Chapter 53: Only a Matter of Time
Matter of Nether-leaking portals aside, the air was visibly becoming tenser as they traveled toward the distant desert.
For some odd reason or another, the weather felt hotter than it should've been. Just a couple of days ago, Steve could practically feel his body becoming rather chilled despite his efforts to remain warm otherwise. Now, it felt more as if it was early autumn again, with him having to shed an outer layer of his warmth as he found himself sweating a bit. Was it because of the portals themselves? Did the destabilization of the realms contribute to the bizarre weather at all? Was he overthinking things and the sudden shift in weather was simply a natural occurrence? While they were on their way to the desert and he expected for the weather to rise in general at least somewhat as they left a more snow-prone region, the forest should not have been as warm as it currently was. It wasn't exactly hard to let his thoughts run wild, to make his blood run cold at the prospect of his approaching duty, but as things continued on, as their journey went further along, Steve was suffering with a nervous kind of buzz settling right beneath his skin, unmoving.
The pearls could break. The portals could actively leak out into the Overworld. Was the portal back in his village capable of the same? Would it remain unlit and non-active? Would it being of Mo's creation influence its behavior in any way? How far would the Nether escape if the portal were to reconstruct itself? Should he trust that no one would notice the world around them shifting ever-so-slightly? Could he trust that the villagers back home knew not to make any stupid decisions anytime soon? Were his concerns all in his mind? Should he even be all that worried? There couldn't possibly be more things for him to worry about. Even simply admitting that alone made him even more anxious, what with the group's karma and all potentially threatening to jinx his thoughts and add to his plate.
"Blood runs colder when thoughts grow out of order." A sing-songy tone of voice passed by him, leading to the realization that, somehow without him noticing it, Herobrine had slowed his pace in order to briefly walk beside him and Squash before resuming his position up ahead of the group.
"Because I have so many other things to worry about right now, huh?" He remarked back, earning a shrug of the shoulders from Herobrine up ahead.
"You and the rest of us. Again, we'll take things as they come and deal with them accordingly. Right now, we need to focus on reaching the desert. We're getting closer, thankfully enough, but we can't expect things to get any less hectic on the way there."
"I know! But…" Steve paused, briefly glancing around before letting out a small sigh. "...Is it just me losing my mind, or is it…well, hotter? Like, hotter than it should be?"
The two paused in their tracks as Herobrine left him in silence for a bit, giving more attention to the air around them before turning back to Steve with a bit of a concerned expression.
"Could it be that you're getting too worked up and your body is simply responding to that?"
Steve took his words into consideration for a moment before letting out a troubled hum.
"...I…it could just be me, sure, but…do you think that maybe…well, with the Nether leaking into the Overworld and all, that…it's affecting the weather everywhere?"
Herobrine's eyes briefly widened for a moment at his suggestion, which in turn caused his own heart to drop momentarily. Before he could fall into a panic, however, Herobrine let out a small hum as he began to speak, lowering his head a bit as he chose to look at the ground in front of him.
"...There could be a possibility that that is the case. Regardless of that, though…" Herobrine glanced back at him. "...Assume that any anomalies that occur from here on out are related to our main concerns. There's no logical reason to believe otherwise."
Finding no comfort in the other's words, Steve let out a small sigh of defeat as he chose to direct his attention to the forest around them instead.
While he could fully expect everything wrong to be attributed to their current situation, it didn't exactly help that, essentially, it was all tied back to them and their ability to locate the End portal and take care of things as quickly as they could. It was sickening, knowing that all they could do was trust in the universe to not collapse as they made their journey, but it wasn't exactly like he, let alone anyone else, could do anything about it for the time being. He was simply waiting for things to go wrong. It was hopeless, and yet, he had no other choice but to be hopeful for things to turn out right.
Eventually, as Herobrine finally left him to his own devices, Steve found himself trying to lose his attention elsewhere instead of in the uncertain future. His eyes remained drawn to the various different trees around them and what little of the sky he could see above. Though there seemed to be quite a significant amount of clouds in the sky, it didn't seem all that likely for a storm. Sure, he might've still had a chance of being proven wrong in that assumption, but he still considered his odds favorable. He just hoped desperately that the apparently changing weather wouldn't truly affect the rain and snow and such. It wasn't until they stepped more into a break in the trees that he finally got a clearer view of the sky as the dense clouds broke briefly, soon bunching up again in an attempt to obstruct the full expanse of the dark blue behind it. It also gave him the opportunity to notice that, strangely enough, it seemed that in the distant path that lay ahead of them, some of the clouds were somewhat reflecting light from down below.
"Are we approaching another village or something?" He found himself asking before he could even second-guess his thoughts, earning another small hum from Herobrine in response.
"...I don't think we should be, given our route."
"...Could you check?"
Herobrine glanced back at him.
"Even if it were a village, we shouldn't be heading directly towards it. Our efforts need to be focused elsewhere, so we're not making additional stops, if we can help it."
Steve suddenly found himself walking by Constiere, who had caught up with his pace.
"But it wouldn't hurt to check, right sir?" He glanced back briefly toward Steve with a bit of a grin on his face. "Just to make sure that the map is accurate and all, you know!"
"Constiere. First, you know that Steve's map wasn't going to be completely accurate regardless; it's a trade map, and it's only partial. Both maps are partial. Second of all, no, you're not exploring whatever's making that light. Neither of you two are."
Constiere's grin fell, leaving him to turn to Steve with a shrug.
"I tried." He said, earning a small smile from Steve in response.
"It's fine. I just…" Steve thought to himself for a moment, before giving the other a shrug as well. "I just wanted to know what it was in general. Not to explore, really. The light it's giving off makes it seem like it's just as large as a regular village, though I'm not sure."
As they continued to move forward, he heard a sigh come from Herobrine's lips, though the other didn't continue their conversation further. It wasn't until a few seconds had passed when the sound of unrolling paper soon found its way to his ears, and, after more silence, his curiosity soon turned into appreciation as he went to look at Herobrine again.
The other had considered his request. He was looking at the map with an indifferent gaze.
"Given how far we traveled already, I'd say that we'd at least be in range of some sort of village, but, according to the map, we aren't anywhere near one."
Steve turned to face Herobrine.
"How about the-"
"-I'm assuming it's the same for that map as well. I've already seen it so many times that I'm quite certain that there's no mention of another city anywhere near here. Probably because Andres was going off of memory rather than paper when it came to navigating to the portal, and he didn't really need to bother with filling it out any more than he realistically had to."
Turning back to face the light, Steve opened his mouth to speak.
