Chapter eighteen: Survive

"Ironhand," Mystia whispered.

She was accompanied by Andr, Athena and the two spider sisters. They were standing on a hillside, peeking over the top to look at the village in the distance. Ironhand. It'd been easy to spot—the light coming from the buildings and streetlights were like a forest fire under the dark evening sky.

It had taken less time to get there than it would've if they'd walked, but they still hadn't been as quick as Mystia had wanted. Andr could only teleport to places she had already been to or places she could directly see. Since she'd never been to Ironhand herself, it had taken multiple teleports to get there. Mystia had used a map of the area to navigate for her.

"I understand," Mystia said, "that Ironhand had only three Hunters when Jack left—Raulyn included. How the mighty have fallen…" She looked to Andr.

Andr nodded and teleported away. It took her a short while to return. "Th-there are more of them now," she whispered.

"I was afraid of that. How many?"

"I'm not sure. At least ten. Probably more. I couldn't get too close."

Mystia's eyes widened. "What! Ten!"

Ari sighed. "That's a little more than I thought there'd be," she despondently said.

"What, are you giving up already?" Cassandra reprimanded.

"No," Ari said. "I'm just saying this got a whole lot harder."

"You're right about that," Athena cut in. "We don't know where the portal is, or if Jack made it there. Come to think of it, we don't even know if he made it to Ironhand alive. We're going to have to sneak past all of those Hunters and who-knows-what-else without even knowing where to look."

"And without knowing for sure if what we're looking for even exists," Ari said. "Even if everything we've been assuming about Jack and the portal is correct, he could've just found it through dumb luck."

"If someone like Jack can sneak into Ironhand without being seen," Cassandra said, "so can we."

"That's my point," Ari said. "Maybe there is no portal in Ironhand. And maybe Jack didn't sneak in unnoticed. He might be in jail. Or dead."

"Or about to die," Athena said. "We should check the jail first. It's probably somewhere in the Hunters' headquarters."

"I can go there," Ari said, "but I'll need Andr to teleport me out if things go wrong. Andr, how good are you at sneaking in and out of a place without being seen?"

"I'm…kinda…half-decent?" Andr mumbled, shrugging. "Cupa was always the stealthier one. I did most of the fighting."

"Can you watch my back, at least?"

"I think so."

"Alright. I need you to stay close—and get me out of there the moment we're seen."

"In the meantime," Mystia said, "Athena, Cass and I can look for the portal."

"No," Athena said.

Mystia looked at her questioningly.

"If Ari and Andr are spotted," Athena said, "the whole village will go on alert. The Hunters will search every nook and cranny for them. That means they'll find us, too."

"Can't you fight them off?" Mystia asked. She patted her bag. "I've got these to help."

"There are at least ten Hunters there, Mystia. I'm not going to take any risks."

"Okay, so we can't look for the portal," the witch said. "Then, what can we do? Kill a few Hunters silently, perhaps? We can do it so no one notices they're gone until morning, can't we?"

"Spying to check who we can and can't kill and how is only going to take more time. Besides, this isn't supposed to be an extermination mission. You, Cass and I are going to wait until Ari and Andr get back."

"Poison their water well? Make it harder for them to get clean water. We'd be weakening them, making them more susceptible to external threats. Maybe, with a little luck, the village would be attacked and the Hunters destroyed."

"No," Athena said, turning to look Mystia in the eye. "We're looking for Jack; that's it. No poison, no sabotage, no assassinations. Understand?"

She'd only raised her calm voice a little bit, but that was more than enough to get the message across. Mystia raised her hands defensively. "O-okay? I'm sorry?"

"Good." Athena turned to Andr and Ari. The former looked on uncertainly. "You two can go when you're ready."

Jack woke up. How long had he been 'asleep', slipping in and out of consciousness? Couldn't have been more than an hour.

He didn't move. He didn't have the energy to.

Herobrine's influence was more blatant than ever—in the shape of some inexplicable reluctance to sleep. It hadn't worked. Even Herobrine couldn't keep Jack from resting a little, not even at a time like this. Nor could he keep Jack from silently staring at the wall, thinking about everything he'd done, wishing he'd at least left some kind of message for his friends in the Realm.

But he hadn't. And now they were left in uncertainty. He couldn't blame them if they were mad. He couldn't even blame them if they suspected he was a traitor—he had taken the Realm map to Ironhand, after all. Until now, he hadn't considered how that would look. He hadn't even really considered what might happen if Raulyn got his hands on the map.

