Hey y'all, it's Ender! I hope you're having a great day and I hope to make it even better with this new one-shot! NOTE: I do not own Minecraft, Mianite, any YouTubers mentioned, and really, I don't own anything except this story.
For some chapters that were inspired by songs, I'll have a "Listen to:" section with a recommendation to listen to that song. This particular one-shot was based off of a couple drawings I did that were inspired by the song "Warriors" by Imagine Dragons. (Those drawings were of Twisted and User, of course, [it seems I only ever draw them anymore] and I sent it to them and they both favourited within like five seconds of each other and I freaked out. Now it wouldn't have been so bad if I hadn't been in a Skype call with Diamond at the time... and my facecam was on. XD She thought I was having a panic attack.)
Listen to: "Warriors" by Imagine Dragons - There's a good ten hour version on YouTube so you can have it play in the background whilst you read.
Warriors
Dust fell down through the air around us, coating our armour in a fine film of sand. Ashes stood where crumbled bricks once did and where those crumbled bricks once lay was a mighty city. A stronghold of the Mianitees for shelter against the dragons.
But alas, even the powerful dragons had perished in the apocalypse. When the meteor hit, only us, the infamous dragon-slayers, had survived. It was pure dumb luck that we hadn't been destroyed, but now we faced the worst challenge anyone could ask for - to fight against former friends just to get control of the ruined city and have a chance at surviving the asteroids that continued to fall.
I stole a glance over at my companion, User, and saw that he looked just like he always did nowadays: cracked goggles pushed down over his eyes, grime-streaked face set in an expression of pain, and hands wrapped in bloody bandages, his fingernails caked with dirt. His dark brown hair was hanging in limp curls, thick with mud, the soft waviness lost long ago, and the royal blue cape fastened around his shoulders was torn, ragged ends fluttering as he stumbled along. His iron armour shone dully, reflecting the dim red light and he was limping heavily on his left side, his leg wounded from a twisted beam of metal from a collapsed building almost stabbing completely through his calf a few days ago.
Of course, I didn't look much better. There was a shallow gash on my neck, not over my throat thankfully, but deep enough to cause my concern to be raised. The leather straps that bound the metal plating of my armour together were worn and faded, about to snap at any moment. My helmet was dented badly, one of the horns that adorned it askew and nearly bent in half.
But we still went on, despite the dust stretching out endlessly before and behind us. User left behind a trail of blood, the dark liquid still oozing from his wound and dripping onto the dry ground. A black haze hung in the air, obscuring the sun partially and making it appear a dirty brownish colour. Smaller meteorites blazed through the atmosphere, burning up before they even hit the already crater-impacted earth.
It didn't take long before we found a metal skeleton of a structure jutting out of the dusty ground. There was a person guarding it and it didn't take us more than a second to recognise her, even though she donned shining diamond gear that almost completely disguised her features.
"Firefoxx," I called, stopping while we were still a good distance away. I had to grab User's shoulder to steady him, as he almost lurched onto his face from being so off-balanced. "You okay?" I muttered to him under my breath, noticing the strained lines etched on his face.
"Yeah," he hoarsely whispered back. "My leg's just stiff."
I nodded and turned back to Sonja Firefoxx, leader of the tribal-like society that had been. She was glaring at us, but her weapon remained at her feet, where it had been lying when we first arrived.
"You are not welcome here," she spoke coldly, as though expecting her orders to be carried out immediately and without any hesitance. However, we had no such intentions as just to leave, and we were not the type to beg for mercy either.
"How many?" User demanded, knowing that Firefoxx would understand what he meant.
"Myself, Jericho, Sparklez, and Waglington. Syndicate and the other wizards were outside of the shelter at the time the first comet struck. By the time the second one came, we knew they wouldn't have had any chance," Firefoxx didn't waver and I felt a twinge of admiration for the girl. But at the same time, I noted that she must be very confident to be able to tell us who exactly had survived and who hadn't. But there were two more people I was - no, concerned was not the right word. Curious would have sounded to eager. Perhaps, uneasy would have been the right term, as that was how I had reacted to hearing the news that they had joined Firefoxx's society.
"The other two?"
"Vanished. Before the blast. Probably dead, though how should I know? I can't afford to search for people who abandoned us," Firefoxx snapped, reaching down and scooping up her sword in a quick motion, levelling the blade at my throat. I didn't react and for a few seconds, all three of us stood stock still, not even blinking.
