The Nether.
Petra screamed as she fell through the portal, slamming on her back in front of a wide eyed Axel. Two more screams followed, and Jesse and Lukas fell through, the former landing on top of the latter.
Jesse groan in pain, "Ow, that hurt."
"Um... Jesse?"
"What?" Jesse slowly open her eyes, only to froze at the sight of a blushing Lukas under her. She spring off of him, blushing madly as she awkwardly help the blonde up. "S-Sorry."
"D-Don't worry about it."
That's when Axel walk up to them with a worried look, "Where's Angel?"
"We did everything we could." Lukas replied with a sad look.
"Angel's still up there! We need to help her!" Petra exclaimed, worried.
"What?! What happened!?" Axel anxiously ask.
Olivia formed a worried look as she step forward. "Jesse? What does Petra mean? Why is Angel still up there? It doesn't sound good."
Jesse pull out the arm band Angel gave to her and narrow her eyes on it, before looking up at Olivia. "It was chaos. There wasn't much I could do."
"Jesse's right." Lukas said, reassuring Olivia.
"Angel and Gabriel are still up there." Jesse answered, putting away the arm band.
"I got scared. Just for a second." Lukas admitted, looking down.
Axel frown, "You got scared?" He hissed, walking towards Lukas, who step back.
"It wasn't my fault."
"You got scared," Axel growled. "And it's not your fault?"
"Back off, Axel." Olivia said.
"Whoa there, big guy." Petra step towards him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "He got scared. Anyone could."
Axel stare at her, before looking at the portal. "We gotta go back." He said, walking towards the portal. Petra followed him, determined to save the blonde girl. But Olivia blocked their way.
"No! We just have to wait." She told them, earning a scowling Petra. "Think about what you're walking into."
"There's nothing any of us can do." Jesse explained, preventing Axel from sneaking past Olivia. "You'll both just end up getting yourselves killed." Petra and Axel both scowl at him.
"You don't know that! You don't know-"
"Hey!" Lukas interrupted, running towards them and pointing at the portal, which was beginning to warp. "There she is!"
They all turn to the portal, "Come on," Jesse mumbled, "Come on."
But it was either Angel nor Gabriel that fell through the portal; it was Ivor.
Their smiles faded as Ivor climbed to his feet. Realizing who was in front of him, Ivor's eyes narrowed to a glare. "You again?
Before anyone can react to him, a tentacle shot out through the portal and swing back and forth. They screamed and ran away from the portal.
Jesse jump to the side to avoid the tentacle, before it wrapped around the portal and squeezed. The portal cracked and fell apart, dragging the tentacle along with it.
Everyone look at the portal with horror. Their only way of saving Angel. Their only way home.
Both Jesse and Petra turn to glare at Ivor. "Ivor."
Ivor turn to them with a death glare. "You two ruined everything." They glare at him, the others coming over to stand beside them. "Don't pretend you don't know, thief." Ivor continued. "You took my most valuable potion..."
Apparently, Petra had enough of him, and punch him in the face, smirking in satisfaction when he fall on his back and clutch his eye.
Ivor got up and drink a healing potion, "More needless violence." He mumbled. "It solves nothing. Learn the lesson now, or you'll share Gabriel's fate." He stated. "There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Witherstorm." Ivor said, revealing the name of the creature.
"Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk?" Axel growled, "We have to go and get Angel!"
"The girl with the silver eyes," Ivor spoke.
"I saw her." Ivor continued.
"What?" Lukas asked immediately.
"While I was running towards the portal, I passed her. She was running in the opposite direction." The group glance at each other. "Such bravery. Of course there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity."
"And she crossed it." Ivor said.
Jesse narrow her eyes, "She's going to make it."
"You're concerned about your friend." Ivor taunted. "It's admirable." He deadpan. "You all are going to die very soon."
"We'll see about that." Jesse growled.
"You don't even realize... you're in danger right now." Ivor countered.
"So are you." Jesse said.
Ivor roll his eyes and point to a tunnel. "Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts built by the Order of the Stone. It's your only way out."
After a moment's pause, Axel spoke up, "We should go that way."
"What about you?" Jesse ask, raising an eyebrow.
"What about me?" Ivor asked.
Jesse sighed, "How will you get out of here?"
"I'll use my imagination." Ivor said sarcastically, before a Ghast cry echo through the air.
"What was that?" Axel asked nervously.
