Wither Skulls

Chapter Fourteen

Lukas' POV

I crawled out of the water, shaking it off like a tamed dog, droplets flying in all directions.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the dog, not you!" Jen spits, glaring at me as her ears droop from the sudden rain of water.

I smile innocently over at her, making her roll her eyes as she rings out her ears, puffing out her tail to startle any drops left away.

"Sure thing fuzzy." I joke, making her shoot me a half-hearted glare.

Though her eyes gave off an annoyed vibe, the tiny smile across her lips said something else.

She enjoyed the lighthearted teasing.

Chapter Fourteen- The Trials Part One

Olivia trudged out of the water, using the shorter girl as a balance beam so she could shake some water from her boots.

"Thanks. You're a shoe saver." She jokes, ringing her hair out onto the sand.

Jessie shivered as she tried and failed to dry off, her body still dripping with water as Petra breathed a heavy sigh as she flopped onto the ground, happy to finally be on land after that long swim.

Axel however looked a little hyped, as we had run into some guardians on the way that he defeated.

"So, what's next? We've been through lakes, hills, forests. I need to know what we do next!" He cheers, slightly bouncing up and down with his hype.

We all turned to stare at him with narrowed eyes, making him stop bouncing gradually and stare down at the floor.

"C-can we just get somewhere warm for the night? I-I'm not s-sure I can s-stay out here like t-this." Jessie chatters, rubbing her arms in attempts to warm herself up.

I felt bad that we couldn't do anything to help, and I also felt terrible knowing that as soon as she wakes up tomorrow, anything she doesn't want us to know comes out.

Whether she likes it or not, tomorrow we know it all.

"I would agree, but we have gotten to a point where we cannot stop. The place where we need to keep moving no matter what." Jen mutters grimly, looking out at the large, multi-bimoe terrain.

It was strange, like we had landed in the center of four biomes.

"What do you mean we can't rest? We can't let Jessie freeze. Night's coming soon." Petra states, pushing herself off the ground to a stubborn standing position.

Jen shakes her head, hearing the protest buy deciding to not take it into consideration.

"You don't understand. We need to keep moving. We aren't safe if we stop." She mutters, eyes darting around like she was waiting for something yo leap out at us.

I realized that she tends to do that a lot and peg it as a nervous habit.

"What do you mean? Why aren't we safe?" Olivia asks, resting her hand on the wolfy-girl's shoulder to keep her from darting.

They stare at each other for a second, like they were arguing silently before she answers.

"The trials. In this place, there are a couple people who want us to fail. The guards called them the trials. They are trained hunters to take out any unauthorized people on sight. If we don't get past all of them, we can't defeat the Master." She stumbles out, looking scared.

We all share a look.

"Well, you were inside there, shouldn't you be authorized?" Axel asks, crossing his arms.

She shakes her head, holding her tail around her waist as she nervously smoothed down the fur.

"Well, no actually. If I was ever authorized I don't think The Master wants me around anymore. Telling you all about it and bringing you here was kinda against the rules." She says through clenched teeth.

Part of it sounded like she was lying, but I couldn't figure out why.

She came to warn us and is leading us back to defeat it, so why did that seem like a lie?

It seemed true, so I just shrugged it off, pegging it on the fear of 'The Trials'.

"Okay then. How many of these 'trials' are there?" Petra questions, standing closer to Jessie to warm her up.

Jen shrugs.

"I wouldn't kn-" before she can finish a rather large person barrels into her, pinning her onto the sand.

"Traitor!" The man shouts, trying to slam a picaxe down into her skull, making her scramble out of their hold, going through their legs and rushing to Olivia's side.

The man gets up, his eyes blazing.

"I didn't betray anyone!" She shouts, trying to sound threatening.

She didn't do very well as she was slightly trembling.

"Of course you did! You were The Master's right hand girl! It trusted you and you've gone and brought people here to kill it!" The man acuses, not taking another step towards Jen.

Our eyes widened as we realized what he had just said.

"Wait, you were like, second in command?" Axel asks, sounding annoyed.

Her eyes widened further.

"N-no! I was far from it!" She denies, making the trial snort with laughter.

"Yeah right. Like she was second in command. It simply kept her around because it owes her its life. That's all." He laughs, making her narrow her eyes.

"Yeah. Biggest mistake of my life ever helping it." Jen spits back, baring her teeth at the man.

We all stare between the two, realizing that this could be something strange.

"Please, can't we all just stop fighting? Talk this out?" I ask, putting myself between the two.

The glares that went right through me chilled me to the bone as I stood between two people, who probably were ready to kill each other.

The Master's POV

Someone rushed into the chamber, I wasn't sire who.

I was too busy trying to choke down my rage that I didn't bother to see.

"Master, Jennifer, she ha-"

I didn't let whoever it was continue.

"She has betrayed me." I say calmly, making fear and confusion fill the air.

Whoever came to tell me the news was terrified, and was trying to back out of the room.

If I hadn't been so angry with Jennifer, I would have stopped them, but I couldn't think of anything but the betrayal of the one closest to me.

"She chose those traitors to the world over me?" I question, seeing her clearly protecting the order from the first trial.

My eyes narrow, and the air crackles with purple sparks.

"Master, we don't know for sure what her intentions are." The guard tries to point out.

I shake my head, glaring at the image of Petra in front of me.

"First you take the credit of saving the world, and now you're taking away Jennifer?" I bellow, making the guard rush out into the tunnels.

"You will pay for this if its the last thing I do!"