"Ami." The voice came slow and drawn out, as if someone was lingering on every letter. "Ami?" The voice came again, and Ami was starting to think that it was directed at her. "Ami!" She jolted out of her thoughts, blinking and suddenly seeing a grassy ground underfoot. Lifting her head, Ami's eyes centered on the one who had gotten her attention.
"You must have been zoned out pretty good there," Luke shook his head in bewilderment. "I was just wondering if you had any food on you."
"Oh, yeah. Want some bread?" She looked through her inventory and spotted a fine stack of pastry. He nodded, and she threw a loaf over to him. Luke took a huge bite and smiled. "Thanks." he said through a mouthful, covering his lips with his hand. Ami smiled and nodded, turning her gaze to the road ahead. She could recognize by now that they were almost home, the familiar layout of trees and land triggered the memories she had of the place.
"So guys," Michael turned from his place up front. "Once we finish our stop here, I think we'll be able to make it to the other house. It's not that far, actually. So I'd say empty some of the stuff we all have and reload on food and other supplies. We can craft a bunch of things later. Understood?" He scanned his eyes across the crowd. No one protested or made a move to object, so he muttered a small "Okay," and spiraled himself around again just as the group came to the last bend in the trail. Everyone felt the simultaneous relief of the house, piling in and setting to unload almost everything they carried.
All diamond that was collected went in its own chest, as requested by Michael. But by this point, everyone knew how Michael was about organization, so they automatically put it all in the same chest. Before they knew it, it was time to head out once more.
"We've been walking for a while, haven't we?" Izzy asked worriedly, playing with her hair idly.
"Don't worry, it's not far. I know where I'm going." Michael reassured. "We wanted to keep this place a secret, actually, so there's no trail leading to it. Steve and I memorized the entire layout of the area."
"Okay..." Izzy bit her lip, gazing at the upcoming sunset. "It's almost night." she added.
"I know. We're close, I can feel it. If you're worried, just have your sword close by." Michael drew his, and smiled at her. Izzy half smiled, keeping her hand on the hilt of her sword.
As the group walked on, the night became darker and darker. Soon enough, the world was encased in a inky sea of darkness, and visibility became limited. Michael would go one direction, take a quick look, then shake his head and turn around. The stress of the night was wearing down on him, and he became more antsy and anxious at each wrong turn.
"Darn it!" he yelled at a rock. "There's supposed to be a mountain here!"
"Wasn't there one a couple minutes behind us?" Ami faintly remembered a tall mountain that loomed so high she couldn't see over top it.
"Yes, but it wasn't like the one that I remember!"
"Well...shouldn't we at least try?" Charlotte crossed her arms. Michael clenched his fist, then unclenched it.
"Yeah," he muttered, already heading back. Sure enough, after a little bit of backtracking, the tall mountain stood before them, seemingly impassable. Michael cleared his throat and turned glumly to the group. "We need to scale this mountain." he said simply.
"Excuse me what?" Aiden blinked.
"Scale the mountain." Michael repeated.
"I'm not exactly the greatest person to do that...I can't even lift weights!" he objected.
"Neither can I. Jeez..." He cranked his neck to try and see the top of the mountain, but couldn't. "I haven't gone up here in forever. This should be interesting. All we have to do is jump from the next boulder to the next, and so on. We can only be careful." He didn't know what else to say, so he began to hoist himself up on the rocks. The mountain itself was incredibly tall, without much to grab onto for climbing. It was thin for such a towering figure; the dull greys of the rocks being the only thing anyone could see. The others followed after Michael, and soon passed him as they climbed. Aiden sped through it, jumping to and fro like a gazelle skipping through a field.
"Hey, don't go too fast!" Charlotte warned, watching his movements.
"I just want to get it over with!" he called back, continuing to keep his own pace. Charlotte scoffed, shook her head, and offered a hand to Luke, one of those who was falling behind. He wheezed a small thanks, pausing to catch his breath. After a moment, he went on. Charlotte glanced down again, and saw Michael clinging to one of the boulders.
"Comin'?" she asked.
