Ch.29 The Realm of Hatos

The two fire ogre's stared down at Sell, their massive hands clenching and unclenching. "What do you want here, Lady Sell?"

"Oh, so you know of me? How nice. I won't have to introduce myself then." I said spinning my scythe before grasping it defensively. "Open up. I came to get my brother and a Skeletal Heir back."

"Just you or your friends too?" the second ogre asked. "It's different if just you go through but if you say you and your friends then that means –"

"Of course me and my friends!" I snapped. "You sound so stupid."

"Ogre's naturally are," Hel said stepping up next to me. "Not one ounce of intelligence."

The ogre brothers growled at him, showing us their misshapen, yellow teeth. "Werewolf, you got some nerve…!"

"I'm not a werewolf. Not a pure one anyway. I've been genetically altered." Hel said with a grin as he popped his knuckles. "I'll take you both on."

The brothers rose to their full height. Threats were something they didn't tolerate. "Don't be sad when your soul gets sent to our Lord."

"I wouldn't say that will happen," spoke a voice behind us.

We all turned to see my father and Lones in tattered cloaks in their skeletal forms. The ogre brothers narrowed their eyes. "Why are you two here? There's no reason to be here!"

"On the contrary. There is," Rien pointed out. "My daughter, Sell. Your Lord has taken my other eldest son and Lones only child. It's why we're here."

The ogre brothers hissed and growled at one another before turning back to us. "Denied!"

I, Rien, and Lones grasped our scythes in an attack stance. "Don't deny us entry, we'll make us one!"

Hel and Rayr growled as they shifted into their werewolf forms. Hel leapt at the ogre brothers. The brothers returned the attack and grappled with him. Muscles bulged within Hel's upper arms and torso. He snarled and grabbed both arms of the ogre brothers.

He roared out flinging them over our heads and into the Nether wall. The brothers destroyed the ground with their massive fists that sent up flames. The ogre's roared at him. Hel looked to me and motioned to the gate that was behind him.

"Keep them busy, Hel!" I barked as I dealt with the gate.

There were four buttons on a wall. I looked at father and Lones for help. "Combination!"

Rien strode forward to press the two buttons that were needed. The gate opened for us. There was a thunderous shake from a huge crash behind us. We turned back to see Hel had thrown an ogre brother into the wall once more while the other had brought his fists down upon Hel, exploding the ground where they had stood. Hel landed in a crouch, slightly scuffed and singed in places. He growled at them.

"Let's go. Times wasting," I ordered turning around and sprinting away down the path. Rayr watched Hel take on the two ogre's by himself.

"Hel, you better beat them shitless!"

Hel smirked back at him. "Get going!"

Rayr turned and sprinted after us. Hel glared at the two brothers that had gathered themselves up.

"It's time to stop fooling about. We've underestimated you."

Hel grinned. "It only gets better here on out."

The three roared out sprinting at each other for another round.

The path that we followed snaked this way and that throughout the Nether. Ahead was a castle that I felt the Lord of the Darkness inhabited. Father floated beside me not saying a word. All of us worried about Skelar and Des. Wondered what the Dark Lord would do to them.

The mere thought of the Dark Lord pushed me to not stop.

"Dad, if the worse should happen I want you to take everyone back home."

My father turned to me. "No. I've long before decided that it will be I who stays if the worse should happen. You need to lead the others. I've already told you that."

"You lead the others while I and your father fight the evil," Lones spoke up on the other side of me. "Sell, they believe in you. We all do. The evil fears you so why think that the worse should befall us?"

A strong and horrible energy hit us then. We all halted staring in the direction it had come from but there was a solid wall of Netherrack there.

"What the hell was that?" Rien asked out loud.

"The same energy that I and Hel felt," Rayr growled stepping forward. "It's something from the mountains."

Lones and Rien looked at one another as I sprinted forward towards the castle. "Sell!"

They all went after me. "Sell, wait!"

"It's neither Skelar nor Des! Whatever it is the Dark Lord is benefiting from this no doubt!" I yelled out to them behind me.

