Getting Tortured Is Starting To Dragon

You may be asking:

Gee, Calliope, how did it feel to stab yourself?

It hurt.

What did you expect?

"DAMN!" Patch screamed. "If she dies, we die along with her!"

"Relax, boss." one of the pigmen said. "She's not dead. She just has a sword in her."

Patch rolled his eyes. "You are an imbecile. Do we have any healing potions?"

A pigman ran up to Patch and handed him a healing potion, which Patch shoved into my mouth.

"Drink." Patch snarled.

I downed the whole thing, but still felt like my insides were on fire.

"Listen, girl." Patch snarled. "For that your sister's going to pay." He turned towards the window, stared at it for a second, and then cursed.

I glanced at the window, which looked like a regular window.

Except it wasn't a window. Because nothing was moving on the other side of the window.

The 'window' flickered and went black, and we stared at a black pane of glass.

That window wasn't a window, it was a screen.

Which meant that it wasn't a window.

Which meant that nothing beyond that 'window' was real.

Patch stared at me, fury etched in his face.

The fact that Toni's kidnap was fake meant that Patch couldn't control me. And another plus—Patch couldn't kill me. Heck, he couldn't even slap me without killing me.

I laughed. And then laughed again.

"What's wrong? You little interrogation go wrong?" I chortled, even though I still felt like crap.

Patch yanked me off the ground and lifted me into the air by my collar.

"Listen here, you brat. Once we get to Hell's Tower, I will feed you some healing potion, torture you to the point of death, and then repeat the process. I will make you feel like you're dying until you actually WANT to die! So shut it!" Patch screamed.

Patch was on the verge of a mental breakdown, and it probably wasn't a good idea to provoke him more, but I smirked at him. "Sounds tempting, but I'm busy. Maybe we can arrange something next week."

Patch screamed in my face, and I could tell he was trying really hard not to gut me like a fish.

"FINE THEN! We're taking you to Hell's Tower! And don't even think about running away!" Patch bellowed.

I looked smug, but I was thinking that Hell's Tower didn't seem like a place I would want to go on vacation.

"Alright, everyone! We're leaving this place! Everyone, move!" Patch shouted.

One of the pigmen pulled out a rope and tied my arms behind my back. He yanked me across the room, and I just about caught myself from faceplanting on the hot nether brick floor.

I shot a death glare at the pigman with the rope, but he didn't flinch. Instead, he just smirked.

Everyone in the interogation room cleared out, and the problem was I was getting dragged along with them.

We started walking in the general direction of south, though I couldn't tell. We could have been walking any direction for all I knew.

I heard a sound like a rock hitting the ground, and turned my head.

I saw nothing.

"What are you going? Keep moving," the pigman holding my rope snorted and pushed me.

I gave the pigman another glare, and then started walking. But as I did, I couldn't shake the feeling that something, or someone, was watching…

?-V-?

After walking for what seemed like miles, we finally settled down for a rest.

Multiple pigmen pulled out tarps to sit on and chests full of carrots and potatoes. Some pigmen tossed magma cream to the blazes, which they…didn't eat, but more absorbed.

"Didn't expect you guys of all people to be vegetarian," I muttered.

"Quiet or I'll stab you again," Patch grunted as he took a bit out of a carrot.

All I got was a carrot and two raw potatoes. I ate all of them ravenously, and even stared at the food chest enviously.

If I'm being honest? The food tasted like crap. But at that point I was so hungry that I could have swallowed anything at this point, even that red trash they served back at the prison.

"Alright, everyone pack up! Let's move!" Patch bellowed.

"Already?" I complained. "But we just sat down!"

Patch reared his hand to slap me, but surprisingly, most of the monsters murmured their assent.

"Aw, come on!" Patch complained. "You're all a bunch of whiners! You blazes don't even walk, you hover! Why are you tired?"

Still, the amount of people that wanted to stay outnumbered the people that wanted to keep moving, so Patch reluctantly agreed to take a rest. I got the feeling even he was a bit relieved—after all, we'd been walking for hours on end.