At least Mystia had some backup locations in store. Jack just hoped that, if they were going to move, they'd make it safely.

Jack slowly rose and looked around his environment for the umpteenth time. The large, circular area with Ironhand in it was really gone, replaced by a small room built of smooth, sand-colored stone. The glowstone lamps on the wall almost made the place seem inviting.

In the middle of the room, the floor went down at a ninety-degree angle and was lowered about two meters. The rectangular hole was filled with clear water—it was drinkable, as Jack had experimentally figured out—which submerged a double door on the far wall. It was open. Light shone from beyond.

It might've been the single most pathetic traps in the prison so far. Jack wasn't sure if it was the most obvious—Ironhand and the mirrored hallway hadn't been very well hidden, either—but this was like handing him a knife and asking him to stab himself. Or, rather, showing him a swimming pool and asking him to let himself be drowned in it.

Jack had already searched the walls for clues or other ways he could take, but nothing had come up. The only way he saw was the underwater door. It's one way to end all of this, I guess. There're worse ways to go.

Even so, he felt hesitant. Maybe it was his instinctual will to live. Maybe it was some result of Herobrine's mind-control. Either way, he wasn't looking forward to drowning.

He felt the water with his hand. It was comfortably warm. Probably a trick to bait him into it.

A redundant trick. No point in tempting him when there was no other option for him to take anyway.

He took a breath, then jumped into the water.

In one single motion, he swam through the open door. As expected, they closed behind him.

Then the water level descended and disappeared into nowhere. It was gone within a moment's notice.

Jack blinked. That…was not what he expected. It took him a moment to start breathing normally again.

The 'room', lit by a single glowstone lamp, was about as wide as the double door he went through, and ended at another double door. Jack experimentally tried the door he'd come through. Locked. He went to the others.

They opened. His jaw dropped.

An enormous hall stared back at him. The flat walls were made of a gray marble and decorated with graceful carvings. The dome-shaped ceiling had mosaic and gold. High in the walls were stained glass windows depicting Herobrine and Áhýdan. Some windows depicted them as friends, others as enemies.

Jack himself stood on a platform, made of a lighter shade of marble than the walls. Large flat rocks—their diameters varying from about six to twenty feet—floated in the air at the same height as the platform. They formed a shattered path to the other side of the room, where another platform gave solid ground to the fourth crystal.

He looked down to the area under the rocks. His eyes widened, and he took a step back, away from the edge.

There was no floor. Instead, an endless dark void looked back. The walls reached down infinitely, disappearing into the shadow below.

The Trial of the Elements, Jack thought. He looked at the bottomless abyss. The only way to get to the crystal was to jump onto the floating rocks—he counted about ten of them—but that was a risky trip. If he slipped, he'd fall into the void. He wasn't even sure if he could make the first jump. The gap was wider than he was comfortable with.

A mob would surely be welcome. With Charlotte, Iris and Minerva having done their parts, and Honetsu—according to herself—being useless in these situations, there was only one Nether mob left.

She would be…very useful right about now.

It didn't matter. Jack knew he was dead anyway, even if he survived the fourth Trial. Might as well take the risk before he regained his ability to think straight.

He took a breath.

Then he started running. When he reached the platform's edge, he jumped. He felt the air blow past his ears, and for a split second he felt fear wash over him as he flew over the bottomless void.

Then he landed on the flat rock.

As soon as he did, a strong wind began to blow, catching him off-guard. He had to brace himself to stay on his feet.

He looked around the large hall again, searching for anything that might be the source of the wind. He didn't find anything.

Jack lowered himself a bit, trying to lessen the wind's force on him. For some reason, he wasn't too shocked. Powerful air flow inside a closed-off building wasn't that strange compared to certain other things he'd seen—like an immortal undead warrior who could deflect fireballs.

He looked to the crystal on the other side of the gigantic room. It was just as small as the crystals from before, but the purple glow was enough to let him recognize it from a distance. It was taunting him. He was sure of it.

He waited for a moment, hoping that the wind would stop. It didn't.

"I could use some help here," he eventually said. He doubted there was a point to it; even if the mobs could hear him, they couldn't help until Herobrine sent them.

"You know," Jack called out to anyone that was listening. "I don't have any reason to keep doing this!"

Silence. Even the wind settled down, as if it wanted to listen to what he was about to say.

