Author's Notes
Right. Back to work...
GiggiEba, The pen name thing may or may not have been accidentally intentional. :)
ThinMintE, sorry to burst your bubble (again) but Ella is not the Ghast princess. She is the daughter of two of the Ghast Queen's servants...
Thank you so much for your reviews, guys! You two have been the reason that I got this far. Again, thank you! :D
Anywho, let's get on with the story!
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Thomas's POV
We had a lot of free time recently. There was really not much to do.
We were good on wood and metal, as well as stone. Lila and Valory had made everyone at least four different sets of clothes, even Kaitlin. She was wearing jeans and a red tank-top right now. The farm was going okay, and the house was mostly finished. We just needed to build the little underground 'lab' Simon and I wanted.
Our stock of food was still almost full. We figured out that Valory had been feeding Nightshade raw steak that was left in the storage shed. That would need expanding soon too...
Sarah and I tried to take some time away from each other. We weren't mad or anything. Quite the contrary. Once, on the lake, we had been talking. And then kissing. Then full-blown making out on the shore. Things got very lewd pretty fast. Thankfully, I stubbed my foot on a stone before it got out of hand. Hence why we needed time alone.
But, in hindsight, that wasn't the smartest choice. We promised ourselves three days withought making out or being alone together. We didn't even make it past two days before Sarah cornered me outside and kissed me drunk. Definitely not a good idea.
So now we were explaining to Lila and Adrian our predicament. Sarah was quiet for the most part, a light blush tainting her fair skin. "So, eh... if you guys could... supervise us... that'd be great." Adrian blinked and Lila broke into a hearty laugh. I cringed back in my chair.
After a while, Lila spoke. "S-So... what you're saying is that you guys don't want to end up fucking out here in the wild, and you need someone to stop you if things get out of hand." I nodded, and she giggled again.
"I-I'm Sorry, this-... this is just too good!... ah, can't believe you two!" Sarah grimaced.
"Will you help or not?" Adrian raised his hand. I smiled.
"You don't have to do that, man. Just speak."
"Okay. I'll agree to it, but here's the thing. If you really can't spend time away from each other, then this could be more harmful than you think." I blinked.
"How?"
"Well, I can tell that when you aren't together, you spend time just staring at nothing. Deep in thought, probably thinking of each other. You might hurt someone, or get hurt yourselves." I nodded slowly.
"So... what do we do? There's... no way out."
Lila's eyes perked up. "How about a fight?" We all stared at her in shock. Well, Sarah stared with her poker face, but I could tell she was shocked.
"I don't mean a real fight, I meant kind of like the water ballon war. But with wooden weapons and such. Like sparring, but in teams."
We thought about for a second. Sarah nodded. "I'd like that. We could even make faux arrows with cloth and wool." The four of us stood up and walked out, wanting to share Lila's idea with everyone.
Simon and Iza were crouched around a metal gizmo on the grass, poking it here and there. Eba was by herself just staring at the sky with a glazed-over look in her eyes. Valory and Kaitlin were playing with Nightshade. Jack was messing with his knife while leaning on the fence that Eba set around the farmland almost a month ago.
I whistled to get everyone's attention. They stopped what they were doing and gathered around. I explained to then what we wanted to do, and everyone got exited. Even Eba, who I thought would be one to back down. We immediately started swapping ideas, talking over each other.
"We could build an arena-"
"-place wooden structures to hide behind-"
"-wooden weapons and such-"
"-reward?"
"Mutton!"
"-arrows-"
"-can't use your knives!"
"That's unfair!"
"Woah, wait, hold up! One by one, okay? Simon, you start." He seemed lost in the clouds as he spoke, his hands tucked in his hoodie pockets.
"We could make simple structures with wood- walls, little castles and such."
We agreed on that idea. I turned to Valory. "What about you?" She smiled.
"We could have some sort of reward for the winning team. And no throwing knives!" Lila looked indignified.
"But that's my primary method of combat!"
Adrian spoke up. "We could make padded armor. With cloth and wool. That way, Lila could use dull wooden throwing knives." Again, everyone thought that was a good idea. We went around until everyone spoke:
"Eba?"
