Ch.19 Sunrise of the Vulnerable and Dead

I knelt at Hel's feet. My throat closed up at the sight of him. His form shivered and began to change back into his Minecraftian form, pain from his wounds made his face contort. His clothes ripped all to hell and his body totally bitten and ripped up. This was the price he had paid to keep me alive, to change Maul's mind, it had backfired greatly.

"You knew all along what would happen. Yet you still…" I stopped my sentence there. My voice and my throat wouldn't let me continue.

The vet turned to me taking out the ear buds of his stethoscope. "There's nothing I can do but try to relieve the pain and reset the bones. He has internal bleeding in some places around the abdomen and above."

"Ok." I swallowed the lump in my throat. "How long will the surgery be?"

"Several hours." The vet got to his feet hanging the stethoscope around his neck and turned to his assistant. "Ready the table. Make sure everything is clean. I'll go prepare things on my end."

The young girl nodded and got to her feet quietly. "Yes, sir."

My fingers ran through my hair nervously. Skelar bent down placing a hand on my shoulder. "You need rest, Sell. You've been fighting longer than any of us today."

"You'll wake me when surgery starts, right?" I asked looking up at him worriedly.

He nodded and helped me up. I shuffled away slowly, Rayr holding onto my arm to steady me, as I made my way to a different house since mine got destroyed by the mob's explosion. My head hit the pillow and I was gone.

"Sell?" several voices asked concerned.

"Sell, can you hear us?"

"She's not moving…!"

"Quiet, she'll come around."

I felt my eyelids move and finally open to a bright light shining down upon me from somewhere above. A head or two blocked it and made a glowing outline around them. As my vision cleared I saw my two brothers over me and my father at my feet leaning over my chest, checking for a heartbeat. "Yeah. I'm here."

They all lit up with happiness and grabbed my body up. "Oh Notch! We heard what happened! It's all over Minecraft!"

"Damn were we worried!" Toc cried squeezing me. "Dad almost lost his mind because you couldn't be found or anything! It was like you had died."

I pushed away to get a breath and kept them at an arm's length. "I did die."

My brothers gaped at me with a slight gasp. My father nodded, agreeing with himself that he had been right. "You did die. I knew it."

"I met up with Lady Ananon and I met her mother." I smiled at dad resting my right hand on my chest over my heart. "She gave me her heart so that I could carry on where she failed."

My father's eyes filled with tears and fell back to sit on his heels. "She always had a big heart. Damn her! Not a day goes by that I don't think about her."

"She said things wouldn't have been any different if she had been living still. Her dying gave our kind a reason to carry on." I gripped my father's upper leg. "I took Maul out. Took him alive to the grave! A message from me to that damned bastard down in the Nether!"

Dad placed a hand on both of his son's shoulder and squeezed them looking down on me. "Look at our Sell, boys. She's become something that not even werewolves can handle."

My brothers grabbed me up in another hug allowing father to join in. My father's head lifted up at something. "Honey! Sell! She's alive!"

I turned to look over my shoulder and saw my mother flat out running with her skirt lifted up. "Oh my, Notch! Sell?"

My mother fell against us heavily sobbing on my shoulder. "My daughter! She's back! Thank you, thank you!"

Toc smiled at me. "They went almost crazy when dad suddenly sprang from his chair at the fireplace chanting that you were dead. Hell, mom went all over the town crying on all of her friends shoulders that you had perished."

I burst into a light fit of giggles as I began crying a little. "I told them I wasn't ready to leave Minecraft just yet. Not until all of the evil was gone and my family could live safely again."

My family cried on me more out of joy and happiness. I cried on dad's chest out of sadness for Hel. What was I to do if I lost him now? I sobbed hard making my family look upon me with concern. It wasn't until ten minutes had passed before I could speak again.

"Hel got attacked by the pack to protect me. I got there too late to stop them but I did force most of them off before Maul and I fought. Skelar and Rayr got him out of the fight and back to the village. It did little though." My head hung down as I sniveled and gasped for breath.

Father hugged me tightly resting his head on mine. "This was what he was raised to do, sweetie. Protect you till the very end."

"But it's not the end!" I snapped sobbing once more. "It's nowhere near the end for any of this!"

My brothers rested their heads on my shoulders while my mother rubbed my back. "It'll be ok, Sell. What happens to Hel is probably what Notch intended."

"Life was given to us by him, and it can be taken away in some way or manner. His angels and demons divide up the latter. Harmony or whatever it may be, he'll always watch over and guide us for all eternity." My father said into my hair quietly. "That is a prayer that Ananon said to me one night while nursing my wounds from a serious fight."

"She had many," I whispered wiping my eyes on my arm.

