Chapter 2

The Distorted World

The wind screamed as it rushed past Jason's ears, numbing his mind like he'd had to listen to hours of the loudest music. Even through his suit, he could feel the force of the wind and the rate at which it moved. It was only because of his helmet that he could see his friends. He couldn't tell if the two were conscious, or if it was the wind moving them, but he could tell one thing:

If something didn't catch them now, there'd be a very bloody stain on the approaching sand.

Looking at his jetpack, he tried to get it to start, but all that came out was smoke.

"C'mon! Start, dammit!" he shouted, the wind's screaming making it nearly impossible to hear. The jetpack fizzled, and, with a small whine, started up.

"Yes!" Jason screamed. He rushed down and grabbed Sky, who was closest to the ground, and then caught Ty. However, all he did was slow their fall.

At a drastically slower pace than before, the trio smacked into the desert sand, throwing blocks everywhere. Jason's jetpack gave out a crunching sound, signifying its destruction.

'There goes another one...' Jason groaned mentally.

"J-Jason! You ok, bud?" Adam squirmed his way off of True so that he was kneeling next to him. True gently pushed the unconscious Deadlox off to the other side. "Other than a demolished jetpack, a major headache, and an aching body from being used as a cushion? Just fucking peachy." He groaned and removed his helmet to rub his sore head.

Adam gave a small, sheepish smile and looked up at the sky. His smile disappeared, eyebrows furrowed. "Hey... Aren't night skies supposed to have stars?"

True turned his attention to the sky above. Adam was right; there were no stars at all. The moon looked more like an eclipsed sun, the center a black hole, absorbing anything that got close. A crown of faded, sickly light pronounced the pit. The night sky itself was the blackest he'd ever seen. But, despite the endless dark field and resident 'black hole', the desert itself glowed as it would on a full moon, which is why he only now took notice. It also explained why he could see Sky and Deadlox so well.

"The Nether...?" Jason trailed off. He took a moment and listened to his surroundings. "I don't hear any mobs, either... What's going on?"

A groan was heard from Deadlox as he sat up and said "Why are we- oh, wait. Never mind."

Jason snorted and Adam chuckled at the statement.

It was silent for a while, then Ty asked "You guys see the sky-?"

"Yeah, Sky pointed it out," True interrupted.

"Oh. Alright," Deadlox replied nonchalantly.

The trio stayed there in a peaceful silence, the glass pieces catching and reflecting the light from the sand beautifully. Papers flew away on the occasional wind, looking like white doves against the black void.

Adam was the one to murder the tranquil silence. "We should really make a shelter... Before any mobs that hang around here decide to come out."

Deadlox groaned "I know, but..."

True nodded slightly. "Alright. Let's get up."

His body protested, but Jason got up anyways. Adam followed suit, as did a demurring Deadlox. Quickly, they dusted themselves off and climbed out of the small crater they'd created. Sky looked up at the portal and frowned, for it was way up there, barely a speck against the inky blackness. He pushed his sunglasses, which had miraculously stayed on, further up the bridge of his nose before turning his attention back to Jason, who was also looking at the sky. However, he was judging where they would be going from where they were.

The 'moon', which was slightly behind them and sinking, motioned that they were currently facing west, their backs to the east. To the north, an orange, unearthly glow blazed while the darkness seemed to get even darker towards the south.

"Judging by the... Uh... Moon, if we go north, we should reach some sort of... Light source. Notch knows what it really is," the spaceman said, unsure yet fascinated by the lights to the north. "I say we head that way. Do either of you guys have blocks we can use to craft or make a shelter?"

Ty and Adam looked through their inventories, skimming over all of the items. "I've got sevens sticks, two coal, thirteen wooden planks, an iron sword, and an iron shovel," Deadlox listed.

"Meanwhile, I have forty-two bars of my precious budder, a budder sword, three sticks, seven coal, a crafting table, and five steaks," Adam reported.

"Ok. I have five sticks, three chicken, an iron sword, seven coal, and three wood planks," Jason said.

The group split up the items as evenly as possible before they headed in the direction the lights were. The closer they got to the lights, the longer the glow became, as if it stretched through the entire horizon. But, at the same time, mobs were slowly coming out of hiding the longer the glow became.

'This is gonna be a long trip' TrueMU decided.

Unbeknownst to any of them, a small, four legged creeper no bigger than one block stared at the trio from behind a nearby cactus. It gasped upon seeing the three of them crawl out of the hole and backed up a few blocks.

"I-Impossible… " It whispered in its strange, cryptic language. Making a mad dash in the opposite way of Sky, Deadlox, and TureMU, it stated to thin air "I must tell the master immediately!"

Deadlox and TrueMU panted heavily. As they guarded the shabby structure that was currently being built.

"Notch... Damn it... How many are there?" Deadlox choked out, hacking away at yet another zombie.

"I... Don't know..." TrueMU replied. A spider attempted to bite him from behind, but Ty stabbed its head, effectively killing. "Thanks," Jason mumbled. "Welcome," Ty replied.

"Guys! It's done!" Sky's voice sounded out from behind. Sky gestured to them with the hand that wasn't holding a sword. "Get in!"

"Come on, let's go!" True shouted.

The duo scrambled through the small hole that served as the temporary door. Sky sealed it up before the monsters could follow them in.

"So..." Deadlox panted. "That thing... In the sky... Wasn't a moon?"

Only a few minutes before, the mobs really came out. The 'moon', now believed to actually have been some kind of sun, had set. The real moon and its stars came out, matching the glowing sand with an actual night sky.

