NovaOrAvon: I'm not going to confirm or deny the mysterious mob's identity. I am going to say that while I do like your way of thinking here, there are a few flaws to the theory.
The part where she met Jack shortly after Raulyn and Kai's conversation could've been a coincidence; Christine found herself near the church, after all, and that's not odd given her status. Furthermore, she says that she doesn't know who in Ironhand supports mobs and who doesn't—only that there were people in the Overworld who openly stood up for mobs, and got imprisoned or killed as a result. Knowing about the existence of these imprisoned or dead sympathizers is enough for her to at least suspect that there are more, but they cannot openly say this without suffering the same fates as their predecessors—and neither can Christine herself.
In this story, villagers are human, and I personally did not know about that character model thing. I did base Minerva and Athena's names on Greek and Roman mythology, but it has no deeper meaning; I just thought it was fitting because of Athena's affinity with fighting and the bow and arrow. The reason why these two seem like Overworld/Nether equivalents is because they're directly related, and the nature of their respective mob powers don't have to be the same despite them being sisters. The same goes for the other mobs who have family in the Nether.
Also, call me a poor researcher, but I wasn't aware that the mod had Nether equivalents for villagers.
Jack only thought of the portal as a rumor because the mobs don't know for sure if it exists, mostly because they can't just ask anyone in Ironhand without consequences. To most human civilizations, the presence of a Nether portal in Ironhand—and possibly other towns, villages and cities—is common knowledge.
Still…it's a good theory. Keep it in mind, but remember to look for other possible suspects as well. I will have to say that the mob's identity won't be confirmed in this episode of the Gone Rogue series.
I feel as though this reply to your review has already said enough about Christine's involvement (or, possibly, her lack of involvement) in this matter. Or maybe I'm just trying my hand at reverse psychology here to throw you off… We won't know for the time being.
Chapter thirteen: Mark of the shadow
"He's done what?!" Blazette yelled in Hera's face.
Hera—Herobrine's 'daughter'—looked at the ground. The mobs were standing around her, visibly shocked.
"He's done WHAT?!" Blazette repeated.
"Jack thought it was Áhýdan who took him," Minerva whispered. "And now you're saying it was Herobrine all along?"
"I tried to stop him," Hera said. "It even came down to a fight. He outmatched me."
"Either that," Blazette growled, "or you're just too spineless to go all out against him."
Hera glared, but didn't retort. Of course she could easily hurt the mobs if she wanted—that was, if Herobrine would for whatever reason decide not to intervene—but she didn't.
"Why won't Áhýdan be bound to the Rule?" Minerva asked.
Blazette looked at her incredulously. "Seriously? That's all you're interested in?!"
"I just want to know how he wants to take the Overworld when the Rule is standing in his way," Minerva said. "We'll ask Herobrine about Jack when he gets here."
Blazette shook her head disapprovingly.
"He can ignore the Rule," Hera said, "thanks to the method he's using to get to the Overworld."
"The crystals," Minerva said.
Hera nodded.
"But why go to the Overworld?" Minerva asked. "If he can go to basically any world…"
"Two reasons. First of all, my father likes the Overworld, so Áhýdan can use that to spite him. Secondly, the Overworld is closer to the Nether than any other world, making it easier for him to get there first. After he's done there…" She grimaced. "He'll go to other worlds. Who knows what he's going to do to them."
"So he won't stop with the Overworld."
"Probably not. His nature inclines him to get some more revenge against Dad. And me. His second target will probably be Jack's world. Eventually he'll come for the Nether."
"Which is why I did what I did."
They turned to Herobrine, who stood a distance away. To his right sat Jack, looking to the ground, defeated. His raven hair cast a shadow over his eyes.
Blazette glared at Herobrine. "You!" she said. "One of us is about to be taught a lesson."
As she and some of the others began arguing with Herobrine, Iris walked over to Jack. She kneeled down next to him. "Hey Jack?" she gently said. "We just found out who brought you here…"
Jack glanced at her. The downcast look in his eyes was almost frighteningly out of character. So far, he'd been so steadfast, so stubborn. He didn't strike her as the kind of guy who liked to show vulnerability.
And now he looked broken.
"He's been mind-controlling me," Jack eventually mumbled.
She nodded. "We heard that too."
"He's still doing it now."
"We know."
"And I have to go through those Trials on my own."
