Legends of Old: Chapter 4 – Mysterious Happenings

Sorry for the long wait!

For Yuro, the chess game went by too quickly for him to keep track of properly. The movements of the animals below only further distracted him. The bodies of chickens were strewn about, with only the pecked around. The dark bodies of spiders and bats were laid on the grass. Wool and the bare sheep bodies were out. The gray bones of a skeleton had blown around. The only things that remained now was the witch, ocelot, a silver fish, creeper, and the pig.

The two Minecraftians stared at the ground below them as they watched the ocelot become poisoned and lay on the ground, yowling in pain, before the cries were added upon when the witch hit the cat with another, what appeared to be, a potion of damaging. The two grimaced, with Mari looking away and plugging her ears, and heard the cat's pained hisses and screeches plainly in the silence of the slow approaching dawn with the knowledge of their loss.

Herobrine chuckled and the two felt a lurch downwards before feeling a smooth and slow descent. The two looked at the nightmare of kids and looked at him, both looking still stunned by the cat's slow and cruel death along with the whole game.

"Fun match," the man muttered, looking at the board critically.

"Yeah, fun," Mari seethed.

"I guess I don't have to give you back this pitiful sword that you once owned. A pity, though. This blade would make it so much more easy for me to kill you."

"Then why let us live?" Mari asked, her eyes detached to the conversation that seemed to look at the slowly approaching ground.

"Mari!" Yuro yelled, appalled by the blatant question.

"'Why' you ask? Well, because you are valuable to me. But, not now. Not without that weapon that has held it's place in lore for the longest of times."

"The Bloodsword?" Yuro asked, confusion and excitement both present.

A small grin ghosted over his lips, "Heh, right on the mark, boy. But, it hardly counts. But, in time, you Legend Wielders shall know what I speak of and know what part you play," the white eye sockets looked at the board, "Yes, you shall learn of what part you have to play. Whether it be the petty role of a pawn," he raised a zombie from the small platform made of earth, "A bishop," a silverfish rose, "A rook," a skeleton, "A knight," a spider, "Or even the valuable and powerful queen," instead of a witch rising, a small pearl that was violet appeared and Herobrine plucked it from its place and rolled it, holding it out towards Mari who snapped her vision back to the victor in front of her.

"Yes, that shall be determined in time. perhaps, one of us may lose a queen but, eventually take another piece underhandedly and take the most dominating piece on the board back, destroying the weak pawn and remolding it into a stronger piece. Remade to become powerful and more lethal."

"Why are you acting like we are in a chess game? We are not part of a game where there are no emotions. We aren't statues that are deathly still and are ordered around to do what another wants us to do." Mari frowned.

"And we can certainly move anywhere we'd like," Yuro gritted his teeth.

"Ah, so you think. This, my dear friends, is just to open the main game. However, all of you matter little except for one. However, I shall wait until I must approach you," he stared at the board, not directing the words to any in peculiar, "Yes, wait until you've left to be alone from your companions. Wait to see you become skilled. Learn your item," the man stared at them and sat in his diamond ore chair.
"Who do you intend to take to your side?" Mari asked.

"Oh, how do you really think that I'll let you in on my plan? Stupid rabbit."

"You know our coded names?" Yuro asked, stepping towards the board.

"Of course. How can I play a game without knowing my piece's abilities or their specialties."

"Stop calling us pieces in a game!" Mari hissed, annoyed with the small role along with Yuro.

"Oh? But, that is why you are here right now. If you weren't the pieces in this game, you'd be lying dead along with your camping friends of yours. Or at your home, with only your skeleton remaining so that you can fight your own friend."

The two seemed to bristle at the implications.

"What do you mean? What happened to MineCity?" Yuro shouted, leaning over to try and strangle the man who only shifted away from the sloppy swipe at him.

"I mean what I said. Your friends at that little city of yours has fallen like a heap of shredded paper with fire. But, I just remembered. You can't do anything without that connection of your Warpers. Now, will you run home or will you resist destiny. After all, you'll eventually end up in that city. That is how dear destiny works, isn't it?"

"Then, where will you go? You can't live out here. Not without instruction on how it was a few hundred years ago," the man leaned back, the platform a few years from the ground.

"Yuro, we'll have to return to the city, ruins or not. We can't live without anything to even start with," Mari murmured, pulling the other back from the board.

"No! I refuse to do so! I will not listen to what this guy has to say!"
"Ha, you really are similar to her. I still remember how her legend was made."

"Let us go, weapon or not. We'll go to MineCity and we will follow your game to get out of it. When it is checkmate, then we will be free of this infernal game of yours," Mari scowled, standing and restraining Yuro from attacking and either knocking both him and Herobrine off the platform or hitting thin air and plummeting to his doom without at least fighting at his death or injury.

"Well, you're going home with those two. Oh, what were their names? Oh, yes," the grass area finally reached the ground, "Dexter and Nicholas."

The two looked around, seeing the blood strewn around the grass from the mangled bodies of the game pieces. Mari forced her gaze to the board while Yuro just grimaced at the mess.

"Now, I suppose that our time together will turn to an end. I'll see you at the end of the road. When the last few and the final moves are made to checkmate."

"Then, go! We don't want to see your ugly, eyeless, stupid face," Yuro spat.

"Well, then. I'll be watching you, Legend Wielders,"

The man sank into the ground and the diamond ore did so too, leaving little traces that here had even been there once.