"I-"
"-Don't even think about it." Herobrine immediately cut in. "You are a champion, not a cartographer. It is not your job, nor ours, to discover new locations and to map them out. The only location that I'll accept exploring is the location of the End portal and nothing else. That we can map out for convenience. This, however, is nothing that concerns us at the moment."
As Herobrine finished, a quiet hum escaped Andvari as he thought about the other's words.
"...There could be a possibility that what we're looking at is a village, but it could also be something else entirely. An army stronghold, perhaps?" The enderman suggested.
The thought floated around the group momentarily as all attention now firmly turned to the distant light source.
"...He might be right, actually." Constiere spoke up, moving to join Steve where he was. "Seems big enough, and aside from cities, the only places that I can think of that would even remotely be that bright would be the places that protect them!"
"...If that's the case, we should send someone down there to check, at least. If it is a stronghold, then keeping an eye on it wouldn't hurt, don't you agree? We don't really see a lot of them." Malgun added, glancing over to Herobrine, who shrugged in response.
"Making sure that our enemies can't mobilize easily would benefit us, but our priorities should stick with investigating the deserts, not this." Herobrine paused, briefly thinking to himself for a moment before letting out a small hum. "...Perhaps a silverfish or two can remain in the area. But only if we can figure out if it's worth it or not. Should we go down for a quick check?"
Sounds of agreement arose within the group as Herobrine began to walk off toward the strange location, remaining under the dark cover of the forest.
"Then it's settled. We'll investigate, then we'll leave. The silverfish can pick up wherever we leave off." Pointing off to where they were originally heading, Herobrine glanced over to both Malgun and Andvari. "However, just as a matter of precaution, if whatever that building is has anything to do with our opposition, we can expect to be targeted. Even if it's not related to the champions, strongholds aren't prone to letting mobs anywhere near them. I want you, Andi, as far away from them as possible. Continue forward with Malgun for a short while, we'll catch up with you later. Constiere's a little less obvious, so he'll remain with us."
Andvari gave him a brief nod.
"As much as I would've liked to explore things myself...I suppose that this is the better course of action."
"In addition to that..." Herobrine pointed directly at Steve, motioning for him to dismount from Squash. "Stealth works best with creatures that can manage it. I'd recommend that you two go ahead with Squash as well."
Steve, as he jumped from Squash's saddle, looked back at her with a brief expression of concern.
"I...I hope she doesn't cause trouble for you guys, then."
Andvari gave him a brief smile as Malgun himself went to grab Squash's reins from Steve.
"We'll all be fine. Just make sure you all come back quickly, alright?"
"...If we can, sure."
Remaining silent, Malgun gave Herobrine a short bow before turning away, continuing on their previous path with Andvari following close behind. As they left, Herobrine glanced over to both him and Constiere.
"Let's get this over with, curious explorers."
Equal parts excited and worried that Herobrine had been successfully convinced to go off-course toward the strange location just ahead of them, Steve found himself picking up his pace somewhat as they continued forward, trekking through the forest.
Despite moving closer toward the distant structure, it was still practically impossible to spot it through the treeline, much to Steve's intrigue. It seemed to be completely blending in with the environment around it, and, if it weren't for the simple fact that he knew that he was moving forward, he wouldn't have been able to tell if he'd gotten any closer to it or not. All he could see were more and more trees passing by, with the only sounds coming to him being the sounds of their own footsteps and the sound of fluttering leaves in the breeze around them. Were strongholds meant to be undetectable from a ground view?
After a few more minutes of walking, Steve found himself briefly regretting even suggesting the mini-detour. If they couldn't even see the stronghold itself despite knowingly walking towards it, who's to say that they'd be able to spot anybody who might be guarding it? If it held any sort of army numbers whatsoever, how would they be able to spot them? The forest around them might have been mostly quiet, but who's to say that any potential attackers wouldn't be able to sneak up on them? Would there be any?
Steve blinked as his previous thoughts came to a halt.
He already knew that he was getting used to the idea of being attacked, but it wasn't a good sign that he was now more prone to expecting danger in places where it wasn't apparent. The forest belonged to the mobs. The darkness belonged to the mobs. The mobs belonged to Herobrine.
What was he thinking?
Shaking his head briefly, Steve resumed walking.
As they continued to walk to an uncertain location, Steve allowed his ears to do more of the work for him, keeping track of his surroundings as the shadows that were popping up in the corners of his eyes were threatening to betray him.
Bushes. Trees. Leaves. The occasional distant mob. A faint, far-away bird call.
The strange sound of rustling fabric. Not too harsh to suggest that it was attached to a person, but the sound of fabric nonetheless. It seemed a bit distant, though noticeable enough thanks in part to the breeze.
Slightly confused eyes glanced around, peering through the trees in an attempt to locate its source. As Steve continued his silent search, he found himself slightly separating from the others, though he only fell behind by a few, considerable steps.
Dark tree trunks. Small boulders, small rocks. Various different flowers.
The edge of what seemed to be a white banner, faintly reflecting the light of the moon as its beams sneaked through the gaps of the overhead leaves.
The tree the banner was attached to was just to his left, not too far away from their path, but not directly within it either. Stepping aside and walking around to the front of the tree, Steve found himself freezing as the banner came fully into view before him.
Pure white. Maroon red. Phases of the moon guarding a single star placed directly in the middle.
He'd seen this banner elsewhere.
"Lunarus…" Was all that escaped his mouth in a slight whisper, his brain somehow recognizing the image faster than what the rest of his body could process.
He heard the others freeze as he continued to examine the banner, coming to a realization that they were one pair of footsteps short. As they drew closer to him, he soon realized himself that, not too far away from him was a second banner, one that had also been pinned to the bark of an oakwood tree.
"...How far is Lunarus from here? Do you know?" He questioned a bit louder, unsure if the others had truly paused because of his words or something unrelated.
"Far." Came Herobrine's immediate answer in return.
Steve glanced behind him and found Constiere examining the other banner carefully. He heard a small hum come from the boy's lips as he backed away from the banner and slowly walked up to where he currently was, standing by his side.
"Ohhh…it's an army stronghold, for sure. We're heading for a stronghold." Constiere stated, turning his direction more toward where the distant light source supposedly was as he finished. "Banners with marks like these don't get placed like this so easily and so frequently. This area belongs to Lunarus, and they don't want to leave anything up for debate on that."
After taking another look at the banner close by them, Constiere looked back towards Herobrine with a bit of a grin.
"Does this count as being worth the effort, sir?" He asked, waiting eagerly for an answer.
With a sigh of defeat, Herobrine waved the other two off.