The pigman holding my rope untied me, and then whispered in my ear, "If you bolt you're dead."

I ignored him, rubbing my wrists that were raw from the rope that had dug into my skin the whole time.

Some laid down and began to snore, (though the blazes just hovered an inch above the ground with their eyes closed) and soon everyone, even Patch, was snoring.

I took off my shoes and winced after touching my feet—they were practically raw from all the walking I'd been doing. I wanted to ask for some healing potion, but thought that would probably earn me a slap.

I had half a mind to start running, but what then? Would I endlessly wander the Nether, looking for a portal that could be miles away? I'd die. And besides, I was smack dab in the middle of all the pigmen. The blazes weren't that close, but they looked like they could wake any second—they weren't snoring.

No, for now my only option was to stay. Maybe I would get a chance later.

I sighed and laid down. After a moment, I went to sleep.

?-V-?

But of course, this chapter wouldn't be complete without a cryptic dream from our favorite hallucination, Herobrine!

This time I was standing in what looked like an elevator. Suddenly, the doors opened with a ding, and two people walked in. Generic elevator music began to play.

"I can't believe…the new girl's the reborn soul of Herobrine." One short kid wearing a blindfold said numbly.

I listened closely. Earlier, Patch had said something about the 'reborn soul of Herobrine'.

"She's not new girl. She has a name, you know." a girl with ginger hair said to the boy.

"Leave it to you to be besties with her after a day." the blindfolded boy said with a chuckle.

"We're not besties. Yet, at least." the ginger haired girl said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if you became friends with everyone in Valaither." the blindfolded one said.

"Even Jared?" the ginger haired girl smiled.

"Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised." the blindfolded one said.

"I kind of feel bad for her." the ginger haired girl admitted. "I mean, her village burned down…Cacao says her sister died…and then she's got this dumped on her head?"

"It is what it is," the blindfolded one sighed. "Toni's going to have a lot on her hands. Hey look, we're here."

The doors opened. The two stepped out and the doors shut, leaving me shell shocked.

"What?" I said. "No. All these dreams…all these people…what does it mean?"

Suddenly the doors slid open, and a man in a trench coat walked in and hit a button. The doors slid shut, and the music started playing once again.

"You know, It'll all become clear to you very soon. You just have to wait." the man said casually.

I glanced around the elevator and then gestured to myself. "Are you talking to me?" I asked.

The man smiled and turned around. I couldn't see his eyes through his sunglasses. "Yes, I am talking to you." The man's smile faded. "Just hold out for a little longer. You'll escape soon. But just stay still."

"Huh?" I said.

"There's someone watching you," the man said. He smiled, leaned towards me, and lowered his sunglasses, revealing eyes white as snow. "You better keep an eye out."

"Wait," I said, but the man's eyes suddenly began to glow, and everything else was drowned out by the white.

I opened my eyes and immediately sat up, almost head butting Patch.

"Watch it!" Patch yelled.

I rubbed my eyes. "Oh…uh…sorry…"

"Get up," Patch grunted. "We're leaving."

I sighed and stood, wincing. "Can I have some healing potion for my feet?" I asked.

Patch scowled at me, and I said hopefully, "It might slow the group down if my feet are bleeding the whole way there."

Patch rolled his eyes, or rather his eye as there was an eyepatch over his other one, and handed me a healing potion.

I sighed in relief as I poured the stuff onto my feet. "Thank god."

"Now get up and let's start walking," Patch snapped.

I stood, and a pigman rolled up the tarp I'd been lying on. I pocketed the small bit of healing potion I had left.

A pigman tied my hands together again, and I groaned as the rope was tightened on my wrists, making them ache.

"Feel good?" the pigman asked. I shook my head, and the pigman grinned. "Good for you."

I wanted to scream, but sighed and sulkily followed the pigman, grumbling under my breath.

