Meanwhile, 533 miles from the jungle
     Wolf ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it out before putting it back up again. She braided an inch or two, then just let it lie as a ponytail. She left the edge of the river, walking the short distance back to the temporary camp she, Venom, and Kevin had built for the night.
    It was nothing special. Three tents and a little fire pit in the center. Kevin sat by it, chewing on the beef jerky he'd stolen off the peddler earlier. Venom sat sorting through her bag.
    "Well, that could've gone worse." Wolf said, sitting down beside the two around the fire.
    Venom glared at her. "You two lost your packs, our horses are probably in the Doragome Mountains by now, we have no idea where we are, and we only have food because Kevin grabbed some jerky off an old man."
    "I paid for it!"
    "Sure you did." Venom groaned and ran her fingers through her chin-length curls. "This was supposed to be a simple mission. 'Go check on Florence and come back, just make sure everything's alright.' How could we screw it up?!"
    "Well, we didn't exactly expect to be ambushed on the way there." Kevin said. "And we fell into a river and down a waterfall and Wolf and me did the thing from the Emperor's New Groove and the horses got washed downstream and now we're here."
    "I know what happened, nimrod." Venom muttered. She sighed. "Well, it doesn't look like I lost anything. And my map's fine too." She started taking things out one by one, accounting for each individually. "Flash grenades, map, lighter, pocket knife, salt, and food. Yeah, I got everything." Venom tossed a sandwich to both her comrades on the mission, shooting a glare at Wolf as she did.
    Wolf rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I didn't expect any less." She said. "You haven't changed a bit..."
    "What's that supposed to mean?!" Venom snapped.
    Kevin groaned.
    "I simply mean that you are just as uncoordinated as you were last time I was forced to work with you." Wolf growled.
    "Well, at least I managed to hold onto my pack..." Venom muttered.
    "After you led us off a waterfall and we almost died!" Wolf shouted.
    "Hey, at least I'm not a cold blooded fighter, huh?" Venom said.
    Wolf stood suddenly, her eyes shining silver. "Shut up now."
    "Ooh, I've struck a chord." Venom said, taking a bite of her sandwich. "Which is it then? Anger? Or fear." She smirked.
    Wolf let out a low growl. "Fight me."
    Venom raised an eyebrow.
    "No, no, okay." Kevin stood up, pushing Wolf behind him. "You guys need to calm your shit okay? Nobody told us we had to be friends, but we can't be enemies. We have to work together and get this stupid mission over with so we can go home."
    Wolf rolled her eyes. "Whatever!" She growled. She turned and stomped off into the woods; but not before grabbing her notebook, which had been the only thing she'd managed to save from her pack. She headed back to the water and sat by the edge, glaring at the surface.
    Kevin sighed. "This is a disaster." He said. "We are a terrible team."
    "No, we just can't get along." Venom muttered.
    "What the hell happened between you two?" Kevin asked. "And why did you never tell me?"
    "It's a secret."
    "Gene, you tell me everything."
    "Some secrets just can't be told." Venom said. "But Wolf and I had an encounter in the past and let's just say I wish she stayed dead."
    "You killed her?!"
    "No, and I didn't try to either." Venom said. "But we had a mission several years ago and she went missing. I have no idea why or where she went or when she came back to the base. But we didn't get along then and we never will."
    "You never know." Kevin said with a shrug. "Maybe you will."
    "I won't."
    "But you might."
    "I'm really extra sure that I won't."
    "Well, Venom, if there's one thing I've learned on this mission so far, it's that your judgement is terrible." He laid down. "I'm gonna get some rest. I'd advise you do the same."
    Venom just stared at him for a moment, then she looked away. Her gaze shifted to the direction in which the taller girl had wandered off. For a moment, she considered just laying down and going to sleep like Kevin.
    Then she reconsidered.
    She stood up and slowly walked after Wolf, stopping by the tree line. Wolf sat on a rather large rock protruding over the river's edge, where Wolf sat cross-legged on the edge. She had a notebook balanced on one knee, dragging a pen across the paper.
    Venom hesitated a moment before she sighed and sat down on the rock beside Wolf. She didn't say anything for a moment, letting her legs dangle over the edge. Finally, she spoke. "What are you writing?"
    "Go away."
    "Yeah thought not..." Venom muttered, looking away. She stared at the water rushing past below for a moment. She shook her head. "Whatever, I was just trying to make conversation..."
    She stood, but before she could walk away, Wolf sighed and stopped writing. "Wait." She glared up at her. "Let's talk about it."
    Venom raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?"
    Wolf tossed up her hands in defeat, tossing her book aside. "Well, you already know! You're not gonna leave me alone till you know every damn thing about it!"
    Venom looked at her. "It's called curiosity and it's who I am. I won't apologize for it."
    "Yeah, well, I respect that. But you're still a bitch." Wolf muttered. She looked away. "Now do you wanna know or don't you?"
    Venom sat back down. "I wanna know."
    "Alright, but on one condition." Wolf glared at her. "You cannot tell a soul about this, understand? No one can know. And I mean it."
