Chapter 32: The End of all Hope
With the Eye of Ender soaring through the air in front of Nicholas, everyone in Notch's kingdom was none the wiser as the unethical sorcerer began making his way through a giant forest with the Ender eye guiding him in the right direction. Deeper in the forest, the spider queen was able to make her ways back to the side of Nicholas as they trudged through the vast woodlands. Red was still struggling with all her might to free herself from her entanglement in the cobweb cocoon she had been placed inside. She was worried what this evil hooded man had in store for her and her child as they progressed forwards. Her mind also trailed off to Herobrine's apparent situation with the poisonous spiders that had infected him with their venom. Nicholas had said that Herobrine was not dead but rather probably lying somewhere close to it. Red clenched her teeth tightly together as she thought about how she was practically useless as of now while encased in this sticky cobweb.
'I have to get out of here…' Red thought worriedly to herself while feeling a wave of depression wash over her. How she wish she could just gain the strength of Hercules and tear herself away from her prison so she didn't have to keep playing the damsel in distress. Herobrine has had so much patience keeping someone like her around, she seemed to be like a magnet when it came to stressful situations. Red could only watch the back of Nicholas as he followed the eye that was held up in the sky. 'He's using that to find the End portal. Is he going to dump me off there? Oh my God, the Ender Dragon is there! That thing will tear me to shreds!' Red panicked in her mind and unconsciously struggled even more in her grips. 'I can't die. I have a child to protect…' Red wiggled some more and was concentrating on anything she had inside her to get free but nothing seemed to help.
"You're being awful quiet. Not like that is an unsatisfactory thing but it is concerning. What is going on in that little fragile mind of yours?" Nicholas spoke up as he glanced over his shoulder at Red who was staring blankly at him. Breaking from her thoughts and concentration, she glared at him and scoffed.
"I should be screaming my lungs out or until they bleed but I don't think I will give you that satisfaction. Whatever you do to me, I will make it out just fine." Red told him with some confidence she had left deep inside. Nicholas snorted at her response and rolled his golden eyes.
"I have more satisfaction with you staying quiet. As for if you will make it out… I highly doubt it." Nicholas replied as he kept walking forward and talking to Red as they continued forwards.
"You are taking me to the End?" Red questioned with a hard glower that penetrated the back of the sorcerer.
Nicholas paused briefly in his step and glanced back at Red with narrowed eyes that had a terrifying gleam to them that held nothing but pure hatred. "So you've caught on. You do know a little of the arcane of Minecraftia."
"I've played Minecraft enough to know about the End. You are going to leave me to the Ender Dragon aren't you?" Red accused which baffled the sorcerer at her knowledge of the beast.
"How do you…? … Never mind its not important. Yes, I will be leaving you with the dragon that dwells within the End. There you will be most probably be devoured by the creature. Not quite your fairytale ending is it, dear Queen?" Nicholas chuckled to himself as Red glared from her spot on top of the spider queen.
"It won't be my end. I will fight." Red stated firmly which made the sorcerer sneer at her bold comment.
"Fight with what? Nothing can stop the Ender Dragon! It is practically immortal! Your self-assured statements are nothing but a front you are putting up to try and reassure yourself. Once you arrive at the End you will cower like a little pathetic pup."
"Don't you have any shame? You do realize if you have me killed, you are also killing an innocent baby!" Red snapped furiously.
"More like an abomination. There is nothing innocent about that child of darkness."
"How could you say that, asshole!? For someone who 'supposedly' takes Herobrine's side you sure don't even seem like you respect him very much!"
"We are strictly business, not friends, nor acquaintances, not even teacher and student any longer. I could care less about the actual reign of Herobrine as I care less about politics. The only importance to me is that I can study the dark arts freely without consequence. Herobrine used to be a respected potential prodigy of the dark arts in my eyes but no longer. His true weakness has clearly shown,. His own emotions have overruled him and everything he is. He thinks having a Queen and an heir will make him strong but it will only be his downfall. You girl are Herobrine's downfall. When he becomes King of Minecraftia he only needs to focus on our goals, not the likes of his precious Queen from the Otherworld or a pathetic weak child that is nothing but a distraction and abomination."
