A dark silhouette stood silently, locking eyes with the young commander. The younger of the two tightly gripped his gun, careful not to lose focus and give the eldest precious time to strike. The other's stark, faintly glowing, red eyes seemed to pierce right through his soul. If he looked away for a second, or let down his guard... The thumping sound of footsteps echoed off the walls of the immense structure. Finally! The rest of the troops! It's about time... Suddenly aware that he had glanced away from his foe, the commander swiftly turned his head to check if the shadowy being was still there. The answer was no.
Readying his shotgun, the gray armored commander carefully searched the area for the future captive. There was no way that he would lose his prey this time. The distinct sound of a sword being drawn came from behind the armed individual. Whirling around in surprise, he was met with the sight of the same blood red eyes of the being he was supposed to capture. Thankfully, the other soldiers had found the two and surrounded the black clothed Minecraftian. The commander grinned in triumph. "Where can you run now? Give up, and we won't have to apply force," he said, his weapon prepared to fire at any moment.
The figure began to softly chuckle. "You honestly think that I'm just going to give up here and now? Fools. You would know better from a previous prisoner of yours."
The commander narrowed his midnight black eyes, angered at such an insult. "You're the foolish one, trying to make a point while you're surrounded, guns pointed at you and ready to fire."
The dark being did not speak, amusing the commander. "I've made my point. Surrender, and we won't shoot."
Unknowing to the soldiers, the figure was actually collecting energy, just enough to finish them all off. An evil grin revealed on his face. "You have no idea, do you?"
Before anyone could speak, a giant wave of flames burst from the figure's hands, effectively killing many of the armed soldiers, and nearly killing the remaining, which included the commander. The light from the flames illumiated the figure's likeness, which appeared to be much like a certain other Minecraftian's...
The two had traveled much farther from the town, the forest steadily growing less thicker and overgrown, and now expanding into a vast Plains Biome. Ant scrowled as he heard the somewhat annoying noise of a cow snorting. Sparklez, however, knew about his friend's obvious dislike for the animal, and decided to head off in another direction. The grass was covered with dew from the previous night's rain, which glistened as the sun continued to travel across the clear blue skies. A faint breeze traversed the plains, gently blowing the tall grass as it passed by.
Ant stared off into space, deep in his own thoughts. He trailed behind Sparklez, not paying much attention to anything else. His unawareness nearly caused him to fall into a babbling stream, but just before Ant fell in, the Captain had noticed and pulled the other back onto the overgrown dirt path they had been following. Because he had been jerked backward so suddenly, Ant snapped out of his trance and sheepishly looked at the other Minecraftian. "Sorry about that..."
Sparklez only shrugged it off, and began to follow the rugged path towards their destination, the Dusk Mountains, which was starting to become sharper in detail as they got closer. The expansive plains began to lessen, and form into the border of an Extreme Hills Biome. As the two trekked on, night began to slowly creep up on them, much like a creeper, which was known for its incredible stealth. Mobs had begun to spawn; skeletons armed with their bows, zombies hungry for flesh, creepers ready to blast apart any opponents, and spiders prepared to hunt down their prey.
The nighttime had come much faster than expected, and the two Minecraftians had not yet set up a camp, leaving them open for any mob attacks. With a frown, Sparklez observed the landscape, an abundance of mobs in clear sight. They had to find shelter fast, or else they could be ambushed by a group of skeletons, or perhaps a horde of zombies... A faint hissing noise came from behind, the sound matching that of a creeper's. The Captain swiftly turned around, sword drawn. Ant was already on it, quickly piercing the creeper with a stab of his own blade. He had struck a fatal blow to the mob, leaving the creeper to reel in pain before disappearing into a cloud of smoke, leaving two handfuls of gunpowder on the ground.
Ant could tell that Sparklez was at least slightly impressed from his quick reflexes, but of course, when you've dealt with creepers for such a long time, it gets much easier to hear their soft footsteps sneaking up behind you. He was expecting the other Minecraftian to say something about it, but it seemed like Sparklez was focused too much on the other mobs. They weren't out of the woods yet, even though the two had already gone through a forest earlier. Ant decided to scout around for an open cave that didn't have too many mobs guarding the entrance.
He searched for a bit longer, before finding one, a bit on the small side, however it would do for the remainder of the night. Suddenly, the whizzing noise of an arrow shot past Ant's head, nearly gazing his ear. In one quick motion, Ant faced his attacker, which was, of course, a skeleton. The skelly notched another arrow in its bow, trying to shoot Ant, who was currently straifing towards the undead archer. It let fly another arrow, this time missing completely. If skeletons could scrowl, this one would. Ant was getting closer and closer, and the skeleton would be nothing but a pile of bones if he got in range. Aiming its shot carefully, the skeleton released yet another arrow, which struck Ant in the shoulder.
The skeletal mob felt a twinge of success as it watched its Minecraftian foe cringe in pain as the arrow impaled its right shoulder. Blood began trickling from the wound almost as soon as it was inflicted. Pain shot through him as Ant tried to pull out the arrow. It was no use, the projectile was too deeply imbedded in his flesh. Also, if Ant stayed there for much longer, the skelebutt, as he called them, would be able to fire another arrow and kill him then and there. Fighting the pain that rushed through him with every movement, Ant struggled to dodge an incoming arrow.
