Hello once again, faithful readers!

In the latest chapter of The Miner's Destiny, FMF named Will's stone pickaxe Timothy. I don't know, thought I'd say that. It doesn't have anything to do with this story, that's for sure. Well, this is sparking new debates as to whether this story's Will will eat Timothy in the coming chapters. Read on to find out!

Also, I would like to pay my respects to the victims of the Colorado Dark Night Rises tragedy. I was thinking about writing a oneshot in tribute to them, but decided against it. Nevertheless, I wish the best for the families of those killed and injured.

On a brighter note, I hope that you all vote for the poll on my profile page. This is really important, because it determines which story I'm writing after this. You can check out more detailed information in the A/N last chapter. Make sure that you vote! Please!

What else is new in the news... Oh yes, I saw the new Spider-Man movie two days ago. It was splendid, I recommend seeing it. Honestly, I have seen every single Emma Stone movie, and I've seen every Andrew Garfield movie except for the Social Network. Too inappropriate, according to my parents. Nevertheless, word on the street is that his character got screwed over big-time by Mark Zuckerberg. What a jerk. We should all boycott Facebook.

That shouldn't be hard for me. I've never used Facebook. Now, some people who are on it every five minutes? That's a different story.

Enough with meaningless A/N material! You know what time it is! It's time to...

STUMP THE TRUNK STUMP THE TRUNK bum bum, oh oh oh oh oh.

Haha, That Metal Show is on in the background. It's really time for the review responses.

Shayor: No, I released her as a Wartortle. Or something like that. Haha, good times in fifth period Algebra. Do you mean I named Alex that because -CLASSIFIED- Check your PM, shayor. Haha, shayor. Shayor, to all you stalkers, is your clue as to why Alex is named Alex. Shayor, find out what I mean by that. I'm sneaky, aren't I?

FullMoonFlygon: You're going to cry when your story ends? (haha, end) Well, you should see me! I'm going to be bawling. Literally. No spoilers, indeed! And as for your hypothesis, good job to you. Hold on, no one can hear me say 'good job' in a nasty little Chicago accent. It's hilarious. Other fun things to say in a Chicago accent: garbage, where are you at?, yeah. Try all of those. It's fun. When you say destined to die, you scare me.

Night wl: Her death shall not be in vain. The Black Ops are not important now. But they will be, all in good time. Poor Will. He's going to kill you with his iron sword for plotting against him.

Sea of Fire: It seems that everyone cried when Anna died. Just you wait until (character who has been introduced in the story briefly and as a minority that you probably never even noticed that he/she existed)'s death scene!

Exb756: Your new profile photo makes me laugh. The Nether Ships are given a name this chapter, so huzzah for that. And why you liked this chapter more than the last few... Maybe it's because you liked watching Anna die? You HORRIBLE MONSTER! O_o

RDTFLU: Dust, firestorms, giant Airships. I've added so much to this story prievously unheard of to Minecraftia.

HarryPotterEncyclopedia24: Thanks! Nothing else to say here...

And now, without further ado, let the story commence!

Chapter 14

An Unexpected Alliance

In only a few seconds, things had gone from bad to worse. Monarch drooped at my side. Sadness overwhelmed every other emotion in my head as I stood on the netherrack floor. I needed something to take my mind of things. I turned away from the scene in front of me, but it made no difference. The image of Anna's lifeless body hung in front of me, like a cloak blocking anything else I could possibly see.

This world had become purely blood and fire. The Endermen had completely obliterated Anna's world, piece by piece until they had taken her life. Grief overwhelmed me next, but at least there couldn't be anymore worrying about who would die in the Nether. I didn't know if that was good or bad. Every time I blinked, a tear squeezed out of my life.

My back was turned to my friends. Then again, the scene in front of me wasn't that great either. The firestorm rolled through, spreading flaming dust on everything that stood in the open. Our small cavern wouldn't protect us for long, but we would have to stay here for now. It was only right for the sake of Anna. Besides the firestorm, there were many dead Zombie Pigmen bodies littered across the landscape.

