The song of the day is "Bonfire" by Building 429. You have no idea how hard it is for me to find a song for Tom that I actually like. XD I found this one completely by accident. Hooray for serendipity!

*Tom's POV*

I shivered inside my black coat as we tramped through the knee deep snow blanketing the mountain. Mot had told me the name of the range, but my teeth were chattering so loud that I hadn't heard it. I'd also asked where exactly we were going, but of course he refused to answer that. I grumbled under my breath as we kept going. We should reach the top of the pass today—if Mot knew this "road" as well as he said he did. There had been a clearly marked—though overgrown—path further down the mountain, but how did he know we hadn't lost it in all this d*mn snow? Every snow bank looked the same to me, and it's not like there were any sign posts. Why on Mianite would anyone need those?

The journey hadn't been that bad until we got to Katsir, despite our having to fly there. (That Gaines dude had all the portals down for maintenance after an earthquake cracked one of the portal frames last week.) We took off our angel rings at the outskirts to not spook the natives. Mot had stopped to talk to a few people to inquire about the condition of the road and catch up with the one or two he knew. At the time I'd wondered why he was asking about roads at all. We were going to fly, weren't we? Nope. Mot told me as we left the burned out village behind us that we'd be going on foot from there to avoid unwanted attention.

"Attention from whom?!" I'd wanted to yell. There was literally no one for miles in any direction! The thing that stopped me was how odd Mot was acting ever since we came within sight of Katsir. Where he had met my whining and pestering with snarky comments of his own, now he let them pass. I even tried insulting him and didn't get a rise. It was like he didn't even hear me. I'd never seen him this reserved except when he found out that the Dianite in this dimension was still dead after being KOed by some assassin 10 years ago.

10 years ago...Ohhhhh! It suddenly dawned on me why Katsir had him acting weird. He got Alyssa from there. Her parents had died in the fire, along with any relatives who might have adopted her. He's probably missing his kid and remembering the people he used to know there before they died, I thought to myself. If Sparklez went into full on panic mode when Ianita was out of his sight for a few minutes, I couldn't fathom how Mot held it together being a whole universe away from his girl for months.

Being the great human bei...er, zombie...that I was, I took it upon myself to cheer him up, or at least distract him. "Yo, Mot!" I yelled, making sure he was actually listening before I asked, "You sure we're going the right way?"

Mot rolled his eyes and started slogging through the snow again. He did answer me though. "Yes, Syndy. I've traveled this road dozens of times. This is the main trade route between Katsir and where we're going."

"Then why is it in such bad shape? And why is there snow everywhere? I thought it didn't rain or snow in this dimension!" I panted. Man, the air up here is thin. Unless I was hallucinating all this white stuff from lack of oxygen, something wasn't adding up.

"Look, kid. We used to get plenty of rain, snow, even hail and tornadoes, but near as I can tell all of it stopped when Mianite got full reign over the world 10 years ago. I guess he doesn't like the weather changing." Mot shrugged. "We're high enough up that the snow here never melts. As for the road, well, there was no need to trade with a village that didn't exist anymore, and the people that have moved back in aren't wealthy enough to make trade worthwhile yet."

Wow, harsh. It did make sense though, from a business standpoint. There's nothing there worth stealing either, except maybe a bit of ambrosia, I noted. What? Old habits died hard.

"Sheesh, is Mianite a stick in the mud in every dimension?" I asked, rolling my eyes. "You can't kill except on the purge, don't break into people's vaults, don't change the 'M' on the temple to a 'D'." I heard Mot snicker at that point, and I knew that Tony and Josh must have carried on the tradition without me. I owe those boys a drink when I get back. My smirk sank into a frown before it finished forming. If I'm ever allowed back.

I mentally shied away from that topic and continued distracting Mot. "Now in this dimension, Mianite won't even allow the fun of snowball ambushes or tracking fresh mud into Tucker's house!" Oh, the Saltshaker had been livid after that little "accident" back in The Realm. Hehehe. Sigh. I miss those days.

Mot actually laughed at the thought of the angry Mianitee. There was one thing we had in common, at least. Having won one victory, I forged ahead, almost forgetting that my toes and fingers were slowly going numb. It never occurred to me that I should stop while I was ahead. "And what's up with Ianite? Balance is no fun, though picking fights with her followers sure is," I said with a laugh, reminiscing about the prank wars Sparklez and I had had as well as the real wars. "This world's Ianite was alright, I guess. I mean, she did smite me occasionally, but she was practically a homie."