Meanwhile, Sparklez was dealing with mobs of his own. He was surrounded by a starving horde of zombies, most of them armed with some kind of weapon, which was from blunt stone shovels to sharpened iron swords. The zombies had a basic fighting strategy, charge at the enemy, then strike it down. The strategy would only work on newbies, not experienced fighters like the Captain. The undead slowly proceeded towards the Minecraftian, unaware of their fate. He waited for the moaning creatures to get within range of his sword before striking them down. A zombie, armed with a gleaming iron sword, and equiped with a golden helm and chestplate, was the first to reach him.
In one swift motion, Sparklez sliced the mob's head straight off, then pierced through its chestplate. The zombie fell to the ground and vanished into a puff of smoke. One down, seven to go. Another undead, in full leather armor and with stone shovel, groaned near him, the sound coming from his right. Sparklez glanced over in that direction, the approaching mob very much there. Before turning to face the mob, he stabbed another zombie, which didn't any armor or weapons, that was trying to sneak up on him. Its attempts were useless as it crumpled to the grassy earth below.
Ant ducked behind the rock he was hiding behind, just as the skeleton fired off another arrow. He tried another attempt at pulling the skeleton's arrow out of his shoulder, but still, to no avail. He had already become slightly light-headed from the blood loss, and that wasn't helping one bit. There was no other option than to summon up some fire magic, but he was in such a weakened state that if he did, Ant would collapse and fall prey to any spider or zombie who just happened to be nearby. Still, there was nothing else he could do. Ant couldn't fire any shots with his own bow, and if he tried to fight with a sword, his decreased speed would make him an easy target. Either way, he would be pretty much dead.
Suddenly, a rustling noise came from the bushes behind him. Ant partly turned around, still in a sitting position. He tried to tell himself to calm down, but that seemed a little more than impossible at the moment. Panicing, Ant picked up the closest item to him, which was his sword. He realized that his left arm was shaking, but it was mostly due to the strain of the sword's sudden heavyness. If it was a spider, Ant was done for. A spider could strike him before he could counter the attack. The bushes rustled again, causing him to grip his sword even tighter. The diamond blade shone in the moonlight; pointed directly at the previously moving plants.
The unknown creature tumbled out of the bushes, and was nearly hit with Ant's sword before he stopped himself. In the dim light, Ant could just make out the shape of a Minecraftian, however it was not Sparklez. Instead, it was a teenage girl, probably about 18 or so. She was facing away from Ant, angrily mumbling something about bad hiding places. Ant looked at her suspiciously when he heard the phrase. A fangirl, maybe? The teen began to scamble back into her hiding spot, but then whipped around when she heard the sound of an arrow flying by. "Freaking skeletons, always-"
The girl stopped talking when she noticed Ant. "Oh Notch, I am so screwed," she muttered under her breath.
She tried to give Ant a cheerful smile, but under the current circumstances, it seemed even more suspicious. "Um, hi?"
Ant gave her an unamused look. He didn't want to deal with some stalker fangirl of his at this moment. "Who the Nether are you, and why are you following me?"
The teen only gestured for him to wait, pulling out her bow and fired a few arrows at the skeleton; almost every single one hit its target. The skeleton crumpled into a pile of bones, killed off by her incredible ranged skill. Ant couldn't help but gape at the teenager. He had never seen someone have that much accuracy with a bow before. She turned her head towards the eldest, a glint of pride in her youthful stormy eyes. Ant was speechless. No freaking way... The teen brushed her long, wavy, light brown hair out of her face. "Ya know, I've always been good with ranged weaponry. It's just practice."
Ant changed his expression to that of seriousness. "I asked who you are, and why you're here. Stop trying to avoid the question."
She smirked when she fully observed the other Minecraftian. "Well, judging from your current condition, there's not much that you can do to force an answer out of me. I'll only tell you my name, that's all you get. Name's Storm."
Ant frowned in annoyance, glancing at his injury. The younger Minecraftian had a point. "So what makes you think I can trust you, Storm?"
She looked off in another direction, avoiding eye contact. "That's something I can't tell you yet. I-"
Ant was quite irritated now, since Storm was being too secretive for his liking. "What do you mean, 'something you can't tell me yet'!?"
He leaned against the smooth rock, feeling even more light-headed, probably due to blood loss. The only good thing about it was that the bleeding had stopped- for now. Storm faced the older male, unable to think of a good response. She gazed at the ground in silence. Noticing this, Ant looked back at her, unwilling to argue much longer. "Fine, I'll give you a chance..."
Storm gave him a faint smile. "T-thanks..."
The 22-year-old only slightly nodded. He had to at least give her a chance, even if she was a fangirl. After all, Storm had saved his life from that skeleton. Ant sighed, thinking to the task ahead. Now, how would he explain this to Sparklez? There was no way that the Captain would allow Storm to come with them. Then again, they could use an expert marksman- er, markswoman- like Storm. Maybe that could work, just maybe...
(A/N: HALLO AGAIN, PEOPLE OF FANFICTION! Yeah, I'm back, and with a new chapter of Fire Within! The story is getting deeper and deeper, isn't it? And just who is this other pryomancer, you might ask? NOPE! NOT TELLING YOU! Well, yeah, you'll find out soon enough. Anyways, I promised a longer chapter, and I wrote one! Sure, it's not 3,000 words or something, but it's long enough! Also, please review, tell your friends, and check out my new forum, MC Academy! Thanks in advance! ETERNALDRAYGON, OUT!)
