Chapter 19: Concrete Halls
*crack-crack*
The Blaze's rods began rotating at an increasingly faster rate, creating sparks that disintegrated on the floor. The way it had engulfed itself in a bright, cracking, orange fire made it look like an oversized candle flame. The temperature around it increased, and even being close to this thing was enough to make one sweat. Fire resistance would've been really handy...
It eventually flew up, way out of reach, and launched three fireballs in our general direction. Two of them landed on our left and right, just barely grazing us. As for the third one, I attempted to block it by reflex. I honestly regretted doing so at that moment, because it was only natural to assume that a tool made of wood and iron would be easily flammable, but still, reflexes aren't easy to control.
Miraculously, however, it worked! I didn't know how, but I was thankful, nonetheless.
Rana was standing behind me, peeking over my shoulder. Once the fire elemental creature was done unleashing its pent-up attacks at us, it slowly dropped to the floor, and the fire that had been lit within it, reverted back to smoke. Its metallic breaths were slightly more labored than before, and its rods rotated more slowly.
We weren't really sure what to do, other than to keep observing. This may not have been the first ranged attacker we were up against, but they were the first with the ability to significantly alter the environment. Even a simple approach was a risky maneuver.
It didn't take long before the blaze reignited itself, floated upwards, shot out three more fireballs, and dropped again. A consistent, yet rather predictable pattern... The gears in my head began turning.
"Rana, I may have an idea on how to go about this."
"What did you come up with?"
I told her my plan, and she seemed on board with it.
As the Blaze was beginning to elevate, I carefully navigated around the flames, in order to get closer to the staircase. I was en garde the entire time, and Rana kept up behind me. Once the life-sized flame concluded one more cycle of attacks, Rana left my cover, and closed the distance between herself and the enemy. She got ready, and attempted to douse the Blaze, using one of the water buckets we were given.
To my dismay, the plan failed, for the moment the water left the bucket, it instantly evaporated. I didn't know why that happened, as the air clearly wasn't hot enough to boil water, but at that point, I was beginning to accept that the Nether had its own, unique ways of messing with us. I couldn't get a good view of what was happening, due to my position, but neither Rana nor the Blaze seemed to be doing any movement. Without a warning, the former let out a scream, and ran back to me for cover.
"Are you okay!?"
"I'm fine! I'm fine!...Man, that was scary..."
"I'm sorry...Do you think the water bottle will work?"
She paused for a moment, probably to remember the fact that we were given one in the first place.
"Oh! Maybe? Hold on, cover me for a sec."
"Okay..."
The Blaze's attacks, though still ineffective, were still being dished out adamantly. I didn't know how long our defenses would last for...
"Ugh...I can't get it to open! Can you try?"
She handed me the bottle, and I tried as hard as I could, but it just wouldn't budge. Twisting, pulling, pushing and then pulling – nothing worked.
"This thing is jammed shut! How is anyone supposed to use this?"
"I have an idea, but it's kind of stupid..."
"Now is not the time for second guessing! What do you have in mind?"
"I'm going to throw the bottle at the blaze, and hopefully the heat will be enough to shatter it. What do you think?"
Thinking about it, it didn't seem like we had any other options; what use had a bottle that couldn't be opened?
"Sure, I don't see why not. Here."
I returned the item in question to her, and she took a moment to look back and forth between the bottle in her hand, and the enemy. This continued on for a few seconds, before she took a sidestep, and chucked the encapsulated water at the blaze.
From my point of view, the bottle shattered as it made contact, and the water didn't evaporate before extinguishing the newly formed flames on the Blaze's core. The golden monster collapsed on the floor. Its rods were rotating significantly more slowly while some were even colliding against the floor, and its breaths were raspy and shallow.
Not wanting to risk another close encounter, I attacked the weakened Blaze as quickly as I could, and it soon perished, leaving behind one of its rods.
"Nice teamwork!" I heard her say.
"Nice teamwork, indeed! Good call, by the way."
"Hehe, thanks, but this was your idea."
I picked up the loot with the intent to craft it into blaze powder right away, as Johnathan had instructed us, but I ended up admiring it for a moment. It was heavy, warm, and rather shiny.
"Hey, since you're the one who has the ender pearl, would you like to do the honors?" I asked, before offering the rod to my partner. She accepted it and crafted it into a golden powder. It was at that moment, in which we possessed both of the components for the eye of ender, the key to this mission.
A few moments later, we both held the eye in our hands. It was bigger than a fist, and much like in the book, it had a dark green color that got progressively lighter the closer to the center it went. The iris was slightly animated, in a manner similar to how a stream gravitates toward the lower elevation, which in this case, was the pupil. In terms of shape, the pupil was similar to a cat's while exposed to sunlight.
"It's beautiful!" she pointed out in amazement.
"I...don't really agree..."