I hadn't killed many of them, because of what had happened to me. I still don't understand what exactly happened that I kept hearing the Endermens' voices. More guilt struck over me. If I had been able to fight, maybe I could have kept the heat off of her so that she wouldn't have been injured so badly. My stupid head, messing with my instincts. The next emotion was anger, and I wielded Monarch high above my head. This was all the Endermen's fault! I brought Monarch down on the netherrack in front of me, lodging the diamond blade in the molten rock. "I'll kill you all, you beasts!" I shouted, waving my fist in the air to express my rage.

That wasn't how Anna would've wanted me to respond to this. But I couldn't help feeling terrible. The enemy had taken her life apart, from her home, to her family, and finally, her life itself. It didn't make sense. Why would they take her life apart?

For that matter, what was with the taking over of Minecraftia? And now, it seemed, they were trying to take the Nether as well. Pulling Monarch out of the hot rock, I tried to cool myself down. We would leave a memorial. And we would slay every last mob that was hiding in the ship right now.

I turned around, once again facing the scene of Anna's demise. Prae still crouched over Anna's lifeless body. Will sat, staring out into the firestorm with his knees bent up to his face, hiding his new scar. Changing the subject racing through my mind to Will, I wondered what the effects were of the purple glowing effect. He didn't seem himself unless it was lighting up.

Then there was Anna herself. Her legs were coated in drying blood, as was one of her arms. Her iron sword lay at her side, all her armor stripped off and laid to the side. I wanted to leave her in good faith. After all, she had watched my back the entire time that we were in the Nether.

I walked back over to Prae. Her face was less devastated now, sitting against the wall next to Anna's dead body. I placed a sign above her head, reading 'May Anna Pistons rest in peace'. Nothing much, but it was the best we could do.

That was it. The problem was, we still had work to do. "Guys, suit up. We need to find a Nether Fortress."

After securing my armor and readying Monarch, we set out in the opposite direction of the portal guarded by the armies. The netherrack sloped, but we continued on. After an hour or so, I could see a large structure through the red fog. It was a Nether Fortress, looming above us. We would have to assault it and confront the blazes inside.

"Are you guys ready?" I asked, and the others nodded shortly. No one felt like talking after Anna's passing.

We advanced forward at a slow pace, careful to be observant of everything in front of us. The Fortress started as a walkway that went straight through the middle of it to a main building, with large towers on the sides. We trekked along the walkway up to the main building, carefully ready with our swords to not be caught off guard.

There was a small opening in the building, and I led us three inside of it. I put one foot forward, but was unable to observe anything as a Zombie Pigman surprisingly tackled me from the side. It snarled in my face, dripping hot blood and pus on my armor. Struggling to get out from under, I punched it in the face. It squealed, and it's head suddenly came off at the mercy of Murder.

Prae stood above me, staring down at my attacker's limp body. "Thanks," I coughed, disgusted by the beast's bodily fluids.

"Don't mention it," she replied as I got to my feet. There was a tower above us, and stairs that led up to it. We continued up the stairs to the top of the tower, which overlooked the entire Nether Fortress. We decided to make camp in that room for a little bit. Through the windows of the room, we could see that the firestorm was blowing it's way toward us. Will volunteered for first watch, so Prae and I slumped against the walls.

It was hard to fall asleep. There were so many things on my mind. Grief from Anna's death, worries about the Endermen, and most of all, stress about which of my friends would turn against me. I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping that it would help. After a while, I finally nodded off.

For what seemed like the millionth time, I dreamt. This dream might have been the strangest of all.

The dream started in a room that looked like it was a Nether Fortress. It really did look like one, but my heart told me it wasn't. I walked around, looking for an exit. There was a closed iron door, and a switch directly next to it. I flicked the switch and stared outside.

It was mayhem. There were Zombie Pigmen everywhere, killing each other. Then I noticed that some of them had the swords engraved with the eye symbol, and the ones that didn't must be their opponents. They fought each other to the death, reminding me of wars between people back in the Overworld. But this was casting blood all over the place, all the same species of what was supposed to be civilized.

It seemed that I was on the roof of a building. The fight must be going on here. Down below me to the front was the edge, only visible through the fighting of the undead swine. Endermen and more Zombie Pigmen lined the netherrack ground in front of the building. This must be a temple or something. I checked to make sure I had Monarch, but I didn't. Nevertheless, none of the Zombie Pigmen were taking any notice to me. This seemed very odd.