"Fuck you, old man! Don't you dare call my child an abomination! You clearly don't know anything about love or goodness! You only have your own selfish desires in front of you and that's all you see or care about!"
"Perhaps, it is. Call it what you will, I take no offense. I will get what I want in the end. Unlike some people I fight for what I want, even if I have to play dirty." Nicholas said to Red in finalization. Red growled under her breath and couldn't get over the nerve of this vile man. The air became thick with silence as Red brooded to herself and Nicholas kept following after the flying Eye of Ender that would soon lead him down to the underground temple where the End portal resided.
Hours went by and Red had grown bored as she stared up into the bright blue sky, wishing more than anything that Herobrine was still okay. Nicholas hadn't spoken to her much after they got into a tiff with each other. It was only to be expected though when talking to someone's prisoner. Nicholas watched as his Eye of Ender that was there special travel guide, suddenly fell down to the ground in front of a cave opening. The caves looked much more ominous than they did in the actual game. Red gulped nervously as Nicholas started heading forth into the mouth of the cave and down lower and lower with her and the spider. It was when they came upon stone brick stairs that led ever further down when they knew they were in the correct location.
"Its only a matter of time, child." Nicholas spoke, his voice ever so slightly echoing off of the stone walls that surrounded them. They began making their ways through the maze that was the Temple of Ender. Nicholas went through many doors and soon they came across four zombies that were coming towards them. Red's brown eyes widen and she hoped more than anything that these four zombies were of Herobrine's control. They growled loudly and shuffled their feet as they came forwards. Red's hope seemed to be crushed once again when Nicholas immediately cast a spell that froze the zombies on the spot in thick layers of ice. "That should teach them." Nicholas boasted and proudly walked past them like they were nothing but a mere distraction.
Fighting a couple more weak zombies through the maze network of the temple. Nicholas finally came upon what he was looking for that was held downstairs on the lowest sector of the temple and into a small rectangular room that held the inactive portal. The End Portal's frame was in a square in the middle of the room. Only two of the slots that were held all around the frame of the End Portal were filled with Eyes of Ender. Looking at the slots, there only needed to be ten more Eyes of Ender to be put into the remaining slots for the portal to be active. Entering the room with the queen spider that held Red still beside him, Nicholas was completely oblivious that his steps into the room had disrupted some overgrown SIlverfish from inside the stones. Red didn't want to mention it in case these Silverfish were somehow capable of overpowering the sorcerer. She somewhat doubted they would though, even if their high number of them could be a pain the ass to deal with. They weren't exactly strong.
Nicholas gasped in alarm as the Silverfish began making their odd 'screeing' noises as they started popping out of the stonework. Nicholas rose his hand back up and it began to glow with scorching fire as he extended his hand and began blazing out the fire like a flame-thrower. He kept backing up as he burnt up the Silverfish that were attacking him and eventually curling up and dying in a fetal position as they were crisped to death. "Woo." Red said sarcastically as he killed off the rest of the Silverfish without too much effort. He was only nipped about five times and it hardly did any damage to him.
"That's the last of them!" He said and then looked at Red through narrow eyes, "You knew about these things being here didn't you?"
"Maybe, I did. Maybe, I didn't. Don't expect me to help the likes of you." Red spat out at him and glared him intensely from her snug little cocoon on the spider. Nicholas rolled his eyes and brought his attention back on the inactive portal in front of him. "At last! The End Portal!" He beamed brightly and began excitedly pulling out his phials of Ender Eyes that he would use to finish the portal. Uncorking them, he took each hand by hand and carefully began placing them within their rightful empty slots. Red tried struggling again even though she knew it was pointless. Her time was about up with the whole getting away arrangement she had in her head. If she was placed into the End it literally could spell THE END for her. She wished Herobrine was around so he could save her, just at least this one last time. Being killed by an enraged dragon was on one of the last ways of wanting to die on her list of ways to die.
Placing in the twelfth Eye of Ender into its slot on the frame of the portal. Nicholas and Red watched as the portal began to activate, they could hear a strange noise being produced from it. Nicholas' golden eyes widen considerably as the portal's entrance began to flicker and alter into a vast black opening that looked like a starry night sky. "It has opened." He said with admiration for his work well paid off. Red's eyes were narrowed as she glared at the sorcerer who was planning on dumping her into the portal and leaving her for dead.