"Fine. We'll leave a couple of silverfish nearby to monitor things, then continue moving."
A wave of surprisingly lessened dread came upon them briefly, calling out for the mobs in question. As they began to wait, Steve turned his attention back toward the banner behind them as his curiosity grew.
"...Why here, of all places? Don't you think that something like this would be…well, closer to the city, at least?" He asked quietly.
He was met with silence for a few moments before he heard another hum from Constiere.
"Strategy and mobilization? I'd assume that after our stunt at the kingdom, they'd try to make finding us easier."
Footsteps came to Steve's ears, leading him to realize that Herobrine was approaching closer.
"Not to mention, having this much ground covered might assist them in their efforts to locate the dragon as well. They might not exactly have our numbers, but with the help of the divines, they might just become as efficient, as much as I hate to admit." Herobrine finished, crossing his arms across his chest as he briefly directed his attention to the distant stronghold.
Silence spread amongst the smaller group for a moment before a sudden thought arose within the miner's mind and left his lips before he could ponder it much further.
"...Do strongholds usually get built in dense forests like this? Wouldn't it make more sense to build one on cleared land?" He questioned, immediately sending the others into shared suspicion.
Constiere was the first to voice his thoughts.
"...Again, army strongholds are usually strategically placed. Whether that means that this one is placed based on nearby resources or nearby targets isn't clear, but still…"
"...Maybe the location is good for crops? Is it possible that there's a good cave system under here, too? Would that be reason enough for a stronghold to be made?" Steve questioned.
A sigh escaped Herobrine's lips, leading to the other two turning to him in response.
"Again, we'll have the silverfish investigate these matters themselves as we continue forward, so we'll wait for them until they get here. It'd be ideal to have them assess the situation before we make any decisions regarding this place." Herobrine finished, turning around in order to briefly walk toward the discovered banner once again. "And in any case, this place is the least of our problems at the moment, even if it proves to be quite a significant one later on when we're miles away from here."
As the other finished, Steve found himself only growing more curious about the structure before them. Though he slightly wished that he could get the opportunity to explore it himself, given his track record and the fact that the stronghold was giving off enough light to suggest that it was well-inhabited, it was for the best that he simply left the matter alone.
A couple of minutes passed before Steve began to grow a bit wary of their current surroundings once again.
It might've been just him and his sense of time, but it seemed as if the silverfish were taking a bit...longer to arrive at their current location. Though he had yet to see them frequently enough to establish a solid standard, it wasn't exactly strange to expect them to arrive faster.
A few more minutes passed, and they had yet to arrive. Glancing over to Herobrine, Steve found the other with a brief, small look of confusion upon his face as it became apparent that the silverfish simply weren't responding to his command. Another silent call went out.
Steve expected for the sound of frantic digging to soon approach them, somewhat growing hopeful to get to view the silverfish once again.
…
…
…
An arrow flying by his head instead wasn't something that he was expecting, to be truly honest.
Jumping behind the tree that he was just standing by, Steve found himself abruptly bracing for cover, from what or whom he couldn't tell, however. No second arrow flew by him, strangely enough, leading to him briefly glancing around to the others to gauge how worried he should be.
Herobrine and Constiere were just as confused as he was. Who shot in their direction, and why? Why had they only done it once?
…
…
…
Having another arrow fly by his head from an entirely different direction did absolutely nothing to ease his concerns about the situation in any way whatsoever. Having a third fly in their direction, this time towards Herobrine, almost forced a groan of annoyance to escape his lips as he realized that, once again, he'd led them toward another unfortunate situation.
Herobrine had watched the arrow fly into the darkness before a look of annoyance grew on his face.
"It seems like a select few are aware that we're here."
Another arrow flew by, this time nearly hitting Constiere as he jumped out of the way in order to dodge it.
"We can't even put a foot past these banners? Are you kidding me?!" The boy whined, whipping around as he attempted to scan the area. "...I'll give them this though, at least they know how to respond to a mob or two."
"Not saying that I want to get hit, but shouldn't they at least be hitting their targets, then?" Steve questioned. "It's not that impressive that they're just shooting into the dark, y'know?"
"I'd actually have to disagree, their methods are kind of impressive. Though, you're right in the idea that they're not aware of where we are." Herobrine said with a bit of an exasperated sigh. "They're trying to locate us by triangulation. Not exactly a revolutionary way of determining location, but still impressive nonetheless."
"...So, we're being attacked and tracked?" Steve asked.
Herobrine looked at him with slightly narrowed eyes.
"...What do you think? There's not too many other reasons to start shooting arrows in such a way towards seemingly nothing." He let out another slightly frustrated breath. "There's more than one. Try not to get hit. They can't find all of us, but if they do find you, you know exactly what you should do. I'll see you both back where we were earlier, on our original pathway."
Steve found himself being left behind in the darkness of the forest, though it was clear that he was still visible enough to his attackers as more arrows soon came in his direction.
'Of course they go after me first!' He thought with a small groan leaving his lips, soon after taking off into a light sprint.
Running a bit forward and dodging behind a couple of trees, Steve braced for cover as he waited to see if he'd managed to confuse his attacker in any way. He wasn't sure if all of their supposed attackers were chasing after him, but he could only hope for the best at this point.
Just as he was getting lost in his thoughts, another arrow flew by his head and snapped him out of it, this time being accompanied by a voice.
"Reveal yourself! I know you're hiding somewhere!" The voice commanded.
Steve, hesitantly, peered around the tree he was hiding behind, attempting to catch any glimpse of the individual who had been after him. All he could find with his eyes was darkness, with the sounds of rustling leaves, shifting fabric, and clinking armour coming to his ears.
Was his attacker confused? Did they feel Herobrine's presence and had intended to chase him instead? Did he even want to think about how they'd supposedly felt his brother's presence and actively chose to pursue him?
"If you're that one cursed champion I'm thinking of, it's time to give it up! Come out!"
Hoping that the other was simply mistaking him for some other "cursed" champion, Steve let out a quiet sigh, attempting to calm his nerves.
"We already know that you're both here! You and the demon!"
Okay. So he had been targeted specifically. His attacker wasn't confused.
He stepped out a bit further from the tree in order to try and get a better view of whoever had been following him again.
He was met with a covered face several feet away from him. It was no wonder that he couldn't see them at first; they were dressed head to toe in dark colors, mainly black, with only the faintly pinkish hue of their eyes offering any sort of contrast whatsoever. The other's eyes widened in shock at his appearance, only allowing a few seconds to pass in-between them before the stranger brought another arrow to their bow.