    Venom nodded. "I promise I won't tell anyone."
    "Fine..." Wolf sighed and looked down at the water. "How to start... Well, I'm part of a species called the Fantasians. We all have silver hair and silver eyes."
    "So why don't you?"
    "Because I'm part of the one in one thousand that is like the elders from thousands of years ago. That's the real reason why I can phase. I can also sense strong emotion, which coincides with my eyes switching to silver when I myself feel a strong emotion..."
    "That's interesting." Venom said. "Why keep it hidden?"
    "Because I swore an oath not to tell anybody but my links, and even that is only if I have to..."
    "Links?"
    Wolf sighed. "Fantasians are a very... Clingy race. Pack animals. We believe in loyalty and total commitment. When we find a person, or group of people, we... Latch on. And it's very hard for us to separate... When we choose a mate, we want to mate for life."
    "That doesn't make sense, didn't you have a girlfriend for a while?" Wolf's eyes flashed with sorrow, but Venom didn't notice. "Weren't you like, really close? I mean if you're going to mate for life I guess you picked pretty badly..." Venom's voice trailed off as she noticed the tear fall off Wolf's chin and into the water with a tiny splash.
    Venom blinked. "Oh."
    Wolf wiped the tear roughly away. "Normally Fantasians take losing a mate very hard, so when one dies they never remarry or any of that. Um... Moving on." She cleared her throat and Venom sighed a little . "We also have cold blood that's normally silver, but mine is gold because I'm one of the rare elder types. My type is called Vicon in my language; which is the same language as the Endermen because both are very old. It's called Xian."
    Venom blinked. "Say something."
    "Huh?"
    "Say something in Xian."
    Wolf looked her up and down, searching her face. Then she smiled almost unnoticeably. "Oarre vals petīt."
    Venom blinked. "What does it mean?"
    Wolf looked away, keeping a straight face. "It's a nice night." She said.
    Venom nodded slowly, looking away. The two sat in silence for a moment and Venom reflected on the fact that her clothes had dried significantly since they'd taken a dive down the waterfall. Then she got a question. "Don't you have any weaknesses though?"
    Wolf sighed. "Human blood... It's like acid to our skin. And also lava. Can't touch it, like humans can't. And since we're generally a social race, it's rare that a Fantasian won't have claustrophobia."
    "You're claustrophobic?"
    "Yep." Wolf sighed a little. "Anything else you wanted to know?"
    "Yeah." Venom said. "Why do you have to swear to keep it secret?"
    Wolf sighed. "There's a reason it's the oldest race in Minecraftia." She said. "We're very sneaky and very secretive. Being unknown is how we've survived so long."
    "What's your home like exactly?"
    Wolf took a deep breath, and looked at the stars. "We live in a big, dark forest. The trees are as wide as and as tall as skyscrapers. We dig them out and build houses inside, lighting the place with these." Wolf held out a hand, and little purple spores that looked like tiny jellyfish appeared in her palm, each the size of a fingernail. About a dozen floated up, casting soft purple light around calmingly. "They're like little lights. They're pretty much the reason why I started liking purple."
    Venom reached out and poked one of then. "They're so beautiful."
    As she showed one of her rare smiles, forgetting another person was around, Wolf looked at her. A small smile touched her lips, and slowly, her gold eyes flicked to silver.
    "You should smile more often." Wolf said.
    Venom blinked, and her smile instantly faded. "No." She said.
    "No, c'mon, I told you something." Wolf smiled, balancing an elbow on her knee. "You tell me something about you."
   Venom stood. "That's confidential."
    "Oh come on." Wolf said. "At least tell me your name. Or... I'll have to give you one."
    Venom glared back at her. "Drop dead." She growled.
    Wolf rolled her once again golden eyes. "Now I see why you don't have any friends."
    Venom looked Wolf up and down as she turned her back to the forest again. She finally sighed and turned around, heading back to the campfire without responding.
   
Kevin went first over the hilltop the next day, squinting over the plains. He squinted, but couldn't see the state of the town in the distance. He looked at Wolf as she joined him on the hill's rise. "What do your elf eyes see?" He asked.
    Wolf squinted at the town. "They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!"
    Venom rolled her eyes as she too made it too the top of the hill. "What do you actually see, moron?"
    "We're just having a little fun." Kevin said.
    "All we have to do is get in, make sure everything's peaceful - which it should be - and then go home, and you and me never have to talk to each other again." Venom said, glaring at Wolf.
    Wolf ignored her and looked at the little backwater town of Florence. She squinted, her eyes seeing better than a regular human's, and confusion crossed her face. "I don't understand." She said. "It's midday, there should be people bustling all about but... It's empty. Looks like a ghost town."
    "Empty?" Kevin and Venom exchanged glances. Venom slid her bow off her shoulder and held it in one hand and an arrow in the other. "C'mon, let's check it out." She said.
    She took off down the hill towards the town, and we're quickly followed by her two companions. As Wolf grew closer and closer, she felt a feeling a dread wash over her, realizing what had happened as the smell of blood reached them.