"Mari, I say that we get our picks and shovel, mine our way straight down, and kill him now!" Yuro yelled, his eyes wide with rage.

"Yuro! Be quiet a moment and listen."

The other grumbled but complied. Mari stretched her hearing and listened to the surrounding area. For a moment, all the two could hear was only the rustling of nearby trees and the calming sound of the grass being tousled when they heard a out of place sound.

"What the hell?" Yuro asked, looking around the area.

Mari opened her eyes and stared at the ground, "It sounds like a Air Cart."
"But, only Dex and his family has it because it's still in its prototype stage."

"Then, it's probably him," she whispered.

"Now they come get us. What the hell guys."

"I hope the brakes work. After last time you three tested them, you crashed because you couldn't stop from going further."

"That was a freaking mess. You almost died 'cause you were hit in the head with a wheel that flew off."

"Yeah. I know. There's hardly any reason to Rub it in considering that I had to be the one to call the ambulance because of the stupid safety people who would be more useful testing than watching us get hurt and know nothing of what to do."

"Well, give them credit. They're about 80 years old. Their minds are mush at that point," Yuro joked.

"Still. I think it best if we hit the ground."

"They don't go that high off the ground, do they?"

"No, they don't But, we won't lost any of our limbs if they don't have breaks."

"Well, I see your point," Yuro shrugged.

"Duck in..." Mari paused and listened carefully before counting, "Five. Four. Three. Two. One."

The two shouted not and they laid on the ground and heard a loud clanking sound along with a slightly high pitched scream that passed by them quickly, followed by a loud crash into, what the other two suspected, each other.

The two sat up and looked at Nicholas and Dexter who tangled with their vehicles. The other two groaned in discomfort and Nicholas looked as if he'd just done a stunt that had to do with him and a shark.

"I seriously will never ride one of these until they're ready to be released to the public," Nicholas gasped out, swallowing gulps of air.

"I just need to fix the breaks, that's all there really is to fix."

"Well, get working on it already!" Nicholas whined, shaking his friend's shoulder, "I really don't want to get close to dying again!"
"Dude, calm down! You were screaming the whole way like we were on that zipper ride!"

"Yeah, well, both of those things freaked me out!"

"Nicholas? Dexter?"

"Oh, hi Mari!" Nicholas forced a smiled on his stressed face.

"Hey. So, you haven't fixed the breaks yet, Dexter?"

"Gah! Stop asking! I'm getting to it! Besides, I have the tools right now so I can fix them before we head back home."

"Wait, that's where you were?" Yuro asked, picking up a stick from the ground.

"Yeah. We just appeared there and- Hey!"

Nicholas was smacked on his arm hard with a stick and grasped the bruising area. Yuro then tackled him and the two got into a small fight, which Mari and Dexter ignored.

"Dex, how long before you can fix the breaks? Also, how long has it been since you were at MineCity?"

Yuro paused in mid swing and looked at Dexter.

"Uh, a day at the most? I still need to also edit the speed too, so it can go faster."

"A day is enough time, right Yuro?"

"Yeah. If they attack when they were far enough."

"What are you two talking about?" Nicholas asked, sitting up.

"Hurry and get the breaks to work! The city was attacked!"

"What?" Dex pulled out a few tools from his cart and started working while speaking, "That's not possible. A city that large can't be destroyed in such a short amount of time. Unless it's from Dia Fortress."

"Well, what if it were mobs?"

Dexter scoffed at the idea and Nicholas just looked towards Yuro who whispered to him the situation. The engineer looked up at Mari briefly and returned to his work, "Mobs are pathetically weaker than our city's artillery. I should know. I helped design the placement of the weapons and unless the look outs go to sleep, I don't think the city will be destroyed."

Mari was silent and Nicholas looked at Yuro, his green eyes wide with awe. Yuro just sighed and whispered, both of them silently pulling out their Warper and started play some game. Mari then looked at Dexter who seemed to not notice a change in the mood and continued working, the sounds of metal echoing around the area.

"Hey, Dexter," she didn't give him any time to reply when she continued on, "What would you do if you actually met Herobrine. In person. His glowing-white eye sockets. His cold menacing voice. The ability to control ores and other underground precious metals."

"Why would you ask such a ridiculous question? He's not real," Dexter tightened a washer and a few screws.

"But, say he was real. Just tell me."

"Well, if I wanted to lie, from your description, I would go up and speak against him and find a way to attack him, but, with honesty," the mechanic turned his eyes to Mari and looked at her leaning on a stick, "I think I would be scared out of my mind. I'd run, perhaps. Maybe I'd freeze. But, I would certainly be careful where I tread."

"Then, the guards might have frozen. Then, when they were finally upon the walls, they sounded the alarm yet, by then, it was too late. I know that you designed it so attacks would be caught before they even came, not so much when they were upon you. So, the city must be in ruins."

"Well, what of the evacuation plans?"

"We checked them," the two looked at Nicholas and Yuro who paused their game and were staring at them.

"You created those tunnels a little more than a few months back, right?" Dexter nodded and put down his tools, "Yeah, why?"

"Well, Nicholas and I've know each other for maybe a yeah? But, part of my home fell through when we knocked over one of my parent's pick. We saw a ladder and figured out it was an emergency exit. There was a problem, though. The thing caved in. It took a while for us to clear it out. A week. We found other pathways, but, they were blocked up, too. They were caved it or blocked up. But, point being, we didn't really think it mattered since we thought there wouldn't be any really trouble and that we'd have to go and run for our lives from some attack. After all, mobs stayed quiet unless you were in the wild and the cities were taking peace well."