"So it has. Now what? Are you really going to do this to me? Also do this to an innocent unborn child I have inside me?" Red questioned the seemingly unashamed man who turned his wide eyes that were staring at the portal to look back at her. His lips twitched downwards to a deep scowl as he eyed her from in her webbed cocoon.
"Don't try to retrieve any pity from me, dear girl. I will be doing the world of Minecraftia a service by ridding it of a child abomination and a Queen who doesn't belong. You have a dark power inside you that I cannot even begin to fathom why Herobrine would waste in someone like you. You will never do that dark gift any justice. So let it be released so it can be free into the world again." Stepping over to Red, he pulled her off of the spider and took a dagger from his hip and sliced through the webbing. Red was surprised he let her have some freedom but it was short lasted as he within seconds used a spell much like Herobrine's paralysis to freeze her legs from running off.
"I'm so tried of people confining me of movement!" Red complained as she glared down at her unmoving legs. Nicholas merely chuckled and then grabbed onto her right arm tightly. Red gasped and glared up at him as he began forcefully leading her in front of the End portal.
"Just one push, my dear. Any last words before I do the honor?"
"I will get out of this alive and Herobrine will have your head." Red replied to him darkly as she looked down into the End's portal that looked like a starry abyss. Nicholas shook his head and laughed.
"We'll see about that. If anything he'll be relived to have such a burden lifted off of him. Then he'll have all the time he needs to focus on the real matter at hand." Nicholas leaned in towards her face from the side and smiled cruelly at her. Red glanced glared at him and then stared down into the void she would be pushed into. Nicholas didn't take any more time stalling as he grabbed both of her arms from behind and whispered into her ear.
"Have fun with the dragon, dear Queen and have a nice fall!" Nicholas began lapsing into a fit of loud wicked laughter as he commenced in shoving her forward. Red's eyes widen fully as she stumbled forwards and felt herself falling down and into the portal. Nicholas watched with an evil grin as the red-headed woman in front of him tumbled down and disappeared within the depths of the portal within seconds.
Red was screaming at the top of her head as she descended down through a dark sky that seemed to go on forever into the horizon. She fell until she finally hit the bottom with a rough thud onto the End stone beneath her. Groaning on the ground, she felt her legs finally come back to her. She gradually pulled herself upwards into a sitting position and stared off into the distance. She could see a vast empty space with nothing but the End stone she sat on and many tall black silhouettes looming in the distance with bright purple eyes that glowed in the darkness of the world. 'I'm in the End…' Red thought to herself in finalization. She gulped and was seriously terrified of her fate. She could see the Endermen walking around aimlessly, their glaring purple eyes looking over at her.
Red was quick to turn her eyes away from theirs as they stared at her. She knew that Endermen did not want to be seen and she was not going to be stupid enough to enrage one into attacking her for staring. So there she sat by herself in the middle of nowhere inside the End. In the far distance, she could faintly see obsidian towers that acceded above into the dark sky and most likely held the End Crystals that healed the Ender Dragon from any infliction. Speaking of the Ender Dragon, where was it?
Red ever so cautiously shakily stood up from her spot on the End's rough rocky terrain. She peered into the distance and soon started walking without a thought towards the towers that were in the distance. She might as well walk towards something then sit there like a bump on a log. Crossing her arms insecurely to herself, she hated the feeling of being watched by all the Endermen nearby but unable to look back at them. She kept her eyes straight ahead of her as she progressed forward until she saw the End portal that was her only hope for escape. Approaching, the bedrock fountain like structure that was the End portal, she looked inside to see that the portal was unfortunately inactive. "Damn it!" Red cursed loudly and sat on the side of the portal's edge. Bringing her hands up to her face, she felt like crying. This place was her worse nightmare! She was all alone… The only company was the Endermen that she couldn't even look back at or the dragon that had yet made an appearance.
"Maybe, the dragon would do me a service by killing me. I don't want to be alone forever in this… empty world." Red gazed out into the distance and tried not to stare at the Endermen in the distance. She sighed heavily and brought her hands to her stomach as she looked down at it.