    The three reached the little town and stopped to catch their breaths. Wolf stepped ahead of the others, looking around at the grey streets littered with bodies and reeking of blood. "There is a veil of shadow on this place..." Wolf said quietly. "I sense strong sadness... Anger..." Her eyes narrowed. "And madness."
    Venom winced at the sight of a young woman missing her head. "This is too far..."
    Kevin knelt beside a girl on the ground. "My cousin lived here... That's why I requested to come." He rolled the girl over and gritted his teeth. "Oh man..."
    Venom's expression remained emotionless as she watched him reach around the girl's neck and take off the dogtags.
    "Carolyn Komaromy-Murphey." He said, and closed his eyes. "She was part of the village guard... We were gonna have a sparring match."
    "Kevin..." Venom said quietly.
    Wolf turned away. "What the hell happened?"
    "Isn't it obvious?" Kevin dropped the dogtags and stood angrily. "Who else would do this?! An unimportant town of innocent people! WHO ELSE WOULD MURDER ALL OF THEM?!"
    "Why?" Venom asked darkly. "Why this town? These little people?"
    For a moment, no one said anything. Then, Wolf took a step forward, her hand sliding to the black sword in the sheath at her side. "It isn't about the people... It was never about the people." She looked around at the houses, up at the roofs. "Do you feel it?" Venom stared at her, and seemed to notice her hand at her sword as she slowly nocked her bow to the string. "The eagerness of those whose minds are fueled only by the next time they get to kill. Do you feel it?" Wolf turned to look back at Venom and Kevin. "Because I do."
    "There are no footprints leading away." Venom said quietly.
    Kevin's eyes filled with fear as he understood. "That's because they never left."
    There was a silent hush for a moment, as though the world were holding its breath. Then, all at once, a loud collective shout came from all around. Squids leapt from the roofs and out of windows and doors, wielding weapons and bearing grins of triumph.
    The squids quickly circled around then, trapping them. Venom quickly shot two dead and one in the leg, nocking an arrow to the string of her bow and holding it ready. Kevin held his knife and dagger crossed in front of him, and Wolf held out her sword with both hands.
    "How many are there?" Kevin asked over the many shouts and taunts of the surrounding squids.
    Venom looked around observantly as she had been trained to do with her archer's eyes. "There's gotta be seven for each of us at least."
    "We can't take all of them!" Venom said, shooting another. Kevin lashed out at two who tried to get him, cutting both down skillfully.
    "We have no choice." Wolf said.
    Kevin groaned and shot again. "If Logan were here, he'd say some Shakespeare quote."
    "Then let's be glad that he's not here." Venom said.
    "How do we play this out?" Wolf asked.
    "...You take the ones on the left, I take the ones on the right?" Kevin said.
    Wolf let out a loud laugh. "That was a brilliant reference!"
    She let out a battle cry and stepped forward, stabbing through one of the squids and kicking another in the nether regions. She pulled her sword out of the squid's chest and cut another's head clean off its shoulders.
    Venom shot squids in quick succession, taking down four in six seconds, maybe less. As one got too close, she pulled an arrow out of one of those who had fallen and stabbed the approaching squid through the heart. She then spun around and shot a squid through the head; a squid which had been about to stab Kevin through.
    "Nice shot!" He called.
    "Aren't I always?" Venom replied.
    Kevin leapt up and spun around, back kicking a squid hard in the head. He flipped forwards, kicking another equally hard. He then stabbed two squids with his knife and dagger, slitting a third's throat. He spin kicked a fourth, but was then shoved back by a small cut on his exposed side. He stumbled and fell, but then the one who struck him was kicked out of the way by Venom.
    Before Kevin even got up, he threw his dagger and hit the last remaining squid behind Venom. She held out a hand and helped him to his feet. He shook his head and stumbled back, his hand tight around his side.
    Wolf steadied him, looking a bit concerned. "You okay?"
    "Uh... Yeah." Kevin removed his hand, revealing only a small cut on his side. Painful, but virtually harmless. He nodded. "Yeah I'm fine."
    Venom walked around, cracking a small smirk as the squids ran off. "Well, that was interesting..."
    "We totally rocked it!" Kevin shouted, whooping loudly as he leapt up in the air. "We're the best!"
    Wolf stepped forward as Venom walked around collecting her arrows and Kevin appreciated the fact that he was alive.
    She had heard a noise come from around the corner and thought it might be a survivor. "Hello?"
    Instead of a response, a little black rectangular prism was tossed around the corner of the street and slid towards them, coming to a stop. As it did, Wolf realized what it was and her eyes flicked silver in fear. "FLASH GRENADE! GET DOWN!" She ran back, crashing to the ground and grabbing Kevin's collar on her way, taking him with her.
    Venom looked up in alarm and turned to look at the flash grenade. Her emerald green eyes got big as she realized what was happening; but just a little too late.
   The grenade went off in a massive explosion of sound and blinding light. The last thing Venom saw was the cobblestone streets of Florence.
    Then there was nothing but black.