Lights Out (Book 2 of the "Living Nightmare" series)

Chapter 10

Kane stared into the darkness beyond the light of his torch. "Ciara, something has been weighing heavily on my mind."

"What is it?"

He turned to face her. "I've been having...dreams about us, Rain, Stella...except that, the more I think about it, the less it feels like a dream. More like...like a memory."

Ciara inhaled sharply. "Tell me more."

"I was running a bar. You came in and ordered a drink. I said you looked too young. You told me to shove my opinions and to get you the drink."

A slight smile appeared on her face. "That was the first night I came to your bar. What else?"

"We were hunting. You caused me to fall into a bush then got mad at me when the hog ran away. We ended up laughing about it.

"We were running through the rain. The tavern is just ahead. You slip on some mud and I caught you before you hit the ground.

"I was arguing with Rain. He punched me and you teleported past, running after Stella."

With every word, everything felt more real to him. Ciara listened carefully to every word, multiple emotions chasing each other across her face. "Is...is that all?"

"There's one more that stuck out to me. We were at a festival and some guys kept telling me to go ask you to dance. I finally gave in and we were inseparable for the rest of the night. Do you remember that?"

"I remember that night as clear as a bell. Because Kane," She looked him in the eye. "That was the night I realized I was in love with you."

Kane stared at her. Then, not exactly knowing why, he leaned forward and kissed her. But the moment his lips touched hers, he knew why he was doing it. He knew he loved her too.

Because he finally remembered everything.

<>

When Lance had collapsed, Gwen hadn't known what to do. When Hellknight and some Piglins burst into the temple and tried to capture her, she fought until they just left her there.

But she wasn't able to keep them from taking Lance.

But when she heard footsteps through the rain, she was ready. "Don't come into that doorway or I'll blast you to pieces!"

The person came to a halt and a shakey voice asked, "Gwendolyn? Is that you?"

She immediately lowered her staff. "Echo? Oh my goodness, get in here!"

The girl peeked through the doorway. Her purple hair was plastered to her head and she left puddles of water on the temple floor. "Why are you here by yourself? Where are the rest of the Ender Watchers?"

"Oh, Echo, it's really bad. The Nether has captured both your parents. As far as I know, Vordus is the only one they don't got. If they get him, its over."

"Then we have to save them."

"Echo, its just the two of us!"

Echo put her hands on her hips. "So what? Come on, you're the positive one here. We can do this."

Gwen stared for a moment. "You're right. Hellknight must have taken them to Kralos."

"So we need to get to the End."

The Arch-Enchantress nodded. "I can open us a portal. But given the Nether is in complete control right now, if anyone sees us we'll either be killed or captured."

Echo grasped her staff. "That is a risk I'm willing to take."

Gwen smiled. "That is your mother's spirit." With a breath, she closed her eyes, raised her staff, and a dragon's roar filled the room, a portal swirling open. "In, quickly! Before they notice a disturbance!"

Echo leapt through, Gwendolyn following, throwing herself into the void of the portal."

<>

Blood ran like water across the End Stone and muffled screams reached Lance's ears. He was disoriented; he couldn't tell where his body was or if his consciousness was in it. Before letting panic take over, he searched for anything to grab onto. Finding only the magic network, he threw himself into it and instantly got swept away.

Another scream reached his ears followed by an all-too-familiar voice, "In all honest, you are beautiful. Its no wonder Lance fell in love with you."

Lance finally found himself and a loud gasp escaped him, eyes flying open. The first thing he saw was Ceris. She was coated in blood-it clumped her hair, stained her clothes, and pooled all over her skin. Hellknight held her chin in one hand, bloodied dagger in the other and he smirked as he licked his lips. "Ah, nothing like a kiss flavored with blood," he looked up. "Why, hello, Lance."

Rage seemed to fill every ounce of Lance's body and with a furious scream, he lunged forward. He came to an abrupt stop as pain shot through his wrists, chains keeping him to the wall. He reached for his magic; it felt as powerful ss a river now, but something was keeping it down. 

Breathing heavily, he turned his eyed to Ceris, her face filled with pain and something else he had rarely seen—fear.

Hellknight walked over to him, idly spinning the dagger. "Glad you could wake up to join us?"

Lance looked up at him. "You're a monster."

"Am I? Am I really? This is coming from the one who killed almost all the End Lords," he grabbed Lance's face. "You may be trying to fight with a shell of stone, but your heart is weak. Why? Because you let Ceris become its weakness. You'll regret that."

He threw him down, Lance's head slamming painfully against the ground. Pain blossomed in his side as the dagger cut into him. He bit his lip to prevent giving Hellknight the satisfaction of hearing him scream. His brother sniffed. "Holding it in for now, eh?"

He yanked the dagger out of Lance's flesh and walked back over to Ceris. She shrunk back as he approached, spinning the dagger before cutting a new path on her skin. Her cry of pain was almost instant. "No! Please, no more!"

Her plees were ignored as Hellknight dug the dagger deeper.

"AGASTER!" Lance roared. "You're going to kill her!"

"Oh, I see," his brother climbed to his feet. "Your turn now, hm? Awful impatient of you."

Lance didn't flinch as the dagger coated in Ceris' blood was raised above him.

<>

Lady Myra woke with a start. "Echo. She got there too late."

She leapt uo and pulled on her boots, grabbing her hat on the way out. She didn' stop to grab anything else before heading down the path. 

I need to do something before it is too late for everyone.

<>

Hogsworth poked the fire with a stick, stirring the logs. Hilda asked, "How much longer until we get out of this cursed tunnel? I've lost count of how many mobs we've had to fight off."

"We should be almost out of here."

"You said that the last time I asked."

He sighed. "I don't know, Hilda. Okay?"

"Well, whatever. I guess we get out when we get out. I'm going to do a perimeter check."

He nodded as she pulled out a torch and headed off. He was just about to start roasting some potatoes when Hilda let out a yell.

With a confused grunt, he climbed to his feet, joining her by a bit in the ground. "Eh? What's the probl..."

He trailed off as they both stared at what was in the hole.

"The last End Crystal," Hilda breathed. "Other than the one Kane destroyed, this was the only one we were missing. We can finally take Naeus down."

"What do we do?"

"We need to take it to Ser Patrick. Now."

<>

A/N: dun, dun, dun