Kaja ran along the path through the dark oak forest. As much as she wanted to take a break and smell the roses, she couldn't, knowing what was going on. The all-too-familair smoke in the air said it all.

    "Shit," she hissed. "I might not make it." She grasped the hilt of her diamond sword and continued running. She continued running, drawing her sword and she reached the edge of the forest, only to nearly fall forward into a big hole. "Whoa!" She fell back onto her bottom. "Dammit... I was too late." She pulled herself up and looked deep into the large hole in the ground, the size of a village, and nearly as deep, with water flowing in from a nearby spring. "At least that'll stop that lava flow." She started a trek into the hole when she noticed that there was an abandoned mine shaft. "I'll bet they escaped through there." She ran across the new landscape and into the mine shaft. It was well lit, as there was more torches up than usual. Someone was definitely here. Suddenly, she felt a presence behind her. Kaja turned and saw a bat flying around. "Dammit. You scared me." Finding no one, she continued walking until the mine shaft led out into a cave and back up to the surface.

    Kaja arrived back at her large house later that evening. There were a few zombies hanging around her fence, but she let them be. When she walked in the door, her recent friend was waiting for her.

    "Bloody hell, Kaja," she said. She had blonde hair and blue eyes. "You're late."

    "Isetta, I'm sorry," Kaja said, walking to her room on the left.

    "And to think I made you a cake."

    "You made a cake?!" Kaja asked, running back over to her, with sparkles in her eyes. "Can I have some please?!"

    "Get clean first," Isetta said with a sigh. Kaja ran to her master bathroom and washed herself off in her tub made of quartz. Once she was cleaned and dried off, she put on underwear and her night gown. She hurried to the dinner table and sat down with a plate and fork. Isetta laughed. "Eat your rabbit stew first."

    "Aw dammit!" Kaja whined.

    "Hey!" Isetta snapped, slamming her hand on the table. "I had to go out and hunt these rabbits down!"

    "Okay, sorry." They stared at each others with their expressions unchanged until they started laughing. "Glad you're alright."

    "Same," Isetta said while she handed Kaja a bowl. "So what was that big explosion about?"

    "I don't know," Kaja said while she ate. "But that's what I plan on finding out. With all the lessons I've been teaching, the greifing rate has dropped dramatically."

    "I know. You're like a goddess of teaching."

    "Well," she said with a rueful smile. "I can't take all the credit." She glanced toward the ceiling. "He really helped me a lot..."

    "Who?"

    "Nothing. Maybe I'll tell you later."

    "You better. You know how curious I get."

    "For the love of God, don't remind me. You've already violated me in so many different ways."

    "Oh come on," Isetta blushed. "Some of was pretty fun, right?"

    "Yeah, maybe," Kaja blushed. "But those nights aren't the point."

    "Then what is the point?"

    "Look, it's nothing okay?" Kaja slurped up the last of her stew, leaving the empty bowl. "I'm going to get to bed."

    "It's a little early, isn't it?"

    "Not for me." Kaja stood up and left the kitchen, heading back to her room. She had trouble falling asleep, thinking about how anyone would have enough TNT to cause such massive damage. There was no way that anyone could possible do it. She sat up with a start. "They have to have admin privileges!" she said in her epiphany. "Whatever those are." She shrugged and went back to sleep.

2: Helping Out

    The next morning, Kaja and Isetta went out to where the big explosion was the day before. Isetta was very surprised, seeing the hole for the first time.

    "Holy shit, someone did all this?!" she exclaimed.

    "Yep," Kaja said. "Only it was a bit bigger. It seems as if people are already filling it back up." There some people using a lot of dirt and stone to refill the hole, another were building out from the mine shaft, building it up to the surface level. Kaja smirked at that.

    "Dammit man, don't just cover it over!" a man on the other side of the hole said.

    "Sorry," his colleague replied. "Just trying to save time."

    "Let's go work over there," Isetta said, pointing to a corner where no one was working.

    "Sure. I brought plenty of dirt from home." They made their way over to the spot and began refilling the ground. Everyone who had randomly showed up over the course of the day helped refill the hole and by midday, the hole was refilled with a pond on top as well as the mine shaft entrance and some tree saplings were planted. Those who stayed for the entire reconstruction exchanged a few hearty cheers and bottles of water. Isetta celebrated by sharing a lot of steaks and cakes with everyone.

    "Looks good as new," Kaja said as a younger girl planted a few flowers.

    "Yeah," Isetta agreed. The pathway war carved back into the ground and it looked as if nothing had happened. Soon, everyone started leaving the area, to continue with their normal lives. Kaja and Isetta were laying down on the new grass. "So Kaja, who do you think made this big hole?"

    "That's the thing, Isetta," Kaja said as they both stared at the square clouds in the sky. "I'm sure it had to be someone with admin clearance."

    "What the hell is 'admin clearance'?"

    "That's the other thing. I don't bloody know."

    "So... it was someone with special powers?"

    "I guess. You wanna go after them?"

    "Hell yeah." Isetta sat up excitedly. "Ooh, this'll be so much fun!"

    "Yeah," Kaja said, sitting up as well. "Let's head back and pack up." They walked back to their house and packed up everything they would need. "You ready to go, Isetta?"

    "Ready as I'll ever be, Kaja," Isetta answered, closing one of her storage chests. They walked out to their horses in the stable. Kaja had a black furred horse named Shadow. Isetta's horse had a fur that was a shade of tan with brown stripes. She named it Swirl.

    "Whoa, Shadow," Kaja said softly, feeding the dark horse some carrots. She packed some of her items in the saddle bags.

