Step after step I walk away from Lukas, a whole pit of emotions weighing down on my tired bones. My muscles wobbling and crying at me for getting up again, the parasites conducting a sea of misery in the tiny space in my arm.

I mean, I'm right. I have to be. What the heck could telling my friends about this do any good? I should have never even told Lukas, he doesn't need to know either. I've been managing fine, they don't need to be worrying about me.

"Everyone!" I lift my head at Petra, the hazy image giving me more motivation to drag my body around. "We've found Soren's escape!"

Reuben bounds up to me, whining and pushing my legs forward as if to help. I sigh, not even having the energy to bend down and pet him anymore. I'm being to feel reluctant to even speak anymore, not with my throat crawling with phlegm.

Silently, we all slip into the dim hallway. Before my visibility dramatically drops, I catch the hopeful and excited grins dancing on the other's faces. While moving my shoulders back to seem stronger is... exhausting, twitching my lips into a smile isn't.

"Okay guys, fan out." I cough a bit, ignoring the look I get from Lukas. "The faster we find Soren, the better."

Lukas scowls behind me, but I pay him no mind as I continue forward again. My left arm writhing and withering, burning and seething, sniff in agony. But that doesn't mean I can't walk, I just have to walk forward some more. Just find Soren.

Deciding that it's best not to have him hovering behind me, I float over to Olivia. Realizing that I've been keeping my left arm pressed tightly up against my side, I let it fall limp. The raging agony still bristling inside, as they rest of me wishes it could go limp too.

She wanders over to the right, and I follow in her footsteps. Trying not to lag behind when I'm only walking, but when I have never felt so incredibly drained before. It barely even feels that my legs have life in them anymore.

"Hey Jesse, do you hear that?" I shake myself out of it, noticing the faint drifts of music floating in my head. Louder and louder as we get closer and closer to the door.

"Hmm, yeah, I do." I take a deep breath, only feeling the urge to cough more and more. "It's definitely coming from behind there too."

I force a grin at her as my right hand wraps around the handle. "Let's find out shall we?"

She nods, her excited grin jittery as I push it open. Music flowing freely from the room, and I hope with all my worn out body that Soren is in here. That he'll come out of this weird place of his and save the world, that I'll finally get the chance to just... stop.

Reuben snorts and sniffs as we enter the room and I-

"I call that one, Symphony in E. A new composition to celebrate my newest discovery." My heart, my exhausted but still beating heart, staggers forward at the voice.

Olivia gasps besides me, almost disbelief in her voice. "That's him!"

"Come on!" A jolt of excitement carries me over to the sound. After all this time of struggling we've finally found him and now the world can be put into good hands. Finally.

"This time I observed one enderman place a block on top of another block-"

Only to stop dead at the sight of the blurred jukebox in front of me. Soren's ramblings about enderman lost as disappointment crashes down onto me. My legs wobbling to keep me up and I really want to cough now.

"What the-"

I huff, a raspy thing that forces me to 'clear my throat'. "Just a recording."

"-not imaging things. Goodness knows, it's happened before."

"After all that..." Bitter frustration and devastation quivers from Olivia's voice. "He's not even here?"

Soren's mad chuckles die down a bit. "I, uh, better eat something. I'm positively lightheaded with excitement."

"We came all this way and for what?" Olivia scowls, and I'm inclined to push the blame on Lukas for making her this hopeless. Now I gotta fix that. "We're no closer to Soren than before."

I grin, or what I hope is a grin, at her. "Since when do recordings just come on by themselves?"

Olivia sharply inhales, almost ready to snap back at me and my headache, when she blinks. "Huh, good point. I guess he really likes the sound of his own voice then."

"Now if we could just figure out what he's talking about..." I turn back to the jukebox, Soren's strangeness bubbling out from their. "Perhaps we could find him faster."

"-persuaded to build collaboratively. I've worked up a simple set of building instructions to... inspire them. I will disguise myself and hide among them in order to observe them more closely."

"Them?" I look down and try to think, my headache not helping with this. "Hide among who?"

"Uh, Jesse?" Olivia's voice quivers and with a trembling arm she points to the window. "Do you think Soren's talking about them?"

I just stare, my sight still fuzzy, but it isn't hard to figure out that there are endermen out there. They're the only things that live here. And I can't believe the guy we need is just out there having a great time with them. Goodness, why do all the Order members like to make everything hard when simply standing is becoming difficult for me?

Olivia huffs, face still tight in nerves. "Then again, everything else about this guy has been pointing to crazy."

"That's... really something." I cough lightly again, my words crackling out of my stuffy lungs. "Do you think he's actually training endermen to build stuff?"

"I think he thinks he's training endermen to build stuff." Reuben snorts with her on that one, and now even I'm starting to believe that this guy isn't going to-

I shake that thought right out. "Come on, let's see if we can find something in here."

