3rd Person P.O.V
When the sun came up it had long since stopped raining, leaving small, muddy puddles.
Out of habit, Gabriel woke first.
The fire was nothing but a pile of charcoal and embers now, barely lighting up the small hut.
He watched the children sleep, cuddled up against each other- for comfort or for warmth he didn't know. He couldn't blame them.
Gabriel sighed and looked around the small hut, a sense of deja vu coming over him.
They'd only been a few years older than them when they started adventuring.
'And now look at us...' he thought, feeling weary.
One by one the children woke, cracking stiff bones and stretching their sore muscles. Gabriel winced when the ginger's- Petra, he thinks- neck cracks loudly.
Magnus used to do the same...
He shook his head, no time to think about that.
He stood up and cleared his throat, the kids all glancing at him tiredly before either looking down at their laps or at each other. The big one, Axel, had red, swollen eyes.
Gabriel politely didn't stare, knowing how such things felt and that bothering his sympathies might have the opposite effect he wants them too. So he turns to the door and, careful not to step on any of the child limbs (or pig, for that matter) he opened the door, sunlight bathing him in its welcoming warmth and brightness; blinding him.
He glanced around, walking further out, sword in his hand. He covered a wince as he shifted, clothing and armour sliding over his wounds uncomfortably. They would have to get these checked soon...
Once he was sure the coast was clear he called the children out, hearing their groans of discomfort as the sun blinded them.
"This way," he gestured, nodding towards a nearby hill. From here he could see the tip of their old temple.
... and here he was thinking he'd never come here again.
(Didn't he also think something similar about seeing his old friends again? Look how that turned out...)
They climbed up the unused path slowly, to accommodate sore body parts and injuries.
He first saw it from his peripheral, through leaves and branches of overgrown trees and bushes that had long since stopped being tended to by people.
Large tendrils waving around in the sky wildly, said sky seeming to distort around it, sky a shade of purple that reminded him far too much of an endermen's eyes, closer to its body the sky seemed to distort even further, stars visible in the rift it seemed to cause.
Seeing his staring the rest of them turned to look as well, gasping.
Lukas had to rub his eyes to be sure he was seeing this, only to feel further dread when he realised, yes, he was seeing fine. Perfect even. So perfect that it looked as though the great Witherstorm was feasting on the sky itself, swallowing the blue and leaving an empty abyss of void.
...or maybe he was just exaggerating. Yep. His mind was playing tricks on him! Because there was no way that thing was eating the sky! Simply ludicrous!
(He didn't realise his hands were shaking as he stared at the Sky Eater, at the abomination created by a man scorned.)
Lukas was perfectly happy pretending he wasn't seeing this, and, glancing at the other teens, so did they. Though Jessie seemed to have an odd air around him. He almost seemed resigned to something.
In silence they stared, wind ruffling their hair as they stared at the approaching storm.
Petra was the one to break the silence, taking a (shaky) step up the path, voice only trembling lightly, so lightly in fact that if he hadn't known and been friends with Aiden for so long, he would have missed it under all the courage and bravado she put up.
(Aiden and Petra could be alike sometimes.
Lukas wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not.)
"C-come on, let's go before that... thing... catches up to us."
That seemed to snap Axel and Olivia out of their silent, fearful stares, making them quickly move towards Petra.
They trudged up the path, glancing over their shoulders at the Witherstorm, growing closer, slowly, but it was definitely getting closer.
Short though their journey was to the Order's old temple, it was long enough for Jessie and Olivia to notice Axel's silence. They glanced at each other, worry in their eyes.
When they finally got their Gabriel warned them that some of their traps were probably still up, so he told them follow from a distance so they weren't caught in any. Thankfully only one was still working.
... or maybe not, as Gabriel seemed to shake his head disapprovingly.
Then again Jessie guessed that if he made a bunch of traps with his friends to protect their temple from intruders he'd be a bit miffed if they stopped working.
(Then again it had also been a few years so Jessie wasn't surprised they all stopped working.