Suddenly, I heard the horns of more giant ships. They seemed to be coming from behind me. I ran back the way I came, passing the room I had come from, which seemed to stick up atop of the roof, and looked below. There seemed to be a harbor of the ships, all floating above a sea of fire. There looked to be about eleven, with one large space free. That must have been the ship that we had seen.

There were high numbers of Zombie Pigmen on a platform next to all the ships that spanned along side the vast building. They fought like they were on the roof, and instead of Endermen, there was the figure of Herobrine commanding them down below.

"Fight, my soldiers! We must not let them take another Airship!" he cried, waving his fist at the attackers. A bolt of lightning came down from the sky and killed many of the attackers, positioned in the back of their numbers. The stream of undead swine on each side seemed endless. Herobrine's army was streaming from the Airships, the Endermens' coming from inside the large temple. This must be the Temple of the Nether.

As soon as I realized this, the dream faded away into reality. I was being shaken awake, and not by Will or Prae. It was a Zombie Pigman.

I yelped in surprise, and the undead swine groaned in my face. "Get off, get off!" I spat at it, but it hit me in the face and held up it's golden sword.

It must be telling me to look at it, so I inspected it. The golden sword was free of any black eye marking. I came to the realization of what this meant. This Zombie Pigman was not being controlled by the Endermen, which meant it must not be an enemy. In fact, they might help us. The problem with this was that I couldn't understand it, and I was sure that they could not understand English.

I got to my feet carefully. Will had fallen asleep against the wall, and Prae was still in a deep slumber in the corner. There were about three Zombie Pigmen in the room, two of which were guarding an archway to my left which led into a corridor. The last one was the one that had woken me, and it addressed me now. It pointed at me, grunted, and then pointed at my partners. I assumed that meant to wake them up. I walked over to Prae first.

This was sure to be awkward. I tapped her on the shoulder slightly, and her hand gripped around Murder, which was lying to her right. "Who's there?" she snarled, her eyes still closed. "It's me," I responded, and she opened her eyes and surveyed the scene in front of her. "Are they capturing us?" she asked, barely audible. I shook my head in response. "No, they're friendly."

As Prae got to her feet, I walked over to Will. I nudged him in the shoulder, but he remained asleep. At least he didn't snore. " I nudged him again, but he was still unresponsive. "Will!" I said, irritated. His eyes darted open, narrowed to slits at the sight of the Zombie Pigmen. He raised his sword before I knew what he was doing.

"No, Will, stop!" I told him, standing between him and the undead swine. "They're friendly!"

Will lowered his iron sword to his side and snorted. "What makes you think that?"

"Because they're not killing us right now! At least play along!"

Will rolled his eyes, but it was a done deal. The three of us followed the Zombie Pigmen down the corridor and into a larger room. Inside was quite a sight.

There were Zombie Pigmen all around the room. Some were holding their swords defensively, some where lying on the ground, and some appeared to be treating those that laid on the ground with ghast tears. Of course, ghast tears had healing powers, as they were used in many potions of healing.

The Zombie Pigman that was escorting us pointed over to another archway at the other side of the room. It made a number of squeals and groans, leaving us to comprehend what it had told us. "I suppose we should go check out that room," I suggested, so Prae and Will followed me along the rows of the sick and injured into this room.

Inside, there were two guards at the archway. They looked at us, snorted or groaned or something, and let us pass. Ahead of us was a single Zombie Pigman, whose face looked withered and old. His sword, however, was shining gold, unlike most of the others, which were often smeared with blood and grime from battle. The Zombie Pigman squealed something out at the guards behind us, who presumed to block the entrance into the room. Uh, oh. For a moment, I worried that we had been locked inside.

"Do not worry, travelers. You are not prisoners," said a hoarse voice. It was the Zombie Pigman in the center of the room. I was taken aback by this.

"Yes, unfortunately I am the only bilingual of my kind in this Fortress. That is why they presumed me as an Elder, I suppose. Without further ado, I ask you to please address me as such," continued the Zombie Pigman. It definitely was coming from it, so we perked our ears up to listen to it.

"Alas, my Fortress is not in good shape. We have been attacked before, and I am guessing that we will be attacked again. It is only the firestorm amid us that draws back the enemy forces, but it will cease to hold them back much longer. Now, I dare ask, who is the leader of this group before me?" the Elder told us. I nervously raised my hand to my shoulder.