"Why didn't you tell me, though?" Dexter demanded, his chocolate eyes wide like a cat's.

"Well, we did once, but, you were busy working. You know how you are. You don't really listen to a conversation carefully unless it's important to you or it's interesting," Nicholas spoke up.

"So, that means everyone is dead?" Mari asked, looking at the other three.

"Maybe. There may be a few sparred from death. Maybe there's survivors. Let's go. There's a forest before you reach the city. We'll crash the cars there and then we'll run to the city the rest of the way."

"Seems good. Let me just jack the speed up more and then we can take off."

"Careful, too fast and we may just blast right through those trees," Nicholas muttered.

Yuro and Mari laughed hardheartedly and the other two joined in. The three of them sat and pulled out their Warpers and started a game while Dexter worked with the Air Carts. After a while, they heard Dexter shout happily and look at the other three who looked at him questioningly.

"I'm done! I also think I figured out how to fix the breaks when we have more time. But, let's go!" Dexter hopped into his cart and looked at them, beckoning them to come.

"Yuro, go with Nicholas. I'll go with Dexter. But, be careful. Don't be reckless and kill yourselves in the process."

"Do you think we're stupid enough to go as fast as we can and kill yourselves?" Yuro asked, with Nicholas laughing and Dexter silent.

Mari pursed her mouth closed and then retorted just loud enough to hear her over the laughter, "I really don't want to answer that.

Then, they all burst out laughing and hunched over. Slowly, they regained their breaths and wiped their tears away, a few chuckles here and there.

"Alright, Let's go, though. We have to get there and if the city has fallen, collect what we need and figure out where to go. We can regroup there, I guess."

Yuro agreed and tapped Nicholas, "Hey, I call driving."

The eyes of the other's widened and he started to step back, shaking his head and waving his fingers away.

"Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no!" He hopped into the front seat, "I am so not ready for another death thrill ride that can give me a heart attack at this young of an age!"

Mari turned to Dexter, "Do you want to drive? 'Cause I suck at driving these cars."

"Yeah, sure. I need to finish these prototypes up, and the best way is to test them up personally."

"Yeah, alright. No need for a speech. Come on, let's get there quickly if we'll have to walk the last few miles and I've been up all night."

Dexter just sighed and hopped in, with Mari right behind him, and Dexter started the cart and the machine rose from the ground and floated. Mari grinned and looked at Nicholas and Yuro who were still quarreling.

"Nicholas, Yuro! See you in a year!" Mari bid them and she felt the cart trust forward, with Dexter yelling.

"See ya, suckers!"

Yuro and Nicholas looked at each other and the grinned to each other and ran to the cart, with Yuro driving and Nicholas on his knees to keep from flying out.

"Hold on, Nicholas!" Yuro grinned even more when he saw the improvements and he started it up.
"I'm going to go... 150 kilometers per hour!" Yuro started it up himself and as soon as they were up, they were blown back hard by the wind with Nicholas' screams in the dust track.

"Dex, the carts really start up quietly and they are really quiet," Mari noted to the boy who nodded.

"Yeah, I like making sure things are quiet and not loud. Well, with a few exceptions."

"Yuro! Slow down!" Nicholas screeched.

Yuro laughed and went a bit faster, "No way! I'm going faster every time you say that!"

"Go faster!" Nicholas tried.

"Alright, even faster."

Nicholas groaned in discomfort as they were launched off a high rock and went airborn for a good half minute before actually hitting the ground roughly, making him scream further.

"Lord Herobrine, I ask for your permission to attack MineCity. I swear that I shall be swift in this attack. After all, my lovely spiders are the quickest, other than Silverfish," the large spider seemed to lower itself in the presence of her master.

"No. You shall not lead you minions. Everyone will be coming. Even my pets from the Nether."

"B-But Lord Herobrine," the spider sputtered, "We are swift and kill quickly. We'll move fast and we could even join forces with the Skeleton Boss."

"No. Everyone will be needed. This city has had its defenses created by the owner of the Dust Ring. He's no fool and your spiders alone would hardly stand a chance. Besides-" He looked away from a tapestry upon the wall and stared with his empty eye sockets turning to the black and navy blue spider that quivered slightly from the intense stare, "That city takes pride in firepower and has made sure that it has thick defenses. But, with a bit of alterations to Creeper Boss and his minions, than I think that you stand chance if you team with them. But, all of you shall go."

"When shall we attack?"

"As soon as those two are far enough to not hear the alarms of the city or any such thing that would indicate trouble," the underworld's controller stood and walked over to a curtain covered room, not even speaking to say that the spider's audience was over and that her orders were given: Attack the city with all of the other mobs' help.

Tch, I shall have to speak with the Creeper Boss.

The considerably large spider made its way out, not bothering to even bid Herobrine a good-bye.

Herobrine looked around the room. Around it were basins of water. The gold basins held black water, the silver held light blue water, and the bronze basins held clear, colorless water. Hanging from the ceiling were various bottles filled with smoke. He passed by the bottles hung by metals that were holding them in a candle-like fashion and bumped them on purpose.

The surface, when the bottle was disturbed, created an image that showed an area in the world or his underground home.

In the blue smoky bottle, an image of the Spider Boss and Creeper Boss speaking with one another. Words of their conversation were hush from just a few feet away. The green smoky one showed the image of Yuro and Nicholas doing loops in the air on the hover cart. The darker green smoke one showed an image of an old village with no walls or any advance buildings in the area.