He was probably thinking to much on this.
Probably. Most likely.)
Jessie spotted Gabriel shaking his head at the trap disappointedly.
-annnndd now he was imagining Gabriel wagging a finger at a trap admonishingly, saying, "bad trap, bad."
(Did Jessie mention how tired he felt? Because that image was more funny than it should have been.)
And now Olivia was looking at him worriedly.
Dammit.
He didn't need to add to her plate, not with her already worried about Axel. Not with the threat of a giant monster that was somehow affecting the sky (he refused to believe it was somehow eating it- even if it kinda looked like it was sucking it in) following them and consuming everything in its path. Not when their families could be dead-
So yeah, Jessie didn't need his friends worrying about him. He was fine.
Reuben gave him a little piggy look, and while it was probably just a simple look, you know, like a look you gave someone when they had been standing still for five minutes without moving and you were kinda worried but weren't sure if you should do something- Jessie couldn't feel like Reuben had read his mind and was now severely judging him.
... okay, he's a little stressed.
Anyway he walked up the stairs after the rest, finding them all moving about.
Jessie should probably instantly go to the large map buuuut- and he was giving his friends a very worried look here- that could wait a few minutes. He had some friends to comfort.
Somewhere Else
This was... well bad was putting it lightly, and disaster was a bit extreme, soo-
Romeo could confidently say that this situation was just a little fucked up.
Yeah that about summed it up.
A giant world eating monster that he couldn't directly attack or control or even teleport was consuming the world he built above the ruins of the old world.
(And he'd been proud of this world too...)
The best he could do was try and indirectly attack it. Which, hoo boy, wasn't as easy as he first thought.
The dammed command block- that fucking Command Block- was somehow being controlled by the wretched beast!
If he spawned lava above it, It spawned water above it, which I'm sure you can guess what then happened.
(Fucking ate the cobblestone and obsidian...
...fat fuck.)
And putting it in a box was out of the question! He even contemplated putting it in a box made of bedrock, but then thought, 'hey! This thing sure has strong skin, what happens if it's like that because of the blocks it eats?!?'
He wasn't risking making the fucker impervious to human attacks as well as Admin attacks. For all he knew he'd doom everything if he did so.
Romeo frowned (read; pouted) at the monster.
"... meant to be one of the most powerful being in existence, and I'm being shown up by some 5th graders edgy drawing they drew when they were in their emo phase..."
Honestly, Romeo wasn't even sure what he was saying at this point, but did it matter? He was venting in a healthy way!
Before he used to just send people to the Sunshine Institute!
Progress!
Anyway back to calling the Witherstorm every swear he knew-
"Okay, so are you sure you want to stay here?"
Gabriel and Lukas both nodded. The blonde grabbed some stone out of a chest and smiled at Jessie.
"Don't worry, we'll be fine! Right Gabriel?"
The warrior nodded, already patching a hole in the wall up.
"Yes, yes, ha... it's been quite sometime since someone has worried about me being by myself, but worry not Jessie, me- and Lukas- will be fine."
He dusted his hands and Jessie only just missed the sight of purpling skin beneath armor.
Gabriel patted the teen boy's shoulder.
"Now, go find Magnus," he turned to Petra and Olivia, "and you two, good luck with Ellagard. You'll need it, believe me."
They all nodded, and saying farewell for now, they walked out, towards the Nether portal.
Gabriel sighed, suddenly feeling apprehensive. He stared at the map on the wall, the green and red lights seeming to taunt him.
Well, he walked towards another hole in the wall, he supposed he should begin to mentally prepare himself to see his two exes again.
Oh what joy.
Hmmm... hi... it's been awhile...
I wrote most of this at... nearly 11 at night... also I attempted some humor, so... yeah it's probably terrible but whatever. At least I finally wrote something after all this time.
I didn't write most of what they did in the temple bc it's pretty much the same, I guess, I mean Jessie was just asking his friends how they were and looking about.
Anyway... I'll try and update this... whenever.
Bye and stay safe.