Chapter 63: Whispers and Wings

Alice wasn't sure if she'd be able to defend herself from a hundred tiny enemies above and below as the fight broke out, but Salsh had apparently thought of that as well and teleported her out of the incoming swarm's path. He brought Matthew to her a moment later, and the three assessed the situation.

The endermites seemed more organized this time, some of them crawling up the trees to try and drop onto the Dwellers of the Ashen Fields while others skittered about their feet. Alice watched a few Endermen, Dunera included, try to teleport further ahead, but there were just more mites waiting to attack. It appeared they wouldn't be able to pass without thinning the horde.

"See you. No escape." The three of them had drawn the Triplets' attentions, and their multi-eyed boss pointed at Salsh. "Azhero'guremislar."

He must have been referring to his burly cohort, because the young Enderman trundled forward and chuckled, pounding his large, yellow fists on the ground. Azhero showed no fear as he stared down the three of them, even though he'd be fighting alone; the long-armed girl and their leader remained behind him, simply watching.

"We need to get through, but they look so young," Alice thought unhappily. "I don't know if I can bring myself to hurt them."

The Triplets clearly had no such reservations. Azhero growled, and bright yellow flames ignited in the gaps of his exoskeleton, especially around his neck. A pair of golden fireballs formed in his palms, which he flung at them with a thrust of his arms. Alice stacked a few End stone blocks in front of her and Matthew, only for the pair to be knocked off their feet when the fireballs exploded on contact with her barrier.

As she got back up, she saw Salsh teleport closer to their foe. Azhero grunted and raised his hands to blast again, but Salsh warped a second time, letting the fireballs harmlessly pass by. He reappeared right in front of Azhero and brought down a fist on his head, dazing him. Salsh gave him a shove and he landed on his back, struggling to prop himself up with his oversized arms.

The other two stayed where they were, but the girl who commanded the mites was giving her leader a nervous look. Nearby, the chittering of hundreds of mites and the enraged screeches of the Dwellers were still ringing out.

"Careful, don't hurt them!" Alice cried, against her better judgment.

"You! Worried, for us!" hissed the multi-eyed one. "Lurex'skonaslar say, stop you! Volas'hirnaslar!"

Azhero crawled away as the girl shuffled closer. A group of mites broke away from the rest of the scuffle and climbed up her long arms to cling to her. The yellow growth on her torso pulsated, then she outright tore it free and lobbed it their way. Salsh couldn't completely avoid it, and his foot was pinned to the ground by a dense, sticky-looking material. It wasn't a growth at all, but rather something akin to a spider's silk. Volas began to secrete more from the yellow spot on her chest, bundling it together for another throw.

"I… I can't teleport out of this!" Salsh shouted. "Be careful!"

Alice distanced herself from Matthew, for fear of them being hit and stuck to each other. Volas must have been intimidated by the sight of the mace, because she whimpered and threw a second glob at Alice, this time with a quartet of her mites attached. She was able to avoid the sticky projectile, but the mites had no trouble detaching themselves from it to come after her, and she had to scramble to fend them off.

"Ack, stop it!"

They were too quick to crush with her mace, or even to stomp on. The mites weren't trying to bite through her armor, though; they were merely skittering around her feet. Alice only realized their plan when another glob of yellow webbing managed to hit both of her diamond boots, and she was stuck to the floor in an instant. She looked up to see why Matthew hadn't been covering her: Azhero was back on the offensive, and the two were trading shots at one another at the outskirts of the fight, neither managing to land a solid hit.

The four mites were emboldened, and they began crawling up Alice's diamond leggings once she couldn't move anymore. In a panic, she grabbed one and tossed it away from her, but the remaining three had climbed onto the back of her chestplate to avoid her grip. She thrashed about to try and shake them off, but they held tight. Two began to gnaw at her armor with their mandibles, and she could feel the third approaching her neck.

"No, g-get away!"

