NovaOrAvon: Thank you for your patience. I am glad to hear people value quality over quantity.
Chapter seven: Into fire
New plan, Jack thought as he traveled from hallway to hallway. I'm getting out of here. This was the worst idea I've ever had in my entire life. I should just go back to the Overworld, try to make amends with my friends at the Realm—
What about Herobrine?
—AND I'M NOT GOING TO LISTEN TO ANY WEIRD NIGHTMARES EVER AGAIN.
He needs my help—
I don't care. If I stay here, the Nether mobs will eventually find me.
Wasn't I the one who called Athena paranoid?
Yes, and it's very possible that I was wrong. I don't feel like taking any chances.
Jack clenched his teeth. What was wrong with him? These conflicts had been getting more and more relentless. It was as if something was trying to possess him, and that something had become more potent since he entered the Nether—
His breath suddenly froze.
He knew that powerful creatures—such as Herobrine—were widely believed to inhabit the Nether. Had one such creature been inside Jack's head all this time? Was this Áhýdan—the person or creature Herobrine had mentioned in the dream—in his head right now? Had it been Áhýdan the whole time, trying to convince him to abandon his mission?
Voices became audible nearby from the hallway up ahead. Trying to stay calm, Jack turned around and silently walked back the way he came.
He wasn't fast enough.
The voices suddenly stopped. "Hey," one of them said. It sounded like a little girl's voice. "Do we have a visitor?"
Jack looked over his shoulder. Three pairs of yellow eyes looked back. They belonged to a trio of mobs that strongly reminded him of Gelli and her sisters, even though the colors of their skin, clothing, eyes and hair were more reddish than green.
Honetsu, Ajthne and Etney. The slime girls' Nether relatives he'd been told about.
The one who had spoken—Etney, the youngest of the three who seemed to be around Ellie's age—gasped. "Is that a human?!"
The oldest one—Honetsu—grabbed her by the shoulder and went to stand in front of her, gesturing to the other two to back off. She herself backed away as well, keeping Jack in her sights.
They weren't an immediate threat. Jack resumed making his way back to the intersection he'd passed, keeping an eye on the trio. Once he was at the intersection, he ran into one of the other hallways.
He kept jogging around for a while until he was sure he wasn't being followed. He slowed his pace in a hallway that ended in a small room, which in turn had a large doorway to a bridge on the outside.
He stopped. Bad idea. The blaze had said she'd keep an eye on the fortress from above, and seeing how she can apparently fly, that shouldn't be a problem for her. I better stay indoors. He turned back around.
On the other end of the hallway stood a figure. In their hand was a gleaming golden sword.
Jack froze. There was only one person he knew of who wielded a weapon made of gold.
Iris' face—the part that wasn't obscured by the piece of cloth that covered half her head—betrayed little emotion, a trait her brother Yaebi shared. She looked Jack straight in the eye and slowly approached.
Jack cursed under his breath, backing away. He was forced to go outside, prompting him to throw glances around to see if the blaze was nearby. He didn't see her, but he wouldn't be surprised if that'd change soon.
"You might want to stay inside," Iris suddenly said. Her calm voice didn't hold a lot of emotion, either. "Blazette's not exactly the most welcoming person in the world."
Jack quickened his pace a bit, increasing the distance between him and Iris. He might eventually be able to run and escape. He wanted to leave the Nether before finding out what her intentions were, regardless of whether they were good or bad.
He saw something in the air not too far away. Even from that distance, he recognized the blaze. And she'd seen him, too.
"If you'll cooperate," Iris said, "this will be a lot easier for everyone."
With a thud, the blaze landed a distance away on Jack's other side. She looked at him with a glare. "There you are!"
Instead of maintaining eye contact, Jack looked to what was on both sides of the bridge. To his right the ground was very steep, lead downwards and passed under the bridge; a mountainside. To his left, that steep ground eventually flattened, but the height difference would make for a very painful jump.
The steep ground, though…
"Blazette," Iris said, a hint of annoyance in her stoic voice. "Don't. We've got him, there's no need to hurt him."
"Oh, you think that? You just happened to forget how stubborn humans can be?"
Jack turned a little towards the steep ground, hoping the mobs wouldn't notice. He felt adrenaline rise in him as he prepared himself. He hoped that the blaze wouldn't be able to react in time.
"You," the blaze said to Jack, making him freeze. "We can do this one of two ways. I think you know what they are."
Jack glanced at her.
Then he jumped off the bridge and onto the mountainside. He slid down the steep ground on his side, passed underneath the bridge he'd stood on mere moments ago, and ultimately stopped when he reached the flat ground. He quickly stood up. Despite the jacket around his waist and the pack on his back, that'd gone a lot smoother than expected—superficial scrapes on his arm, his side and in his shirt notwithstanding.
