I stared out of the small hole I made in the cave, watching snow drift down lazily to the ground. 

"Would you close up that hole?" Skylar muttered. "It's freezing out there." 

"You're going to have to deal with it eventually." Cameron said. "Aren't we going back out there today?" 

"I think so, if we want to keep going. The compass is still going, and it's not in the direction we came from." Quinn said, holding the compass out in front of her. The little red needle in the center was pointing north, towards the river from the day before.

"I'm not going back out there." Jenna said from the corner, her tone flat. 

"Jenna, we kind of have to." Tyler said. "If we want to find our parents-"

"You can't make me leave." Jenna muttered, turning to face the wall. 

"Jenna-" I started, but she cut me off. 

"No. I'm not going." 

Alyssa stood. "You guys go outside for a bit and come up with a plan. We'll catch up with you." 

"Woah, when did you start becoming a leader?" Quinn asked, and Alyssa gave her a pointed look before nodding her head at Jenna. 

We knew what that meant. It meant, I'll talk to her. You guys go. 

"Right." I said, creating a hole in the cave for us to leave. 

"Great." Skylar muttered. "Getting to spend time out in the freezing cold. Fun." 

"It's not that bad." Tyler said. 

"Yes, it is." 

"Well, there's snow!" Tyler said, and turned to Macey. "Hey Macey, want to build a snow golem?" 

She nodded, a small smile on her face, and they both ran a little ways off, collecting snowballs. 

I blocked off the cave again, and Skylar sat down with her back to the wall, pulling her jacket closer. 

"I hate this." She muttered.

I gave her a look. "You can handle fighting shadow demons without a single complaint, but snow happens and suddenly you're down for the count?" 

She glared at me, and I took that as a signal to leave. 

I walked a bit further away, and saw that Cameron and Quinn had joined in on the snow golem building, as four different snow golems were wandering around. 

I wondered what Alyssa was talking to Jenna about. Would she be able to convince her to come with us again?

I sat down in the snow, and leaned back on my hands, watching the sky. 

It was weird to think that Jeremy was gone. Granted, he hadn't exactly been my best friend, seeing as how we didn't get along too well in the Kingdom, but it was impossible for me to think that he was gone and he wasn't coming back. Part of me felt like he would come out of that cave in ten minutes, a stupid grin on his face and making some terrible joke. 

I don't remember how long I stared at the sky for until I heard the sound of blocks being broken behind me. I stood up, brushing the snow from the back of my shirt and-

Over thirty snow golems were trailing around, casually making the snow on the ground deeper. 

Wow. 

I shook my head, forgetting about the snow golems, and turned to see Alyssa pull Jenna out of the cave. Jenna seemed a little reluctant, but other than that, she wasn't trying to resist much. 

"Hey." I said. "You alright now?" 

She turned away from me. "Let's just go." She muttered. 

"Okay then." Alyssa said.

"Hey, guys!" I called, seeing Tyler, Macey, Cameron, and Quinn in the distance. "We're gonna go!"

They ran back, Tyler taking the time to pelt a few snowballs at Cameron. 

Skylar stood, walking over to the group. "Let's go, before I freeze to death."

***

We knew it was a bad sign when the wind picked up, at an unnaturally high rate. 

Skylar wasted no time, and her sword was in her hand in seconds. 

"Skylar, calm down. It's probably not anything bad." Tyler said, though I think he was more hoping that statement was true than I was believing it. 

"Remember the maze?" I asked, choosing my bow out of the weapons in my backpack. "That didn't seem like anything bad, didn't it?" 

Tyler nodded, and everyone else pulled out their weapon. Alyssa's blaster was glowing, Jenna's axe was in her hands, Cameron held an iron sword nervously in front of him, and Macey clutched a small dagger in her hands. 

Tyler pressed his hand to his amulet, and nothing happened. 

"Why can't this thing ever work when I want it to?" He complained. 