"No... Apparently not," Jason answered. "Something is clearly wrong with this dimension, though. Without the sun, the mobs won't burn. Let's hope they decide to leave us alone."

"Jason... Jason, I'm startled," Sky whimpered, shrinking back into his corner a little.

True patted Sky's back, murmuring "There, there, Sky. There, there." Jason glanced around the shack.

The building itself barely had enough room for them all to stand, let alone sit. It was three blocks with wooden planks as the ceiling and one block wide. Some of the walling was made of sand, since Sky had wanted to save as much of the wood as possible. A single torch was placed on the wall to prevent any mobs from spawning. The groans of the zombies and the clanks of the skeletons and the hisses of the spiders were definite amongst everything, making the three Minecraftians worry.

It was silent for a while before Deadlox said "It's a good thing this wood is hard, huh?"

His companions just stared at Ty for a minute before Sky grinned. "You got that right." He stroked a block and continued. "Just feel this wood. It's a good thing it's sturdy!"

Jason gave a slightly tired sigh. He pursed his lips underneath his helmet and said "Yes. And, I think the wood gets even harder the more the mobs bang on it." He smirked under his helmet.

Sky chuckled and Deadlox grinned. At least the night wouldn't be that bad.

The trio had dozed off after a little while of cracking jokes about wood and mobs. When they came back to reality, the outside world was quiet. Sky groggily broke a sand block and peered outside. The blackened sun had finished rising, and he could see a few mobs still wandering around, but not as many as before.

Deadlox blinked at Sky and asked "So, how does it look?"

"Not too bad. It's strange, though... The mobs are walking away. Guess they still don't like the sun. Even if it is dark." Sky started to break a wood block to leave the small shack.

The trio walked out of their shelter and into the open air. They gathered the wooden planks and continued on their way.

After about an hour of walking, they saw the shadows of a village in the distance, the orange glow making them appear black.

"Maybe we can get someone to help us?" Sky suggested.

"It's worth a shot. Besides, as much as I love you guys, I really don't want to spend another night in a cramped wooden shack," Jason said.

With renewed energy, the trio ran towards the village. But, as the village became clearer and clearer, they noticed something they hadn't been able to tell from a distance.

One, the village was completely destroyed, with only the shells of the houses remaining. Two, half of the village, which was pure stone, was in a biome that looked like the Nether.

The entire village had fairly good-sized craters that had a darkness creeping out of them, slowly and carefully, the orange flames being the only thing to keep them at bay. But, even the flames themselves seemed corrupted, both flame and glow eerily dancing on an unfelt wind. The shells that were once houses were rotting, a dank, suffocating smell being produced from seemingly nowhere. There were no corpses, nor any sight of a living being, but there was a lingering feeling of a pair of eyes that always watched and listened.

Adam shivered. "I don't think anyone's home..."

"Nice observation, Captain Obvious," Deadlox grumbled.

"You're welcome!" replied Sky.

Jason shook his head and cautiously walked towards the remains of the village. The others followed. "I guess this realm has a Nether biome..." Jason noted quietly. He went to explore said biome.

He'd only walked ten steps into the Nether biome when a ring of fire surrounded him.

"Jason!" Sky and Deadlox screeched.

The fire closed in around True, who was looking desperately for an escape.

Sky managed to calm down a little from his shock and shouted "True! Isn't your suit fire-proof?"

Jason blinked and mentally face-palmed. He shouted back "It's fire resistant, but it should keep the damage to a minimum!" He braced, ready to jump. "I'm coming through!"

He sprinted the small distance that was left between him and the fire. Jumping at the last moment, his suit touched the flame, and, at first, it felt normal, but something was off. True felt a small, tingling sensation pass throughout his body, raising the hairs on the back of his neck. He felt the fire's temperature, the insanely hot heat running over his body, burning him slightly. And, as his foot touched the floor on the other side of the wall, a searing pain blossomed all at once, overtaking all senses like an instinct.

He heard a scream and a cool surface press against him. The scream was ear-splitting, so intense that he wasn't sure if it was his own. The flowering pain, which got worse and worse, raised the volume of the scream until it was silenced all together. It demanded worship, his immediate attention, like an impatient child.

Then, he knew nothing

Absolutely nothing.

Jason's scream drowned out the sound of the fire wall, which on its own was loud enough. Deadlox and Sky sprinted to their fallen friend, hoping the damage wasn't as bad as they believed.

"Ty, you grab his feet, I'll get the arms. We need to get him out of that biome, now," Sky commanded, expression vacant.

Deadlox did as he was told, and together, the two pulled the unconscious TrueMU out of the Nether biome and back to the desert side of the village.

Sky pulled off Jason's helmet, believing that he'd see third-degree burns. However, all he saw was a little patch of red here and there, as if he had accidentally fallen into the fire for a brief moment. He felt the unconscious man's face, and it felt only somewhat warmer than usual.

Sky looked at Ty, a mixture of worry, confusion, and relief in his eyes. Deadlox continued to stare at Jason, eyes narrowing and put a hand to his chin.

"What happened to him?" Adam questioned.

Ty was silent for a while before he replied "I think... That was a magic trap."

"A wha-" Sky started, only to be hit on the back of his head. Hard.

Deadlox's eyes widened, and he backed up. As Sky sunk into unconsciousness, he saw Ty look up at the attacker with wide, confused eyes. A small fearful whisper, almost lost to the increasing volume of everything else, graced Sky's ears before he blacked out:

"Husky?"