~Lukas's POV~
The sun blasts me in the eyes, forcing me awake. I shake Magnus and Ruby until they wake as well. We're going to find Jesse today, I know it. Or at least the prison she's trapped in.
We've been searching for almost a week now, in all sorts of places. Ruby's mostly sure the Hunters won't set up base in the Nether or the End, which I'm glad for. The Nether means ghasts, which I hate, and we (read: Jesse) flooded the End a while back.
"You seem cheerful," Magnus remarks, watching me bounce from foot to foot.
"We're going to figure out where she is today, I can feel it!" I exclaim. "We're going to find the fortress!"
The last thought Jesse sent us is still reverberating through my head, the shout to get away. If it means something's happened to her, I'll kill whoever did it, I swear by Notch's beard.
"Are we heading into the dark oaks?" Ruby asks, yawning.
"Yeah," I answer. She snaps her mouth shut and turns to look at the shadowy trees.
"Are you sure that's a good idea, being in there?"
"What do you want to do, walk on top of them?"
"We can, actually," she replies, examining a tree. "The trees are actually close enough together and the canopy's dense enough." She punches down one of the four main columns of the tree and pillars back up, removing any trace she was there. Soon, the sound of leaves breaking, and a shout of "Hurry up, slowpokes!" tells us it's safe.
We mirror her actions and are up on top of the trees in no time. Magnus focuses and pulls our horses up with us, and we begin riding away from the plains.
After a few hours, Magnus says, "Do you guys feel that? The air's getting warmer."
"I don't feel anything," I say after a few moments.
"Neither do I," Ruby agrees. "This might be another ability. I'm not sure if the gradients signify multiple abilities or not."
"So, you don't have a gradient marking?" Magnus asks.
She pulls up her sleeve and bares her wrist, revealing the two light purple dots, then pulls it back down. Magnus's eyes widen, and he nods.
"Seriously, it is getting hotter, though."
"Didn't you say yellow meant heightened abilities or something?" I ask, looking at Ruby.
She closes her eyes and nods. "I believe so."
"So maybe you're better at sensing changes in temperature or something," I say to Magnus.
"Hmm," is his only response.
For several minutes, we ride on in silence, until Ruby stops. "There! You see it?"
I look up, and instantly regret it.
The heat hits me like a wave, making me feel extremely nauseous. Its source is a huge moat of lava, surrounding a giant obsidian... thing. Suddenly I recognize it. It's the head of the strange beast from my dream! It even has the giant fangs and the glowing eyes.
"You okay?" Ruby asks, riding up to me. "You look like you've seen a ghost."
I spill the dream to them, and after a moment, Magnus looks at the head and says, "Well, whatever that thing is, it's definitely associated with the Hunters. So let's go save Jesse, before it gets there."
<Jesse's POV>
I don't believe it. Another Jesse? That shouldn't be possible, unless he's from another world. But that wouldn't explain why we look like twins.
YOU ARE READING
A Final Stand
FanfictionAfter finding the Atlas and helping the victims of PAMA rebuild, Jesse, Petra, Lukas, and Ivor reach their home world, with Harper accompanying them. They had expected to come back and find everything just as they left it, but a little further along...