We walked for a while, passing through endless deserts of soul sand, barren red wastelands, and even a red forest that held enormous pigs that eyed us like they wanted to eat us for dinner.

Eventually my feet became sore again, and with every step my feet burned. Eventually I dropped to my knees, only to be roughly pulled to my feet.

"Don't stop, we're almost at Hell's Tower." Patch said, a smile on his face.

"Why are you smiling?" I groaned, my voice raspy.

Patch grinned at me. "Because I get to torture you to death there. It's just something I look forwards to."

The thought made my stomach drop, and I fell to my knees a second time.

"Get up!" Patch snapped, slapping me.

"Once I get out of these ropes I'm going to strangle you," I snarled.

Patch smiled again. "I'll look forwards to it."

I tried to dive at him, but just fell onto my face.

"Get up," Patch said again. "Or else."

I wanted to scream. I wanted to kick Patch into jelly. I wanted to punch and scratch and head but him until he was dead. I'd never felt such hatred coursing through my veins before, which definitely wasn't too healthy. But it did give me one thing: motivation.

I stood and tried to smile at him, but I think it came out as more of a crazy sneer. "Let's go."

"Agreed," Patch said and walked off, humming.

After a few minutes of walking, the entire group stopped, and I bumped into a pigman that glared at me and pushed me back.

"Why'd they stop?" I asked. I couldn't see around any of the pigman, so I stepped a bit off to the side and climbed a small spire of netherrack. At the top, I glanced at whatever the group was staring at, and my jaw dropped.

It was an enormous blue forest. Trees with bright blue trunks and blue tufts of grass grew everywhere. It gave off a different vibe than the red forest, which had given off a slightly threatening aura. This forest gave a more calming aura. I noticed endermen peacefully roaming around the forest, some holding blocks of netherrack and handfuls of blue grass.

And then I noticed something else right in the center of that forest that made my heart sink. A tower, stretching up all the way to the Nether roof.

"Look's like we've arrived," Patch smiled.

"No," I said. "No…"

"Everyone make your way to the Warped Forest!" Patch bellowed, and then smirked at me. "We've arrived at our destination."

The pigman holding my roped pulled, and I tumbled off the spire, landing on the ground with a 'crack'.

"Ow.." I groaned.

"Get up and let's go." the pigman holding my rope said.

"If only I had a nickel for every time somebody said that," I muttered as I got to my feet, wincing.

We entered the warped forest.

From up on that spire, the tower had seemed pretty close, but even after walking for what seemed like a mile, we still hadn't made it there yet. Not that I was complaining. For me, I needed all the time I could get.

Ideas of escape chased each other around my mind, each one more wild and dangerous than the last. If I ran, I had a chance of losing them, since the trees were all packed so closely together. But then, just like earlier, I would have nowhere to go. No food. No water. But if I went into the tower, they would torture me horribly. So what could I do?

I was broken out of my thoughts when the blaze in front of me stopped. I made the mistake of walking straight into the blaze, and immediately leaped backwards, hissing in pain. The blaze was hot, and I didn't want to get any more hot than I already was.

Patch turned and scowled at the offending blaze. "What is it? Why did you stop?"

The blaze glanced warily around. "I swear I just saw something. Anyone else see that?"

Everyone shook their heads.

Patch rolled his eyes. "It's probably just a bored enderman following us for kicks. Come on. We're nearly there."

"No, I swear I saw something!" the blaze insisted. "It was big and black!"

Patch snapped at the blaze, "Then it's clearly just an enderman!"

"Yeah…" the blaze said. "Maybe you're ri—"

Thud.

The blaze fell to the ground, a sword through their head.

Patch's eyes widened. "What the—"

There were loud crashing sounds as the trees around us began to topple over. Some of the mobs were crushed by the large trees, including the pigman holding my rope.

This was it! This was my chance! I turned to run, only to meet a ground of pigmen standing behind me.

