Shroud stared at Tyler in confusion, but time couldn't be spent on thoughts at the moment as Shroud slipped on the iron chest-plate and dashed after Tyler who sprinted towards the city's entrance.
Lightning struck seemingly every block in front of Shroud and Tyler and both narrowly dodged a few bolts as they approached the flaming homes of Rhagall. Every where people screamed and ran looking for shelter and buckets of water or their armor and weapons as others shouted out orders over the chaos. Because of this chaos, nobody noticed Shroud and Tyler head into the fray and those who did noticed were too caught up to deal with their presence.
As Shroud followed Tyler and the people of Rhagall to the center of the chaos, Shroud started to fell a strange tingling sensation crawl up his back. All of a sudden, several shouts rose into the air warning the others behind them.
"WITHER!" Shroud heard the cry soon enough to duck down as something zoomed over him were his head had been a second ago. Shroud picked himself and saw a huge gap in the building behind him which had taken the blow of the whatever had been shot over his head.
Shroud's time to think crumbled as another one of the strange shots fired close to him almost hitting his shoulder. Another blast shot towards him and others around Shroud causing him to shove some people to the ground to make room to dodge and to help protect the others around him. It may have pissed them off but no one had time to yell at who ever did what as the Wither continued to attacked.
Shroud at last managed to position himself in a spot where no one was blocking his view of the Wither. It's three heads on an incomplete skeletal form creeped Shroud out, especially it's blank white eyes. However, Shroud wasn't going to back down and either were the few brave minecraftians he fought along side with.
Tyler quickly came into Shroud's line of sight amongst the other few dozen fighters in the narrow streets as he was the only one to charge straight at the Wither with no hesitation.
However, he missed... the Wither having taken to the skies at the last moment and firing two -heads?- at Tyler. Tyler had dodged the first, but was hit with the second one. even from a distance Shroud could make out odd black swirls form around Tyler as he backed up and started coughing harshly.
Soon, arrows flew through the lightning and smoke filled skies hitting the Wither directly in the back as Shroud made his way to Tyler. It didn't take to long to get to Tyler who had recovered and already had a arrow notched onto a beaten bow he had gotten from a fallen minecraftian.
"A BOW SHROUD! PICK UP A BOW!" Tyler shouted to Shroud over the lightning and shouts from other people. Shroud felt unsure at having to steal a weapon from a dead fighter, but now wasn't the time for morals as instincts commanded Shroud to adapt to the situation quickly.
Shroud's skill with a bow was pathetic though as out of twenty arrows he only managed to hit the Wither three times. However, the combination of everyone attacking brought the Wither's health down to half.
And that's when it started to use a shield to defend itself with. Now the arrows were useless and everyone needed to resort to swords. Not too many of the few of the bravest townsfolk were willing to get close enough to the Wither as only nine of the diminishing thirty men and women charged forward to attack, Shroud and Tyler included.
As the fight continued, the storm around them became fiercer and deadlier as ten lightning strikes hit every second and the rain pounded all the fighters hard enough to bruise the toughest skin. However the rain didn't stop things from burning and people were rushing about trying to save any burning building or person. Shroud himself had come within inches of falling into one of the fires surrounding him. Worse of all was that everyone around him began to tired from the Wither and his withering effects.
Shroud soon felt these effects as the Wither landed a direct hit on him. Shroud nearly fell flat on his face as he started to cough violently. To him, it felt like his body went from perfectly fine to aging rapidly as his body screamed bloody murder at the strain of such strange forces.
Shroud looked up just in time to see the Wither slayed by a slash from a blacken iron sword held by none other than Tyler. However, the storm didn't let up as a disembodied voice screeched through the air.
"YOUR VICTORY IS DOOMED TO DESPAIR! MY LORD ASSURES YOU THIS." Shroud's adrenaline pumped faster at hearing that voice as it sounded more harsh and powerful than ever before. The Follower was back.