Walking up to a basin that was surrounded by candles and was gold and silver infused, electrum from what he had heard the Minecraftians call it. Around the rim were jewels that were in skulls.

He pulled a candle holder from it's placement and poured a small quantity of wax into the basin, whispering words to it and instead of sinking to the bottom of the warm water, it swirled on its own. Smoke began to form and it shrouded the small area, transporting him to room holding a chess board hovering above pedestal, a table to the right hand side of the chairs, holding a goblet of different substance in each.

He smirked when a soft blue light shone at the other end and the room was transformed. One side was willed with bones and blood, the other filled with grass and water. One chair, the furthest from Herobrine, became a pristine white stone and the goblet turned a dull violet. On his side, the goblet was bronze and the chair was a black and violet obsidian.

"Hello, brother," the other man nodded kindly, his brown tattered shirt, faded gray trousers, and black dress shoes.

"Mm, greetings. The game is now afoot?" he replied coolly, standing behind his chair.

"Yes. But, you've already met my new pieces."

"I'd be a fool to not feel their power as soon as they were far from that city. That power is distinct in the Overworld, and you know it very well."

"Yes, I do, brother. The game has started."

"I never imagined that you'd bring them into this game of ours. Ready to finally capture me and lock me up in that so called haven of yours?"

"If it means that the living will not suffer nearly as much, then yes. A few hundred lives are nothing compared to the thousand and million to come."

"My, my. Never thought I would see the day that you, of all people, would say that."

The other hummed and picked up his goblet, swirling it about until he stopped and peered into it, speaking whilst watching it, "I hate to risk the lives of those that I have created carefully. But, they can each come back eventually, meaning they get another chance. It will repeat. Over and over."

"Unless their souls are more valuable than the average Minecraftian," the other pointed out.

"Yes. But, I hope there to be no more than six valuable souls. It's too many to have their work put to waste and to have their lives ruined either by their accomplishment or by choice," Notch stared at the other sadly.

"Still hold a grudge? Come, now. She really had a horrible life. At least she got her parents rich and out of their misery."

"Yet, you took away one more valuable to them. They grieved and their other child grieved until she was slain and 'put to rest' by, regretfully so, me."

"I know you disapprove, but I shall not yield, not until others also become loyal like dogs," the fallen of the brothers smirked.

"You may not have any, however, you are seen, brother. Just give up this useless bloodshed now. I do not wish for there to be another war."

"Useless request. You know I won't stop until the whole world bows to me! The game shall begin, and I shall take the one who wields that item back to my side."

Notched looked at the golden drink and saw the four items floating in his abyss of items far to powerful for a human to wield. He sighed and looked at the animals in his home that awaited patiently for him to return or to be released.

"Fine. Another game after a century of the last. The agreement for waiting a century has been upheld. We shall play another game."

Dexter lowered the speed when they were within a few hundred kilometers and hit the tree just lightly enough to not create a crack in the tree.

"That was a rather smooth parking, wasn't it?" Mari asked, jumping out.

"Yeah, but, I think Nicholas and Yuro are going to be in a minute and crash."

Mari looked back at the pathway and saw a thin dust cloud and watched them pass them light lightning and then heard the sound of trees breaking in two and falling before they heard metal fly into the air and hit the ground hard.

"That's really, really gotta hurt," Mari grimaced at the sound.

"No, really? I thought they'd be fine!" Dexter replied sarcastically.

Mari rolled her eyes and pulled Dexter to the crash site. Under the broken branches and leaves were the two who just groaned in pain.

"Oh, man. That was fun, but it hurt like," Yuro inhaled sharply at the pain and held his arm.

"I seriously will never ride with anyone but Mari," Nicholas looked dazed but fine enough that he could survive.

"Mmm... Alright. Fine with me. Come on. We need to hurry."

Mari stepped forward but stopped to look at Yuro who cradled his head in his hands. He stood up and leaned on the tree and murmured to himself, mainly.

"Damn, trees are dangerous," Yuro finally spoke loud enough.

"Hmm, I thought they were pillows!"Mari commented offhandedly.

"Why do I hear hissing?" Dexter suddenly spoke up.

"I hear a bird squawking," Nicholas spoke up.

"What the floop-"

Dexter was suddenly flattened by claws that seemed to pinch into his chest as he lay on the earth. A large bird stood on him, the beak was brown while its body was black with gray unusual markings. It peered around, making a few squawks, and ran up to Yuro and leaned its neck down to him. It opened his large beak yet, the four jumped back when they heard words rather than another squawk come out.

"Elcazador99? Yuro Daiyamondo?" the large bird asked, yet its mouth was unmoving.

With wide eyes, Yuro looked at the bird, his mouth hung open ever so slightly, and nodded, not even realizing it said his coded name or that it had never opened its beak with the exception of creating small bird-like noises.

"Hello, Yuro. It is nice to meet you."

"Uh, nice to meet you too..." Yuro hesitantly replied, though his mind raced with curiosity and excitement.

"Well, hello, then. You are a Legend Wielder, right?" said person looked confused and shook his head.

"You don't know? Well," the bird started to sniff the boy's hair and pranced around him and spoke up again.

"Yes, you are a Legend Wielder, in fact, your my master."

Yuro looked startled and backed up when the bird started to head butt him. Yuro back away and the bird tilted it's head and looked around.