"Glowstone, I presume? Yes, you must be Alex. And your friends, I do not know their names. They are-?"

"Prae," Prae answered defiantly. Her low-trust instincts were kicking in once more.

"And Will," responded Will gruffly.

"The travelers accompanying what will hopefully be the next great hero of Minecraftia. You all have suffered a terrible loss recently, I'm guessing? I am very sorry. But whoever it was, he or she must not die in vain. Since you are here, you might as well accept our help to get you back to the ship that guards your only way out of the Nether. And unfortunately, it must be done in the closing hours of the firestorm. Not to purposely get you three hurt, but because the enemy's defenses will be drastically lower than in normal weather."

I thought this over. Help on a way out? It definitely was an unexpected alliance, but we couldn't leave yet. We still had to acquire six blaze rods. "Excuse me, Elder, but before we leave, we must collect six blaze rods. Do you know where the blaze spawners are in this Nether Fortress?" I queried.

The Elder made a noise somewhat similar to a sigh, and continued to answer. "We demolished the spawners in the coming days of the Raid of the Endermen as to make sure that the blazes were not controlled by them, as many of my species are currently. Before you ask, we do not have any blaze rods. Terribly sorry as I am, you have a decision to make. Will you take our offer or leave it?"

I thought it over. We would have to travel to another Nether Fortress to collect the blaze rods, which would take time. And even then, that specific Fortress might have used the same veto that the Elder here had. It might be best to get out of the Nether while we could. "I guess we'll take it."

There were no objections from Will or Prae, so the Elder called in some guards. There were five of them. It gave them orders in the Zombie Pigman language, various groans and squeals standing for different battle commands. When it was done, it turned to us once more. "Travelers, they will accompany and fight with you all the way until you have entered your portal and leave our Realm. May the best of luck go to you, as Notch knows this opportunity is the best you can get."

Before we left, I turned to the Elder once more. "Elder, when we entered the Fortress, there was an enemy Zombie Pigman that tried to attack us. What was that about?"

The Elder sighed, knowing that this wasn't good. "A scout from the Endermen. We will be in battle again soon. But hurry, you must leave in the closing hours of the firestorm. Hopefully you can make it through alive."

And so we were off. The five guards followed our trio through the room of the wounded and out into the walkway that we had entered the Fortress through. It was now a very different landscape. The red fog had turned to dust, spreading what felt like ash all over us. Every few moments, fire would fall from the sky and light up the ground below it. There was also wind that enveloped us, but we pressed on.

Once we had passed the netherrack column that we had left Anna in, we stopped and came up with a strategy. "Let's go through the tunnels that me and Anna went through to get to the ship since we already know what's up there that way," I said, providing a decent battle plan. We continued along the treacherous landscape and into the tunnels in the netherrack walls.

After some hiking, we emerged into the entrance to the bridge over the sea of fire onto the Airship. I guessed that's what it was called, since Herobrine had called it that in my dream. That reminded me: Herobrine. What had happened to him in the temple? I put my worries aside though as we surveyed the route in front of us.

There was a single Enderman at the other side of the bridge, making sure no one got inside without a fight. And after craning my neck, I saw another Enderman guarding the Nether portal. All of the others must have been hiding inside of the captain's quarters. We devised a strategy inside our tunnel, and then followed it through. Anna and one of the Zombie Pigmen started out across the bridge. Apparently they did understand English, they just couldn't speak it. Anna held out Murder and took a slash across the Enderman's back, which was turned to us.

It made a short yelping sort of sound, and was silenced by the other Zombie Pigman's golden sword. The Enderman crumpled to the ground, and it's chest burst open. Prae gasped.

"What is it?" I asked, hurrying over. There, where it's heart should have been, was a magnificent turquoise pearl. It's inside was swirling and tumbling and making the most beautiful patterns. It looked amazing. I picked it up and studied it. Interesting as it was, we couldn't waste time admiring things like this.

We continued over to the other Enderman. I engaged with it, and it took a lethal swipe at my head. I dodged, and rolled to the side. It's eyes followed me, but one of the Zombie Pigmen stepped up to it and slashed it across the torso.

