New Generation

Ty's Matchbox

((Max's POV))

        I'm not quite sure what happens, I just know that the instant I put the shield up for Indy, I get hit by some invisible force and thrown across the room into a marble pillar. I hear the stone crack, then I hear my legs crack when I fall and hit the ground. I feel cold suddenly, and my vision becomes spotted. 

        I hear Indy scream my name, but I can't understand what he's trying to say. Then, I hear the sliding sound of marble against marble, and feel the pillar move a bit. 

        Indy, help! I can't seem to form words, when I try to speak it only comes out as painful gasps. I can't stand, so I try to drag myself away from my place at the base of the falling pillar, but there's nothing for my fingers to grip but smooth stone floor. Indy is running in my direction, but he's to far away, I don't think he's going to get to me in time. 

        I don't want to die, not now, not like this. My friends need me! Alice doesn't know where I am! My parents! I squeeze my eyes shut, I don't want to die like this, not now! I feel the ground shake, then, nothing. 

        Still nothing. I open my eyes and see I'm standing up now, but I don't remember getting up. Everything is pitch black, but it's not really scary. It's a warm blackness, and that's odd. I feel weightless, it's weird. 

        "Hello?" No echo. Dammit, I like playing with echos. I feel something tap my shoulder and spin around. 

        "Hello, nice to finally speak with you. It's Maxia, right?" Ty grins at me. Unlike the last time I saw him, he's not all bloody and dead looking. His white shirt has no wounds visible beneath it, and his eyes are the only red I see. His arms are crossed, and he has a box of matches in his left hand. 

        "You're dead." Ty laughs, and my face heats up. Good job, Max, you just told a ghost he's dead. I'm sure he had absolutely no idea! Ty points at me with his right hand, lowering his left to slip the matches into his back pocket. 

        "So are you! At least, that's what your friends think. Sky's daughter, Alice, is it? She's running up the stairs right now. That pillar caused quite a mess, you look horrible. I was watching, of course, your legs are only supposed to bend at one point, not three." I look down at my legs, and they seem perfectly fine to me. Then again, I'm pretty sure I'm not in my body right now. 

        "So... where am I? We seem to be the only ones here..." Ty nods, taking a match out of the box, then placing it back in his pocket. 

        "See this match? All I need to do is put it near one little spark, and it will be nothing in less than a minute. It will be remembered, but it never did anything great." I nod slowly. This sounds like something dad would read to me, trying to teach me some lesson. 

        "Umm... yeah, that makes sense, I guess? Can you tell me where I am now?" Deadlox rolls his eyes, taking the matchbox out of his pocket again. 

        "You're in between. You're nowhere, and everywhere. Now let me finish talking." He points behind me, and I turn around to see a large pile of explosives. He walks past me, over to the pile and holds up the match and the matchbox. 

        "So a match's life is short and unimpressive, but if you put it near other flammable objects..." He smiles, lights to match, and tosses it onto the explosives. There's a flash of light and a really, really, loud bang. I automatically move my arms to shield my face, but when the smoke clears, nothing is damaged but the explosives. 

        "What the Neather was that for?!" I yell. Ty laughs, slipping the matchbox back into his pocket. He shrugs, grinning. 

        "It got your attention, didn't it? And I always had a thing for destruction. Anyways, you get what I'm saying, right?" He looks at me expectantly, and I shrug. 

        "Yeah..? Life can be boring or... explosive. But I'm dead, why should that matter now?" Deadlox shakes his head. 

        "You're not dead, you're in between. You are being given a choice here. You're lucky, not everyone is given a choice. I've been watching you for a while, I think you'll make the right choice." His tone is suddenly a little sad. 

        "Why could I see you when the others couldn't? And why did you look so... why did you look different last time?" Ty thinks for a moment. 

        "We have a... connection. Honestly, I thought Alice would be able to see me, too. Her dad and I were close, but Seto and I were best friends. We were close in a slightly different way. I've been watching all three of you, you're the next three, I know it." Three, not two. Does he mean Indy as well?  Before I can ask, he continues with his own story. 

        "I've been helping you out since this all started. I've helped the others as well, they just didn't know it. I guided Alice to find the photos, I showed you the way to the base, I helped Indy find you. I didn't know it until I saw your reaction last time I saw you, but I became a death omen for you, and I'm sorry about that." Now that I think about it, he looked different the last time I saw him before dying. But if the others couldn't see him because they wern't doomed to die, that means they are still alive! 

        "You said I have a choice, and I taking up the job of ghost or something?" Ty laughs. 

        "No, you're not. I only became a ghost because I couldn't return completely. You though, you're different. You must know that everything worth doing comes at a price right?" I nod, but that's just life. What could be so bad that I wouldn't want to get a second chance? 

        "If you stay dead, you get to go to the afterlife now. Everything would be fine, nothing in Minecraftia could bother you. Or, you could return to your body and help your friends. If you go back, though, you will learn the truth about yourself, and that's... you might not like it. Your friends will never see you the same way. Nothing can ever be the same again." I stomp my foot onto the ground, but this action makes no sound and therefor just looks odd. 

        "I don't care what happens, my friends need me! They can't fight this alone, and I can't leave my dads alone! I came so far, I'm not giving up here!" Ty is silent for a moment, then nods. 

        "I think you've made the right choice. The harder one, the more painful one, but the right one. You'll go back, you'll see your friends. Tell Sky I said hi." He smiles, then fades into blackness. I stop feeling weightless, and start to hear the sounds of reality.