The song for this chapter is "Emperor's New Clothes" by Panic At The Disco for obvious reasons. My favorite line: "Heroes always get remembered, but you know legends never die." Who's ready to wrap up Amniosis today? I thought so. Let's go!

*Waglington's POV*

A few short minutes later, we were gathered in front of the castle doors. We looked at each other and turned our keys in the locks at the same time. We watched as they and the door dissolved into sand before us. That unsettled Tom and Tucker for some reason, and they stared at the pile of sand on the ground as if it were a snake that might bite them. Sonja glared at the sand for a moment before dismissing it.

Ignoring their odd behavior the rest of us entered. Not wanting to be left behind, they followed nervously. The inside of the castle was decidedly not right. Everything in here looked...organic and of a disturbing pinkish-taupe variety. There was no stone or wood in sight, though there was an abundance of something that looked like bone. Blood pooled in low points of the uneven floor, and I briefly wondered if it had oozed from the spongy floor itself or dripped down from the ceiling. Then there was the smell...

"Ew. Why is the floor squishy?" Sonja asked, utterly disgusted.

"I don't think you want to know," Jordan said after examining the floor and walls more closely.

Sonja made a gagging sound and shuddered. We climbed the stairs to the throne room, trying not to touch the wall or hand rail. Arriving at the throne room, we found Helgrind staring at a wall where netherack encroached on the structure all the way to the ceiling. He turned toward us when Jordan coughed. He looked surprised and turned to the empty space beside him. "Andor, who are these strangers? I didn't think we'd have any visitors until dinner." He seemed to listen to some reply, because he nodded before turning back to us. "Welcome, travelers, to Dagrun! Are you in town for the fair?"

We stared at him in shock. Does he not remember us? I noticed as we studied each other that he seemed older and thinner that the last time we'd seen him—more worn, for lack of a better term. His eyes looked dull and less lively as well.

The king tilted his head and frowned. "Remember you? I've never seen you in my life. I'd remember such an odd-looking bunch."

"Wag sent you here..." Jordan started to say. I quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, making a mental note to disinfect my hand later to avoid catching whatever he had. If Helgrind didn't remember me sending him to the Nether, I didn't see a point in reminding him. I smiled innocently at the king as he gave me a confused look.

"No need to go telling him that," I hissed under my breath as I released Jordan and wiped my hand on my robes.

"Anyways, do you like my castle? I just had it built recently," The king said with pride.

"It's uh, nice," Tucker said, looking around.

Helgrind was pleased by the comment and started to give us a tour, describing architecture and décor that definitely were all in his head. After a few minutes I noticed Tom and Tucker sneak over to a ladder leading up to the roof. I recalled the netherack in the throne room and thought they might be onto something. The king stopped in the main hall as if listening to someone giving a report. He nodded courteously to the invisible specter and turned to us once again. "I'm afraid I must go attend to an urgent matter. If you'll wait here, I'll send the herald to show you to the inn in town."

"That would be excellent, your majesty," I cut in before the others could say anything. "May your day be pleasant." The king smiled and walked away. Once I was sure he was out of earshot, I whispered, "Tucker and Tom are checking the roof. Come on." I motioned for Jordan and Sonja to follow me back to where I'd seen the ladder.

We climbed the ladder up onto the roof. We could see the whole town and fair from here. Something about the view—aside from the obvious—was bothering me. After a moment I placed it. There was no breeze. There had always been one around Dagrun, especially this high up, but being trapped in a netherack dome, the air here was stagnant. As Sonja and Jordan joined me, we began looking around for the others. What happened to the whole not splitting up thing?

As we approached the spire at the far end of the roof, we saw Tucker and Tom. They looked terrified and had backed up against the spire. There was a man in dark green, resonant armor standing before them. This man was holding a longsword to Tucker's chest. Tom caught sight of us first. "Guys! Over here!" He called. Turning to the guard in front of them, he said, "See, we aren't lying. Here's our friends."

The guard turned to face us and lifted the visor on his helmet. "Guard Tom?!" Jordan asked in astonishment, face lighting up in a smile. He might have rushed forward to greet his old roommate, but Sonja and I held him back. There was no recognition on Guard Tom's face. He didn't remember us either. That didn't faze Jordan though. "What happened? We thought Mianite's guards captured you. How did you get away? How did you wind up here?"

Guard Tom looked confused now. "Do I know you from somewhere?" He asked, slightly lowering his sword. I guessed that he could at least tell Jordan was sincerely glad to see him. Tom and Tucker took that opportunity to get out of reach and circle back around to join us.