"Blast! An undead swine that remains loyal to those who rule this land. Afraid you're a pest that has been exterminated," taunted the Enderman in it's cold, icy voice. My ears rang. These things, I could understand them. But every time I listened, I felt like I was going insane. Gripping my ears, I watched as the Enderman gripped the offending Zombie Pigman and seemed to carve the eye in it's sword. The others attacked the Enderman, and followed suit with the now enemy Zombie Pigman. The Enderman screamed once more.

"Comrades! There has been a break-in!" it screamed, silenced by Murder. The captain's quarters door crashed open, revealing an army of Zombie Pigmen. They all rushed at us. I limped over to the portal, which Will was entering at the moment. Once I was there, I looked back at our ally Zombie Pigmen. One of them pointed at the portal, and then to me. It then squealed in rage, and charged the army.

Prae was was waiting for me at the portal. I limped inside as Prae followed me. Maybe we were leaving Anna's body, but she would always have a place in our hearts.

TPoM

The building shook as Notch entered it. He feared that he didn't have much time before the place came down, but he had to reach his brother before it was too late. Screams of the undead and gurgling noises from the Endermen echoed off of every hallway. The portal he had come through stood behind him. Little did he know another was being used only a short time away by the one he sought to protect.

Notch hurried along a back hallway, a short cut that was probably not as occupied by the Endermens' armies as the main hallways. As he entered a corridor, he drew the attention of five Zombie Pigmen in the room. He hurriedly conjured a bow in his hand, enchanted with Infinity, and fired shots at all of the swine. It took about five seconds, but they were all dead within that little of time. Notch hurried along the corridor.

He continued this way for what seemed like an endless amount of time. After a long while, he came to a window overlooking the Airship harbor. Down below was his brother, fighting alongside his army. Notch analyzed the scene, took in the coordinates, and thought /kill. Being a god made battle so easy. The entire area was obliterated of mobs, and Notch broke a hole in the wall and jumped down to his brother.

Herobrine watched the Guardian of the Aether land next to him, but shook his head. "Notch, you shouldn't be here. This is a war that neither of us can fight, and I am only making my last stand."

"Brother, there is a break in the waves due to my powers, and now is the moment for you to follow me back to the Aether," Notch protested to his brother. Even though they fought sometimes, Notch wanted his younger sibling to be safe in the world that he had created.

"I can not leave my armies alone. Though they may be relatively brainless, I have learned to respect them. Leaving them now wouldn't do them much good, no?"

Notch sighed. His brother didn't understand. "Herobrine, I need to ask you something before I leave. Where-"

But he was interrupted by a loud burst of energy above him. Floating above the Temple of the Nether was an orb of glowing purple material. What in the world was that?

"So, you think you can come here to warn your brother, Notch?" screamed an icy voice. Was that an Enderman? It couldn't be, no one could understand Endermen.

"Notch, you have to leave now," Herobrine said sternly, but Notch held a finger to his lips in response. He wanted to hear this.

"No one can understand us, if that is what you're thinking. But I have learned some from listening to your stupid civilians die, and I figured I would try to voice my opinion for you. This hurts incredibly, talking in English, so I will make this short and sweet.

"You created us! Your pesky Glowstone can understand our language! We don't not know what you are doing, but you must know that we will always be there to kill you!"

"Notch, run!" screamed Herobrine as the ball of energy sped toward where Notch had just been standing. Had, because he was sprinting at breakneck speed through the main hallways of the Temple of the Nether now. "Goodbye, brother!" he yelled into the oblivion, and threw himself into the portal back to the Aether.

It wasn't until the blue mass swallowed him up, transporting him back to his home dimension, that he realized. He hadn't been able to ask where Alex Glowstone's portal to the Nether had spawned. Because if the Endermen were altering code like the Valkyries had reported twenty minutes ago, then there would be some serious problems in this war.

And now, the war is getting ugly. I can't believe where I'm taking this, with Zombie Pigmen villages and /kill commands. This is getting nuts!

How are the Endermen altering code in a now-legitimate world? What will happen to the Elder and it's village? And will Herobrine's so-called last stand be successful, or will he fall to the Endermen? Find out next time, only in the Prophecy of Minecraftia!