I reached the end of the ladders and opened the latch that lead up to freedom. My shoulders hurt, and my back and stomach felt sore. But I could endure it. I opened it and pulled myself up. I breathed in the air. Even though it smelled like smoke, it was good to actually be alive. I pulled Mia then Grayson up, and they both thanked me. We all looked around and saw we were on the gravel path that was close to the city.

"I'm leaving. I don't ever want to go through that again." Mia stated quickly, picking up her things and turned around.
"Wait." I said. They both turned to look at me. I pointed back to the city.
"Shouldn't we go back to get the map? You guys don't have to come with me, but..." I replied, hoping they would. I had a feeling they weren't. And I was right.
"Drake, the map changes if we get close to the area. Calm down." Grayson reassured.
"If it doesn't? I feel like it's my fault that the creature got away with one of the maps." I protested.
I was not going to back down from this. I was going to go in there alone if I had too.

"It's not your fault that the map got lost. It's mine. I let one of them go through my things and take it." Grayson disagreed.
"Can't we just check..?"
"Maybe we really should Grayson. What if it the map doesn't change as far as where it leads too?" Mia agreed as she started to walk inside again, avoiding the pathway or any of the designs that were on the floor. Grayson sighed and walked in after her.
I trailed behind.
-----
"We've been here for hours and we still haven't found it guys!" Grayson called as he whined.
"Grayson...its..been about 20 minutes..." Mia corrected, calling back. I snickered.
"I know, I know, but I just want to get out of here as soon as possible. I do want to find the map just in case, but still..." Grayson called, trailing off.
"Why do you want to leave then?" I asked. As I entered a office of some sorts and opened the drawers of the desks and opened the cabinets that were behind.
"Because I feel like we're being watched." He called back.
"Must be the nightmares." I reassured him.
"I don't know...I've been feeling it too...,"Mia said in agreement.
"We shouldn't be leaving so soon though." She added.

I got a small headache. One the headaches I got when Armen was still alive... I ignored it and moved onto a destroyed blacksmith. I was able to ignore it for awhile, but soon I felt a sudden pang of pain in my head. I drop to the floor, and clutched my head. I stayed as quiet as possible, making sure no one heard me. It eventually ended after a couple of minutes, and I stood back up slowly. I staggered onto the next room and soon regained my posture. There was nothing useful around so I walked across one of the bridges cautiously that lead to the next part of town.
-----
We kept looking for a couple of more hours and only found a few maps that led to cities and different areas but none that looked close to the maps of that lead to where Grayson's Dragon Egg is. We took them with us just incase and set up camp nearby the city, but still a bit far away from it. We took out other supplies and split it in three ways so we would each have so one of us wouldn't run out quickly. We were actually doing good on supplies now. Just a bit more food and we would be perfect.

"So...we weren't able to find the map?" Grayson asked. Looking at the two maps that were in his hands. I sighed.
"Unfortunately not." I replied.
"We've looked around the whole city all day. All of us don't have the strength to look around for it all day." Mia added, pointing to her shoulder that was in new bandages. The same for Grayson and I.
"Should we just move on?" Mia asked. I felt like we were being watched again, but I dismissed it as nightmares. They weren't attacking us, so we didn't have to deal with them yet.
"I guess." I mumbled. Grayson nodded.
"I'm going to sleep. I'll see you guys in the morning." I said, plopping down from a sitting position and pulled the covers over me and fell into a deep sleep.

-----
I heard a bone chilling laugh that I had grown to hate in a matter of seconds.
"You should have been more careful..." I then hear the laugh again.
I fell asleep again before I could do or say anything in my defense.
...............................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................
My eyes opened slowly and everything on the corners of my eyesight was tinted with red. I moved my head and looked around when I did not want to do so. I wanted to go back to sleep. I was tired. I felt myself get up my sleeping bag gradually. When I did not want to do so.

I couldn't speak.

I couldn't move of my own will.

I took my Diamond Sword out of its sheath and stood up again. I felt myself look around and my line of vision lands on a peacefully sleeping Grayson and Mia. Grayson had its sword out of its sheath and as was Mia's. My sword was close to me. I felt myself smirk when I did not want to do so. I stumbled over to Grayson and my head was swaying from side to side. I raised my sword.
"NO! STOP!" I yelled in my head.
"Drake?! What are you doing?!" Mia's voice.
I stopped and turned around slowly. She gasped. I trudged to her and my smirk grew larger. She got up quickly and got her bow and cutlass.

"Drake! Snap out of it!" She yelled. I continued walking.
"I'm...trying....I really am Mia...." I said weakly.
"DRAKE! DON'T LET HIM!" She yelled louder. I was trying with all of my willpower. But nothing worked.
"Why are you doing this?!" I called.
"Sorry Drake." I heard from behind me. I heard a bowstring pull back and it hit me on upper back. I yelled in pain. I felt something grab my shoulder and pull me back.

"DRAKE! I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE! YOU'VE FOUGHT HIM BEFORE! JUST DO IT AGAIN!" Grayson yelled. My sword clanged loudly to the ground and I held my head tightly.
I heard footsteps coming towards me. I opened my eyes a bit and saw that they were Mia's.
"Drake..?" She trailed off. I could move of my own will again. I smiled a very small smile that I could move according to my will but it quickly faded.
"I could've killed one of you!" I yelled.
"But you didn't." I heard Grayson say.
"But what if you didn't wake up?! What if Mia didn't wake up? I could've killed both of you in your sleep!" I argued.
"Drake. Calm down. It wasn't you. It was Him." Mia said back calmly.
"That's the thing that scares me." They remained silent.

I felt my legs give away and they bucked underneath me. I dropped to the hard ground and passed out.