I hit the doors of the castle and flung them open. A creature that resembled a tornado with orange disks of fire flying about it cried out at me throwing fire balls. I slammed the door to block the attack. The door burst into flames making me back away. Rien and Lones stared at the door as the pigmen broke it down.

"Seems this is our welcome party." Lones spun his scythe and slaughtered the pigmen that squealed loudly in pain. The same squeal that alerted other pigmen about the Nether to avenge the death.

"It seems he's added more creatures," smiled Rien as he destroyed the flaming tornado creature. "Also done some nice remodeling."

Toc stared at the corridor that was slightly dark that stretched before us. "Oh my Notch! Why are we having to go in here for?"

"Because, this is the way they were brought," Mell spoke up. "Take a right up ahead."

I turned to her with a hard stare. "This had better not be a trap."

"It's not. I can't even say that I know where all the traps are. He changes the layout of this place regularly."

Rien turned to Lones then. "This will be like that maze we had to go through."

"Ah! The maze! How could I forget such a place?" Lones chuckled shouldering his scythe and floating into the corridor.

I walked in behind Lones as dad went behind me. Rayr guarded Toc who clung to him with fear.

"I can't believe I'm in the Nether and I'm actually still living."

"We're alive too," I, father and Lones all said together.

"Ok we all are alive and are walking around in the Nether." Rayr growled to sum it up.

"It's so weird," muttered Toc which made me snort.

We followed the directions that Mell gave us. The feeling of the new energy grew stronger and stronger as we got closer. Netherrack blocked the barred windows everywhere we went. A random room of one pool of held lava would give us some light before we were cast into darkness once more. We stopped at an intersection that went in for directions. I placed a torch on either wall showing us that we had come from that door way.

"Nice thinking," father said to me.

"I don't know where to go from here." Mell said looking from one direction to another. "It's been changed."

I stepped next to her looking from one direction to another, feeling and listening for anything. I pointed to the left. "This way."

I led the way down the corridor. We ran into more fire tornado creatures. It suddenly hit me that every correct hallway we took these creatures of his would be there. After we killed the fire tornados I smirked. "Seems like we don't need your assistance anymore, Mell. I've figured it out on how to find Hatos."

Mell gasped at the mention of the name. "How did you know of his true name?"

I turned to her changing back into my Minecraftian self. "Because I was told by Lady Ananon and her mother. I was given the position to take up her legacy and carry it on. This legacy consisted of taking out her father, ex-King Hatos."

Mell stared at me in surprise. "You took on such a role? All for her?"

I smirked putting my hands in my pockets, my bangs falling into my eyes slightly. "Not just for her but for everyone that looked up to her. Even to those that held her important. Those that walked beside her through her life. To everyone that had some part or no part in her life, I will stand in her legacy and I will walk the path that was chosen for her."

My father and Lones smiled at me. Toc chuckled. "You've really changed, sis. If this woman was so important to you and to those people then I'll believe in her too. She seems like a really amazing person."

I turned away with a smile. "She really was. The grace of an angel. The brilliance of light. A true Lady."

Rien floated off behind me leaving Mell to collapse onto the Netherbrick. Lones looked down at her with hollow skull sockets.

"This person fueled us back then and she still does now. As someone else though."

Mell stared up at him. "I want to live on the outside. I want to live in the sun and the night. Get me out of here."

Rayr picked her up by the waist and carried her. "Lady Sell will save all who cry out for freedom from Hatos. No one will be left behind."

Mell's eyes, orange and dull, seemed to glaze over. Her head sunk backwards and dangled there. Toc cried out falling back. "She's dead!"

I turned back at his cry looking at the lifeless figure of Mell. "She was one of his workers. Just as Hym was. All the workers have been brainwashed by him or tricked into doing his deeds. Bring her, Rayr. We'll take her back to the surface and give her a proper burial."

Rayr nodded looking down at Toc. "Come on."

Toc got to his feet slowly. "So, that's it? We're just going to be carrying a dead body?"

