OH god guys! We're so close to 2K, thank you so much already, I'm so glad you guys like the story! Imma keep going!

Already working on Chapter 10! I'm on a roll lately! :D

Also for Falling to Rise, I'm getting there, I'm not lying when I say I have a lot to plan ): It's a crap ton, tho maybe I can post some drawings as sneak peaks to get you guys pumped for it!

LOST

Chapter 9

"Thank you again for helping us gather some supplies," it was early in the morning, the guard that helped us out last night helped us again. Ian had regained his composure it looks like and was acting like yesterday never happened.

"No problem, the least we can do to pay you all back for helping us out a couple years ago," The guard grinned and patted one of our horses as he finished loading it up, "I hope you all have a safe trip."

He waved to us and I waved back. The guard left and I said to the guys, "We should get moving we want to atleast make it to the river, we can follow that all the way to our destination." They nodded and Adam lead the way, carrying with him a small map the guard gave us.

Me and Jason lead the two horse out, and we followed the rest of the group.

"So, what's it like? In Dryhx Woods?" Jason asked me randomly.

"Oh, well, it's nice. It's a peaceful place, and not a lot of people live there so it's quiet."

"How'd you and Seto meet, you and Seto never actually said. You guys said that you two have been friends for a long time, kind of like me and Adam."

"Ha ha, well that's a funny story, kind of."

"We have a while."

"Ok, it was when I was little. I wasn't exactly an outgoing person, I stayed inside most of the time, but by some chance and by some luck, one day when I wandered outside. Just one of the rare days that I did go outside, something came crashing through the sky."

I stopped and started to snicker, Jason looked at me quizzically but I waved him off and continued, "Nothing, anyways Seto fell through the trees in the woods and inconveniently landed on me. It scared me back then and after he'd gotten off of me I was really mad at him."

"But Seto sat through all my yelling and when I finished, you know what he said to me?"

Jason shook his head, "He said, Hi! My name's Seto."

"What?" Jason looked at me and I held up a hand for him to let me continue.

"Ha! It was like he hadn't heard a word I said before, in fact after that I didn't speak, Seto just kept talking to me as I stood there thinking why didn't he say anything about it. I wasn't paying attention to his conversation but it made me laugh. I interrupted Seto's rambling to laugh, the shy quiet boy that almost never wandered outside and had no friends laughing."

"It was the first time in forever I had a really good laugh, at the time I don't think he understood why, but if you can't tell we became friends quick, and every day me and him would meet up in the woods."

Jason was grinned, "Was he learning to be a sorcerer at the time?"

"Yea! I forgot that you guys don't know, but at the time I learned Seto hated to study!"

"Hated to study? No way, that bookworm didn't like burying his nose in a book?"

I nodded, "It was his parents that wanted him to learn sorcery because it ran in the family, but Seto didn't want to learn, only play around and prank people. I don't know what changed, but it was after we met he began to take magic a little bit more seriously. Everyday we met he'd show me something new, I guess you could say he took learning seriously because of me?"

The last part was more of a question, but if I think about it. Maybe Seto developed more of an interest because I was interested.

"Its strange..."

"Hmm?" I looked up and glanced at Jason.

"To think that you knew a completely different Seto than most of us here know. Some us barely got to know him, like Ian. Ian was only here for like a year when Seto disappeared but me and Adam knew him for almost 3. While you knew him even longer than that. But all of our versions of Seto completely vary from each others. Why do you think that is?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. Perspective? Different opinions, different memories? The fact we're all different people."

From the corner of my eye I saw Jason just nod and we melted into a quiet peace. The rest of the guys had wandered several blocks ahead, lost in their own world of mischief and laughter.

"Hey!" Mitch shouted, both me and Jason I think perked up, "We're going to stop for quick lunch, hurry up with all the food."

