Ami saw as Michael began to grow smaller and smaller as she fell. She scrambled to grab on to something - anything. Something clammy and sturdy grabbed her, forcing her fall to come to a stop.
"Hold on, I'll pull you up!" Michael had grabbed a hold of her hand, and clung on tightly to her with both arms. Slowly but surely he was able to pull her up on the small platform. As soon as she was firmly on the ground, Michael set to laying cobblestone down everywhere he could.
"Thank you," Ami said, lying on the ground. "Thank you thank you thank you thank you."
"You'd have done the same for me," he said. "I wouldn't just let go of you that easily. If you can move, can you put some cobblestone in the back? I want to be safe." She nodded, gradually rising into a sitting position and placing stony blocks around them.
In a matter of minutes, the rest of the group began to arrive and pile around on the newly formed platform.
"Holy crap, how high up are we?" Aiden blew a low whistle, staring down below. "Is that an ocean of lava?"
"High enough," Michael muttered, coming to stand before them all. "Okay, so clearly we're going to have to build down from here if we want to get to safe ground. Don't let your guard down. I'll help build the staircase."
"Wait," Charlotte came forward. "I'll do the staircase. You step back fer a minute, gather your bearings. Luke! You can help me." She gently pushed Michael back, motioning for him to go back. He gave her a half smile and leaned against the portal wall.
As Charlotte and Luke carefully went forward and began the descent, Ami took a long, good look around her. Truly, if this was hell, it wasn't far off from what she expected. It was darker than outside, so she had to squint a little. It didn't take her long to realize that they were only a couple feet from touching their heads to the ceiling, though. Everything was made out of some sort of mineral she couldn't recognize. It was a dark shade of crimson and black, the colour mixing together to form an odd texture.
She took a moment to walk around on the small platform Michael had created, smiling to herself as she noticed the fence he had put up around the border. Ami looked down and felt the grin fade from her face. They had to be miles in the air, she could barely see what was underneath them.
Luckily, the ground illuminated itself. A sea of lava threatened their very lives, and it was a simple misstep away. She gulped, daring to look further. Barely in view was a space of dark land, all made of the same, strange substance as the ceiling. It was quite a ways away, Ami realized, and it would take a while to get there. Bummer.
She looked to her left, where she saw Michael placing chests on every corner.
"Do we really need those?" she asked.
"Better safe than sorry. Besides, we an organize a few things while we wait. For instance, I'm putting any extra material in this one." He took out his pickaxe and chipped away at the ceiling. When Ami raised an eyebrow at him, he simply shrugged and said "Netherrack." without any explanation. Ami sighed, drifting into her own thoughts.
"That's so crazy," Aiden said, taking another look at the lava sea.
"Isn't it? I bet it would make a great place to roast marshmallows and tell ghost stories." Izzy grinned, resting her head on the fence. "Dare you to spit over the edge."770Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ501r7nylGA
Aiden smirked, leaning his head further over the rail and letting a big glob of saliva drop from his mouth. There was a second of silence, but soon enough a soft hiss was heard from below.
"Wicked," she said. Aiden laughed, wiping his mouth.
"You try," he said, motioning to the edge.
Izzy tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I couldn't," she said. "It's a little freaky."
"Don't worry," Aiden gave her a trusting look. "I'll hold you here so you don't fall."
She smiled again, and nodded. "Hold on tight." Izzy leaned over the fence and gave a mighty heave, sending a dripping blob of spit spiralling down the endless pit and into the lava, giggling when the assuring sizzle of the water hitting lava reached her ears.
"You two are starting to freak me out. If one of you falls over the edge I will either lose my mind or say I told you so." Michael shook his head, watching them.
"Oh, come on." Aiden rolled his eyes. "There's a nice, sturdy fence here to keep us troublemakers from killing ourselves. We're just having some fun."
"Apparently so," Michael raised his eyebrows, smiling slyly.
Aiden smirked. "I wouldn't suppose that you'd like to try. It's simple, just spit over the edge."
Michael's smile faltered. "I'm fine here, thanks. I'll be better when we get down there, certainly."
"Are you afraid?" Aiden twiddled his thumbs cunningly.
"Afraid? What a simple and ridiculous term. I'm just choosing to wait over here until the path is finished."
