed the door careful, and turned to us. "What?"

Mia pointed up. "Fireflies!"

  "Oh...those are back. Yeah, they get in here sometimes. I have no idea how, honestly."

  "How'd you find this place? Are you sure that it's...secluded enough?" I asked.

He answered as he went to one of his chest and opened it "It's more hidden than my other place, and that lasted a decent amount of time, so this place is alright. And, I just came across it on my travels. I stopped to rest, and rested on the wall, then...found this place."

  "Wow. This place is nice." I said, looking at the items on the shelves.

  "You wanna see the room upstairs? There's more stuff up there." He said, pulling an empty backpack out of the chest, and closing it.

Mia replied, "Of course! Why wouldn't we?"

Grayson nodded, and opened the strange door, revealing a spiral staircase going upwards.

  "Ooohh. Fancy." Mia said, as she walked up.

He gestured for me to go first. "Ladies first."

At first, I started to chuckle, but it was cut short. Armen used to say that a lot, no matter how bad a situation was, he was always a bit...immature. Even with the annoyance that it bought, it was calming having a laugh in the most dire of times.

  "Drake, are you alright?" Grayson snapped me out of my thoughts.

  "Y-yeah. Just a bit distracted. I'm fine."

I walked upstairs, noticing that it took Grayson awhile to finally close the door and follow. I reached the top, and was taken away from the scenery. It wasn't really much, but for a magic user like me, I instantly loved it.
A round, red rug was in the center of the room, with a large maroon armchair in the far southern east corner. The room was stuffy from all of the dust that covered the bookcases that were mostly full. On the south wall, was a large window letting in what little light it could with the clouds in the sky. I felt a familiar tingling feeling in my body. I was sensing magic energy.

  "Are those one way windows?" I walked up to them, tracing my fingers on the glass. "I didn't see any window outside. How did you get these?"

Grayson walked up to them and touch the pane with his fingertips. "They were already here. All of this was already carved out when I got here." He turned to the bookcases.

  "Even those books and that armchair were already here. The stupid thing is, I tried to clean the armchair, but didn't clean the books or anything. I guess I just got preoccupied or too lazy." He laughed.

Mia coughed. "Yeah. I can tell that you haven't dusted. It's very stuffy up here."

I agreed, coughing into my arm. I focused on that magical energy, realizing that the magic was far too strong. The dragon egg.

  "Is the dragon egg up here? The magical presence feels a lot stronger."

Grayson walked over to the far corner of the north and west wall, where the bookcase ended.

He nodded. "Yeah. It's over here."

With that, he pushed on the stone wall, opening a hidden door. There was a long, hallway leading into darkness. He walked inside, telling us to follow. I looked over at Mia, waiting for her to go first, but she gestured for me to go first. I complied, and went in before her, following Grayson into the pitch-black.

  "It is so dark in here!" Mia said, as she shut the door, leaving us in complete darkness.

I squinted at the sudden light next to us, as Grayson opened another hidden door. Even beyond the doorway, the long dark hallway continued on, seeming to head downwards. I walked into the room, and had to step back in aw. The room was filled with magical presence.
Shelves lined the walls, with books and potions and other artifacts. There wasn't as much as there was at Grayson's previous home, but it was still impressive in my eyes. Lamps with flames lit in them hung from the stone ceiling. In the center of the room, was a small golden pedestal with a red pillow on it. On top of the pillow, was a large glimmering black shell like that of scales. There was a purple tint to it when looked at it the light.

  "I found that pedestal in some ruins. I had to take it apart and bring it back in pieces." Grayson say, walking around his prize possession.

Mia walked up to the egg, and tried to hold back her arms to keep herself from touching it, and holding a screech in her throat.

  "This is so beautiful!" She was finally able to let out.

Grayson and I both chuckled. Grayson set his empty backpack on the ground, then gently took the large egg in his gloved hands. Carefully and steadily, he bent down, and placed it into the bag.

  "This whole room and this hallway was already here when I found this place. I think this place was built by magi." He said, sealing the egg inside of the leather.

  "Interesting." I said, examining items on the shelves. I looked back at the doorway.

  "What's down that hallway, anyways? It's kinda ominous."

He put his bag straps on his shoulders, and walked out of the room, but remained in front of the doorway. "It's an exit route. If this place is attacked like the last one, then I have a way to easily escape."

He walked back into the room, adjusting the straps. Mia walked closer to him, with wide eyes as she asked a question.

  "Are you going to name the dragon when it hatches? You can't leave it without a name."

The question brought back a memory of when Armen and I had woken up at the Grayson's Arctic base. When we found that dagger on the dresser, remembering that we had gotten it at Rudy shire.

"What should we name it?" He asked me.

"I-I don't know. It's a dagger. I wouldn't name my...oh, whatever."

I let a smile creep on my face, even with the clouded sorrow that now came with the memory. I shook my head when Grayson spoke up.

  "I have an idea, but you'll just have to wait until it hatches."

Mia winned. "What! Why?"

Grayson turned around, exiting the room. "Because it's a surprise. Besides, it's too early to name it."

She pouted, but shrugged it off. "Fine. Be that way."

