Mutant's Reign: Chapter One
The Night That Would be Remembered.
The red fingers of the dying sun slowly slipped from the cool glass that was the darkening sky. Recruits, all of which roamed the Team Crafted base, trudged back to their dorms, making room for those with the grave-shift. The deadly droning of the demons that dominated the darkness slowly made themselves known to the stars. Tense, yet restful, the cool night air felt, brushing those with its ghostly fingers, leaving behind only a chilly kiss. Tonight would be a night to be remembered, and not just by those that stalked the land under the black sky.
Scurrying around inside the tallest tower of the east wing was none other than Setosorceror and his friend, Deadlox. While Seto worked at the brewing stand, keeping a careful eye on the potion that was brewing, he would occasionally call out the name of an item, which Deadlox would then retrieve. This steady yet random beat kept both Minecraftians awake, despite the disappearing rays of the bleeding sun. Glowstone lit the room ominously, casting long, fingering shadows towards the center of the room, where a large portal stood, untouched and closed.
"Seto?" came the voice of Deadlox in a loud whisper, not wanting to break the wizard's concentration too much.
"Hmm?" Seto replied, eyes never straying from the potion.
Deadlox eyed the strange portal in the center of the room cautiously. Most Minecraftians that had any experience with portals knew that, even when inactive, a portal could be very dangerous. An example would be the Nether portal, since obsidian attracted mobs and made them spawn more frequently at night.
"Why is there a portal in the middle of the room? Also, where does it lead?" Seto frowned, but kept his attention on the potion as he sprinkled in a bit of glowstone dust. As the potion's color turned to a mystic gray, he sighed and answered, "It's a portal I read about in a book of mine. Netherwarts." he called.
Deadlox gave him the item as Seto continued, "You see, when I was training under my teacher, I used to go and read her advanced magic books in my free time. I read them so often and reread them even more, so that I knew every book in that study." He popped three Netherwarts into the potion and gently swirled it. The gray gained traces of a sickly pink. "One day, I found a book that hadn't been there before. I asked my teacher about it, and, after she looked through it, she confirmed that she'd never had it beforehand." Seto stirred in a spoonful of Magma Crème and called "Redstone."
Deadlox looked around a bit, searching through the many supply chests. He waited patiently for Seto to continue as he searched. A few moments later, Deadlox found the item and turned to see Seto shaking ever so slightly. The hand that was gripping the side of the block that held the brewing stand was white; the other covering Seto's face. As Deadlox approached him, he could hear shaky breathing. Deadlox gently placed a hand on Seto's shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly. Seto pulled his hand away and looked at his friend with a grateful smile.
Taking the redstone, he continued, "She passed away about a year ago while attempting to save a small village child from a burning building. She didn't make it out, but the child did, and with a message: Everything goes to Setosorceror." He added the redstone. "So, after going through all of the books, I found this portal diagram. I managed to build the physical portal. However..." Seto smiled as the potion bubbled slightly, changing colors to a light orange, like the sunrise. He grabbed the potion carefully and turned to face Deadlox, "The item needed to activate the portal... I've personally never heard of it." He paused, gently stirring the potion with the spoon from earlier, his face thoughtful. "Actually, no, I have heard of it. But it comes up so rarely, and no book I have explains it, that it's an object that's easy to forget about."
Deadlox blinked at Seto and tilted his head slightly, a questioning look plastered on his face, "What's the item?"
Seto put the potion down by the stand and replied "It's called 'The Essence.' It's mentioned in multiple books, though even talking about it's rare. As a result, I know next to nothing about it."
Deadlox nodded and asked "Ok, if this item's so rare, where does the portal lead? Can I see the book?"
Seto walked to an old, oak desk and picked up a black book. "This is it. Supposedly, it takes you to an undiscovered dimension." He handed it to Ty, who had followed him to the desk.
The worn leather that kept the pages together was flexible and soft, the edges ripped and strangely yellowing. But what really made Deadlox stop and shiver at the sight of the book, was the silver emblem.