"Yuro, I am a shape shifter who lives to serve their master. That master is a Legend Wielder, you are one, therefore I must follow you."

Yuro's eyes went wide and he started to grin and barge the bird with questions, "Can I ride you? Can you fly? What else can you do? How does this work? How long do you live?"

"You can, I just need a saddle so I don't get my wings damaged. Of course I can fly, that'd be an insult. I can also shift into a horse and I can fight using either my feathers or running into your enemies. I follow your every order that you give to me and that is possible. I live for however long that you live."

"You can turn into a horse? That is freaking awesome," Yuro grinned and petted the bird.

"Tch, I hoped that I would've been the first to get to the Legend Wielders, but, you just had to beat me,Smoke, huh?" a voice hissed from above the bird, making Yuro and the bird look up and see a cat perched above the two.

"Sorry, Kura. I just was excited. Well, it's only by a few minutes that you came before me," the sound of leaves rustling was heard and they saw a cat jump down from the bird's back to the ground where it stared at the bird. It had an unnerving green and red eye with white fur and similar markings on the bird but in a light blue.

"Irresponsible, Smoke. You must be more careful when they approach. Had they been in possession of their item, you'd have been attacked," the ocelot's mouth, like the bird's, didn't move.

"But, you know we can create shields."

"But, not from your own master. Now, TsukiRabbit1315, Eien Subesuno. Nickname Mari," the ocelot scanned the small forest opening and spotted the only female and seemed to tsk, yet it advanced forward and peered at the other who looked back curiously. The cat smiled slyly and wound itself around the leg of Mari's.

"You must me my master. Eien. Lovely to meet your acquaintance and I apologize for not coming sooner."

"Wait, what were your names?" Mari asked, looking between the two, her eyelids lowered in curiosity.

"Oh, I am Kura, and this moa, as it is called by the gods, is named Smoke. We are named to your liking."

"Smoke, that's a cool name," Yuro shrugged while petting the moa.

"Kura sounds rather nice. But, what about Dexter and Nicholas? Are they not... Legend Wielders?" Mari asked, crouching to pet the thin cat.

"Oh, they have a shape shifter. Their shapeshifters are just on the slow side. There's few of us, and we'll spend time together. In total, there are about six of us. We'll travel in groups of two, averagely. Too many of us in one area can cause a disturbance for the gods. The ones without a Legend Wielder stay in the Aether where Notch can keep an eye on them and keep them from becoming bored. We're happy that you're here, again. We've been bored in the Aether."

"Yes. All we did was speak with the other creatures, run errands, and just hung around. It'd fun, but, after a while, we start to become bored. Information repeats itself. Very little things become actual news. Every once and a while, you're allowed to go to the Overworld which is fun to watch. You Minecraftians are amusing."

"You sound very... mischievous," Dexter commented.

"Oftentimes, the servant, if you can call us like that, is like the master. We change to become similar to our master, so that we can shift ourselves to look like our master, should they have to make an escape. We can teleport to them. Our purpose is to protect our Legend Wielder and to make sure that they are happy. Further more, if you could not have guessed already, we can speak telepathically to everyone or to only our master."

"So, you can also turn into us and speak with us only?" Yuro asked, petting the feathers underneath his chin.

"Yes. But, since you don't have the weapon you are to wield, we cannot do so without taking a taxing amount of energy. The telepathic speaking is the most easy thing and find it nice to speak without having to use movements as speech," the cat licked it's paw.

"Also, we can all fly..."

"Aw, so Smoke's not special," Yuro complained, interrupting them.

"...and after a five and ten years time span with our master, we gain the ability to grow in size, making us do more well for transportation. Also, we each have a few abilities corresponding to the weapon our master uses."

"Oh! Like what?" Nicholas asked.

"Well, since Yuro is to wield the Bloodsword, I can use feathers to steal another's energy and my ability is to grant my master healing with each feather that I have used to steal energy from. In my horse form, my hooves have diamond and zanite horse shoes. One is used for damage and the other is used for more defensive purposes."
"What about Kura?" Dexter asked, looking at the white and soft blue cat.

"Me? Nothing nearly as frontal and bloodied like his. I like to keep myself clean in battle as much as possible. Blood is messy and, in no way, does it mix with the dark red blood. But, mine lie in elemental powers like fire, water, earth, and the very air itself. It's limited, however. I can also heal others, but, it's only minor wounds like scratches, bruises, and just slightly broken bones. In my rabbit form, I can easily infiltrate an area and run quickly. It's my quicker and heightened senses form. I can also see the ones who want to hurt me, but, not the ones who I can trust, so it can be frustrating at times."

"That almost seems like too much compared to Yuro's." Nicholas mused.

"No, not really. They are mostly things to distract. They cause just stinging pain. Actually, the only one that can really cause damage is the death element, but, I'm quite limited on that one without the Dark Pendant."

"Death element? Since when was that added?" Dexter asked, half curious and half musing.

"Since never. Only in one's book. But, other than that, it is not."

"Who's book?" Yuro asked, feeling the moa's open wings and stroking them gently.

"Ah, I've forgotten. It's been quite sometime. But, the other two will come along soon. Perhaps today, perhaps tomorrow. Now, back to the task at hand," the cat glanced at the people around and jumped up onto Mari's shoulder, perching there like a bird.

"Oh, shoot!"

"MineCity!" Dexter finished for Nicholas as he ran off with Nicholas and Mari following behind.