    "You ready to go, Swirl?" Isetta asked with a smile. Swirl neighed in response as Isetta packed her saddle bags as well. "Then lets go!" The four of them set out on their journey to track down whoever had the power to create village-sized holes in the ground. They traveled through the forest and came across a village where they decided to stay the night. Once Shadow and Swirl were placed in the inn's stable, they went out in search of some dinner. They bought some bread and steak from a farmer in exchange for a few emeralds, which Kaja was a bit upset, given how long it had taken for her to mine that many. They took their dinner back to their room.

    "That farmer is a cold-blooded thief," Kaja muttered.

    "Just because his prices were a bit high, I admit, doesn't mean he's a thief," Isetta said.

    "Whatever. The point is, never do business with him ever again."

    "I agree." They walked to their door, and Kaja noticed a girl wearing a teal jacket. She thought she saw a certain black pattern on it, but with a second glance, the girl was gone. "Kaja?"

    "Hm?" Kaja noticed that she was facing the other way.

    "Who was it?"

    "Some girl. Thought she was wearing a griefer's jacket."

    "Huh." Isetta unlocked the door and walked into their room. "Kaja!"

    "Hold on," Kaja said. She walked down the hallway a bit and sniffed the air.

    "What is it?"

    "I know that scent. I smelled it when I first discovered the crater. The air smelled heavily of used gun powder."

    "And...?"

    "That girl smelled like gun powder." Kaja went down the hall, searching for the girl, only to not see her. "I swear Isetta, if you see her tomorrow, question her."

    "What are we the police?"

    "Yes. Why do you think Steve had me on for this?"

    "I see. Well, I'll grab her if I see her tomorrow. For now, we should get to bed."

    "Yeah... we should."

3: Morning Town Chase

    The following morning, when the sun had risen, and the village began to wake up, Kaja was already lurking in the shadows of the inn, waiting to see the girl again. Isetta was also up and searching around. Kaja watched as the same girl walked out of the inn, and onto the front walkway with a broom and began sweeping. Kaja walked out of the shadows and the girl looked over, an expression of shock on her face and she turned and ran. Kaja ran after her.

    "Get back here!" Kaja said. The girl turned her head and threw the broom behind her, trying to trip Kaja. Kaja jumped over the broom and continued chasing. From a neighboring rooftop, Isetta saw the pursuit and joined in, running from roof to roof, until the girl ran into a dead end alley way.  Kaja had the girl cornered and Isetta jumped down, grabbing her.

    "Hey!" the girl yelled. "Let go of me!" She had short brown hair and teal eyes that matched her jacket.

    "Just shut up and answer our questions," Kaja said.

    "What the hell do you guys want?"

    "Why the hell do you smell like gun-powder?"

    "What?!"

    "Why do you smell like gun powder?" Kaja sniffed the girl, who blushed slightly. "Yeah. Gun powder. So tell us why."

    "My brother's a potions brewer!"

    "And you help him?" Isetta asked.

    "Yes!" The girl was on the verge of crying. Kaja thought for a moment, while Isetta held her grip.

    "Takes us to him then."

    "What?"

    "Take us to your brother," Isetta repeated. "We wanna see this potions brewing."

    "Okay okay!" the girl cried, tears falling from her eyes. Isetta let her go. "Our Mom is the innkeeper. We work in the basement." They went back to the inn, but the girl led them to a trap door on the ground behind a tree. "He sells the potions so we have money."

    "Okay," Kaja said. The girl opened the trap door and went down first, Kaja and Isetta following, their swords at the ready.

    "Rain?" The girl said. "Are you here?"

    "Snow?" an answer asked. Kaja watched as a young man stepped out from behind a stack of bookshelves. He wore a rudimentary lab coat and goggles. "Why did you bring people here?!" The girl ran over and hugged him.

    "They were being mean to me!" Snow cried.

    "What were you doing?" Rain asked Kaja and Isetta.

    "She smelled like gun powder," Kaja answered. "I got suspicious, given the griefing that's been going on recently."

    "What?"

    "You didn't hear?" Isetta asked. "Someone blew a huge hole in the ground the size of an entire village and almost as deep."

    "Great God," he said with surprise. "I assume you suspect Snow?"

    "She just smelled like gun powder," Kaja explained.

    "Okay. But see here, she helps me with my brewing. I'm sure I smell like gun powder too."

    "It's hard to tell with all the material matter in the air. But now that I see your rather messy lab, I can say that she is not the griefer we're looking for."

    "That's good."

    "But since you've both put up with us, we'll take some potions of night vision, water breathing, and speed."

    "I have some of the materials, if that'll help," Isetta said, handing Rain a pouch of materials.

    "Thanks," Rain said with a remaining hint of contempt. "I'll get those made for you." Kaja and Isetta waited while their potions were being made, Isetta noticing that Snow kept glancing over at them with a look of hatred. After a few minutes of watching some smoke and hearing boiling bubbles, Rain stood up and raised his goggles to his forehead. "Alright, you're potions are finished."

    "Thank you," Isetta said with a smile.

    "Now pay up!" Snow said.

    "Will this make do?" Kaja asked, handing her some emeralds and gold nuggets.

    "Yes, it will," Rain said, taking the payment from his sister. "Now you can both go." Kaja narrowed her eyes a bit and Isetta just stared at him. They climbed up the ladder and back outside.

    "What the hell was up with him?" Isetta asked.

    "I don't know," Kaja said. "But I don't trust them at all."

    "Neither do I."