I got no response this time. I looked up from where I was placing my feet to see Mot had spaced out. Wait, I know that look. Regret? What?! Just as quick as I identified the expression, it vanished.

I took a deep breath to say something, but he raised a hand to silence me. He'd stopped in his tracks and had his head tilted to one side with his human ear up. His right ear had turned the mottled green that covered that side of his face. I wondered if the creeper spores damaged his hearing on that side any, or maybe it was his tendency to avoid emphasizing his diseased skin. Huh, I wonder what it would be like to still look half normal?

My thoughts were interrupted by a distant sound echoing off the cliff face of the next mountain over. I'd have recognized the sound anywhere: an explosion. It sounded a bit different from TNT or a missile launcher, but I'd definitely heard it before. I scrunched my eyebrows together and unconsciously mimicked Mot's head tilt. Another boom echoed to us, sounding closer this time.

We didn't have long to wonder what the source of the sound was. A high-pitched whistling whine pierced the air. I didn't see the thing hit, but suddenly there was a steaming hole in the snow drift a dozen paces to my right. Mot and I approached it with caution, and I took my hammer out of my bag. I swiped the snow away in slow swings until the ground was actually visible. There was a loose chunk of rock about the size of a chicken egg that was darker and smoother than the surrounding stone, and the snow around it melted and sizzled as we watched.

Mot and I looked at each other in confusion. What was that thing, and where did it come from? As if in answer to the unspoken question, a much louder, lower whine akin to a roar ricocheted through the mountain range. This time I saw the thing that hit a hundred feet below us on the mountain we had been climbing. The streak of fire and smoke hit at an angle, throwing snow and chunks of rock almost sideways across the mountainside. That had to have been as big as me! I froze in place as I realized exactly where I'd seen and heard that before. It wasn't a good memory.

~Flashback~

I had failed. I knew I had. I hoped against hope that Dianite wouldn't notice that I had yet to complete the contract he'd put on Tucker's head this morning. If Dianite hadn't been so flipping cocky and announced the contract with Tucker standing ten feet away I might have had a chance. But no, he had to give that wily Mianitee a head start. I had to go get my gear; all Tucker had to do was run. Sometimes I really wondered if Dianite wanted me to fail, if he purposely made that mission more difficult to have an excuse to punish me.

Surely he had to know that Tucker wasn't going to stick around to fight me and Furia. He'd sent Furia along to "help" kill Jordan and Tucker. Like I needed any help schooling those two pussies. I tell you what, if the dude wasn't such a two-faced pain in the *ss, I might have actually had fun hunting Sparklez with him. Maybe we'd gone a bit far when we set all the trees around his house on fire, but it got the job done. We ended up smoking Sparklez out of his forest and finishing him off in a little under an hour. We left the Ianitee to salvage his home and started looking for Tucker. By then Mianite's champion was long gone.

When we did find him, he was chilling at the wizards' place, unarmed and looking quite pleased with himself. I swung my sword at him before remembering the enchantment the wizards had on this place. They had a strict "no fighting" policy on their grounds. I recalled this fact when my sword hit Tucker and bounced off, as harmless as a pillow. He was uninjured, but man, did that hurt me! It felt like I'd swung my sword against obsidian. I thought I almost broke my wrist.

Furia was less than useless. The wizards' magic wouldn't even let the dude within a mile of their headquarters without striking him with lightning—which I must admit was pretty entertaining. He likely would have started destroying random sh*t out of frustration if the wizards hadn't gotten back from wherever they'd been shortly after we arrived. They were less than pleased to find me trying to drag a struggling Tucker—who I had in a headlock—out of their protection field. They ran us off with ice and lightning spells at our heels, but let Tucker stay. Apparently Tucker had a pending build that the wizards wanted to discuss with him.

Now, it was sunset, and my job still wasn't done. That meant only one thing. Syndicate! I flinched and dropped the potion bottle I'd just pulled from my brewing stand. It shattered on contact with the stone brick floor, spilling its contents. Thank goodness it wasn't a splash potion. Why has Mianite's champion not been killed yet? Dianite asked in a low voice that echoed through my mind. I shuddered, knowing he already knew perfectly well. Even if he hadn't been watching, Furia would have reported back to him by now. I was so doomed.

Jericho sought refuge with the wizards, like a coward, I replied, making disdain clear in my mental voice. Some part of me hoped to redirect my god's anger to Tucker. He hasn't left yet, my Lord. My ploy didn't work.

