Chapter 12: Of Endermen and Magic Spells
Lalia's POV:
As Nate and Tom left for downstairs, I headed upstairs back into the main room. I relaxed into one of the chairs, casually resting my hand on the hilt of my sword just in case I was attacked. There was a steady banging on the front door, but in some ways in comforted knowing they hadn't gotten through.
A strange, yet familiar, noise echoed down the hall and suddenly the banging stopped. So did my heart. I tried to convince myself that they had given up, and it was a good thing, but the groans of the undead echoing down the hall protested against the face. I bolted upright and drew my sword.
"It's okay Lia, you can handle this. It's only a few zombies," I tried to comfort myself. They looked like zombies, but their skin looked like bedrock. As the first one approached, I drew back my sword and prepared to strike. I hit it square in the chest, but it only caused a faint scratch.
Confused, dodged its attack and struck it in the neck. Again, the mob only received a small abrasion. As I again dodged another attack I tried striking under the arm. It spurted blood profusely from the wound and fell to the ground. I smiled triumphantly, but my smiled quickly faded as I saw the four zombies pouring into the room. I ran up and attacked the closest, but I couldn't hit its underarm, so I merely gave him a flesh wound on his arm. It was strange, but the other zombies weren't attacking me, they shuffled past me and began to form a… circle? I didn't think they were intelligent enough.
While the other zombies distracted me, the one I had been attacking had also shuffled off the join them and four more were coming in through the hall. I held out my sword, preventing any of them stepping forward, but none of them looked like they were going to break formation. I heard the click-clack of bones and saw three wither skeletons enter and complete the circle.
"Why are you just standing there?" I asked, not expecting an answer.
"Waiting," The skeletons rasped in unison.
"Waiting for who?" I asked.
"For me!" Said a voice behind me. I spun around to see a tall enderman right behind me. His voice was much less harsh than Lucius', however it still chilled me to the bone. "Sorry for startling you dearie, I've been sent to ensure the death of Rose and yourself and the successful capture of Ignatius."
"Who are you and why do you want to kill me?" I demanded.
"Easy questions Leia."
"It's Lia."
"Whatever Leia. My name is Lupus the Dark, and my designation is Alpha 2. I guess you could call me the right-hand-man of Lucius the Scar-faced, or Alpha 1 as I call him. And I want to kill you because those are my instructions, something to do with world domination I think," He replied.
"Don't you get sick of just following instructions all the time?" I asked. "Don't you have dreams and wants of your own?"
"Well, I want to stay alive, so I am getting what I want."
"But is bowing to the will of others all the time really living?"
"Shut it Leia,"
"I told you, my name is Lia!" I yelled.
He picked me up and I screamed, "Now listen here girl! And I would stop making all that noise. You wouldn't want to have your friends watch you die, especially your precious Ignatius. Or perhaps we would make you watch them die."
"You would never kill Nate!" I challenged him.
"Oh really, what makes you think that?" He drawled.
"Well, for one you said you were meant to make sure he was captured, not killed, so it would go against your orders," I argued.
"That wouldn't stop me from killing the girl, and then forcing him to watch you die, so I suggest you say your prayers," Lupus threatened.
"Ignatius would never let you kill any of us! He would easily turn you into a trail of smoke," I said.
"Sure, sure," Lupus replied in a voice that dripped with sarcasm. There was a clomping on the stairway and Nate emerged with Rose at his side.
"Oh, look who we have here, the brave hero and the psycho chic. Although, I'm not sure who's who," Lupus taunted.
"Incorrect statement, Ignatius is the hero and I am the female," Rose corrected him.
"Oh, look at you Miss Smarty Pants, well give me your evidence," he further teased.
"I know I am female as I have, Ow! Ignatius, whatever was that for!" Nate had stopped her spiel with a quick jab to the ribs.
"We know you're a girl Rose, he is just trying to prolong his inevitable demise," Nate told Rose.
"You two have to get out of here!" I told them, still struggling in Lupus's grasp.
"Not without you," Nate replied.
"But I don't want to have to watch you die!" I exclaimed.
"Who said anything about dying? I'm the son of a god, remember? Sons of gods don't go down without a tough fight. So unhand her enderman and face me like a man," Ignatius challenged.
"Ah, a confident one. This should be more interesting than I expected," Lupus commented smugly. He placed me down on the ground I quickly ran to Rose's side.
Nate assumed a fighting stance, "Any last words enderman?"
