He took a step back as Ivor approached the stage. "Is that really you?" Olivia shared a surprised glance with Jesse. "How dare you interrupt like this!" Jesse tried to say something, but it came out as a squeak and she went silent again.
"That's the guy who attacked us in the basement!" Lukas gestured to Ivor. Gabriel shot an apologetic glance to Axel.
"I wish I could say I was surprised." He placed his hands on his hips and glared at the bitter alchemist.
"If it's surprises you want," Ivor narrowed his eyes, "you're in for a treat." He started up the steps to the stage. "Why don't you tell them the real story, Gabriel?!" The warrior flinched at his name, then straightened defensively.
"I see time has made you bitter." Gabriel narrowed his eyes.
"And it's made you an even bigger fool!" Olivia blinked. What on earth was he on about? "Now these people were promised greatness, and I'm ready to deliver!" Ivor whipped around, starting towards the back of the stage. "I'm sorry this is how they had to learn the truth!" He flipped a switch on the wall, and the soul sand and strange block rose from the stage, two of the three skulls on the arms of the T. Ivor produced the last skull. "Nothing built can last forever, Gabriel." The warrior gasped.
"Ivor, no!" He started towards the other man, but Ivor placed the skull in place, and an explosion blew both of them off of the stage.
The crowd erupted into terrified screams, some people immediately booking it for the doors. Ivor and Gabriel pushed themselves up as what Olivia could only assume was a Wither rose from the smoke. It was like a charred skeleton without limbs, and it had three heads while its ribs wrapped around the strange block in the center.
"Creature! Attack!" Ivor pointed at Gabriel, and the Wither let out an earsplitting screech. It show a flaming skull right towards Jesse; she quickly jumped to the side, backing away while trembling. It shot another, and Jesse managed to jump out of the way again. Olivia let out a sigh she didn't realize she had been holding.
Blocks from the floor and walls were ripped from their places, flying towards the Wither and forming a sort of protective body around its spine. Posters, plants, even tables were being pulled towards it. Olivia herself felt a slight gravitational tug towards the Wither. It let out another screech. Jesse ran up and stood next to Olivia, Reuben close behind.
"Stay calm, everyone!" Gabriel pulled his sword from its sheath, aiming to strike. "This foul beast is no match for me!"
"Creature!" Ivor pointed at Gabriel again. "Attack!" The creature swooped down, flying at Gabriel. The warrior jumped up to hit it, but was immediately knocked back to the floor upon contact with the strange block. Jesse flinched from her place beside Olivia.
"What have you done?!" Gabriel glared at Ivor. The alchemist laughed. Jesse moved forwards to help Gabriel to his feet. "No, stay away!" She flinched. "It's after me, not you!" The Wither swooped again, forcing everyone to duck. Olivia straightened again when it was safe, watching chunks of the room go flying towards the creature. It began firing skulls seemingly at random, breaking the chandelier.
"Look at him!" Ivor started to walk towards it, glaring at Gabriel all the while. "The mighty Gabriel! Looks like true greatness is out of his reach!" He turned away from them. "He may not be able to stop this creature, but I can!" Ivor raised his arms. Olivia shared an incredulous glance with Axel. "Creature, retreat!" The Wither turned towards him; she noticed then that its middle head was no longer a skull, but a rounded head with a single purple eye. Ivor cleared his throat. "I said… Creature, retreat!" Nothing happened. "Retreat I said! Retreat!"
"Uh, that's not working!" Lukas threw his arms out for emphasis. Ivor glanced at them, wide eyes filled with rising worry.
"Uh, no need to be alarmed, my friends! I have an elixir that will destroy this monster!" Ivor pulled a purple potion from his pocket, pulling his arm back and taking aim.
"Th-that potion, is that-?" Jesse was barely loud enough to be heard.
"Uh oh." Axel slumped slightly. Ivor chucked the potion in his hands at the Wither. The glass shattered, purple swirls floating up around the odd block. Nothing happened.
"Uh, what?" Ivor backed away. "Impossible! I took such care…!"
"The potion!" Olivia whirled her head around to give Axel a hard look. "Axel, you have to throw the real potion!"
"But-! Finders keepers!" Axel lifted his hands slightly, eyes wide. Olivia gave an exasperated huff.
"You thieves! You're ruining everything," Ivor snapped.
"Axel, come on!" Olivia persisted, throwing her hands out for emphasis. He gave in, pulling the potion from his pocket. Jesse took it, taking aim and lobbing the thing at the block in the center. Right before it hit, the growing protective covering stretched across it, and the potion shattered against black.
"It's protecting itself! Without the Command Block exposed, the potion is… Useless!" Ivor backed away. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this!" He hesitated only a second, before turning on his heel and darting away.
"Ivor! You coward, come back here!" Gabriel sounded furious, but before he could do anything, purple light enveloped him, and he started to float upwards. He let out a startled yell, flailing to try and get away. Thinking fast, Olivia darted forwards, getting caught in the light as she grabbed his foot and pulled.
