Olivia decided then and there that she hated using portals. The icy-hot tingling enveloped her entire body, emphasizing her fatigue for what felt like ages. Purple surrounded her on all sides, swirls growing and shrinking all around. It was dizzying, really; Olivia scrunched her eyes shut and clenched her fists, trying to drown out the loud whoosh of air that echoed in her ears. It peaked, and she struggled to stay conscious as she stumbled and fell onto her front, free of the portal's light.
The whooshing faded; Olivia rolled onto her back and pushed her hands to her face to try and rid of the lingering dizziness. After a couple of seconds, a weird "vwarp" noise sounded from nearby. Olivia pushed herself up off of the ground, eyeing the Nether portal warily as Axel stumbled through with Reuben under his arm. The burly man nearly fell, but managed to catch himself before he crushed the little pig. Reuben dropped from his place under Axel's arm, shaking out any lasting tingles from teleporting.
"Where are the others?" Olivia piped up. Axel shrugged, turning to look at the portal for a few seconds, then glancing back at her.
"They're probably coming." Olivia raised an eyebrow and looked towards the portal. Several seconds passed with no indication of others coming through.
She couldn't help but wonder what in the world could be keeping them. They were all right there, what would've stopped them? Had the Storm gotten through the obsidian after all? The thought alone caused anxiety to shoot through her chest. She forced a deep breath. No, they were fine. Maybe someone caught up and needed help getting through. Maybe they were herding other Con-goers to the obsidian room.
"Are they… Okay up there?" Olivia folded her arms nervously. Axel shared a worried glance with her.
"Hope so-"
As he spoke, the portal started to get louder, swirling faster than before. Olivia blinked, watching the portal intently, hope welling in her chest. After a couple of seconds, Lukas and Jesse tumbled out of it, landing on their backs; they landed close enough to each other to make it obvious that Jesse had been knocked into him. Said girl was pushing a hand to her torso, shifting herself into a sitting position to stare at the portal. Lukas rubbed his head and pushed to his feet, backing away from the purple light. Jesse shifted to her feet, still gripping the front of her tan dungarees, and tore her eyes from the portal to where Reuben stood nudging her leg.
"Where's Petra?" Axel approached the pair, eyeing Lukas suspiciously. The blond flinched, gripping the bottom of his jacket.
"We did everything we could." Lukas forced himself to look up at Axel, then away from him again. That sure didn't sound good; Olivia glanced at Jesse, who was tense and still breathing funny from her teleportation.
Axel glanced at him. "What are you saying?"
"Jesse, what is he talking about?" Jesse snapped out of her thoughts and looked to Olivia with wide eyes. "Because it doesn't sound…" Olivia trailed off and looked at Lukas suspiciously. The blond flinched away from her. "It doesn't sound good."
"I-it was chaos up there, th-there wasn't much I c-could do…" Her grip on her front tightened a moment, then slacked as she dropped her hand to her side. Lukas nodded almost frantically. The group fell into a tense silence for several seconds, before the Ocelot leader let out a long suffering sigh.
"I got scared." His voice was quiet, dripping with guilt. "Just for a second." Lukas flinched away from Axel's glare. Axel started towards him, and the blond backed away, hands raised defensively.
"You got scared?" Lukas' head started shaking back and forth ever so slightly.
"I-it wasn't my fault-!"
"You got scared, and it's not your fault?" Axel's fists clenched tightly. Lukas swallowed.
Olivia couldn't say she wasn't upset, but she didn't entirely blame Lukas. He had frozen up; not everyone got boosts of adrenaline like she or Petra; Jesse, in fact, always froze up in the face of danger. So Lukas doing the same wasn't entirely foreign.
"Back off, Axel." She turned to face the burly man as he glanced towards her. At first, he looked about ready to hit something; slam his fist into something nearby, like a wall, or Lukas' face. Then, the anger melted away enough to accommodate determination and worry.
"We've gotta go back." The griefer turned away from Lukas, who couldn't hide his relief. Olivia quickly stepped between the portal and Axel.
"No!" Her arms lifted in an almost desperate attempt to hold him off. Axel's anger rose again, slightly. "We just have to wait." He glared at her, but made no move to push her aside. "Think about what you're walking into."
"Petra's still up there, she could need our help!" He tried to simply walk forwards, to see if she'd give in and step aside. Olivia refused to let him try.
"That monster is still out there, Axel; you'll be killed!" Olivia threw her arms out for emphasis.
"Th-there's nothing you can do." Jesse edged forwards a step. Axel turned on her.
"You don't know that! You don't know!" Jesse flinched and shrunk back. Axel opened his mouth to continue, but closed it again as Lukas suddenly darted forwards.
"Wait- there she is!" He pointed to the portal, causing Olivia to step aside. Sure enough, the portal was making odd noises again, and the lights were swirling more rapidly. Olivia clenched her fist in anticipation.