"How many?" User asked again, perhaps suspecting that he might receive a different answer this time. Firefoxx's eyes blazed with anger and in one fluid movement, she had struck at User, clipping my cheek at the same time. Her strike tore open a new injury on my companion's shoulder, but half a heartbeat later, both User and I had our dragon-bone swords drawn and ready to attack.
The next second, we were engaged in a battle against Firefoxx, who had once been well-known for being the best warrioress the land had to offer. And indeed, she still proved a difficult opponent.
I grunted, finding my strike not only blocked, but my sword almost knocked out of my hands as Firefoxx twisted, hair flying as she got under User's guard. Sadly, my companion wasn't as good of a swordsman as most dragon hunters were and he let a yelp escape his lips as the leather armour straps were cut, his chestpiece clattering to the ground just after. He immediately switched to pure defense, holding his sword in front of his barely protected chest, the only safety between him and a killing blow being a worn leather tunic. I shouted angrily and attempted to slice down the back of Firefoxx's shoulders but she ducked, hearing the swish of my blade.
"Twisted!" User yelled as I narrowly avoided decapitating him after Firefoxx's surprise counterattack. "Are we on the same team or not?"
"Sorry!" I hollered, blocking another jab from Firefoxx. "My fault! I should have expected that!"
"Damn right you should've," User snapped, seizing an opportunity and getting a solid strike on Firefoxx's side after noticing her guard was down. Our opponent huffed, rolling and coming up into a kneeling position, barely able to defend as both User and I attacked at once. Metal scraped against bone as slowly, we began to force the sword out of her grip.
With a defeated scream, Firefoxx let us knock her sword from her grasp and she continued to glare at me angrily as I levelled my blade at her throat. Her gaze was dark and showed no remorse, and no pity stirred in me as I stared into it.
"End it," she snarled, a ragged patch of hair falling into her face. I did so, making it as quick and painless for her as possible.
Blood pooled over my feet as I turned to face User, who was examining his newest wound with a dull interest, since it was nothing new to either of us to be hurt.
"Bad?" I asked, unable to judge how deep it was or how much it was bleeding from where I stood. User shook his head, letting the hem of his cape fall back over it.
"Just looks bad. It will be fine in a few days," User directed his gaze back towards the husk of the building. I followed his eyes and saw a scared face peering out at us from behind a barely visible, half-closed trapdoor. A quiet whimper followed and I exchanged an emotionless glance with User before walking over to the door.
"How many are in there?" User sounded tired of repeating the question. The person, who I had now identified as Waglington, blinked fearfully and held up a single finger, then pointed to himself.
"Speak," I hissed, shoving the trapdoor open all the way. "And do not lie."
Waglington yelped and frantically shook his head, stumbling down into the dark tunnel that was just barely lit up with redstone torches. User and I followed as he staggered along, sometimes coming close to collapsing. It occurred to me that the half-wizard, half-elf hybrid must be ill to be in such a weak state that he could barely stand. He cast a scared glance back with wide red eyes before lurching into a long room that was only slightly better lit than the tunnel. There were two shapes that I could see, both slumped against the wall. Jericho and Sparklez, now mere corpses, had died just hours earlier, it seemed.
Waglington started coughing suddenly and fell to the ground, wrapping his arms around his willowy frame as he shook horribly, skin wretchedly pale. No pity touched my heart, even as I stared at the defeated hybrid.
"Put him out of his misery," I ordered to User. "He will do nothing but suffer from this illness." My companion nodded and without another word, Waglington's coughs abruptly ceased and the only breaths that echoed through the room were User's and my own.
"I'll check for supplies, you keep watch," User told me, then wandered off, grabbing boxes off of rotten shelves that lined the walls. I didn't waste time watching him and instead made my way back up the surface, coming out just in time to see a massive comet streak across the sky before vaporizing out of existence. I didn't bat an eye; after all, by this time, I had seen hundreds of spectacular meteorites like that one.
It was just a side effect of the apocalypse and the earth being subject to an asteroid belt changing its centre of gravity. It had been like this for a little over two weeks now with the major asteroid collisions occurring just a few days ago. User and I had been the only ones out of our dragon hunter clan to survive, but we weren't sure if we could count ourselves so lucky for it.
