Chapter 10: On the Brink
Warning Tag: Descriptive injuries and Blood
Welcome back to another chapter of Sky Legends: The Rise of Enderlox. This chapter is shorter than the rot hers, but I promise that they will get longer as time progress. In the meantime, enjoy the chapter!
Aver backs up against the wall, panting heavily as he grasps his aching, purple, bruised throat. He winces as he places his hand over his neck, feeling the extremely painful spots where Alix had grabbed him with his almost inhumane strength. He glances at the man with fear-filled eyes as he quietly questions to himself "...What have they done to you?"
However, Alix hears the hushed statement erupt from the red-eyed man and asks "Wait...you know who did this to me?" Aver widens his eyes when he hears Alix ask him this and quickly answers back "What?! No, of course not! I have no idea who turned you into a half mechanical, half insane robot!" Alix lowers his normal blue eye into a deathly glare, his red eyepiece on the other glows a bright, blood-red color. "...You're lying", he growled at him.
"No, I am! I...I..." Aver sighs deeply before admitting "Okay, yes, I lied. But it's only because I didn't want you to feel so bad when he hear that Via and Oceanus did this to you just so you could live!"
Alix loses his glare and stared at Aver in surprise. "They...they did this to me?", he asked. Avernus replies "Yes, but I didn't want them to do it, but they had no other choice. They had to go through the operation to save your life, dude". Alix maintains his expression as he stares at the man below him. Alix looks away for a bit before looking back at Aver, a warm look now on his expression. "Well, at least you're honest", he began. "Now that I know the people who did this to me, I can-"
Alix stops immediately upon the bionic part of him sparks. His voice turns back into the demonic-sounding voice and he angrily yells "CRUSH THEIR SKULLS IN UNTIL BLOOD IS POURING OUT OF THEIR EMPTY EYE SOCKETS AND EARS!" Aver gapes in horror as he sees this side of Alix that he never saw. Suddenly, the half-bionic man sparks again and Alix returns to normal moments later. Alix is dumbfounded for a bit, then asks "Whoa...what just happened?"
"You said some very...dark...stuff", Aver explained unsteadily. He quickly shakes it off and states "Look, we gotta go look for Via and Oceanus and get this mess sorted out". Aver grabs Alix's hand and drags him out of the hospital room. Alix is confused at first, wondering what he had just said a moment ago.
Meanwhile, in the potions' room, Seto paces around nervously as he rubs one of his hands up and down on his arm. He takes heavy breaths as he glances around frantically in his room. He takes a look out of the window before resuming to walk around the room.
He was having a hallucination.
Everywhere Seto looked, in his view, sees nothing but waving colors of purple and white. He wasn't really dizzy, but what he was seeing was making him a bit nauseous. He even heard a few faint screams go off now and then, though he was in an empty room right now. Then, the dizziness starts to set in with him. He begins to stumble around, bumping into a few tables and knocking over a few potions.
"Ugh, my head...what is happening to me? Could...could the Taint be possibly setting in inside me?", Seto thought in his mind, wincing when he feels a powerful rip of pain erupt in his head. Then, he suddenly freezes up as his vision suddenly returns to normal, but the normal view he is seeing is completely dark with a faint light. Out of nowhere, he suddenly hears a sinister voice.
"Let the Taint take control. Fighting it will only make it more painful. Letting it take control of your actions and mind will determine your true future. You can be more than just a mere sorcerer. You can be someone even better..."
Afterwards, Seto's vision reverts itself to normal, leaving the sorcerer in a dead silent room. Seto tries to comprehend on what he had just heard. Take control...someone better...
"Someone better?", Seto said to himself. "I can be someone even better...than just being a magic-wielding sorcerer?!" Seto glances down at his hands and summons two blue magical spheres of pure energy in the palms. He focus his concentration even harder and slowly, the glowing bluish color slowly shades itself into a deep, evil-looking purple. Within the spheres, Seto can see faint faces that seem to be screaming in agony along the wisps of purple waves.
Such a sight for the man...actually made him happy. Seto slowly curves his blank mouth into an evil smirk as he stares at the two glow orbs in awe. His clear brown eyes quickly illuminate into a shade of purple as they shrink into small squares, his smirk only gets bigger. Then, he slowly moves the two orbs together and they morph into a large raging fire in his hands.
Then, he throws the sphere across the room. When it comes into contact with the wall, it explodes across the room and sends wisps of purple magic throughout the whole room. For once, in his entire life, Seto felt like he can do anything he wants and get away with it without having to suffer the consequences.
However, Seto's gloating is cut short when he hears a knock on his door. Seto gasps as he turns towards the door. The whips of purple magic suddenly disappear out of sight. The sorcerer sigs in relief, straightens himself out, and states "Come in!"