She frowned. "What?"
He glanced at her again. "I take it you didn't hear about that."
"About what?"
"If you come with me to that prison," Jack sighed, "Áhýdan will force the entrance shut. He knows mobs can cheat his Trials. Getting into the prison will take a lot of effort on Herobrine's part then, and that'll drain some of his power. The fight between them will be a lot riskier if that happens."
"He can't do that," Iris said a little too loudly, drawing the attention of the other mobs. "Herobrine can't let you go alone."
"He's going to do it anyway. Apparently, the Trials were designed to stretch a single person—a single human—to their limits. Áhýdan's not going to let you come with me without a fight."
"Well then, a fight is what he's going to get." She turned to Herobrine. "If we team up, there's a much better chance to get through those Trials and live to tell the tale."
"Even if there was a way for you to get in without Áhýdan's permission," Herobrine said, "it would only be a matter of time before he found you. Besides, I intend to have a human as my only champion. I need Jack to become a symbol of sorts, and him having to share that credit with mobs will only weaken that symbol."
Blazette snarled. "Why, you…"
"And, as much as I despise myself for it, I never thought that his chances to survive were significant—if they are even existent to begin with. Trying to elevate them was a lost cause."
"You son of a bitch," Jack quietly said.
"I saw no other way."
"Yeah, sure, keep making excuses like some child," Blazette snarled. "Taking responsibility is something you should leave to the adults."
"Do not be so insolent, mob."
"Insolent!" Blazette said. "What about you, huh?!"
"The crystals," Honetsu suddenly said.
Everyone turned to her.
"It's crazy," Honetsu said. "I'm aware of that."
"What's crazy?" Minerva asked.
Honetsu took a breath, looking to Herobrine. "Áhýdan's escaping through the crystals, but you still have some power over them, don't you? Use them to send us into the prison; we'll be able to help Jack with each Trial."
"You're right—that's crazy!" Blazette said.
"What am I missing here?" Jack weakly asked.
"Each Trial," Minerva explained, "is meant to protect one of the crystals."
"Crystals?"
Minerva looked at Herobrine. "You didn't tell him?"
"I did not have to until we reached the prison."
Minerva shook her head. "Jack," Minerva said. "The crystals are the chains I told you about. The chains Áhýdan is binding himself to."
"They're meant to thicken the borders between the prison and other worlds, in a way," Hera added. "They are the things that are keeping Áhýdan trapped."
Jack recalled seeing Herobrine being surrounded by five luminous purple crystals in his dream. Maybe those were the crystals they were talking about.
"Áhýdan's done something we didn't anticipate," Hera continued. "He's binding himself to the crystals, somehow. He's slowly becoming one with them, travelling through them, and that'll allow him to get inside the borders between worlds. Once he's merged with those borders, travelling to other worlds will be a cakewalk."
"And the Rule?" Jack asked.
"When he's integrated himself into the borders," Hera said, "finding him will become nearly impossible. It's like a stealth mode. Or camouflage. Enforcing the Rule against him will become a lot more difficult. He'll be stopped eventually, but not before he's caused some major damage."
"That's why squaring off with him directly won't work?" Jack asked. "Because he's literally divided parts of himself among those crystals? You kill one piece, the others will just…live on and keep doing what they're doing?"
"You catch on quickly. Aside from that though, he has combined his own power with the crystals' to match ours. In order to kill him and prevent him from traveling to other worlds, those crystals need to be destroyed first. In order to reach them, you'll need Dad and me to keep Áhýdan busy so he doesn't kill you the moment you enter his prison."
"So I'm going to be destroying crystals…" Jack said.
"We are going to be destroying them," Blazette said.
Jack glanced at her. Was she really taking his side in this? He was under the impression that she didn't like him very much. "You want to be sent through the crystals that Áhýdan is literally inside," Jack sighed. "I don't know much about magic, but you just said yourself that it's crazy, and I have no trouble believing that."
"It's possible," Hera intervened.
A silence fell. Herobrine glared at Hera. The latter looked back defiantly.
"We can do it," Hera said. "No problem."
"With four of the five," Herobrine begrudgingly added. "Áhýdan has far too much power over the fifth. I dare not try to send you through there."
"So we are going to do this?" Minerva said.
"Do not be so eager. If Áhýdan gets the chance, he will kill anyone who cheats his Trials. When you have done your part, I will send each of you back to the Nether."