"Really?"
"Yeah...it's peculiar, but it also gives me an eerie vibe of sorts."
"I guess I can see that."
"Anyway, it's about time we went home, don't you agree?"
"Oh, totally! I'm fed up with this place."
As it would turn out, this place was also getting fed up with us, as evident by the sudden outburst of metallic breathing. More blazes had shown up, and they were descending the staircase in front of us.
We made a run for it, scurrying our way back through the halls, the stairs, and finally, the bridge. Not only did we not encounter any other mob during our escape, but the blazes had also lost us at some point, which meant we wouldn't have to rush while walking down the winding staircase.
As we were slowly getting back on ground level, I was feeling exceptionally grateful for Rana's initiative to expand the width of the steps. I was feeling so grateful, in fact, that I'd almost forgotten how easy it'd be for someone to get sent tumbling to their death from this height...
Once a few more, arduous moments passed, we found our feet touching the ground again, and I drew a sigh of relief. We began our trip back to the portal. The thought that not only had we managed to complete a pivotal step in our quest, but that we'd also be back in our soft, warm beds, made me giddy.
As we trod through the same areas we'd been through, one of the ambient cries of the Nether could be heard, only louder than usual. I didn't really think much of it at first, seeing as how I'd been hearing it for the majority of our stay in the dimension. The only thing I could compare it to, was a sound that a baby could make.
"Do you hear that?"
"Yeah, I wonder what's causing it?"
We kept moving along, navigating through the crimson forest. The high-pitched cry didn't increase in volume, so it wasn't particularly worrisome...until a sharper, more hostile shriek preceded a deafening explosion to our left.
The cap of a giant mushroom had been blown up, and through the gap left behind, I saw an enormous, pale face.
I froze momentarily.
This creature, much like the creeper, or the blaze, was so different compared to anything else, that I couldn't put it under a category. It looked like a massive, paper-white cube, with tentacles at the bottom, much like a squid. Add a thin line for a mouth, two teary eyes – that were now firmly shut, and there it was; another horrifying monstrosity for the collection.
It opened its mouth, which was glowing red, like its eyes, and shot out a black, flaming sphere, aimed at us. Having forcefully recovered from our shock, we just barely managed to evade the attack, which left behind a flaming crater.
We made a run for it. Attacking a creature with such a size difference would be a lost cause. Even if that weren't the case, we'd soon find out that this thing didn't move by crawling, but rather, by floating through the air, all the more reason not to engage in combat.
Being mindful of our step in the uneven terrain, while also trying to look out for spots that would provide cover from the blasts, was very hectic. The fungi were big enough to protect us from quite a few attacks, but the sounds and the vibrations from each explosion were prevalent all around us.
Thankfully, once we left the forest behind, it was a straight shot for the burrow, and the portal. There was a considerable distance between us and the ghastly foe, meaning that there was a good chance we'd be able to escape it.
We were scurrying down the make-shift stairs, the purple glow of the portal already visible, gently illuminating the walls. Once we set foot at the beach, I drew another sigh of relief. Wasting no time, we grabbed each other's hand, and stepped into the frame once more. The same, nauseating transition occurred, but it was slightly more bearable this time, thankfully...
...
̶.̴.̷.̵̸
...
We stepped off the frame, and fresh, clean air filled my lungs once again. We didn't move farther, and I couldn't focus my vision until I could feel the nausea wear off.
Expecting to be greeted by our friends from Cornelia, I was surprised to find that we were completely alone. It was strange... Hadn't Sebastian told us that they'd be there, waiting for us? And yet, there was no trace of them.
Walking away from the general structure of the portal, we continued looking around for signs of at least someone who had been here recently. I hoped that everyone had simply returned to Cornelia, and that nothing bad had happened to them.
In order to readjust to the cold climate, Rana untied her raincoat, and put it back on like she usually had it. It had blood smeared along its sides, forming black stains. It was definitely due to all the brushing against netherrack it had done. Her rainboots were in a similar state, but that was to be expected. I probably wasn't better off, myself.
Her face was also slightly gray, probably due to the close contact with fire, and unclean air. It was okay, though; It was nothing a nice bath couldn't handle.
'Maybe we could...
...
bathe together...'
"..."
"Steve, are you alright?"
"H-huh? Why do you ask?"
"Well, you haven't said anything in a while. Also, your face is red as a tomat-er, apple." She gave me an inquisitive look.
"...Uh, that-"
"Hmm... Oh, I know! Did you remember that one, totally embarrassing thing you did when you were a kid? I've been there..."
"What? No, that's not it. In fact, even if I did do something like that when I was younger, I can't remember it."
To be honest, I was a little surprised that she was still able to crack a joke after all that.
"Ah, right... Forgot about that... Well, that's one more embarrassing moment to add to my ever-growing list! Anyway, honestly, is something bothering you?"
