The Update
Einshine's head shot up, and he looked around alertly.
Hadn't he just heard something?
Something that almost sounded like a rumble, but it had been too distant to determine clearly.
Worried, Einshine closed his eyes and tried to listen again.
What could it have been?
"So, what are we going to do now?"
Einshine grimaced as Jason's loud voice broke the silence, depriving him of any chance to hear anything else.
"You said yesterday that we would make a plan tomorrow on how to defeat Null and return the powers to Steve and the others."
"I know," he heard Roxana say moments later in a tired voice, "but it won't be that simple."
She had been the last on the night watch and was probably just as exhausted as everyone else who had also kept watch, although Einshine thought the whole thing hadn't really been necessary.
Only Herobrine and Steve had been able to sleep through the night, but really need it.
They still looked terrible...
Well, not that I care, Einshine quickly added before he could feel any more pity for them. The only reason I'm still here is because of Nuka...
With this thought, he turned his gaze to Nuka, who sat next to Herobrine, munching on his half-eaten piece of bread that Roxana had given him for breakfast.
Well, if you can even call it breakfast... he added, looking at his own piece of bread.
But he knew it wasn't Roxana's fault.
They just didn't have anything else left...
"We have to be very careful when it comes to Null," Roxana continued with a serious tone. "After all, he has the powers of three gods in his hand, not to mention his own. Can we even defeat someone like him? We don't even know where he is..."
"If I may interject," Steve chimed in at that moment with a raspy voice, "I'm pretty sure he's in my castle. At least he wanted to take us there after taking over, to... to get rid of us... and it would also explain why he created the barrier around them."
"Well, even if that's the case," Roxana continued with a concerned tone, "how are we going to get there? We're still near Melodia, and with you and Herobrine in tow, it will take weeks to reach Skylor, especially if we only move underground. And even if we didn't, it would still take far too long..."
"If I may interject," Einshine raised his head and looked surprised as Herobrine, who was still tiredly sitting next to Nuka, spoke up.
"Instead of wasting our time traveling through the Overworld, we could use the Nether. We would get to Skylor much faster, and we could stop by my castle and..."
However, startled gasps from the others and a mocking snort from Steve interrupted him.
"Oh, what a suggestion," he replied a second later, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why would you allow us to that? You never let anyone into your castle. Or do you plan to kill us when we get there? "
"Listen," Herobrine responded with a deep sigh, visibly annoyed by Steve's response, "I know the Nether is dangerous. But it's our only chance to get to Skylor in time... besides, we're running out of food, Roxana has almost no potions left, and hardly any of you have weapons or armor to defend yourselves, let alone fight against... against Null. But we can get all of that and more from my castle, so why shouldn't we go there?"
A thoughtful silence filled the room as a response.
"I understand your idea," Roxana finally responded slowly, "but how do we get there?"
"Oh, don't worry about that," Herobrine replied grimly. "I can locate my castle from anywhere in the Nether. All I need is a Nether portal."
"I see," Roxana responded thoughtfully, causing Steve to look at her with a shocked expression.
"Wait, you're not seriously considering this, are you?" he asked alarmed, to which Roxana turned to face him again.
"Well, what else can we do?" she asked him. "It seems to be the only way to reach Skylor before yours and Herobrine's bodys fail, and no one else seems to have any ideas, right?"
With these words, she looked around the room with a questioning gaze, but no one answered her.
Steve snorted contemptuously, then leaned back with crossed arms and muttered something that Einshine didn't understand.
He wasn't thrilled about going back to the castle either, but he saw that Herobrine was right with what he was saying.
They needed weapons to stand against Null, and Herobrine had more than enough of them in his castle.
Plus, the way to Skylor would be much faster and easier.
Something that was certainly important, considering the physical condition of the two.
I can't believe how much they've deteriorated in such a short time, he added, with another glance at Herobrine. Let's hope that Steve's hunch is right and Null is really with Skylor. Otherwise, we're all doomed.
"The idea is good and all," he heard Jason say with a serious tone, "but how do we get to the Nether? None of us has obsidian blocks or a diamond pickaxe with them."
"That doesn't matter," replied Steve with a grim voice.
Clearly, he was still not thrilled with the idea but was still willing to help. Probably because he knew that despite his aversion, it was the best idea.
"I can build a Nether portal for us even without those things," he continued. "All I need is a bucket of water and a lava pool."
"Well, I think we can get those," Roxana replied, visibly relieved that this problem was solved so quickly. "Aurora, do you know at what height we can find lava pools?"
With these words, she turned to Aurora, who then pulled out a compass and stared at it with a scrutinizing gaze.
"We're currently at height 27," she continued a moment later, still looking at the compass. "Lava pools are usually found at height 11, so we're not too far away. I can go and look for them if you want."
"I'm going too!" Einshine heard Nuka say quickly, but Roxana shook her head in response.
"No, I don't want you to go out there again," she continued with a serious look at Aurora. "You were just out there recently."
"Jason, could you go with Nuka instead?" she added, looking at the young man next to Steve with a questioning gaze. But before he could even respond, a loud "No!" from Nuka startled Einshine.
"No?" Roxana repeated, confused, as everyone, including Herobrine, turned to look at Nuka, who had now stood up and strangely appeared very frightened. "Why not?"