"T-the reward that Valory was talking about... could be mutton?" Everyone smiled, and that made the endergirl look flustered.
"Of course, Eba. Lila?"
"Traps. Like, Val and I could make some snare-things with our string, and we could use those."
"Okay... I think. Everyone agree?" The gang nodded. "Right. Iza?"
"We should set down some rules and niches.. I'm... not much of a fighter, so I could be a combat medic or something." Jack spoke up.
"That sounds like a great idea! Sarah and I would be archers, Val and Lila would be trappers, Thomas and Adrian would be brawlers, Simon and Iza would be medics while Eba and Kaitlin would be 'wildcards'." The Blaze girl looked a bit confused.
"Wait, so what are we doing? Fighting?"
"Nnno... not exactly. Pretend fighting. So that means no fire." Jack looked intrigued.
"Fire?" Kaitlin nodded and lifted a hand, summoning a small flame on her open palm. Everyone looked amazed by this trick. Kait was loving the attention, making shapes with her little fireball.
"Right. Now, Jack? Ideas?"
The stray nodded. "We need to make wooden weapons for this. Also, would it count as cheating if Sarah and I used our personal bows?" I shook my head.
"No, it's fine. You guys can use them." Jack nodded again. I turned to Kaitlin.
"Ideas?" The Blaze princess nodded.
"If I can't use my fire, could I throw like, bunches of leaves or something? Little cloth balls or whatever?" Valory nodded.
"Lila and I could make some for you."
"And Sarah?" She thought for a second.
"Jack's right, we have two of each kind of fighter. The teams should consist of one from each type. But... wouldn't Simon be a wildcard too?"
The creeper raised his eyebrow. "Come again?" Sarah smiled.
"I mean, you absolutely wrecked us last time we fought you. Y'know, with all your 'commando tactics' and gizmos and such?" He nodded slowly. He answered after a while.
"But then we'd be missing a medic." Iza spoke up.
"Remember I said combat medic. This means Simon and I can still fight, but we could also get taken out." Everyone nodded in agreement. I clapped my hands together.
"Great! Well prepare everything today and the event will be hosted tomorrow!" We heard a hiss behind us.
"Khan ay plei tooo?" We turned to find Ara wandering towards us. Simon smiled.
"Of course! You could be the referee or something. The person that dictates when someone is cheating, and starts slash stops the game."
The creeper beamed. "Thhhaank yooo!" We laughed at her pronunciation of the words. I didn't know when Simon found time to teach the creeper English, but it was really coming along.
Soon, we began the production of weapons and structures. Simon was... pretty much in charge of everything. He designed the weapons on Eba's sketchbook (he made sure not to look at any drawings as per Eba's request) and instructed us on how to build the structures.
Adrian and Valory cut down some trees while Jack and I cleared space on the plains, flattening out grass and dirt on a large rectangular area. Lila, Sarah, Eba, Iza, and Kaitlin were making the structures and weapons. Simon was explaining to Ara what we were going to do, hissing softly.
It took us all afternoon, but it was definitely worth it. The girls had made; two broadswords, five shortswords, two dozen throwing knives, a 'spear', a rapier, and lots of wooden walls. And two 'castles'.
Valory and Lila made the armor with the help of Sarah as well. After Simon's talk with Ara, he walked into the storage shed. After like twenty minutes, he came out with a grey ball that had a fuse on it. He walked up to me and smiled. "Smoke bomb."
He snapped his fingers to light it and then he threw it towards the woods. It rolled to a stop maybe five yards away, and smoke began to bellow from multiple holes in the bomb's shell. I nodded.
"Impressive."
"I know. Should I give some to the other guys?" I looked around.
"Do we have the teams set up yet?"
"No."
"Then please do. I'd rather not be on the side that has a technological disadvantage."
The creeper boy grinned. "Sure." Then he walked over to Valory and Lila.