"Prepare to die, you son of a god," Lupus spat back.
Nate rushed forward and struck Lupus across the chest. However, the sword bounced off with a loud CLANG and barely even left a scratch.
"Ow, that really hurt," Lupus mocked sarcastically.
"Shut your trap, you pile of hard rock!" Nate spat back and he struck again.
They fought fiercely, clambering over furniture all over the room. However, Lupus never seemed to tire or get more than a minor wound. Nate on the other hand was developing a patchwork of bruises and scratches on his neck and arms.
"We need to help him," I whispered to Rose.
"There may just be something of use in the family spellbook. It is one of the few items I managed to save, do you have any ideas as to where to start?" She pulled out a slightly tattered old book with a beautiful crimson leather cover.
"Aren't endermen allergic to water? I think I might have heard that somewhere."
"It is most certainly worth a try. Water summoning spell. No, not that, no, nope, certainly not! No, not there, not even close, no, ah ha! This looks correct, there's even a note in the margin about how it affects endermen!" Rose quietly squealed in delight.
"Hurry," I told her, looking at the battle still raging on between mob and man. "I don't know if we have much time!"
"Calm down Eulalia, I think I have it," she said, and she closed her eyes, facing the palms of her hands towards the two fighters. "Aqueosus Formosas!"
A stream of water shot out of the palm of her hands and flew straight into Lupus's back. He let out an otherworldly scream and began to teleport madly, disappearing into thin air. The mob spectators in the room all hurried out, as if his defeat was enough to scare them off.
Then we heard it. I don't know how long it had been going on for before we noticed it, but in the sudden silence we could hear the faint cries of agony coming from below us.
"Tom!" We all cried in unison, rushing to the stairs and flying down the three flights.
On the way down Rose threw Nate a cooked porkchop and as he ate I saw the wounds on his arms and neck heal themselves. The sounds of pain got louder as we descended, at least they made it easy to locate the back door. We all sped up when they suddenly stopped.
We all stopped as we saw the innocent wooden door and darted to the wall next to it, so that whatever was out there wouldn't see us.
"Rose, I need you to fire a water spell as soon as we exit alright?" Nate asked.
"Certainly," She nodded in reply.
"Be ready for anything," He said, looking grim. "Three, two, one!"
We burst through the doors and I was immediately shocked at the image in front of me. We were on a small platform made on the small grassy slope that rested at the base of the cliff which contained Tom's home. Off to one side of the platform lay Tom's body. He was covered in bruises and had blood seeping out of numerous cuts all over his body, which looked dark crimson in the light of the falling moon. Over his body, which was rapidly becoming a corpse, stood a tall enderman with only one eye.
"Aqueous form…" Rose began to chant, but was cut off by the ear piercing voice.
"So we meet again weaklings. I'm so glad you brought some new toys for me to play with. Just two of you was so boring," Lucius smiled evilly, blood dripping from his hands. Every word was like a dagger to the brain.
"What do you want, Lucius, or should I say Alpha 1?" I asked through clenched teeth.
"Oh so you met Lupus did you? Shame he didn't finish you off, well at least that leaves the pleasure to me." Our gazes wandered to where Tom lay. I could still see the slight rise and fall of his chest, but he didn't have long left. Even a light punch to the chest would have finished him.
"What do you want from us?!" Rose demanded furiously, staring right into the enderman's singular eye.
"An unexpected feisty streak in this one, I'm sure we can… correct that," Lucius grinned, "and as you can see, I've already had some fun with your friend here, now it's time to end your pitiful lives, except you Ignatius. No, the boss wants to meet you in person."
"I won't let you hurt them," Nate said, stepping in front of us protectively.
"You know, I'm sure if you're well behaved the boss would let you rule the world with them. If you agree to come with me peacefully, I might even leave the two girls with their lives. Once your father is dead, you will have the full powers of the Nether god. Together with the other great powers on our side, nothing would stand in your way." Lucius persuaded.
"Never! The only person whose side I want to rule by is Lalia's," he defied, giving me a loving look before turning his ocean blue eyes back to Lucius.
"Rose, now," I whispered.
"Aqueosus Formosas!" Rose yelled as water flew from her hand and hit the startled enderman, causing him to teleport. When he came to a halt, she cast the spell and again, however he managed to teleport before it could hit. Nate engaged him in battle while we tried to figure out how to stop Lucius.