Yuro whispered to the moa who nodded in return. A dark cloud formed around the large, black feathered bird before dissipating quickly and in the place of the tall moa was a black horse, with the same coloring and striking mixed eyes of brown and red.

Yuro smiled and jumped on the horse and whooped, "Yeah! Let's go, Smoke! Beat them to the MineCity!"

The horse reared and galloped at an impossible speed, with the other three passing by him in a quick blur. Smoke snorted and went faster, with Yuro yelling enthusiastically. The horse came to a quick stop, with a quick jerk forward, and looked at a crumbled wall with scorch marks on the rubble that remained. The eyes were wide with both fear and amazement of how the wall seemed to fall with ease. He stood there, staring with Smoke, now in his bird form, nudging him gently to gain his attention. He patted the feathers, his mouth ajar at the sight.

"What happened?"

"It looks like those blasted creepers came up to the wall and blew it up. Loyal. Very loyal those green bastards."

"Tch, yeah."

Behind them, the bushes rustled and the other three and the ocelot ran out and stared at the ruins.

They stared into the what there wall were suppose to protect and saw the buildings aflame. Trees were upturned, stone buildings were turned to rubble and there were bodies of the dead and weapons strewn about.

"Shoot, I thought that the defense plan was good. We did hundreds of tests and we even had another city test it out with their own battle strategies," Dexter leered at the scene.

"Dexter, check your home and see if you could improve the carts further. Two others will go and see what you can salvage. Who wants to go with Dexter?"

No one replied and Mari sighed shakily, "I'll go with him. Take anything that you can. If there are any survivors, then bring them to Dexter's home, I guess. Maybe it's safe."

"It'd better be! It's got even better defenses than the city walls! My father designed it, too!"

"So, me and Yuro-"

"Yuro and I," the cat corrected.

"Me and Yuro will go on a mission to hunt for anything that worth something? Like what?" Nicholas asked, not bothering to correct himself.

"Just find something that would be good to bring for a long trip. Stay together, though. There could be others still lingering about. Food, pouches, medicine, and anything that we can use to fight with and sleep on. Nothing heavy. Come back in an hour, though. If you're gone for more than an hour and a half then we'll search for you."

"Alright. We've got an hour and then we'll come back. Come on, Yuro! Let's see if we can find anything at our homes!"

Nicholas paused and looked at Smoke, who was preening himself, and asked the master of the bird, "Hey, can we ride the bird?"

Smoke, obviously not amused with his given name from Nicholas, and pushed him harshly to the ground and squawked at him, "I am not bird! I've been give the proud name Smoke, not a useless and nondescript name of 'Bird'!"

"Uh, can we take Smoke around the area?" Nicholas asked, enunciating the name.

"Well, I'm not sure, with that comment you made..." Yuro looked at his shape shifting animal who glowering at the tense other.

"Find him a saddle first. It's probably not pleasant to have you riding him without anything to stop the crazy friction," Mari spoke up.

"I'm sure he can handle it. He's carried my with my claws out before. Haven't you?" Kura commented, licking her paw.

"That sounds painful," Dexter spoke up,

"The feathers and tough skin help," the bird muttered making a small growl-like sound at the sudden weight on his back.

"You should be going. We shouldn't waste too much time. Be back in an hour, use your Warpers to communicate," Mari spoke up.

"Yeah, yeah. Why do you think Yuro's on that-" Nicholas stared at the tall black feathered bird and continued carefully, "-on Smoke? Let's go. We need to find a bag."

"A saddle would be nice, too. Even a blanket," the bird spoke.

"Yeah, we'll see you later."

Dexter and Mari took off to the home that, hopefully, still stood. Nicholas and Yuro went off into the direction of their homes that were most likely reduced to wood and may have even been on fire.

"Hey, Yuro. We should stop by the grocery store and steal some candy."

"Yeah, you can definitely steal candy when there's no one here to stop you," the bird chirped in.

"Yeah. Let's get a sugar rush! I'm so hungry 'cause I haven't had anything to eat for a while and I'm sleepy too," as if to emphasize his point, he yawned.

"Oh, hey, look. It's the storage house! Remember when we'd all try to sneak into there and steal some stuff?" Nicholas pointed at the underground storage house and they walked up to the entrance. Yuro slid off of his moa and kicked the door to the storage room and it feel with a loud metallic thud.

"Come on, let's go in. We won't have to worry about guards," Nicholas poked Yuro's shoulder to annoy the other.

"Alright, we will. Come on, Smoke!"

The bird nodded and lowered his head to fit into the short walkway. His feathers briefly flared out, though it wasn't noticed by the other two and he nudged Yuro, who barely payed attention with his curiosity growing bigger and bigger in his eyes.

"Master Yuro? Are you sure it's a good idea to be coming in without a torch?" the bird asked only his master.

The other stopped, pulling Nicholas back and making him almost trip and force the other to tumble had it not been for the bird that used its beak to hold onto his owner.

"Uh, thanks Smoke. That'd have been a really bad tumble," Yuro sighed out.

"Well, falling down a few hundred steps wouldn't have hurt at all, right?" Nicholas asked sarcastically.

"By the way, do you have anything for a light, Nicholas?" Yuro ignored the previous comment, though a ghost of a smile was on his lips.

"Uh, TNT?" Nicholas asked, holding out a small thing of dynamite from his pocket.

"That's dynamite," Smoke cringed away from the dangerous explosive.

"Sure. Let's both blow up and then have Mari yell at our dead corpses about how stupid we were or destroy the tunnel."

