The horse chomped on the golden apple happily as his owner wiped her hands off. She took a long stretch considering she had been riding for over four hours, traveling from the east to make her way towards spawn.
Once she was done stretching she took a better look at her surroundings. A plains biome expanded out in front of her, devoid of any flower or speck of tall grass.
Getting closer she thought as she gazed towards the horizon grimly. There were only about forty-thousand blocks left until the wasteland of spawn would come into view. The traveler adjusted her diamond chest plate before unstrapping her horses saddle bag and pulling out an enderchest. She plopped it down onto the ground and opened it, taking inventory once more over her marvelous collection of items.
Two stacks of enchanted golden apples, two more sets of diamond armor, two more swords, two more bows, three stacks of cooked steak, multiple stacks of diamond blocks and various other tools.
She gave a slight grin, a feeling of pride overtaking her grim thought of spawn as she picked the chest back up with a silk touch pick and put it back in the saddle bag. Turning back to the horizon, the sun was starting to set on the shriveled trees of the forest in the distance that dotted it. It's bright orange radiance fluctuated into purples then into blues the further up the sky went.
She took a deep breath as a light blow of wind buffered her. It was just so peaceful here. Here! This place was peaceful. The traveler chuckled to herself at that thought. That was a first. Dozens have probably died within view of this spot. But now, it seemed like the nicest place in the world. In that moment, nothing mattered. Everything was right. All her worries and problems were irrelevant.
Closing her eyes, she drew in a big gulp of air before hopping back onto her mount.
"Alright, Zar. Let's get going." Feeling a kick in the side, Zar dug his hooves into the dirt, kicking debris up as he sprinted down into the plains.
She had left base a week ago to investigate rumors that waves of people were appearing at spawn. Tricky business. Newcomers always spelled trouble for the ones already here, although they never get far in their conquests although she had never really minded newcomers. The never bothered her. Regardless, this land is not for the weak. It tears at you, mentally, physically, and spiritually until you are a husk of your former self. Most see battle before the age of ten. Those who survive are granted acknowledgement. Those who can set up establishments themselves and start groups of their own are not respected but rather, on the radar of others. Of course, that can be for the better or for worse. But no one gets granted respect until…well…they just have to earn it through the one language the people of this land know, fire.
Needless to say, the native people could take arrows in their body all day long without falling. Any newcomers to this land do not stand a chance.
The rider pushed Zar harder to jump over a small creek before landing on the other side, zipping up a small rise.
Her gaze swept the tree line as she closed in on it. An ambush could be in there waiting of someone to ride by. She would sense them before she got close but regardless, if she became outnumbered, her minutes would be numbered in turn. Her vigilant brown eyes bounced from tree to tree, getting ready for anyth-
The rider unsheathed her sword in an instant and pushed off the stirrups of Zar's saddle as a flash of light shined in the corner of her vision. She backflipped off her mount and brought her sword across her chest as she flipped through the air, deflecting the arrow midflight. She landed elegantly on the ground, sword to her side.
Where did that come from? How did I not sense the attacker?
She didn't have another moment to think as another arrow shot at her from her 11 o'clock. She spun out of the way, sticking close to the ground, leaving a circle of dust in her wake.
Her heart fluttered as she looked for the attacker. Where?!
"You are as fast."
The rider gasped inwardly as the unseen assailant spoke, eerily close. Male.
"Most do not dodge my arrows, let alone twice."
Just then, a figure started materializing twenty blocks from her, clad in Diamond armor.
The woman knitted her brows, trying to make sense of the situation. Invisibility potion? No. I wouldn't have seen his armor.
The man coalesced in front of her. His enchanted diamond armor matched his bow and dual swords hanging from each hip and two swords crossed on his back. His face under his helmet was cloaked in some strange darkness.
Still crouched on the ground like an animal ready to pounce, the rider spoke "How were you invisible? I should have seen your armor and bow if you were using a potion." She could sense that this man was dangerous, probably more skilled than any opponent she had ever fought before. He had the high ground by a tad and was standing there confidently. She cursed herself for letting herself get into this position. She needed to escape but first, needed to slow down and assess the situation.
The cloaked figure strapped his bow across his lower back then stood there like a statue, silent for a few moments. "Since you were able to so expertly dodge arrows form The Silencer I will enlighten you." He said as he patted his bow. "Let us see. How do I put his? You could not see me because I was testing out a new experiment."
The woman on the ground squinted. New experiment?
"Ah. I see you are interested." He said with a slight chuckle. "I am working on an invisibility II potion and as I just discovered here, it seems to work pretty well."
Invisibility II? Can there even be such a thing? "Why would you tell me this? I'm guessing this is something you would want to keep secret."
"That is a true statement. I can tell you are a smart woman, so it truly is a shame that I will have to kill you."
Not good
"Pardon me for my rudeness." The man said as he gripped just below the hilts of the two swords on his hips.