Jordan looked crestfallen. "You lived at my tower for a few months after you lost your job. You just up and vanished one day. We looked everywhere for you but couldn't find a trace. I've been taking care of Toady for you," Jordan said with hope barely audible in his voice.

Poor Sparklez. I didn't think Guard Tom was going to remember us. Then again, he hadn't been in here as long as Helgrind. Maybe there was still hope for him.

Guard Tom tilted his head and scrunched his face up in concentration, obviously trying to recall something. Meanwhile, Jordan was having a whispered argument with our Tom. "We have to save him too. We can't just leave him here."

"Yes, we can Sparklez. We can come back for him after we get the ki..." He paused to glance at Guard Tom. "I mean, you know who out. We're probably going to have to drag him with us, and I don't think we could manage two unwilling passengers at once."

No. I'm not leaving without him," Jordan said obstinately, crossing his arms. "Guard Tom is bae." Jordan didn't want to lose anyone else. I could understand that.

Tom ran his hands over his face and made a sound somewhere between exasperated and angry. "You know what? It doesn't matter, anyways! We don't know how to get out of this freakin' place, and we don't have Mianite's artifact. Let's find those first, or we'll just end up stuck here like them."

That sounded like a halfway decent plan; even Jordan grudgingly agreed. Tucker and Sonja went to check the far end of the roof while we continued occupying Guard Tom. We'd finally gotten him to sheath his sword when my least favorite person decided to show back up. "Remember what they did to Guard Mark?" The authoritative and menacing voice prodded. My friends and I jumped and looked around.

He was invisible still, but Guard Tom appeared to be able to see him. "Hello, World Historian," He greeted the empty air next to him like it was an old friend. "I seem to be having some memory problems again." World Historian? Why does that sound familiar? Then I realized what he was trying to get Guard Tom to remember. We might be in trouble, I thought, looking back at the godlike armor our friend wore.

"Remember how they swindled you?" The voice said again, sounding more like a command than a question.

I caught a hint of magic in the air and began to back away nervously. "Guys, this isn't good," I whispered with obvious worry. Jordan and Tom looked at me, confused. They couldn't sense what was happening. "Where are Tucker and Sonja?" I asked urgently. I didn't want them to get left behind if we had to run for it. Tom pointed back over my shoulder to the spires at the opposite end of the roof.

Glancing back at Guard Tom, I could see him rubbing his temples. Yeah, World Historian was definitely doing something. "Guard Mark... He..." Uh oh. He was remembering alright, but only the bad things if my hunch was correct.

"Remember how they used you?" Another pulse of magic hummed through the air.

"Guys, he's trying to turn Guard Tom on us," I warned, backing up further. "I'm going to get the others." I turned and ran along the roof's peak, hoping Tom would keep Jordan from getting himself killed when Guard Tom turned.

I clambered down the roof to where I could hear Tucker and Sonja inside one of the spires. I poked my head through the open window to see Tucker holding what looked like...a human heart? "Um..." I completely forgot what I came here to say.

"Oh, hey Wag. I found Mianite's horcrux," Tucker said as if it were the most normal thing in the world to be literally holding a god's heart...that was still beating.

I shuddered at the sight. "You two might want to get back out here. We're about to be in big trouble." Tucker stowed the heart inside his bag of holding and followed Sonja and I back onto the roof. The second he closed his bag of holding, a tremor ran through the roof under us. Another pulse of magic shivered through the air then as well.

We made it back to our friends as Guard Tom stopped rubbing his head. "I...r-remember..." He said, opening his eyes. They were filled with pain and hatred when he looked up at us. "You are all evil!" he shouted, lowering his visor and drawing his sword. We froze as we realized his weapon wasn't a longsword anymore. It was a black katana. It was identical to Tucker's except for the orange color of the binding on its hilt.

"He has a kikoku..." Tom said in shock.

"There's more than one?!" Tucker asked.

I seemed to be the only sensible one left. Guard Tom took a step towards us, and I yelled, "Run!"

We bolted back towards the ladder, and I worried that Guard Tom might catch a few of us before we could all get down. Tom and Tucker seemed to think of this about the same time I did, because they slowed down and reached for their swords, only Tom didn't have one. I tossed him my imbued sword as I ran up. "I do expect that back once we're out of here!" I yelled as they dropped behind me to buy us some time. I would have stayed and fought, but I was already tired from earlier. I wouldn't be much good in a fight right now.