He looked to the bridge; the two mobs were looking back down at him.
Knowing that the blaze could still fly, Jack desperately looked around in search of an escape. Soon he saw the entrance to a cave in a hill nearby, and he dashed inside.
As he ran through the cave—it was more of a small natural tunnel—he couldn't help but roll his eyes a bit. Getting chased by girls. Some people would probably like that idea.
He glanced back to see that the blaze was still after him—and she was flying at high speed. Fortunately the tunnel soon ended, and Jack stumbled out of the exit and onto a patch of flat ground.
He looked to his right; a sea of lava blocked his path there. He turned to his left—
A young woman in grey held a sword near his throat.
He froze. This woman… She looked very similar to Athena. Her skin, hair, eyes, and even her clothing looked the same—if a bit darker in color—but she had no quiver for arrows. The look on her face also wasn't as serene as Athena's, but even then the resemblance was there.
This had to be…
"Minerva?" Jack whispered.
Minerva briefly narrowed her eyes.
Jack suddenly jumped back—just in time to dodge the blaze, who flew past him like a comet. She stopped in mid-air nearby, fire literally emanating from her skin. She grinned maniacally.
Minerva glanced at her, bemused. "Blazette?"
"Someone's going to get burned," Blazette said.
Minerva rolled her eyes. "What's going on? Are the others okay?"
"Iris and Charlotte are fine. Don't know about Honetsu and her crew. Iris was going to check."
"Blazette, stop with the fire."
"Why?"
"We've got him. There's no need to do anything else."
Jack looked around. There was no way to escape other than the cave he'd just come from—which was basically guarded by the two mobs at that moment. Blazette would probably shoot fire at him the instant he moved.
"Fine," Blazette said. "But I'm not leaving before I get some answers out of him."
Minerva turned to Jack. "You," she said. "Who are you and why're you here?"
Jack hesitated.
"And when I say 'get answers out of him'," Blazette said, approaching Jack through the air, "I mean real answers. Through any means necessary."
Jack looked at her. This blaze seemed…crazy. Very much willing and able to hurt him. This was emphasized when a small fireball appeared in her hand. Minerva looked a lot more rational, though that could easily be a masquerade.
Regardless, he didn't see any harm in telling them the truth. "My name's Jack," he finally said, "and I'm here looking for someone."
Blazette frowned, the fireball in her hand dying down. She hadn't expected him to talk, it seemed. "… Did he just—" she began.
"You're looking for someone?" Minerva asked. "Who?"
"Herobrine," Jack replied as casually as he could.
That made both mobs freeze up.
"Where is he?" Jack finally asked.
Blazette looked at him skeptically. "A human came all the way to the Nether to meet Herobrine of all people," she flatly said. A few threatening sparks appeared in her hand. "You think we're idiots or something? I'm willing to bet you just came here for some recon mission so your mob hunter friends could attack the Nether."
Jack looked at her, his eyes narrowing. He humored the idea of punching her in an attempt to knock her out. Not really out of anger—he already knew how mistrustful mobs could be of humans, and it wasn't worth fighting over—but mostly as a precaution. With her powers, she could burn him badly within a moment's notice.
Minerva put a hand on Blazette's shoulder, gently pushing her back. "The Nether is under Herobrine's protection, remember?" Minerva said to the blaze. "Mob hunters can't do anything here."
"That doesn't mean I'm fine with one of them roaming around our home."
"I don't think he's a mob hunter."
"Oh yeah? Why not?"
"Áhýdan's eyes, Blazette," Minerva grumbled. Though she said it as a curse, the mention of that name caught Jack's attention. "What kind of mob hunter has no armor or weaponry?"
"Still doesn't prove anything. He might have something in that backpack of his."
Minerva sighed. "Well, it doesn't matter anyways." She turned to Jack. "You wanted to talk to Herobrine? We can take you to him."
Jack felt surprised. That might just be the best news he'd heard all day.
"Just don't blame us if he ends up killing you," Blazette grumbled. "And if any of our friends at the fortress are hurt, you can forget the nice treatment; I'll roast you alive."
She flew off. Minerva rolled her eyes. "Before we go to Herobrine," Minerva said, "we're going to check up on the fortress."
"Can't Herobrine just come here?" Jack asked.
"He could," Minerva said, "but he probably won't."
"Why's that?"
Minerva shrugged, then stood aside and gestured for Jack to walk ahead. "Let's go."
Realizing he didn't have a choice, Jack obeyed. As he walked towards where Minerva was pointing, he half expected her to run him through from behind.
His nervousness at that thought was apparently obvious, because Minerva spoke. "Relax. If I wanted you dead, I would've killed you already."
Jack's first instinct was to retort, but he begrudgingly realized that she was right. He said nothing.