"I would wish you good luck," Ivor said, turning to them, "But luck won't carry you through the Nether. You have my sympathies." He took out a invisibly potion and drink it. In an instant, he vanished into thin air.
The cry was heard again, and a ghast floated up from behind them. They turn around and back away as Jesse let out a startled gasp.
"Shit." Petra cursed. "RUN!"
And run they did.
With Angel and Gabriel, they managed to escape the Witherstorm and finally stop to rest, panting. Angel slam her back against a tree, gasping in pain when her left arm made contact with the tree, while Gabriel put both of his hands on his knees, panting.
"Argh, fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck FUCK that hurts!" Angel hissed, rubbing her side. "Fucking tentacle HAD to swing me around like a Notch-damn baseball bat."
Gabriel was about to scold her for her language when he heard what Angel said, "It swing you around?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Yes." Angel grumbled, "It slam me against a tree before Jesse saved me." She rub her side for a few more seconds before turning to Gabriel, "How far is the temple anyway?"
"It's just another day's travel from here." He told her, making the blonde groan.
"Damn it." She said, "Wish we went through the Nether portal now."
"And if we did, the Wither would of followed and attacked us." He reminded her. That's when he remembered something, "I got to ask, what was that in Endercon?"
"Ah, umm..." She bit her lip, "I think it was something I had for a long time. I can't use it now though." She said, curling her fingers around the wrist where the arm hand used to be.
"Why not?"
"The source of the power is with Jesse now. I gave it to her to help her get Magnus and Ellegaard." She explain. "It's an arm band that gives an element to it's wearer depending on the personality. I got water, for a reason I can't remember right now, and Jesse got air from when I took a glance at the arm band."
"Sounds very useful." He mused.
"It is if you know how to-" She suddenly broke into a coughing fit.
Gabriel was about to react until he got into a coughing fit of his own. When the two finally stop their coughing fit, they took in deep breaths to try to calm down their lungs. Angel coughed a little and rub her arm. Gabriel was also rubbing his arm, but when he saw Angel rubbing her arm, his eyes widen in fear.
He ran up to her and grabbed her arm and began taking off the armor on the blonde's arm. "What are you doing?" She asked, raising an eyebrow, before glancing at her arm and gasped. Covering a part of her forearm, was a strange purple bruise-like thing and the skin around it was pale. "Oh no..." She mumbled, inspecting her arm.
She look up at Gabriel, who did nothing but look at his arm and moved his shoulder garment to show his arm. It was in the same state, except the bruise was a shade lighter. Angel gotten sickeningly pale, both from horror and the sickness. "Angel, have you ever heard of Wither or Wither Sickness?" When Angel nodded, he continued, "Good. Because it seems we both have it. It looks like Jesse and Petra weren't able to pull us away from the Wither in time."
Angel stayed silent for a moment, looking at her arm, "I can't believe I'm dying in this world already." She mumbled. "What are the side effects?"
"I've encountered Wither Sickness before in my travels, but it always wears off." Gabriel told her. "It seems that Ivor's monster exudes a Wither Sickness that is decidedly more.. fatal." He sighed. "We can't tell anyone about this when we get to the temple."
"Right." Angel agreed. "It'll only cause a panic." Angel pick up the armor on her arm to put it on again, when she froze. "Um... Gabriel?"
"Yes?"
"My Wither Sickness is spreading." She said, horror written all over her face, "Is that normal?"
Gabriel's eyes widen and took her arm, looking at the infected part. It was indeed spreading. And fast. "Oh Notch." He mumbled, eyes growing even wider. Then, he look up at her. "Wither Sickness is supposed to spread slowly day after day!... Not this fast..." Determination filled up his eyes. "You need to tell the others."
"There is no way I am going to tell the others this when several lives more important than mine are in danger." Angel said firmly.
Gabriel's eyes narrowed, "Every single life is important, even the cruelest people."
"I can take care of myself!" Angel retorted. One thing that didn't change about her is her stubbornness.
"Let the others take care of you!"
"There's no point when the world's in danger!"
"You're going to end up dying if you push yourself too far!"
"It will be worth it if I know I helped saved the world!"
"No one will be happy!"
"NOBODY EVEN CARES ABOUT ME!" Gabriel startled back, eyes widening as the blonde in front of him started coughing violently, "No- *cough* -body- *cough cough* -ever will! *cough*"
"Then why did Jesse saved you?" Gabriel said after he recovered, "If she saved you, she showed she cared. And it will only make her care about you even more if you continue to push yourself."
