Fury's POV
We looked through all of those books for the rest of the day, with Atyi dropping down to give us some lunch and more books halfway through. Even with those extra books, and some more that Alex found, we found nothing on how the mobs became strong or how to reverse it. Well, they found nothing. I actually just looked at the pictures, which I kinda regretted doing since some of them were kinda terrifying and one of them that looked a lot like me, just older.

Atyi picked us up at night and we slept in the nearby hotel, which was very happy to get visitors at last. The rooms were very neat, although I didn't sleep much. I never slept well when I was around others, even around my..... friends, I think? I don't know, I haven't really had friends before. Ever. We woke up with the sun and had breakfast. The group went to go back down to the cave, but I refused to go through the door.

"There is no way I'm going down there again," I said firmly.

"Why, are you scared of caves?" Luke asked curiously.

"If we were meant to go underground, we would have been given the ability to see in the dark," I told him. "And no, I'm not scared, I just don't like the idea of being in a place where there's tons of rock above me that can bury me alive."

"You didn't do much reading yesterday anyway," Alex said in his soft, gentle way. "You... can read, right?"

I crossed my arms. "I grew up in a jungle alright?" I said shortly. "There wasn't much to read."

Alex looked like I had just slapped his face and Tim and Zip were almost as shocked. I just shrugged.

"I'll wander out here, see if I can find anything useful. Have fun reading." I whistled to Wolf to call him from where he was playing with butterflies and walked off, leaving them standing there. I didn't entirely get the big deal. Yeah, I couldn't read, but I had never needed to. I didn't need to know how to read to survive, so what was the point? I walked around the village for a little while before sitting down at the edge of the small field beside the library, watching Wolf as he played in the long grass.

"What are you doing?"

I jumped, one of my hands automatically going to my swords that I always wore but meeting a warm hand instead of cool metal.

"Sorry, probably shouldn't sneak up on you like that," Dax apologised.

I stood up, feeling my cheeks grow slightly warm. "It's fine."

Dax tilted her head slightly. "You have very fast reflexes," she said, "and you have somehow tamed a wild wolf. Where did you grow up?"

I shrugged, not wanting to tell this person I had met only two days ago about my history. She shrugged at my lack of response and looked out the village gate.

"You want to come monster hunting with me?" she asked.

"Just me and you?" I asked suspiciously.

"Yeah. There's not a lot of monsters during the day, I usually go out alone, just for some private time," Dax said.

"Alright then." I called Wolf to my side and we walked out of the village.

The woods were a lot like the ones at home, but the trees were shorter and the leaves were a lighter shade of green than my trees. They cast ripples of shadows on the ground that made you constantly change your focus from light to dark.

"So this is what you do every day, huh?" I asked. "Hunt mobs alone in the forest and save random people in the middle of the night?"

"I used to have lessons," Dax corrected, "but not since I turned 22. Now, I just help around the village and try to avoid my dad."

"Why?" I was curious. I never had any parents, except for Swift, although he acted more like a brother than a father. Dax gave me a glare, silently telling me to leave it. I shifted uncomfortable and averted my gaze, looking around for monsters.

"Spider," I said briefly, drawing my sword and cutting off the head of the spider as it jumped up to attack us.

"Either cut off their heads or go for the brain," Dax said, loading an arrow onto her bow.

We forged into the woods, attacking any monster that we saw. Dax was amazing with her bow, taking out every monster with one arrow that always sprouted right between the eyes. Wolf also took down several monsters, mainly the zombies. He hid from the explosive creepers though, which I thought was a good idea. I hated creepers, but there was one monster I hated more.

"I think that's enough," Dax said after about an hour or so of hunting. "The rest will get the message and retreat for a day or two until they come back."

"They never learn, do they?" I said.

"Nope. But then again, would it be fun if they did?"

I shrugged. "It would be peaceful for once."

"Until we start making war amongst ourselves," Dax pointed out.

Wolf gave a low growl. I glanced at him, wondering if he saw another creeper. He was standing very still, nothing but his ears twitching. He gave another growl, this one with a slight worried undertone in it. I listened too, trying to hear what Wolf's sensitive ears had heard.

"What is it?" Dax asked.

I shushed her, trying to listen. I ignored the usual forest sounds of birds chirping and branches swaying, and instead focused on what was out of the ordinary. A sudden bird's call of warning, the scratching sound of an animal which had just been startled. And another sound, very faint.

"Wolf, follow," I whispered.

Wolf took off, staying low to the ground. I stalked after him, putting one of my swords away and keeping the other one close to my body. A slithering sound followed me as Dax crept along behind, an arrow loaded to her bow. The faint sound became louder and louder, and with every step I became more certain what it was, and a feeling of dread seeped through me. Wolf stopped underneath some bushes, his growl barely audible. I crouched next to him, peering through the bushes.

There was a large clearing in front of us, but it wasn't empty. A large purple portal crouched at the side, and between us and it were lines and lines of monsters that came out of a nightmare. Skeletons as black as coal, zombies that were part pig, columns of smoke that had yellow rods flying around them, cubes of solid magma, all lined up in neat lines, making no sound other than the shuffling of the monsters that kept pouring out of the portal.

Dax put her mount close to my ear. "I've read about these," she breathed. "They're from-"

"The Nether," I finished, my voice just as quiet as hers. "They guard the gates of his castle."

Dax looked shocked that I knew it, but I wasn't about to tell her how I knew it. "They never come to the surface," I whispered.

"Unless he's telling them to," Dax breathed. "And the only reason they would be here..."

"Is to attack your village."

"We need to get back and secure the defences. They're almost ready to attack."

The three of us crept back until we were far enough away and then sprinted through the forest, back to the village. Wolf loped at my side, occasionally brushing his tail against my leg. I couldn't help but remember the first time I had seen Wolf, the first time I had seen a Nether portal, and the last time I had seen my brother. In the village, Dax yelled for the warning bell to sound, and for the gates to be closed and walls fortified. The bell tolled through the village, calling people to action. Dax and I ran to the library. I crashed into Alex, who was just leaving the building.

"Sorry Alex," I apologised, stepping back. I saw the rest of the group behind Alex. Zip was just putting a piece of paper away in her pocket.

"Did you find what you need?" Dax asked.

Zip grinned and nodded. "Everything. We know how to reverse the curse."

"Then you need to get out of here."

"What? Why?"

"Nether mobs are attacking," I explained quickly. "We have to- Wait." I spun to Dax. "You're making us leave?"

"We can't hold off the monsters forever, and we can't defeat them," Dax said grimly. "But we can buy you time."

"You're going to doom the entire village without fighting?" I asked. "Dax, we can fight. We can help you!"

"No Fury. I can evacuate many of the village people down a secret tunnel. We'll collapse it after us, but you guys cannot afford to waste the time that will take. You need to move."

"She's right Fury," Zip said gently. "The best way we can help them is to make the monsters weak again."

"I'm not leaving someone else to die at the hands of Nether monsters!" I yelled, feeling tears come to my eyes. This was just like last time.

Dax looked at Zip, who nodded. Zip gently grabbed my hand.

"I'll see you again," Dax promised. "After you've reversed the curse, come back here. I'll meet you. There's a door at the back of the village, it'll be closed after you, but you have to leave now."

Zip nodded and started running, pulling me along behind her. I had no choice but to follow as we ran out of the village and disappeared into the forest. The cries of the attacking Nether mobs followed us, reminding us of who we had doomed.

And who we could still save.

Chapter in original book: 19