Lones sighed shaking his head. "You have much to learn about us and our work."

We walked in silence as I followed the unsteady rise and fall of the new unknown energy. None of us were entirely sure how long we had been walking within this maze of a castle but I knew we were getting closer. We would find the end soon. We came to a dead end and I knew it was a false one. My mind hazed as I remembered something from Ananon's memory.

I punched away Netherrack to reveal a switch to my left. I flipped it to watch as a door way was revealed for us to pass through. The heat on the other side told me we were in a lava cavern. I stepped through to see a great cavern around us. A two block wide pathway of Netherbrick showed the way to the throne of Hatos.

Hatos, in his Minecraftian form, sat upon a Netherbrick throne with gold blocks that surrounded the backside. Pigmen that were milling about spun around and squealed at us, their swords raised. Father and Lones took them out easily with their scythes and fire. The pigmen squealed in agony before being forced off the bridge and into the lava lake below. Netherrack that had been set aflame lit the path as we strode forward. My eyes never left Hatos as he sat there on his throne not moving.

"Darling, did you want any soup?" asked a female that strode out of a doorway that was behind the throne. The woman stopped as we approached. The bowl dropped from her hands and crashed to the floor. "You…"

I stopped before them. Serdra, the woman that had been kidnapped by the Dark Lord stood there in shocked surprise to see us. Hatos opened his eyes and looked at us. He smirked lifting his head from his fists that he had held his head up with.

"You've come at long last, Lord Rien and Lord Lones."

"Hatos," they hissed together.

I stepped forward, going closer. He looked down on me with narrowed glowing eyes. "My most important one of all. Lady Sell!"

I smiled up at him stopping at the end of the bridge on his side. He was three yards away from me. Serdra stared into my red eyes that turned a darker shade. She looked up to Hatos worried. "Honey!"

I watched as Serdra climbed up onto Hatos's lap and hugged him. "Why is she here? What do they want?"

"I'll answer that instead of him." I said in a hard tone. "I'm here to get my brother and Skelar back plus to figure out what this energy is that I keep sensing. It's faded now but it most certainly came from here."

Hatos tipped back a drink that he was holding and drank. He let Serdra hold it as he got to his feet to step down from the throne, coming towards me.

"So you sensed what I did. What I've set out to get and have finally acquired as of just a moment ago."

I nodded. "What have you gotten into now?"

He spread his arms wide with a great grin on his face. "My dear, Lady Sell. I have finally gotten all the power that I've ever wanted! I have creations all over the Nether and now it's time to take over Minecraft with this new found power!"

"It ends here, Hatos!" I barked. A white and black cloak covered me as I bore my teeth at him. My eyes alight with my power. "This will be our final battle as we promised!"

He gave a chuckle letting his arms fall. You have a nice ragtag group behind you. Two Lords, a Minecraftian, a werewolf, and a dead body that was my helper."

"You know me; I get the strange things at strange times." I shrugged sprinting towards him. "Let's go, Hatos! Ananon's tired of waiting!"

Hatos leapt from his place down towards me with a maniac grin about his face. "Or is it you who is tired of this?"

We clashed scythes, sparks shot about us. The cave got a bit brighter for a split second again and again as if someone kept turning on and off a light. Our scythes locked with reversed blades. Each of us tugging on the poles. He cackled over to me delighted.

"Very good, Lady Sell! You keep up well! Let's see how you can handle my other state."

I flared up in my skeletal form as he did. We ripped apart our scythes, steel grating against steel, sparks dancing about. He took a bottle from his cloak and tipped it back. I watched as his exterior aura changed slightly. He chuckled with an evil grin on his skull.

He swung his scythe at me that I could barely keep track of. He had become faster! There was steel grating on steel as his scythe locked with another that wasn't mine. I looked back to see my father entering the fight.

"Dad…!"

"Sell, get your brother and Skelar! I'll fight him from here on!" Rien hissed as he pushed me away.

Lones grasped my shoulder and nodded off to the back door behind the throne. "Find them."