I sighed and stared at the sun which was setting on the mountain-framed horizon. Sarah walked up to me and rested her head against my shoulder. I smiled at her and she smiled back. We stood that way until the sun sank beneath the mountains and the valley went dark, enjoying the simplicity of each other's company.
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Theridas's POV
I hurried back to the Throne room with a report from the Argonaut Commander for Darkness. He had summoned four 'high ranking commanding officers' to lead his army into battle.
He spawned monsters with specific traits and armors for each division: Argonauts (basic infantry as in zombie pigmen and skeletons), Necronauts (Endermen, whither skeletons, spiders) Poisonauts (Cave spiders, strays, husk warriors) and Demonauts (creepers, ghasts, blazes).
My plan was to hide with Ella among the Demonauts, as we both fit into that category somewhat. I had 'borrowed' the armor off a monster and given it to Monsul. Now we had to wait for the blacksmith to make armor that suited us.
I walked into Darkness's throne room, still open-air and brightly lit. He had ordered some of his monsters to extract the soul sand from every nook and cranny in the nether. The demon spent his days gorging himself or summoning monsters, never closing his eyes for longer than a second.
He was still summoning monsters, so I waited for a second while he finished. Once Darkness was done, he turned to face me.
"Ah, Theridas! How are my armies?" I bowed.
"Very well, my lord. I've returned with a report from your Argonaut division."
"Then report away." He sat down on his nether brick throne and leaned back against it.
"There are currently 937 Zombie Pigman warriors, as well as 986 Skeleton archers."
"Good, very good! I'll be able to siege the clans soon. How about my other divisions?"
"W-Wait a second, sir. I'm not finished with the report." He narrowed his eyes a little.
"Then finish it."
"W-Well, the Commander would like to appoint ten captains for ease of leadership. Each captain would be in charge of 99 soldiers." Darkness smiled and nodded.
"A swell idea. Go tell him that he has permission to do so. Now, about the rest of my armies..."
"Y-yes. There are 893 Endermen, 912 Wither skeletons, and 1000 spiders for the Necronaut division. The Poisonaut division has 720 Cave spiders, 847 strays and 966 Husks. The Demonaut division has 1000 creepers, 758 Ghasts, and 903 Blazes."
The demon clapped his hands. "Marvelous! Go tell each division to choose ten captains for their patrols of 99 monsters. I have more spawning to do." I bowed again.
"Yes, my lord."
Then I left the room, heading towards the exit. I took a small detour to check up on Ella. I knocked on the door and heard a rustle on the other side. Smiling, I opened the door. There was a small pile of clothes in the corner beside my small bed, quivering and breathing rapidly.
I gently closed the door and walked over to Ella. "Hey, Hey, calm down, kid. It's just me."
She slowly poked her head out from under the clothes. "Th-Theridas?" I nodded, still smiling.
"Yes, it's me. How are you holding up?" She sniffled a little and wiped some tears from her eyes.
"O-Okay I think. I'm... still having nightmares. And... you scared me." I picked her up and out from under the clothes, placing her on the bed and embracing her thin body. She was small for a seven-year old.
"Im sorry, kid. Are your nightmares still about your parents?" She wiped more tears away.
"N-no. They are... about a lot of things. And I can't remember them all."
"What was your most recent one about?"
She looked at the wall absently, her eyes glistening with tears.
"About the clans... about death." She turned to me, and a chill ran down my spine.
"About you."
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Author's POV
Ahhh finally! I've finally finished the chapter! And I'm happyyyyyyy...! :'D
But! There's always a but... I think that I found why it took so long. The story's like... summary? The info page? It says the story's about adventure and romance. So far, we've had plenty of adventure (I think), and some romance.
And there lies the (*holding back a laugh and smiling*) Core of the Problem. Get it? Cuz it's the name of a chapter... :)
Moving on... the romance aspect is the main issue. It seems to 'cloud my judgement'. So, from this moment on, I'll try to stay away from it and stick to the adventure side of the story.
Also, i have written a third story, again completely separate from KOW. I'll post the first chapter after this goes up. Just... FYI.
Anywho, thank you all for your time, patience, and support. Have an awesome day!
~ LeMafiaKreb