Jordan woke up to the ground shaking as if a giant was skipping merely across the land. Leaves fell in from her open window and her belongings fell all across the wooden floor.

She had fallen asleep with her dress from yesterday and the tiara Tom had gifted her had fallen to her eyes. Her hair no longer wet resembled a giant bird's nest, under normal circumstances she would have freaked out and fixed it right away but once she looked outside her body went still.

With the ground still trembling, she stumbled her way to the balcony and stared at the giant cloud of darkness coming from the direction of the priest's home. Jordan could have sworn that she could hear a faint scream of anger in the distance as well, a sound that made fear flow though every nerve, muscle, and bone in her body.

"By the gods" was all she could manage to say at the state in the ground

Trees had fallen over and leaf clutter covered the grass completely, and with the ground still shaking, animals and livestock ran in panic.

"Guys...please tell me this is part of the party, is this some sort of sick ritual of yours?" she asked her friends through the world communicator

"Tom, what did you do?" Sonja said in a panic followed by a small squeal "An armor stand almost fell on me!!!!"

While she waited for a response from her friends, Jordan got some leather pants and fastened them under her dress along with some small weapons just in case this turned out to be a fight she could rip up the dress and be better suited for one.

"I didn't do anything, swear!" Tom answered while Jordan was making her way down the elevator, she couldn't help but let out a scoff

"Drama seems to revolve around you Tom, you are almost always responsible for chaos here"Tucker said, beating Jordan to it

"This isn't me this time! By the gods! Can the ground stop shaking for a second while I put on some pants? This is the third time I've elbowed myself in the face!" Tom said with a high screech following shortly after, probably indicating another elbow to the face.

"It's coming from the priest's house! I could see a giant cloud gathered" Jordan cut in

"A cloud?" Sonja said

"Yeah, you know what it looks like actually..its the same colors as the nether portal and it has the same swirls and color. Maybe Dec tampered with the portals and something went wrong" Jordan added.

"Jordan...you don't think its...Furia do you?" Tom said

She stopped running, fear rippling though her realizing this may be a revenge. Before heading out she grabbed two swords and a bow and arrow. If Furia was looking for a fight, he would get one.

"Meet you there. Tucker and Sonja, you should stay home" Jordan said as she began jogging at a steady pace, hands sweating under the hold she had on her blades.

"Why!!" Tucker demanded

"This may be a personal matter" Tom said

"So this IS your doing?!" Sonja screamed

"Jeez! Maybe! Jordan you should stay home too, this is between me and him" Tom said

"You wish! Once that guy tried to kill me this became my issue too" she snapped, not slowing down one bit

"Killed! What the hell Jordan! Do you even have a sense of survival, how come you're always embracing death like it's an old friend?!"Champwan cut in, leaving a few seconds of silence.

"it's a one sided friendship I can assure you of that" she snapped back to push away her growing fear.

Once she reached the entrance to the Priest's yard, Jordan couldn't believe her eyes. The portal looked as if it was going to explode, nether particles flowing out of it like big gusts of wind adding on to the could above her.

It was then that she noticed it wasn't the only one...

The was one near her house, she hadn't noticed it because it was on the back side of her home floating high above the sky. There was also one near Tom's home and by Nade's old home.

"By the gods" she whispered to herself as she began to run back home but stopped just a few feet from where she had began running from.

There was a forest...like a full grown forest in the once fat grasslands in front of her houses. The trees looked like they had been there for centuries, not as high as her home but deeply rooted to the ground.

The leaf colors were like a rainbow across her lands, the falling leaves like colorful drops decorating the floor with life. It seemed rather dumb that she hadn't even noticed on her run over to the priest's house, then again she was very focused.

Jordan stopped and placed her hands over her mouth in disbelief at the beauty now sprawled in front of her. Winds swept by the trees and the leafs cluttered on the floor, lifting them up and swirling them around in the air in clutters like a living entity.

"Thank you" she said to Dianite through the world communicator

What a beautiful gift! After all, this was something only a god could accomplish, and its other worldly beauty was a testament to it.

When Dianite didn't answer she began the track back home, blade in hand and getting her mind back on track the possible threat.

"Guys, there are all these nether mushroom clouds all over the place. What do we do?" Jordan asked her friends

"Why don't you ask your boyfriend?" Champwan said privately to her to which she scoffed in frustration

"Get over it" she quickly said back with a bitter tone

Half way back home she saw everyone had gathered up just before her forest, she joined the group and when they looked at her and the forest she just gave them a shrug as to signal she was just as clueless as them.

