The Enderlox Trilogy I: Seto's Conjuring

F O U R: You Can't Run Forever

***TY'S POV***

NightShroud teleports me with no warning. Being teleported is actually excruciatingly painful, I realize now. It feels like your limbs are being torn off and then slowly stitched back on. I can't help but wonder how the Endermen deal with teleporting all the time, but maybe they don't feel the same pain I do. I look around to see I'm in the forest on the outskirts of town. I can sense the aura of the one I'm to kill nearby. Where, I'm not one-hundred percent sure, but certainly nearby. With my will to return to normal driving me, I follow the aura.

Until it's done. I think. I chase him until it's done.

***JASON'S POV***

I wake up on a chair in Seto's house.

"You're awake," Ssundee says. "Good, I was getting worried you were in a coma or something"

"Nah, I'm all right. Is Seto okay?" I reply.

"Yeah, he's fine."

"What did I miss?"

"A lot, actually, given you were only gone for, like, a day."

"Could you elaborate on that?"

"Once Seto gets down here. On second thought, I'll just go get him."

"When did you and Seto get so close?"

"That's a story for another time. I'll get Seto."

Even though I get the feeling Ssundee will never tell me about his sudden friendship with Seto, I let him walk upstairs. In a few minutes he returns with Seto by his side. He's looking a lot better than he was yesterday, but he still needs Ssundee's weight to support him as he stumbles down each step.

"Jason," he greets me. "Good to see you're looking better. This would be the second time I've had to save your life, right?"

I laugh nervously. "Right."

"So, a lot happened while you were gone."

"I was only gone for, like, a day!"

"It was a really eventful day."

"So, start from the beginning, then. What happened with the Ender Dragon?"

"Well," Seto begins. "Around the time you disappeared, it attacked the city and took Ty."

"Is he-"

"Dead? No, I can sense his aura."

The word 'aura' hits me hard, like a punch in the face. It's a trigger word, for me. I do my best to not hear the word, but right now nothing stands in the way of another one of my episodes. The memories start to flood back again, stronger than ever this time.

No, I think. No, not now. Please. I've been running for so long...

It's too late for me to fight the flashback, and the memories I've been pushing out for years return. The memories of life before the Sky Army. Life before Deadlox, life before Sky. I cringe as they start to come back, forgetting Seto's dull words as they echo in my head.

I remember my village. It was quite like the one Helena lived in, it carried the same tranquil, happy feeling. Shops, flowers, and cozy little houses all sitting around a large square containing the Altar. Just like the one in Helena's village, it was made of soul sand and stood as tall as a man, with two skulls placed on top. I lived in a village of Wither worshipers myself, in fact. I remember how I was a rebellious little kid, how I hated doing what my father - the village chancellor - wanted me to do. I remembered how when I was twelve or so, I began to get my own ideas. I thought that Wither Worshiping was dangerous. It could only mean trouble. Me and my best friend Austin stopped worshipping one day. Father was furious, of course. He scolded me repeatedly, punished me, berated me, hit me, but it never seemed to make a difference. After a couple months of refusing to worship, my father finally cracked.