I was pushed away by him slightly. Rayr set down Mell's body. He strode over to me and gestured for Toc to follow.

"Come on, Toc! Let's get Des and Skelar back!" I ordered walking off towards the door behind the throne.

"Hey! You can't go in there!" snapped Serdra who leapt up and chuncked the drink at me.

I sliced the cup in half and glared. "I'll go where I please."

She leapt down blocking the door. "No! You aren't getting past me!"

"Serdra!" Hatos snapped at her. "Let them pass."

Serdra stared at him in confusion. "What?"

I pulled my left arm back and punched her with all my strength. She cried out falling against the Netherrack wall in shock. She touched her cheek gingerly crying out from the pain. We strode past and went through the door. Toc stepped behind me with a smile.

"You really know how to throw one!"

I giggled at him. "Only when I need too."

We went through a kitchen-like room before going down a narrow hallway. I stopped as I felt that strange energy again. I opened the nearest door to me to see six women sitting about the room. They turned their gaze to me, lifeless and no spirit. They had been taken by him.

"What are ya'll?"

They continued to stare not saying anything. One of the eldest ones turned her head away.

"We are not to attack until told. You are not an enemy until made into one."

Rayr and Toc looked at them funny. They looked to one another and then back to the women.

"Sell…?"

I closed the door without a word and continued on my way. They were the ones giving off the odd energy. I shrugged.

"We'll come back to them."

"Sell!" screamed a voice ahead. "Sell, help me! Sell!"

I sprinted at the scream heading towards it with Toc and Rayr behind me. "Hang on! We're coming!"

I kicked in the door to see Toc in the middle of the room with odd fire slimes and pigmen that squealed at me. They all rushed for me. I brought out my scythe and began to fight them. I was suddenly surrounded by them all and couldn't do much.

"Get Des!" I barked as I fended off the pigmen.

Toc and Rayr moved around at the edge of the room as I fought against the mobs, taking their hits and attacks. Once Des was out of the room I had the room engulfed in flames. I leapt out of the door and shut it behind me as the mobs all burned. I held the door in place panting, blood running down my face, my cloak burnt in places and tattered.

"Sell!" my brothers cried out looking me over. "Are you ok?"

I turned to them and smiled. "I'll be ok. This isn't the worst I've ever taken. Where's Skelar?"

Des thought for a moment. "They took him to a different section! I think below?"

The squeals from the pigmen got worse and worse as they got closer to death. I locked the door with a stick that I was going to use for a torch but lodged it between the door handle and the frame quite snuggly. "Come on! Let's go to the lower parts!"

"Where's dad?" Des asked as we sprinted down the hall to some stairs that went down.

"Fighting Hatos," I replied leaping the staircase and landing at the bottom heavily. I yelped as I twisted my ankle slightly. "Shit!"

"Sell, be careful!" snapped Rayr as he came down. "We're all depending on you!"

I slowly got up and laughed lightly. "How could I forget?"

I limped off down the next flight, my body trying to recover itself from the sudden impact. The room was much darker than the others. It was a bit cooler too. Cobblestone and stone brick lined the walls and the floor here and there. It was similar to a dungeon.

"Skelar?" I called out. "Skelar?"

There was a noise of movement ahead and a hand waved between the bars. "Sell? I'm here!"

I limped over to the sixth cell to see Skelar, beaten up and scuffed in in face. Hatos and beaten him for some reason. "Are you ok?"

He nodded. "Yeah. The pigmen did this to me. They were the ones that took me down here but when I tripped over a fallen rotten arm they beat me to comply."

I turned to Rayr and nodded to the fences that held him in there like cage bars. "Get him free."

Rayr beat the fences and got them to break apart at last, letting Skelar be free. He stepped out with a smile for Rayr. "Rayr, I'm glad to see you!"

Rayr hugged him. "I'm glad you're alright."

I turned at the sound of footsteps and saw a pair of pigmen making their rounds. They spotted us and squealed charging. I swung my scythe, deflecting their attacks and had them burning with a swipe as my scythe flared up in flames. I spun around towards the exit. "Go!"

