Chapter 12: On a Rail

Blake hadn't forgotten the Nether's stifling, unbearably hot air since his last visit years ago, yet it managed to catch him by surprise regardless as he emerged from the portal. The netherrack cave in which he'd arrived had been mined out, flattening the floor enough for the entire crowd of villagers to semi-comfortably space themselves apart. Not that it mattered; they all huddled together anyway, murmuring to one another in hushed, uneasy tones.

"I don't blame them. Can't say I was too keen on ever coming back here…"

He noticed an odd feeling of hollowness in his chest, like some part of him was disappointedly longing for something. Blake's thoughts of his past and the friends he'd once known had never left his mind, but he couldn't say they had ever brought his mood down during the journey. And for all his nostalgia, going to the Nether wasn't one of the experiences he wished to relive.

It took a moment to realize the unusual sense of melancholy was coming from the Bonemeal Core, which wasn't pulsing its usual energy across his body.

"Of course! There's pretty much no plant life here, so it's not as active as it was before. But… does this mean it has a mind of its own? It DID speak to me when I found it, I think. Maybe that has something to do with it..."

His companions were to the side, being inspected by a pair clad in iron armor with golden helmets exactly like Ember's. One of them had removed the arrow from Celia's hip and was applying a splash potion to the wound, presumably of healing. Felix sported no slashes or stabs, but he'd clearly taken a battering of his own during the escape, and the second stranger was handing him a potion as well. A third armored person stood with the villagers, ensuring they were all wearing a golden garment.

"Hey, over here!" the stranger caring for Celia shouted to Blake, brushing a blonde lock away from her eyes. "Are you hurt?"

"I've got a few injuries, but I don't think they're bad enough to use a potion on. Then again, the last time this happened I wound up bleeding so much I passed out, but I don't think the cut was as deep…"

He spotted Celia raising a brow and shut up, clearing his throat. "A-actually, I'll take a potion. Just to be safe."

Ember's ally, though clearly bemused, approached with another glowing pink bottle. She applied the potion to his shoulder, and soothing comfort settled over him. Eating food was always a surefire way to improve one's health, but the relief brought by a potion had its own appeal. Blake had never understood how to brew, so it had been years since the last time he'd used one.

"Maybe that's something I should learn…?"

The portal hissed behind him, and Ember stepped out. "Is this everyone? We tried to gather as many of you as we could; I apologize for dragging you all here."

In unison, the villagers began to mutter and shuffle around, with one particularly old-looking blacksmith counting heads. Once he was done, he gave a reassuring smile. "That's the whole village. Everyone's accounted for."

A weight lifted from Blake's chest, and he felt himself smiling too.

"You covered our tracks?" the golden-haired young woman asked Ember.

"Yep, the Usurpation won't be following us in here. But that's not really our main problem, I'll fill you all in."

While Ember's group gathered to discuss the matter at hand, Blake wandered to where Celia and Felix were standing. The former had taken off the leather armor and was trying to wipe dirt and grass off her dress.

"Hey, guys. Doing okay?"

Felix offered a grin. "Considering how narrowly we got out of that? I'm better than expected."

Blake chuckled, then grimaced when he realized how uncomfortably sweaty his hair had become. Each of them was a mess, their appearances nearly as disheveled as Ray's after several days of nonstop fleeing, hiding, and fighting.

"I sure hope you are," he said. "We didn't pull off that daring rescue just for you to die on us in the process."

Though Felix also laughed, his mood faded when he looked at Celia's torn dress where the arrow had struck. "No, but you were both hurt saving me. You two need to get back to Luxmouth safely more than anything..."

"It's what any friend would do," Celia replied, her voice soft. "Your armor helped me after all; I don't want to imagine how much worse the injury might've been."

Blake frowned. "What happened, anyway?"

"We were rounding up more villagers when one of the raiders caught up to us," Felix explained. "He took a shot at them, and Lady Celia jumped in the arrow's path."

Impulsive. Reckless. He hadn't known her for more than a few days, yet it fit the image he'd made of Celia perfectly. Still… he had to admit, taking the initiative to protect someone else was admirable. Blake didn't have it in him to be exasperated about that "Well, I'm glad you're both okay. If it weren't for you-"

"Excuse me, everyone! Listen up!"