Angel stayed silent for a few moments, before sighing and sat down, "I just don't want everyone to worry."
"It'll be obvious you're not okay sooner or later." Gabriel reminded her. "Then, it'll make them worry."
Angel sighed, "I still won't tell them." She added, making Gabriel sigh. "It isn't the time anyway. Besides, I can handle myself." She stood up, only to stumbled and fall, promoting Gabriel to offer a hand.
"Need a lift?"
Angel huffed and took his hand, struggling to regain her balance, mumbling a few swears in French. "Can I at least take off my armor? It's jabbing my injected arm." Gabriel snorted and turn around so Angel can take off her armor. Once she taken off the armor, she found herself in different clothes. Instead of her dark purple blazer, gold off shoulder shirt, jeans, and black boots, she was wearing clothes more suited for combat. Oh yeah, and it was in different shades of gold. (If you can't imagine it, she's in a gold version of Aphmau's explorer outfit. But without the quiver. If you don't know Aphmau, search her up XD) "Ready."
Gabriel grin, before quickly picking her up and dash towards the temple, ignoring Angel's shouts of protests.
The group scurried into the tunnel as Jesse's screams of fear rose and dropped. A Zombie Pigman stared from a distance.
They came to a stop at a little hill, where seven minecarts sat on some tracks. "This must be what Ivor was talking about." Olivia said.
Another cry from the Ghast made them turn around, seeing the Ghast appear behind them, shooting a fireball out of it's mouth. Screaming, they slide to either left or right, making the fireball hit right above the minecarts and blast the red blocks to pieces.
Jumping down, they all ran towards the minecarts, quickly climbing into them as the ghast gave off another cry. "Everybody, hold on!" Jesse yelled as the minecarts took off.
Rueben was in the front, Petra behind him, Jesse behind her with Olivia in the next one, Lukas behind her and Axel at the back. The ghast watch them go with another cry as the screen went black.
It came back on to show the group riding over a large body of boiling hot lava, massing multiple falling lava.
"Wow." Lukas gasped in awe, "The Nether."
"Pretty incredible, right?" Petra asked, having been in the Nether before. Lukas did nothing but nod in agreement.
"Yeah..." Olivia said dryly, "That's a lot of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death."
Suddenly, Rueben gave a terrifed oink and duck inside his minecart. "Oh, no!" Jesse yelped in alarm.
Ahead of them, was an incredibly long and steep drop. "Oh, that's a drop. That is a very, very much of a drop." Lukas gasped in fear.
"What are you talking about, new guy?" Axel asked, not looking in the direction the rest were, "What dr- Oh crap! You weren't kidding."
"Weep." Petra shrugged, grinning, "This'll be fun."
A grin form on Jesse's face, "Here we go!" She shouted, throwing her arms in the air.
And then they went down the drop, going at a fast speed. Axel and Jesse had their hands in the air, Lukas's were holding on to his cart tightly, Petra was grinning in excitement, Olivia had slap her hands over her eyes and Rueben just looks completely terrified.
After hitting the bottom, they rushed across a railway going in a extremely fast speed. They enter a tunnel and ahead of them, was a low wall blocking space for their heads.
"Oh no." Jesse said nervously.
"Duck!" Lukas shouted. And they quickly obeyed, ducking down as the wall pass over their heads.
Jesse glanced over her shoulder, but another wall was coming up. "Watch out!" Olivia shouted, making Jesse turn back around and duck just in time.
They exited the tunnel and were once again rushing over tracks. Buuut... They were riding right towards a lava fall.
"Okay," Axel said nervously, "So I'm not the only one seeing that we're running out of track, right?"
"NO!" Lukas whimpered in fear.
"Good!"
Olivia's eyes zoomed in on a lever that was sitting on a block. "Jesse!" Olivia yelled, "That switch! Now! Do it!"
"Ohhh arms don't fail me now..." Jesse muttered as she lean out of her cart and reach for the switch. As soon as she was close enough, she pull the lever. "Yeah! Woo!"
The minecarts came to a violent stop, making all of the passengers jolt slightly. Below them, were rows and rows of pistons starting to go down.