We all shot up the staircase that wound upwards back to the main floor. There was an iron door to seal off the staircase down as we got to the top. I shut the door and heard it lock automatically. The pigmen banged against it angrily, squealing in pain from the fire. I turned away and limped to the front of the group.

"Let's get back to dad and Lones."

We opened the door of the kitchen to step out on the side of the throne and saw that the landscape of the throne room, the whole cavern had been transformed completely. I gaped at the fires that were all around the destroyed room. Pigmen squealed and hopped about on ledges that I hadn't noticed before. Some squealed being pushed off and fell into the lava below to have a violent death. I stepped past the throne and saw that the bridge was out.

"Damn it!"

There was coughing to my right. Rayr strode forward to check it out and gasped as a hand grasped the ground. "Lord Lones!"

Skelar gasped and ran over to his father. "Dad!"

I stayed put as they saw to him. Des and Toc looked about for our dad but didn't see him. "Sell, where's dad?"

I too wondered that same question. Rayr picked up his injured Lord slowly. "Sir?"

Lones coughed blood that crept down the corner of his mouth to his chin. "Rien…" We watched as he pointed to a higher cavern above. "There…" He coughed and wheezed in pain.

Skelar grasped Rayr's arm starting to sob. "Dad! Hang on!"

I had a decision to make right there and then. An important one. It would now be life or death. "Rayr, take my brother's, Skelar and Lones back through the portal. I'll go after dad."

Toc and Des rejected the idea. "No! We'll go with you!"

"Look around you!" I barked keeping my back to them. "We're in the Nether that Hatos knows like the back of his hand! He can do as he pleases with any one of you! I'm sending you back so you won't become like Mell! Do as I say!"

Rayr, Skelar, Lones, and my brother's all went silent at my outburst. None had seen me so angry before. Rayr lifted Lones in his arms to carry him back. "Understood."

Toc and Des stood there staring at my back helpless on what to say or do. "Sell…"

"Repair the bridge, Des. You're good at that sort of thing." I ordered looking out at the lava watching the pigmen kill themselves.

Des did as I ordered and began to place Netherrack down to repair the bridge. "It's temporary so be quick. Go one at a time."

Rayr didn't need to walk across. He leapt the full length which was fifteen blocks. Toc sprinted across as quickly as he could. Two blocks gave away beneath him making him leap for the other side and roll to a stop. Skelar went after, hopping the two missing blocks and made it to the other side without trouble.

Des sprinted across too but met trouble when three blocks crumbled away. He gasped as he was starting to fall. I grasped his arm with a bony hand and flung him across the rest of the way in my skeletal form. I floated there, my tattered cloak waving behind me. "Get back home! Toc, get Mell's body and take it back up too. We'll bury her later."

He nodded silently. Des stood slowly watching me float off towards the upper cavern.

"Sell!"

I turned back to the call looking down at them. His eyes piercing mine.

"Bring dad home! No matter what!" Des nodded to me and held up a clenched fist. "Iron will!"

I held up my boney fist back and hissed. "Iron Will." I watched them head out of the cavern into the tunnel before I turned back and floated away into the mouth of the upper cave.

My feet touched down with clanks and began to walk down the tunnel that had been destroyed from their fighting. Dad had put up quite the fight against Hatos. I was surprised that father could do this much damage at his age. There was a slight quiver in the ground that I felt. This might be the longest battle that I'll ever have.

I began to wonder how long I could last. Would I last long enough to defeat Hatos and stop the war for good? I continued walking down the beaten and destroyed floor, making my way on down the tunnel before a light ahead made me slow. Another cavern of lava. I stood at the mouth of the tunnel and looked out to see my father lying in a crater of Netherrack below lava level. The lava began to pour in and gather just below my father's place of rest.

A cackle of evil laughter was heard above. I looked up to see Hatos in his skeletal form descending towards father.

