Part Three: Standing Together
Chapter 13: A Fiery Heart
The tunnel wasn't ending any time soon.
Grateful as Blake was to have a shorter trip to Luxmouth, sitting in a mine cart for hours on end wasn't exactly comfortable. He constantly fidgeted, trying to find a position that wouldn't cramp up his legs or leave him leaning against the hard metal edge. No such luck.
"Doing okay up there?" Ember quipped.
He rolled his eyes. "I don't know how you deal with this."
"Please. The Nether's practically my second home, I could live on the rails."
"How long did it take to build these?" Celia asked. "The sheer distance is… well, daunting."
They had to have traveled more than a thousand blocks' worth of tracks. Blake couldn't imagine the resources which went into such a project.
"A… while," said Ember. "A long time without rest, I'll say that much. I didn't do it alone, of course, my friends helped out."
"I've never seen a rail system this long before. It's impressive," Felix remarked. He was flipping through his notebook, which reminded Blake of what he'd picked up before returning to town.
"Hey, Felix. I've got something for you."
He rather awkwardly reached around Celia to hand over the black book. Raising a brow, Felix took it and perused the illegible symbols within.
"I got that from one of the Usurpers who chased us. I don't know how it works, but I think it's actually how they keep in touch with each other," Blake explained.
"What makes you say that?" asked Celia.
He pointed at the most recent page, and the different handwriting styles within. "See that? The lines were writing themselves earlier."
Felix stared at the book, gingerly touching the back cover as if trying to feel for something. "Hm… if I had to guess, this thing has an enchantment on it. I'm no good with magic, though, and this isn't exactly a good place to work on reverse-engineering the spell."
He put it away and gave Blake a nod. "Still, thanks for this. It could come in handy."
There was a thoughtful hum from the rear. "Maybe Gwen would know a thing or two about it…"
Blake leaned back in the cart to get a better look at Ember. "Gwen?"
"My boss," he explained, "and the leader of our little gang. I can't say for sure that she's an expert on magic, but if any of the Network will know about the book's enchantments, it's her. She's got skills in every field. Have you not heard of her? The Network's not exactly popular, but she definitely is."
"Are you talking about Gwendolyn the Diamond Knight?!"
The group's wide-eyed attention fell on Felix in unison. His gaze darted between Blake and the others, and he shrank back into his cart with a light blush.
"Was that excitement?" Ember asked, raising a brow but clearly withholding a grin. "You're right, by the way."
"There's a lot of stories about her in Luxmouth's neighboring cities," Felix mumbled. "She's an expert mob hunter."
Celia perked up. "Yes, I've heard of her! It's said she once killed a Wither using only a stick and an ink sac!"
Blake scratched his head, trying to envision such a feat. "No weapons? Armor? Potions? Not even the Legendary Heroes could've been that powerful."
"I don't know about that," Ember said, "she's strong enough to be a legend in her own right."
Celia turned to Blake with a look of mild surprise. "You've heard of the Legendary Heroes too?"
He frowned. "Wait, you know what I'm talking about? Those two who-"
"-defeated the Ender Dragon!" she finished with him.
Felix nodded, sharing in their smile. "I don't think there's anyone who hasn't heard of Steve and Alex."
That was a relief. Despite coming from a small village in the middle of nowhere, and the years of isolation, Blake wasn't alone in growing up with tales of the great duo. He only wished their story could've been chronicled better; following their victory supposedly around four hundred years prior, they seemed to disappear from history altogether.
"I bet they would've handled the invasion," Celia remarked.
"Yeah," added Felix, "too bad there's no way to bring them back from the dead- and I don't mean how Illagers make zombies or skeletons."
"Maybe someone new will step up to save the day," said Ember. "How about you kids? Think you could become the next Legendary Heroes?"
Blake rolled his eyes. "Sure, when we've done nothing but run from the Usurpation. I think we're totally hero material."
The railway continued, but the sense of levity remained.
"Wow," Blake thought, "I think I'm getting better at casual conversation. Or at least I don't feel as stiff anymore."
It was a simple achievement. Regardless, he'd take what he could get.
Some time later, the tunnel emerged to a sprawling cavern which stretched further than the eye could see. Felix couldn't help but grin at the change of scenery; the endless netherrack had long since grown monotonous. In its place, he looked upon a valley of smooth, brown sand, dotted by flickering blue fires which gave the Nether an almost soothing atmosphere.
An atmosphere swiftly ruined by what came next.