Me and Jason laughed and lead the horses faster to the rest of the people already lounging about on the ground.

~~~~~

"Oh dood Ian makes the best food!" Jerome sighed as he patted his full belly and laid back. We laughed as Jerome let out a long burp, the only ones not with us were Ian and Seto.

Seto was resting peacefully against a near-by tree with Ian standing over him. Their argument went unheard but not unnoticed. I watched as Seto stood up, his fist clenched and a purple aura emitting from them.

From here it was clear he was glaring daggers at Ian.

"Sh-should we stop them?" Adam spoke up, I didn't realize we were all watching them.

"Maybe we shouldn't interfere yet." Quentin whispered, we agreed and watched as Seto was getting angrier and angrier as Ian continuously was yelling at him.

Now we could hear, "Damm*t Seto! Why won't you eat! You keep saying you're not hungry but I haven't seen you eat since you came back!"

"Ian leave me alone! I'm not hungry and if you really want to know I can go more indepth with you about sorcerer anatomy, but I wouldn't want to bore you." Seto hissed his words between his teeth.

"Sorcerer anatomy or not, not eating isn't normal, if I have to force feed you like a baby I will!"

Seto raised his fist and it lit up brighter, the silence around us grew as everyone held their breath. Ian never flinched not even when a glowing fist was held right in his face.

"What? Is this supposed to intimidate me? I've seen scarier things than a glowing hand," Ian spat his words and spun around, leaving Seto to grumble alone. Ian walked over to us, and it was apparent even with his relatively calm expression that his eyes would turn any happy soul to stone if he didn't have his glasses on to hide them, "What!"

Our eyes immediately looked away, "Nothing," Adam said as he held his arms up in surrender, "Just you know... uh, admiring the scenery..."

Ian glared at Adam under his sunglasses, but even with the sweat trickling down his face Adam didn't falter in his stare. None of us have ever seen Ian get mad, at least not like this. Ian was always the cool-headed one, the calm, collected, think things through kind of guy. It's not like he doesn't get irritated with people, but he's never acted this harshly towards Seto.

I thought back to what me and Jason were talking about not to long ago, about how we all perceive each other differently. Is it really because Ian only knew Seto for a year, even less than that because he rarely came out of his room, or is something else bugging him. Maybe it's not Seto, but the stress.

"Hurry up and let's go, we have a lot of ground to cover before night fall." Ian hissed and stomped towards the horses. Leading them both he gave Mitch and Jerome the leads as the rest of us cleaned up our temporary setup.

I sighed, this was going to be a long trip....

~~~~

Every 5 days the mobs spawn like crazy, like the first day it happened. We've been following the river for almost two weeks, but our journey is taking longer than it should. Because every 5 days we have to seek shelter, the mobs come out like an army, to much for the eight of us to handle alone.

"I think we should stop here for the night, the mobs will start spawning soon. If we don't make camp we'll be swallowed up by them." Seto pointed towards the sun which was reaching the horizon line. We were no where close to our goal for the day, but he's right if we don't stop we wouldn't last.

Quentin's medical supplies were dwindling and there wouldn't be another town for ages, not with the swamp that is up ahead in probably another hundred blocks.

All the towns know the swamp is witch territory, a dangerous place to be in since witches are scary foul people. Loners of the swamp they are known to kidnap people stupid enough to wander in their territory.

"We need to keep moving just a little bit longer," Jason urged, "Since we need to go around the swamp to avoid witches."

"It's not safe though, look it is almost dark let's just set up camp. Ty you think we should wait right?" Seto looked at me pleadingly.

"I have to agree with Jason on this one, we keep being set back, we're never going to get home."

"Let's wing it!" Mitch shouted and pumped the air with his fist. High fiving Jerome they both ran forward....with the horses.

"Hold up you two! Wait! Stop!" Quentin ran after them, at a much slower rate, I guess fishes aren't good on land.

"It's ok Seto, come on, it won't hurt." Adam waved Seto forward and the rest of us less enthusiastic people trudged forward.

"Calm down you two, you may need that energy!" Ian called out after them.