"It's…it's you!" Was all he received as an explanation for the stranger's attack, leading to him immediately taking cover behind the tree once again.
His regret for wanting to explore the stronghold only grew as he pushed himself forward away from the tree, dodging more arrows as they came after him.
Not only had they found a stronghold that was well-guarded enough to immediately detect and launch an attack on them, but it was also one that recognized his face. His. Technically Herobrine's as well, but still. Were all of them getting chased at the moment?
Eventually, his lungs began to sting as the outdoor air became too sharp to breathe, forcing him to slow down to a small jog as he continued escaping through the forest, passing by several more banners as he progressed. Glancing around cautiously with slightly blurry vision, Steve attempted to listen for any sign of his attacker.
He was in the darkness. Nobody should've been able to see him, right?
As he brought a hand up to his chest in order to steady his breathing, he tried to quiet himself down, attempting to listen carefully to his surroundings. As he did so, he noticed a distinct lack of sound around him, much to his momentary relief. Just as he was about to take another moment to recollect himself, three arrows came at him in quick succession from one direction before another two came from another, catching him completely off-guard as he ducked behind another tree for added cover.
It was beyond clear enough that more than one person had been chasing after him, finally catching up with their friend. Given the fact that they were still pursuing him despite not being able to see him properly, and the fact that they'd certainly seen how he was reacting to being attacked, it seemed apparent that they didn't care if he was human or not. In fact, it was obvious enough that not only did they not care, they were adamant on continuing to chase him until they managed to grab a hold of him, or worse.
As he continued to dodge arrow after arrow, soon leaving his protective tree once again, Steve's pace began to slow down as, to his own brief surprise, a bit of clarity came to the forefront of his mind.
…
…
…Why was he even running?
Why was he running when he knew that the arrows that were following after him posed no real threat? Why was he running when, even though it still disturbed him slightly to admit it, they couldn't kill him?
…
…
…
Another arrow flew by his head, making him jump as he resumed running away.
Being shot with an arrow still hurts. Being shot with an arrow in the head will definitely still hurt. That's why he was still running.
At this point, it was growing a bit harder to tell which way he was running, or if he was even getting farther and farther away from the stronghold or not. Though his legs grew tired again, as the arrows kept flying his way, Steve refused to stop again, hoping that somehow, he'd find somewhere to hide that would shield him properly. Was there a cave that he could duck in nearby? Had he seen any that were big enough on his way there? Was there any tree that he could quickly scale?
"Over here!"
…That sounded close.
Steve whipped his head around behind him, searching frantically for the voice that called out, but to no avail. Nothing but the darkness of the forest was around him, throwing his thoughts into confusion as he forced his legs even more to continue forward. If there were even more people that he had to worry about chasing him, he had no time to figure out what they looked like, especially since he had to focus on losing them as well.
"No, I mean…ugh, just come here!"
Suddenly, the sensation of a hand gripping his shoulder came to him, and before he could even register what was going on, he found himself being dragged elsewhere, first behind him, then upward as he was guided by whoever had stopped him up into a nearby tree. Before he could stumble and begin to fight back, another set of hands met his other shoulder, and he was soon hoisted up beneath the cover of the leaves above him. As he went to let his frantic thoughts become vocal, a hand was placed over his mouth to silence him.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Just a few seconds, I promise! I'll explain, just…quiet."
Despite everything about the situation and his own inner voice suggesting that he do otherwise, Steve complied, allowing his body to relax as he went still, listening as the distant sounds of footsteps and angered shouts grew louder, closer, to their location. As the lights of several lanterns grew closer to their line of sight, Steve felt himself being briefly adjusted forward before some sort of fabric was unceremoniously draped over his head.
"Cover your eyes, they might reflect light." Was all he was given for an explanation.
Wordlessly, he pulled the fabric of the cloak over his head completely and allowed his hearing to fully take the reins, waiting to hear approaching footsteps and angered voices.
It couldn't have been more than at least four people that had been chasing him, interestingly enough. As they ran on by, Steve counted the different voices that spoke aloud, thankful that he wouldn't necessarily have to worry about him being spotted. Though he had fully been expecting more attackers based on the amount of arrows that had been sent his way, he was somewhat glad that he hadn't drawn the wrath of a larger group, even if he knew well enough that he'd most likely survive whatever they had in store for him.
Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Then, suddenly, another one of his attackers ran underneath the tree they were hiding in, disappearing just as quickly as they had appeared.
"This way, I saw at least two of them running this way!" He heard the stranger call out, and just as soon as he did, several more people ran underneath them, following closely after the first as they continued in their pursuit.
So there was a larger group chasing after them. Fun.
Seconds passed. Minutes passed. The footsteps soon grew distant enough to allow for a sigh to escape Steve's lips involuntarily without the threat of being caught, leading to the rest of his body relaxing in the process. However, his momentary relief faded away once he remembered that, currently, he was being held by what seemed to be two complete strangers, causing his body to tense up once again as he began to struggle with taking off the fabric from his head.
"Alright! Alright, hold on, I got you." Came the voice that had seemingly rescued him not even ten minutes beforehand.
Steve felt the fabric be pulled off his head somewhat gently, allowing himself to take note of his surroundings once again.
"There's gonna be more of them patrolling around here, for a couple of miles at least. Anywhere around the main base is gonna be a problem for you, so I'd recommend keeping your distance after we get you away from here."
As he allowed his sight to refocus itself in the darkness, recognition flashed within his gaze as he took in the appearance of the individual in front of him.
Wild, curly brown hair. Leather-based armour, humble and only slightly reinforced by iron instead of familiar chainmail. Excited, bright blue eyes that looked at him with more fondness than caution. It took a second for him to place a name to the face, but once it clicked, Steve found himself in genuine awe.
"...Wait…M…Mikael?..." He asked hesitantly, receiving a nod and a grin in return.
"Yeah! It's nice to see you again, Steve!"
Before Steve could continue, he found his attention shifting to the person right behind Mikael, his eyes lighting up in excitement again.
"Chris! You too!"
Chris gave him a simple wave of the hand in return. A wave of relief that he hadn't been expecting suddenly crashed into him, and almost immediately, he was on the brink of tears.
Mikael and Chris had survived the tragedy that he'd inadvertently caused.
Mikael and Chris were alive. For sure.
"I…how did you guys…the mobs back at your village-"
His words were silenced as Mikael raised his hand.
"-The minute the mobs started attacking, we managed to lead quite a few people away from the mess and waited things out. Not everybody made it, unfortunately…" Mikael paused, glancing away from Steve briefly in sadness before continuing. "...but we were able to survive. Granted, since the place was destroyed we had to relocate for the time being, but we'll get things sorted out eventually. Only a matter of time before we're back and better than ever!"