Jesse chuckled nervously, "Huh, wow! I thought something bad was going to happen there, but, heh, I guess everything's going to be- woah!" She was interrupted when the carts began moving again and dropping to a split-path system. While Jesse and Rueben were moved to the left, Olivia, Lukas, Petra, and Axel were moved to the right.
"Jesse!" Olivia worriedly shouted to the duo.
"No!" Axel cried as they raced off on different paths.
"Guys!" Petra yelped as she disappear from sight.
"Wait!"
"Oh, man!"
And then Jesse was suddenly alone with one empty cart.
"Uhhhhhhh, Axel? Olivia? Petra? Rueben? Anybody?!" Jesse called, feeling a bit scared about being alone.
A squeal cut through, and Jesse's turn to the left as Rueben's cart was revealed, a skeleton in the one in front of the pig.
Jesse's cart turned so she was right beside Rueben's. She stood up, pulling out her sword. "Hang on, Rueben!"
The skeleton aimed another arrow at the pig, but Jesse hit it with her sword, making it turn to her. Jesse immediately stabbed it in the ribs, making the mob fell out of the cart and into the boiling lava below.
]"Rueben!" Jesse said happily. Rueben oinked at her with a grin and hop into the other cart. "Okay, Rueben, remember how I said everything was going to be just fine before? I know I was wrong then but I have a very good feeling about this time- whoa!" A Ghast appeared out of nowhere and flew over her head with a cry, turning around to face her. And to make things worse, two more appear to back it up.
The middle Ghast shot a fireball, making Jesse scream, "Duck!" And covered her head with her hands, the fireball hitting her sword and rebounding to hit the Ghast, damaging it.
Jesse straighten up, looking at her sword, then the Ghasts, before the middle Ghast shot another fireball. Jesse quickly got into position and hit it with her sword, making it rebounded to hit the ghast again, killing it.
The Ghast on the left shot a fireball of its own, but Jesse hit this one too and did the same with the one on the right, making both of them drop dead.
Jesse grin and sheath her sword as Rueben pop up with a squeal from where he had been hiding in the minecart. "Well," Jesse began as she sat down, "Ghasts are officially off my to-see list. Done with Ghasts. Never need to see them again- ahhh crap." She deadpanned as soon as she saw a Ghast watching her through a hole in the wall, before the minecarts turn a corner to see the Ghast hovering near the tract, which went uuuuuup...
And ran out entirely.
The floating monster shot a fireball at them, hitting Rueben's cart. Rueben squealed and jump out just in time and landed on Jesse's lap. The cart fell off the tracks and in the lava.
"This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!" Jesse chanted nervously as the minecart rolled up the track.
Jesse screamed as the cart soared off the track, right past a uncaring Ghast as it slowly turn to watch them, before the cart landed with a chatter on the other side of the tracks.
Lukas, Olivia, Petra, and Axel swiveled in the same direction to stare at the duo.
After a moment of silence, Jesse spoke up, "Is..." Jesse panted, unable to finish her sentence before Petra took over.
"Is everyone okay?" She asked, checking them over.
"I mean, I'm not dead." Axel told her with an unsure tone, turning back around, "I guess that's pretty good."
"Ditto. Ditto with the not dead." Olivia agreed.
"I just can't believe you come down here all the time, Petra. This place is awful." Lukas said, to which Petra just shrugged.
"You'll get used to it."
A second later, Lukas chuckled a bit, "Your throat's going to be sore later, Axel."
"Why?"
"I'm just saying," Lukas said, grinning, "Wasn't that you doing all the screaming before? Sounds like you were really shredding your larynx."
"Oh yeah," Olivia laughed a bit, looking over her shoulder to face the two. "I heard that too."
"Same." Petra chuckled, "Really high-pitched. Kind of like a squeaky piston."
"What?" Axel asked, turning around, "No. Shut up." And then he turn back around, blushing a bit.
"Never mind." Lukas said, smiling faintly. "Must've been something else."
"I'm pretty sure it was Jesse." Petra remarked.
Jesse glared at her, "Hey." She grumbled, before clearing her throat, "Anyway, you know how you have those experiences you remember and reminisce about for the rest of your lives?"
"Yesssss?" Petra replied, dragging out the 's', though she wasn't sure what Jesse was trying to say.
"Yeah...?" Axel raised an eyebrow, sounding just as confused as Petra.
Jesse's face went completely deadpanned, "This isn't one of those. Let's never talk about this ever again."
She didn't have to tell them twice to know that they agreed with her as the minecarts rush on.