( Luke's P.O.V )
"Ehhh. NOW LETS GO!" Mia exclaimed, and we all took off running, as it followed just behind us.
"Can't one of you stop it?! You know, Drake how you stopped those things we saw back in Whitewater?!" Grayson suggested.
"Oh I'm sorry, but, did. It. Not. Occur. To. You. That. I. Have. No. Mana!?" He exclaimed.
"And besides, I don't think those things are made out of black magic!" He continued.
Mia turned to Armen.
"Then can't you do it?" She asked him in a hurry. He nodded.
"Not much, but I'll be able to hold it off for a while." Armen replied and turned towards the creature.
"Höja!" He chanted, and an orange barrier appeared. The second it flew into it, it got thrown back and hit the wall, some bones getting detached.
'So that's the capability of magic...' I thought as we all slowed down our running.
-----
We had run into a couple more, about two or three, and they all looked different. The second one we ran into had a bit more a build, and flew much faster. It was able to get Grayson with one of its needles in his ankle, leaving him a bit more vulnerable. Those needles must have been burning hot. I cringed at that thought.

Another one didn't bother to float, and instead, it ran. It's eye color was a violet, much like Drake's enderman one, except a bit lighter. As we walked along Mia brought up a subject.
"When we were at the Empire..." She began. Everyone turned to face her, but we all kept walking. Armen continued to look and fly forward, but listened.
"When we were at the Empire, that other Mage Drake fought, he...he told the Emperor about your blood Drake." She finished, now turning to Drake.
"What did he say?" He inquired curiously.
"He...he said that your blood was almost, advanced. I'm not sure what he meant by that." She responded. Drake paused, but then asked,
"Did he say anything else?"

"He also said that you had a mix between an enderman's...blood and a human's. He added that your body was adapting well to it. He also found out that you heal faster than others." She explained. Drake paused, seeming to take the information in.
"I never really knew that. Well, I found out that I could heal faster, but I never knew that part. What did he mean when he said my blood was advanced?"
Mia shrugged.
"Not sure. I think he perhaps meant that you had mix of two bloods." I turned to Armen.
"Did you know anything?" I inquired. He shook his head.
"Nope. Just found out now." He answered.

-----
( Grayson's P.O.V )
We were there for a couple of more hours, about two or so, and now had bumped into multiple of the skeleton like creatures. I could still walk, but it was limited to limp, since  the needle had burned my skin, making it much more harder. We found a couple of more rooms and escaped a couple of more traps, as we also got some rare gems and another broken helmet that we let Mia keep. Soon we reached some strange type of room that gave off a bad vibe. And seemed a bit more different then the others.
"I don't like this room..." Drake trailed off.
"Me neither..." Armen agreed. "But this is where I felt like we would find something important. Can we just stay here for a while and look around?" He added. Drake paused and looked in thought for a moment.
"Alright."

Then we all started to look around the room. I limped into a room carefully, looking at the ground for traps. Before I stepped into the room. I managed to jump over the tripwire, cautious I didn't trigger it. Inside there was a reinforced chest lined with gold, as the chest itself was iron. I grabbed my sword and stayed a safe distance away from it. I leaned over and opened it slowly. My eyes widen at what I saw floating inside. I heard the sound of tnt. I ran and grabbed the treasure that was inside, ignoring the burning pain from my wounds and my burn. The second I did, the tnt took effect and blew up, tossing me across the room making me hit the wall.

"Grayson?!" I heard everyone jinx. I payed no mind to their call and looked down at my hands, revealing its bright and mysterious glow.
One of the Sacred Diamonds.
I smiled gently.
"Grayson, what happen-" Armen stopped mid sentence. Drake eyes lit up and he kneeled beside me.
"You found one!" He exclaimed grinning.
"But what's it doing here?" Mia asked. Luke looked very confused.
"Not sure." Armen answered.
"What's so important about it?" Luke asked.
"It's one of the Sacred Diam..." Mia stopped and covered her mouth quickly. Luke raised an eyebrow.
"You can't say the name of it...or...things happen..." Armen trailed off.
"But...who's going to take it...?" Drake asked. We all looked at eachother in silence.
"It can't be me, as sad as it is to say..." Drake trailed off.
"Luke can't keep it either..." I trailed off. He looked at me in confusion, but then got the idea that he got attacked.
"Well, why not?" Drake asked.
'He must not have remembered what happened...' I thought.
"I'm not trusting him with this." I half-lied.
"And I'm not risking Mia get hurt." I informed. Mia's face turned a light pink.
"It's either you or Armen that would be the safest having it." Mia added. We stayed in silence for a couple of minutes.