Steve let out a small sigh, thankful that the other was at least able to feel some sort of optimism about the situation. Before long, however, he glanced up in both curiosity and concern.
"Are…are you sure that you guys are all right? I…I couldn't stay, but-"
"-Like I said," Mikael interrupted him. "It's all good. We're getting it all sorted out."
Though the concern didn't fade from Steve's eyes, he found himself trusting in Mikael's words. As he opened up his mouth to speak once again, a gloved hand found its way on his mouth as Mikael gave him a small chuckle.
"-Relax! Before you ask any questions or say anything else, we saw you running and just wanted to help out. We're not gonna sound the alarm, or anything."
Though that was nothing even remotely close to what he was about to say, Steve found himself giving the other a nod, regardless.
"I…alright. Thanks." He physically relaxed, turning his head in order to look toward what he hoped was the direction of the distant camp that he'd just been running away from. "...They…the second I got near that place, they started chasing after me. What's going on in there? Do you guys know?"
Mikael looked over to Chris briefly before returning his attention back to Steve.
"It's only really a large camp. Champions like us built and fortified it, and the kingdom of Lunarus is supporting it by bringing materials and stuff in and out of it. Nothing taboo, or anything like that."
Steve nodded his head, only to find himself a bit more confused by the other's explanation.
"Wait, it's a camp? A camp full of champions?"
"Champions left and right have been making camps like ours pretty much everywhere around the kingdom, I'm more surprised that you haven't found any others apart from ours yet." Mikael shrugged at him.
Steve thought about his words for a moment before shrugging.
"I've…I've been more busy with other things, actually." Steve admitted with a bit of a nervous chuckle.
"...Yeah. I guess you were pretty busy. Kind of shocked that you got Herobrine's favour out of all people, but that's probably better for you, right?"
It took a second for his words to process themselves within his head, but once Steve finally recognized what Mikael had said, he looked at the other with complete and utter shock in his eyes, unconsciously backing away from him a bit.
"You…what did you say?"
Mikael waved him off.
"Most champions know it by now. Everybody at Lunarus found out firsthand, and they were told to tell other champions for safety reasons. We don't care about that, though."
Steve failed to gather up his thoughts for a proper response. As Mikael let out a small laugh in response to his expression, he found the conversation continuing regardless.
"...If you're wondering why we're not making as big a fuss about this, Mikael doesn't think that someone like you would've willingly agreed to help Herobrine in the first place without…well, persuasion. He thinks you're being forced. Is that right?"
Surprisingly enough, Chris was the one who continued the conversation, shocking Steve even further as he spoke with his softer, deeper voice.
"...You talk?" He questioned abruptly.
Chris leaned forward to peer around Mikael and look at the miner, narrowing his eyes at Steve in slight exasperation.
"I don't like to. I'm going to ask you again, were you forced by Herobrine to work with him? You're being labeled as being just as much of a demon as he is, I just want to get the facts straight."
"The champions are keeping an eye out for you both. Some are only out here to search for and kill you guys, while others are more focused on saving the rest of the world, but regardless, you're a target for both groups. Just want to know if any of the rumours are true." Mikael added on.
Steve glanced in between the two, briefly debating on whether or not to properly answer them.
"...I…I was forced, at first. Yes."
Mikael gave him a small smile at first, though, his momentary glee soon turned to slight confusion.
"...At first?"
Steve looked away from the two, shrugging to himself.
"...Things came up. Stuff happened. I…I can't exactly tell you everything, but…there's more of a reason to work with him than against him."
The two champions stared at him for a solid minute or so, examining his worried eyes in the darkness as carefully as they could, leaving him anxious for their responses. Mikael gave him a small sigh.
"...Mind explaining yourself?"
Steve slowly shook his head.
"...It's…a lot. It's a lot that I can't really tell you guys about, really. I know that sounds bad and all, but…it's for safety reasons."
Silence followed his words once again, leaving him to grow more anxious until a soft sigh escaped Mikael's mouth.
"...Well, I guess we aren't that close, so I don't expect you to tell us all of your secrets. That's fair." He shrugged.
Letting out an inner sigh of relief, Steve found himself giving the two champions a small smile in return.
"...Thanks." He paused, a bit of curiosity coming to him as he examined the two further. "...Wait, if you know about Herobrine, then are you guys-"
"-We aren't here for anything too extreme. Me and Chris are here to help the camp out with managing food supplies and stuff."
Steve took in the other's words for a moment before realization hit him.
"Right! You guys are the champions of farming and fishing! So you're helping out with keeping the place running?"
Mikael gave him a bit of a chuckle.
"As much as we can help with. Folks aren't all that familiar with livestock raising and knowing how to handle local water sources, and me and Chris were in the area, so we decided to help out, and now they consider us as one of them!"
"It's all that we can do until we're able to rebuild. The village may have burned, but that doesn't exactly mean it's a complete lost cause." Chris added on.
"Yeah! The kingdom is going to send down some officials to fully assess the damage, and then they're going to help us clear out the debris. The rest is up to us, of course." Mikael said, turning to look at the ground beneath them. "In any case, let's keep talking somewhere else. As long as we're here, you're pretty much in total danger."
"Total danger? How?"
Climbing down (and on Mikael's part, jumping) from the tree branches to the ground below, the two champions began to lead Steve forward, away from the camp behind them and more toward the darkness of the forest ahead.
"The champions know vaguely what you look like, and they agreed to approach you with the whole 'Shoot first, ask questions never' act if they ever came across you. The group that just passed us also literally just saw you, so they have confirmation that you're here. They'll come back soon enough, looking for you." Mikael briefly turned back to look at him directly, nodding his head toward the direction they were walking toward. "Let's get further away from the outer wall, they have scouts keeping a lookout there, and I don't think that you'd like for them to start sending people after you again. Like I said, they know you're here already."
Steve looked at Mikael abruptly.
"Wait, scouts? Is that why-"
"-Extra protection. They keep an eye out for mobs usually. Helps with gathering supplies when we need monster parts, too. As long as you can see the banners they put out, you're not safe."
As Steve briefly glanced back to look at the structure they were leaving behind, he felt himself physically relax the more distance he placed in between himself and his previous attackers. Though there still existed a small part of him that warned not to completely trust the two champions in front of him, he decided to place his unwarranted worries to the side momentarily.
The further they went into the darkness of the forest, the more he felt himself relax underneath the cover that the trees around him provided. Strangely enough, along with the comfort, he also started to actively feel Herobrine's presence, of all things, grow stronger as well.
