The battlefield was silent.

The Sky Army, made of one hundred and fifty recruits of the different divisions they had to offer, stood on one side. Sky stood in front of them, sitting on top of a white horse. Deadlox, his calf bandaged but healed enough for him to fight, stood beside True. Their place was a few feet behind Sky, watching him, waiting for orders. Seto stood with the twenty sorcerers that had joined his divisions to the right of Sky. He glanced back at his fifteen medics that were behind them, watching them fidget nervously for a few moments before he looked forward once more. He couldn't blame them. Even if he didn't admit it, he was nervous too. This was not his first battle, far from it... But it was bigger than any others he had been in.

Husky stood with Chance and Ian on the left side of Sky, Ian fiddling with his hidden daggers slightly. Husky didn't say anything about it. He knew it was a nervous habit that Ian had had since they were teenagers. Chance was emotionless beside him, having fought in many battles with Husky. He was nervous, of course, but he didn't show it. Neither did Husky. Jerome stood in the middle of the crowd of recruits with his strong Tanks, the kids holding large and powerful weapons and shields that were almost bigger than them. He didn't dare glance at the trees, where he knew Mitch and his archers were hiding, out of fear he'd give their position away. But that didn't mean he didn't worry for the male he saw as a brother.

The air was tense and the recruits were nervous. More than ninety-five percent of them had never even been in a fight, much less a battle. They had trained their asses off for months, working for their General's and Sky's approval, for this moment. Now that it was here, and their friends' and their own lives were on the line, and not to mention Minecraftia's freedom. They were going against an army that had soldiers who had been training for moments like these since they could walk, perhaps even younger. It was nerve wracking. There wasn't one person there that wasn't either biting their nails or worrying their lip with their teeth, or just straight out shaking. In fact, Mitch was holding the hand of one very nervous archer that was the youngest in their division, and even with his General's comforting aura, he couldn't calm down. They saw a larger army, a more experienced army, and they could only see their deaths coming at the end of this all.

But Sky... was calm.

He sat on his horse, studying the large army that was before him. There had to be more than three hundred, five hundred enemies gathered here to go against them. He didn't let the numbers worry him, though. He sat on his horse for a while, just staring at the army across the field, before he suddenly gently pressed the back of his heels against his horse's sides. She began to walk forward, changing into a trot as Sky patted her on the side of her neck. He ignored the shout of disapproval from True, keeping his eyes trained on the army a few yards before him. After a few moments, he smirked. Seconds after he saw them, his army and team did too. There were two shapes walking forward to meet Sky, both on horses. The army shifted, and True glanced back at them before he saw that the squid's armies were moving with the two leaders.

He let out a growl, before he motioned for the recruits behind to follow him, and he began to jog after Sky's horse. The recruits followed, causing the ones behind them to do the same, and soon, the large group was moving together to Sky. Soon, they were behind him, with a few feet separating them. Sky glanced back as he heard the footsteps, and True swore, as he told this tale to his grandchildren years later, that he looked relieved when he saw his army and brothers behind him.

When Sky stopped, the leaders of the squid army did also. The Squid Army stopped, and True motioned for their army to do the same. A few recruits, too focused on putting one shaky foot in front of another, collided into a few others, but none fell and no glares were even shared. They just looked at each other knowingly, a few fearfully, before they looked back at their Commander. Sky swung himself off of his horse, walking to the space between the animals, and the two figures did so themselves. Sky recognized one as Cain. The other had skin as dark as night, but despite that he also had glowing light blue eyes that shone with the sun.

His hair was black, a strand lying on his forehead while the rest of it looked orderly and well groomed. He wore black boots and jeans, with a white and blue jacket that covered a gray shirt underneath. A leather bracelet, handmade, was around his wrist, and in his hand was a staff that was made of birch wood and had designs colored a light blue all over it. His arms were crossed, leaning against his staff slightly as he stared at Cain and Sky, his eyes blazing. Cain sneered at Sky, and he was the first to speak. "Are you here to surrender and beg for mercy, Minecraft?" Sky smiled.

"Hardly." He said. "I'm just paying the usual respects before battle." He nodded to Cain. "And, to make sure you didn't wish to surrender." Cain snorted, barking out a laugh.

"As if! We're gonna destroy your pathetic little army before sunset!" He said, and Sky only kept smiling, before he looked at Derek.

"I don't believe we've met. My name is Sky Does Minecraft. You are?" Cain's eyes narrowed, and he stepped in front of the man.

"There's no need to talk to him! I'm the Commander here, he's just here for backup-"

"Derek."

