"Valor!" Notch's face split in a grin, striding over towards the young man as soon as he'd spotted him. "It's been too long. What brings you here?"
"Good morning," Valor greeted him with a smile. "Nothing in particular, I simply wanted to visit."
"Well I'm happy to see you regardless." Notch threw an arm around his shoulders, nearly knocking poor Valor off balance. "I was just about to descend. Come with me?" Valor made a face.
"I'll consider it. Last time I went down there I was imprisoned and nearly murdered."
"Fair enough," Notch acknowledged. "It would be a pity, though, to put your skill with a pickaxe to waste." His eyes twinkled, and Valor shot a smirk in his direction.
"It certainly would."
Valor had woken up with a minor headache and an unwillingness to deal with his and Herobrine's argument the night before. Instead, he had set off before dawn towards the mines where he had tracked Null the year prior, in the hopes that the change of scenery would grant him some peace after the chaos of the past few days. Valor was used to hunting down murderers and kidnappers, but a wedding was another story.
He had left Herobrine's pickaxe at Steven's house, and was armed with a simple iron sword instead. He would talk to his father when he returned this evening.
Notch drew him towards the entrance to the mines, where Valor could see about two dozen men preparing to descend into the mineshafts. "I heard that Herobrine recovered a kidnapped Lady and her two children just the other day," He told him. "How heroic."
"I heard that as well," Valor told him with a grin. Notch was one of the few people who knew that Valor had stepped into his father's shoes following Herobrine's death. As the overseer at the mines, Notch had at one time worked together with the sorcerer who sought Valor's death, but had been shown the error of his ways and ultimately turned on his master in the end. Valor had remained on good terms with him since.
"I also heard that the would-be kidnappers left a very clear trail," Valor went on, grabbing a worn pickaxe from where it was hung with the others. "One that could be followed even through pouring rain." Notch snorted as he lit his lantern.
"How unfortunate for them."
"Indeed." Valor hoisted the pickaxe to rest over his shoulder, growing accustomed to the weight. "Shall we?"
Notch gestured to the mineshaft. "Lead the way."
After his encounter with Null a year prior, Valor had developed a small amount of anxiety at being in enclosed spaces. He was able to ignore it, however, and would do so for the opportunity to spend time with Notch for the day. The mines were quiet other than their voices and the sound of picks smashing against rock, and Valor enjoyed the opportunity to catch up with his friend. Notch asked him to extend his congratulations to Grace and Lithian, to which Valor readily agreed.
Though they didn't find much in the way of ores and minerals, it was still a peaceful day, and Valor had a pleasant ache in his upper arms when they returned to the surface that evening. He initially intended to make his way home immediately, as it was a few hours walk and he did not want to be up too late that night, but Notch convinced him to stay and eat with him before he left.
"How has your father been, Valor?" Notch asked over their dinner. "I notice you did not bring him." Notch had been informed, in the aftermath of Null's defeat, of the presence of his father's ghost and its connection to the pickaxe.
Valor made a small face. "He is part of the reason I came today, I'm afraid." The two of them were in Notch's rooms, as the foreman was well aware of Valor's distaste for crowded areas.
"Is that so?" Notch raised a brow. "Do elaborate."
"We… fought." Valor stared out the window, resting his chin in his hand. "Well, argued. He wants me to leave Hadleigh for my own safety as well as that of my family."
"And you do not want to leave," Notch surmised.
"I do not." Valor pushed around the food on his plate. It made him feel better to tell someone about this, to have an outsider give their opinion, and he trusted Notch's judgment. "I enjoy living with Steven, and even being in the village, to some extent. And I understand why he thinks the way he does, as he and I lived far away from civilization until his death. But I am convinced that this is where I should be, and I don't want to argue with him about it."
"Hmm." Notch considered this for a few moments. "It has been a year now, correct?"
"Since his death? Just about."
"That, and since you have been reunited." Notch took a bite, chewed thoughtfully for a moment, then swallowed. "Is it possible that he is jealous?"
"Jealous?" Valor echoed with a frown. "Of what?"
"Of your uncle, and your cousin and her husband. Like you said, for many years it was just you and him," Notch pointed out. "It is possible that he misses being the only one in your life." Valor considered this for a moment as he ate. It seemed to him that such a thing would be rather selfish… but his father was only human.
"Maybe," he said at last. "I will ask him about it." Notch nodded, and the two of them returned to their meal.
Valor ambled along through the grass with his hands in his pockets, gazing idly up at the stars twinkling above him. It was late, about an hour and a half after the last traces of sunset had disappeared from the sky before him. It was dim, the only light coming from the spread of twinkling stars and a sliver of moon, and the air was filled with the sounds of night insects chirping and singing around him. His walk home would take at least an additional couple of hours, but he didn't really mind it. He had a lot on his mind.
Yes, like his father, Valor did not particularly enjoy being around people. But with the people he did trust, he didn't want to leave them. He didn't know what he would have done if his uncle, Steven, had not taken him in after his father's death, and Lithian was a close and trusted friend. Valor also wanted to continue to grow closer with his cousin Grace and her parents, to have the family that he had missed out on for so many years. He loved his father dearly, but he didn't want it to be just the two of them anymore.
It was difficult for Valor to believe that his father could be jealous of Valor's birth family. For his entire childhood, Valor had regarded his father as the pinnacle of morality, incapable of fault. Now that he was a bit older, Valor knew that even his father could make mistakes, but… still.