Since when had it disappeared? Had it even gone away?
"Do you think we're far enough away?" He asked quietly, somewhat wrapping his arms around himself as his nerves grew.
Mikael looked back toward him, his pace falling as he went to join by his side.
"Not far enough to totally be safe, but…far enough to show you something a little strange."
At the other champion's words, confusion, along with slight worry, appeared on Steve's face, prompting a small laugh to come from Mikael's mouth once more.
"Again, I promise we're not gonna do anything! It's just…it's just odd."
Steve raised a brow.
"...Odd?..."
Both Mikael and Chris nodded.
"Want to get your opinion on it." Chris began to explain. "Nobody on the inside of that camp is interested in answering questions, so we're wondering if anyone on the outside is able to."
Not finding his own question answered, Steve simply allowed the other champions to lead him forward, his trust waning so slightly as he began to reconsider his previous decision to follow after them in the first place. Soon enough, the three found themselves stopping just in front of a relatively large break in the trees, leading to a clearing where Steve found his gaze being directed downward as Mikael brought a hand to his shoulder.
Mikael pointed out toward the edge of the clearing.
"Do you see that ravine over there?"
Upon focusing his gaze upon the gash within the surface of the earth, Steve nodded his head with a hum.
"Yeah, what about it?" He asked.
"About how long ago would you say it formed? Would you say years, or decades?"
Steve raised a slight brow at the other's question before giving him a shrug.
"I…well, decades, obviously? What does that have to do with anything?"
Mikael's gaze became slightly tinted with worry.
"Try three days ago."
Steve stared at him blankly, the words he just spoke struggling to process themselves within his brain.
"...Three…days?"
Mikael gave him a solemn nod.
"...It's weird, but that's what happened. The ground started shaking, and before we knew it, there the ravine was."
As Mikael finished explaining, the three reached the edge of the ravine itself, with Steve carefully crouching down and peering over the edge in sheer awe and slight disbelief.
He couldn't even see the bottom. He heard water pouring and the distant sounds of mobs and bats moving about within the darkness, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't see the bottom. Normally, even in darker conditions, the stone floor of a typical ravine could be spotted, even if there was nothing to illuminate the world apart from moonlight, but this ravine was seemingly endless. It was beginning to make his head spin a little.
"It's…it goes down pretty far, doesn't it?" He noted, briefly debating whether or not he should drop something down in order to better gauge how far down the ravine went.
"Down to bedrock. Straight to bedrock." Chris stated.
"What? Bedrock?" Steve abruptly turned his head to the other in shock. "I…how would you even know that if-"
"Curiosity got the better of a couple of us. Somebody dropped a lantern down there, and it fell for a while before shattering on the stuff. Pretty interesting, but also pretty insane too." Mikael explained with a shrug.
"...And you're saying that it just…showed up here? Like that?"
Both champions gave him a nod.
"The quakes started happening not too long ago. We're not the only ones experiencing them, either. Other strongholds keep sending in reports about new ravines and new deep caves popping up everywhere, and it's starting to get folks nervous. The more quakes that happen, the deeper the ravines go, it seems." Mikael gestured to the ravine as he spoke.
"This one apparently started out a mile long, then got worse when the quakes continued. Now, it's like this." Chris finished.
Steve looked back down at the ravine, eyes troubled as he went to cross his arms over his chest in some form of an attempt at self-comfort.
"...Do you have any guesses for why this is happening? Is this just how the area is, or…?"
Mikael shrugged at him.
"Rumour has it that it's because of the dragon and all. Divines even agreed that things like this don't usually happen if they can help it."
Ah. Of course.
Steve narrowed his gaze at the ravine.
Now that the Nether seemed to be eager to melt into the Overworld as it so pleased, it only made sense that the Overworld itself couldn't handle it and was falling apart at the seams even more. At least, that's what he guessed was the case. He knew that he'd been warned countless times that the dragon's approaching demise only meant the gradual collapse of reality, but now that he was actively living through it and seeing what it truly meant for his own world bit by bit, he found himself struggling to figure out how to feel. Strangely enough though, he soon found his foreboding panic turning into almost a calm sort of anxiety that left him feeling somewhat numb. He felt less shaken and more nauseous, yet his body felt like it was incapable of depicting either state.
How was he supposed to react to the news that even the ground beneath his feet would crumble away in the end? That nature itself would aim to kill everything he's ever known? How stable would the world be in the end?
"...Yeah. Makes sense." Steve said quietly, standing up and moving away from the edge of the ravine as quickly as he could. "Did the divines explain anything more to you guys about that?"
Mikael gave him another tentative shrug.
"We aren't the ones dealing with the dragon directly. We're just a part of the supply line. You'd have to ask someone else about that."
Taking the other's words into consideration, Steve nodded slowly, looking back down at the ravine with a bit of a shaky breath.
"...This is…wow. Are you guys…well, are you all planning to move from here, or…?"
"They're all happening at random. Nobody can really predict where they're going to show up, so a lot of folks are just saying that it'd be pointless. I kind of agree with them." Mikael answered.
"...Yeah, I guess that makes sense. No point in moving if it's just going to get worse." Steve gave the other a small shrug. "...Isn't there anything you can do to at least prevent people from accidentally falling in? If you hadn't pointed this out to me, I don't think that I'd have seen it before it was too late."
"The best thing that we can safely do is set up some lights around here specifically. The only problem is that it's taking forever to convince the folks in charge that we need to consider that. We don't have any light on the walls of the stronghold for camouflage reasons, so just having some light out in the forest might make whoever 'suspicious' or whatever."
Steve raised a slight brow at him.
"...The whole reason why I even came in this direction is because I saw a massive amount of light from far away. From inside the wall."
Mikael blinked at him.
"...You came here because of the light? Not because you heard of the place?"
Steve nodded his head slowly.
"...Yeah. Wait, you thought that I heard about this place before?" He looked at the others in slight disbelief.
Chris crossed his arms in front of his chest, giving the miner a bit of a glare.
"Can't put it past you. There's a lot that the people around here think you know."
Steve let out a sigh.
"...'Course. I guess that's why I was being chased and all."
A bit of silence came between the three, allowing them to take in the sight of the ravine in full. Soon enough, however, Mikael turned to Steve with an excited look on his face.
"Hey, I don't think that you deserved to be chased, y'know? Don't you wanna do something about that?"
Steve looked at him in confusion.
"...Huh? You think that I can change that?" He let out a bit of a chuckle.
"I mean…potentially!" Mikael stepped a bit closer to him. "Steve, do you want help?"