"But it's been too boring, all we've done is walk and eat, can't we have a little fun?" Jerome whined, I laughed and Adam and Jason joined in. With a quick nod, Adam and Jason grinned and ran forward, laughing and shouting to each other. I swear we'd all be children if days were like they used to be, no world dooming situations, no missing friends, and no secrets.

"Tag!" I felt a wet sloppy object hit me in the face, I stopped walking and it slid to the ground at my feet. With a grim frown I saw it was a fish, Mitch and Jerome were snickering to each other.

"Hey! That's our food supply!" Ian shouted, no one paid attention, with a sly smile I picked up the fish and ran after the two snickering school girls.

The stopped speaking when they realized I was coming after them. My hand was raised carrying the fish, I shouldered off my bag and let it fall to the ground. Mitch and Jerome hurriedly split up, shouting to each other from a far.

"Wait hold up guys! Let us join!" Adam half shouted, half laughed, he dropped his bag to the ground along with his sword so it wouldn't bang against his leg. Jason took off his helmet and set it to the ground and Quentin dropped his satchel. They ran in high-fiving each other before splitting up like Mitch and Jerome did.

An elaborate strategy where they ran towards me then back, keeping me distracted from following one person. "Stop it!" Annoyed with their games I chased after Adam first. I ran, gaining on him, my lean figure was nimble. I threw the fish and it hit him in the back of the head, he stopped mid-step and turned towards me.

I giggled and ran off, "That's for being a jerk!" He grinned at me and picked up the fish.

Several minutes went by where we kept getting smacked with a fish, now it was beat up and grimy.

We wandered too close to Ian and Seto who were the only ones not play, because they're party poopers. I was being cornered by Jerome and Mitch who were working together even though Mitch was on the runners' side like me.

With a mighty toss the fish sailed towards my face, I reacted and ducked. A wet and slimy *shlop* was heard. Frozen in place I slowly turned to see Ian with a frown on his face. I jumped back and stood next to Mitch and Jerome who were also standing wide-eyed.

"Oh, Ian! Ha! Didn't see you there..." Mitch joked.

"Will you stop wasting food... I don't like that you're wasting food." I was going to apologize but Jerome interrupted me. Another fish hit Ian's face and fell to the ground. Both of them snickered, my mouth hung open in shock. They ran off not before Jerome threw a third fish.

"Everyone run!" Mitch mocked panic.

I hurriedly ran off, a quick glance behind me and Ian was charging forward, but he didn't look angry. He was grinning, "You guys are trolls!" He shouted after us.

More laughter, more games, Ian wasn't being his serious self at the moment. Running away from Mitch this time I tripped and fell forward. My face hit the ground and with and 'oof!' I cried out. I wasn't hurt, but before I could get up Jerome rushed over.

"Dog pile!" He yelled, he jumped up and landed on me, another 'oof' followed by more as everyone piled on. We haven't felt this carefree in a while, laughing smiling, joking around, why can't all days be just like this.

"Ha ha ha! Man when we get home after this I swear we're not going back to those mopey days, we forgot what it's like to have fun," Jason breathed from above me.

The orange fiery glow of the sun laid upon the grass and warmed the air with it's rays, Night was coming but no one moved except the two pair of shoes that walked up in front of me. I forced my neck to look up and saw Seto looking down on us, frowning only slightly.

"Come on Seto join us!" Adam whined.

Seto shook his head and said, "No, come on, the mobs will start spawning soon, we need to go now."

"And ruin the fun? This is good, it'll help that mopey mood of yours," Quentin suggested.

Seto shook his head and turned away, he gathered up the bags and weapons strewn around by the horse. I barely noticed from my obstructed vision the pale purple glow around Seto's hands. I didn't have time to question what he was doing, my thoughts were interrupted by the growls of some zombies and clanking of skeletons spawning near by.

We were quick to scramble off each other and stand up.

Hope you all enjoyed! A vote and follow is greatly appreciated!

And tell me in the comments what you think is going to happen, I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Stay tuned for chapter 10!

~WrittenDarkness