Review replies:
Okuri-Chan: YOOOO congrats! I hope you're enjoying it! Valkyries can not have children, no.
LPK9: Agreed. They need to be chained to a wall again.
"There." Herobrine whispered, crouching down just beyond the crest of the hill. About twenty feet away was a skyroot tree, under which sat his brother, reclined against the trunk and munching on a golden apple as he studied the book in his lap.
Kayden crouched down beside him, frowning. "You're sure you can hit him from here?" He whispered back.
"'Course I can." Herobrine told him proudly. "You just be ready. Watch." Straightening up, he took aim, then pitched a pebble at the unsuspecting Steven's head.
Just before it made contact, however, the pebble was knocked harmlessly out of the air by an invisible force, and Steven's blue eyes flashed as he turned to face him.
Herobrine scrambled back with a gasp, only to nearly lose his balance when rock jutted out of the ground and clamped around his ankle. He teleported free, but a second spike caught his other ankle, and this time he fell straight on his face. Under the tree, Steven got up and started to approach, and Kayden immediately took off. "Hey!" Herobrine shouted after him, trying in vain to muster the strength to teleport again. "Traitor!" He struggled for a moment longer before giving up, looking up sullenly as Steven stopped before him with a smug look on his face.
"What exactly did you think was going to happen?" Steven asked. "Throwing rocks at me." Herobrine just glared at him.
"Let me go, or I'm telling Notch."
"Yeah?" Steven arched a brow. "You wanna tell him how you ended up in this mess?" Brine opened his mouth, then shut it.
"You started it." He finally protested.
"YOU started it." Steven countered. "Unless you're denying that you trapped a dozen aerbunnies in my room."
"No, I'm definitely taking credit for that." Herobrine assured him. "But I only did that because YOU sabotaged the strength potions I was brewing. And don't try to deny it!" He added as Steven opened his mouth to protest. "Lila saw you slinking around!"
"I wasn't SABOTAGING, I was just curious." Steven tried to defend himself. "What did you need strength potions for, anyway?"
"I told Tobias I could beat him in a fight." Brine said nonchalantly.
"So you were trying to cheat."
"No, I STILL beat him." Brine argued. "The potion would just make it easier. And nobody said I couldn't use a strength potion."
"It's common sense, Brine, it's called being sportsmanlike." Steven sighed, sinking down cross-legged in the grass beside his trapped younger brother. "What was the plan behind throwing a rock at me, anyway? And what was Kayden doing here?"
"Kayden was here to help me with step two of my plan," Brine informed him, trying again to wiggle his ankle free. Steven hiked up a brow.
"...which was?"
"I'm not going to tell you." With that, Herobrine finally managed to teleport free, scrambling upright and taking off running away from his brother.
"HEY!" Steven jumped to his feet to give chase, and Herobrine cackled as he sprinted across the island to make his escape.
Meryl tipped her canteen upside-down, frowning as not even a single drop of water fell from the spout.
"I have a little left," The queen told her from where she watched. "But not much." Meryl blew out a frustrated breath.
"And once we've all run out of water, what then?"
"Well, piglins get their drinking water from the giant mushrooms," Tekno told them. "The sap is basically water."
"But we're trying to stay away from the mushroom forests, because of hoglins, right?" Meryl pointed out.
"Yeah," Tekno agreed. "But if it's between possible hoglins and definitely dying of thirst, I'm picking hoglins." Meryl made a face, but she couldn't argue with that.
It was nearly impossible to keep track of the time with no visible day or night, but Meryl estimated that it was now the third day since they had been separated from their guide and lost in the Nether. As they had only planned for a short reconnaissance mission, their supplies were quickly running out, and they were no closer to finding their way back to the capitol. Even the queen, who had maintained a cheery disposition since the attack, was beginning to grow concerned.
They had eventually left the soulsand valley and returned out into the wastes, though none of their group thought it looked at all familiar. Meryl still thought that they would be better off traveling by air, but at the same time they could be making more ground in entirely the wrong direction.
Meryl tucked her empty canteen back into her knapsack, falling into step with the others as the party began to move again. Dying of thirst in the Nether certainly was not among the ways she thought she would go out.
Her thoughts went to Evangeline. Was she running low on supplies as well? She had Herobrine with her, and likely Alex as well, both of whom were intimately familiar with the Nether. They were most likely faring far better than Meryl and her group was. However…
Meryl huffed a quiet sight. Evangeline's feelings towards Herobrine were no secret, especially not to her - Meryl had heard talk of him countless times over the past forty years. While Meryl hadn't known the man long enough to understand her best friend's attraction, she had always done her best to be supportive. Herobrine, on the other hand…
Meryl didn't believe that he could be stupid enough to have not noticed the way that Evangeline acted around him, so he must be purposefully avoiding her. Meryl knew that Eve wouldn't accept this without a fight, so, now that they were stuck together… sparks were sure to fly, of one kind or another. Meryl just hoped that whatever went on between them wouldn't distract them from the hazards of the Nether. She loved Evangeline dearly, but her best friend could at times be governed more by her heart than her head.
Before her, Tekno and the queen were chatting quietly, with Zenith close beside them. Meryl let her gaze wander from their path, studying the plains around them.
Her brown eyes fell upon a strange figure, and she stuttered to a stop.
"What is that?" She struggled to keep her voice low, not wanting the- whatever it was to hear her. Her exclamation caught the attention of the others, and Tekno's face fell into a frown as he stepped over to her side.
"I don't know." He said quietly. "But it doesn't look that friendly, does it?"
The creature in question was about fifty feet away from them, ambling across the netherrack with no great urgency. It was tall - how tall, Meryl couldn't tell from this distance, but likely taller than her. It was bipedal and humanlike in its movements, but it had no skin or flesh. Instead, its body was comprised of charred, black bones, with vacant eye sockets and a face frozen in a permanent grimace. Its body seemed to give off a wispy black smoke with every step, and it clutched a gray sword in the stiff fingers of its right hand.
"Up," Zenith ordered. "There's land above us." Without waiting for agreement, he scooped up the queen and took off, and Meryl followed with Tekno a moment later.
"I've never seen anything like that before." The queen was muttering as Meryl set her passenger down on the ledge. "Nor heard of, for that matter."
"Looks like it didn't see us at least," Tekno said. Sure enough, the walking skeleton continued to wander in a straight line past where they had been walking.
"I haven't heard of anything like this either," Meryl said, crouching down to get a better look. "But I do know of a certain valkyrie who makes his business of reanimating the dead."
"You're right, of course." Zenith agreed. "I suppose making zombies of piglins wasn't enough for him."
"Does this mean that your 'Sirben' is close by?" The queen asked. Meryl couldn't tell if she was concerned or excited.
"Hard to say." Tekno shrugged. "We don't yet know his area of influence."
"Either way, we're hardly in a position to confront him as we are now," Meryl pointed out. "We have hardly any supplies, and we're not prepared for battle - especially against a foe that potentially has an army of undead."
"Meryl's right. If Sirben is here, we'd be best off leaving him for another day." Zenith nodded. "I-"
"Look!" The queen cut him off, pointing. Meryl looked up, then turned to follow her gaze. Off to the left of where they had been walking was what appeared to be some kind of settlement, buildings tucked into the side of a cliff. "Perhaps we can find supplies there."
"It's worth a shot." Tekno agreed. "And, even if not, maybe they can point us in the direction of home."