Olivia sighs, anxiety looming over her face as she goes to do... something. For a moment, I just stand there. Arm exploding in its never ending torture, legs always struggling to stay upright, sight jumping around slightly, head pounding to the beat of my own weary heart.

"Hey Jesse, are you seeing this?" I turn to Olivia's voice, and stumbling towards her with a vague image of what I'm looking at.

Yeah, not really. "I'm seeing it, but I don't know what I'm looking at."

"It's an enderman suit, which- I got it!" I gasp lightly as her shout burns in my head, really trying though to appear normal when I stand next to her. "In order to hide among the endermen, you have to become an enderman! This is the disguise he was talking about."

A part of my heart fell off, plunging straight into my stomach. Even in my state, I can tell there's a missing suit. Which means Soren is out there. With endermen. Not in some observatory that he totally could have built above them, but actually with them.

Olivia fidgets, nervously scratching the back of her head and then staring back out at the endermen. She's scared of endermen, I know this. So I can't just ask her to put on that suit and look for Soren just because I'm a bit under the weather.

I send a smile at her, before dragging myself up the stairs and putting on the suit. It's a bit hard with only one hand, and getting my left arm into the sleeve is like pushing millions of tiny daggers into my arm, but I get it on.

It even fits, including the helmet. Okay, it's actually a bit baggy, but oh well. I just need to find Soren and then we're all good. I can sleep and momentarily not have to feel the agony twisting around in my arm.

"How is your nose surviving in that thing?" Relief shines in Olivia's voice despite her words, and I nod to myself. It's okay that this sucks, it's for her. She can't handle this, I'm not as afraid as she is.

"Just breathing through my mouth." I cough a bit as I turn to her, my lungs just can't give me a break. Perhaps I should talk a little less, talking seems to be irritating my lungs.

Olivia immediately lowers her head, scurrying past me. "Ugh, it's so weird. It's just- I mean, I know it's you in there, but I still don't want to look at you."

She walks off, and I simply just stand there. Thinking about nothing for moment, continuing to try and ignore my legs wobbling beneath me, forcing my attention away from the torturous purple parasites digging in my arm. Just existing... existing in a pitiful existence for just a moment.

Then that moment ends, and I drag myself over to a chest while thinking of the ways of how I can get to Soren quickly to make Olivia feel better. I can see fear gnawing at her, stress pouring through her eyes. There's got to be something I can do to make her feel better. Even if I have the enderman suit on, she's still so afraid.

Kneeling down, a breath of relief travelling through my legs, I push the chest open with my right hand. Only one thing catches my eye, a blueprint of some kind, and I pull it out. Letting the chest close while staying kneeling.

"Got something!" The words are fuzzed out completely, so I guess I've lost the ability to read now, good to know. But there's a grid of nine with blocks in six, at least I can make that out.

Olivia stands above me, trying to peer at the blueprint in my hands. "Whatcha got?"

"Crafting recipe." I squint at it, my fogged brain unable to recognize what it makes from... clay blocks? "Pretty simple though, wonder why Soren would need such a thing."

"Because it's not for Soren!" I lift my head up to raise an eyebrow at my friend. "It's for the enderman! This must be what he's trying to teach them to build."

I simply blink at her, trying to comprehend the insanity of Soren's experiment, but just give up on it. My head hurts way too much and I'm way too tired to give thought to this. We just have to get Soren, that's it. That's where my attention goes.

"That's...." I shake my head, coughing and getting my head straight. "Okay, we need six clay blocks. Surely we can get Soren's attention by..."

Olivia huffs, her quivering smile fuzzy in my eyes. "By totally falsifying his experiment right?"

"I mean- Well... yeah. Basically." I sigh, only for a single cough to burst out. "Let's get a lookin' shall we?"

"Hey wait, Jesse... I've been meaning to ask you something." I steel myself as I gesture for her to continue, the same worry filled tone in Lukas's voice not long ago now in hers. "Are you... alright? You're always acting, y'know, different."

"I think I may have caught a bug or something in the Nether. But that's nothing to worry about." I force my lips upward, this disease hasn't infected that ability yet. "Come on, we're almost to Soren now."

Olivia nods, stress emitting from her like a bad odor while she goes to look for clay. I raise my good arm to my mouth to try smother a cough before I go to look for clay too. Thankfully it's clay and not something harder to break, I'm way too tired to break anything tough.

It takes me awhile to trudge over to a clay block, force my weary right arm to break it, and then look for another one. Trying not to think about the parasites slowly leeching more and more energy off of me. Leeching and leeching until they just about kill me.

Sighing, and cough as quietly as I can, I scoop up a second block of clay while Rueben nudges against my legs. Whining softly and whimpering up at me.