"Oh, well. I'll find a use for these thing eventually!" Nicholas put the sticks back into his pocket, obviously not worrying about how it could easily be ignited.

"Well, do you have anything, Smoke?"

"No. I think you should come back here with everyone else, though. This area feels a bit... off, I guess you could say."

The two looked down and shrugged, turning to go back up when the stairs collapsed from underneath the two. Nicholas took a full tumble while Yuro was caught by his bird and quickly tossed onto his back, allowing him to not take a scratch.

"Ow!" Nicholas yelled as he felt a piece of rubble land on his back.

"Hey, are you alive?" Yuro asked, though the answer was obvious.

"No, I'm a ghost that will haunt you for the rest of your life, Yuro!" the other replied sarcastically, "Yes! I'm alive! I'm buried in rubble."

Smoke landed next to Nicholas and Yuro carefully stepped down, taking care to not step and accidentally crush the other. Yuro stretched out his arm and crouched down, searching for a pile of rough rocks when a soft light illuminated them.

Two sets of eyes landed on the source and they saw in the beak of the bird was a feather that glowed a soft red and green.

"Master, I think there's some monsters down here," the black moa informed the two.

"Wait, wha-"

The sound of vibration rang around in the darkness and a clang of stone and metal colliding echoed. Sounds of strings being released was heard more and they heard the sound of more clanks when Yuro shouted in pain as, what they could now see, was an arrow that had lodged itself into his shoulder that made his arm pound hard as he breathe heavily.

"Damn that hurts," Yuro whispered.

The bird suddenly jumped in front of him and caught an arrow in the large beak and looked at the wound before speaking.

"Master Yuro, help Nicholas from under the debris. I'll fight these archers."

"Wait, but they'll probably hit you before you get close! Even if you fly!"

"No matter, My sole purpose is to protect you and second is to make you happy. For now, I must keep you safe."

The bird took off, without even waiting for an answer. Yuro hurried to his other friend and saw that Nicholas held a dazed look in his eyes.

"I see TNT and torches and the world is, unn, spinning..." Nicholas then lost consciousness and Yuro started to pull the broken block above him off. On some large pieces, he saw red, blood from Nicholas is what he suspected, and took other pieces off. In the back round, he heard Smoke attacking yet he could also hear grunts of pain.

"Dammit! How the hell did this happen?" Yuro asked himself, pulling Nicholas to the side.

Yet, before he could try and join his other companion, there was a blinding light that lit the area up, blinding everyone in the pit.

"So, do you think my house is fine?" Dexter asked, walking up the pathway that was demolished in some spots, making them drift to the side to avoid the more rough pathway and dragged the carts that hovered a slight bit to ease its

"I can't really say for sure. I mean, look at what happened to the city in, probably, less than a day. So it's a bit difficult to say," Mari's mind wandered briefly before speaking her mind, "BY the way, the bakery is on the way there, want to stop by real quickly?"

"Uh, yeah. Maybe there'll be some good treats!" Dexter smiled at the idea.

The two took a quick side trip. The two of them took some of the food and Mari looked into the cupboard and pulled out a can of tuna. She excused herself quickly and gave the can of food to her cat.

Dexter raided the sweets in the bakery, to which Mari only sighed and took the few cookies that remained untouched. She nibbled on them slowly, tasting them and looking for a good flavor before finally settling on a chocolate chip cookie, finding the others unappealing.

Dexter looked around and pulled out the foods that were untouched and took little notice that Mari was just watching him pull out the sweets out.

Dexter spotted an open cabinet and opened it and pulled out milk, dark, white, and normal chocolate. He pulled the bowl down and walked over to Mari and she looked at it before sending a questioning look his way.

"What?" she asked.

"It'd be great to have some of those chocolates you make! Especially now!" Dexter grinned.

"Well, maybe when I have the tools. Besides, I don't have anything to heat the chocolates nor to keep them in. I don't even know if I could get the tools to make the chocolate. Just, fine something for now and let's go. Before you become involved with our treats like you do with your projects."

"Alright, alright!"

Dexter scanned the room and spotted a box. He quickly picked it up and carefully placed some of the treats into the box and placed it into the cart outside the shop with Mari quickly taking a handful of chocolates, caramel, and peppermints and putting them into a smaller box, following Dexter to his home with Kura back on her shoulder, whose breath reeked of fish.

"Man, you need some breath mints or water to get that scent out," Mari murmured to her white cat.

"Pardon, Master. I shall tend to that as soon as possible. Until then, however," the cat jumped off her shoulder and walked next to Mari.

"Ah, sorry," Mari apologized to the cat.

"No trouble at all," the cat shrugged it off.

Dexter looked ahead and dread filled his face as he stopped his cart at a tree and run to the more smoke filled area, not caring for Mari's yells for him to stop. His legs carried him to the destination where his home would've been.

"Oh, man. Come on, Kura. Let's hurry!" the cat followed Mari who hooked her cart to the one she also dragged along and pulled them along with her, her pace brisk but steady for the carts to follow without trouble.

Dexter stared at the pathway that was once pure white marble and the wall that had been stone with paintings on them were dusted with ashes that still fell from the smoke. Dexter ran up to the gate and looked at the iron barred entrance to see they'd fallen as if someone had kicked them over with a few metal pieces spread on the ground like they'd also been chipped. He looked at the lock and saw that the side was still intact and rushed to it, opening a small slide open panel that held a screen. He slid his fingers across the, now, scratched surface and watched that only a few hours after he'd left to find Mari and Yuro that his home had been overrun by multiple mobs that had destroyed the gate in a matter of a few minutes.

