Herobrine's theme song above. It's pretty appropriate for this chapter.

I was standing at the top of the arena, watching the players fight below me. I watched as they fell one by one until only two were left standing. One held a diamond sword while the other had a diamond axe. Their faces and clothes were blurred, I couldn't make them out. They stood watching each other, and although there was no expression on their face, I knew they would be smiling in the other world. It was time to get the ball rolling. With a wave of my hand, I forced the other players to leave. It was now just me and the two players. I dropped down from the top of the arena, standing in front of them. They both stepped back several times, their movements jerky. I knew they wouldn't see it, but I held up my hands anyway.

"I'm not here to fight you," I started. "I need your help."

I stirred briefly in my sleep. My eyes flickered open a few times and I rolled over, sinking back into the deep depths of dreams.

I was fighting next to him again. Unlike the others, he didn't run away when I approached. We fought the squids back, destroying every last one. I didn't use my powers even though I really wanted to. As well as not wanting to attract %*@*(^'s attention, I didn't hate squids enough to do that to them. Sure, they were useless, but still. We killed the last of the squids, our blades free of the blood I was used to seeing. I guess that was one positive side of this player-connected world. It still confused me how there was a realm in between the true Minecraft and the other world. I was unhurt, like usual, while he was down a few hearts. I summoned a health potion and gave it to him. He took it and his health went back to normal. I had gained his trust, I just hoped it was enough.

"There's something I have to tell you," I said. "I need your help."

This time, I stirred more and almost woke up. I couldn't tell who I had been fighting with, and there was that name that I didn't quite catch. Before I could ponder it further, my mind slipped back into sleep.

I didn't know exactly what he did. I had been watching him for several days now, and he seemed to do nothing except for build. He had seen me of course, but he seemed content with my presence, as long as I didn't interrupt whatever he was doing. He was in creative, flying around and placing numerous blocks. He seemed to be making a house of some kind, just starting the roof. I watched the pattern he was creating and then flew over and started to copy it, finishing the roof for him. He watched me for a bit, then flew down to the ground and finished building something down there. I finished the roof and flew down to him. He looked at me and was still for a moment.

"Thanks," he said. His words were clunky and machine-like.

"No problem," I said back. "I need a favour. Minecraft is in danger and I need your help."

Again, I stirred, frowning. There was something connecting these dreams together, but I drifted asleep again before I could make the connection.

She was sorting stuff in her house, passing the night. I almost didn't find her, but the glow of her torch caught my eye. I had to hurry, he was on his way here. He knew what I was doing, or he at least suspected it. I hadn't let any of them fall into #*@)%^'s hands yet, and I wasn't going to let her go either. The sun rose as I landed near the house. She stepped outside the house and I walked behind her, probably not the best move on my part, but I had no choice, I had to move quickly. She turned, saw me and froze.

"I need your help," I said, speaking quickly. "Minecraft is in danger. I need you to come with me." I mentally cursed myself, why do I always say stupid things when I'm under a time limit? "I'll explain more when you get here. Get ready."

I woke up again, more fully than I had the other times. I growled, punched my pillow into a more comfortable shape and lay back down. Only half of the night had passed. Maybe I could still get some uninterrupted sleep.

I was standing in the training room, leaning against the wall and waiting. After a few minutes, they walked in, talking quietly among themselves. They saw me and I grinned.

"How do you get down here so fast?" one of them asked. "You left the kitchen less than half a minute before us!"

I shrugged and grinned again. I didn't see the need to tell them that I could teleport around my castle. "Grab a sword," I said instead, motioning towards the rack of swords. They each chose one and lined up, 5 in a row. "@&$(%, you wanna go first?" I asked.

One of them grinned and stepped forward until he was standing in front of the dummy.

"When you're ready," I said. I had already taught him all the moves, I was just checking that he had remembered them and that his technique wasn't horrible. He was good on both accounts and after about 20 minutes, he sliced the head off the dummy. I was surprised. The core of the dummies was metal, not easy to cut. But I disguised my surprise and clapped. "Well done #*%@*. @$^&!, you're next."

The girl stepped forward. I could tell she was nervous, although tell is too strong a word. More like I could sense it. "You'll be fine," I told her.

My dream faded to black, but I could hear snippets of conversation, drifting past me.

"You're just not accustomed to a sword yet. Everyone learns at different rates, you'll get used to it."

"But I won't. I can just tell. I might get slightly better but I won't be any good against #%@&."

"There will be something that you're good at #%&. None of us can succeed without the others."

~

"You're not supposed to be here."

"I... just... was exploring."

"Don't come here again."

~

""What did you see in me? Why am I here?"

"I chose you because I saw something different. I don't know why, but I feel that you are very important."

~

"You made pancakes for me? Awesome!"

~

"Right. Today we'll do training with a twist. I want you guys to figure out your gift and how you can use it."

~

"We need to face @^!#& and @*%! in one week."

~

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, since when could you speak in my mind?"

"When I first came here, Herobrine spoke in my mind. He taught me how to do it, but told me that I shouldn't do it to others cause it can freak them out."

"Fair enough."

"Don't talk now guys. Mind-speech isn't exactly private and $!^#% can hear what you say."

~

"Herobrine, can you use your powers against him?"

"Sending you guys all back to your world at once drained me of a lot of my power and I haven't had the chance to recover yet. @%(^& hasn't been the most gentle of hosts."

"Okay, so that's off the board. We can't fight him, not here and not now. We'll certainly die. We can't keep running either, because he'll find us before we can escape. So our best option is to tunnel, even if it's going to take forever."

"There... there is a fourth option."

This time, I woke up fully, a stabbing pain in the back of my head. I groaned and held my head, trying to lessen the pain. My stomach lurched in rhythm with the pounding and I clenched my mouth shut. I curled into a ball in a useless attempt to lessen the pain. My mind felt like it was reaching for something, trying to grasp at empty space that was supposed to be full. After an age, it faded to a dull throb, my stomach more or less settled and I could finally think.

The dreams I had were connected somehow, I knew that. I also knew that they were memories. But as hard as I tried, I couldn't remember the names, or faces, or clothes, or even voices. I had heard them speak, but now when I tried to remember, the sounds of their voices slipped away. All I remembered was that one was a girl, and the other four were boys.

Like that group Entity told me to stay away from.

Had he lied? Or was he just not telling me the whole truth? There were several things here that just didn't add up. Entity telling me one thing, my mind telling me another. All these little clues so small that I almost missed them: Entity automatically narrowing his eyes for a split second whenever he saw me, his poor explanations of our past together, these little things that he keeps going to say but stops himself, and more. I knew that there was only one way to get the truth, the whole truth.

I had to find out for myself.

And the only way to do that was to watch the group.