"Jesse, help me!" Olivia glanced at the nearest person, who happened to be Jesse as she ran over and took hold of Gabriel's other foot. Olivia looked back up, finding the light was still on her upper body. It came from the Wither's single purple eye as it stared down at them. The light felt weird, like it was burning her and freezing her at the same time. Honestly, it was almost painful. She pulled along with Jesse, and struggled but succeeded to pull Gabriel out of the beam. He fell to the floor, mumbling his thanks; Olivia stumbled back, but managed to stay on her feet.
"Ivor was right about one thing," Gabriel sounded breathless, "I can't defeat that thing! Not on my own…" He glanced behind them. "Everyone's running away! Except for you." He turned, fully facing Jesse. She honestly looked purely startled by the action. "Will you help me?"
"O-of course," Jesse squeaked. Gabriel nodded, a look of determination falling over his features.
"Follow me!" Gabriel turned, running from the hall. Olivia ran after him, as did the others. Outside was just as chaotic; people were running everywhere, screaming at the top of their lungs. Within only seconds of running, the monster broke the Hall's roof and rose out of it, bigger than ever. All three of its heads were the one-eyed rounded kind, beams of light shooting from each one. Olivia followed Petra and Gabriel down the bridge steps, finding cover under one of the booths to catch her breath. Petra and Axel did the same, as did Reuben, but Gabriel continued on, and Lukas and Jesse were nowhere to be seen.
"Where are they?" Axel gasped for air. Olivia could only respond with a shrug, placing one hand on Reuben's head to try and calm his trembling, and the other on her chest. They all looked around at the people as they scrambled every which way. After several seconds, she heard Jesse's voice.
"There's Jesse and Lukas!" Petra beat her to it. "Jesse!" The two looked over at them, then ran over to kneel under the booth canopy. Only a second went by before the canopy was ripped from its place by purple light. They all jumped to their feet, running out of the light's reach. Jesse yelled out to them, but Olivia didn't hear it; she looked desperately for another spot to regroup, as they all had scattered when they took off.
She turned around, spotting Jesse and Petra being pulled by the monster's light, Jesse losing her grip on the fence post she held onto for dear life. Before Olivia could move to help, the fence post snapped, and the two started floating up towards the monster. Then, Gabriel ran in, grabbing hold of Jesse's foot and holding her in place. The monster got bored, looking elsewhere and dropping the three of them. She hurried forwards, as did the others, who had also been watching the whole thing go down.
"Is everyone okay? Do we have e-everyone?" Jesse glanced between them.
"We must head for my fortress." Gabriel started back towards the entrance to EnderCon. "We'll be better protected there!" Olivia shared a glance with Lukas, before they took off after the warrior. Weaving between broken booths and rubble of dropped ground, it didn't take long for them to reach the final stretch of the city. They made a sharp turn by the beacon, which was being torn apart. Olivia couldn't help but feel a little bad.
She looked up to see the gates out of the city were beginning to close. She put on a burst of speed, despite her confusion. Why were they closing the gate? The monster could fly, for god's sake! In fact, they were putting more people in danger by closing the gate than they were helping. She made it through nonetheless, and shot a glance over her shoulder to see Jesse roll under the gate before it closed. She sighed in relief, before turning and continuing to run after Gabriel.
It was late at night, but there weren't any mobs around. They ran through the woods, avoiding skulls and flaming trees as they did. Olivia had to dodge holes in the ground a couple of times, but most things weren't horribly hard to avoid. As she ran, she spotted a split in the path ahead, thick flaming trees separating the two paths. Olivia swerved to the right, following Axel and Reuben as they continued to avoid or jump over holes in the floor.
A sudden beam passed over her, but her momentum kept her from staying in the light too long to escape it. Despite it, the light thoroughly hurt this time; whether it was because the monster had grown, or because she was tired, she couldn't say. She kept running, leaping over a burning log to escape the forest entirely.
As they ran, tentacles started swinging at them. Some shot themselves into the ground, others tried to grab for them. Olivia ducked under one and swerved around another, spotting what she thought was the temple Gabriel had mentioned. A burst of adrenaline shot through her, and she caught up to Petra as they hurried up the steps and into the building.
There was a set of stairs leading down from the entrance, and Olivia stopped to catch her breath there. Petra was beside her, hands on her knees, while Axel and Reuben caught up with them. Not a second later, Gabriel came running down, Jesse in tow.
"The inner chamber is made entirely of obsidian." He started flipping switches almost at random. "We should be untouchable in there." He hit a final lever, and the wall opened up to a room made of obsidian, a sort of portal frame sitting on a raised surface in the center. Before anyone could enter, a tentacle came snaking down the steps, and a beam of light found her again, only briefly. She couldn't bite back the shriek that crawled up her throat as she turned and ran into the chamber with the others.
"Go through the portal!" Olivia hesitated and looked back towards Gabriel, who was swinging at a tentacle. "Once you're in the Nether, you'll be safe!"
They all climbed the steps, Axel running through the portal frame. "Uh... Something's not right here!"
"It's not lit," Olivia blurted. Jesse immediately shoved a hand into her pocket, retrieving a set of flint and steel. She fumbled to hold it correctly, eventually getting it right and sending a spark through the frame. A swirling purple wall of light flickered to life.
"Everyone get in! Now!" Petra turned and motioned to them. Olivia nodded hesitantly. She made eye contact with Jesse for a second, sharing an almost relieved look with the other woman, before running into the portal's light.