Sighing again, I kneel down and pet him. My legs grateful for the small amount of rest even if my left arm still screeches and screams its misery, I just have to keep going. For all my friends, I'm not going to let any of them down. Even if a couple of them are worried for me.

"Hey Jesse, I-" I blink, slowly raising my head to Olivia. "Ah! Don't, ugh, that is seriously extremely creepy Jesse. Very disturbing."

"What?"

She huffs, turning her head as she gestures wildly. "The enderman suit. I just really don't want to look at you."

I mumble out a sorry and give one last pet to Reuben before standing up. My legs groaning and wobbling trying to get me up. But it's fine. Once we get Soren, he can take over and I don't have to worry about a thing anymore.

"Ahem, so I only found three clay blocks, and since I don't see anymore in here, I'm assuming you have the other three?" Olivia hands me the three blocks... and we have a problem.

"No, I have two." In an instant I realize how hopeless that sounded, happier words rushing out of my mouth. "But surely Soren will notice if I put down most of the clay down. How can he not?"

Olivia nods, and we both look at the doors. Well, time to go walk around a bunch of endermen that could kill me if this disguise doesn't work while suffering from purple parasites. Yay...

Olivia gulps really loud, her voice quivering as I step closer to the doors. "Try not to die, okay? I would really hate-"

An enderman screeches in the background, both of us flinching. The tight tension of fear trembling in the air, and my lungs are already heaving oxygen in and out of me.

"Don't worry, if I get their attention and not Soren's, I'll be really really fast about coming back in here."

Only a nervous chuckle comes out of Olivia, and with a huge breath, I creep out of the doors. Terror finally making its way into me, sapping more and more of my energy. Energy that I cannot spare to lose.

And then I hear the whine below me, and I quickly peek down to see Reuben trembling next to me. And while I appreciate him trying to come with me, there's not exactly any pig enderman suits.

"Reuben, you gotta go back. I'll be fine, but I don't want you out here."

He whines, but when an enderman's head snaps towards us, he quickly scampers out. All my muscles tighten as the lanky creature steps up to me, wishing to bolt out of there like Reuben. But the enderman's already making that static noise thing, I can't do anything to piss him off more.

The enderman bends down to me. Terror blasting through me as I stare back. Heart thumping frantically as the exhausted muscles shiver under the purple gaze of the enderman. Please go away Mr. Enderman... oh pretty please go away.

The static fades away, and a few lifelong seconds later, the enderman just goes away. Relief heaves from my entire being, and very slowly I convince my fear stricken body to inch forward. The suit works, it's okay to walk towards the super strong monsters that can teleport and kill you instantly if I anger them. Totally okay.

Gulping, and not allowing myself to cough, I creep forward. Eyes peeled to find anything that looks more human than enderman or some place to build the clay blocks. Terror sharpening my eyes back up again, enough to where I can see the pink blob of the last clay block in an enderman's hands.

Great. Just great.

My lungs heave with deep breaths as I make my way over to the monster, the urge to cough growing and growing. But no way can I cough now, not on my life. I need to snatch that block, get Soren's attention, and then relax as he saves the world. That's it, very simple plan.

I make eye contract with it, heart nearly exploding, and inch closer to it when I don't even hear the static. Very slowly, I lift my right arm up as I get closer and closer, the screaming urge to run away pounding viciously within my heart.

Gently, oh so gently, I get so close to the monster just so I can wrap my right arm around the block. I nearly jump back three blocks when it screeches at me, my heart almost about to abandon ship.

With my arm trembling, I peel if off the enderman as carefully as I possibly can. Taking my time since I can't anger it. It hasn't made anymore screeches yet and the clay's almost mine know.

I step back, the block firmly in my grasp and out of its. For a moment, nothing happens and I allow myself to think everything's alright. Then static fills my ears, the enderman frantically looking at his arms for his missing block.

Jumping back, I just notice the red blur out of the corner of my eye. All the terrified energy shaking inside me narrows in on it, and I scamper desperately to it as more and more endermen begin to shriek around me.

The clay is already in my hands when I make it to the crafting grid thing. The irritated endermen really helping my memory telling me where to place the blocks. In a rush I place them in a 'L' shape, and quickly place the last one in the corner.

I snap my head up, ready to sprint back inside, only for the endermen to surround me. Teleporting and screeching as they block my exit. This is bad, I can't possibly outrun them or fight them. This is so extremely-

"I am sorry about this," I jump to the side, eyes widening as I see the other enderman suit with a fist raised at me. "But it has to look real."

My one good arm snaps to protect my-

...

...

...

Everything hurts, I don't need to open my eyes for that. My arm hurts enough to where I could be convinced that it is rotting off my body, a dull pulse thuds throughout my body, and my skull no longer holds a brain. Just a mush ball of pain and confusion.

Someone's talking... I think. I can't tell, everything is all swirling together. I can't tell what's normal or right when I feel like just a blob. If it weren't for the pure agony in my arm, I wouldn't even be sure if I was dreaming or not.