"Oh, my poor Lord Rien! Why do you look so down?" He burst into laughter at his little joke. "You put up such a good fight though. I'm surprised by your abilities to fight this long. I applaud your will to keep going. Truly magnificent!"

I watched as my father gasped for air. His cloak billowed barely where his chest was. I could tell that some of his ribs were gone by the sunken parts of the cloak. His boney hands clawed the Netherrack in a desperate attempt to get to his feet, fight against Hatos one last time. Hatos lifted his scythe and sneered with a manic look upon his skull.

"This will be so touching a death. Lady Ananon isn't here to protect you like before! With this last strike you will be reunited with my dear daughter soon."

I flung my scythe in all of its flaming glory towards Hatos's raised arm. It sliced the arm that held the scythe from the body and fell into the lava where it was destroyed with a bubbles and sizzling for his hollow ears. He screamed a choking, hissing scream grabbing at the stump of a boney arm. It made me smile to myself to hear that. Seeing that the man that was the Dark Lord could feel pain, could be in pain and could cry out showing his pain.

"My arm! My scythe! No!"

I soared down from the tunnel. He spun around to have a powerful punch to the dome that sent him flying backwards, striking the Netherrack wall and breaking two of his upper ribs with loud cracks. Hatos cried out in a screech slightly bent. I stood on a Netherrack block that was above the lava and looked down upon my father who wheezed in agony. I raised my hand to have my scythe return to my grasp.

I bent down to my father touching his cheek bone. "Dad…"

His sockets alight with weak flames looked up to me. "Sell…Bottles…Power…"

I nodded to him saying I understood. "I know. Hang in there."

There were snaps and hissing that made me look up to see his body regenerating. Healing. He chuckled touching the reformed ribs.

"Ah…Such pure genius that witches are! Don't you agree? They can make potions and become like gods above Minecraftian's!" He grinned down at me as the right arm began to regenerate.

I looked down to see my father transform back into his Minecraftian state. He was severely weakened and about to die. I grabbed him up and began to float away as quick as I could, get him to a safer place than that crater. I set him down in the middle of the destroyed tunnel. I had no other choice but to fight.

"Dad, I'm sorry. Hang in there, ok? Just a bit more."

"What of…Des? Toc? Skel…ar?" he wheezed.

"Rayr took Lones and the others back to the surface. They'll be ok." I said gently getting to my feet. "I'll return to you when this is over."

"Sell…" he gasped as he coughed, his head turning to the side away from me, his body limp.

There was laughing that erupted behind me. Hatos was completely regenerated now. I turned back towards him striding down the tunnel, my bones clanking, echoing out into the cavern. Hatos stood in the crater smirking up at me as I stood at the edge of the tunnel.

"Saying good bye to your dear daddy?"

I stared down at him without a word. He snickered swinging his new scythe that he had materialized. He stared up at me, eager to get this over with, eager to use his new found power from potions that these witches had created for him. He was eager to take over the world like he wanted.

"Little Lady, why don't you come out to play with me?"

I leapt from the edge, falling towards the lava below, my tattered cloak snapping behind me. I landed on a small mound of Netherrack to stand about level with him.

"Hatos, the Dark Lord of the Nether and father of us all," I said in a grave voice with dark eye sockets. I pointed my scythe towards him, blade facing. The lava reflected from its curved silver sheen and erupted into fire. "Prepare yourself!"

He began to chuckle at my call for a fight. The cavern echoed with his evil crazy laughter that traveled throughout the Nether. The feeling of dread, doom, death, helplessness, and a new beginning of something great began to creep over everyone. The feeling of a much greater battle was about to be born.

Hey guys!Only one more chapter to go and it will finish up the first book of my fanfiction series!It's been an awesome adventure with Sell and her group through these 30 chapters and her next adventures will be greater in the upcoming book!I hope you'll stick around to see how Sell gets out of this little bind and find out how the witches that Hatos captured will be saved which will be continued in book 2!Book 2 starts the new world of Minecraft in 1.9 and all of it's updates!Cya! 3