Ember stood atop a block of netherrack as he addressed the crowd. Blake decided to hold that thought, his attention on their new ally instead.

"I can't say enough how sorry we are that your village got caught up in all that. You've been displaced from your homes, and we don't know when it'll be safe to bring you all back. In the meantime, the best we can do is have my friends help everyone settle down here in the Nether."

He gestured to his similarly-armored cohorts, each of whom gave the villagers reassuring waves and smiles of varying convictions. Blake wasn't surprised to hear even more concerned mutters from the crowd; "safe" and "the Nether" weren't commonly said together for good reason.

"I understand if you're worried," Ember continued, "but both of the enemy groups we escaped from could still be in your town. Until we've determined it's safe for you all to return, we'll set up a temporary shelter in these caves. It won't be comfortable, but it's all we've got."

"What about food?" someone shouted from the crowd.

One of Ember's companions, a young man with tanned skin and sandy brown hair, raised a hand.

"We've brought an emergency stock of bread and some fruit. There are also mushrooms to be found here in the Nether, so we can make stews, but we'll have to ration everything out. I won't lie; we don't have much."

"Actually," a familiar voice spoke up, "I reckon we have everything we need."

The farmer they'd met upon entering the town stepped forth, dragging a chest behind him. Blake's eyes widened when he saw the villager open it, revealing an enormous supply of vegetables and wheat.

"I dunno where all this stuff came from," the farmer continued, "but I found it in my chest right before the raid started. There's enough food here to last us at least three months. My crops were all fully grown, too, so I harvested them bright and early. They should've taken way longer to be ready; I've never seen anything like it."

In an instant, the tense atmosphere noticeably lightened. Blake felt the gazes of Celia and Felix on the back of his head. He just smiled, not speaking up.

"I don't need the glory."

"Uh… in that case, this'll be easier for us all," Ember said. "My friends will get to work on your shelter and go over how to stay safe here. Don't worry, we'll make sure you get home safe."

With that, he stepped off the block and approached Blake's group with a bashful smile. "I still can't believe we pulled this crazy plan off."

"It was hardly a perfect execution. We met a different roadblock at nearly every turn," said Celia.

Blake shrugged. "True, but we somehow made it work. Teamwork won the day, or whatever."

"Cheesy," Felix remarked, though not without a tiny grin. "Now then, how are we going to get to Luxmouth from here? It'll take weeks to walk, and even if we crafted more boats back in the overworld we'd still have to be careful…"

"Ahem. I think I can help you with that." Ember pointed behind the villagers, to where a long tunnel, two blocks wide and high, had been dug into the netherrack. Blake stared at it with some apprehension; he couldn't even see the end of it. On the ground, two rail tracks were installed, with a golden powered rail spaced every few blocks. A chest was placed beside them.

"Allow me to properly introduce us," Ember began. "My friends and I are part of a group called the Netherrack Network. We're couriers of information, supplies, and sometimes people from place to place, using the Nether to pass right under the Usurpation's noses."

Celia hummed. "I cannot say I've heard of you in Luxmouth. Is your order a new one?"

"Well, we're not from any one place, so we've probably stayed under the notice of the big-wigs like House Lumis or Horizon's Outreach. Not even the Iron Garrison knows about us for the most part. We have had dealings with TOEC, though…"

"Really?" Celia said, perking up in particular at the last name Ember mentioned.

"Oh yeah, I hear my boss has met with some officials from Tenebyss once or twice."

Blake desperately glanced at Felix in the hopes he would look just as lost as he felt. No such luck; he didn't speak up, but would occasionally nod in response to a name or place. Blake alone didn't seem to have a clue what was being discussed.

"There's so much of the world I haven't seen, and to think I'm only now heading out to experience it... I wonder if any of the gang made it all the way out there."

A subtle dread weighed on him.

"…I wonder if THEY got caught up in the invasion too."

"We can talk more about this later," Ember said, bringing him back to the present. "For now, I've got some mine carts. It's a straight ride toward one of our outposts, and from there I'll escort you guys the rest of the way to Luxmouth. We'll get both you and that Bonemeal Core into safe hands in just a little over a day. Sound good?"