The time before the apocalypse was a time of war anyway. Humans and elves against the dragons, with towns constantly being destroyed and burned to the ground. The human-dragon hybrids could be even more dangerous, however, and threatened the safety of the cities from the inside. We had learned very quickly that it was best just to murder the hybrids when we found them. But only the dragon hybrids - elf hybrids like Waglington were some of our most valuable warriors. Even User was about a fourth of an elf and he had inherited the skill of archery that most elves were taught to utilise to their utmost advantage. However, the only elfish features he really had were pale eyes and a lithe form, not the pointed ears and longer hair that other hybrids had to deal with.
We would joke about that sometimes before the apocalypse, where I would call User a green-eater, a private insult about being an elf, and User would call me fire-breather, since my body build had suggested a dragon far lost in my family. I did have a very heavy build but I also had thinner pupils that may have once resembled that of a reptile. However, any primal, dragon-like instinct that I may have had had been lost long ago.
"I have the supplies, Twisted, now let's get out of here," User came up from the tunnel and handed me a fairly heavy burlap sack that seemed to be filled with rations, judging by the sound of clinking cans that emanated from the rough cloth. User had a tent roll strapped on over his shoulders and I felt a twinge of concern by the fact that he was carrying a much heavier-looking load. But even though he was shaking slightly, User didn't ask to switch loads and I didn't demand it of him. After all, he downright refused to have any sympathy ever felt for him.
"We should be bale to make a couple more miles before sunset," I squinted as I stared into the sinking sun, barely visible through the layer of smog. "Let's go."
Days continued similarly after that and our schedule never changed. Eat breakfast, walk, break at noon, walk, make camp, eat, sleep, repeat. It wore us both down but we still continued on, determined in our quest. Rations were still going down at the planned rate but our water supplies were dwindling. There were only a few canteens left and I knew that User was drinking only about half as much as I was - which very little anyway. I was most worried about that since it seemed like he was limping even worse each day now.
One day, when I had set a particularly fast pace in hopes to reach the City of Scales sooner, User suddenly called out to me and I halted, turning back to look at my companion.
He had deteriorated badly over the time we had first set off in the morning. He had finally discarded his broken goggles and his pale brown eyes were wide with pain. Blood was speckling the ground behind him and he held his wounded leg slightly off of the dry and dusty earth. I swallowed when I saw tears in the corners of his eyes, silently cursing myself for not realising earlier how much agony User was in.
"Can we rest here? J-just for a few minutes?" User asked, voice shaking. I took another glance at his leg and felt my stomach twist in pity.
"We'll make camp here for the night," I decided, despite my inner warrior screaming at me to make the most of the remaining daylight. "I'll fix the food - you lie down and wait for me to take a look at that leg."
User didn't protest as he handed the tent roll off to me and immediately sat down, rolling up his pants leg and hissing under his breath when the cloth rubbed against the edges of the wound. Worry stirred in my heart and I made camp as quickly as possible, starting a small fire with a handful of netherrack and peeling open a can of rabbit stew to set on the fire. I grabbed a tube of antibiotic cream and a roll of bandages - the only medical supplies we had - and knelt by User, bringing out a dagger and cutting away the cloth of his pants near the wound. Looking nice was the least of our worries at the moment.
User watched me in silence, his eyes partly glazed over and his hands shaking uncontrollably. I sucked in a shallow breath at the sight of the stab wound: the edges were a bright red, pinkish streaks had spread out from the puncture, and the injury itself a tender pulp of flesh. How User had been able to walk with this... I would never understand. And he had being going on with this for almost two weeks, since the building we had been in at the time of the second impact had collapsed, a metal beam twisting straight into User's calf. That had been the first time since I met him that he had truly cried and I knew that I would never be able to erase the echoes of his pained wails from my mind.
"User..." I choked out, tracing my fingers around the edges of the wound and feeling my companion flinch away slightly as I brushed against the inflamed skin. It was definitely infected and I couldn't help but wonder if it could even be cured. It certainly couldn't have been helping that User wasn't getting the proper nourishment - just rabbit stew and a little bit of water wouldn't have been good even in better conditions. "I... don't know what to do with this."
"It hurts," User offered quite unhelpfully. I gave him a half-hearted glare, but was honestly too worried about him to snap at him about being a smartass. "And, uh, it feels like I might have a fever too."
