Chapter 49: Brave


Warning Tags: Mentions of violence


Meanwhile, back in the Ice Spikes biome, Sky and the others had waited for half an hour for the snowstorm to clear up. Small specks of snowflakes fall to the ground, disappearing in the white blanket of snow that covered the ground. After Adam had given the all clear for the snow, he begins to lead the others again towards their destination towards Mount Foreverest to contact Regina. Though the possibility of her having the cure for the Taint never left Sky's mind, he also feared the possibility of no cure present. Either way, he still had to save the remaining people in his group and somehow fix everything that has happened, from losing the Butter Craft Airship to constraints caused between friends, when he gets to the Queen of the Valkyries. In the traveling group, some of the members were beginning to look sick from the environments that they had been forced to travel through. On the other hand, some had started to suffer from paranoia, especially Nooch.

Despite being a robotic warrior trained to not fear anything in a battlefield, the bionic humanoid was developing a fear for everything that he sees or hears after all of the madness and chaos he witnessed. In his point of view, his blue optics show some streaks of static run across his view while his stats shown below are running haywire. The robot begins to breathe heavily, taking quick glances around himself to make sure he wasn't being followed, his internal scanners show every single object in the Ice Spikes biome. "Uh...dude?", a voice sounded behind him.

"Ah!", Nooch exclaimed, jumping up in the air and turns around only to see Preston with a hand stretched out. Nooch relaxes before saying "Oh...Uh...yeah Preston?"

"Are you okay, man? You look like you've seen a ghost", Preston said in concern for the warrior, stopping him and places a hand on his shoulder. Nooch sighs out, easing the early tension that he felt earlier.

"I'm not. I...I keep seeing things, TBNR. My internal and external systems are running out of control and anything I see will scare me! I can't take it anymore! I feel like I'm falling apart!", Nooch stated quickly, feeling his right arm unhinge itself and fall to the ground with a loud thud. Preston sighs deeply before kneeling down and picking up the limb.

"Look, Mat, you need to pull yourself together", the lava creeper suggested to him, placing the robotic arm near his body and watches as wires and cables grab the other ends sticking out of the arm and pull the limb back into its place. He makes the robot face him and continues with "I know it's a lot right now to comprehend, Nooch, but we're warriors! We ain't scare of nothing! Besides, this group of ours needs our bravery and weapon skills to protect them at all costs. And without them, they'll surely get Tainted and so will we".

"I...I guess you're right", Nooch admitted, looking up at his friend with hopeful blue optics, feeling his tension beginning to go away from the encouragement from his warrior friend.

"I am! Now come on! Show me your warrior face!", Preston exclaimed, patting the robot roughly on his face. Nooch feels encouraged by the creeper before smirking proudly and wields out his trusty enchanted diamond sword in his hand, a battleaxe in the other hand.

Preston lets out a chuckle before saying "That's the warrior robot I trained with back at camp! Come on, let's catch up with the others!"

"Yeah!", Nooch exclaimed before the two warriors jog their way back to the group to catch up to them in the Ice Spikes biome.

In front of the group, Sky floats a foot off of the ground with his butterfly wings, glowing brightly in the blanket of darkness that never seem to uncover itself for the wake of dawn. The Butter God looks slowly side to side, making sure that no signs of danger for the remaining people in his group. The only TC members left are Jason, Ian, Bonkers, and James. Adam just couldn't afford to lose more people and especially his daughter. But with the oncoming snowstorms that, in no doubt in his mind, were coming where he and the others are at the moment, he didn't want to risk exhaustion or hyperthermia appearing as everyone already looked sick from the cold weather. When he flies further away from the group and reaches a rise in the path, he peeks over and spots a nearby village just ahead.

He turns around to see the others walking towards him and exclaims "Hey guys! I found a village. We can probably stay there until the storms eventually die off". He looks back and hurries down the path towards the village, the others feverishly run up the rise of the path to catch up with their leader.

At the entrance of the village, two guards watch in high alert for any outsiders arriving to their village, and for good reason. When they spot the new God of Minecraftia, they immediately recognize the man. "Our prayers have been answered! The new god has arrived to save us!", one of the guards exclaimed before they kneel to the ground when Adam reaches them.

"At ease, guards", Sky assured them, waving his hand slightly. The guards get back up, relieved that the newest god of their land is in their presence.

"How can we be of assistance, Sky?", the other guard questioned, sheathing his sword away.

"My friends and I need a place to hide in before the snowstorms blow over. And uh...are you guys aware of the Taint's arrival to the land?", Adam questioned, hoping that the village had already been warned about the Taint spreading.

"Oh, definitely", the second guard replied.

"In fact", the first guard started. "We just got word about the destruction of Riverrun Village. Man, the amount of cringing that I did as I heard the news about it wasn't even funny. About 109 people killed, torn limb from limb, no survivors found. Bless their souls to go to the Aether". The guard lowers his head down in respect before looking back up.

"But we'll be more than happy to let you and your companions stay in our village for the time being", the first guard stated as the rest of Sky's group arrive to the entrance. "Follow us. We have a house that's suitable to home all of you".