"Then why not pass the time and hear your spit disintegrate?"
"I'm not an idiot."
Aiden opened his mouth to say something else, but was cut off by Charlotte, who requested Michael's assistance. Michael cracked a crafty smile at Aiden and went to Charlotte. Aiden pouted slightly, but shrugged it off and went back to Izzy.
Charlotte put her hands on her hips. "Well. Whaddaya think so far? We've gotten most o' the way down. If yeh have a ladder, then that could make this entire ordeal a lot smoother."
"'Course." Michael reached into his inventory and passed Charlotte the ladders, which she placed on the leftover cobblestone.
"Thank ya," she said, standing up straight and cracking her back. "How's that fer a few minutes o' handiwork, eh?"
"I definitely owe you something when we get back." Michael chuckled nervously.
"Look forward to it. Anyhow, we should git a move on." She stepped down the ladder and onto the ground, which was a light grey up. close. Charlotte moved to the side, slower than normal. "Watch for this stuff," she said. "It's like tar."
Ami was confused at first, but found that when she landed on the same section of land that she, too, could barely walk, much less run. Her moves became sluggish and dragged all of a sudden, and it was a difficult task just to make any headway.
Everyone piled in on the ground, slowly moving towards a different colour of ground. Before they could reach this, however, they could all see a group of creatures.
"Michael." Izzy pointed to them. "What are those?"
The creatures stood on two hind legs, and bore the bodies of a pig. Only, the pig was dead. Half of its ribs and skull were exposed, and green rotting flesh presented itself all across their bodies. It trailed from their mouths, legs, and arms. The pigs wore a simple loincloth around its waist, and each of them brandished a golden sword.
"Zombie Pigmen. Fierce creatures, when provoked. Don't attack them!" He raised his voice at the end, eyeballing Aiden who had unsheathed his sword. "If you attack them they will all kill you. If you attack one, any others nearby will gang up on you. It's a horrible way to go. They won't attack if you won't, so just leave them be. Everything else, however..." Michael gulped. "Is fair game."
They all reached normal ground, finally able to move fast and freely across the warm rock. The Pigmen were in clusters around them, milling about with no clear purpose. Some of them glanced over at them with crossed eyes, oinking and walking in a circle.
Aside from them, great pillars of lava flowed from the ceiling, pumping into the orange sea below that seemed to go on forever. There was a murky path ahead that was barely illuminated by the shining lava.
"This can't be real," Aiden said, clenching his sword tightly. "I don't believe this. Hell doesn't exist, this isn't happening..."
"Hey," Izzy said soothingly. "It's going to be okay. I'm scared too." Aiden nodded, but his eyes said otherwise, flicking back and forth warily.
"Mike, where are we going?" Charlotte asked, changing the subject. Michael gazed down at his compass, which was spiralling out of control. He grunted, pocketing the device.
"Someone mark the path with torches. A map or a compass is useless here."
"Who needs a map, anyway?" Ami shrugged, pulling out a stack of torches and laying one beside her.
"Let's just press on, I guess."
"What do you mean stole?!" Luke spat in Aiden's face.
"You were just over by my sword! I set it down, went to the washroom, came back, and saw you walking away from it! Clearly you stole it!" He fumed, fists clenched so tight that his knuckles were white.
"Aiden, stop! He didn't do it!" Izzy pleaded, trying to talk some sense to the boy.
"You can't be taking his side on this one! I thought we were together on this!"
"Well-" Izzy gritted her teeth. "You're being an idiot!" She stormed away, wiping her eyes on her arm. There was an uncomfortable silence after she left, leaving Aiden to yell and punch the ground with all his might. The block amazingly remained intact, but left Aiden to hold his head in his hands.
"We should move," Luke said. "I'll go grab Izzy."
"No." Aiden got to his feet. "I'll go after her. You guys stay together." He brushed his knees off, mumbling something along the lines of "it's my problem, anyway." And set off after her.
Aiden marched through the eerie landscape, trying to block out the stares of Pigmen. He was such an idiot. Why did he have to get so worked up about everything? Izzy didn't deserve to be in the middle of that. No one did.
