Okuri-chan: (zuko voice) that's rough buddy. I'm not a star wars person but I follow some star wars people on tumblr and The Bad Batch is. definitely something! Glad this fic can be of comfort xD
"Getting close…" Alex murmured, picking her way through the teal and cyan undergrowth. The rest of the party followed in a single-file line behind her, Evangeline gazing about in equal parts wonder and apprehension as they went. This place… it was like nothing she had ever seen before.
The warped forest was made out of huge, towering mushrooms, the ground carpeted in smaller fungus and a sort of blueish moss that Alex had called 'nylium'. It was quiet, the only sounds that they could hear being the distant chirps of faraway creatures. While Evangeline couldn't deny that she was unsettled by the atmosphere, those in the group who were familiar with the Nether seemed at ease, so she tried to take comfort in that.
Meryl's wing caught on a dangling vine, and she nearly tripped trying to jerk it free. "This is why valkyries prefer to travel by air," She grumbled.
"Your sense of direction is truly impressive, Alex." The queen called from a few places back. "I've been lost nearly since we stepped into this forest." Alex gave a bashful grin over her shoulder.
"It's my job, your majesty."
It was nearing noon on their second day of travel, and they were rapidly approaching their destination. Evangeline was on high alert, half-expecting a valkyrie in red robes to suddenly pop out of the underbrush. Of course, Sirben was a coward, it was unlikely that they would find him anywhere near potential danger.
"Here we are," Alex called out, and a moment later the party broke out into a small clearing. "I was up there- see?" She pointed out one of the great mushrooms. "Harvesting the shroomlights when that boy showed up."
"Excellent work, Alex." The queen said as she made her way into the clearing. "I knew I could count on you. Now, Herobrine, ladies." The queen gestured around at their surroundings. "Does anything here strike you as out of the ordinary?" At that, the group broke apart, spreading out through the clearing to investigate.
Evangeline stopped beside one of the mushroom trunks, frowning a bit as she studied her surroundings. As a valkyrie who had never been in this part of the Nether, it all seemed rather out of the ordinary. But she knew that the queen was asking more for what was familiar rather than what wasn't, so she kept a keen eye out.
"Alex," Tekno spoke up, ambling through the center of the clearing. "When this kid showed up, which way did he come from?"
"Ah…" Alex spun in a slow circle, orienting herself, before pointing close to where Evangeline stood. "That way." Evangeline shifted over to where she had been directed, and almost immediately something caught her attention.
The foliage around her was primarily quite vibrant, shades of teal, green, and bright blue. Here, however, the vines and moss seemed to be beginning to wilt. Evangeline frowned as she stepped close to study them. The decaying plant life stretched away into the forest, creating a trail of sorts. Perhaps it was unrelated, but maybe…
"Alex," She called out. "Is this normal?" The redhead hurried over to investigate.
"Well… no." She hummed, reaching out to prod at a withering vine. "Plants die, of course, but usually something like this would be accompanied by… chew marks, or something, and I see none of those."
"You're right, it's not normal." Herobrine's voice came an instant before he appeared over Evangeline's shoulder. "But, at the same time, dying plants aren't something we associate with Sirben, either."
"But it is something," Evangeline insisted. "And, at the moment, it is the only thing we have." Herobrine just gave a passive nod.
"Still, we should look around further before committing to any conclusion." He said. Evangeline couldn't argue with that.
"Very well."
The group continued to comb the clearing for about fifteen more minutes, but the trail of wilting plants remained the only thing that stood out to them.
"I don't think there's anything more here to find," Commander Zenith finally announced. "We should head back to the castle and discuss our next move."
"I agree," Herobrine spoke up, but the queen protested.
"If our only clue is a trail of dying plants, should we not follow it now, rather than leaving it to possibly fade in our absence?" She pointed out. "We would risk losing our only lead."
"You, your majesty, should not be following any clue that could potentially lead to an escaped necromancer." Zenith scolded her. The queen just hmphed at that.
"We could split up," Tekno suggested. "Some of us could escort the queen back to the castle, while the others follow the trail.
"That seems wise," Herobrine agreed. "Either Alex or myself will have to accompany the queen back to the capital, as I believe we are the only ones that know the way. I will-" He cut himself off abruptly, going silent. Evangeline gave him a strange look, and after a moment asked,
"What-?"
"Shh." He hushed her. Evangeline bristled, but her attention was redirected a moment later by the sound of distant crashing through the underbrush.
"Hoglins," Alex hissed, going stiff. "But- here? Hoglins don't live in this area-!"
"Neither do piglin zombies, ordinarily." Herobrine snapped. "Zenith, take the queen and get her off the ground. The rest of you-"
Before he could finish his sentence, a huge, pig-like creature burst out from the undergrowth on the opposite side of the clearing, wasting no time in setting its beady eyes on Alex and charging.