"He might suspect that I have it. How about you take it Grayson?" Armen insisted.
"W-What? I can't..." I tailed off, looking down at the diamond.
"Just keep it safe." Drake stated. I was still uncertain if I should be the one to keep it, but if they wanted too...
I nodded.
"Alright."
"Are you hurt? Well I mean, all of us are, but...you know..." Mia trailed off. I stood up carefully with the support of Mia and Drake, aswell as the wall.
"I can still walk."
-----
We continued onward and ran into a couple more of the creatures. After about one hour more in the temple, we reached a dead end, but the dead had a lever aswell. Luke and Armen looked at eachother. Mia brought her cutlass out. We all stepped back and she managed to pull the lever with her cutlass, and it opened up to a staircase. Luke and Drake went up ahead first, and with the help of Mia I was able to climb them. Armen followed right behind. At last, we had reached the surface.

"Well then...pulling that lever payed off huh?" Armen began.
"Next time...just do what she says..." Drake stated pointing to Mia while looking at Armen.
It was a bit past midday, but it felt like we were in there forever.
"Should we move on?" Luke said, bringing up a new subject. I took out the maps of Draco Hatchery.
"There's a river that leads to the ocean where the maps ends. If we travel by water, it'll save us a lot of time. And time to cure Drake." Luke looked confused again.
"Well, where would we get a boat?"
"We could always build small ones." Mia suggested.
"What about traveling in an airship?" Drake chimed in.

"No, it'll be more of a risk to do that. If we try to steal another one, the Empire camps should be a lot more heavily guarded. And with all of the conditions we're in." I protested.
"What if I were to steal an airship?" Armen blurted. Everyone turned to look at him.
"Would you be able to do it single handedly?" Drake asked.
"Where would we even find a camp?" Mia brought up.
"For all we know, the Empire could be on our tail. They could be close by. Finding one shouldn't be too difficult." Luke informed.

"That's not really such a bad idea...is it worth a shot?" Mia inquired.
"One of you could always go with Armen. Dress up as a mercenary. I decided to bring extra clothes I found in the storage." Mia admitted.
"I wouldn't be able to go because I'm a female. They'll notice my voice. I've always been told it's very recognizable." She added.
"And it's much of a risk for Drake to go. His enderman side."
"I'm already going, Mia can't, and neither can Drake." Armen reasoned.

"So how about I do it?" Luke announced. We all stayed silent.
"Me and Luke can go. While you, Mia and Drake sneak on." Armen said addressing me.
"We could do that." I mumbled, as I tried to think of a plan to get on. I quickly thought of one.
"Armen. You and Luke will both be distractions. Armen, you try to mess around with them for as long as possible. Luke, you stall them by putting on the clothes Mia gives you and say you have information to trade about me. Come up with something fake. I'm trusting you. When Armen starts messing around, you act as if you're confused aswell. Me, Drake, and Mia will sneak around the camp. Drake you think you can fire-jet me and Mia up the airship?"
"I think I will be able too." He responded. I continued.
"Alright. Drake will fire-jet me and Mia up to airship, and Luke, find a way on. Since you're an assassin, you'll be able to easily slip away from them. If you can't, Armen, make sure he gets on. We may have to deal with them. Armen, I know I'm asking a lot out of you, but if you can, can you try to take some arrows from their main supply?" I asked.
"I'll definitely try."
"Alright."
"Let's go find a camp then." Mia began, as she turned to face the opposite direction and walk. We followed behind her.
Time to go steal us an airship.