The emblem was in the shape of a creature that combined the three worst mobs in Minecraftian history: The Ender Dragon, the Wither, and, the God of mobs himself, Herobrine. The thing had the Ender Dragon's body, its wings spread into a V-shape. Instead of having two forearms, the creature had three necks. The right and left heads had the form of the Wither, its ghastly, rotting mouths opened in an eternal screech. The middle head was the only thing even remotely 'human,' seeing as it was the head of Herobrine. His grin was that of a madman's, wide, stretching from ear to ear, his white eyes squinted yet wide. The entire thing was outlined in the brightest silver, while the rest was different shades of said color, excluding Herobrine's pearl eyes. The six orbs seemed to follow your every movement, constantly provoking unrest from deep within.
Being forced to rip his eyes away, Deadlox shook the unrest away and flipped the book open. The yellowing pages were fragile between his fingers, all of the notes written in a dark-purple ink. Eventually, Deadlox found the page. The page was more detailed in the information, such as how each block should be enchanted and why those particular materials, but otherwise gave the exact same main points that Seto had said.
Suddenly, the birch wood door slammed open, the loud bang startling both Deadlox and Seto. The orange potion nearly fell, but Seto managed to save it just in time.
"Deadlox! You here, buddy?" shouted Sky, his right foot raised slightly. In the center of the white birch wood door was a brown-black, some-what goopey imprint of the bottom of Sky's shoe. He strolled on in and headed towards Deadlox.
TrueMU poked his head in and said "Sorry, Seto, but Sky and I wanted to see Deadlox." He, too, walked in.
Seto sent a weak, but venomous glare at Sky, yelling "Sky! You stained my door!"
Sky looked nonchalantly at the door for a brief moment before looking back. "So? It's just mud."
"It was worth a hundred diamounds!"
Sky shrugged with the same expression still on his face as he continued to walk towards the two.
Seto scowled, angered, but decided to let it go... For now.
"Anyways, Deadlox! Me and Jason are bored! Want to do a map with us? It's parkour!" Sky exclaimed excitedly.
"Actually, he's the bored one. He just dragged me along for the ride," Jason justified.
Sky rolled his eyes under his sunglasses, but it went unnoticed by everyone. He noticed the book in Ty's hands and perked up. "Hey, what's that?" Before Deadlox could answer, Sky took the book away and examined the page. TrueMU, peered over Sky's shoulder, curiosity getting the better of him.
After a few moment of studying the page, Jason turned towards the portal. "An unknown dimension...?" His whisper was barely heard.
"Dude, that's so cool! When will it be ready?" Sky asked with interest. It wasn't everyday someone could explore an entirely new dimension, after all.
Seto sighed, scowl still present, and replied "Unfortunately, it may never be done. Without any idea as to what 'The Essence' is, I won't be able to activate it." He snatched the book back. "Besides, if we did go, we'd have to activate it somewhere else. I don't want my work place infested with strange beasts, as entertaining as it might be." Sky gave Seto a weak glare as he put the book back in its original spot.
It was then did Seto remember his potion. Attentively, he picked the potion up and called out "Ty, do we have any ground obsidian left?"
Deadlox perked up at the mention of his name and began to look through the supply chests swiftly. Adam and Jason simply watched, unsure what to do. As he searched through the last chest, Ty frown and replied, "No, I think we used it all." He turned towards Seto. "Not even a grain left."
Sighing, Seto gazed cagily at Sky and True, as if determining how much trouble the two could cause before his return. The silence that began to settle was constrictingly coarse. The scrutinizing gaze of Seto made the two Minecraftians uncomfortable. After what seemed like hours but was only a few moments, Seto broke the rough, awkward silence. "Listen, I need that powder to finish the potion, and, while I would normally kick you out, I don't feel like fighting today. And, even though Deadlox is here, I don't trust you three together in a room full of magical items. So, while I'm gone..." Seto leaned forward a bit, eyes narrowed, voice full of warning and promise, "Don't. Touch. Anything. Understand?" Seto didn't wait for a reply, seeing as he grabbed the potion and hurriedly walked to the door. Upon seeing the mark, he sighed and mumbled under his breath before closing it. The only other sound for a while was Seto's quieting footsteps.
