Despite all that has gone on over the past couple of days, the early night really allowed me to get a great night's sleep! When I was finally awakened in the early hours of the morning, I half expected to see either Ami, THEROS or UOPETA at the door, trying to wake me up. But instead, I was actually awakened by Chiron, who was stood on top of me on the bed, sniffing my face with his cold, wet nose. After realising what was going on, I playfully pushed him aside and sat up on my right elbow, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. I got the feeling that Chiron knew something I didn't; he say there wagging his tail and panting rather excitedly, which he never really did in the mornings. I got up, dressed myself and headed out the door, only to have Chiron bound after me. I spent the better part of ten minutes trying to convince him to stay in my room,but he was having none of it. In the end, he accompanied me to breakfast. As THEROS and UOPETA woke up and joined me at the table, they took looked rather confused about Chiron being sat beside me, looking very happy about something...
"What's up with Chiron...? He's not usually like this in the morning..."
I shrugged, telling them that he was likely trying to tell me something I didn't yet know about, or of something that I was currently unaware... I still hadn't decided if that was a good thing or a bad thing, considering the recent circumstances.
"I don't know... Dogs are usually really good at picking up on things much earlier than humans. They're supposed to be really good at picking up stark changes in human emotion, that would otherwise be unnoticed..."
"Since when were you the expert on dogs? If that's the case then you've got to be giving out a good vibe for him to be acting like that."
If that was the case then it was very odd indeed; I didn't feel any different to how I normally felt. I hadn't done anything differently to how I normally do things, and aside from the recent events involving the Endermen, I hadn't really thought about things differently either...
"Maybe he can sense that we're close to the end of our campaign against HoN Co.! Maybe he's picked up on everyone's heightened sense of success!"
"'Heightened sense of success...'? I don't think any of us are feeling like that. We've got a long way to go before we can feel like that. And if it were the former, that would suggest that dogs could look into the future. Or at least Chiron could anyway..."
"How do you know they can't? It's not like we can ask them about it..."
"If Chiron could see int the future, I can guarantee he wouldn't be here right now. The moment he saw Syeonyx, he'd be like 'Uh oh, trouble seems to follow him! I'm staying well away...'"
Trouble? What trouble? I played along with the joke, pretending that I was genuinely offended by his comment, and I couldn't really understand where he was coming from with a statement like that...
"You know what I mean. We've all experienced the same hell so he'd have the same response to all of us if he'd seen us initially. That is under the hypothetical assumption he can see into the future."
Looking down at Chiron, he stopped panting and cocked his head to one side, his tail still wagging furiously. I somehow doubted that, but then again there was so little we knew it was possible... Then again, anything was if the stuff we've experienced is anything to go by... COLUS came in from his room at this point and seemed happy to see the three of us already awake and getting ready.
"Are you ready to set out ASAP?"
We all nodded, knowing that giving the answer 'no' wasn't acceptable. COLUS ran us through the plan of action one last time: we were to head off to the outpost, tower thing, search fir any information or data relating to Endermen, The End, Eyes of Ender or the portal and come back with it.
"I'm afraid Chiron will have to remain here, for your safety. But on the plus side I'm allowing you to leave through the cliff mine entrance. It's still locked from the inside, so it'll allow you access into and out of the base with reasonable security. Just be careful about your actions and don't draw attention to yourselves. Good luck!"
COLUS left us to finish our breakfast which we hastily finished before preparing a few things we would need for the journey. Food, sleeping gear, blowpipe and darts, pickaxe, map and a few other odds and ends. Once packed and ready to go, we headed for the entrance to the base where we could access the cliff mine and head out to the surface through there. Ami was waiting for us at the entrance, and she said her goodbye's to us as we left. Before I passed through into the tunnel, she grabbed my arm, spun me back around and kissed me. I froze... I'd never been in this position before, and I didn't really know how to react. After she stopped, she looked down a little sheepishly, as her cheeks began to flush with colour.
"Good luck... Come back safely, wont you..."
I was under the impression that she felt ashamed about the kiss, and maybe she thought I wasn't really into it. Reaching out my hand to hers, I lifted it up and held it softly. She looked up and smiled. I leant forward and kissed her. Her cheeks practically aglow now, she tried to hide her face, but I brought her eyes level with mine by pushing her chin up with a finger on my free hand. I smiled and told her I would be back in no time. Letting go of her hand, I instantly felt something odd well up within me. I turned to go, and headed out towards the tunnel. For the first time in my life I had felt... Alone...
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