"And I'm pretty useless," Honetsu said. "I'm no fighter or anything like that. I don't think I'll be able to help."
"You came up with the idea, at least," Minerva said.
Iris looked at Jack. "I guess that'll have to do," Iris said.
Jack remained silent at first. "Thank you," he finally said, his voice soft.
"There's going to be a price to pay though," Iris said to Herobrine. "You're not going to get away with all of this."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, actually," Hera said. "You were the one who always said that even beings like us can't just do what we want and not expect consequences, remember?"
"You've seen it all before," Blazette quietly said. "When you tried to imprison Áhýdan the first time, you made him pretty mad."
Herobrine's expression turned into a glare. With a few steps, he walked over to Blazette, looming over her with seething white eyes.
Blazette wasn't fazed. "You want to fight?" she challenged, grinning maniacally. "Go ahead and assume physical form, and we'll see how much you like getting burned alive."
Herobrine looked at her disdainfully, but he stepped back. Like Hera, he wasn't one to pick a fight with humans or mobs, even if he could easily defeat them.
The mobs hoped he didn't have the same code when it came to beings like Áhýdan.
As Ari lost consciousness, Andr gently kept her from falling over. She continued teleporting around the Realm with her friend. Every two seconds, they were taken somewhere else.
Before heading to Ironhand, the mobs had decided that everyone needed to develop a tolerance to the side-effects of Andr's teleportation. This only added to the many preparations they had to make, which in turn only added to Andr's fear and impatience.
She clenched her teeth. It was taking way too long to start their rescue mission. Mending the gap that'd divided the mobs had only been the beginning. Now there were teleportation side-effects, Ironhand's security, the unknown location of the Nether portal, and who-knew-what-else standing in their way.
A groan made her look down at Ari. Her red eyes were half open.
"Ow," Ari lethargically mumbled. "Why's my arm numb?"
It was then that Andr realized she'd been gripping Ari's arm a little too tightly. She quickly relaxed her hand. "S-sorry…!" she apologized. "I didn't mean to…"
"It's fine," Ari said. "How long have I been out?"
"I'm not sure." Andr averted her gaze. "I was…um…thinking."
"About how messed up this situation is?"
"… Yeah."
"Alright," Ari said, slowly getting out of Andr's grip. She took a moment to regain her balance, but couldn't do so without Andr practically carrying her. "You want to talk about it?"
Andr shook her head. "I'm okay."
Ari nodded, then—still with Andr's help—hobbled over to a tree and leaned against it, evidently still dizzy. "You and Jack," Ari said. "You're the first mob he ever met after Yaebi, right?"
Andr nodded.
"You seem pretty motivated to get him back," Ari said. "More than anyone here, I mean."
Andr shrugged. "I can teleport, I know how to stay hidden… I should be able to reach the Nether portal on my own without trouble." She hesitated. "I feel like I should go right now."
"I guess I can understand that. But even you have your limits. We don't know what to expect in the Nether; there could be another teleporter. Or worse. You'll need us to watch your back."
"But what if that teleporter targets everyone else first?"
"If you go there on your own and never come back, no one will know what happened to you. That can have consequences. Just look at Athena; she's got no way to know what really happened to Minerva after she parted ways with her. That's…messing her up, even if it doesn't seem like it. If we're doing this, we're doing this as a team. Think about Jack; he left without a word, and look where it got us. Where it got him."
"Is there a point to risking the others' lives though?" Andr suddenly wondered. "I'm the only one who can teleport and sense incoming danger. What if someone dies simply because they're there, and they wouldn't have died if they hadn't come with me?"
"What if you died because we weren't there?" Ari paused. "It doesn't sound likely, but you'll need all the help you can get. Besides, we've all faced danger more times than we can count, so none of us have a lack of experience there."
Andr fell silent. "I guess that's true," she finally said. She wasn't sure if she meant it. Many mobs had fought humans in the past, but fighting other mobs was a completely different story.
"Cool." Ari paused. "Anyways, how about the teleportation thing?"
"You should have a tolerance by now." Andr gently grabbed Ari's arm and teleported again. "Did you feel anything?"
"Not more than I already did. Still dizzy though."
"That'll wear off."
"Good," Ari said. "I, ah, don't suppose you can teleport me to my room? I think I need to lie down."