Chapter 8
Hi there. I'm sorry I haven't been able to upload in a little while, so here's Chapter 8! I hope you guys enjoy, so read and review!
The mob sat in the darkness for a while, listening to the sound of his own breathing as he thought of what he would do once he got in the man's head. He thought of things he would say, but wasn't entirely sure what to say. His hand hovered above his head, illuminated by his green eyes in the darkness. He inspected his curved claws, twisting them and flexing his fingers in boredom. That's all he did for the whole morning after he left the room in which the miner was resting in. He couldn't think of anything to say, nothing at all.
He got up, using his long arms to push him off the ground and steered himself out of the dark room of the fortress. The Endermen chose to wonder around, looking for anything good to do with the time his Master used to get ready. He teleported through the ravine, talking to random mobs and gathering information on the outside world. As far as he could tell from what he gathered, no one was coming anywhere near the cave, which meant his little terrorist attack was worth it. The bloodied campsite would be more reason to stay away. The he stopped, turning around to wonder how far he had gone into the ravine and decided whether he should turn back or not.
'Come.' A deep voice echoed in his head, making his decision for him. His Master was beckoning him, which meant he was ready. He turned around, making one large jump to reappear at his Masters side. His arms were crossed over his chest and he was looking impatient but strangely excited.
"Are you ready?" The impatient being asked, shifting his stance to a more comfortable one as he regarded the mob with a cold and amused blank stare. The mob nodded and followed the being as he turned around, dropping his hands to his sides and walked into the room that was occupied by the injured miner. The immortal stopped before the bed and grabbed a nearby chair to sit in. He watched the mob as he looked at the miner, his dark green-black hands hovering over the man's flesh before angrily snatching them back to his chest. A tear made its way down the man's cheek, and the being snorted.
"I would recommend either sitting or lying down somewhere to avoid falling onto the floor when I start the process, my friend." His Master stated, his blank eyes watching the Endermen's every move as he seated himself near the end of the bed. The man nodded and lifted himself from his chair, walking over to the mob as his hands lit with a white energy. "Now stay still and relax." Despite his Masters deep and intimidating voice, the mob found himself being drawn to sleep as his Master drew his hand closer to his face, the light blinding the tall mob. His eyes felt heavy and soon enough they closed, revealing empty darkness being dispersed by a white light.
The mob forced himself to open his eyes once he wasn't entirely blinded by the intense white light. He was sitting, or somewhat floating in an empty black void that was growing clearer and clearer as the moments went flying by. Soon, he could hear music and laughter, but it was faint and fading. His world then spun for a short instant before he was suddenly standing on solid ground, surrounded by buildings that were starting to fade as the sky was turning a deep shade of red the Endermen had never seen before.
He looked around and found the miner looking all around him with worried violet eyes as he looked at the sky with slight fear. The ground started to shake, throwing off the mobs balance as well as the miners and he stumbled, falling on his rear. The Endermen found no need to teleport away, as he needed to communicate with the miner and get information, but something was telling him not to interfere. Not now, anyways. He stood still, hoping the miner wouldn't notice him just yet. Soon the village was gone, as well as the roads and the buildings. The land was empty and barren.
As the miner was standing, a scream echoed in front of them, making the miner freeze in absolute fear. The miner started running towards the sound of the scream, seeming to run faster as their surroundings took on a more greenish tinge, turning more and more into a forest. The miner never slowed, even when he saw the body on the ground. The mob saw the bloodied scene ahead of him. He saw the dying man, just lying on the ground as the wound on his chest oozed blood, tainting his white shirt as it crawled around and formed a puddle around the man's body.
The miner was crying, but nonetheless he was running to his brother, who only seemed to get further and further away with each step the miner took. Somehow, it pained the Endermen to see such a scene. It felt like he was an intruder only come to see something he was not supposed to. The Endermen, for the very first time as a human-killing mob, felt pity for the man that wanted to reach his frail brother who lay dying on the soft grass, having been attacked by unseen men.
"Steve...I-I..." The man's soft voice was cut as a cough raked his body. He took a shaky breath before continuing, a single tear moving down his face in a very slow manner, leaving a thin line to mark its passage. "Ste-Steve...The Kings...the-they want to-to resurrect-Hero-" The dying man coughed again, making a pained wail afterwards. His voice was shaking and his breath was slowing. "They want th-the glory-of kill-killing him. Don't le-let them. Pl-please, my brother." The mob could see that the miner was desperate to get to the dying man, who referred to the miner as his brother, but he realized that he only got further away with every step he took. The world was darkening, slowly consuming the mobs vision, but the Endermen could still hear the man's voice very clearly.
Suddenly, the miner screamed in sorrow after his brother. "Casroth! PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE ME! PLEASE!" Tears were streaming freely down the miners face, flowing on and on as his cries bounced off unseen walls, echoing terribly back at him. The miner kept running and this time, the mob noticed he was actually getting closer to the grounded man he called 'Casroth'. Somehow he recognized the name, but he wasn't entirely sure. The miner fell to the man's side, carefully lifting him up into a sitting position, using his arm to help support the dying man.
"Steve..." The man smiled a pained smile before coughing as he slowly put his hand on the miners chest. "Still I-I will stay...ri-right here now. To ho-hold you wh-when the sk-sky falls down..." The last words the man spoke were more aired out and the tall mob looked away, knowing that the last of the man's breath had left his body for good. He knew the eyes would close and when he looked around again, he saw a small smile on the man's face as his head lolled on the miners arm as his hand dropped from where it had been on the miners chest to the ground. The mob noticed that the last words had made a strong impact on the miner, as the tears were greater than he had ever seen tears, seeming that they would pour endlessly form the man's eyes. The Endermen knew the miner didn't want to accept the man's death, as he appeared to be someone special to him.