Sky leaned to the side so he could see around Cain, who gritted his teeth in anger as he glared at the man over his shoulder. The man just stared at Cain with a raised eyebrow, before he looked at Sky. Their glowing eyes met. Derek saw fire in Sky's, and Sky saw a snowfall in Derek's.

"My name is Derek. Derek Michael Lins." He stepped to where Cain had been standing moments before he rudely stepped in front of him, his eyes still burning into Sky's. "Cain told me you were dead."

Sky smiled. "Did he now?" Cain gritted his teeth, and Derek nodded slightly, glancing at Cain.

"Cain told me that you had been attacked in a forest and left for dead, miles from your clearing. He said he had been planning it for weeks, and that there was no way you were alive. That he would know if you did somehow survive." His eyes shone with anger as he realized he had been lied to, noticing how Cain wouldn't look him in the eye. So he had known Sky was alive. "He didn't tell me it had failed." Cain glared at the two, before he looked at Derek, stepping towards him.

"That doesn't matter! We can kill him and his pathetic group he calls an army! This pathetic little war can be finished TODAY! We can wipe them out and take over Minecraftia!" He put his hand on the handle of his sword, and Deadlox and True instantly stepped forward, their hands going to the hilts of their own weapons. Sky didn't even flinch, and Cain only stared at Derek. "Fight alongside me, Derek, and you shall get everything I offered you and your clan!"

Derek stared at Cain, before he glanced behind his own shoulder. Sky followed his gaze, making sure Cain stayed visible in the corner of his eyesight as he did, to see what he was looking at. A few feet behind Derek was a group that stood in front of the Squid Army, standing closely together. They weren't a part of the army, because they didn't wear uniforms. There were about ten men, including the light brown haired male standing in front of him. His sea green eyes met with Derek's blu ones, and they stared at each other for a few moments before Derek glanced at the other nine men. He took in their weary faces, and he knew what they were thinking. He turned his head back around and he looked at Sky and his army, before he looked at Cain.

"My clan and I fight when we chose." He said, his voice calm even though Cain's face twisted with fury and disbelief. "I will think about the lies you have told me and rethink our agreement." He glanced at Sky, before he looked at Cain again. "My clan will not be in any battle today." And then he turned his back to Cain, meaning to go to his clan and leave this clearing. What a waste of time. He thought as a wind blew through, and he furrowed his eyebrows as some leaves brushed past his legs. It's not even fall yet...

Unknowingly to Derek, Cain wasn't a man who let someone who had disrespected him walk away alive.

"YOU TRAITOR!" He roared, stepping forward as another sharp wind blew through, some more leaves spinning past Derek. His head turned as one brushed against his cheek, and Sky's eyes widened as Cain raised his sword to stab Derek in the back.

COWARD! Sky's voice screamed in his own head as time seemed to slow, his hand going down to the handle of his sword for the first time since they had arrived at the battlefield.

Then Derek turned, faster than anyone thought was humanly possible, as some icicles sharper than any sword Sky had ever seen came from Derek's fingertips. There was the sound of something going through flesh, a cry of shock, and a few shouts from some shocked recruits before there was just silence.

Cain was impaled into the ground, the icicles buried deep inside of his chest and his stomach. The ice turned black with the squid's inky blood, and Sky was frozen as he stared at Cain with horror. The male was gasping for breath, but he only choked on his own blood as he discovered his lungs had been pierced through by the icicles. Derek's glowing blue eyes stared at Cain as the male gasped hoarsely for air, and his gaze held no pity for the man who had tried to kill him. As Cain was struggling for his final breaths, Derek stepped forward and lifted his foot, placing it on Cain's face carelessly.

"Cain here thought he could control us..."

Sky's eyes tore from the dying squid on the ground, and he stared at Derek with wide eyes, his face slightly pale from the shock. He had been in war since he was seventeen, and never before had he seen a scene as gruesome as the one before him. Cain's shallow gasps for breath were the only things he could clearly hear, and he couldn't get the image of the icicles deep down in his chest from his mind. Derek raised his head, and his devious light blue eyes bore into Sky's as the squid hybrid sneered widely.

"He was wrong."

Sky stepped back slightly, not even breathing as he stared into Derek's eyes. He no longer saw a snowfall, but instead of a raging, dangerous snowstorm. Derek smirked as Cain fell limp underneath him, a strangled, final breath leaving the squid's body, before Derek removed his foot and he turned his back to Sky. Sky dared not to move.

"As I said before... My clan will not fight." He glanced at Sky over his shoulder, his eyes gleaming. "And Cain's army won't either, since they have no one to lead them." He smiled, though it didn't reach his stone cold eyes.

"Mark the first battle of your war as a draw, Minecraft."

As Sky watched Derek walk away, he remembered what true fear was.