He walked faster, blinking moisture away from his eyes. He had to find her again, no matter what it took. The path bended this way and that, and Aiden eventually came to a long corridor torn apart by a four-way stop. He swore under his breath. She could be anywhere now! Aiden scoffed and turned left, trotting down the long, dark corridor.
"Why do you bother? Don't you know it's worthless to seek her out?" A voice spoke in Aiden's mind. It was that of his own.
"I'm not just going to let her run off and get into trouble," Aiden said, coming to another turn and going right.
"You saw how she treated you. Tossed you aside like trash on garbage day,"
"That's not true,"
"Why save her when I could offer you something much better?"
Aiden went straight this time, bursting into a full run. "Like what?"
"Life, Aiden. A guaranteed path to not-dying in the near future. Just stop." He found his feet slowing without his consent.
"Good," the voice said. "Now all you have to do is turn around and go back to that portal. Leave this place, and all of those so called friends of yours and you'll finally be happy."
Aiden froze.
"Is the choice really that hard?" The voice said. "Surely you know the answer by now."
"You're right," Aiden admitted. "I do know what I want."
"Excellent!" The voice cheered. "Then let's get out of here."
"I'm afraid this is where we part," Aiden grimaced. "I can't leave what's most important to me." Without another word, Aiden broke into a run again, skidding madly around corners. There was no sound other than the pounding of his feet, heart, and heavy breathing.
He heard a scream. Her scream. Aiden's heart sank as he ran, finally coming to a clearing. The open sea of lava stretched before him again, and Izzy was cornered. A horde of Pigmen - at least six - swarmed her with swords drawn and eyes firmly locked. One plunged its sword at Izzy's head, narrowly missing her ear. She was desperately trying to fend all of them off at once, but was quickly losing power.
Aiden jumped in at once, pulling out an ax and sinking the blade into a Pigman's head. The creature turned to dust, leaving only a small cloud to be remembered by.
A couple of the other Pigmen turned their attention into Aiden, giving him a good slice on the arm. He fought fiercely, killing of as many as he could. Finally able to handle herself, Izzy slaughtered the remaining Pigmen that advanced on her, sending then both to turn into piles of evaporating dust evermore.
They stopped fighting once every last Pigman had been slain. Aiden looked at Izzy, and Izzy looked at Aiden.
"Thank you," she said, dropping her sword and pulling him into a hug.
"Are you okay?" he asked, checking her over. Izzy laughed.
"Only a couple cuts. If you hadn't shown up...oh god. They scared me. I came here and just turned around and one was right behind me. I-I'm so sorry, I panicked. Then they all just..."
"I don't care how it happened. You're alive, that's more than I could ever ask for." Izzy smiled, tucking a strand of hair away from her face.
"I was still reckless," she said.
"Have you seen me on a good day?" Aiden laughed. "I'm sorry for being an idiot earlier."
She smirked. "I've grown used to it. Can we go back to the others now? They're probably at least a little worried." Aiden smiled, picking up his ax and her sword, handing it to her. They walked out together, neither drifting too far away from the other.
"Should we go after them?" Charlotte asked for the third time.
"He'll bring her back. Don't worry, I know they'll come back in one piece." Michael reassured her.
"Can't we use the techy stuff you gave us?"
"The earpieces stopped working as soon as we set foot in the Nether. There's nothing we can do except keep on our toes."
Charlotte ran a hand through her hair, glancing down the way they had came again.
This time, instead of seeing nothing but crippling disappointment, the familiar faces of Aiden and Izzy strolled out, coming closer by the second.
"Praise The Lord!" Charlotte ran to them, enveloping Aiden first and pulling Izzy second into a choking hug.
"Easy!" Aiden grumbled, rubbing his neck softly.
"After you two disappear for an hour yeh expect me to take it easy on yeh?! Had me worried sick! Could have died! And we wouldn't know at all!" she rambled on, dusting off Aiden's shirt and fixing Izzy's hair.
"I told you," Michael said, joining up with them. "We should probably get a move on, though. Those blaze rods aren't going to find themselves. I'd suggest we go where you two came from, that Nether Fortress."
Aiden and Izzy turned around, and looked at the building full-on for the first time. It was made completely of dark bricks that formed a series of tunnels and bridges. It was magnificent, but eerily terrifying as well. The thrill and anticipation crept in each of them for the adventure that awaited them.
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