"NO!" The miner sobbed, crying as he held the body of the man who called him a brother. The mob knew from watching families in the Overworld that the miner would be left with a hole in his heart, regretting not being able to do anything. He sat there crying for a while, not seeming to notice that it started raining. The mob hissed in discomfort, but the rain did surprisingly nothing to him and he just stood watching for a while. He noticed that the dark world was growing darker, swallowing up everything it could.
The darkness evaporated to reveal a scene the Endermen never expected. People were on plateaus, performing music while the crowd cheered. It went by, and the Endermen stuck to the shadows, not wanting to receive any attention from any of the humans in fear that they might warp the miners nightmare. The men were singing a few songs and the mob paid no attention to the words. However, the last song that the man named Casroth and 'Steve', which the mob learned was the miners name, caught his attention. They sung it in perfect synchronization and had a perfect melody. The crowd even tried to sing it, but by the way they were singing, which was mostly mumbling and humming, they didn't know the words.
However, one sentence stuck out to the mob, as it had caught his attention for the sole purpose that he heard it said before. He vaguely remembered the dying man saying the exact words he was hearing now.
'Still I will stay...
Right here now,
To hold you when the sky falls down.'
This confused the mob a little, but he soon realized that the crowd was leaving and so was the miner, so was Steve. Quickly and quietly he teleported around and before long he found the miner all by himself, looking around for something as the sky turned a very dark shade of red the mob has never seen before. The it hit him. The miner was tormenting himself, repeating what he knew was a tragedy that tore his heart. Quickly he stepped in front of the miner and he shook his shoulders, getting him to focus on only the tall mob in front of him. The miner shook his head several times before looking into the mobs eyes; the mob felt uncomfortable but sucked it up and raised his lips to speak. The movement caused the miner to look away hurriedly.
"What happened to him?" This one phrase caused the miner to be utterly surprised, as he looked at the mob once again, his face was full of confusion.
"What do you mean?" He asked, still appearing to be confused. The mob released his hold on the miners shoulders, bringing his clawed hands down to his sides as he looked at the miner expectantly for an answer.
"What happened to the man that is named Casroth? How did he end up dying?" As soon as he asked his two questions, he knew by the miners face that it was something terrible. His eyes were wide in disbelief, his heart beat had picked up and he was fidgeting nervously with his fingers.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you, if you're the one really speaking." The miner turned away before tilting his head back to indicate he was gesturing to the mob, unsure of who was speaking. The Endermen nodded, slightly narrowing his eyes and stepping forward. The miner raised a hand to signal a stop. "Do you really want to know?"
"I need to know. This is something that not only concerns me, but apparently you as well." The miner raised an eyebrow in confusion, but the mob waved it off. "Tell me, how are the Kings involved? I know your brother has mentioned them and a strange plan, but I was not able to completely understand what he meant."
"Wait. First, how are you here? I'm dead and punished with reliving my worst nightmare. I don't understand how you're able to be here physically. This is my nightmare!" The miner paced as he spoke, occasionally looking at the mob, who was starting to get a little impatient.
"You are not dying nor are you dead, my Master has made sure of that for reasons that are still unclear to me." The miner gasped in surprise at the mob, but he continued before the miner could say anything. "Tell me, Steve, what happened to get your brother killed? I need to know. Also, how are the Kings involved?"
The miner shook his head, looking up at the tall mob before responding. He seemed uncomfortable, as he was still pacing. "Alright, but I can't tell you much. Casroth...found out that the Kings wanted to bring something powerful back to life and unleash it upon their own citizens. They planned to let it destroy a part of the Kingdoms before they themselves intervened and killed it, thus regaining the glory, popularity and dependence of the remaining citizens. That's all I know." The miners face was a little red as he looked up at the tall mob, tears dotting the corners of his eyes as he spoke about his deceased brother. The two stood in silence for a moment, taking in what had been said. This was bad, but it was foolish of the Kings to do such a thing.
"Do the citizens know?" The miner shook his head and the mob mentally slapped himself, feeling a little awkward once he realized what he had said. "Was that why you brother died, because he knew what was planned to happen?" Steve nodded again, unable to speak. His purple eyes never met the mobs emerald green eyes. He could figure out the rest, but he was still intrigued as to what had sparked such a thing to be considered by the Kings. However, he got the information he needed, but he was still curious about the miner. He wanted to know why and how the miner was tied in to all this mess.
"I wish I could've done something to prevent all this from happening." The miner grabbed both sides of his head, shaking it with so much regret the mob only felt sorry for him. He extended a hand and put it gently on the miner's shoulder, making him face the black mob in surprise at his action.
"You have to learn to forgive yourself for things you have not done. Blaming yourself for Casroth's death will not bring him back." The miner slowly nodded, his hands dropping from his head to his sides. "Even if you had known beforehand, would the Kings have killed you instead of your brother? Would the turn of events put him in your place? How would you feel knowing you left something important behind with no way to go back? Think, Steve."
"I've never thought of it that way before. I could never think of Casroth being alone because he had me. We had each other." After a while, the mob noticed that Steve was growing tired, as the world around them was growing darker and darker. He also noticed that Steve was fading from the mobs line of sight.
"Think for a moment, Steve, and stop beating yourself up for something you were unable to prevent, even if you had known."