"Three crystals!" Jack roared. "Three Trials! Demons poking around in my head! I don't even know how long I've been here anymore! And all this time, I knew I was going to die at some point! If this one won't kill me, the last Trial will!"

No response.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't jump into that void right now! Kill myself quickly! It's probably better than what Áhýdan has in store for me after this!"

No response. Even Herobrine's ever-present influence on his head didn't change. It didn't grow stronger or weaker. It didn't force down his anger or frustration, nor did it lessen the apathy.

Jack shook his head, sighing. That didn't work. Simply saying that he wanted to kill himself wasn't enough.

He looked down to the void. Herobrine would use any and all resources at his disposal to keep Jack from dying.

Good.

Jack took a deep breath. He exclaimed a shout, trying to encourage himself. It didn't help much, but it was enough.

Just about enough.

He jumped off the rock.

That's when the fear kicked in again.

He gasped, his remaining adrenaline suddenly running through him. He felt the endless void below him, staring at him like a predatory beast as he tumbled through the air. His breathing quickened.

For a moment, he was just falling.

Then something flew into his side, winding him. The figure grasped his wrists with two hands, stopping his fall.

He looked up. Blazette glared back. She was visibly straining as she tried to hold onto him. They floated upwards, and she dropped him onto the rock. He collapsed. The wind blew in his face.

Only then did he realize his plan had worked. Foolish as it had been.

Blazette kneeled down next to him. "You," she said, panting, "look like death."

Still lying on the ground, Jack just looked at her. He didn't move, didn't speak. He was out of breath. Even though his little plan technically succeeded, he was still shocked about what just happened—mainly about the part where he almost died.

Blazette raised an eyebrow. "You alive?"

Jack grunted. Then he began to move, slowly getting to his knees. From one moment to the other, the wind was gone again.

"No witty response?" Blazette said. "These Trials must've been really hard, huh."

He gave her a weak glare. "What…" he whispered. "What…took you? Had to…force Herobrine…"

She paused. Then her eyes widened. "By trying to kill yourself?!" she realized. "Are you out of your mind!"

"By trying…to kill myself," he panted, "he would…have to send you…in order to keep me alive. You're…the one mob who…hasn't been in the prison yet…aside from Honetsu."

"You're crazy."

He shrugged. "I'm…dead anyway. So far…the others only appeared when things were really bad." Like when the monsters from the Trial of the Body appeared, or when Minerva's evil twin attacked him directly. Herobrine only sent help at the last moment—except maybe in the Trial of Determination, but even then Drake came pretty close to drawing blood before Charlotte intervened. "I figured you were the only mob who could save me from a fall. And now that you're here, I could really use some more help."

"That's a pretty big gamble you took."

"Like I said, I'm—"

"Dead anyway," she sighed bitterly and held out her hand. "Well, now you're not."

"Not yet."

Her look darkened.

Not wanting to argue further, Jack lethargically took her hand, and she helped him to his feet. He turned to the crystal. "I think you just made my job a lot easier," he said.

She nodded, then ascended and flew over to the platform ahead, completely ignoring the parkour challenge the floating rocks offered. She landed and reached out to the crystal.

The stained glass windows shattered. Water flowed into the room from beyond.

Blazette looked up just in time to see the waterfall approach. With a cry, she shot through the air and away from it, right when the water hit the platform. The window's shards fell down with it.

With the crystal in her grasp, Blazette floated back to the rock Jack stood on, her jaw clenched. "I hate water," she snarled.

Jack nodded. He'd noticed that.

Then he saw that the void had gone.

He did a double take. Instead of the endless darkness he'd expected to see, there was solid ground. The water continued to pour in from the windows and accumulated on where the void had been. Large rocks were dragged along with the current and splashed into the pool that was beginning to form. It was about thirty feet below the platforms, but the water surface rose quickly.

"The water's rising!" Blazette exclaimed. "We have to get out of here!" For the first time, Jack heard fear in her voice.

Numbly, he looked up to the ceiling. He frowned.

Then he realized there was nothing to worry about.

The windows that allowed the water through were high in the walls, but the spherical ceiling was higher. It would provide a pocket of air once the water level reached the top of the windows.

Probably.

"Relax," Jack said. "Just keep flying. I don't think the water will reach the ceiling."

"Wh…what?"

Jack looked around the room in search of an exit. The door he'd come through had disappeared, replaced with a solid marble wall. No way out, there.