"I... I can't go...not with him..!" he finally blurted out, causing everyone, even Steve and Herobrine, to look at him in surprise and shock.
While Einshine waited to see what would happen next, he heard it again.
The rumbling was still there, but by now it had become significantly louder and more threatening, and it was getting closer – very quickly closer!
Alarmed, Einshine stood up and looked worriedly in the direction from which the rumbling was coming, whereupona heated discussion had begun behind him again, but Einshine had no time to listen too.
"Uh, guys?" he asked in concern, but no one seemed to hear him as the rumbling grew nearer and nearer, filling him with more panic!
"Guys!" he shouted again, stepping back and feeling the ground beneath him start to tremble. "There's something–"
But he didn't get any further.
A moment later, a loud crash shook the room, followed by a violent tremor, wich caused him to scream and fell, trying to hold on anything as best he could, while the world around him shook and crumbled around him!
Einshine closed his eyes as he heard the floor, walls, and ceiling around him crack and crash, followed by the screams and shouts of the others, expecting to be crushed at any moment by falling stones and debris!
But, nothing happened.
The shaking and rumbling persisted, but the sound of cracking and breaking had stopped, but Einshine still didn't dare to move until suddenly someone called his name.
Confused, Einshine raised his head and was startled to see a partially collapsed cave with several cracks in the floor and ceiling!
But despite the tremors, these areas had strangely not collapsed, but he quickly found out why.
In the middle of the room, Nuka was kneeling, his arms raised, seemingly using his powers to keep the roof from collapsing, his whole body crealy trembling from the effort he was putting in!
"G-get out of here!" he managed to say briefly while glancing at Einshine, whereupon he Einshine noticed Roxana and the others already left the room and were already almost out of the danger zone.
"I-I don't know how... how much longer I can hold this!" Nuka added, his voice strained, before groaning again, struggling hard to keep all the weight up!
Startled, Einshine got up and tried to make his way over the still trembling and shaking ground towards the others.
However, he didn't get very far.
A moment later, he bumped his head hard against something invisible to him, which brought him down again and almost made him lose consciousness!
Despite this, he immediately tried to get up again, but the dizziness and pain made it impossible for him to locate the others accurately, wich caused him to collapsed once more, unable to rise again.
That's it, he thought desperately as he lay there and heard the crashing above him starting again. I won't make it out of here in time...
However, before he knew what was happening, someone grabbed his arm, followed by the familiar sound of teleportation, while everything around him starting collapsing!
A short time later, he reappeared not far from the collapsing noises, and he could hear the shocked and confused shouts of the others!
Still confused and scared he lifted his head and looked around.
He was in a small corridor that had fortunately been spared from the collapse, and the others had sought refuge there as well.
Next to him was Nuka, who seemed to be unconscious.
Before Einshine could ask what had happened, he heard a scream and saw Herobrine kneeling beside Nuka, desperately trying to wake him up, but without success.
Dismayed, Einshine observed the entire situation.
Had this been his fault?
A few minutes later, the rumbling subsided, along with the shaking, much to the relief of everyone else, as the danger of being crushed by falling rocks was now much lower.
"What in the Nether was that?!" Jason exclaimed a second later, shocked, as he glanced at the still cracked ceiling.
"I have no idea," Steve replied softly, as Roxana knelt beside Nuka and examined him with a worried look. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say it's an update, but Notch couldn't... couldn't have done it."
"Maybe it was Null," Jason suggested quietly as he tried to carefully shore up the ceiling with wooden blocks in the hope of protecting it from future collapses.
"But why would he do that?" Aurora asked softly, crouched in a corner and gazing at the ceiling with a troubled look. Jason just shrugged.
"No idea," he replied bitterly as he continued working on shoring up the ceiling. "Maybe he wanted to lure us out or just crush us outright? Who knows why that crazy guy does anything?!"
"Is he okay?" Einshine heard Herobrine ask Roxana with a concerned tone. Roxana just sighed.
"Well, yes," she replied uncertainly. "He's... fine... for now. But he's very exhausted, and without proper help, it could... become dangerous."
Einshine froze as he heard that and felt a wave of guilt wash over him.
He never wanted this to happen…
"I'm... I'm sorry," he finally whispered, but Herobrine just snorted contemptuously.
"Save it!" he spat bitterly. "You shouldn't have been here in the first place!"
"Why did you even come with Nuka?!" he continued angrily a second later. "So far, all you've done is annoy and burden us!"
Einshine swallowed hard as he heard that.
He knew Herobrine never like him, but his words were far from comforting, even if they were true.
"It's none of your business why I'm here," he dared to say. "Nuka wanted me to come and protect him, and that what I will do!"
"Yeah, and look at how that turned out!" Herobrine growled darkly.
But before he could say more, Roxana intervened.
"That's enough!" she said sternly as she placed herself between the two.
"We need to quickly find a lava pool and get to the Nether so that Nuka can get medicine and help in time. After that, you can continue your quarrel."
"Alright," Jason responded halfheartedly before turning to Steve and offering a hand, looking at him inquisitively. "Are you coming?"
"Sure," Steve replied calmly, crossing his arms in front of his chest and adopting a stern expression to Herobrine. "But first, I want to know why you," he pointed at him, "didn't you tell us that Null and Nuka have the exact same powers!"