"BAIL OUT!"
Blake's shout from the front had barely been uttered before he'd hurled himself from his cart. Felix looked ahead to see what he'd been so alarmed by: the tracks led directly into a particularly large patch of blue flames, and they were fast approaching the inferno.
Panicking just a bit, he clambered out of his mine cart and tumbled clumsily onto the sand. He heard Celia land just ahead of him in a similarly graceless matter, while Ember was able to tuck into a roll and keep his footing, albeit shakily. The carts continued on their way, right through the flames and onto a patch of soul sand where the tracks had evidently been torn up.
"Everyone okay?" Felix asked, rubbing his side with a wince. "Lady Celia?"
"Fine," she gasped. "What happened to the rails?"
Ember scowled. "Someone must've sabotaged them. This doesn't look like a ghast attack, there's no blasted-out chunk in the ground."
"Look…" Blake rejoined them, pointing to a grisly scene on the other side of the flames.
Two dozen or so corpses were scattered across the soul sand, half of which Felix immediately recognized as Piglins. The other half, garbed in familiar thin, red armor, were humans with unusually pale skin. It only took a moment to deduce who they were.
"A Usurpation squad?" he heard Ember mutter. "Here? Damn… I was hoping they wouldn't learn about the Nether so soon. Then again, if there's nobody left..."
Felix couldn't believe he found comfort in such a thought, but at least they were all dead. Blake, at his right, seemed more than a little taken aback, though more so by the bodies of the bipedal swine. "What are these things…?"
"They were a tribe of Piglins, the inhabitants of the Nether," Felix said, "and the predecessors of those zombie pig-people you mentioned."
Celia spoke up morosely. "Very territorial creatures, as the Usurpation seems to have learned the hard way. I can't help but feel just a bit sorry for them… both..."
The casualties seemed to have been absolute. There were no survivors on either side.
"What could've caused the damage to the rails, though?" asked Ember. "Unless one of the Usurpers was using flint and steel, I don't see how they could've lit the fires."
Blake surveyed the battlefield with a furrowed brow. "Here's a thought. What if they had a Genesis Core too? Ray and Tara both had one, so it wouldn't be impossible."
Felix took out the Core Tracker, but it appeared Celia was one step ahead of him. She'd approached the body of a Usurper who lay beside another small patch of blue fire, and quietly gasped.
The crackling of flames was a calming sight most of the time, but as Celia's gaze fixed on the blue blaze- and the unnatural purple light glowing faintly in its epicenter- her heart felt ready to burst from her chest. There was no mistaking the radiance within the fire: that light was indeed coming from a Genesis Core.
"I can't believe it…"
Hands trembling, she drew her blade and prodded at the artifact with its flat edge, rolling it out of the flames. It came to a stop, after which the soul sand underneath began to smolder. Before another flame could ignite, Celia picked up the Genesis Core-
"Incredible! Do you feel the warmth here? The energy?"
"Hm… yes, I could stand here for hours."
-and very nearly dropped it when the world blurred before her, and the two unfamiliar voices conversed. Just as quickly as it had started, it was over.
"Countess," someone else said. "Did you just pick up, barehanded, something that looked like it was burning whatever it sat on?"
Celia hadn't even noticed Ember looking over her shoulder for a good few seconds, so mesmerizing was the Core. When she saw the matching expressions of incredulity on him and Blake, she cringed and felt her face heat up.
"I-it's not burning me. It's not even hot, oddly enough."
"Maybe they don't affect humans passively, just the environment," Blake suggested.
"Well, if we weren't the Usurpation's most wanted before," Ember said with a sigh, "we definitely are now."
She cleared her throat, trying not to let her sudden rush of excitement show in her voice. "We will take this back to Luxmouth. Any Genesis Core out of the Usurpation's hands is a positive step for us, and we might even be able to start turning the war around the more we collect."
"Makes sense. While we're at it, you should bind it to yourself!"
Celia turned to Blake with a jolt, mouth agape. "Are… are you sure that's for the best…?"
"We don't even know if they can be safely removed," said Felix.
Blake shrugged. "True, but it'd be harder to lose at least. It's got to be more secure than just keeping it in your inventory."
She looked at the Genesis Core again, and felt a shiver go up her spine. He did make a fair point, and the thought of commanding its power was rather shamefully appealing. Still… she couldn't just take it because she wanted to, could she?
Celia looked at the other two members of the group. "What say you?"