Before they could say anything, a scream rang out all over the land, a deep and powerful scream that send them all huddling together.

Tom gathered his sword and smirked, almost excited at the incoming trouble as if he needed a fight, maybe even craved it. Jordan expected Tucker to protect Sonja, but when she looked at them she didn't stand behind him but rather beside him, holding hands with one hand and blades ready on the others. The priest had a wooden stick in hand but opposite to Tom, his face showed deep wrinkles of concern and confusion, his usual amusement gone.

"From Ianite" Champwan said calmly next to her "the forest"

His words literally made her stager back having to catch herself with Tom's arm.

Ianite....thats right! In the streams Captain Sparkles had a forest from his lady.

How could he give her a forest though, he wasn't well to say the least and who knew where he was at the moment? Most importantly, why would he give her a forest of all things and why now?

"Don't ask me" Champwan said as if he had read the questions in her mind "Im just the delivery boy"

She wanted to ask a million questions but the abnormalities in the sky grew more and more, gaining up on the area where they all stood. Jordan could vaguely hear Tucker scream for an explanation at the priest who didn't say a word but just stared ahead.

Champwan then handed Jordan a potion, a strength potion.

"Use it as a last resort, we don't know what we're going up against so use it wisely" he told her

Jordan nodded and sneaked a glance at Tom who was on her other side. He too was confused but more exited than anything.

Made sense, all of them were used to living in a world were death was something rare, nothing to fear thanks to the world communicator. Fighting was like a sport to them, a way to pass the time or have a good laugh.

Something told her that's why he was always so playful and careless when it came to killing and fighting.

Though she didn't want to admit it to herself just yet, she too was sort of excited to face the unknown. Like the time she faced the Whither, it was painful and scary but the knowledge that death did not await her in the battle had made it almost fun.

Because of that, she didn't scold Tom or told him to take the situation more seriously, instead she pushed her cape aside and held his hand not just to calm her nerves but because he needed to know he wasn't gonna fight alone, specially if Furia was involved.

"Shame for the dress, it was so fancy!" Tom said, never taking his eyes off the sky

Jordan did as she had planned before and cut off the bottom in a few awkward strokes of her blade and letting the fabric drape onto the ground. Champwan had gasped until he realized she had pants under to which the rest of them let out small chuckles and smirks.

The darkness came closer from all directions now, surrounding them. As if on instinct, they all formed a circle, backs to each other, facing the trouble.

Another scream rang out and her blood went cold, she knew that voice...

Flames rose on the horizon near the priest's home and she had to cover her eyes from the blinding glare.

"WHERE IS HE?! IANITE!!!!!!!!" screamed the lord of the nether, loud enough that he could have been next to her.

Oh no...

"Um...yeah we're running. NOW!" the priest said, giving her a knowing glance as if he knew what had happened with Ianite.

The priest didn't wait for a response, he grabbed her wrist and made a gesture to the others to follow. Reluctantly they all did, though Tom hesitated a second before falling into step with the rest.

"What's going on!?" Tucker asked

"Do you wanna stay and find out Jericho?" the priest said jokingly

Tucker shut up and helped Sonja with her weapon so she could run with more ease while Champwan scrambled through his bag desperately.

"Swiftness potions" he said before handing one to each, gulping his down and throwing the bottle carelessly on the floor.

Tom tried to drink his while running and choked on it in a true Tom fashion, that made Sonja laugh while drinking hers leading to liquid of the potion spraying from her nose and mouth. That made the champions lose their frail composure and laugh their heads off.

Even in possible death situations, count on her friends to laugh in the middle of it all.

The priest, giving up on them, continued to run sending a vulgar gesture their way to mock them. Champwan was the only one that was still fully serious and began to scream at them to run.

Though Jordan was laughing a bit to much, she composed herself enough to drag Tom and slightly nudge Sonja to do the same.

To their "luck", Dianite appeared right in front of them.

Fire surrounded every inch of him and his eyes were almost fully black with anger. His posture was not his usual stiff, serious, and cold self, it was almost like an animal stood before them. His breathing was heavy and his stance wide as if ready to pounce at anyone.

Nobody moved an inch, even with the swift potion in their systems, outrunning a god was impossible.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER! DECLAN! WAS IT YOU!?" Dianite said, turning 180 degrees to face the accused in one swift movement.