Until a wet and slobbery tongue peels my eyes open, the pink blur of Reuben filling up all of my sight. Shoot, I can't even make out his face when he's so close. I'm basically blind right now. That better go away, I can't do anything if I can't even see.

Words continue to try and make sense in my head, my ears straining to figure out what's being said. It takes a lot of effort though, effort and attention that my entire body is craving.

"-in mind."

That's not helpful, I lift my head. Muscles whimpering as I force them to life to turn and look at the voice. I know it's not any of my friends, but then-

"Soren?"

Was that my voice? That dry and raspy croak, was that me? Goodness I hope not, I sound absolutely terrible. Oh and now I really want to cough.

"That's who I am." I drag my body towards him, groaning quietly when I force myself to sit up. "Yet, must I be? I'm not sure if I want to sometimes. Sometimes I'd prefer to be anything but Soren. Like a donkey for example!"

A cough bursts out, my eyes rapidly blinking to try to find where he is exactly. "Great, but the world needs Soren."

"The world doesn't need me, not anymore." Is that anger? I'm too tired to tell or care about subtlety. "By the way, as far as introductions are concerned, this is not going very well."

Hitting me in the face does that, I can't even see you right now. Much less get up.

"Soren, please, if you don't help us. The world gets eaten. Period. We need you or else everyone and everything will be destroyed."

"That's an interesting tall tale you've come up with. Your plea is in vain, I've gone out of my way to avoid these situations. Whatever your issue is, leave me out of it."

A spark of anger coughs to life in my weary body, my body still desperately trying to recover. "My issue? Remember your old pal Ivor? Well he went berserk and unleashed a monster that's killing everything. This tall tale of mine? It has already killed Gabriel. I can't do anything to stop it, but you can."

For a moment, thick silence hangs in the air. Vaguely, I realize my words were pretty harsh. But I'm still really worried about my arm that threatens to explode. Or my body that's exhausted by just me sitting up. Or that my sight is improving, but not every quickly. Or that if Soren doesn't get his act together than my friends are goners.

"How?"

"Formidi-bomb."

A snort, not from Reuben, drifts into my head. "Ah see, you misspoke. You need my stuff, not me."

"I need you to be a hero!" My voice croaks, and I try to cough some life into it. "You're friends, Magnus and Ellegaard, they need-"

"The others?" I internally groan, why can't Soren just see the need for him to help? The entire world is at stake here. "They asked for me?"

"Oh yes, totally." Words rush out of my mouth, my voice sounding slightly better now as I pull out the amulet. "They said only you could stop the Wither Storm."

Cautiously, Soren comes over. Gently taking the amulet from me. "They said that? Specifically?"

"Definitely."

"Ha! That's the best thing I heard in years!" He mumbles something after that, which I definitely can't hear, but at least I can make his fuzzy shape pocketing the amulet. "Don't worry, I'm going to help. Because I'm not going to leave my friends behind, that's not what friends do."

Relief flutters through me, almost enough to completely block out my arm of raging agony. We have Soren, there's not much left anymore. This is great. I can finally rest.

"Before we leave though, I'm going to give my old friends a gift. The gift of song!"

Nice music flies from the jukebox, but when Soren starts singing, I promptly ignore him. Letting my eyes and ears rest for a moment longer. Coughing and trying to clear out all my airways, letting muscles that don't need to be tense relax.

Although the endermen occasionally screech, I continue to just relax. It feels really quite nice actually. Now that we have Soren, all the stress leeching energy off me like the purple parasites is gone. Despite my arm not feeling better at all, I only feel like I've stayed awake two days straight compared to boiling pain and stress overwhelming me all the time.

The door bursts open, jolting my senses back up to reality. All music staggering to a stop as I turn to look, but can't past this bar thing I'm behind.

"Oh man, Soren?" Petra, Petra has entered the room.

"Hang on," There's Lukas. "Where's Jesse?"

Mutely groaning, I force myself to stand. "I'm here."

"I can't believe it..." Olivia goes on, but I ignore her as my balance sways slightly now that I'm on my feet again. Despite getting punched, I still don't feel completely awful. Maybe a forced nap was just what I need to get some life back into me.

"Oh dude..." I blink I turn to Axel, my eyes able to give me a hazy picture of him. "You... you don't look so good."

"I got punched, no biggie, I'm fine." I shrug and rub my face, I covered it up fine when I was with Axel. How come he has noticed now? Surely it couldn't have gotten that worse during the short time we were separated? Not when I actually feel somewhat decent compared to what I was a moment ago.

He frowns, but wide eyes overtake his face before he shields his eyes. The others gasping and mimicking his fear. I blink, trying to figure out-

Only to snap my eyes away at the disorientated enderman that just found its way inside.