I looked back to the ladder to see that Jordan had already made it down. Sonja was waiting at the top of the ladder, beckoning me forward. A tremor shook the roof beneath us, and I nearly fell. Regaining my footing, I happened to glance to the spire Tucker had taken the heart from. It was dissolving into sand. The pointed roof of it collapsed as I watched. My foot slipped again, and I realized in horror that the palace roof was dissolving too.

I heard the ring of swords clashing as I finally grabbed the sides of the ladder and slid down. Sonja yelled a warning to our friends before sliding down after me. Sand was falling from the rafters as we dashed down the stairs. Sand hissed as it poured over the steps behind and around us. By the time we reached the last flight, the steps were already hidden under a sliding mass of sand. We slipped and skidded our way to the ground floor and joined Jordan outside the main doors. He had King Helgrind with him.

"No! Let me go! I have to get Freya and the kids! I'm not leaving them!" The king shouted as he struggled to get past Jordan.

"That's not them! They're waiting for us outside!" I lied as I ran up. The king didn't even seem to hear me.

I joined Jordan in restraining him while we waited for the others. "No! I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to them." The once proud king was practically sobbing. I felt like a horrible person for keeping him from where he thought his family was in danger. I could tell Jordan felt the same.

"What's taking them so long?" Sonja asked, worried. She stepped back from the castle and looked up to the roof. She'd pulled her goggles of revealing down when the sand started falling, and I wished that I had invested in a pair with how much of the stuff was getting in my eyes.

"I don't know, but I hope they hurry up," Jordan said through gritted teeth. King Helgrind was running on the desperation only a parent and lover could know. Jordan and I were tiring quickly, and I was pretty sure even Steve would have had a hard time holding him.

The ground shook again, this time violently enough to knock us off our feet. King Helgrind slipped through our fingers and ran back into the collapsing building shouting, "Freya! Andor! Alva!" He was quickly lost from view behind the falling sheets of sand.

Jordan made as if to run after him, but Sonja grabbed him and pulled him back. "I'm sorry, Jordan, but we're not losing you too."

"Geronimo!" We heard someone yell from above us.

We looked up just in time to see Tom hurtling past us to land in the haystack next to the palace stable. We ran down the front steps to see if he was okay, only to hear Tucker yell and fall after him. We fished the two grinning idiots out of the haystack, and I retrieved my sword. We started to head for the front gate as a loud crack echoed across the town. I looked up at the domed ceiling in fear, then back at the shaky palace, unable to pinpoint the source. If I hadn't glanced back, I would have missed Guard Tom jumping down from the castle to land unharmed a dozen feet away.

"Guard Tom's back!" I yelled. He still brandished his kikoku. He didn't look tired or injured in the slightest, and he most definitely still wanted us dead. Only Tucker would be able to hurt him if we stood and fought. We might be able to outrun him. Certainly Tom, Tucker, and Sonja could, but Jordan and I might not be able to. I didn't like our odds either way.

We backed away as Guard Tom approached, weighing our options. There was another tremor, and I saw a large chunk of glowstone fall from the ceiling far above. My friends and I watched wide-eyed as it crashed down onto the remains of the palace. The entire thing turned to sand on contact and exploded outward in a tidal wave that caught Guard Tom and us.

I held my breath and clamped my eyes and mouth shut. Once the shifting sands settled, I clawed my way back to the surface. I gulped down air and shook sand from my face and hair. My friends were surfacing around me, spitting sand and the occasional profanity. I was still buried up to my chest as Sonja walked over to help me. She caught her foot on something in the sand and fell on top of me instead. Her earth armor felt like getting hit by a boulder.

The others found this amusing, and I glared at them while rubbing my bruised head. "Sorry, Wag," Sonja apologized as she and Tucker pulled me free.

I accepted the apology and asked, "Everyone okay?" I shook enough sand out of my robes to fill a bathtub while my friends checked themselves over. No one seemed to have gotten hurt aside from irritated eyes and airways. That was good. Sonja started digging at the place where she'd tripped as I looked around for any sign of Guard Tom. I knew that wouldn't have killed him, but he might be trapped for a while. That was something. The castle and its outer walls had been leveled. The explosion had pushed us a good ways down one of the streets into the town. The houses here were beginning to dissolve as well. At this rate there wouldn't be anything left of the town in an hour. That's if the dome doesn't cave in on us first.

"Woah..." I looked back to Sonja to see she'd found Guard Tom's kikoku. He must have dropped it when that wall of sand hit him. She turned it over in her hands, admiring the gleaming blade.