He heard footsteps and, with a frown, turned to look at Mari and tilted his head in a confused way.

"How the hell did this happen? What was with the mobs that attacked? They were different from any other monsters that we've ever encountered!"
'Dex, let's just go in. Calm down, too. You look as if you've just seen a ghost or something of the sort. You can't let this get to you until we're sure that it's fine to let our guard down."

"But, I spent so much fucking time on protecting this city from attacks that other cities may send to only have it fall to the hands of mobs!"

"Dexter, those mobs were created to destroy this city in specific. Come on, let's get the carts all fixed up. I'm sure your tools are still there-"

A sudden hiss was heard. Mari looked at the fallen gate and saw her shape shifter in a defensive position. The cat's mixed eyes glared into the home that was on fire and hissed.

"That fire is fresh. They're still here, waiting for you two, all perhaps, to enter and ambush you. Do not go in there."

"Can you see them?" the cat nodded and slowly padded its way back.

"Then, how many?" Dexter asked.

"A hundred, give or take a few. They're weak but the numbers are high. It'd take a good weapon or your item to actually kill them all."

Mari peaked at the house and gasped, ducking her head back and saw a fireball hit the bark of a tree followed by a volley or arrows.

"W-What? Did they spot us?"

The cat closed it's green eye, stared at the wall and nodded, "Yes, they have. There are many creatures there. Skeletons, young ghasts, zombies, and spiders."

"Ghasts? They still exist?" Dexter asked, his eyes wide.

"Yes," her tail flicked and her other eyes opened, "Find cover, they're coming this way."

Before they could reply, the wall was blown down and rubble came flying at them. Mari felt a large rock piece hit her arm and side of her head, making her vision blacken briefly and fall under some of the rocks that were blown onto her.

Dexter was hit harder, rocks coming crumbling onto him and he felt his body be covered by the rocks and groaned, before his eyes drooped slightly. He heard the horrid sound of whimpering or screeching of a yell before feeling himself drawn into a forced sleep.

Mari felt the pulsing on her head deepen and also heard the unusual sounds. The sounds of bones scraping themselves, and the soft and disgusting sound of flesh loose. She moved her head, her vision blurred enough to not see things properly. She let out a forced breath and reached into her pocket. Her head stiff, she stretched it in front of her and switched to camera to see a white floating creature, with tentacles that were under it and it's mouth that was open and red, releasing the sound.

Mari heard the distant voice of her shape shifting cat but her ears were too plugged to hear anything but the loud screeching of the white ghost creature. She lifted her head and moved her arms, brushing of the stone and dust roughly and feeling sticky liquid on her fingertips that were probably blood.

"Shoot, they attacked quickly. This must be one of the powerful ghasts," Kura hissed to Mari telepathically.

"What do we do? I'll bet Yuro and Nicholas are in a similar problem as we are if they went as far as to ambush us like this," Mari groaned quietly.

"Yes, I'm sure of it. I can sense that Smoke is also in trouble. Get Dexter. I can try and teleport you away from here and perhaps to the other two."

Mari, with her vision still clouded, bent her head up gently, and bent her back, vaguely noting that it stung and that there was also some more liquid on her back. She looked around, finding it quite difficult to properly see with the white, and eventually saw a pile of rocks when, as if the white in her current vision wasn't enough, saw even more or a blinding white. She covered her eyes and slid down to cover her eyes, not noticing that the light had come from the pile that she'd been approaching.

*** Chapter End ***

Oh, goodness. Without the Chess game, this chapter is about 17 pages long! Man, I guess it's probably good for whoever was waiting for a new chapter for, what, about 4 months? Sorry for the long wait. I've had some trouble getting my friends to play the chess game with me and keeping everyone in character.

Also, in other news, I got a new laptop and I'm thinking that I have just a day every month where I only write (With a movie in the background). I did this with this chapter, after dumping the failed version of this chapter, and it really did help me with getting this all written. I mean, compared to the other chapters, which were 4-6 pages long. I only did 5 pages on that day, but, it got my mind thinking, so, I think that I'll be doing that quite a bit.

But, if you're thinking about how centered it seems on either Yuro, Nicholas, Dexter, or Mari, than I'm really sorry. Since I'm essentially Mari, I find it difficult to write with everyone else and their own personality and not center it around one person. It's really quite difficult to balance it out with four people, but, because this and last chapter was focused a bit more on Yuro and Mari, I'll be giving Nicholas and Dexter some screen time next chapter, especially with what I have planned.

Oh, and to clarify this for Nicholas' sake of respect, he is ot so much as scared of speed but heights, so along the way from and back to MineCity there are lots ot spots where they will be in the air for a good while.

If you should have any questions, than just review and I'll try and PM you. If you're reviewing as a guest, I'll just reply back when I've posted next chapter.

Also, thanks, HPE24. I did try and lay off the word "And," instead, focusing on different words. But, now I feel like I may have, in a sense, spammed another word. Weird, huh?

Thank you for reading!

~Eien M

(Fun Fact: OpenOffice, the program I am using, somehow thinks "Teleport," is not a real word. Funny since the word is used constantly in the real world, or in gaming talk.)

(Word Note: Yes, "electrum" is a real word. Hoshi brought this to my attention and I inserted it in here. It is, essentially, a mix of gold and silver, just as described.)