Blake and his companions looked between one another in incredulity. What was he talking about?

"Uh… I get that mine carts are faster than walking," he began, "but there's no way they're fast enough to make that trip in just a day. Felix, how long did you say the boat would take?"

"Six days," Felix said, his brow furrowed.

"Exactly. And that was a Usurpation transport, which could cover way more distance than anything we have. Unless you've got a Usurpation mine cart, or something?"

Ember frowned. "You really don't know much about the Nether, do you? I'll summarize it: traveling one block's distance in here is the same as traveling eight blocks' distance outside."

Blake had no words. Somehow, he felt like the vast world had considerably shrunk in an instant. Celia's mouth flapped uselessly.

"But- that- that isn't- how…?"

"Space just works differently here," Ember said with a shrug. "Point is, we'll make better time on the rails. Are you in?"

"O-of course!" Celia sputtered, bouncing on her heels. "Had I known this, I would've traversed the Nether in the first place!"

"It can't be easy to place all the tracks and dig the tunnels you need," Felix remarked.

"Hence why we're not going right to Luxmouth. Our highways don't extend into the city itself, but I can get you pretty close to it," replied Ember.

He approached the tunnel, rummaging through the chest and withdrawing four mine carts. Waving to his fellow Netherrack Network members one last time, he placed them on the rightmost tracks. "Hop in. Leave the back for me, please."

Blake climbed into the frontmost cart and sat down. The hard iron shell wasn't comfortable by any means, but he'd take what he could get. Celia took the cart behind him, with Felix sitting behind her. Finally, Ember settled into the last cart.

"Okay, hold on!"

He threw a lever at the back, and the powered rails below them blinked online. The mine carts rolled forth, beginning down the endless netherrack tunnel.

Ray didn't know it was possible to ache so thoroughly. He lay face-down on a wooden floor, covered in books courtesy of the shelf he'd crashed into. Every part of his body was stiff and unresponsive, and he felt so weak he feared closing his eyes would mean never opening them again. With neither his sword nor the grass tendril at hand, he grimly realized he was entirely helpless.

"Damn… he got the better of me after all…"

That was it, then. He would never be able to avenge Lime Squad, and with his passing the entire group would be gone. Ray, and especially his agents, were never to be mourned or missed. Unarmed and already at death's door, all he could do was hope the Grass Core would find itself in the hands of one who would succeed where he hadn't.

To his surprise, however, the end never claimed him. In fact, he felt his pain lessening until he was able to wearily sit upright, books clattering to the floor around him. It occurred to Ray that he'd been holding something the whole time: a small golden statue with green eyes and a large nose like those of the village dwellers or the gray-skinned raiders. He had taken the curious item from the sorcerer's body a moment before the Inlander with the dark Bonemeal Core caught him by surprise.

"…hm. I don't think I ever got his name."

The gilded totem faded away in his hand as Ray's strength returned. By the time it was gone completely, all of his injuries had likewise disappeared. From outside, he could hear the faint sounds of battle.

"What've I missed?"

Withdrawing the Genesis Core tracker, he found only his own and Tara's Cores were displayed.

"Whatever happened, I know I'm not going to like what I find out there…"

Ray heaved a weary sigh and got to his feet, exiting the shack he'd wound up in through the wide open door.

He walked the deserted paths between the houses and found only death. The bodies of gray Inlanders dotted the ground, axe and crossbow wielders alike. Curiously, he couldn't find any of their non-hostile counterparts among the dead. Ray followed the coordinates of Tara's light Ice Core until he passed through the village square, where even more raiders and several Crimson Squad troopers were scattered about. The sounds of battle had loudened, and he picked up the pace, grabbing a sword from a fallen Usurper on his way.

Finally, he reached the edge of the town, where Tara and a mere three troopers were warily surrounding an enormous, four-legged creature with a thick hide. It had a face uncannily like the large-nosed Inlanders, but the way it thrashed and growled at Crimson Squad suggested no greater intellect than an animal's. The beast had a saddle on its back, but its rider, likely the lone dead crossbow raider nearby, had been dealt with.