"Well… I'm not completely alone. I do have you… I'm so sorry… This is not how I want things to end… In the End." Red closed her eyes and let her thoughts drift to Herobrine. Could he find her here in this world? Would he be able to safe her? Red felt nothing but a heavy depressing feeling weigh down on her heart. It wasn't until she felt the ground rumble when the booming thunderous roar of a certain flying beast soared across the night sky. Red's brown eyes widen in horror as she looked up into the sky and saw the gigantic black and purple dragon swoop through the air and begin circling above her.
"Oh no…" Red fell off her place where she was sitting on the bedrock and soon clumsily began running away as fast as possible in a random direction as the dragon flew above her. While running Red tore off her heels that she had been wearing and threw them to the side as she began running bare foot across the cold hard stone beneath her. Her eyes focused on the dragon ahead that suddenly began roaring as it was flying straight at her! Red panicked and began thinking of anything she could do to protect herself. She soon remembered that she had a sword and although it would not be the most effective, it would at least give her some form of protection. Concentrating deeply as she fled away from the approaching dragon. An intense black aura glowed in her hand and the Starless Gale summoned forth within her grasp.
Red looked overly gracious at the black opal stone encrusted sword that Herobrine had taught her how to summon at will. She kept running until she felt like she could run no more before turning back and fearfully holding up her sword. The dragon kept flying forward until Red's sword suddenly blasted back a pitch black wave of opposing harmful magic. The dragon tried to dodge the blast but it was much too quick and submerged the dragon in its incredible power. The Ender Dragon roared furiously and swept away from Red as it flew back upwards into the sky. Red could see the End Crystals shooting off a white beam that was, of course, healing the dragon of its wounds that she had just inflicted.
"I can't believe I did that… If only, I had a way to destroy those crystals. Too bad they're so fucking far up and way out of my reach." Red said to herself as she looked up at the ominous obsidian towers that exceeded above her at great heights. "What am I going to do? I can't fight an immortal dragon for the rest of my life!" Red snapped at nothing and kicked the ground in front of her in frustration. Her immediate attention was brought back to the dragon as it was coming back for more. At least now she had a way of harming it but that would only work for so long until she would have to move on to something else. "Fucking dragon! I'm not dying without a fight! So come at me, bro!" Red yelled out confidently and slashed her sword and sent off another wave of black magic that glided right towards the Ender Dragon. The dragon this time was able to flee the blow but lost its head-on course in slamming straight into Red with its horns. Red groaned and tried her best to quickly think of a plan to take out this dragon all by herself.
Deep in the forest, Herobrine's white glowing eyes fluttered open to find himself alone and laying down on the green grass. A great pain surged through him and it was then when he remembered what was going on. He had been thrown into unconsciousness by Nicholas' spiders and Red had been kidnapped! Strangely though the spiders were no longer around him. It was just him alone by himself in the forest of burnt up trees from his pyromaniac episode of blazing fire left and right at the Queen spider that held Red hostage. Groaning, he painfully pulled himself up from the ground and stood back up uneasily on his feet. He could still feel the effects of the poison in his bloodstream but it was not killing him. No, it was just weakening him and making everything feel a trillion times harder to do.
"Damn it, Nicholas…" Herobrine growled under his breath and soon started stumbling in the direction he remembered the Queen spider taking off Red too. His left arm he held against him as he shuffled through the forest, everything appearing in blurs to him. He had to find Red… He just had too. Pitiful weak spiders would not be the end of Herobrine or his Queen. "Just h-hold on, Red…" Herobrine kept limping for what felt like hours to him but were only mere minutes. He was breathing heavily as he went though the forest blindly, not even sure where he should be heading for Red. He was awfully disoriented and he felt himself get dizzy and trip before falling to the ground with a loud thud. The side of his head hit the ground and he moaned out in pain.
"Red…" He whispered and struggled fighting the weakness that was overwhelming his entire body. He felt so weak and wished nothing more than to have an antivenin potion on him to cure himself of the poison that was affecting every aspect of his body, he couldn't even think straight. "DAMN IT! Damn it all!" Herobrine cursed and closed his eyes tightly from the searing pain. His mind felt so unfocused as it was everywhere at once but he only thought of one person and that was his Scarlett.