Suddenly he appeared overhead before everyone's various eyes. As he appeared, Shroud swore he heard Tyler next to him say 'You AGAIN?!' , but it was hard to make out even at a close distance. Shroud however kept his focus on the Follower who floated in the air with no visible means as to doing so.
Those who fought against the Wither suddenly broke into panic and several bolted away from the battle ground having lost whatever courage they had left. Now only three other people stood by Shroud and Tyler.
The Follower chuckled at the sight and raised his right hand planning to strike the last five fighters down with the strongest lightning bolts. However, The Follower's time ran out as someone slammed into his back with enough force to send him crashing to the ground.
Shroud's face lit up with confusion as another person now stood suspended in the air. Looking around, Shroud noticed people around him with faces expressing joy. he even saw two of the remaining fighters hug each other out of sheer happiness.
Turning back around, Shroud saw the Follower pick himself up, brush some debris off of him before flying back up to the skies to face the golden hair-ed newcomer.
'It's an Admin! HUZZAH!' jlott shouted within Shroud's mind who remain a bit confused about the situation.
As Shroud looked at this 'Admin' person, he gasped as said Admin snapped his fingers and the rain and lightning suddenly stopped. Shroud froze with surprise while the Follower frown fiercely at his opponent. Before the Follower made his move, however, the admin charged and rammed into the Follower sending him crashing down once more.
Shroud and Tyler both dashed off towards where the two had landed on the ground. At the moment, the Admin had the Follower pinned to the ground. As they approached the two powerful minecraftians, Shroud caught bits of words floating towards them.
" We..on't...kindly... Hackers."
" Ha.. you...an't stop... we'll...in the end. T..is ...st a test."
The two barely made it to the bickering pair when the Follower suddenly vanished from beneath the Admin. The Admin just rose to his feet and began surveying the damage done to the town.
"Hey Admin!" Tyler shouted catching the attention of the Admin who briskly walked over to him and Shroud.
"Hmph... Unless you know who that man was then i don't have time for your pesky needs." The admin harshly stated as his cold, dark blue eyes narrowed a bit. Tyler however, didn't seem fazed one bit.
"Actually, yes I do know a thing or two about him... do you perhaps need this information?" Tyler said before sarcastically questioning the admin. The admin just glared at Tyler for a second.
"This is no time to joke Tyler. I need every scrap of information i can get about this man for the good of everyone else. now spill it." The admin seriously told Tyler who shrugged his shoulders and began telling the admin what he knew about the Follower. Much to Shroud's surprise, the information that Tyler gave out was plentiful and accurate from what Shroud had witnessed himself.
The admin listened intensely to every detail not showing a drop of emotion even as Tyler finished stating all that he knew.
"And finally, You can't simply banned him since.. well he works for HIM." Tyler concluded as the Admin nodded his head.
"So you're saying this man works for Herobrine? whether he be real or not I need proof, i can't just believe your word without seeing at least some example of his previous work." The admin stated to Tyler as if he was on auto-pilot mode. Tyler just rolled his eyes before turning away.
"However." Tyler paused and looked back at the still talking admin." I will believe you after what I've seen him do to Rhagall which is protected by a world-guard. So he indeed does have some sort of dangerous ability." The admin concluded. Tyler just rolled his eyes once more and continued back to his house.
Shroud however, remain where he was still a bit confused at some events. He didn't understand how the admin could have such power or how did Tyler know of the Follower among other things. In his thoughts he realized the Admin was staring him down. Shroud couldn't tell what was going through the admin's head nor did he like the admin's cold staring. Soon, the admin merely turned away from Shroud and began helping out the townsfolk clean up the damage.
Finally, Shroud began moving back towards Tyler's home, but not without the townsfolk staring at him with fear in their eyes. By the time he made it back to Tyler's home, Shroud felt drained and ached everywhere with the sun beginning to set on the horizon.
But now wasn't quite the time to rest...
A/N: To everybody reading this- If you are wondering what happened to Aodh go check out my story call "Elsewhere" as it is Aodh's POV after him and Shroud got separated.