Deadlox blinked before saying "Wait, he doesn't trust me?"
Jason shrugged before looking out the window at the starry plane.
Sky grinned and said "That doesn't matter! I say we explore!"
Ty frowned. "I've done that hundreds of time. Nothing would be different."
Adam thought for a moment before a small, mischievous smile found itself on his face. "How 'bout we... Oh, I don't know..." He went up to Jason, and, before anyone knew it, yanked Jason's helmet off and was next to Ty. "…Play Keep Away?"
Jason whipped his head around, his short curls of hair seemingly glued to his head. He glared at Adam and shouted "Give that back!" before running towards Sky.
Adam dashed away at the last second before taking off towards another corner of the room, laughing the whole time. The two sprinted around the portal in a large circle. Deadlox grinned and leaned against the desk, watching the two as they ran.
"Ty! Help me!" True yelled at the man, keeping as much attention on Sky as he could.
"No, Ty! Help me!" Adam somehow got out between his laughs.
Deadlox watched the two for a moment more before shouting "Pass it!" Sky grinned more- even though it shouldn't have been possible- and threw the helmet.
"Traitor!" Jason yelled, even though he was smiling.
The three played their game for a while, laughing and running and jumping and throwing. Eventually, Jason remembered his jetpack and almost caught the helmet. In order to pass it, Ty and Adam ran close to eachother for a trade-off, but Jason flew straight towards them. True rammed into the other boys and the three of them tumbled and rolled on the floor a little, stopping only when they hit the portal.
As the three laughed, the portal quietly sparked to life. Golden rays began to shine, making the boys stop and stare at the once-dormant portal. They scrambled to their feet and quickly backed away, True hurriedly putting his helmet back on. The three had questioning and confused looks as a wind began to pick up, the portal getting stronger in both brightness and connection.
A second, smaller glow appeared from just below Sky's neck. "Wha- What the-?" Sky stuttered, startled by the sudden glow from his amulet.
The portal suddenly sent out a concentrated beam of what seemed to be pure energy. It hit Sky's amulet, sending him flying backwards into the wall. He landed hard on the floor.
"Sky!" Ty and Jason screamed as they ran to his side.
"Ugn... Wha...?" Adam groaned as he slowly pushed himself up, with the help of his friends. A sphere of purple light left his amulet and floated towards the portal. It was absorbed by the portal, changing the soild golden light to a foggy, dim green.
Suddenly, the portal began to suck up anything that couldn't withstand the pull of the wind. Books, papers and bottles flew into the misty, green light, disappearing with a subtle flash. Ty, Adam, and Jason managed to stand their ground for only a few minutes before Ty was lifted off his feet and drawn towards the black hole. Jason allowed the wind to take him so he could get Ty. Just before Deadlox was sucked into the portal, he was grabbed by Jason, who was using his jetpack to go against the suction. It wasn't long before Adam, too, fell prey to the wind.
Now, with two people on Jason's back and forced to go against the wind, his jetpack began to strain itself. The door flew open, and Setosorceror looked inside with a horrified expression. Without letting go of the door with one hand, he reached in, trying to grab Jason's.
They were only an inch apart when the jetpack gave out.
The wind ripped True, Deadlox and Sky away from Seto, and each one was sucked in. "Ty, Adam, Jason!" Seto screeched, lunging forward to enter the portal...
Only to have it close before he could enter.
"No..." Seto whispered. He went around the room in a frenzy, splashing potions and performing spells and using items and scanning the old, leather book, but nothing worked. Nothing worked, and now, they were gone. Gone... "No... No, NO, NO!" Seto yelled. The portal glistened, the many contents of the potions, spells, and other things glittered menacingly in the glowstone's light. It taunted him, chanting over and over again, words that struck him from deep within...
Nothing.
Gone.
Your fault.