We both followed behind. I closed the door behind us, leaving us in the dark, but I could hear our footsteps hitting the stone floor. While I understood Grayson's secrecy with the name, it just brought back the disturbance of matter that he was keeping things from us. I knew that I shouldn't have cared as much as I did, but it got on my nerves. I felt myself starting to become agitated; not feeling entirely like myself. Grayson opened the door, letting the light creep in. Mia left, but I remained standing in place, squinting my eyes from the light.

  "Grayson.." I called.

He turned his head to me, still holding his arm on the door. "Hmm? What's wrong?"

  "There's more to that assassin then what you're letting on, isn't there?" I felt compelled to say.

He just looked at me, not saying a word, with his mouth slowly opening, but no words coming out.

I shook my head. "I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything." I left the hall, closing the door with Grayson.

  "It's fine. You're just curious, but..."

I looked back at him, his emerald eyes looked down at the floor, with his cheeks slowly getting red. It was silent for what seemed like hours, but was probably just less than a minute.

  "I, uh... I guess I don't really have a reason to keep it from you... I, um, I knew him...personally. A long time ago."

I asked, looking for a descriptive and direct answer. "How?"

He let out a deep sigh. "I'll just say that... I knew him when I was a mercenary. We were...friends... Then, he committed some things against me that..." It took a while for him to finish his statement.

  "...That are unforgivable. What he took from me...I will never be able to get back back. No matter how hard I try!" His voice was starting to get choked up. I could see his eyes getting red from the negative emotions.

  "I-I'm sorry that I bought it up. F-forget that I said anything!" I tried to stop the conversation that obviously hurt him. I didn't mean for that. I didn't think it would have been that bad. That hurtful.

He sniffed. "It's alright. Now...how about we rest and set out again in the morning?"

Mia was about to comply, until I shouted out, "What?! You want to go to sleep already? We just woke up a few hours ago!" I was confused.

  "Actually, Drake..." He said, then started talking really fast. "You were unconscious for a very long time. Not only that, but the days are short, especially in the winter season. As well as the fact that I really haven't gotten that good of sleep in the past few days."

  "Yeah. Yeah. I-I guess you're right." I gave in.

Mia spoke up. "I'll stay awake for awhile longer. I want to read some of theses really cool looking books!" She walked up to the bookcases, and began searching for a book.

  "But didn't you say that it was stuffy up here? Which it is, by the way." I gestured the last part to Grayson.

She shrugged. "Yeah, but look at all of these! It's worth inhaling all of this cough inducing dust."

  "Um, okay. Whatever suits you."

I walked up to the door, opening it, and stepping down onto the first step. "Good night, Mia." I made sure to tell her.

  "Good night, Drake. Good night, Grayson."

Grayson walked out, walking down a few more steps than me. "'Night Mia. Or evening. I don't know."

I closed the door. "Wait, so you don't even know what time it is, yet you're making us go to bed?"

He shrugged. "I'm just really tired."

He started walking down, until we got down to the last few steps. He stopped, turning to me.

  "Are you still feeling sick at all? We only have one health potion left in my bag, so we're going to have to stock up on more."

I noticed that my forehead and my breath was slightly burning. My limbs were shaking a bit, as well. I wondered how it had taken me before I had finally realized.

  "I feel a bit feverish. We'll have to head to a market tomorrow if you don't have to supplies."

  "We're going to have too. I don't have any, or the ingredients to make them. So many things in my place, yet I don't have what I need to make a simple health potion."

I laughed, as we got down that last few steps. "That's exactly how I felt the other day."

We opened the door, and stepped back into the main room. I grabbed onto the strap of my backpack, readying to my sleeping bag out. Before I could, he pulled out his own sleeping bag from his satchel, and began unrolling it on the cold, stone ground.

  "What are you doing?"

He looked up at me. "I told you, I don't mind sleeping on the floor. Use my bed. I just want to look out for you, especially if you're not well, and with that problem with your life force, I'm very worried."

  "It's nothing to worry about, Grayson. I'll be fine" I lifted up the covers, not bothering to try to make him sleep on his own bed. Arguing with Grayson is a battle I almost always loose nowadays.

As I got into the bed, he got into his sleeping bag, resting his head on his arms as he looked up at the ceiling. He didn't zip it up, allowing the hilt of his sword to poke out. I rested my head on the soft pillow as I pulled the blankets over my body.

  "You know, that assassin was the one that attacked me the other day." I remembered to tell him.

I looked down to him on the floor. He just stared up at the ceiling. A spark seemed to go off in his eyes.

  "W-what?"

I looked back up, letting my mind remember details.

  "Remember when I showed you those bandages on me, and told you that I was attacked by some guy? Well, that some guy was him. He just randomly came out of the forest." I heard him mumble something.

  "Pardon me?" I asked as I turned my head to him.

  "Nothing. Good night." He rolled onto his left side, facing away from me.

  "Alright. Good night Grayson."

I closed my eyes and sighed, trying to ignore the shaking of my body as I tried to sleep. As my consciousness slowly drifted, I was able to make out something that had to have been from Grayson. It was too light to be any voice in my head.

  "I'm going to f*****g kill him..."