There was a cry of alarm, and the mites abruptly hopped off of Alice. Salsh had managed to tear his leg free of the webbing and teleported over to Volas, who he grabbed and threw at the multi-eyed leader as he tried to move closer. The two toppled to the ground in a heap, while the four mites charged for Salsh to protect their master. He ignored them completely, teleporting back to Azhero and knocking him on the head a second time. Alice could see the restraint he was showing; he'd dazed and battered the triplets, but hadn't done anything to seriously harm them.

Azhero warped to his allies' sides as they got back up. He said something Alice couldn't understand, but she'd been around Endermen long enough to recognize the frustration and worry in his tone. The leader thumped his chest again, his numerous eyes darting between Alice and company.

"Strong, but Thital'wagamislar stronger! Now you all lose-"

He was interrupted when Salsh pulled a stone block out of the ground and threw it at him. Thital yelped and jumped out of its way, unharmed but clearly lacking his prior bravado. The triplets shuffled and glanced at each other, then Volas gave another loud whistle before the three disappeared again. The horde of mites broke off their assault, burrowing out of sight or scuttling away into the trees.

"Are you all okay?"

Dunera was approaching to check on them, sporting a few deep bite marks on her legs but otherwise in decent shape. The rest of the Dwellers seemed to be in similar condition: none had been killed in the scuffle (to Alice's relief), but most of them had scratches and bites in their exoskeletons. At least the armor they'd been provided was holding strong. The Cindered One in particular was covered almost head to toe in shallow injuries; her age must have made evading the swarm difficult. She was being supported by a pair of her tribesmen, though she appeared to be insisting she could walk on her own.

"Been worse," Alice sighed. "Those three didn't put up too much of a fight. Salsh… thanks for taking it easy on them."

"I didn't enjoy any of that either," he grunted. "If they're working for the Acolytes, however, we'll likely run into them again. I heard the leader mention Lurex'skonaslar."

"Sounds… kind of familiar," said Matthew. "Where have we heard that?"

Salsh hung his head. "In the bastion. The sentinel addressed her by name… she was the one reanimating the dead."

Alice stowed the mace back in her inventory, but she had a feeling she'd be putting it to use again sooner than later. "Another of their higher-ups, then?"

The Cindered One shouted something, and the Dwellers began to move out deeper into the forest. Dunera translated: "There is no time to waste. The Watchers of the Whispering Groves are still in danger."

The distant groaning of the mob horde had only gotten louder, and Alice thought she could hear the occasional shriek of an enraged Enderman mixed in. She and her team ran to join the Dwellers as they pushed further toward their potential new allies, hopefully before it was too late.

When the group finally reached a clearing in the chorus trees and got a good look at Himassen, Salsh realized just how dire the situation was for its residents.

Even some of the smallest Overworld communities might have been larger. Just over two chunks long and wide, and consisting of minimalistic voidstone brick houses two floors tall at most, Himassen was clearly not designed with prosperity or industry in mind. The bulk of the space was reserved for patches of crops: chorus plants, teal fungi not unlike those from the Nether, and tufts of tall, gold-colored grass. The Watchers were farmers, like Dunera had said, and Salsh would have found their little hamlet quite charming if it weren't currently under attack.

Undead soldiers, armed and armored with stone and leather equipment, were encircling the city while batches of them marched in. About twenty Endermen were all that made up the Watchers, and most of them were much older than Salsh. As such, while defeated zombies and skeletons were visible throughout the streets, their numbers had barely been depleted whereas most of the Watchers had already been subdued. Detained townsfolk were being dragged back to the treeline where a few Acolyte soldiers in purpur armor were waiting. The triplets were there as well, with Volas restraining captured Watchers with more yellow webbing. Those who hadn't been caught just yet were hurriedly teleporting around the city, throwing hasty punches and claw swipes at their undead aggressors, but it was clear they would run out of space to flee to as more soldiers shambled closer.

"Let's go!" Alice cried, drawing her mace and rushing at the line of zombies before them.