Evangeline threw her arms around the young woman and took off, managing to slip through a gap in the great mushroom caps and get them out of the line of danger. Alex yelped in shock, and Evangeline took a sharp right turn, aiming for an outcropping of reddish stone.
"Stay," She ordered, landing just long enough to drop her off before taking off again.
"Wait!" Alex cried after her, but Evangeline had already dropped back down into the clearing.
The creature, 'hoglin' as Alex had called it, was in the center of the clearing facing off against Tekno. Zenith and the queen were gone, evidently having followed Herobrine's order, and Tekno was brandishing his golden battle-axe as the creature huffed and snarled at him. Meryl was with Herobrine on the near side of the clearing, and the latter's blank gaze flickered up as Evangeline landed beside them.
"Ev- both of you, go!" He snapped. "You don't know how to handle these things!"
"What about you and Tekno?" Meryl protested before Evangeline could say anything.
"Ahh, we'll be fine." Tekno called out cheerfully, twirling his axe casually in one hand. "I can fight hoglins in my sleep-" He leaped aside as the beast charged at him, and immediately after a second and third of the creatures appeared at the far end of the clearing.
Evangeline's wide-eyed gaze flickered over to the beasts - each one of them bigger than she was and armed with a set of deadly-looking tusks. She had no idea how to fight these things, she was doubtful that her sword would even bother them, but she couldn't just leave and abandon Herobrine and Tekno to fight them alone. Setting her jaw, she drew her sword, taking a fighting stance.
One of the hoglins turned its gaze on her, and the next thing she knew a hand had seized her by the arm and the world flashed around her.
Evangeline gasped, whirling and coming face-to-face with Herobrine. They were still in the warped forest, but she could no longer hear the hoglins, much less Tekno or Meryl. "What are you doing?!" She demanded, trying to yank her arm free from his grasp. "What about Meryl and Tekno?!"
"Meryl can fly, and you heard Tekno, he knows how to deal with hoglins." Herobrine kept a firm hold of her arm. "They will be fine."
"They would be more fine if we had stayed and fought with them!"
"Evangeline, you have no idea how much damage those things can do!" He said forcefully, holding her by both arms to keep her from breaking away. "Perhaps, between the four of us, we could have taken down one with the equipment we had, but certainly not three. It's not a matter of killing them, but of getting away." Evangeline jerked at his hold a final time, then gave up.
"Alright," She muttered, and he finally let her go. "Where are we?"
"Not far from the clearing." Herobrine glanced around. "We should get out of this forest, so that it isn't so easy for us to be taken by surprise. Hopefully Alex will guide the rest back to the castle, and we can rendezvous there." Evangeline bit her lip.
"Well…"
"Hey!" A voice from above drew their attention, and Evangeline soon spotted their redheaded guide peering over the edge of one of the mushroom caps.
"…ah." Herobrine grimaced. "So the queen is without a navigator."
"We need to find them, then." Evangeline said urgently. "At least she has Commander Zenith with her, but…"
"But she is still vulnerable." Herobrine agreed. "First, we need to get out of this forest." His gaze followed Alex as the young woman scrambled down a teal vine. "Hopefully your commander will have had the same idea."
"There!" Tekno pointed, and Meryl followed his gaze to a blackstone plateau where the queen stood with Commander Zenith. Meryl changed her course, dropping into a spiral to slow her approach before setting Tekno on his feet and landing beside him.
"Are you both alright?" Zenith asked, his gaze sweeping over them in concern. "Where are the others?"
"Herobrine vanished with Eve, and Alex…" Tekno shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. Hopefully with them."
"Well, this is unfortunate." The queen remarked as she lifted a hand to her chin. "I take it neither of you know where we are, either?" Meryl shook her head.
"I wasn't paying much attention to our direction, in the chaos," She admitted. "It's a miracle that we were able to come across the two of you."
"Well, what do we do now, then?" Zenith turned to the queen for her orders. "Do we stay here in the hopes that the others will come across us, or do we pick a direction and hope that it's the right one?" The queen mused over this quietly for a few moments.
"I believe that staying in place would be no safer than moving," She said at last. "And if we travel we're likely to come across a road, or a settlement of some sort, which can point us in the right direction. Besides, we have no guarantee that they will ever come across us."
"Sounds good to me." Tekno agreed, and Zenith nodded as well. The queen turned to Meryl for her input, and the valkyrie shook herself from her thoughts.
"Whatever you think is best, your majesty."
"Then it's settled." The queen nodded decisively, then, as an afterthought, added "I wouldn't worry too much about them, Meryl. Herobrine is a very competent fighter, I have no doubt that he can take good care of your friend." Meryl gave her a strained smile, appreciative of her attempt to be comforting. That was, however, not exactly what she was worried about.
"This way, then?" The queen gestured in the opposite direction of the warped forest that they had fled from, and, when there were no objections, she began to walk.
pls appreciate the new covers for this book series :]
~FFF