"Hey, it's alright, I have nothing either." Quinn said, her voice hard to hear over the wind. "We'll be okay." 

"If you say so." Tyler replied.

The wind only got more and more powerful, until the point when it threatened to rip the bow right out of my hands. 

"Forget the weapons for now!" Skylar yelled. "Just hold on to something!" 

"Are you crazy?" I asked, yelling to be heard over the wind. "Without weapons, we don't stand a chance!" 

"Well, if we don't go hold on to something, we won't be standing at all, now will we?" She retaliated, and put her sword back in her backpack, tying the latch closed as tightly as she could. 

She had a point. Macey was struggling to keep both feet on the ground as it was. 

"Fine!" I yelled back. "Let's go!" 

I grasped on to a nearby tree, holding as tightly as I could. As I looked around, I saw that the others had taken the same approach, only Macey was holding on to Tyler's jacket, her eyes shut tightly. 

The wind blew even harder, and I was thrown to the side-or I would have been, if I wasn't holding on to the tree. 

My feet couldn't make it back to the ground. It was all I could do to hold on to the tree and pray that it wouldn't bust under so much pressure. 

When I could feel my fingers starting to slip, I knew I was in trouble. 

I was going to be blown away, and I would most likely die from any fall damage I took once I hit the ground. 

Suddenly, as soon as it had started, the wind halted. 

My feet slammed back to the ground, and I let go of the tree. My fingers were bright red from holding on so tightly. 

I looked around from the other side of the tree, and there stood an eerily familiar person. 

He was dressed simply, with a green shirt and black jeans, and a blue jacket over top. Blue and yellow headphones cover his ears, and red shoes are on his feet. There's a bright red crystal around his neck, and it seems like it's...glowing. 

That's when I see what's so strange about him. 

Normal players don't flicker like static images when they move. Normal players aren't the slightest bit see-through. 

He opens his eyes, and that's when I really get it. 

Normal players don't have eyes without irises or pupils, almost like Herobrine, and even if they did, normal players wouldn't have eyes that make the crystal around their neck stop glowing when they open. 

"I know you're here..." He calls out, not having seen anyone. They are all behind the trees. 

I pull a bow out of my backpack as quietly as I can muster, along with a few arrows. 

"Oh, come on. Come on out. It'll be amusing to see what you think fighting is." He says, and his voice reminds me of the voice of the Shadows. Is he one of them? 

No. He looks too much like an actual person to be a Shadow. 

I nock an arrow onto the bow, and pull back on the string. 

Slowly, I step out from behind the tree, planning to fire straight into his skull without him noticing, and hopefully get rid of him before-

SNAP. 

He whips his head around to face where I'm standing, a broken twig under my foot. 

...Damn it. 

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" He grins. 

I don't say a word, I only fire, but time seems to slow down as he grabs the arrow in midair, and snaps it in half. 

"That's not very nice, is it?" He says, and moves his hand. 

The bow is ripped from my hands, and I am lifted in to the air as fast as lightning. 

"Hmm, let's see. Brown eyes, tan hair, and a dog tag." 

His grin seems malicious. "Helloooooo, Mitch Jr." 

"Put me down!" I yell. 

"Now, now, Shane," He says, and I can't help but wonder how he knows my name. "That's no way to speak to your uncle, now, is it?" 

Uncle? 

"Hey!" 

He turns to see the rest of the group standing with their weapons ready. 

"There's the rest of you. I was wondering when you'd show up." 

He closes his hand into a fist, and suddenly, I can't breathe. 

I grasp at my throat, hoping that I can pry off whatever force is choking me, but nothing happens. 

What's going on? Why did he call himself my...

It finally clicks in my mind. I do know this person. I've seen him, but only in pictures. Dad had a brother who died in the War of Demons.  A brother...one I'm named after. 

My vision turns blurry, and the last thing I see before I go unconscious is Shane, my dad's brother and my namesake, lifting his other hand to attack my friends.