The Dwellers charged. They didn't have much of a formation, but truthfully they didn't need much of one against their surprised, mindless enemies. Salsh teleported forward a few paces and grabbed the arm of a skeletal archer before it could take aim, pulling it clean off. Alice caught up to him a moment later and swung her mace, smashing apart the rest of the skeleton and sending bones flying. A pair of zombies with stone blades closed in on them, but an arrow embedded in each of their heads and caused them to topple over.

"Don't go too far ahead!" Matthew said as he caught up, reloading his crossbow.

Endermen and undead collided in a loud, messy skirmish. Salsh stayed close to his friends, battering and smashing any approaching mobs while Matthew handled the ranged threats. The Dwellers rapidly teleported around to distract the horde, soon joined by the remaining Watchers. Likewise, the undead encircling Himassen broke their own formation to join the brawl. Mites were emerging from the trees as well, further adding to the confusion. Salsh spotted Lurex'skonaslar at the treeline, recognizing her bright yellow robe. She gave him a frustrated glare when their eyes met, then spoke a command to the Acolytes that he couldn't hear.

One by one, the triplets, Lurex, and her fellow Endermen teleported away, bringing the captured Watchers with them. The mites fled as soon as they'd come, perhaps realizing their master had left, which left the dwindling zombies and skeletons to fend for themselves.

Before long, Himassen was littered with the bodies of the reanimated troops. Their eyes, previously glowing violet, were pitch black and empty as usual. Yet the outcome couldn't be called much of a victory, for when Salsh got a look at the battlefield he realized quite a few Dwellers of the Ashen Fields had been killed by the sheer numbers. Dunera was openly weeping as she knelt beside the miserable form of one of them, an younger Enderman riddled with stab wounds to his stomach. The armor Alice and Matthew had crafted was durable, but they hadn't gathered enough materials to make gear which would fully cover the Dwellers. Everyone had known the risks, yet Salsh didn't feel any better as mournful cries rang out around him. He and the Overworlders had gotten through the fight unscathed- next time, he didn't know if they'd be so lucky.

One of the remaining Watchers approached the Cindered One. Hunched in posture and with gray speckles all over his exoskeleton, he looked about as old as her. Salsh listened in on their conversation, not that either of them were doing much to keep it to themselves.

"Canros'rutnasreis… it has been some time," he declared, giving her a short bow.

She returned it. "Well met, Yarros'hazmissen. I… apologize that we could not arrive sooner."

"We'd not called for you," Yarros replied, shaking his head with a gruff sigh. "When the Acolytes of the Violet Gaze first threatened us, we sent for aid from the Fliers of the Open Skies. Our messengers never returned, and we were left to our own defenses. What are you doing here?"

The Cindered One- Canros- looked Salsh's way. "Come, friend. I believe you should introduce yourself."

Reluctantly, he shuffled over to them and bowed to his elder. "Greetings, sir. I am Salsh'namisherad. I have, of late, been seeking a means of undermining the Terman'eslar."

"Terman'esherad?" asked Yarros. "I have not seen one of you in a while. How fares your tribe? Have they been overrun as well?"

His heart sank at the thought. "I'm uncertain. Our new goal has been to rally as many tribes as we can to face the Acolytes ourselves, before they can conquer the Hallowed Grounds."

Canros chimed in again. "This young one helped us when the oppressors were threatening our city. I believe cooperation is the ideal solution, and so we followed him here to the Land of Infinite Void."

Yarros was listening, but when she finished he didn't respond, instead pointing behind them both. "And as for them?"

Salsh knew who was being addressed before he turned to follow his gesture. Matthew and Alice were at Dunera's side, attempting to comfort her yet looking shaken by the losses. A few of the remaining Watchers were giving them skeptical looks.

"They are my friends," he finally replied, facing Yarros again. "I'd have never made it here without their help. They can be trusted, I swear this."

"Two Walkers of the Bright Sky and Blue Pain," Yarros hummed. "Rare is it to see such creatures enter our world, even the representatives of-"

"Up there!" exclaimed one of the Dwellers of the Ashen Fields.