"Of course. Just, ah, catching my breath." He tapped the rock with his hand, remaining still. Charlotte nodded, turned to Ami who had been watching the scene, and told her to go on ahead. She went, catching up with the rest of the crew.
"Michael," Charlotte crouched down. "Come here."
"I'm trying."
"You know that sayin' of puttin' one foot in front o' the other? You ought to do that."
Michael tightened his grip on the rocks.
"I can't."
"And why's that?"
"You know why." A forlorn look crossed over his face. Charlotte looked at him for a long time, and sighed. "Alright now you listen up. I need you to jump over to me. I can catch you and then we'll go from there."
Michael paled. "No, I can make it on my own."
"Mike, I need you to trust me. I don't like taking people out of their comfort zones, but this is different. Jump."
"No."
"Jump."
"No."
"JUMP!" Charlotte bellowed, loud enough for the people ahead to stop and gaze down at the two. Michael tensed up, but took a run and leaped off the edge with his eyes shut tightly. Charlotte lunged forward just enough and grabbed his hand; Michael slamming into the new boulder and getting winded. She pulled him up quickly with a grunt and set him down beside her.
"Not that, bad, huh?" she chuckled, patting him on the shoulder. Michael groaned and put his head in his hands.
"Let's not do that again," He gazed at Charlotte and smiled. "but thank you."
"No problem," she said. "But we'd better get out of here. It's well into the night and a miracle we haven't encountered anything. Besides, we've made quite a scene."
She stretched and looked upwards. "And wouldn't ya know it, we're almost there." Michael stood and let his eyes follow Charlotte's. He could indeed see that yes, the top was near them. He could also see the several pairs of eyes staring down at him. Michael cleared his throat and grabbed onto the closest rock and climbed up. Charlotte chuckled quietly and followed after him.
At last, the journey upwards had come to a close, but that did not mean that the adventure had in anyway. They still had to navigate around the top of the mountain.
"We have to be close, right?" Ami asked, starting to get worried herself.
"I'm 90% sure that we're almost there. I promise." Michael seemed to be getting excited. "I'll warn you now though, I haven't been to this place in a while myself, so I can't assure the state of it."
Izzy shrugged. "That doesn't matter, so long as we have somewhere safe to- AGH!" She grasped her shoulder, where an arrow firmly stuck out.
"Are you okay?!" Ami rushed to her.
"Y-Yeah. I'm fine. Where did that come from?" She glanced over where the arrow had been fired from. Nothing was visible.
"I'll go check. It was probably a Skeleton." Aiden drew his sword and jogged away before anyone could object. A moment of silence, and then a loud yell form Aiden confirmed the presence of something. The figure of Aiden came rushing back, looking pale and green. "More than a Skeleton..." he muttered, coughing. "Spiders."
Michael swore under his breath. "We're so close. Okay...let's take these guys out and make a break for it!" He held his sword in the air and yelled, rushing where Aiden had come from, and was soon greeted by monsters. Spiders and Skeletons scurried after them, lunging and firing arrows like mad. Michael narrowly dodged a couple arrows, but was hit regardless. Ami slashed at a horde of spiders, killing many of them as they screeched a final cry. Luke fought alongside her, impaling an airborne spider. It disappeared in a cloud of smoke and dropped a small amount of string.
Elsewhere, Izzy deflected an arrow with the blade of her azure sword and gave a final blow to a Skeleton. Aiden, who still looked rather green, took out a couple Creepers that had joined the fight. Explosion after explosion sounded, and things were starting to look bad. Then Michael jumped in, fending off the explosive flora and getting a couple wounds himself. Charlotte ran around assisting wherever she could, taking down spiders and Skeletons and Creepers and even an Enderman that had appeared. They all went down under her mighty fist, bursting into clouds of smoke and dropping items.
"They just won't stop!" Izzy cried, gazing around her at the newly spawned mobs that surrounded them.
"Michael! We need to retreat!" Luke shouted, taking down a Creeper just before it would have exploded. Michael gritted his teeth. There was no end to them!
"Alright! Let's get out of here! Stick together!" Everyone made a break for it, blindly charging forward into an endless shadow. The night became darker than it ever had, and visibility was slim to none.
