Chapter twelve: The Nether
(Chapter 12 is finally here! :3 Sorry that I didn't updated I was busy with stuff. Also I made a title cover, I made the art myself, so don't steal it or something. Now here we go.)
Jesse and Lukas come out the other end of the portal, slamming into the ground. They slowly got to their feet as Olivia, Axel and Reuben waiting for them and they were surrounded by lava and fire.
"Where's Petra?" asked Axel.
"We did everything we could." said Lukas.
Axel looked at him trying to sound confused, "What are you saying?" he questioned.
"Jesse?" said Olivia, a much better panic clearly in her voice, "What is he talking about?"
Jesse took a moment to answer, "It was chaos. There wasn't much I could do."
"Jesse's right." said Lukas. Jesse then continued, "Petra is still up there."
"I got scared," Lukas admitted, "Just for a second."
Axel frowned, eyes hard, "You got scared?" he walked towards Lukas, who stepped backwards to avoid him.
"It wasn't my fault."
Axel was about to continue, but he quickly shut his mouth and then walked towards the portal, "We gotta go back." But Olivia stepped in front of it, blocking his path. "No! We just have to wait. Think about what you're walking into"
"There's nothing you can do," Jesse agreed, "You'll just end up getting yourself killed."
Axel sighed, "Well yeah, I guess. But-"
"Hey!" Lukas explained, running forward excitedly and pointing at the portal. "There she is!"
They all turned to the portal as the purple stuff swayed back and forth, indicating that someone was coming through.
Jesse looked at the portal, and knows that she isn't going through, it was Ivor. But she still has to act, "Come on, come on."
Then Ivor fell though the portal falling on his face. Half of Jesse's friends frowned as Ivor climbed to his feet. Upon receiving who was in front of him, Ivor sighed, "Oh... you guys."
Before anything else could be done, a tentacle shot through the portal and swished back and forth. They screamed and ran away from the portal, Axel falling onto his back. Jesse jumped to the side to avoid the tentacle, before it wrapped around the portal and squeezed it. The portal cracked and fell apart, the tentacle vanishing alongside it.
They all stood or sat gaping at where the portal had once been. Axel had a look of horror on his face. Jesse looked at Ivor whose eyes looked like he's been crying for awhile. "...Ivor."
Ivor turned to her trying to hide his last remaining tears and try to sound angry, "Y-you r-ruined e-everything."
Jesse stared at him with a blank expression, "Actually, we didn't do much of anything. Axel didn't grab your potion... but I guess we did try to meddle with your plan now that I think about it."
Ivor stared at her before saying, "I.. guess that was true." Jesse then walked up to him and mumbled, "I'm sorry but... I have to do this." Ivor raised an eyebrow at her and asked, "What are you-"
Before he could continue, Jesse punched him in the face. Ivor was taken back by this before he quickly try to act tick off, "More needless violence. It-it solves nothing. Learn the lesson now or you'll share Gabriel's... faith."
Jesse felt bad about punching him, but she had to do it so Lukas won't get suspicious about this. Ivor's voice snapped her out of her conversation, "There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Witherstorm."
"Why are we wasting time here talking with this guy?" asked Axel, "We have to go and get Petra!"
"Petra!" explained Ivor, "I saw her."
"What?" breathed Lukas.
"While I was running towards the portal, I passed her." Ivor explained, "She was running in the opposite direction." The gang glanced at each other. Ivor continued. "Such bravery. Of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity."
Jesse knows that this is hard for Ivor to act this mean to them.
"And your friend," said Ivor, "Has crossed it."
"She going to make it." declared Jesse.
"Yeah," Ivor admitted, "I hope so too." He then pointed to a tunnel, "Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts built by the Order of the Stone. It's your only way out."
"We should go that way." said Axel, after a moment.
"Times wasting." Lukas agreed, "Let's go." Jesse turned back to Ivor.
"What about you?"
"Wh-what about me?" asked Ivor.
"How will you get out?"
"I'll use my imagination." Ivor said sarcastically. A strange sound, almost like a child making sad little noises, cut through the air. The group looked around for the source of the cries.
"What was that?" asked Axel.
"I would wish you good luck," said Ivor, turning back to them, "But, sadly, luck won't carry you through the Nether. You have my sympathies." He took out a potion and drank it, pink swirls started to surround him as he began to glow. Then, just like that, he was gone, the empty potion bottle cluttering on the ground.
The cry sounded again and a ghast floated up from behind then. They slowly turned around to face it, and Jesse let out a shocked gasp. The ghast made another noise, but this time it was much angrily, and its eyes seemed to open, revealing red orbs. They started to back away.
"Run!" said Jesse, and they all turned tail and run down the tunnel, the ghast still giving off angry cries.
A pigman was holding its golden sword and standing there doing nothing. Behind it, Jesse let out a scream as she led the others down the tunnel, the ghast chasing after them.
They came to a stop at a little hill, where six minecarts sat on the tracks, ready to be ridden. Olivia said, "This must be what Ivor was talking about."
Another cry made them turn around as the ghast appeared behind them, shooting a fireball out of its mouth, with yells, they all jumped out of the way, and the fireball hit just above the minecarts blasting the red blocks to pieces.
They all jumped down and then ran towards to the minecarts, quickly climbing into them as the ghast gave another angry cry.
"Everyone, hold on!" said Jesse as the minecarts took off. Reuben was in the front, Jesse was behind him, an empty cart behind her with Olivia in the next one, Lukas behind her and Axel in the back.
The ghast watched them go away knowing that it was not going to get them in this small space.
The group was now riding over a large body of boiling hot lava, passing multiple lava falls. It could've been pretty to look at if it wasn't so dangerous.