"Hey," one of them shouted. "What happened to the one holding your—"

Before he could finish, a dark shape swooped down from the sky and descended upon the pigmen, slashing them all apart with a single swipe. I fell backwards onto my butt, staring in shock.

Glowing purple eyes met mine.

I was staring at a fully grown enderdragon.

I heard a whoop, and an enderpearl fell through the air, landing right in the middle of all the pigmen, who were running around screaming while the blazes tried to gather themselves and fire.

Suddenly obsidian scimitars tore through the crowd of pigmen like a hoe through a field of grass, and someone dressed in shiny black armor ran around, cutting up pigmen and blazes as he ran, creating even more chaos.

The blazes fired fireballs at the dragon in a panic, but they simply fizzled out against the dragon's back, making it grunt. The dragon swiveled, and its tail smashed through the blazes like a battering ram.

The whole time I just watched in shock. A fireball slammed into the ground awfully close to my face, which snapped me out of it.

I picked up a golden sword from a pile of dust and stabbed a pigman that ran by, who stumbled and dissolved. I turned to see a blaze shoot fireballs at me.

I could have moved, but I just stared at the fireballs, frozen.

Suddenly mystery man ran in front of me, taking the brunt of all the fireballs. The blaze looked surprised, but before it could shoot more fireballs the man dashed forwards and put his scimitar into the mob's head.

He turned and took off his helmet, giving me a lopsided grin.

He looked to be about sixteen, my age, with disheveled auburn hair swept to one side and twinkling green eyes. Now that I took a closer look, his black armor seemed to be made of black scales, presumably from the dragon. His swords were glowing a soft magenta, indicating enchantments.

"Who—?" I began.

"No time." the boy said, pointing to the dragon. "Dragon. Get on."

"What?"

Without another word, the boy pulled me over to the dragon. When I flinched away, the boy rolled his eyes.

"Get on," he said lazily. "We don't have time for—"

"Stop!" Someone screamed, and we turned.

It was Patch and the remaining mobs, all of whom looked terrified, leaning away from the dragon, which snarled.

Patch, however, did not look scared. Quite the opposite, actually. His face was twisted with rage, making it even uglier.

"You!" Patch gasped, pointing to the boy. "You're the bounty hunter, aren't you?"

"You've heard of me? How gratifying!" the boy said enthusiastically, stepping in front of me. "Sorry, but I can't let you have her. Orders, you know."

Patch laughed. "You think we're just going to let you go?"

"Preferably," the boy said. "That or my little friend here can vaporize all of you."

"Ha! You think any of us are scared of your stupid dragon? EVERYONE! ATTACK!" Patch screamed and charged forwards until he realized that his troops weren't following. "Hey, wait! What are you guys—"

The boy's head twitched to the side, and the dragon swiveled, his tail swinging through the air. The tail smashed into Patch, and I heard a loud 'crack' as he was launched into the air.

I stared in awe as Patch slowly plummeted down to earth. He dissolved before he even hit the floor.

The boy gave the remaining mobs a cocky smile, like he'd been the one to smash Patch out of existence.

He raised his arms and shouted, "BOO!"

The mobs broke formation, all of them bolting off in different directions.

The boy turned to me. "Let's get out of here. This place sucks."

"Did…" I stuttered, pointing to him and then to the dragon. "The dragon…huh?"

The boy laughed. "Overwhelmed? I'm not surprised. Don't worry, he's harmless."

"He?" I said blankly.

"Yup. Shell's a boy." the boy told me.

I sat down on the floor hard. "I need a minute."

"I don't think we have a minute," the boy said, pulling me to my feet. "The folks in the Tower probably heard all that commotion. In fact, they're probably coming right about now."

There was the sounds of a ghast screaming a few ways away, and the boy spread his arms. "Whadda ya know. I'm right! Now let's go."

"Wait," I said numbly. "I can't just take a ride from…a stranger."

The boy chuckled. "Ah, okay. I'm Dan. What's your name?"

"Calliope. Usually Cal." I mumbled, still in shock.