The woman tightened her grip on her sword. What do I do?
He pushed up on the cross guards of his swords with his thumbs to unsheathe them.
Here he comes
"What is your name?" He paused. The question surprised her. "What-is-your name."
She started to say something but noting came out, she thought she was about to be attacked.
The shadowed man tilted his head and spoke again in an unusually high-pitched voice. "It is rude to ignore the one who is about to fight you. I will ask again. What is your name?"
She stared at the dark space just below his helmet. "Idra."
"Alright Idra; I will come at you now. If you win, you may go on your way." Idra's gaze hardened. "If I win, you come with me as my partner."
Idra opened her mouth and responded. "What's your name?"
The man chuckled. "Win and find out."
Without another moment's hesitation, the man flung his hip swords out of their sheathes, sending them spinning high in the air. Idra's attention was on them for one moment too long. In a flash, her opponent was in front of her and hit her chin with the hilt of a sword. The two fighters flew backwards, his other sword swung down onto her armored wrist, making her lose grip of her sword. She dropped heavily onto her back, getting the breath knocked out of her. When she opened her eyes after the impact, there was a sword to her neck, another to her belly. He was completely pinning her down. A second later, two swords fell down from the sky, landing on each side of her head, centimeters away.
Idra laid there, gasping at the swiftness and precision of this man's attack. They stared at each other for a long minute before the man spoke, his weight pressing down on her body. "I win." He got off her, stood up and sheathed all his swords.
Idra gawked, speechless. The man turned and dusted off his armor. "Looks like you are coming with me. Grab your mount and meet me five hundred blocks north east from here."
Idra stood up and grabbed her sword. "I can't go with you!" She yelled. The man stopped and looked over his shoulder. "I have base mates who care for me! I have things to do and I have no intention of going with you anywhere!" Honestly, she was just infuriated that she lost a fight so badly. That had never happened before. "Just go back to your petty experiments and do whatever you do! Plus, I don't know what you want from me, you could just want me for an experiment or something of the like. How am I even supposed to work for someone who I don't even know their name- "
"Do you know why I spared your life?" His eerily calm voice shocked her. She stayed silent.
"I see value in you. From what little I saw, your stance, I like your fighting style, you are clearly a talented fighter. In addition, I can tell you are an intelligent woman, Idra."
Idra was taken by surprise. She felt her cheeks blushing…NO! Stop!
He continued to look over his shoulder. "I do not want you as a slave. I see value in you. I want you to become my partner in this cruel world."
She looked down at the ground. "I-I can't just leave my-""What have your base mates really done for you?"
Idra shot her head up at that question but stayed silent.
"They sent you out here, alone, to spawn, which is arguably the most dangerous place on the continent to do what? To deliver a message? To do a bit of reconnaissance?" His words started to stir something insider her.
What have they done for me? Idra thought.
"With me, you will have something they could never give you." Idra stared, curious, lowering her guard. "Worth."
That word hit her. She stayed silent for a few more moments. The quad swordsman stared at her over his shoulder, still as a statue. A minute of silence passed.
His head turned back towards the sunset horizon. "Meet me where I told you. I'll be waiting." With that he sprinted with uncanny speed, into the distance.
Idra stood there, watching where he disappeared. She had never felt like this before. For once, her guard was down.
Worth.
That word kept bouncing around in her head.
Idra flinched and shook her head as she put up her guard again. What was she thinking? She couldn't just leave her base mates without even a goodbye. They had done so much together. The time where they took out that group attacking their base, she dug around behind them and drew their arrow fire away from her mates while they attacked when their backs were turned, that time when they raided all that food from someone's stash that they found. Her base mates took all the food back to base and told her to stay behind and wait for the owner to come by and kill him…how they never let her sleep on the good beds…how they always give her the scraps…how she never gets to pick her job…
A moment of enlightenment filled Idra as she realized that from the moment she was taken in she was just being…used.
Suddenly her own thoughts flew back to her: 'Most see battle before the age of ten. Those who survive are granted acknowledgement. Those who can set up establishments themselves and start groups of their own get their name thrown around. Of course, that can be for better or for worse. But one does not get granted respect until…well…they just have to earn it through the one language the people of this land know, fire.'
She closed her eyes as the swordsman's words flew back to her: "I see value in you. From what little I saw, your stance, I like your fighting style, you are clearly a talented fighter. In addition, I can tell you are an intelligent woman, Idra… I see value in you. I want you to become my partner in this cruel world."
Worth.
She was never worth anything. Her parents saw her as a nuisance, casting her out at the age of eight, all she had was a wooden sword. She wandered the harsh wilderness until she was around ten or eleven where a wanderer saw her and took her in, but his gaze was cruel and unwelcoming. She didn't like him from the start. He taught her how to fight but abused her badly, starved her, made her join a contraband of child soldiers. By the age of sixteen or seventeen, she managed to escape with a few others, but the senior soldiers tracked them down with dogs and horses…she was the only one who survived and escaped. For the next five years, she slowly made her way south where she met her current comrades.