Everyone looked overhead to see three enormous vessels, coated in purpur plating, floating above Himassen. Salsh had heard of the Flyers of the Open Skies, a nomadic tribe which resided in a fleet of airships, but it was the first time he'd seen them before. The ships floated silently, gliding along without disturbing the sky around them.

"It took them long enough," grumbled Yarros. Then he spoke louder, shouting up to the fleet. "I am pleased to see you, Flyers of the Open Skies! The Acolytes of the Violet Gaze have captured several of us, we need your help to catch up to them!"

Six Endermen leaped from the edge of each ship, but rather than plummeting to the forest below they instead soared over the city on what appeared to be gray, membranous wings. Each wore a smooth-plated iron helmet which fully covered their face save for a thin slit in the middle, through which the green glow of their eyes was visible. They maintained a slow, circling pattern above the crowd until all of them had entered formation.

"Something feels off about this," he thought. "What are they doing?"

Then they dove, streaking toward the assembled forces and tossing bottled splash potions. Dark green fumes burst free, and Salsh couldn't warp in time to avoid the impact. Immediately, he felt like his exoskeleton had tripled in weight, and all energy left his muscles. He stumbled, barely able to stay on his feet.

"L-look out!" he heard Alice shout.

Slowly, wearily, he turned to see one of the Fliers streaking toward him with an outstretched fist. He couldn't warp or even dodge aside before impact.

Everything was falling apart. Kidnapped Watchers, dead Dwellers, and now they were under attack by flying Endermen. Matthew wasn't sure if their new aggressors were more Acolytes, but as he and Alice narrowly avoided contact with the fumes of slowness, he knew they weren't reinforcements.

Salsh had been knocked out quickly, and the rest of the friendly Endermen were being subdued as well. Those few who'd escaped the initial barrage were swarmed by the flying soldiers and pinned to the ground, battered until they could not teleport away. The older ones Salsh had been speaking with were among the first to be captured, and Matthew saw Dunera struggling in the grip of two much taller Endermen as well.

"Matt, above you!"

A winged soldier diving toward him with his claws outstretched. Panicking, he took aim and fired an arrow, which the Enderman rolled around in midair before continuing his charge.

Alice was next to attack, just before he could grab Matthew. She took a wide swing of her mace when the Enderman came into range and struck the side of his chest, knocking him into a tumble on the ground. He clutched the wound with a growl as he got back up, then hissed something in Endish. A second winged soldier had taken notice of them, and Matthew fumbled through his inventory for another bundle of arrows as the next enemy came swooping down.

When he shot his crossbow again, the Enderman literally took the arrow head-on, letting it bounce harmlessly off his iron helmet. But Matthew's attack wasn't completely ineffective, and he watched in surprise as the soldier crashed straight into the ground in a daze. A closer look at his weapon revealed the answer: he'd fired one of the yellow arrows Jurum had provided, and it had caused the Enderman's helmet to glow bright white upon contact. He had essentially flashed a blinding light into his foe's face to disorient him, and the helmet continued to glow as the soldier remained motionless. Before Matthew could load another spectral arrow, he was lifted off the floor from behind. The first winged Enderman had teleported to him and wrapped him in a tight grasp, and he could feel the diamond plating of his armor straining under the pressure.

"Get off him!"

The Enderman teleported, still clutching Matthew, to avoid a swing of Alice's mace. With his arms pinned he couldn't reload his crossbow, so he settled for kicking at his captor's knee as hard as he could. The blow wasn't very strong, but the impact of his diamond boot was enough to make the soldier stumble, and he was distracted long enough for Alice to close in from the side and swing again. Her mace struck him in the head, and Matthew heard the Enderman's helmet crumpling before he went limp and toppled over.