We moved into the house and sat down in the living room eating watermelon and drinking chocolate milk. I was told stories of mom's first day at her flower shop in town, how dad messed up some orders and how they killed some of the flowers by spraying them with something that wasn't water. My brothers found a pesticide that could be used with ground up finely red stone and charcoal. Most of the farmers around us didn't trust it but were considering on the testing.

"I can't believe I missed all this," I smiled looking at my cup. "Dad, you remember that paper you gave me?"

Father nodded at me. "Did it work?"

"Exploded my damn room and charged through the woods to aide me as I've been told."

My brothers bust out laughing along with dad. Father picked up something from behind his chair and handed it to me. It was wrapped in a thin layer of wool that had been dyed and woven together. Taking the wool off I saw a hand crafted picture frame with a thin sheet of glass protecting a picture from the outside elements. In that picture was me when I was younger holding up a wooden play sword and standing next to Hel who stood taller than me by a foot and a half.

I smiled and looked up at dad. "Where did you find this?"

"At the old mansion. It was in Hel's bedroom. Apparently Hel kept it on his dresser near a window. I saw that he had placed it there under a window for the right time in the afternoon, where the light would filter through a hole in the tree where leaves didn't grow and strike this picture to make it glow."

"Genius," muttered Toc to Des. Des nodded in agreement.

I stared at the picture a bit more. Why had he treasured this one? "This was when we were little. We would run all over the woods playing and stuff."

Dad got to his feet and went over to the kitchen, putting his cup in the sink. "He's been by your side for quite some time, Sell. It's all he's known."

"So when I came back to that island… He wasn't mad at me for intruding or anything, he was happy?"

"He's probably angry at me for taking you from there but I explained to him that it had to be done." Father replied walking back to his seat. "He's angry at me for making you grow up without him there."

I got to my feet not realizing just how much Hel had missed me. How happy I made him when I was ordering him around or talking to him. How sad and worried he is when I disappear or get hurt. "I got to go. I'll be back later, everyone."

I placed the picture on the kitchen counter and left without a word more. Mother and father watched me go from the front door, the gate shutting behind me with a click as I strode off down the gravel drive and disappeared.

I opened my eyes and left the bedroom that I had gone to sleep in. I passed Skelar who had dozed off where he was sitting, at the kitchen table. I opened the barn gates and knelt at Hel's sleeping head. "I'm sorry I've been gone from your side for so long. I hadn't realized how you felt until now. I promise I won't leave you anymore. Ok?" My hand stroked his hair, taking out the small tangles that his hair had gotten. I sat there for I don't know how long. The vet and his assistant came in to retrieve Hel for surgery. Rayr and Skelar walked in to help pick up Hel and transport him gently to the operating room.

My legs trudged behind them numbly. I sat in the next room that was separated by glass to overlook the operation. My face couldn't smile or move, just looked forlorn. My hands laid in my lap loosely, my eyes never leaving Hel's body or what the vet was doing.

This happened because of me. This is my entire fault. If only I had returned a bit sooner. I couldn't help but argue with myself over Hel's wounds and in the position he was in. Everything was very upsetting to see.

With the surgery over, Hel was taken out of the operating room and into a room to rest and heal. No visitors were allowed. I sat out in the hallway on the tiled floor waiting. Rayr and skelar stood that the end of the hallway watching me, saddened by me.

Rayr turned to Skelar worriedly. "What if she stays like this after he's well?"

Skelar shrugged shaking his head. "I don't know. We'll have to contact Rien then."

"Come on, she needs to know about the death count so far." Rayr said walking from Skelar, slowly approaching Sell.

Skelar hung back and watched as Rayr told me about the deaths. My face, my body, nothing moved. Nothing showed them that I had heard them or acknowledged. Rayr looked back at Skelar shrugging. Skelar sighed leaning on the door.

Nothing would make me better until Hel had gotten on his feet once more. Serdra came up to stand next to Skelar and looked down towards Rayr and I. "No change?"

Skelar shook his head. "Silent and withdrawn."

"I knew she was quite attached to Hel but never this bad." Serdra muttered folding her arms.

"How's the village?" Skelar asked changing the topic.

"Much sadness but we'll begin anew once the dead have been buried." Serdra replied. "I'll need you and Rayr's help."

Skelar nodded. "We'll be glad too. I'll get Rayr and meet you outside."

Serdra stared at me for a moment and silently shook her head in disbelief. "That poor child. I can tell she hasn't experienced death or loss of a loved one yet."

Serdra turned and left the hospital. Skelar watched Rayr as he tried to make me snap out of it. "Come on, Rayr. We've got stuff to do."

Rayr looked back at him with a frown. "Right." He turned back to me and slumped with defeat. "Get a hold of yourself, Sell. It's not the end of the world."

The werewolf turned walking away with his hands in his pockets. I remained staring at the opposite wall not blinking. The vet and his assistant walked back and forth to check on Hel, occasionally stopping to check on me and kept going with their jobs. Days passed and turned into weeks. I would go to the hospital three times a day to check on Hel's progress but it was still pretty bad.