"Well, now we know each other's name. We're not strangers anymore! Now, let's go!" Dan said, and then pushed me onto the dragon, or 'Shell'.

"Hey!" I complained.

"Sorry," Dan said. "But we don't have a lot of time, so you'll have to bear with me."

Dan smoothly swung himself onto Shell's back and yelled, "GO!"

Without warning, Shell's wings spread, and I threw my arms around Dan as Shell took off into the air.

Shell's wings beat uncomfortably under my legs, making me feel like I was going to fall off. Behind us I heard the angry cries of a ghast, and a fireball blasted apart a netherrack cliff above us, sending debris everywhere.

I screamed my head off as Shell smoothly weaved in and out of the raining netherrack, destroying some debris that got too close with his fire breath.

"Hold on!" Dan shouted as we descended into a steep dive, slipping right into a crack that barely fit Shell.

I heard a hiss, and risked turning my head to look behind us. I could see the ghosts trying to blast away at the crack to get in, but it was too late. Soon, they were nothing but white specks in an endless sea of netherrack.

I looked ahead, and we were speeding right towards a wall. I screamed, and Shell opened his mouth. Fire vaporized the netherrack, and we sailed through unscathed.

It went on like this for what felt like hours, but was actually about ten minutes.

Eventually, Shell began circling around an enormous island of netherrack surrounding a lit Nether portal. Shell landed right next to the portal with a thump, jolting me.

I slid off the dragon and onto the ground, groaning.

Dan leaped off, whooping as he did.

"That was great!" Dan laughed, and then glanced at me. "You good?"

"Do I look good?" I snapped from the ground. "Can't you tell your dragon to land softer?"

"I don't speak to him, you crybaby. That's not how it works." Dan said.

"Well, how does it work?" I retorted, not really caring about the answer.

"We don't talk. It's more like…he understands me, you know? Like, we have a link." Dan explained.

"You're nuts." I sighed.

"Fair enough." Dan said. "You need to rest for a bit?"

"Yeah." I said. "That would be nice."

"Okay." Dan said, plopping onto the warm netherrack.

We just sat there for a moment, resting.

Suddenly I snorted. "A bounty hunter. Great."

Dan scowled at me. "What's wrong with bounty hunters?"

"Well, bounty hunters only care for yourselves, all you want is money, and you don't capture criminals out of the goodness of your heart." I listed off as I counted on my fingers.

"Seriously?" Dan snapped. "You believe in those stereotypes? You think they're actually true?"

I stared at him hard.

Dan rolled his eyes. "Ok, maybe most of those apply to most bounty hunters, but I'm not like most bounty hunters! I saved you, right? Which now that I mention it, shouldn't you be thanking me?"

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks."

"That didn't sound genuine in any way, shape, or form." Dan said.

"Was it supposed to be?" I said sarcastically.

"That's usually how expressing one's gratitude works."

I snorted. "Sure, bounty hunter."

"Don't call me that."

"Fine, I'll call you whatever you want me to call you." I rolled my eyes.

"Amazingly handsome?" Dan suggested.

"No."

"My hero?"

"No."

"My savior?"

"You wish."

"Charming?"

"In your dreams."

Dan rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Scarface."

I sat up. "What do you mean?"

Dan's smile went away. "You weren't aware of the obvious scar on your face?"

"No. What scar?" I asked.

"It's right across here." Dan said, drawing a line across his cheek that went all the way to his forehead.

I touched my face. A scar, huh? Maybe it had come from the arena when the pigman had slashed my face.

"You know, that scar makes you look kind of cool," Dan said looking me up and down. We made eye contact and suddenly I was aware, at the same time, how handsome he actually was and how dirty and stupid looking I was.

Shell made a small growling noise that I could have sworn was him pointedly clearing his throat, and Dan and me looked away.

"Alright, you ready to go?" Dan said as he stood.

"Yeah, sure." I said as I stood as well. "But how is Shell…"

"Hold on," Dan turned to Shell and pulled out a handkerchief.