"Rose," I began, leaning over her shoulder to look at the book, "are there any spells to make it rain?"
"Let me investigate that proposition," she said and quickly began to search through the pages of the book. After a few seconds she quietly exclaimed, "Ah ha! I have found a spell which matches your description. However, it is in a different tongue to that of traditional spells, but I shall give it my best."
"Good work Rose, Nate and I will distract him while you figure it out," I said, then turned my attention to Lucius. "So, Alpha 1, what is the real reason for your interest in Ignatius?"
"Yes," Nate joined in, "why would anyone be interested in little old me?"
"You know very well why they want you Nate. As the only remaining god in the way of the Ender Dragon and Wither King's rule, you too must be captured and dealt with."
"I couldn't be capable of that much harm to you, after all I don't even have all of my powers. If you could capture both my father and uncle, I shouldn't be any worry or great concern," Nate continued on after Rose gestured that she wasn't quite ready yet.
"Yes, and that is why we are after you now, while you aren't a great pain in the neck to capture," Lucius explained.
"There won't be any capturing today," Rose exclaimed triumphantly, " /toggledownfall!" At first the sky didn't seem to change, but then the clouds drew in and covered the shinning stars and big square moon. It wasn't long before rain began to fall, lightly at first, but then gradually thicker. The falling water caused Lucius to teleport wildly and he disappeared while vowing revenge.
Now the enderman was gone, the focus turned to Thomas.
"Oh my goodness," I gasped softly as I took in the full damage. His face was covered in scratches and bruises, as were his arms. His iron armour had be beaten to pieces and his chest was covered in deep wounds that oozed red blood. His arms and legs were no better, with large cuts on his arms which he had used to try to protect himself. The grass he lay on was more red than green and his eyes were closed in defeat.
"From my analysis, he will need both a potion of healing and a potion of regeneration. However, we seem to be without a prepared regeneration potion." Rose said.
"I told you we were missing something," I muttered.
"It should not be too difficult to concoct a potion, seeing as I have all the necessary ingredients, however I will need time. Here is a potion of healing, give it to him immediately." She said while handing me a bottle of red liquid. I swiftly but gently bent over Tom, lifted up his head and poured the potion into his mouth. Some of the small wounds faded and the larger ones stopped bleeding, however he wasn't fully healed. He half-opened his eyes, however they were eyes of a person in great pain, and I wished he had kept them shut. However, I couldn't look away. In his time of weakness, Nate and I needed to be his strength until Rose brewed the potion.
"Tom," I began, tears already forming in the corner of my eyes, "I am so sorry I got you into this mess, but you can pull through. You only have to be strong for a little while longer. Rose is brewing a potion to fully heal you, but I need you pull through until it is finished. Minecraftia needs you, we need you, I need you. I haven't know you for long, but I'm sure underneath that cold, harsh exterior is a lovely person. I know you're a good person, I can see it in your eyes. I know you're in a lot of pain, trust me, I've been there. But you just need stay alive a bit longer, okay? I promise if you do I will do everything I can to make sure this never ever happens to you ever again."
As I spoke, I stared into his eyes. His piercing blue eye showed he was fighting off death, however his brown one was soft and seemed to say goodbye.
"Hurry Rose," I told her frantically over my shoulder.
"You cannot rush brewing a potion. You rush a potion, you get a rotten potion. It is almost complete anyway." She replied.
As she spoke, his blue eye became more and more like the brown.
"Tom, just hang around for a bit longer, okay? Rose is almost done," Nate said softly.
"Rose!" I yelled desperately.
"Calm down, it is complete. I just need to carefully remove it," She replied, taking the pink potion out of the brewing stand at an excruciatingly slow rate. Then she swiftly moved to my side and nearly forced the liquid down his throat. Within a minute he was gingerly sitting up, rubbing his lower back and inspecting the scar that remained on his right arm. The rain washed the blood off his clothes, which would have otherwise stained his cyan pants.
"You owe me an explanation," Tom croaked in a hoarse voice.
"Let's get inside first," Nate suggested, and we all helped Tom into the small guest bedroom right next to the back door. As soon as everyone was inside, I went back out into the hall and blocked the doorway with two dirt blocks. 'That ought to keep us safe until morning,' I thought as I returned to the room.
"I guess I should be thanking you for saving me, but then again I probably wouldn't have gotten into this mess if it weren't for you three," Tom said, a slightly aggressive tone to his voice.