"Wow." gasped Lukas, "The Nether."
"Yeah," said Olivia, "That's a lot of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death." Suddenly, Reuben gave a terrified oink and ducked into his minecart.
"Oh no!" yelled Jesse, seeing the incredibly long and steep drop. "Oh, that's a drop," said Lukas nervously, "That is very much a drop."
"What are you talking about, Lukas?" asked Axel, "What dro- Oh, crap! That drop. You weren't kidding." Reuben gave a terrified squeal.
"Everyone, hold on!" Jesse shouted, and they went down the drop, going at an seriously fast speed. Axel had his hands in the air, Lucas was holding onto his cart so tight that his knuckles had turned white, Olivia had covered her eyes, Jesse's mouth was wide open and Reuben looked positively terrified.
The pig gave another squeal as they reached the bottom and the tracks went straight forward instead of down again, but they were still going extremely fast. They entered a tunnel and ahead of them was a low wall that was blocking space for their heads.
They ducked down with yells, and when they came back up, Jesse glanced over her shoulder, but another wall was coming up.
"Watch out!" shouted Olivia, and Jesse ducked down just in time. They exited the tunnel and were once again rushing over a sea of lava. They were also riding right towards a lava fall.
"Umm, okay," said Axel, "So I'm not the only one seeing that we're running out of track, right?"
"No." answered Lukas.
"Good!" Axel said. Olivia then spotted the lever that was sitting on a block. "Jesse! The switch! Now! Do it!" Olivia shouted.
"Ohhh, arms don't fail me now." Jesse leaned out of her cart, lava boiling bellow her, and flicked the lever as they zoomed past it. "Yeah!" cheered Jesse, "Woo!"
The carts came to a sudden stop, jolting its passengers, and the billions of pistons below them, starting to go down.
Jesse chuckled, "Huh, wow! I thought something bad was going to happen there, but, heh," she looked over her shoulder at the others. "I guess everything's going to be- woah!" she was cut off as the carts began moving again, taking sudden and unexpected turns, their passengers giving surprised yells.
And then Jesse was now alone with the one empty cart. 'I wished I could've asked Ivor to come with us so I wouldn't be alone.' she thought in her head.
"Uhhh, Axel?" Jesse called out, "Olivia? Reuben? Anyone?"
A squeal cut through the silence, and Jesse's head snapped left as Reuben's cart was revealed, a skeleton in the cart in front of him. 'Oookay, not going to question that right now.' she thought.
Jesse's cart turned so that she was right alongside Reuben's. She stood up, drawing her sword, "Hang on, Reuben!" The skeleton aimed another arrow at the pig, but Jesse hit it with her sword and it turned towards her. But before it could fire, she stabbed at it and it fell out of the cart and into the lava below.
"Reuben!" said Jesse happily. Reuben oinked at her with a grin, hopping into Jesse's previously-empty cart. "Okay, Reuben, remember how I said everything was going to be just fine before? I know I was wrong then but I have a very good feeling about this time- whoa!" A ghast flew over their heads with a cry, turning around to face her, and two more backing it up.
The middle ghast shot a fireball, and Jesse screamed, "Duck!" She covered her with her hands, the fireball hit her sword and rebounding and hit the ghast, hurting it.
Jesse straightened, looking from her sword to the ghasts. She continued with a nice pattern of waiting for the ghasts to throw a fireball at her then she reflected them back at the mobs, defeating them all.
Jesse grinned at her victory and sheathed her sword, Reuben popping up with a squeal from where he's been hiding in the minecart.
"Well," said Jesse, as she sat back down, "Ghast are officially off my to-see list. Done with Ghasts. Never need to see them again."
A ghast is briefly revealed through a hole in the block. Jesse's eyes widened, and they turned the corner, revealing that the tracks go up and up, before running out entirely. A ghast was hovering close by.
The ghast's eyes went red and it shot a fireball at them, hitting Reuben's cart. Reuben squealed and jumped out of it just in time, landing in Jesse's arms. The cart fell off the tracks and into the lava.
The cart turned the corner and began going up, straight towards the air. "This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!" chanted Jesse.
With a scream and a squeal, Jesse and Reuben flew off the tracks and into open air, right in front of the ghast's face, which just watched them, uncaring. Then the cart began to go down, Reuben was still in the air for a brief moment, before they slammed back down onto more tracks and their cart connected to the one in front of them.
Axel, Olivia, and Lukas all turned to face her.
After a moment, Jesse spoke. "Is-ha- is everyone okay?"
"I mean, I'm not dead." said Axel, turning to face the front, "I guess that's pretty good."
"Ditto agreed Olivia, "Ditto on the not dead."
"I just can't believe Petra comes down here all the time." said Lukas, visibly shaken, "This place is awful."
Then, Lukas made a small chuckle, "Your throats going to be sore later, Axel."
Axel raised an eyebrow at him and asked, "Why?"
"I'm just say," said Lukas, "Wasn't that you doing all that screaming before? Sounded like you were really shredding your larynx."
"Oh, yeah," said Olivia, looking over her shoulder to face him, "I heard that too. Really high-pitched? Kind of like a squeaky piston?"
"W-what?" asked Axel, "No. Shut up."
"Never mind." said Lukas, although he was still grinning, "Must have been something else."
"Easy for you to say," Jesse told them, "That's more then what most people can say. Their bones are probably still sizzling away in the lava down there."
Lukas then looked back to face her and said, "Wow, morbid."
"Sorry." Jesse apologized as the minecarts rattled on the tracks heading to their destination.
Started: 5/14/17 Finished: 5/29/17
(Hope you like this chapter and tell me what you think about it. Also, who will remember about what happened, Magnus or Ellegaard? We will see what happens in the next chapter, Bye.)