Please Don't Cry; Third Book in the Sky Army's Defeat Series

Chapter One

The King yawned as he woke up, clutching the fluffy white pillow filled with feathers close to his chest, a position he was used to waking up to since the princess he had fallen for, Alesa, left him.

He frowned slightly, peeking open a brown eye and staring at the empty space of bed next to him. He missed having a warm body next to him when he awoke, but if Notch, the God of this world, didn't deem it meant to be, it must not be.

Groaning, Adam Dahlburg, the king of a newly formed kingdom called Team Crafted, sat up in his king sized bed and gave a mighty yawn. He was not a morning person, but had to be for his beloved recruits and friends, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

Slowly Adam, or Sky to many due to his previous days as general of the Sky Army, got ready for the day ahead of him. He had to prepare for a long journey to a neighboring kingdom, but first check in with his friends to ensure there was no further business he had to attend to before the visit. His first stop was General Deadlox's room, but to Adam, the general was known as Ty.

The king frown deeply when he looked into his friend's room and saw that his green headphones lay on the nightstand. Strange, he thought, Ty never leaves without his headphones. Another glance around showed that the general hadn't even slept in his room. Very odd.

With these thoughts fresh on his mind, he rushed out of his room into the long maze of hallways that made up the Team Crafted Castle. Seto, the court sorcerer of the kingdom, was just walking up one of the many flights of stairs as the king exited said room.

"Seto!" Sky called quickly, running over to meet the sorcerer at the top of the stairs. The man looked up from his spell book and flashed the king a smile. "Oh, hey Sky. How are you this morning?"

Sky shook his head, he didn't feel right about his discoveries. "Not too well. Ty was gone this morning, and doesn't seem to have returned from last night's party. Have you seen him? His headphones are still in his room."

The sorcerer bit his lip in thought before shaking his head slowly. "No. I haven't seen him since last night. Then again, I don't remember much. Too drunk off of health potions for most the night."

Running a hand through his brown curly locks, Sky sighed. Right. The anniversary of the defeat of the squids was last night. Maybe he went on a walk to get some fresh air and had too much of a hangover to realize that he left his headphones. "Okay. Well, thanks, Seto. Contact me as soon as you see him, though."

A knowing smile spread across the sorcerer's features as he nodded. "Of course, Sky. Try not to panic too much, okay? You have a lot of business to attend to today."

The king groaned. "Don't remind me. The Minecraftia's Finest Kingdom is so far away. It'll take me at least a week to get there, get done what we need and get back."

Seto chuckled softly, patting his shoulder. "Hang in there, bud. You're doing great."

With a slight huff from Sky, the sorcerer walked off to the large library, his nose buried into his book again.

The king then made his way down the staircase and into another maze of hallways, managing to find the kitchen before getting too lost. General Ian was there, ordering the training cooks around and showing them everything they would be doing wrong and then correcting it. The king even took note of a few familiar faces from their previous struggle with squids in the crowd.

Ian looked up at the king's arrival and smiled. "Oh, hey Sky. Welcome to the chaos that is our kitchen. What's up?"

The king chuckled slightly as he watched the trainees cook. "Not much, Ian. Say, has Ty showed up here at all?"

A girl by the name of Hydra looked up from her boiling pot of soup. "Last I saw of him was when you both stumbled up the stairs too drunk to stay up any longer."

The king sighed and nodded slowly. "Thank you."

Ian shrugged. "Sorry Sky."

With a shrug and a dismissive 'it's fine', the Sky Army General left the kitchen. He went to every other general in the kingdom, but yet no one had any idea where the dead general had run off to.

The king frowned in deep thought as he stood in the Dead General's room, peering around for anything that seemed out of place. Ty was not an early morning person, neither was Sky or anyone else on the team, excluding Seto who spent as much time as he could with his nose in a book. There was no way he could've left right then and there.

Just then the window blew open and an arrow whizzed into the room, hitting the door frame with a soft thud. The king jumped in surprise before quickly closing the window and checking for a culprit. No one was there.

Grumbling, Sky then turned to the arrow and took note of the paper it had attached to its arrowhead, blue ink bleeding through some parts. The king took it and read it.

'Deer Sky,

Yes, we half yur freind. Cum & take hem.

~Squid'

Sky gasped as the nearly illegible letter fell from his grasp onto the floor. The squids should've been extinct! Why were they just now showing up? And of all things why would they kidnap Ty?

His gloved fist slammed against the red emergency button that had been installed in every room and hallway of the castle and a loud alarm sounded. Snatching up the note, he rushed to the meeting meeting place of all the generals, which was a massive conference room that was soundproof and windowless to provide privacy and secrecy to the generals and king.

Sky was the last to arrive of the generals and slammed the door shut behind him. He set the letter on the massive round table.

"I found where Ty is. And if this is real, we're all in some deep shit."