"I suspected that," I sighed shakily, grabbing the tube of antibiotic cream, dabbing a bit of the cream on the tip of my index finger and rubbing it gently around the edges of the ragged tear. "User, I'm not going to lie: this is really, really bad. Why didn't you let me know about this earlier?"
"It didn't hurt so much earlier!" User protested defensively, squirming around uncomfortably as I dabbed a little more cream on the wound. "And I didn't want to be a burden to you."
"Your health is not a burden," I gritted my teeth as I grabbed the bandages and began wrapping them around the fully creamed puncture. "We are some of the last few people alive on this world; we have to take care of each other and if you fall ill, then I'd feel pretty awful. Don't put yourself through this just for the sake of your pride."
User didn't say anything at all after that until I helped him to get inside the tent and lie down near the back. I remembered part of the basic medical training that everyone had to receive before they were allowed to hunt dragons with the other warriors, but I wondered just what I could use to elevate User's leg without it being too uncomfortable. After a while, I decided just to prop it up with my own bedroll, reassuring User that I would be fine sleeping on the ground - not that I would be sleeping much at all tonight. I wanted to monitor User to make sure his fever didn't get too high and that his bandages stayed fairly clean. But I knew even with this condition, the chances of User recovering any time soon were basically non-existent.
That was proven early the next morning, just after I had woken up and was sitting outside the tent, watching the sun rise over the flat horizon. There was a faint shuffling and rustling from the cloth behind me and I turned to see User's strained, tear-streaked face peeking out of tent flap. He was shivering like he was freezing to death, but when I reached out and put a hand on his forehead, it felt like his skin was burning up from the inside.
"Are we going to be heading out soon?" User asked pitifully, his voice sounding hollow and weak. I swallowed, shaking my head before I half-carried him back to his bedroll, propping his leg up again and peeling back the already soiled bandages. The wound hardly looked any better and I had to dig around in the supplies to find the antibiotic cream again. While I did, I found the half eaten can of rabbit stew from last night and decided to put it on over the fire and warm it up for a breakfast. After tending to User, I went outside and grabbed the now-warmed can from where it sat over the glowing netherrack, taking it back to User and handing him a spoon fashioned from the lid of another can.
"I'm not hungry," User rasped as soon as he saw the can. "I feel like I'm going to vomit already."
"You have to eat," I pleaded, sitting down beside him with my legs sprawled out to the side. "Lack of nourishment won't help you any."
"Not hungry," User mumbled again, shifting so that his back was turned to me, effectively ending our conversation. Worry washed over me like a wave and I set the stew can down with a soft clink, retreating back outside to give User some space.
The first rule of dragon hunters was to never get separated from your companion, who was assigned to you based on your strengths. If either you or your companion, for some reason, were unable to work well together, you would get given a new one. User had been my companion since day one of fighting dragons, even though we had never spoken much during training. We had gotten along surprisingly well and we would have laid down our lives for each other if it had ever come to it.
But now... I had nothing to help User with and I knew that there was a city with supplies a few days journey to the West. It hadn't been the original destination, but if I could just go there and get water and the antibiotics that User needed, then he may stand a better chance at surviving this.
I just didn't want to leave him.
After three days it became deadly serious that I had to leave User and journey to the city to get supplies. We were down to our last canteen of water and there was only a little bit of antiseptic cream left as well. I hated having to leave User in his weakened, half fever-tossed doze, but it was either that or let us both die. I set off early one dawn, leaving a can of stew and the canteen of water next to User, who was still deep in his fever dreams. I also had the intent of finding some garlic or something to help with the infection - that is, if there was any that had started growing yet. Garlic could grow anywhere, after all.
The day spent journeying was also a day spent worrying for Richard, back at the camp. I hadn't gotten to tell him I was leaving and my goodbye to him had been a one-sided conversation, since his only acknowledgement was shivering madly in his unconsciousness. Sweat slicked his forehead and stuck his hair into wet curls, tracing his pale, hollow cheeks. His wound was oozing pus and was covered in the glassy sheen of infection. It my heart twist even more to see him in such a vulnerable state, but I didn't have a choice of leaving.
Nearing the end of the second day, I saw the half-crumbled remains of buildings that had escaped the centre of the blast. Scrubby grass was twisted under my feet and my nose twitched as I smelled the sharp odor of crushed wild garlic. Perfect. I had found the exact herb I had been looking for by stepping on it.
