Young Writers Society

She didn't like being the center of attention. But a single person staring at her was much better than the thousand eyes scrutinizing her every move and word whenever she and her husband visited some tiny province, so she paid it little heed. Besides, Lexal was acting strangely.

Enide followed their glance to the large building beyond. If their earlier reaction was anything to go by, they must've heard a high-pitched or loud noise from that direction. Odd that she didn't. Her hearing was exceptional; it shouldn't have been surpassed by what she was reasonably sure was a human.

"Should we find somewhere less open?" she said, pointing to the building. "There looks acceptable." It was possible that this was some kind of ruse, but Lexal's reactions had been too sudden and too erratic. Then again, that was what she had thought before. In any case, she was armed, she really did dislike how open the bridge was, and hopefully she would get to the bottom of whatever secrets Lexal was hiding. It was what she did best.

Casey glanced at Lexal, eyes wide and surprised. He nodded at Enide, which made his head start to hurt.

"That's a fine idea. Maybe we can find some food, too." he winced again at the way his voice reverberated in his skull.

He needed his medicine, and he needed it soon. It was slightly risking taking it on an empty stomach, though, on account of how strong it was.

Oh thank God, Lex said, wanting to sigh in relief at Enide's suggestion. No one was questioning their bizarre actions. While that should have been alarming, he was just grateful he didn't have to improvise.

Before anyone else could give their opinions on Enide's suggestion, Aleks was already in the process of walking towards the building in the distance. While that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it did make him feel more than a little rude.

Enide followed Lexal, staring up at the building. No matter how hard she looked, she couldn't spot anything moving. No lights flickered to life through any of the windows, no noise reached her ears, nothing. As far as she knew, the place was abandoned. Lexal, on the other hand, knew it wasn't.

So, as they left the bridge, Enide walked up to Lexal and whispered, "What should we expect to find?" Their reaction would tell her how much risk she had put herself in.

Camille opened his mouth, then closed it. He didn't really know what to say. For someone who prided himself on his ability to rally crowds with his speeches, he was oddly silent. But days, weeks, months of isolation underground could do that to a person. He followed along silently, his hand not leaving his saber.

Casey decided that he was putting himself in too much danger by waiting so long to take his injection. He felt for his amulet, and then stopped cold. It was gone. He pulled at the collar of his shirt and looked down- his chest was bare.

deep breaths. He dropped to his knees and pawed at the ground, desperate to find it. His hair flashed yellow with panic.

"No!" He gasped out loud.

Ryder watched him.
"Are you...are you good, my dude?" he asked, sneakily dropping the amulet onto the back of his shoe so as not to make a sound. He stepped forward. The amulet would be on the ground where he had been standing.
He crouched and sat on his haunches.
"What are we looking for?"

"My... my..." Casey struggled to find coherent words. Thankfully, he didn't have to. He saw the familiar sparkle several feet away and sighed with relief.

"Nevermind." He crawled forward and snatched it, his fingers shaking uncontrollably. He quickly uncapped the silver end of the amulet and drove the uncovered needle into his left inner elbow. His cap had been knocked off in his frantic search, and now his hair was free to give everyone a color show while the medication kicked in. His hair pulsed from a bright red and then softened through orange and yellow as it subtly went back to a calm blue.

"Thank god." He whispered. He capped the needle on his amulet again and slid it back around his neck. Now all he had to do was face the stares of the group and think up an explanation for his erratic behavior.

He reached up to pull the cap down and realized that it wasn't there. He sighed. And make up an explination about his hair.

Ryder stared at his hair.
"Woah, y-your hair, it's really cool, my guy. H-how does it do that?" he asked, leaning closer to examine it a bit more carefully.

Casey quickly picked up his cap and shoved it over his hair.

"Um, I- I'm addicted to illegal substances!" He blurted out, then winced. He wasn't sure whether that lie was even worse than the truth, "space drugs. They mess up your coloring."

He shrugged, like what're you gonna do?

Ryder stroked his chin for a moment.
"Two questions," he held up his index and middle finger, "One: Why are you taking space drugs? Two: Where can I get myself some?"

"Peer pressure." Casey raised his brows, now sold on his story, "and I doubt you could find a dealer down here, but knock yourself out."

He stood, trying to quell his shaking legs.

"Do these drugs just have everything in them? 'Cause I've never heard of drugs changing hair colour as vibrantly as that."

Casey sighed and rubbed his eyes wearily.
"I don't ask questions. It just happens." He started walking again to catch up with the rest of the group, "trust me, you don't want to mess with these."

The sound of Enide's voice in their ear almost made Lex jump in surprise, but Aleks quickly took control and soothed the urge to do so. They turned to look over at her. They were both trying to come up with a suitable answer to the question; something told him that it wasn't going to be an easy decision.

And, like usual in a situation like this, he was right.

Let's ignore her and kept walking, Aleks argued. Telós needs us.

Lex would have raised an eyebrow if they weren't around so many other people - especially Enide, who seemed to be particularly observant. Since when has that either bothered you? We should give her an answer. It's not out of the ordinary for people to believe in gods back on Earth and on Minecraftia. Maybe we could just tell the truth.

No.

He folded his arms. He really shouldn't have, but he couldn't help it. This is about being around other people again, isn't it? Because so many of them look like players?

Silence. He had hit the nail on the head, and both of them knew it. Now Aleks was undoubtedly sulking in the corner of their mind because he hated whenever anyone figured out that much about him. It didn't help that they shared the same body; he couldn't storm off like he wanted to.

"We should find my god," Lex said, giving an almost sheepish grin. He loved Telós as much as any of his other friends, but he also knew Telós wasn't the stereotypical god that people would expect. If it had been anyone else, it would have been a different story. "He's a bit...odd, so just be prepared for that. You might have trouble realizing that he's a god when you see him."