Comrades. 'Tuh'
But now it's evident that they were just using her for the last couple years.
Idra clenched her fist and threw her sword into the ground where it stuck. She wasn't an emotional person; this world doesn't allow space for tears. She tried holding them in, but one rebel fell down her dirty cheek. She hit her leg as punishment for shedding a tear.
'Idra… I see value in you. I want you to become my partner in this cruel world.' His words rebounded in her mind. "He's different." She whispered to herself. "He'll be the one to give me worth."
With one last sniffle she dislodged her sword from the ground and whistled for Zar. The beautiful white and gray speckled horse galloped out of the forest and strutted to her side. "What a good boy. You ran away just like I taught you" She laughed lightheartedly as she patted his neck. "If anything, you'll always love me." Zar let out a happy bray of agreement. Idra laughed as she mounted him. She let out a deep breath. "Alright Zar, we're starting anew." With that, she pulled on the reins, turned and headed north east.
When she arrived in the mostly withered forest at the spot the swordsman had said, she dismounted and looked around.
"Up here." His voice came from above. Idra's pupils dilated as she looked up through the branches. He was squatted on a high up branch, looking out towards the horizon. "Hurry."
She glanced at the tree trunk and saw many foot and handholds. She made her way up to the branch and squatted next to him.
"I'm glad you decided to join me." He said nonchalantly.
"It is my best interest." Idra said firmly. She cast a sidelong glance at him then followed his steady gaze out onto the purple landscape, the sun nearly set. There was a small dirt hut sitting about half a thousand blocks out. A crafting table sat outside of it. A newcomer base?
The swordsman pointed directly at the hut, his left arm draped over his knee. "I have never experienced war before but that is what will cause one like this land has never seen before." By 'this' he was referring to the existence of the dirt hut. "We have had newsucks before, but mostly in controllable portions. I've spoken to a few of the newsucks of the new wave. This time it will be different. There are many where they come from and not only that. There is something in their hearts that is unique; something this land has never seen before."
Idra gazed at the dirt hut, not understanding.
"The people of this land have a will of fire and are the greatest security system it could ever have. It is yet to be broken and has only grown stronger over the centuries. It has been impenetrable."
Idra slowly shifted her gaze to the strange cloak of darkness below his helmet.
"Individually these newsucks are weak but even they- "he turned towards Idra. "Will push this will of fire to its brink. It will truly be tested."
Idra could not break his gaze until he turned back to the dirt hut. "I also host this will and want to do everything to protect this land form those who do not deserve it, do not understand it." His hands hung limply over his knees. His emotionally charged words did not match his body language. "If the natives are to ensure that these newsucks do not take one more tree, one more piece of food, one more block, we must band together unlike we have never done before. Out divisions of the past must be put aside."
Silence ensued after that. His words sunk deep into Idra's heart…only to be met with opposition. All this land had ever done for her is chew her up and spit her out. Maybe some fresh blood in this place would do it good-.
"Idra." Hearing her name called jarred her out of thought. "Do you feel the same?" Not knowing what to say, she just nodded. "Good." He responded. "I have heard reports that some newsucks have found The Valley of Wheat."
The Valley of Wheat?! Images flashed through her mind of the one time she was there while on a mercenary expedition. Endless hills and hills of wheat, filled with giant sandstone sphinxes and pyramids topped with fire. A legendary landmark that all natives leave alone, even the worst griefers of the land have kept their hand off of it. It was created by a legendary antient builder.
The swordsman stood up on the branch. "Apparently they are harvesting the wheat for food and tearing the sphinxes apart for their own buildings. I want to get there and eliminate them before they can spread word of its location. We are not too far away, we should make it there within a day and a half."
Newcomers are tearing apart The Valley of Wheat? That has been there for centuries and they're just using it for their own consumption?! That's disgusting.
The swordsman jumped off the branch and fell twelve blocks below and landed neatly. He whistled, and a strong black steed romped out of the brush.
Idra stood up and gazed down. "Where is your hideout anyway?"
He mounted his horse before answering. "Valley of Wheat first."
Idra blew air through her nose in amusement before taking one last glance out at the dirt hut and the lone figure lying still next to the hut. Starvation probably.
She climbed down the tree and mounted Zar. Her partner pulled a splash potion of speed out of his saddle bag and threw it on the ground between their horses. The glass bottle exploded on the ground, propelling potion-stuff all over them. He then kicked his horse in the side who ripped out of the forest and back onto the plain.
The corner of Idra's mouth curled up as she felt something rise up in her chest before sprinting after the skilled swordsman. New life filled her veins as she focused on the beautiful wind whipping across her face. She had found her place.
She had found her purpose.