To his credit, the priest didn't even flinch when the god of the nether stood breaths away from him. Instead he blinked slowly and calmly stated "I haven't done anything with regards to your brother, find your blame elsewhere"

Tom covered his mouth to hide the growing smile revealing his dimples.

Jordan was...astonished to say the least. That was her Dianite, that raging anger leaving her as still as a statue.

She wasn't afraid as much as she was confused and slightly guilty, this was about Ianite...

Once Jordan realized she hadn't been breathing for quite a while she let out a loud breath that betrayed her.

Dianite quickly turned around and looked her over, scanning her features probably looking for evidence of guilt itself.

He approached her slowly but still in that animalistic trance, one she realized, she had briefly seen last night of Mianite when she told him of the villagers.

He didn't greet her or soften his expression for her, no, he was coming for her....

Champwan stood between her and the god, placing a hand on Dianite's chest to stop him. Tom proceeded to push her behind him before letting out a nervous laugh.

Though slightly shocked, Jordan made the smart choice and drank her strength potion as a precaution.

"If you helped your god I suggest you begin to run, my god doesn't like the guy very much or Ianitees for that matter" Tom said quietly

Dianite effortlessly pushed Champwan a few feet across the clearing and continued to stomp his way over.

"How did that piece of filth escape?! Did you help?!" He screamed between his gritted teeth, holding back the louder tone he probably wanted to use.

"I didn't free Ianite" Jordan said, picking her words very carefully. It wasn't a lie, she did in fact not free Ianite, Ianite had done it himself. She had attempted to but her god beat her to it, so her statement held no lies.

Dia stopped in front of Tom and looked down at him, fire still surrounding the outline of his body, when Tom didn't move aside, the god simply vanished, taking all the dark mist in the sky with him.

Then, Mianite teleported where Dianite had been a few second ago, making them all think that Dianite had come back for a terrifying heart beat.

"Why are you here?! Ugh you're the last thing we need right now" Tom said to Mianite

The god just glared at him for a brief second, Tom didn't back down, a new smirk filling his features.

"Leave Thomas"the god said

"Haha! Make me you piece of gunpowder" Tom retorted

That set off the god and Tom collapsed on the ground. Mianite hadn't even touched him...

"Tom!" Jordan said as she knelt next to her friend, holding his head in her hands trying to see if he was alive.

"I can't keep him knocked out for long. Listen, all of you. A ship will be coming soon, a ship with valuables that could help in defeating the evil in this land. Problem is, Dianite is aware of this ship and will do everything in his power to see it destroyed, you must get to it first" the god said

"When? Where?" Tucker asked impatiently

"Can't say for sure, but you must be alert as I have no doubt Tom has already been signed to stop and destroy the ship as well. Seems the celebrations are over for today, Dianite is in an... unstable mood" he said daring to look at Jordan's direction briefly, not to confirm she knew what he meant, but rather concerned for her it seemed.

Perhaps to see if Jordan was ok with the events that had transpired. She gave a quick nod and he vanished.

"Well...thats something new. A ship?!! But of course he has to keep being so cryptic about it! Gosh, can't he just tell us everything we need to know. We might have to take turns keeping an eye out on the ocean and hope we come across something before Tom or Dianite do" Tucker said

A ship.... oh gods no! The pirates! they were already on their way and she hadn't even killed Furia yet. Worse of all, Dianite was after them, she would have to stand separate from him when it came to saving the pirates and given the mood he was in that was a dangerous move.

Tom woke up in her arms a few seconds after Tucker had finished handing out shifts and gone over some backup plans in case things went south. None of them knew there were pirates coming, Ianitees to be more precise. Jordan didn't say a thing, keeping it to herself would probably be best for the time being.

She had made sure to take the shifts on the part of the island she remembered the pirates had arrived on in the streams, just as a precaution. Thankfully, Tucker didn't question it and went along with his plans up until Toms awakening.

Tom began to curse at Mianite with all his might but she couldn't focus on his voice, not after all she had witnessed and all that was to come.

Furia had to be stopped, and quickly. Dianite and her needed to clear some things out, but she also needed to find Ianite's heart and protect the pirate's from his wrath.

Funny, today was supposed to be a fun day to celebrate, instead it turned into the beginning of war.

One in which she would have to pick a side and murder for if she wanted to keep the visitors alive, even if it meant losing herself, it was something she had to do.

*****

Sorry I haven't been able to update! I went to Italy for my winter break and just got back. I promise I'll try to update as often as I did before. Enjoy the story! Things are about to get real!!!

-LadyClaire