Perhaps he was jealous, perhaps he wasn't. Valor tried to put any thoughts of their argument out of his mind for now, as trying to play it out ahead of time would not serve him in the least. He was an adult, as was his father, and when he got home he would speak to him.
A loud, unnatural sound split the night.
Valor whirled, grasping the hilt of his sword as he looked warily around himself. He stood in the midst of a plain, with small, rolling hills, but nothing that would be able to conceal a human being. He couldn't see anyone, what in the world had made that sound-?
A flash of purple caught his eye, and Valor didn't even have a chance to draw his sword before a clawed, black hand seized him by the front of his tunic and slammed him into the ground.
Valor choked out a cry, teleporting free of his assailant and yanking his sword from its sheath. He staggered upright, but his attacker was already gone. What was that? It almost looked like an-?!
The enderman appeared just behind his shoulder, and Valor ducked hastily to avoid the claws that flew at his head.
"Who are you?!" he cried out in the enderman tongue, spinning around and lashing out with his sword. The enderman didn't respond, only remaining in place for a split second before teleporting again. Valor's heart hammered as he looked about the plains. Endermen were almost universally peaceful, from what he knew of them, only attacking if provoked- and Valor, as his father before him, was on good terms with them. What had he done to incite this one's wrath?
The enderman appeared again, but this time Valor was ready, thrusting his blade towards the creature's heart. His skill with a sword had increased greatly in the previous year, having spent a good deal of time training with his uncle, but evidently it wasn't enough as the enderman seized his sword by the blade and twisted it out of his grasp. Valor jerked back, now unarmed, and his attempt to teleport was just too slow to avoid the enderman's claws raking across his cheek.
Valor sorely regretted leaving his father's pickaxe at home as he staggered back, backing away from the enderman and looking for an opportunity to collect his sword. It would have been impossible for him to foresee this, being attacked by the predominantly friendly endermen, but he still wished he hadn't left without his primary weapon. "I am not your enemy," he tried again, though the enderman only advanced towards him without a response. "Tell me what you want!"
A voip sound from behind him was his only warning before a second enderman struck him hard in the back of the head.
Valor hit the ground hard with a grunt, tumbling over the grass before coming to a stop. He tried to push himself up, but he was kicked in the jaw and his head snapped painfully to the side with a crack. He could feel the power from his amulet ebbing through him, a warning that he was near death, and he rolled over to spit out the blood that he could feel filling his mouth. The endermen had stopped, standing over him, and Valor blinked up through blurry vision as one of them bent down and reached for his throat.
Valor seized the enderman by the wrist and sent lightning coursing through him.
The enderman let out an ear-piercing screech, teleporting to break contact, and the second enderman recoiled in alarm. Valor used the opportunity to teleport back to his sword, scooping it up and lurching back to his feet. The world steadied around him as the amulet continued to heal him, and he focused on the remaining enderman. Hopefully the other one was injured enough to stay out of the fight.
His hopes were dashed a moment later as the first enderman reappeared in front of him, now with purple cracks stretching across its skin from the electricity. Valor ducked under its first swing, then slashed at its leg, forcing it back and allowing him to attack again. He kept an eye on the second enderman as well, who hadn't moved, as he raised his sword to go in for the kill. He was running out of teleports, he knew that, but if he could at least injure these two before that happened then maybe he would stand a chance-
A clawed hand seized his wrist from behind, a third enderman forcing his sword from his hand and twisting his arm behind his back.
Valor let out a shout of pain, arching back as he tried to free his arm. There were three now?! No sooner had he registered this than a fourth enderman appeared, then a fifth, and he teleported only to stagger and land hard on his knees. He was all but out of power, and even if he wasn't, what was he supposed to do against five endermen?!
One of the endermen teleported before him, and Valor barely had a chance to look up before he was struck and everything went black.
Valor woke up flat on his back on the grass.
He blinked blearily up at the stars, then tried to move, only to let out a strained groan as pain radiated through his body. His jaw ached where he had been kicked, and he reached up to touch his cheek and found sticky, half-dried blood around the cuts where he had been caught by the enderman's claws.
They'd… left him alive?
Valor forced himself to push himself up, hissing through his teeth at the throbbing pain in his skull. He could see his sword about ten feet away, glinting in the moonlight where he had dropped it. What in the world had just happened to him? He'd been attacked by endermen, five of them, after being friendly with them his entire life, and they had beaten him into unconsciousness before just… leaving him. Why? What purpose could they have had with him?
Painstakingly, Valor pushed himself upright, wincing as his right arm throbbed where the enderman had twisted it. He wrapped it around his chest and made his way over to where he had dropped his sword, bending down to collect it with his good hand and sliding it back in its sheath. The blade was clean- he hadn't landed a single hit on them.
Valor straightened, closing his eyes for a moment as the world wobbled dangerously around him. The moon had shifted noticeably in the sky, he must have been out for at least an hour. Steven and his father were likely worrying about him… he had said he would be back by evening, and it was now midnight at the very least.
He opened his eyes, taking a moment to get his bearings before beginning to make his way west again. Suffice to say he would not be leaving home without his father's pickaxe again any time soon. Valor's hand drifted up to his neck, where the amulet would rest about his collarbone. He would have to get in contact with Lear, perhaps he would know why-
His fingers met empty air. The amulet was gone.