Ray's stomach twisted at the sight of another trooper's body beneath one of the creature's massive legs- clearly, it had avenged the death of its master with considerable prejudice.

"Where have you been?" Tara shouted upon noticing him. She threw an ice block which shattered against its head, doing little more than annoying it.

"Nice to see you too," he shot back. "Let me give you a hand."

The grass under the beast's feet sprouted at his command, ensnaring its hind legs. Another focus caused its front legs to be tangled as well, preventing it from doing anything other than snarl furiously as the survivors of Crimson Squad overwhelmed it with attacks from the sides. When the creature finally slumped in the grass' clutches, dead, the troopers looked ready to collapse as well. Tara stared at Ray, and he resisted the urge to flinch.

"The Inlanders escaped."

She wasn't asking him.

"…yeah. They got away somehow; they don't even appear on the tracker anymore. Looking for them now would be a fool's errand."

"I could surmise that," she snapped. "Were it not for the sudden arrival of these… things, we would have had them cornered."

Ray looked over the bodies littering the town.

"Their numbers got the better of us. These Inlanders aren't that strong individually; I managed to take down three of them before making my way here."

"I beg your pardon?"

He paused, reflecting on what might have confused her.

"…oh. Did I not report that last part to you? After Lime Squad's defeat, three Inlanders like the ones we encountered here pilfered their belongings before coming after me. I dealt with them all, then I began to make my way across the ocean."

Another pause, then his heart skipped a beat. What he said next, he practically had to pry from his lips as Tara stared through him. "And… when I was fighting the Core thief, one of the raiders said this group had 'tracked' me here, after I killed their 'patrol.'"

If it was even possible for her to show less responsiveness than usual, she was somehow managing it. But Ray could read between the lines- or the lack thereof- well enough: the Bonemeal Core had evaded their grasp once again, by virtue of an interruption. And it had been his fault, knowingly or not.

Speaking of an interruption, another horn sounded from the other side of the town. The five of them looked up in disbelief as the cruel laughter of even more raiders approaching.

"You've got to be kidding me…" Ray groaned.

"Prepare our transport," Tara said aloud. "Our mission is a failure."

The three troopers looked between one another, then made off toward their carrier. Ray's heart pounded- despite being of equal rank to Tara, he felt microscopic under her gaze.

"Understand, Sir Ray," she began, enunciating each word as slowly as she could, "that you are to explain your failure in full detail when we deliver our report. You are to accept all blame- and consequence- for this disgrace."

Tara didn't wait to hear a response, about-facing and following her troopers onto the beach where Crimson Squad's carrier awaited. Ray, guilt and worry gnawing at him from all sides, trudged after her.

After how frantic the past few days had been, the sound of minecarts rumbling was almost soothing to Celia. That morning in particular had unquestionably been the most terrifying she'd ever lived through, so the quiet of the endless netherrack tunnel and the repetitive clunking of iron wheels on iron tracks provided a welcome solace.

"To think it took retreating to the Nether for us to find safety… the Usurpers are indeed relentless."

She wondered how her father was doing. Her enthusiasm to return home dwindled at the thought of the scolding she'd no doubt receive for leaving. Celia hadn't thought anything of it at the time, but two weeks of travel and her recent encounters with the Usurpation had quickly taught her a valuable lesson on thinking things through.

"As well as…"

Blake was rather awkwardly curled up in his mine cart, hands resting on his knees. The healing potion had cured his injuries, but he still sported countless scrapes from the battle and his clothes were much more torn than they'd been when he first ran into her under that enormous tree.

"I look worse for wear myself, as does Felix. We've been through a lot these last few days."

Although Blake had been staring into space, watching the netherrack walls blur past, he turned a bit to meet Celia's gaze when he noticed her looking at him.

"Uh… something the matter?"

She softly cleared her throat, trying to find the right words. "No. I just… wanted to thank you again for accompanying us. I understand it was asking a lot, and it certainly hasn't been an easy time."

Blake chewed his tongue for a second, then cracked a grin. "It hasn't. But it's not like I had any other direction in life, you know?"