Steve was unsure if he'd heard what he just heard.
"I…help?"
"For your journey! Do you want access to the strongholds?" Mikael looked at him with excited eyes.
Steve let out a slightly nervous chuckle.
"I...you're forgetting the part where they're trying to actually kill me, aren't you?"
"And the fact that he's already apparently working with Herobrine of all people, right?" Chris added on, pointing at Steve with his thumb.
Mikael shook his head.
"Well, maybe we can get the other champions on our side! If we just tell them that you were forced to work for Herobrine, we could probably get them to listen to reason, and-"
"-Mikael, I don't think that's going to work-" Steve tried to interject.
"-If we get them on our side, then we could all stand up against Herobrine together, and-"
"-Mikael, I don't need help getting away from him!" Steve raised his voice a bit, cutting off Mikael as the other champion looked at him in shock at his words.
"...What?"
Steve let out a sigh, looking Mikael directly in the eyes as he spoke.
"...Mikael. And Chris." Steve briefly glanced over to Chris in acknowledgment. "I…thank you for the help. Thank you so, so much for offering to help me! And for sticking up for me! But…"
Steve paused, briefly glancing around their small group in order to analyze the forest around them, hoping that they weren't being watched by anyone, mob or human. Lowering his voice, he continued.
"...I don't need help getting away. In fact…I…I'm fine with my partnership with Herobrine. With his help, there's an actual chance of dealing with the dragon. For good. I know that sounds bad and all, but…well, I can't tell you everything, but he's actually trying to help with getting rid of the dragon. He doesn't want us to have to go through with all of this nonsense every few years or so! I…I don't know how to convince you guys, or anyone for that matter, but please, please trust me when I say that we want to get the dragon out of the picture as much as you guys do. We're not focusing on the champions, but we all have the same goal."
Mikael briefly turned away from him to glance at Chris, a silent conversation occurring between the two before turning their gazes back to Steve.
"...But…the divines said-"
"-The divines don't really like either of us right now. Herobrine for obvious reasons, and me for working with him. Look, all we want is for things to go smoothly and to not have to worry about the dragon anymore. I…I don't need help with getting rid of him. I need help with making sure that nobody else gets hurt while the dragon keeps getting more and more unstable."
Steve looked between the two, realizing that his own heartbeat had noticeably grown louder as he pleaded with them.
Some silence passed before Mikael let out a sigh, allowing his hands to drop to his sides as he kept his focus on Steve.
"...You know, the more I think about it…I guess partnering up with the guy who controls all the hostile mobs does provide more benefits than you'd think."
Steve felt himself relax.
"...You…you aren't mad at me?"
Mikael glanced over to Chris before turning back to Steve, shaking his head.
"...I don't see you as a hostile person. Neither of us do. We just wanted to make sure that was the case, and…well, I guess it is. Wanted to help you out, too." He let out a small sigh as he went to cross his arms in front of his chest. "Just…make sure that you know what you're doing."
With a small smile, Steve nodded.
"I'm trying my best, I promise."
As they began to walk back into the rest of the forest, Steve, in an attempt to calm himself, decided to glance back toward where the stronghold was.
"So… why don't you guys place any lights on your walls? Well, besides the camouflage." Steve asked.
"...To tell you the truth, camouflage is really the only answer to that." Mikael began, turning to look at him. "As much as we can, we want to lay a bit low due to the fact that we're seeing multiple reports about certain groups out there that target both champions and villages. Considering that we're champions ourselves and that we technically have a village here, we're a bit at risk. These groups hang around in forests specifically, so we wanted to be cautious."
"...Wait, are you talking about mobs, or-"
"-People. A group of people who practice the forbidden, apparently. Me and Chris haven't seen them personally, but apparently, they sometimes hang out around our outside border. They know we're here, supposedly, but none of them have gotten close enough to the main stronghold yet. We don't want them getting close if they are mobs, so we took the few lights that we did have up down so that they don't see anything and follow after the light. Apparently though, that's not working."
…A group that practices the forbidden? The idea immediately rang several bells within Steve's mind.
"...Have they attacked anyone?"
Mikael and Chris both nodded their heads.
"Several people, both from the camp and regular travelers. They've killed a couple, too. I don't know what they're aiming for, but whatever it is, champions aren't supposed to be a part of it, for sure. They usually take out folks in the middle of the week, so we're not allowed to go out past the walls then."
Taking the information in, Steve slowly nodded in response, a look of slight worry present in his eyes.
"Wow. Thanks for letting me know that I have to sleep with both eyes open now instead of just one. Glad we had this chat."
Mikael let out a small laugh as he turned away back to the forest.
"Better to be safe than sorry, right? At least you know now!" He gave the miner a brief grin. "At the very least, they're mostly hanging out around the forests that are close enough to villages, so if you have a map, you can navigate around those areas. Besides, they're mostly hanging out around us, so I don't think that you'll have to worry about anyone besides our scouts for a while."
"...I'll keep that in mind, thanks. I don't think that I'd like to be chased around by anyone else for a long time."
Mikael nodded at Steve's words, soon after turning around and pointing toward the deeper section of the forest that laid just behind them.
"The stronghold is in this direction, dead ahead. Since you're not gonna try and appeal for your safety, I'd just say to avoid it entirely. Which direction did you come from again?"
Taking note of the other's words, Steve thought quietly to himself for a moment as he retraced his steps within his mind. After a few seconds, he pointed to his left with his thumb.
"I think I came from that direction, though I'm not sure. Still, I can just head back and see if I spot anything that looks familiar."
Both Mikael and Chris raised a brow at him.
"...Are you serious?" Chris asked.
"...Can't you navigate?"
Slightly embarrassed, Steve let out a bit of a nervous chuckle.
"I...well, I've survived for this long, so…well, you tell me."
Mikael and Chris glanced back at each other for a moment before slowly shaking their heads in disbelief.
"...Are you absolutely positive that you don't want the other champions to help you? Not even a little bit?" Mikael turned to ask him.
Steve nodded his head firmly.
"I'm sure."
Mikael and Chris shared another look.
"...In any case, you need to get away from here." Mikael started, breaking eye contact with Chris and looking back toward Steve. "However you manage to put some distance in between the stronghold and yourself, you need to get away while you still can. It's safe to bet that they won't be using regular arrows, and since you're targeted, they might just want to capture you if they can."
"Don't give them any chances. We can try to cover for you if you do get caught, but there's no guarantee that it'll work. Better to just go the safer route and avoid getting caught altogether." Chris added.
"...Not using regular arrows, what do you-" Steve tried to ask.
