Dead Inside

38.

Morning came before Sabre knew it. Apparently he had slept in quite a bit, and he still felt tired. Sabre climbed out of his tent and found his friends already up and making breakfast. He also noticed StarLord wasn't up yet.

"Morning, Sabre!" Rainbow Steve called to him. He was sitting on a large blanket placed neatly on the grass while eating a bowl of oatmeal. Sabre went over to join him after grabbing his own bowl and placing blueberries on it.

"Tired much?" Rainbow Steve asked. 

Sabre nodded. "I spoke to StarLord last night."

"Why?" Rainbow Steve questioned. "I thought you were asleep."

Sabre froze, his mind whirling for a reply. "I found myself unable to sleep for a bit, and StarLord was up, too, so I figured I would go talk to him."

"Okay," Rainbow Steve took a bite of his oatmeal. "So, how'd it go?"

"Alright, I was wrong about him," Sabre admitted. "He's not Forest Steve."

Rainbow Steve pushed Sabre's shoulder playfully. "You see? Don't judge a book by its cover, as you say it."

Sabre laughed. The friends finished eating their bowls of oatmeal before StarLord came out to join them. 

"Morning, StarLord!" Galaxy Steve called. "Rough night?"

"Nah," StarLord let out a small yawn. "Just a nice talk with Sabre. You want to hear the strange dream I had last night?"

"Sure," Blue Steve replied. 

"Well," StarLord explained. "I was in this area, right? It looked exactly this one and Emburn was there. So was all of you. And some other guy, it looked like a Steve. He was green, purple, I think pink, and blue. We were all there, and this guy came up. He was green, dark green, a bit of black, brown and had branches sticking out of his back. He spoke to us, though I don't remember what he said. I know it had something to do with Sabre, and how we will die. He was about to attack when another guy came. He was black, white and blue. He jumped in the way and a ray of light pierced through his chest and he lay at our feet, dead. Then Cat, Cala and Sally came and joined Emburn in attack the guy who killed him and he died, too. It was quite strange and I didn't understand it."

Sabre blinked. This dream StarLord explained did sound quite strange. He understood who all three of the strangers were; Portal Steve, Forest Steve and The God of the Steves. But if the God of the Steves died, Sabre knew this was more than just a dream. It was a vision. 

"That does sound strange," Alex said. "It sounds as if the God of the Steves was killed by Forest Steve."

"My thoughts exactly," Galaxy Steve agreed. 

Sabre was about to speak up and explain his own thoughts but was interrupted when some yelled out, someone coming from the forest to the left of the group. They all turned to face the noise when a person leapt out of the trees and stumbled onto the ground with a grunt. He had scratches all over his body and a large wound in the side of his neck, gushing out blood and staining the soil below him. Sabre instantly recognized him. 

"Portal Steve!" he exclaimed. He jumped to his feet and ran over to his friend. "Are you okay?"

Portal Steve gazed up at Sabre, his eyes wide with fear. "Sabre! Thank goodness I found you!"

"What happened?" Sabre asked, helping his friend up onto his feet. 

"No time to explain!" Portal Steve said, grabbing Sabre's shoulders tight in his grasp. "We have to go find Emburn, we need her to use her powers and let you live longer. We need to do that and find the others." he was speaking quite fast and his voice shook with fear.

"Portal Steve, calm down," Sabre said. "What's going on?"

"It's Forest Steve," Portal Steve said. "He's coming to kill you, and trap both you and Emburn in the Dead Lands for good!"