"I can't see! Where are you guys?!" Ami called, sticking her hands out to try and feel her way around.
"G-Guys...look up." Izzy gulped, her head cranked upwards. Ami turned her head and gazed above her. A large, wooden box sat hovering above them, casting an enormous shadow across the mountain. Vines dangled down from the edges of the box and a large platform that went up towards the box could be seen.
"That's it! We've found it! That's the house in the sky!" Michael laughed, rushing to the ladder-like platform. The rest of the group hastily followed him, the mobs still on their tail.
"Grab onto the vines and climb!" Michael ordered as everyone drew closer. He took hold of a set of vines and pulled himself upwards to the massive structure that lay before them. Without a second glance back, the group grabbed the relatively sturdy vines and pulled themselves up. As Ami looked ahead, what once appeared to be a box revealed itself to be an incredibly large house covered in vines. It was clear that nobody had been here in a while, as the place looked like it had gone to ruin.
"There's a spot ahead where we can stop and catch our breath!" Michael pointed not far ahead where a small wooden platform stuck out large enough to hold a couple people. This platform proved to be quite petite when all six members of the group made an effort to pile onto it. As the last person, Luke, climbed on and wiped his brow, Ami looked underneath them, where the mobs all stared up at them, their glowing eyes piercing in the night.
"That was too close for comfort." she said with a sigh.
"No kidding." Luke stood beside her. They watched as the crowd of monsters soon dissipated, as the knowledge that they couldn't reach them dawned upon them. The monsters walked aimlessly around, until one caught fire. The Skeleton in question jumped around as it burned, eventually bursting into another puff of smoke.
"Aw. I kind of feel bad now." Ami saw another catch fire, and a few zombies began to experience the same misfortune.
"But look at that," Luke pointed to the oncoming sunrise, a mellow blend of orange and coral that cast a ray of warmth to the group.
"Sure is pretty," Charlotte smiled, crossing her arms. "Dontcha agree, Mike?"
Michael crept beside her, trying not to look down and instead at the sunrise. "It truly never gets old." he said. "But, ah, I don't want to seem like a downer, but I think we should take a peek at the house now, hm?"
"Holy crap I totally forgot!" Izzy exclaimed, suddenly jumping at the idea and running to the vines.
"Suppose that's a yes." Michael grinned to himself, joining her and climbing to the top.
Once the group rejoined at the top of the vine ladder, Michael stood back and gave the house a once-over.
"It's really...rustic, you know?" he said. Vines had overgrown over the entire house, trailing off of the edges and barricading the entrance. Michael made quick work of it and tore them down to reveal four wooden doors. He opened them, and walked into a wide, open room.
"Wow..." Ami whispered under her breath. "This is amazing!" The walls were decked with vines and paintings of all sorts of things. One long painting depicted a man in black clothing walking away from the painting. There were others as well, like one of a Creeper head and another of two men dressed as if they were in a Kung-Fu movie, preparing to fight. Other pictures of items hung upon the walls over pedestals that held the heads of monsters. A Zombie, spider, Skeleton, Creeper, and another black head that Ami couldn't identify were present. A table sat in the middle of the room, and chests sat around the walls. There was also a table with a levitating book above it against the wall as well.
"Make yourselves at home, I suppose." Michael grinned.
"I'll say it right now - this is breathtaking. How long did the two of you work on this?!" Izzy said in wonderment, her green eyes wide and excited.
"Who knows. It could have been months, as far as I know. But, I can definitely say that it was worth it." He gazed around the room in pride, like a father to his child.
"Now if I remember correctly, there's a passageway hidden around here that leads to another room..."
"You have hidden passageways?! You guys must have had a lot of free time!" Izzy exclaimed.
"Hey, uh, before we find those, does anyone have any grub? I'm starved." Ami awkwardly butted in, grinning. There was a small space of silence where everyone took a moment and simply looked at Ami, and then the rest of the space was filled with laughter.
"I suppose that's a good idea." Michael chuckled, walking over to a chest and pulling a few chickens out. "Feast on!" As the food was passed out, the group broke into their normal chatter, filling the once empty house with life again.
ns 18.68.41.177da2