"I know Tom, and I'm sorry," Nate apologized, "It's all my fault really. You see…" Ignatius proceeded to tell Tom of how he was Herobrine's son and we were the last hope of Minecraftia seeing as both gods had been kidnapped.
"I'm awfully sorry we cause you so much trouble," I apologized as soon as Nate finished.
"It's okay, not much can be worse than seeing everything you loved in a pile of smoky rubble with no one you cared about in sight. If anything, death seemed like it might have been better than living." Tom replied solemnly.
"That's what will happen to everyone in Minecraftia if we don't do something to stop the Ender Dragon and Wither King. Will you help us Tom?" Ignatius asked. There was a moment of tense silence as we waited for Tom's reply.
"Sure, why the Nether not, it's not like I have much to lose," he replied.
"Welcome to the team, Thomas!" I exclaimed happily.
"So, I assume we are going to continue following the ender pearls," Rose stated.
"You assume correctly, we leave at dawn."
As morning had approached we had helped Tom pack up all of his important items, as well as crafting a new set of armour with a diamond chest plate and the rest in iron. As the sun rose, we finally stepped outside and prepared our horses, Tom meeting us once he had saddled up his chestnut filly called Rusty.
Once we were all ready and I had checked everything twice we set off in the same direction we had been previously.
The morning passed fairly uneventfully, we stuck to the valleys of the mountainous biome as much as possible so as not to injure our horses. It was quite spectacular really. Then, just after we had had a quick stop for lunch we entered a snowy taiga biome.
Rose said she felt uneasy, however we dismissed it after half an hours of riding that was only complicated by the amount of trees in the hilly terrain.
Since the trip was so boring, we organised a race. Rose and I quickly took the lead, battling it out for most of the time. From behind I could hear Nate's complaints about us cheating and the cold "affecting his performance".
It was a first one to the edge of the biome wins race, so when we caught a glimpse of sand as we crested a hill, Rose and I sped up as we practically tumbled down the hill. However, Death was slightly faster than Alyssia, and so Rose led the way down the hill.
We laughed the whole way down and didn't even notice the stone pressure plate until Rose and I heard the familiar click. We rode on a few more blocks before turning around to warn the boys.
But they too had seen that glimpse of yellow, and mistook our shouted warnings as taunts. Laughing and smiling they sped down the hill. They were almost falling down the hillside when the trap finally activated. Right at the bottom of the hill, a great crevice opened up.
Tom was in front of Nate. He didn't even have time to stop before the ground swallowed him and Rusty whole.
However Ignatius was just slightly further up the hillside, and Storm jumped just before the ravine. For a few seconds it looked like they may just make it.
Suddenly, the ground moved, and the gap widened so much so that it was only a few blocks away from Rose and I.
Nate's once hopeful face fell as he saw it would be impossible for them to make it. The most haunting thing was that he didn't scream. There was no holler for help or outstretched hand as if we could help. In that one moment, when the world fell into slow motion, all he did was raise a hand and blow a kiss, his eyes saying more than any cry for help ever could.
In that sorrowful look, the clearest words his blue eyes expressed were, "I love you" and "Goodbye."
A/N:
*Gasp* what have I done?
Hello most patient readers,
I am sorry for the last update (but then again you're getting used to that hey). I do try my best to update every weekend, but I knew where I wanted to end this chapter and it turned out to be quite long. 3500 words exactly actually. Wow, that's a lot a writing.
If you still have an O/C, or are new and have a brilliant idea, I would love to hear about him/her. I do have enough O/C I think, but you never know. Please don't be offended if I don't include your O/C in the story, but it really depends on if they fit into the plot.
As I stated last chapter, I am making a cover for this story, so if you have any ideas of what you would like to be on it, let me know. Obviously, I can't put any spoilers or anything, but if you have any awesome ideas let me know.
I was also thinking of starting a Q&A thing with my characters where you lovely readers could send in a question by either attaching it to a review or messaging me and I would have the appropriate characters answer the question. It could be any question to anyone, just nothing that they couldn't reveal without it ruining the plot.
Are Tom and Nate really dead? Is it even possible they could survive? How will Lia and Rose cope without them? Am I really an evil mastermind? Who knows? Well, I guess you'll find out next time! In the meantime, make sure to favourite, follow and review! Thank you for all of your reviews and messages, I love hearing from you guys!
Until then, have an awesome week and I will see you in the next chapter!
~Lark~