'Great... I wanted to wait for a more appropriate moment to do this, though... Maybe I should just go with it, anyway? She seems to be in a stable mood now...'
I slowly walked up to her and placed my hands on her shoulders. She jumped slightly but didn't say anything. She instead stared deeply into my eyes, anticipating. I slowly dragged my right hand, and let it rest on the side of her neck. I could feel her breathing against my face. It was...intoxicating. I gulped.
"Rana...the truth is, I..."
I felt more nervous than I was expecting... She brushed my hand with her own, as a smile started to shyly twist her lips.
"Yes?"
"I have-"
"Target sighted!" a gruff voice called.
At a moment's notice, we were ambushed by a group of pillagers! They had been hiding on the mountain sides, apparently waiting for us. We were caught completely off-guard, while many pale skinned, crossbow-carrying soldiers charged at us. Even though they had us surrounded, there couldn't have been more than a dozen of them.
"You two! We were ordered to apprehend you. So long as you don't resist, you will not be harmed," one of them shouted in a commanding voice.
"Oh, yeah?" Rana started, "what changed? Aren't you the same guys who tried killing us the last time?
The illager bared his teeth.
"Do not push your luck," he hissed.
As the troops began loading their weapons, I whispered to my partner we should target the closest one together, to which she agreed. In spite of the initial eagerness to fight back, it still felt strange to do so against them. These creatures, who were so similar to the villagers, gave me the impression they could be reasoned with, but if our last encounter was anything to go by, their intentions were anything but pure.
Minor guilt aside, we ran for the closest attacker, in an attempt to break the circle. In spite of our usual mix of attacking and defending, getting away unscathed was impossible, due to our position. Strangely enough, though, the pillagers went down with little resistance. We were practically plowing through them.
The last one remaining was standing on the top of a cliff. They were the same one who had spoken to us earlier. They were holding a banner that had a pattern that resembled the face of a pillager stitched on, which what made me suspect they were an officer of sorts. A captain, perhaps?
The look in their eyes, in conjunction with the trembling of their crossbow gave away the fact that they were afraid. Regardless, they were still shooting, so it wasn't difficult to see why they were put in charge; not many people could manage that much after seeing their comrades being taken out.
Once I delivered a couple attacks, and the banner bearer was taken care of...
I felt a chill run down my spine.
I stopped dead in my tracks, not knowing the reason. Could it have been the cold temperature of the mountain? My gaze gravitated towards the right side of my vision. I saw another tiny symbol that depicted an angry pillager face, with glowing red eyes, and two axes below it.
Curious, I opened my inventory. In the same label that had inscribed the 'Wither' affliction I had had, was now the phrase 'Bad Omen'. The timer didn't seem like it was functioning... Despite the uncomfortable feeling it gave me, I didn't feel much different physically. After a while, I felt a finger poke me in the back.
"Are you okay?"
"Rana, do you see anything different about me?"
"Hmm... No, why? Is something wrong?"
I explained to her the status that was applied to me.
"Uh... Well, I think we should ask Emily, or maybe Sebastian to take care of it. For now, we should hurry; the villagers might be in danger," she stated in a serious tone.
"I guess you're right. Let's get going."
We began descending the mountain. Cornelia was within our sight, the church jutting out among the other buildings. Not many townsfolk were out and about like they usually were, so that made my thoughts race. Had other pillagers come while we were away?
...
We didn't even make it past the outskirts, until the first oddity was made obvious. As we walked by a generic, one storey house, I saw a couple of townsfolk peering at us through the window. The look in their eyes was distraught, and desperate. They wouldn't leave the house, though, so it either wasn't important enough, or...
...
As we left the residential area of the town and drew closer to the well of the main square, I could identify the white and magenta robes that belonged to Sebastian and Emily respectively, as well as Gordon's trademark black apron. The two Council members were facing away from us, so we'd have to speak up to grab their attention.
Before we could manage that, the bell that was placed near the well, started to ring on its own, as though it were possessed. Its ring was low and somber, with noticeable intervals in between. As seconds passed, the frequency and intensity of each clang increased. While this was happening, the three townsfolk turned around and made eye contact with us.
I darted my gaze between each of them, in an attempt to identify their emotions. In their eyes, I saw a mixture of surprise, disbelief, and suspicion. Soon enough, another emotion joined the rest; anger. Or rather, rage; directed at both of us.
The librarian gritted their teeth, before shooting a glare that was identical to the one they had given me on my first day as a resident of the town. The difference here, was that I didn't know what warranted it, this time.
A distant sound of a horn boomed across the valley, and the ground began to quake. We were looking around us frantically, until the cause of the commotion was deduced. An entire army of pillagers was advancing our way, from every direction of the map. There were more of them than I had ever seen before, combined.
"You fools," the librarian started.
"You have doomed us."