Shell whined, and Dan assured him, "Don't worry, Patch. You'll only be in there for a moment."

Dan set dow the handkerchief, and suddenly it expanded and became a tent.

I gaped, but Dan didn't look fazed, waving the dragon into the tent. With a grudging grunt, Shell sulked in.

Dan snapped his finger, and the tent shrunk and folded up back into a handkerchief.

"Did Shell just…" I said, pointing at the handkerchief.

"Yup," Dan said. "Let's go."

I followed Dan into the portal, still slightly in awe, and my vision began to slowly glow purple as we were swallowed by the portal.

And then, just as fast, everything came back into view. I stepped out of the portal and fell to my knees. I pulled tufts of grass from the ground.

"Oh, god." I said. "I missed grass."

Dan laughed. "Weren't you only in there for a day?"

"You'd miss green too if you'd been stuck in that hellhole all day." I shot back.

Dan smiled, and then jumped. "I almost forgot." He turned away from the portal and tossed the handkerchief into the air.

It hit the ground and expanded back into a tent, and Shell immediately burst out, panting.

"It sucked in there, didn't it?" Dan said regretfully, and Shell bellowed in agreement. "Yeah. I'm sorry, pal."

I slowly stood. "So. What gives? Why did you save me?"

Dan glanced at me. "Huh?"

"You heard me," I snapped. "Why'd you save me? There has to be a reason, considering you're a bounty hunter."

Dan shifted uncomfortably. "Even if I were allowed to tell you, which I'm not, you wouldn't believe me."

"Try me." I spread my arms.

"In short? I'm here to keep you safe." Dan said. "That good with you?"

"For how long?" I asked.

"Not sure. Until he tells me, I guess." Dan admitted.

"He?"

Dan stiffened. "Right. I'm not supposed to tell you this."

"So you'll be staying with me for a while, right?" I said.

"Most likely."

"So if you have to keep me safe…why don't you help me with a little goal of mine?" I suggested.

Dan's eyes narrowed. "A goal? Like what?"

I flicked hair out of my eyes and shot him a brilliant smile. "Bring down the Nether Prison, of course. What else?"

"WHAT?" Dan shouted. "Are you crazy?"

"No." I said coldly. "I'm doing this for my family."

"What, do you have some family members in there? Because if so, I'm sorry, but they're gone. Breaking into that prison's a death wish." Dan snapped.

"You've got a dragon!" I accused.

"AND THEY'VE GOT A THOUSAND GHASTS!" Dan yelled back.

"You're a bounty hunter, right? So gather up all of the other bounty hunters!" I shouted back.

Dan snarled like Shell and dragged a hand over his face. "That's impossible."

"It can't be." I said.

"No, it is! You're truly naive if you think we can break in there without dying!" Dan begged. "Please, can't we just get some steak and sit in a log cabin or something?"

"No. I'm breaking in there, sooner or later." I demanded.

Dan sighed and put his head against a tree with a thud, and then turned to Shell with another sigh, pulling some purple fruit out of his pocket and tossing it into his mouth. Dan swung himself onto the dragon, and I said nastily, "Leaving so soon?"

"No. It seems like you're set in breaking into the prison, so it doesn't look like I can change your mind." Dan sighed. "So I guess the only way to protect you is to go with you. But not alone. That's impossible."

"What do you mean?" I said suspiciously.

Dan shot me a small smirk. "What do you think I mean? We're gonna go get my crew. The other bounty hunters."

Like the chapter name? Yeah, it's a dragon pun. Aren't I so clever?

….

You know. "Being Tortured Is Starting To Drag On." Eh? Ehhhh?

Alright. Tough crowd.

Anyways, this was a pretty long chapter, but I'm sure you guys aren't complaining about that, right?

Please! Leave a review! It helps a lot, and gives me motivation! Sorry for the begging, but I would really appreciate it!

And with that, adios!

Krios