Appearing the doorway is Sky, who looks in and sees Seto just standing in the middle of the room. The commander questions "You okay, Seto? I heard a bit of a ruckus earlier". Seto quickly responds "Oh, no, I'm fine. I...I was just moving a bit of stuff around the room. Anyway, is there something you want?"
"Have you heard back from Noah yet? I really need his help to figure this whole situation out to save Deadlox. I have to stop him. To not only save the world, but him as well", Sky stated, gripping his hands into fists. Seto replies "Not yet. I'm actually starting to get worried. I mean, what if he's in danger?"
"He's the Nether god. He can fight for himself", Sky responds, knowing too well that Noah is a strong person and can easily defend himself in danger. Seto sighs as he shakes his head side to side before saying "I don't know. My senses are telling me that Noah has probably succeed in defeating himself...or he's met with a terrible fate".
Sky begins to ponder on whether or not Noah is okay. Then, he's taken out of his thoughts when Seto suggests "I think you should go to the Nether and make sure he's okay". Sky replies "Yeah, you're right. I better go. And Seto, listen...I'm sorry about everything that has been going between Mitch and whole 'kicking-you-out-of-Team-Crafted decision'. I can assure you that nothing like that is gonna happen. I promise".
"It's alright, Sky. I'm over it", Seto calmly states to him. Sky is unsure of the sorcerer's response for a moment, but shakes it off and states to him "Alright, if you say so". The general turns and leaves the room, closing the door behind him afterwards. Seto lets out a deep exhale, relieved that Sky had left his room. But soon, he glares at the door with blood-shout eyes with purple-colored pupils and says "...You will be sorry..."
Half an hour later, Sky had ventured out of the Butter Craft Airship and to the nearest Nether portal that he knows. However, the one that he finds is the same one that Enderlox had used to get into the Nether to heal his master. When the Sky Army commander jumps through the portal, he quickly finds himself in the Nether. However, just by looking around the fiery dimension, Adam sensed right away that something was not right.
But then, Adam hears the grunting of a Zombie Pigman. He looks over and sees the deceased mob running past him to towards a certain direction. Sky is dumbfounded for a moment, but decides to follow the mob and investigate what had happened. The commander flutters his wings and starts flying into the hot air, ignoring the waves of her from the lava hit against his frame.
The God of Minecraftia flies towards the direction where the Zombie Pigman had ran off to. As he approaches a heavy terrain part of the Nether, he starts seeing more mobs fly past him, ignoring the fact that an unwanted visitor was trespassing in their territory. Only the Nether God himself can assure them that Sky meant no harm, but he wasn't here and yet, the mobs didn't attack him.
Only when Sky gazes down at the land below him does he realize what the commotion was about. Large groups of Nether mobs surround around a body, collapsed on the netherrack that made up the land...it was Noah!
"Oh my Notch...NOAH!", Adam cries out, dive-bombing towards the fallen god. The Nether mobs look up and see the Overworld god land on his feet and looks in shock as he sees Noah sprawled out across the ground, his entire body soaked in his own body. The mobs don't attack Sky, they just watch in dismay as the god approaches the other and falls to his knees.
"Noah? Noah, can you speak?! Come on, dude! Let me know that you're alive", Sky exclaims, hoping that the eyeless man would give him some sort of response back. After a tortuous minute passes, a choked and strangled breath is heard from the god. Adam winces when he hears the weak attempt to take in air. He comes closer to Noah and gently turns him on his back, gagging upon seeing the extend of his injuries.
Large puncture wounds embellished in his neck, blood pouring profusely out of every single hole, as well as from scars and bite wounds from his body. His clothes are all scratched up and soaked in blood. Noah slowly opens up his eyes and glances ever so slowly at Sky. "A...A...Adam...?", Noah manages to speak out, but coughs harshly afterwards and causes blood to spew out of his mouth. The Nether god takes in another weak breath, blood endlessly pours out of his throat.
"Noah, it's okay. Just don't talk anymore. I'm gonna get you help right away!", Sky exclaims quickly. The Butter God slowly runs his arms underneath the fallen god and gently pulls him off of the ground. Noah looks up at him and weakly coughs out "Leave...Leave me, Adam. I'm...I'm...I'm done for..."
"No way, man! I'm not leaving you here to die in the hands of a monster that used to be my friend. I'm taking you to get you help! Now, come on!", Sky states back, then turns around and starts fluttering his wings. He takes off in the air, the Nether mobs just watch in confusion as the two gods disappear out of their sight. Noah glances slowly at the mobs before he can no longer see them. "What about...the mobs?", Noah asks painfully, letting out a ragged cough afterwards.