The guards turn and begin to make their way into the village, Adam follows close behind them along with his team. The village is relatively small, nothing big or anything. Several villagers live in the small houses, as well as some Minecrafters who have built houses of their own in the village. After the guards lead the group of Minecrafters a couple of blocks, they eventually reach a large house at the very end of the village. Upon reaching the doorstep, Sky opens the door and is awed by the interior of the house. Made completely out of bricks, the lower level of the house has a fireplace, along with separate rooms leading into the kitchen and the bathroom. In the upper level of the house, a large bedroom lays in the center of the room with a bookshelf on the left and several chests near it.

After taking a good look at everything, Adam turns to the guard and says "Thanks so much for letting us stay here".

"Your wish is my command, God of Minecraftia. I'll let our leader know of your arrival. In the meantime, help yourself to anything in the house. There's some herbs and remedies in a chest in the kitchen that'll help with any sickness your comrades might have. Stay here as long as you need to", the guard stated before turning and joining his partner outside. Once everyone has gone inside, Bonkers dashes up the staircase to the upper level.

"Bonkers...", Blue Monkey said as he takes a step forward. However, Jason stops the primate from continuing on any further.

"Just leave her alone for a bit", Jason suggested, making James look over at him with a bewildered expression. "She might need to be alone so she can gather herself".

"Eh...maybe", Blue Monkey said uneasily, darting his eyesight towards the staircase where Bonkers had used to hide herself in the upper level.


Meanwhile, out in the wilderness from the Ice Spikes biome, after hours and hours of walking, the ex-recruits stumbled out of the forest, exhausted from their long, tiring walk. They were done with forest, and they never wanted to go through it again, at least for the time being. The four members of the party slowed to a slow pace when they saw what was laid out in front of them. They had entered a beautiful biome filled with endless amounts of flowers, but towards the center of it was destroyed ruins of a building, the closest side to them being a half-destroyed wall that had vines and flowers climbing up the side of it.

Via steps in front of the group, her eyes studying the wall with interest. "Should we go in and investigate for clues?" she asked, looking back over to the others. Sierra looks to the others around her, uneasiness flooding her body. She began to speak, but Aver quickly darted forward, a crazed look in his eyes.

"Guys, there might be food inside! Let's go check it out!" he exclaimed, barreling through the doors that lead inside of the building. Alix, Sierra and Via all exchange looks of worry, but they follow Aver inside, not wanting him to get himself injured. They walk through the dark and destroyed place, ducking beneath fallen pillars and fallen walls.

"This place looks empty..." Alix muttered, looking around the dark place with confusion. Sierra and Via also looked around, realizing that he was right. The whole building was empty. There were no mobs, no other people, just the four ex-recruits.

"This doesn't seem right," Sierra said with worry in her voice. Sighing, she then said, "Well, I guess we might as well search for supplies while we can."

The friends nodded, and then they began to spread out, looking around for things they might need. As they searched, Via and Aver were looking in a separate room that had partially collapsed in itself, looking around the hidden little cubbies that had formed naturally. As Via looked around, she accidentally stepped on a hidden shovel blade, and the momentum from her weight sent the handle swinging up into the air, right where Aver was standing. The handle smacked into Aver's groin, and he squealed in pain, his voice going up five octaves. Via gasped, rushing up to her friend, who stood frozen in the place he was last standing in.

"Oh, my Notch, I am sooooooo sorry, Aver! Are you OK?!" Via apologized profusely, holding out her hands towards him.

Groaning, Aver whimpered, "Yeah... I'm... fine..."

Meanwhile, Sierra and Alix were searching around on the other side of the house, looking around for things they could find. They managed to find some partially used weapons, and also some paintings that they found amusing, but other than that they didn't find much. Alix kept on looking over to the blonde female, smiling at her once in a while whenever she looked over to him. His stomach kept on fluttering, but he kept on shaking his head, not wanting to try and talk to her about his feelings. Not yet, anyways. Suddenly, he lurched forward, and he caught himself before he could completely fall. Shaking his head once more, he looked down, gaping in fear and shock.

A giant hole was placed in front of him, seeming to go down forever. It was so dark he couldn't even see the sides of the hole. "Guys, come check this out! I found something!" he exclaimed. Within a few moments, the others appeared around him. Aver was looking like he was in pain, his body clenched up, but Alix didn't ask about it.

"Take a look at this sucker."

Everyone looked down the hole, and Sierra whistled. "That's a deep hole," she muttered, taking a step back for cautionary measures.

"Don't fall down that, I don't think Midnight or I could rescue you if you do fall," Via said, her eyes widening at the sight of the hole.

Suddenly, the ground around them began to shake violently, and everyone stumbled around, trying to find something to grab onto to not fall. Without warning, something began to emerge from the hole, causing the ex-recruits to stumble backwards in shock and fear. Aver and Alix subconsciously stepped in front of the women, and stared at the snake-like monster that had luminescent red eyes and a seemingly never-ending body.

"Wh-what is that thing?!" Aver asked in shock.

Via gulped, and then she managed to get out, "T-that is the N-Naga... the most dangerous m-monster in Minecraftia."

The snake monster lurches its head back before letting out an extremely loud roar at its victims in front of it, making the ex-recruits shield themselves with their arms and feels the full force of the monster's roar make them skid across the ground with their feet. Eventually, the snake ends its roar with a snarl as the ex-recruits look back up at the monster. After a brief silence between the two, Aver decides to speak out.

"Hey Naga! There's this new thing called a mint! You should try it if you want to continue being forever alone in your hole", Avernus teased at the creature, which only makes the snake get more agitated and enraged.

"Aver, now is not the time for jokes", Alix said through clenched teeth.