Between closing my eyes in a blink and opening them, I found myself teleported to the Nether. I held back the usual wave of nausea as I noted Dianite had transported me without any of my armor or weapons. I was in a room deep under Dianite's temple. Only the Modesteps, Nade, and I even knew the arena existed. This was where we found ourselves when someone disappointed the Lord of the Nether. I stood in the middle of the circular nether brick and obsidian arena as the others were teleported into the bleachers along the wall to my left. They'd obviously received no warning before being summoned. Poor Nade was in his pajamas and had been brushing his teeth; he turned green before bending over his bleacher to throw up. Josh and Tony appeared to have been playing some sort of game, because when they poofed into the bleachers, they were arguing about whether or not Tony had cheated. All fell silent once they'd gotten over their teleport jitters and realized who was in trouble.

Dianite floated on the right side of the arena with Furia a few feet behind him. Furia smirked and winked at me when he caught my eye. I don't know how he'd twisted the facts to get out of this without similar punishment, but I wouldn't put much past the silver-tongued demon. He'd likely thrown me under the cart in his version of things.

Dianite's burning gaze was less smug and far more hostile. I forced myself to stand up straight as I waited for Dianite to do something. Showing fear would only make my punishment worse. I took slow, deliberate breaths, ignoring the scent to sulfur and charred flesh that perpetually clung to this place. After burning holes into my skull with his gaze, he simply snapped his fingers. A dozen ghasts and wither skeletons answered the summons and appeared in a circle around me. Great. Nothing I love more than dying and respawning.

They attacked immediately after spawning, and I wasted no time kicking the head off of one of the wither skeletons. A stone sword wasn't exactly a stellar weapon, but it was better than nothing. I picked up the dropped blade and parried a blow another skeleton aimed for my neck. I had to roll out of the way of a fire charge when I would have rather stayed to fight the skeleton I'd unbalanced. The nether brick behind me exploded as another skeleton swung his sword down to meet me. I blocked and dodged to the side as another ghast fired at me. I smirked as the blast took out that wither skeleton. The ghasts started peppering the arena with their fire charges in earnest, leaving me completely on the defensive. I finally managed to return one projectile to its sender, smiling as the creature screamed in agony and fell out of the air.

My momentary victory was short-lived as a stone sword cut into my left shoulder from behind. I cursed loudly as I swung around and beheaded the skelly. The wound wasn't deep, but the pain radiating from it robbed me of the strength to hold my sword steady. I'd been withered. Lovely. Everything went downhill from there, and I soon found myself on my back with a sword point pressed against my Adam's apple. Dianite floated overhead as his minions disappeared in puffs of smoke. What? He's not going to have one of them behead or gut me? I was too weak from the wither effects to rise and so remained where I'd fallen, looking up at him.

I should have known better. Dianite didn't do mercy. "Don't fail me next time, Syndicate. You won't always respawn," He said threateningly. He then threw a series of fireballs at me. That was a first. He'd always let his mobs deliver his punishments before this. I must have really ticked him off this time. I'd never hurt so much when I respawned in my underground bunker. It felt like I was still on fire for a good 30 minutes as I lay on my bed, gritting my teeth to hold back screams.

~End flashback~

I didn't realize I was shaking until Mot grabbed my arm and dragged me away from the cliff we'd been standing on. I managed to right myself as I stumbled and shook my arm from my alternate's grip as we ran. Dianite can't be here. He's dead. And this Dianite's not like him, I kept repeating to myself as more of the projectiles streaked across the sky, some landing too close for comfort.

As we ran, another sound reached us: the peal of lightning. I looked up at the cloudless sky in confusion, and my eyes nearly bugged out of my head as one rock heading for the valley below was blasted to smithereens by an unnatural bolt of lightning. Mot started running faster when he saw this, fear only now making its way onto his face. Mot pointed to a cave up ahead. We ducked inside as a football-sized (soccer ball for us Americans) rock crashed into the mountain above us, loosening the mass of snow perched there. The freed snow slid down the mountainside at an alarming pace and buried the cave entrance, sealing us in darkness.

Will Dianite's champions make it out of their icy tomb in one piece? Where on Ruxomar is Mot taking them, and what is his purpose in doing so? Where did that lightning come from? (Hint: this is related to the previous question.) Why did Mot react that way when Tom mentioned S2 Ianite? Let the wild speculation begin!