Another surgery had to be done making Hel's recovery longer still. I had regular meetings with my father and brothers telling them how Hel was and what were going on. My father and brothers saw my depression and were worried about me. I would sit outside under the oak tree that had grown out near the fields. I sat there almost all night and day staring out at the village in the distance, watching farmers till the ground, their wives pulling up old flowers and planting new ones, children running about playing; just life in general.

It went about like normal, like there was no evil that preyed on them each and every night. I wished Minecraftian's could know of the Skeletal race, how I and all the others were risking our lives to not let evil win the lands over by taking every Minecraftian soul. Minecraft would be a wasteland for evil; there wouldn't be any smiling or laughing, no birthdays or games, no picnics or parties. Just a world of dead grass, lava erupting and taking over lakes or waterways. The evil from in the Nether roaming about freely, seeking out any life left…

I smacked the back of my head against the trunk of the oak making my mind stop thinking about all that. It made me mad just to think of the Nether, what all happened there to Ananon, how it changed the way Minecraftian's lived at night. Upon nightfall every Minecraftian needed to seek shelter, be it safe or a make-shift, it didn't matter. They all knew the dangers and what could happen. The wind from the shore line blew in ruffling my hair about my face, blowing in the salt from the waves on the wind.

I bet Hel misses the smell of salt air. I thought when footsteps caught my attention. I looked up to see a farmer from below the hillside walking his old mare down the gravel road towards the village with a cart filled with wood. The old farmer waved to me as he passed. I smiled weakly as I waved back. That old mare is still going. How old is she now? Twenty- five? Heavens, she was in her teens when I was little.

"I can't believe the mare still gets up and walks."

I looked up to see Des leaning against the tree with a stalk of wheat in his mouth. "I was just thinking that myself. How old is she now?"

Des shrugged. "Hell if I know. She's getting to be too old to pull carts anymore though. She's been a good mare to him. He'll be sad to see her go."

"I remember she gave me a ride on her back when I was nine." Sell smiled hugging her legs. "I'll miss her when she goes. I'm sure Ananon and her mother will adore her though."

Des chuckled helping me up. "I take it you like these people? You said you met them in the Aether?"

I nodded fixing my hair from the wind. "Dad was good friends with her."

Des sighed putting an arm around my shoulders. "I wish I knew what you and dad were talking about most of the time. Me and Toc just nod and act like we understand; in reality we don't know jack shit."

This took me by surprise. I stared up at Des with a slightly shocked expression. "All this time I thought you and Toc knew. You really don't know anything…?"

Des shook his head. "Not a thing."

I looked up at the house and around to see if dad was anywhere nearby. "We need to ask dad."

"Great," Des muttered with a sigh. "Let's go find him then."

I walked alongside Des talking about the villagers that had died from the werewolf attack, how they were buried from sunrise to sunset. How I had been checking up on Hel three times a day for the past couple of weeks. I had lost track of time and hadn't realized that it had become a month.

"Is Hel going to live through this?"

The question made me stop for a second. "The vet… He thinks so. It's too early to tell because Hel had another operation. He's getting better slowly. I think he is anyway. It's all I can do."

Des nodded at me, understanding that all of this was quite hard on me. "No one likes to see a friend hurt."

Nope. No one does. My eyes rested on fathers back as he worked in one of the fields where the horses grazed for the day. The wind blew the tall grass this way and that, ruffling dad's straw hat enough to make him hold the top. "Dad's a scientist. He created me artificially but naturally in a way that can't nessicarily be understood."

Des turned to me slowly raising a brow. "Huh?"

"See?" I walked away opening the gates and waited for Des. "You coming or are you going to stand there like a tree?"

"Hey, Sell, can I ask you a question?" Des said as a grin spread across his face. He walked to the gates and shut them behind us.

I turned to him wondering why he was grinning. "What would the question be?"

"I understand where most of the wildlife comes from. Pigs, cows, chickens, spiders… Where do Creepers come from? They make no sense here."

"Simple," I replied plucking a blade of tall grass and pulling it taught. "It was our creator's you- know- what at one point in time to fuck us all." I blew across the blade of grass making a high shrill whistle.

Father looked up and waved at us. Des hooked his arm about my neck rubbing his knuckles on my head roughly. "You're quite the lady, Sell! Where did you learn that from, hm?"

I laughed pushing him off and wincing as his knuckles got harder. "Ow! Ow! Come on, Des! Lay off!"

We broke out into a tussle with one another. Father sighed at our antics. He was glad that I was at least smiling for them. He showed his small bit of happiness with a smile of his own, rooting for Des to overpower me. It still wasn't over though. I knew this small bit of happiness wouldn't go very far once I left from here.

All I could do was enjoy while it lasted.