Out of the portal stumbled Ivor, who fell flat on his face after two steps. Not a second later, a tentacle from the Wither Storm found its way through, and began swinging around wildly.
Getting hit in the ribs by a hard black thing was not fun, Olivia could promise anyone that. The wind was immediately knocked out of her, and she swore she felt something crack as the hard surface met her torso, sending her flying back into the wall of netherrack. She heard screams from the others, and whooshing from the tentacle, before a loud cracking noise echoed through the area. Everything went quiet.
As Olivia pushed herself up, trying to ignore the ache in her ribs, she heard an angry mutter from Axel. She turned towards where the portal had been, finding obsidian pieces scattered around its broken bottom half. Ivor was pushing himself off of the ground, Jesse and Lukas standing on the other side of him. Jesse looked uncomfortable, torn between being hostile or upset. Lukas looked both furious and terrified, glaring at the robed man. It didn't take long for Reuben to stand by Jesse's feet, and Olivia followed Axel around to stand behind the other two.
"I-Ivor-!" Jesse's voice shook.
"You ruined everything." Ivor brushed off his front, glaring Jesse in the eye; the woman shrunk back ever so slightly. "Don't pretend you don't know, thief! You took my most valuable potion!" Jesse hesitated, then narrowed her eyes. Ivor snorted. "Nothing to say for yourself?" Jesse's hostile glare immediately faded and she visibly forced herself not to flinch. "There's nothing left up there!" Ivor continued, beginning to pace in front of them. "Nothing but that Wither Storm!"
"Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk," Axel hissed. Ivor glared and turned away. "Petra could be in trouble, we need to go find her!" Ivor's eyes widened and he turned back towards them.
"The girl! I saw her," he said loudly.
"What?" Lukas straightened.
"Yes, while I was running towards the portal, I passed her. She was running in the opposite direction!" Olivia blinked, eyes widening. "Such bravery! Of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity!" Olivia narrowed her eyes. "And your friend has crossed it!" Jesse narrowed her eyes. "I'm saying she's stupid!"
"Shut it! She's not stupid," Axel snapped.
"She's trying to help! Which is more than you're doing in this situation so far," Olivia retorted. Ivor scowled and turned away.
"Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts built by the Order. It's your only way out." Ivor glanced at them as he spoke. He motioned towards a pathway leading to a tunnel with a lava flow at the other end. Olivia swore she saw some glass farther than that, but it was hard to tell.
"What about you?" The response was immediate and unexpected; Ivor looked at Jesse with surprise flashing through his gaze, before he covered it with a scowl.
"What about me?"
"H-how will you get out of here?" Jesse was persistent.
"I have my ways." Ivor turned away again.
"We should head that way." Axel moved out from behind Lukas, pointing the direction Ivor had. Before any of them could respond, however, an odd, squeaky cry echoed from somewhere. Olivia tensed- then forced herself to relax again as the ache in her torso returned- and glanced around.
"What was that?" Lukas' voice shook. Olivia glanced at Ivor.
"I'd wish you luck, but luck won't carry you through the Nether." Ivor pulled a potion from his pocket, holding it tightly. "You have my sympathies." In a single movement, he ripped the cork from the bottle and downed the contents of it. He tossed it behind him, and by the time it had landed, Ivor had vanished.
"Um…" Jesse's voice quivered; Olivia turned to look at her, finding the other staring at something with wide eyes. "Guys…?" Olivia followed her gaze. A large, aggravated ghast was floating through a gap in a wall of nether block. Olivia backed away from it, careful not to back into the pool of lava nearby. The others had the same idea.
"Run!" Lukas' shout spurred them all into action. Olivia whirled around, booking it down the path that Ivor had pointed out. The others did the same; she saw Axel and Jesse in front of her, Reuben at Jesse's side and Lukas at the back. Saying she wasn't terrified would be a lie; the ghast was right on their heels, looking and sounding angrier than ever.
Jesse skid to a stop in front of her; Olivia forced herself to do the same before she ran into the other woman. In front of them was a slope downwards, the glass she had seen earlier being a symbol for the Order above their heads on the nearby wall. Below it was a track, with seven minecarts lined up on it, ready for use. Olivia glanced at the others, who were looking between each other as well.
"This must be what Ivor was talking about!" Olivia looked back towards the track. Before they could jump down, the ghast made a noise behind them. Olivia turned just in time to see the mob spit out a fireball at the space between her and Jesse. Which, at the moment, wasn't very big. She jumped to the side, Jesse doing the same. The fireball flew past and hit the top of the tunnel, breaking the decorative glass.
They all jumped down, running to the minecarts. Olivia climbed into the third minecart from the back, Lukas just behind her and Axel in the back. There was an empty cart in front of her, with Jesse in front of that one and Reuben claiming the second cart from the front, just in front of Jesse. The carts began rolling down the track; once they were in the tunnel, the ghast couldn't follow them, watching them go irritatedly.
AN: m a n we're getting close to the good stuff guys
get hyped
until next time!