"Sweet find! Now let's go before Guard Tom comes back," Tom said, looking at the ceiling. We started walking again, picking up the pace as we made it back onto solid ground and smaller bits of the dome continued to fall. By the time we'd reached the docks, we'd all agreed on trying to take a boat if they hadn't dissolved into sand. That plan changed when we discovered a pathway of ice stretching out over the blood.

"Was this here earlier?" Sonja asked, eyeing it with suspicion.

"I don't think so," I replied.

"Maybe that's the way out now that we have the artifact," Jordan speculated.

"Either way, there's nowhere else to go." Tucker pointed out. With that, we set off. The ice appeared to be quite thick, and it wasn't melting. That was strange given that we were still in the Nether. I wondered what magic had been used to preserve it. By now my own magic was slowly beginning to recover. It would likely be days before I was back to full strength, but I might be able to use one small spell in a pinch.

The promise of reaching the exit started to lift our spirits as we neared the edge of the dome. Tom and Jordan even started racing each other along the ice path. Pretty soon we were all racing, though Tucker and Sonja hung back a little bit—to talk I assumed. Once I'm out of here, I can relax and rest. Oh, my sofa sounded so good right now! Memento and I could visit my brothers and Donella tomorrow. Enough had happened for one day.

Ahead of me, I heard Tom yelp in surprise. Jordan and I slid to a stop beside him. We'd reached the end of the path. It widened into a narrow band circumscribing a pit that dropped into darkness. On the other side of the ringed pit hovered World Historian. "Don't make eye contact!" I whisper/hissed.

My friends backed up a little and kept their eyes down. Good, I was worried he might paralyze one of them before I could warn them.

I could feel more than see World Historian smile. It was not a pleasant expression. I saw Jordan reaching for his bow out of the corner of my eye, but he stopped when World Historian spoke, voice full of smug confidence. "I hope you have enjoyed your accommodations. Thank you for the quintessence." To my surprise, that was all he did. He laughed ominously and dissolved into shadows before our eyes. I got the feeling we had been severely outplayed, but I wasn't sure how.

"Okay, dude, I can see why he freaked you out," Tom said.

"You don't know the half of it," I said, mentally debating the merits and risks of telling a mortal about my vision. (My theory of seeing the future is as follows: the act of seeing the future can in itself change that future. The further out the events of a vision occur from when the wizard had it, the more likely something is to change, and the more likely it is that interfering or attempting to alter key events may accidentally damage the space/time continuum. If any scifi nerds out there care to help me elaborate on this theory, feel more than welcome. :) I love this mind-bending sort of stuff.) I set the matter aside for now and turned to greet Sonja and Tucker, who I could hear running up behind us. They probably had seen World Historian too and been trying to get here to help. I was wrong. The ice was breaking apart rapidly with the couple running just ahead of the fractures. "Watch out!" I heard Tucker yell.

We didn't have time—or space—to get out of the way. Sonja and Tucker collided with us and sent us all hurtling over the edge. We screamed as we fell. I really hated the feeling of falling, and I didn't have enough magic yet to fly. As we fell, the close, dark tunnel opened up into a large cavern that looked and felt like the regular, old Nether. A warm orange glow illuminated everything. That was comforting for half a second, until I saw we were falling towards a massive lava lake.

We all had strong enough protection on our armor to survive the fall, but lava was a different matter. My upgraded battle mage armor and Tucker's blood mage armor granted both of us fire/lava protection; we would be fine. I couldn't speak for the others, but the fear in their eyes told volumes. Okay, a fire protection charm, I can do that. But could I do it three times? I carefully aimed at Sonja as we fell; I couldn't afford to miss with my limited magic. I landed the spell on her and started aiming one for Jordan who was next to her. That was a direct hit as well, but my vision started to grow blurry. I vaguely saw Tom watching me as I held a wavering hand in his direction. Drawing up the magic for a third spell took a physical toll, making my chest burn and breathing painful, but I grit my teeth and forced the spell to fire. I couldn't tell if it hit. My vision was dark now, and I felt my body relaxing. Distantly, I wondered how I was going to swim when I couldn't move.

When we hit the lava, I didn't feel it. I did feel someone pull me out of the lava and drag me across the netherack some time later. I felt warm fingers on my neck checking for a pulse and heard a sigh of relief. I didn't want whoever it was to worry, but I was too painful and exhausted to move. My consciousness started to drift away again as I heard Jordan say angrily, "World Historian, you son of a b*tch."    

I'm seriously a little scared at how much fun I've had writing the past 7 chapters. Don't worry; I'm not going to join the dark side, as much as Botan and my evil muse would love that. Now how do I stuff my evil muse back in its dungeon without it dragging me in too? *scratches head* Any suggestions?