Herobrine lying there with his eyes closed, he remained there for a couple minutes in silence until he heard the sound of rustling leaves nearby. Something or someone was approaching him. Soon he heard footsteps in the grass and the something was nudging his side. It was so hard to open his eyes but he forced himself to do so even though everything in his vision was blurry. The color pink was the first notable thing in his vision that was shaped not like a human. It wasn't until he heard a snort when he knew exactly what it was. It was a pig… Growling in his mind, he was tempted to burn the pig alive with all the power he had left but considering he was already in bad-shape he decided against it.
"Go away!" He groaned and tried slapping away the snout of the pig that was now nudging his hand. The pig persisted and Herobrine was quickly losing patience that he already hardly had in the first place. "What did I just say!?" He hissed as he tried to lift himself into a sitting position. He soon regretted trying though as a pain like no other racked through his body. The pig oinked in response as if it were annoyed and then dropped something into Herobrine's hand that had been in its mouth. Herobrine turned his head from the place he was laying to look at the object that felt like a small jar that was now in his hand.
His eyes widen as he saw there lying in his hand was not just any jar but a jar of antivenin to stop the poison! But how? Herobrine tightened his grip on the jar and brought it up to his face. He screwed off the cap of the jar and smelled the substance inside to make sure it was really what he thought it was. It smelled just like antivenin, it even had the same dark frothy green appearance that looked disgusting but it helped. Not taking anymore time to think about how or why this pig had an antivenin potion with it. He began drinking the disgusting potion to relief himself of the pain and weakness he was enduring.
The agony finally began to subside as the potion was as fast acting as the poison was to infect the body. Herobrine finally had the strength to pull himself up into a sitting position. He stared oddly at the pig that was standing in front of him. He didn't know how quite to make of the situation at hand. Having a pig give you an antivenin potion when you most need it is more than lucky, it was just unorthodox. "I suppose I will spare you for this. Though I do not know why a pig of all creatures would aid me." Herobrine commented as he stared at the pig that was staring back at him, seemingly waiting for him to do something.
Herobrine sighed in relief that he was feeling back to himself. He finally was able to pull himself up and stand normally. He glanced down at the pig that was watching him closely and then looked to the direction he last saw Red taken too. "Now I just need to find, Red. Where have you taken her, Nicholas?" Herobrine started walking in the direction he was looking and was soon aware the pig that saved him was following behind. He paused momentarily and looked down at the pig with narrow eyes, "What do you want? I spared you, that is reward enough."
The pink oinked again and raced in front of him as if he was trying to lead him. Herobrine rose his eyebrow and was beginning to get the vibe the pig wanted him to follow it. "I must find Scarlett. I don't have time for this, pig. Don't make me reconsider my kindness to let you off alive."
The pig didn't seem at all bothered by his threat as it snorted and began trekking in the same direction Herobrine was going but this time in front of him. "I'm not following a pig! This is ridiculous!"
The pig glanced over at him as he wasn't budging. The pig paused in its step and waited for him to follow. Herobrine scowled and rolled his white eyes, "You act as if you know where Scarlett is. I am not so desperate enough that I need a pig to guide me. I will find her myself." Herobrine brushed past the pig and started walking with a deep scowl on his face. It wasn't until he felt the pig's head crash into his legs from behind when he slightly stumbled and then shot back a furious glare at the pink farm animal. "What are you doing!?"
The pig snorted loudly and glared up at him before trotting back in front of him and stammering its hooves as if saying, 'You follow me, idiot!'. Herobrine slumped his shoulders down and brought a hand to rub his temples in aggravation. "Fine. You can travel with me but I'm not following you." Herobrine said rather stubbornly as he refused to take directions from a pig that he wasn't even sure would lead him in the right direction. Perhaps, that potion was making him crazy to even consider following it in the first place. Herobrine instead of standing behind the pig, he stood beside it, which was good enough for the pig. The unlikely pair finally started heading in the last direction where Herobrine had seen Red taken off too.
The next argument came very soon afterwards when Herobrine wanted to turn left and the pig wanted to go right… He somehow found himself ending up following after the pig in the end. Maybe, he really has gone insane?