Though he hadn't had a great time here so far, this Trial felt easier than the others, if only because Blazette's ability to fly allowed her to cheat most of it. The emotional numbness Jack experienced also helped—be it the result of his risky 'plan', or Herobrine's continued exercise of power. If he were in a panic, he might not have been able to think, and he wouldn't've realized that the water would stop rising before the entire room was submerged.

The things this Trial relied on—his tiredness, his panic and his being alone—were almost completely nullified by Herobrine's countermeasures. Convenient.

He just hoped his thought process regarding the rising water was right. As far as he could tell, that hope was the only thing that kept him from freaking out, even if physics had never been his strong suit. Funny; mere minutes ago, he supposedly didn't care if he died.

"Jack!" Blazette nervously said. "What are you talking about?!"

He snapped out of his thoughts. "What?"

"What do you mean the water won't reach the ceiling?"

"Call it a guess."

"A guess?!"

"An educated guess." He shrugged. "What, you've never been in a room slowly filling with water before?"

She glared.

Jack glanced around again. "The windows," he said. "I think they're supposed to be the exit. We just have to wait for the water to get high enough."

Blazette looked at him, horrified. "So, what, we have to swim through them?!" She eyed the ever-rising lake below. It was nearing the floating rocks' level. The wariness in her eyes was something Jack recognized. He'd seen Andr with a similar expression when near water. He'd also seen it on Yaebi's face when coming across the Hunters.

"Water's your weakness," Jack said. "Isn't it? Just like it is Andr's."

She looked at him, not answering.

"Give me the crystal," Jack ordered, "and stay in the air—higher than the windows, so the water won't get you. Wait long enough, and Herobrine will send you back."

"Assuming the Trial won't throw something else at us by then! And assuming the windows will lead to some safe place to begin with! For all we know, there's an endless ocean up there!"

"And, of course, assuming I'm right and the water really won't reach the ceiling."

"YOU'RE INSANE!"

"We don't really have a choice. There are no other ways out of here."

She glared at him.

"It's fine," Jack softly said. "Don't worry about me. We knew how this was going to end."

She sighed, then reluctantly handed him the crystal. "Fine," Blazette said. "Have it."

Jack took the crystal. The water had since gotten close. It was about to reach his feet.

Blazette grasped his arm with both hands and ascended, lifting Jack off the ground. He let out a cry as he suddenly floated through the air towards the nearest window.

Blazette grunted. "Did I mention," she said with exertion, "how heavy you are?"

Jack looked up at her. "What are you doing?!"

"Making sure you won't have to waste your energy swimming up there."

Blazette stayed still in the air near the window. She floated above it, making sure that the falling rocks wouldn't hit either of them.

"It won't matter," Jack sighed. "I'm too tired to swim anyway."

"Shut up."

"Blazette…"

"Shut up! You're heavy enough as is. Talking doesn't help."

He fell silent. There was no point in arguing. He could at least let her delude herself into thinking she was making a difference, now.

They didn't need to wait long. Soon, the water level reached the top of the windows. Then it stopped. Though Jack had expected that to happen, he couldn't stop the sigh of relief.

He looked up at Blazette and managed to crack a smirk. She returned it with a glare.

Then she let him go. Before Jack knew it, he fell into the lake, clutching the crystal close to his chest. He quickly returned to the surface.

That's when Blazette began to glow.

She looked at her arms. "What…" she exclaimed. "What's happening!"

"You're being sent back," Jack said.

He suddenly felt a sense of resentment. The mobs were given a get out of jail free card each time, and he was just supposed to die. I never thought that his chances to survive were significant, Herobrine had said. Trying to elevate them was a lost cause.

Blazette looked at him wide-eyed. "No! I'm not leaving you here!"

"You don't have a choice," Jack whispered.

"You've got to survive!" Blazette said. "You hear me?! You've got to—"

Then she was gone.

Jack sighed. "I'll try," he said to the empty air. "But I don't think I can."

I better start moving.

With that thought, he dove.

Swimming through the window was easy. Once out of the building, he swam upward as fast as he could—which wasn't very fast, considering how tired he was. There was a faint light up there.

He could make it.

He clawed towards it with one hand, the other holding the crystal. He was ascending quickly. He blew out a few air bubbles.

He could make it.

Was the surface always that far away? Was it getting farther away?

He blew out some more air. No. The surface wasn't moving. Áhýdan couldn't do that.

In fact, it turned out to be…quite close. Closer than he'd initially thought.

He mustered all the strength he still had.

Then he broke the water surface, gasping for air.