Sky replies with "We'll deal with them later, Noah. Just please...keep your words to yourself. And try breathing through your nose so you can't lose any more blood". Noah just hangs limply in Sky's arms, starting to lose consciousness from the amount of blood that he had lost after he had been attacked by Enderlox. The last thing he sees before he passes out in the Nether portal, leading back to the Overworld.
Minutes pass by, and Sky flies as fast as he can back to the ship. He has become only more worried when he sees that Noah has passed out in his arms. Eventually, he sighs out in relief when he sees the ship again. He flies and lands on top of the upper deck. Nearby recruits look over and gasp in shock when they see the Nether god in his arms. Adam just takes off and enters the ship, a couple of recruits move out of the way for their commander to pass through.
Sky pants heavily from all of the effort he put into flying, running, and carrying Noah's unconscious body, though at this point, it was very unclear to see if he is still alive or not. Sky runs through a couple of hallways before locating the clinic. He kicks the door open and runs inside, startling Via who is standing behind the counter. She looks over and gasps.
"Via, help!", Adam yells out in distress, quickly looking down at Noah. Via runs over and looks over Noah. "Oh my god...what happened to him?", Via asks, looking up at the commander of Sky Army. Adam responds with "I went to the Nether because I was worried when Noah didn't respond back to me. I found him like this, so I took him with me. This has to be the work of Enderlox. Is he alive?"
Via quickly pulls out her stethoscope, puts on the earpieces, and starts feeling around his chest for a heartbeat. She states afterwards "There's still a heartbeat, but it's extremely weak. Put Noah in the first room on the right. I'll take care of him and alert Oceanus about this".
"Thanks, Via. I don't know what this army would do without you", Sky quickly says and makes his way over to the room. When he approaches the hospital bed, he gently places the Nether god on the bed. Adam notices that some of the blood on his wounds have stopped bleeding, but he knew that Noah had a long way to recovery. Via steps into the room and pads up to the I.V. bag attached to the side of the bed, grabbing the needle and gently pierces it through Noah's skin to get medicine into his veins.
"Well, that should help him out a bit, but I'll need Oceanus's help to assess his injuries and get him on antibiotics to prevent any infections from happening. I think any longer without help, and he would be dead at this point. His life is owned to you, Sky", Via comments, looking over at the commander. Adam nods back at her and states "Just doing my job. But I need to get going. I need to make sure that every recruit on this ship is safe and sound for tonight. We'll need to be ready in case another attack happens".
"Good idea. Go on ahead, Sky. I'll watch Noah and make sure that he makes it overnight", Via promises, to which Adam nods. The commander reluctantly turns his back and makes his way out of the room. Via looks down at the Nether god and winces, seeing what the Ender Dragon hybrid had done to him. She walks over to a nearby sink and washes her hands throughly, then slips on a pair of hospital gloves. She walks back over to Noah and starts cleaning up his blood stained skin with a wet towelette.
However, as she is cleaning up his injuries on one side of his neck, on the other side, a small purplish-like substance trails down to one of the puncture wounds and seeps in through the open wound. It disappears completely moments later.
Meanwhile, in the recovery room of the ship, Oceanus is currently in a discussion with Aver and Alix, regarding to what Aver had just experienced from his half-robotic friend. "Okay, so, please run this by me again so I'm not confused", Oceanus stated to Aver. Avernus groans in annoyance as he exclaims "I've already told you! Alix tried to kill me earlier! And I think it's because of that stupid chip of yours or whatever!"
"Actually, I don't even remember harming him. At one moment, I'm chill and okay and next thing I know, I see that I'm holding him in a chokehold against the wall", Alix admitted, scratching the side of his head.
"Hm...that's definitely strange...perhaps I'll look into the chip and see if there had been any defects that could be randomly causing Alix's sudden and uncontrollable rage". Oceanus suggests. Aver exhales out in relief "Thank you! I'm going to bed. Don't wake me until tomorrow".
Aver trudges out of the room and shuts the door. Oceanus sighs as he turns to Alix and states "Alright, Alix. Just stay tight and let me retrieve the chip from the bionic part on your face". The doctor begins to reach over to get the chip when suddenly, the bionic part sparks once and Alix is sent into a full-on rage. He grabs Oceanus by his wrist and glares into the doctor's eyes, Oceanus gasps in fear as he is forced to gaze into Alix's stare.
"You made me like this...now, you're going to PAY!", Alix growled out. He tosses the doctor over his shoulder, making him collide against the wall of the recovery room. Oceanus groans in pain as he looks up, but freezes up when Alix begins to approach with a very aggressive stance. Alix raises his robotic arm and aims his fist right for Oceanus.
The doctor/scientist can only look away, waiting for his fate to be sealed by one of his patients that had lost it because of him and all because he was trying to help.