"The Usurpation's already after us, and having more people with magic powers could make the trip easier. I say go for it," Ember replied.
"The decision is yours, Lady Celia."
She frowned at the second response. "I'm asking what you think, Felix."
In the corner of her eye, she noticed Blake raise a brow. Felix scratched behind his head. "Um… I think you should bind it too."
Then the decision was unanimous. Celia held the Genesis Core in her palms, looking at it as she would a creeper primed to explode.
"...Blake, how did you do it?"
"By accident. I held it against my chest a little hard, and it just sort of fused into me."
She brought it closer, but hesitated. "And you're sure that worked?"
"Well, either that or I've secretly always had bonemeal powers, and I just broke it. Let's find out."
Not exactly feeling confident, Celia firmly pressed the Genesis Core against herself. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the translucent sphere melted away, the strange gas within merging into her chest.
Heat. Unimaginable heat filled her senses, as if her whole body had spontaneously ignited. Yet there was no pain, and nothing on her person had actually caught fire. Quite the contrary; Celia felt incredible. She could sense all the flames of the Nether for several chunks, no matter how great or small. The sheer rush of energy was equal parts terrifying and exhilarating, and even when the sensation died down and her perception returned to normal, she felt herself panting from the overwhelming experience.
"Lady Celia…?"
Her companions had each taken a few paces back, shifting their wary gazes to one another.
"O-oh! Forgive me! I was just so caught up in the moment."
"No kidding," Blake said with a hesitant grin, "for a second I thought you were about to start spewing a speech about how you were the 'master of all the flames, the strongest human alive' or whatever."
Celia blushed again. "My apologies. I'm still myself, I assure you. It's… just so much to take in. Did you feel this way too, Blake?"
"I was kind of distracted by Ray and his cronies pulling swords on me," he deadpanned. "But I did feel all kinds of energy rush through me, yeah. I didn't give an evil bonemeal wizard speech to Ray, either."
"We can discuss this later, we should get a move on!" Ember had returned to the rails, putting out the fires and gathering the fallen mine gave one last nod of assurance to Blake and Felix, then the three headed over to continue on their way. Before they could make it, however, a tromping of footsteps came from nearby. Accompanying them was a cacophony of snorts and grunts.
"The hell is that?" Blake asked.
She and Felix traded nervous looks. Ember glanced at each of them before adjusting his golden helmet.
"Make sure your boots are visible!" he hissed softly.
From around a corner of the soul sand cave marched another small band of Piglins, their beady white eyes narrow and their snouts twitching. Celia hadn't seen one of the pig-people for herself before, and decided she would rather not see one ever again afterwards; even from a distance their burly, hulking forms and their filthy odors were supremely uninviting.
It was as the Piglins approached that Celia remembered the bodies of their brethren just behind them, and she felt her blood run cold. Had the Usurpation just posthumously framed her and her friends?!
"Will we have to fight? Could I use my new Genesis Core against them? What if they resist fire due to living here? Could I even control it?"
Despite her worries, the Piglins didn't appear particularly bothered by their proximity to the corpses. Not even Blake, who'd impulsively drawn his sword and backed away as they walked over to investigate the scene, seemed to irritate them. They each simply cast a glance at the golden armor pieces Ember had provided before grunting with a short nod.
"I remember learning they only tolerate humans wearing golden armor, but I never thought their love of the metal wouldn't even let them see us as suspicious…"
Regardless, she wasn't going to complain. Based on the condition the Usurpation troopers had been left in, Celia wasn't at all keen on picking a fight.
"Let's go," Ember whispered.
As the Piglins eagerly began to scavenge the battlefield for the dropped golden swords of their fallen kin, the group got back into their mine carts and continued on their way.
Blake didn't realize his sword arm had been shaking until they were on their way down the rails again. He put away the weapon and sighed. "So those things are the Nether's mainstays? I don't know how I never ran into any of them when I first came here, but I think that was for the best."
"They respect only gold," said Felix, rubbing his head wearily. "Anyone not wearing it is an enemy to them. You would've been killed."
He shuddered. "You deal with them every day?" he asked Ember. "Do you always carry gold armor with you, then?"
"All the time. They're pretty easy to coexist with as long as you aren't aggressive and you don't try to steal from them. They'll even trade you stuff in exchange for gold ingots. It's not good stuff most of the time, but you can't exactly haggle with Piglins."
A loud whoosh came from nearby, and a patch of soul sand ignited as they passed it by. Celia's hand was outstretched, amazement in her eyes.