I knelt down and found a patch of uncrushed garlic not far away. I dug up the tender young plants, placing them gently in the burlap sack I was carrying until that particular cluster was lining the entire bottom of the bag.
As I neared the city, I saw a mechanical well near the edge and turned my feet towards it, licking my parched lips eagerly. I hadn't had more than a swallow of water since I left User, opting to leave the canteen with him. I approached the well and of course found the mechanisms all but busted and I swore aloud, cursing my bad luck. It took a little bit of tinkering to get the gears working and the water rerouted into a rusty bucket I found nearby. When I flipped the switch to turn it back on, water spluttered inside the dented pipes, mud and dirt spat out all over my face, then fresh water began gushing into the bucket. I wiped the grime off of my face, curling my lip in disgust.
But when I put my mouth into the water, it seemed like there couldn't be anything more heavenly than this. I drank eagerly, even taking the time to scrub any exposed skin and to wash some of my own, shallower wounds. The water was amazingly refreshing and I barely remembered to fill up the empty canteens I had brought. After that, I turned the water off, noting the pail was nearly full - ready for the journey back. However, I had one more stop in the crumbled city.
I spotted the pale building near the back of the city, seeing that it was the one still mostly intact out of every building there. I pushed open the cracked wooden door, dust flying from the hinges as they creaked threateningly. Cupboards were askew, some with bottles of pills still strewn out everywhere. I grabbed anything that looked like it would be able to help; pain killers, antibiotic ointment, anti-inflammatory drugs. I even snatched a container of lollipops, just for good measure. Both User and I needed a treat after this ordeal.
I made it out of the city once again loaded with supplies and a couple extra rations to boot. I was lugging along the pail of water but it hardly bothered me - I was used to carrying heavy equipment for days on end. A bucket of water was hardly the heaviest or the bulkiest thing I had carried.
In the two days it took to journey back, I was met with a shock that almost made me drop everything and run to the campsite.
"User!" I shouted, seeing my companion huddled just outside the tent and next to the glowing embers of the fire, sounds of hysterical crying coming from his shaking form. At the sound of my voice he jerked his head up and stared at me with foggy, bloodshot eyes.
"Twisted?" he croaked out, voice sounding heartbroken and raspy. I set down the bucket of water and ran over to him, my own heart cracking as User pushed himself to his feet and limped forwards painfully, falling into my arms as he hugged me tightly, as though I would try to run from him.
"You left me," he sobbed, burying his face in the crook of my neck, "you left me alone, Twisted."
It hurt me to see him like this, but it hurt even more to know that his words were true.
Of course, I could only hope that the future would get better after this.
After two weeks of medication, food heavily seasoned with garlic, hot water compresses, and a substantial amount of lollipops - I was regretting grabbing them after learning what a sucker User was for the sweets, no pun intended - User finally seemed to be improving. Being part elf also apparently gave him a higher resistance to infections and had allowed him to recover more quickly. The injury itself was almost completely healed over and User's fever had been going down at a steady rate.
I sat outside one morning in the early dawn, golden rays of light just beginning to shine over the horizon and the smog that had been hanging over the land beginning to disappear, when User limped out to sit beside me, a lollipop in his mouth and hope in his eyes. I snickered when I saw his sugary breakfast, but didn't say anything once he handed me one as well. Try as I liked to deny it, I enjoyed lollipops too.
"You know what, Twisted?" User said thoughtfully, brushing some hair out of his eyes as he stared out to the east.
"What?" I answered, twisting the lollipop stick around and sending the candy twirling in my mouth.
"I think... that for the first time in a long time," User's pale eyes reflected the light of the glowing sun as it rose fully into the creamy dawn sky. "Things are finally getting better."
Oh my gosh... you have no idea how much research I had to do for this. I spent about an hour looking up information about serious infections and even longer for cures and treatment. Then I realised there was no way User would survive unless I gave him ridiculous superpowers or some crap so I had to incorporate the resistance to wounds from being an elf. I didn't like to do it but I wanted User to survive...
At least until the sequel one-shot, which my mind is literally racing to be planned out as we speak. That one's gonna be with the two people mentioned earlier who may or may not have escaped the worst of the apocalypse... ;)