"They coat their arrows. It's possible, they've tried it on a couple of folks who were unlucky enough to get close enough to the wall. I've seen a couple go down, too. It's not fun, and whatever they're planning to do with you when you're caught, I'm sure that you don't wanna find out." Mikael explained, continuing forward as he gestured for Chris to do the same.
Steve thought about their warning for a moment before letting out a small laugh in response.
"Knowing my luck, I might just get shot anyway by accident. I'll try my best to avoid it, though."
"Good." Mikael nodded at him. "We'll head back to the stronghold and see if we can find anyone to try and convince them to stop chasing you. Might work, might not, but in any case, we can still try to buy you some time to get away."
Steve nodded at them, beginning to back away as well.
"I'll get going then, I guess. It was nice seeing you guys again! Y'know, despite what's going on, and all." He gave them a small wave.
Both Mikael and Chris returned the wave.
"I wish we got to chat more, but yeah, nice seeing you, Steve! Stay safe out there!" Mikael said, giving him a smile as he fully disappeared off into the forest toward the stronghold.
"Yeah, stay safe. It only takes one misstep out here, don't forget that." Chris added, disappearing off as well.
"You guys be safe too!" Steve called out, watching the two run off before beginning to break out into a small sprint in the opposite direction.
While he was still rather worried about being chased and the fact that ravines of all things were randomly popping up everywhere, he still felt a sense of relief after seeing the other two champions. He was just beyond glad that both Mikael and Chris were fine and still somewhat thriving, even if they didn't exactly have a village to call home anymore. They'd be able to rebuild fine enough, he knew that they will, but until then, he hoped that they would stay relatively out of the fray.
Finding himself filled with joy, Steve continued to smile a bit as he put more distance in between himself and the stronghold.
Running through the forest, nearly tripping over several broken branches and rocks, Steve continued to glance around at his surroundings for any potential followers, as well as his original companions.
He couldn't see anyone, period. It was dark enough for it to be easy enough to blend into the night, despite the moon being considerably bright enough to filter in through the leaves up above. Though he heard some distant shouting, it was, thankfully, far enough away from him that his heart didn't drop completely into his stomach upon hearing it. He was hoping that he'd continue to be lucky enough to get back to the others with relatively no issue.
Having relatively no issues was too much of a rarity for him.
A split second went by, and he soon found his body slightly recoiling from the sensation of being pierced by something sharp. Looking down at his right shoulder, Steve found the shaft of an arrow sticking out from the torn hole of his shirt, blood soon beginning to pool and collect within the fabric.
'...If I started placing bets with the others about my own luck, would it be considered cheating?' Came his immediate first thought, as he went to grip his shoulder.
After the initial shock had hit him, waves of throbbing pain soon found their way to his shoulder, and, not surprisingly, an overall feeling of unusual numbness and tiredness soon flooded his body.
Hadn't he gotten far enough away from the stronghold? How close was he to or from the outer borders?
As he continued to try and deduce his own location, he fully anticipated his body to give out and collapse on the ground beneath him, cutting off all of his thoughts abruptly. However, instead of making sudden contact with the ground below him, his body, somewhat involuntarily, seemed to be refusing to collapse.
It was strange. Though he felt the overwhelming fatigue and the need to no longer be conscious, it was as if his body was actively fighting against what his brain was telling it to do. Why wasn't he going down? He'd been shot, but why hadn't the coated arrow taken its full effect yet?
He stumbled forward as he attempted to move. His legs caught himself. He found his body swaying to the side a bit, leaning farther than what he was comfortable with. He didn't fall over.
He didn't fall over. He wasn't falling over.
Why wasn't he falling over?
BOOOOO school killed my writing schedule again I should write a complaint or something smh T_T Regardless I got super sidetracked and this fic took the hit because of it, so I apologize! Also spent some time re-reading a bit and came to a conclusion!
I've been going back in forth in deciding how I want to pace things out from here on out, and I've realized that while the end (both in terms of the end of the fic and THE End) is quite in sight, while some events might be cut and dry in terms of how they'll play out, it wouldn't be best to just write them as they are, lol. IDK if that makes any sense, but I'm just saying that I wouldn't want to plop events one right after the other after taking all this time to slowly build up things now that I believe that the dragon is ready (or getting close to ready) to be fought, lol. Looking back at the previous couple of chapters that I've posted, I feel like at least two would've been better posted as a singular chapter where things go wrong? I'm personally debating it, but just to let y'all know, if the chapter count suddenly goes down or changes, that's totally why lmao. My issue mainly lies with the previous couple of chapters, so expect a change on that front. I feel like I might've rushed things already and it's sitting like a rock in the pit of my stomach, I might just go back and add/edit some things that seem more "sloppy" to me. Also, despite doing the re-read, I totally forgot to write out something that only became clear to me while I was writing this chapter so uhhhhh YEAH lol definitely going back to add some stuff. Usually I keep a doc updated where I write out what happens during each chapter (in a summary format) just to keep things rolling, but I haven't updated it in a bit, so my info might be slightly scrambled. Skill issue fr, but that's just the writing process, I guess! Definitely adding some stuff to this chapter as well afterwards.
Fun facts!
1.) While Steve is well aware of things such as deepslate and such, he's only ever mined in small caves due to where his village is located. Never before has he ever stepped into one of those insane caves filled with water and stalagmites and such lol. I feel like with the Caves and Cliffs update, it would've been cool to see some more insane ravines start popping up lol. Imagine running around the world and accidentally falling into a ravine (definitely have done that multiple times before T_T) and looking down, only to find pure darkness. Imagine falling straight to bedrock. Imagine accidentally falling into an ancient city lmao
2.) It should go without saying, but army strongholds are entirely different beasts from the regular Minecraft strongholds that you usually see, lol. Most strongholds that are active within the world are associated with the kingdom of Lunarus. They're only located above ground, but they're typically filled with various resources that get distributed to local associated villages. Usually, most villages just go right to each other for trade, but if a village directly pledges itself to Lunarus, it'll have to get its goods through there. Of course, army strongholds also house and deploy members of the kingdom's army as well! They're also allowing approved champions to do business there as well, but for the most part, the kingdom uses the strongholds to protect their territories fairly easily.
3.) Speaking of strongholds, they also tend to be placed far away from mountains in order to prevent onlookers from peeking in from afar. If they're not away from the mountains, they're in the mountains, lol, anything to prevent peeking.
4.) The remnants of Chris and Mikael's village are mainly staying within the walls of the stronghold!
Anyhoo that's it for now! See y'all next chapter!