"You keep alluding to that lack of purpose," she remarked, "and how you have nobody else. Did… something happen?" As soon as the words left her mouth, Celia regretted them. "You don't have to answer that if I pried too much-"

He held up a hand to stop her, shaking his head. "No, no, it's fine. See, in the village I came from, I had a group of friends growing up. We went on little adventures, fought mobs, built stuff, all that. It was simple, but we were just kids having fun."

Blake had a distant look in his eyes, like he was no longer entirely in the present with Celia.

"None of them died or anything, before you start to worry. We got in trouble a lot, and we definitely came close to biting it a few times when we got too cocky fighting monsters, but we always scraped through. Then… we got older."

She felt an odd tightness in her chest.

"One by one, my friends started to leave. They set off to parts unknown, looking for their calling in life, and before I knew it I was the last one in town. A year and a half later, even the villagers moved out. Then it was just me."

"You hadn't found a calling?" Felix asked from behind her. When he'd started paying attention to the conversation, Celia wasn't sure, though Blake didn't seem to mind. Ember, at the back, also appeared to be listening but said nothing.

"I thought I had. I thought they'd eventually come back, and we could all go exploring again. So I waited, all alone in that little town and trying to keep it in the same condition as when they'd left." His eyes were closed, and he gave a short, bitter chuckle. "After all, if I didn't preserve it, then we'd never be able to get the group back together, right? Things wouldn't return to how they were."

"But that was never going to happen, was it?" Celia asked.

A moment of silence passed. "No," said Blake, "it wasn't. I just couldn't accept that my time with them was over. The thought of leaving home and finding my own story was… well, insane to me. So I stayed there, getting sadder and less ambitious by the day because I couldn't work up the nerve to just throw myself out there. I was always afraid I'd somehow mess it up."

"What changed?" she asked.

Another bitter laugh. "I got the push I needed. The day before I met you two, I found a letter from one of my friends. I guess she saw what I was becoming before I did, so she left me a note telling me to get out and see the world. So, in a funny sort of way, I still haven't lived for myself just yet. Not if a letter from one of my old friends is what it took."

All at once, Celia found herself understanding him just a bit better. His hesitations and his difficulties in communicating with her weren't just products of a different home environment, without the social structure of Luxmouth. They were expressive of someone who hadn't even decided what he wanted out of his life. Her status as the Duke's daughter guaranteed what path she would take, but Blake evidently had no such direction.

"To think, once he finally set off on his own journey, he was strung up in all of this…"

She blinked as her eyes began to sting, and her gaze fell. How could she have been so impatient with him?

"But for what it's worth? This isn't the worst thing I could've imagined would happen." Celia looked up at Blake again. He was giving her and Felix a small grin. "I mean, I could go without being wanted dead by an invading army. But before all of this, I was just some weirdo in an abandoned village. Now I'm a weirdo with magic bonemeal powers who's traveling with a princess from overseas. Not a bad deal, right?"

Her lips quirked. "Because we managed to survive the day, I'll let you get away with that one," she said. "And because we were able to work together after all."

"And it only took Felix getting caught by the Usurpation to make us stop bickering," Blake remarked. "Let's try not to let it come to that again, okay?"

Celia nodded, offering her friend an apologetic look. "Indeed. We may not think alike in many regards… but perhaps we can put our disagreements to a more productive use in the future?"

"I like the sound of that too, Lady Celia," said Felix.

"You like the sound of everything she says," Blake teased.

She frowned and crossed her arms. "Maybe your manners could still use some work. Felix, don't you agr-"

Blake's grin widened, and she shut herself up before she could walk into his trap. Regardless, Celia couldn't pretend to be annoyed for more than a few seconds before lightly giggling.

"You're a weird group of kids, you know that?" Ember asked.

"I'm 19," Blake said. "And you can't be that much older than us."

Celia raised a hand. "I turned 18 about a month ago. I'm an adult as well."

"Seventeen here," added Felix. "But I'm almost there."

Ember shrugged. "Still kids to me. When you're all 21, you'll understand."

Blake snorted. "Wow, I guess you are an old man."

They all shared a chuckle. The dark tunnel led on, and the Nether's atmosphere had gotten no less eerie, but in the company of her new allies Celia's spirits remained high.

Luxmouth awaited.

End of Part Two