He pulled himself free of the dead soldier's arms just as the one he'd blinded was standing back up. The Enderman growled and threw aside his still-glowing helmet before teleporting toward them. He sidestepped Alice's mace and lashed out, raking across her chestplate with his claws hard enough to leave gashes in the armor. When she tried to hit him again, he simply kicked her to the ground. Matthew jumped between them with another glowing arrow loaded, but the Enderman swiped the crossbow right out of his hands and tossed it away. Fumbling through his inventory again, Matthew withdrew a pickaxe just as his foe was swinging a claw his way, and the point dug into the Enderman's open palm. Wrenching it free, he followed by lunging forward and driving the head of the pick against the soldier's torso, causing a hideous scraping noise as it bore against his exoskeleton. The Enderman responded with an enraged scream and punched him across the jaw, knocking Matthew sprawling. He'd bought time for Alice to get back up, and she was ready for another finishing blow. As the Enderman shakily tried to remove the pickaxe, she leaped and smashed the mace right into the front of his helmet. He teetered, then slumped onto his knees and hit the ground hard.

Matthew wanted to vomit. They'd killed both Endermen in brutal fashion, and he just felt sickened at what they had done. Yet there wasn't even time to reflect, because they realized the rest of the fight had already ended. The winged Endermen flying back to their ships, carrying the captured Dwellers and Watchers with them. Their wings didn't seem strong enough to carry them alone, and as such they were taking flight using- of all things- firework rockets, exactly like those from the Overworld. They didn't pay any mind to Matthew, Alice, or the two dead soldiers, and the ships began to fly away once they were all aboard.

"No… no, no…!"

This couldn't be happening. Salsh and the others were taken prisoner, while he and Alice would be abandoned in that empty forest with no way home, or to follow them.

"Matt," he heard from behind him. "Come here, quick."

Alice spoke in a dull, serious tone suggesting she was doing a better job of keeping it together than he was. She had taken items from the dead Endermen and was handing him a pair of the gray wings. They weren't part of their bodies after all, but rather attached by a clasp and worn like capes. She was removing her damaged chestplate to comfortably fit into them, and he followed her lead.

"Now, take these. We have to catch up to them."

She was handing him a stack of firework rockets. They didn't seem to have explosive charges built-in, so there was no chance of them detonating in their faces, but he wasn't feeling confident about using them to take flight.

"Ugh, get a grip… Salsh and the others are in trouble. I can do this… I have to do this."

The ships had already gained some distance by the time they had retrieved their weapons. Matthew had seen the Endermen's wings spread out on their own once airborne, seemingly without manual input from their wearers, and he hoped the same would apply for them. One wrong move could lead to a crash-landing into the forest, or worse a plummet into the endless void below.

"Here goes," Alice said through grit teeth.

He watched her ignite a rocket and hold on. It shot into the sky, carrying her with it, and sure enough her wings unfurled on their own. Matthew took a deep breath and did the same, launching out of the forest and into the open air. His wings spread out once his rocket had carried him to the highest point it could, and he began to glide in the direction of the fleeing airships with Alice a short ways ahead.

"We can't be seen!" she called over her shoulder. "I've got it, use another one!"

They each lit a second rocket, this time propelling themselves forwards. Matthew had to force himself not to look down, as there was no longer solid ground below their feet. The ships were fast, but the two were able to catch up after using a few more fireworks. They reached the nearest (and one of the smallest) airships, slowing down just enough to not slam into its back, then desperately clung to the purple bricks of the hull. Losing their grip would mean taking a long, possibly endless fall.

"What now?" he asked once they were relatively secure.

"I don't know where they're headed, but if we're gonna rescue Salsh then we'll have to take over the ships," said Alice. "Ready, Matt?"

He didn't think he could handle much more violence, not after the fight they'd just had. But there wasn't any alternative that he could think of, so he mustered his courage and nodded.

The pair began to dig into the hull with their pickaxes, reluctantly bracing themselves for the fighting that would follow.

"I was disgusted with myself. My lifelong enemies were slaves who weren't even interested in attacking us. This revelation was lost on Steve, who only saw it as a chance to find whatever even greater entity was controlling the Endermen and to kill it, as the ultimate test of strength."