"What was that?" Blake yelped.
"I-I threw a fireball! It just came out of my palm when I concentrated!"
Her handiwork had already moved out of view, so Blake watched her release another burst of flames into the ground. "It's like what Ghasts can do," he remarked.
"More like what Blazes do; there was no explosion," Ember said. "Still, that's impressive. Just be careful with it, will you?"
Celia huffed. "Of course. I'm not about to burn us all to ashes."
And she didn't. The rest of the ride continued without interruption, the group not even stopping to eat or sleep- they took turns doing both within the cramped carts. By that point, Blake had grown tired enough of the trip that even a nap against the cold metal was inviting.
The rails ended in front of a small tower made of black bricks, outside of which another person in iron armor with a golden chestplate was setting up her own tracks. She drew a sword at their approach, but eased up when Ember waved. They clambered out of the carts, and Blake rubbed his legs in an effort to restore feeling- Celia and Felix were doing the same, he noticed. Ember didn't appear bothered at all as he strode toward his cohort, a mousy looking girl with a short blonde ponytail.
"Hey, Ava! Good to see you!"
"Hello, Jason," she said, her attention not leaving Blake and his companions, "are these the people Evelyn left to help you with? Where's she?"
He cringed. "C'mon, everyone else calls me Ember. Anyway…"
A short exchange followed, featuring a few names he didn't recognize. He could gather that Ava and Ember- or Jason, it seemed- were discussing the people who'd stayed behind, one of whom was Ava's older sister.
"Must be a pretty tight-knit group…"
"Gwen's given out a call," Ava eventually said, gesturing to the cart she was setting up. "Anyone who's available needs to regroup with her at the base. More wither skeletons showed up, apparently."
"Again?" Ember groaned. "Man, there's no end to them…"
He turned to the three of them. "The portal's inside the building. From there, it's about a five-hour walk to Luxmouth. I really hate to leave you guys, but-"
"It's okay," Blake said. "You've helped us more than enough already; go give your gang some backup."
"We can handle ourselves from here," Celia added. "Please give Gwendolyn my thanks for your group's assistance- and an invitation for her to visit Luxmouth, if able! We could arrange further collaboration against the Usurpers."
Ember grinned and nodded. "I'll do that. There could be an easy end to the invasion after all. Take care of yourselves."
With that, he and Ava got into another pair of carts and took off down the line. Blake was left with his new friends and the distinct whirr of a Nether portal within the brick shack.
"Well," Celia said, "shall we be going?"
"I think I've spent enough time in the Nether for a while," responded Felix.
Agreeing wholeheartedly, Blake pushed open the oaken door to see the structure had practically no space for anything but the portal. He wasn't even sure what the purpose of building it was.
Regardless, there was no point dwelling on it. He stepped into the obsidian ring and felt himself slip away from the hellscape
"Excuse me, Marshal?"
Orion looked up from the map he'd been examining. The speaker was a young woman in a graying cloak, who'd saluted smartly after entering his tent. Her hood was down, but she wore the metal mask and green-lensed goggles customary of the Industrial Division, even indoors. He, and he imagined most of his peers in the Expansion Division, had never understood the habit.
"Dame Esme," he replied. "What can I do for you?"
"Neither Lime Squad nor Crimson Squad have reported back yet," she said, remaining in her salute. "It seems Sir Ray and Dame Tara have surpassed the expected window of their return."
He raised a brow. "Nobody in the camp has been able to get ahold of them?"
"No, Marshal. We have also lost contact with Sir Merric and Ruby Squad."
Orion resisted the urge to sigh. Three Knights and three Genesis Cores, unaccounted for. And the Bonemeal Core the collaborative force had been assigned to retrieve could have easily slipped through their fingers as such.
"It's possible they ran afoul of the local monsters," Esme suggested, "we've had other groups report difficulties in handling them."
"I warned everyone not to become overconfident," he grumbled.
He drummed his fingers on the table for a moment, looking at the map but not really paying attention to it.
"We'll wait two more days," Orion said at last. "If none of the scouting teams return by then, we'll cut our losses and fall back. Dame Tara hasn't let me down before- she'll return soon enough, I'm sure of it."
The cringe which passed over Esme didn't escape his notice, but he said nothing of it. She simply saluted again and walked out of the tent, leaving him alone in the semidarkness.
Alone, sans the oppressive thought of what he'd have to say to Commandant Red if their operation turned out to be a complete failure.