Chapter 12: The Black Sword
Adonis, Evan, and the escort siblings Shera and Shawn took the path back to the rest of the group. While they walked back, Evan was being bombarded with questions by the siblings.
"No, really, what are you doing with a potion like that?" Asked Shawn. "And, also, why would you steal from the BL Labs? You know all Labs are dangerous, right?" Shera quizzed next. Adonis was fighting the urge to lash out at those two. Why wouldn't they just stop asking questions? But, nonetheless, Evan replied to both of them.
"Yes, I am fully aware that labs are dangerous, but I prefer to live on the dangerous side of things. And to you, Shawn, I don't think you should be worried as to why I have this potion, but the fact that having this potion in my possession saved your life."
The siblings both went silent.
"Any more questions? Do you want me to elaborate further?"
They looked at each other and looked back at him, then shook their heads in unison.
Adonis couldn't help but smile to himself, as he knew the siblings didn't have a comeback. He wanted to turn around and give his friend a high-square right there, but he knew that would be an inappropriate time. Finally, he saw the others and waved to them as they dashed towards the four. "Evan!" Preston called. "Hello, Preston!" Evan replied jubilantly. Sage hugged Adonis, letting go and looking at him for a while. "You okay?" She slightly whispered. "'Course I am.." He hesitantly said.
She nodded and slowly let go of him completely. Adonis looked at Wayne, "How are you holding up?"
Wayne shrugged and smirked, "I'm as good as I can get right now." Adonis smiled and patted him (roughly near) his shoulder. Just then, Shawn clapped his hands and gave everyone a start. "Okay! Are we all ready to head to the portal? We kinda are running outta time, here," he said, giggling nervously at the end. "...How are you not dead?" Sage asked a little rudely. Maxine nudged her and she winced. "Yeah, we're ready," Maxine replied while looking at Sage warningly.
They walked along the thin strips of netherrack, Adonis being extra careful not to fall. They had to crouch and walk slowly as to not do so. Adonis could see that Evan was walking the steadiest, and Webner was wobbling the most. He could hear Winnie quietly instructing her twin on how to crouch properly, though visibly failing.
"Remember," Shera said, "If you fall in the lava, you won't be invincible from it completely! You can still die!" Sage scoffed, "Yes, and if I die, I'm dead." Maxine snorted trying to hold back giggles. Adonis could tell that by the way Shera went quiet, she was biting back a nasty retort.
Once they got beyond the netherrack bridge, Shawn stopped the group from going further. In front of them was a Nether Fortress, something that Adonis thought to be only a myth. "This is a Nether Fortress," Shawn explained, "because of Notch's Shield, we have not been affected nor seen or been seen by any hostiles. But that will change if we don't find our way to the other portal quickly." Adonis nodded, and so did the others. "Question," Sage stated. Shawn closed his eyes for a moment and opened them before addressing her. "Yes, Fare?"
"We're not gonna see any blazes?" She asked pointedly. "If you didn't listen, just say that. I remember telling everyone, including you, that our Shield will prevent us from seeing or being seen by aggressive mobs. What do you not understand?" He said condescendingly. Sage's face got a little red for a moment, and looked like she decided against whatever she was going to say next. "Well, if that's all the questions everyone has, we shall continue."
Once they went inside the Fortress, Adonis felt a chill throughout his body, as if he wasn't alone. Shawn did say that they wouldn't see any mobs, but that didn't necessarily mean they weren't still there, did it? He looked around suspiciously. The fortress seemed to be very captivating to the twins. From what Adonis heard, the Fortress was full of wither skeletons.
While he was looking around, himself, he bumped into Evan. "Oh, sorry," he apologized. "No worries," Evan said. Adonis thought for a moment. "Hey Evan? Do you know why Preston's so happy?" He asked quietly. Evan sighed. "Part if it is because the Nether is apart of him. He is feeling the dimension's energy. Well, half of him."
Adonis wondered if the same could be going on with him, too. "Do you think the same is happening to me? I'm pretty happy! Happier than I've ever been before!"
"You were happy," Evan responded. "Not so much anymore. I can tell that you're very uneasy."
Adonis looked down. "Mind elaborating?" Evan asked. "Wayne almost died. I couldn't do anything!" He finally said. Evan made an "Ah," noise. Adonis was surprised that he didn't ask about the first thing that he said. "I couldn't help save my friend... He's alive, and I'm grateful, but it was Maxine who saved him, not me!" Evan nodded silently. Adonis looked at him. "Aren't you gonna asked how that went down?" He said, a little offended by how well Evan was taking this. "Aren't you going to ask why I wasn't there in the first place?" Evan replied.
Adonis was now the one who went silent. Evan always had the smoothest remarks.
"I was searching for clues on to where the Blade could have gone," he said, now lowering his voice to a whisper. "I knew I wouldn't be able to find a solid clue, but I did find something. I found a burnt looking sword in the middle of nowhere. I don't know how it got there, it how it survived not turning to ashes, but the question is, is it a clue to finding Herobrine's blade?"
He lifted the side of his shirt to reveal a dark sword in his pocket. Adonis thought it looked rare, but was it rare enough for Herobrine to give it a swing? "How do we know this isn't the sword of his?" He asked. Evan laid down his shirt over the sword again and shook his head. "Shawn said Herobrine lost it. If it was laying right here in plain sight, and it was present in His domain, then that would be idiotic on His part."
Adonis agreed. "Still, we should see what powers it has. From what I've heard, there's no sword that doesn't burn, not even a gold one." "There may be more swords than a gold one," Evan said, "I doubt gold is the strongest material in the world— the Badlands government tends to keep a lot of secrets from its citizens."
Adonis looked ahead to see that the location they were in looked very familiar. Like this was where they had started, familiar. "Uh... Is it just me, or are we going in circles?" Preston said. "Yep, we've definitely been here before," Webner clarified. "LISTEN, THESE FORTRESSES ARE BIG, OKAY?" Shawn said, flustered. "Maybe I could stick my head out and look for the exit?" Wayne suggested. "No, that's not how it works. These fortresses are built to confuse it's trespassers." Shera nudged her brother, and whispered something in his ear. "I know, but they still wouldn't be able to tell where the exit is. .... Shera, we've done this before to get to the Badlands. ... OF COURSE I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING!"
As the siblings bickered, Adonis pondered once more on the sword. If this sword was a different type if sword, did that make it a stronger sword? He obviously wasn't going to tell anyone about it but his friends. He didn't know what to make of it, still.
"Black," Shera called. She must have been referring to Evan. "Yes?" He answered. "You can see what no one else can. Can you see the exit?" He thought about it for a moment. "I usually do this in the other dimension, but I can give this one a try."
He closed his eyes, and Adonis knew what that meant. He had been practicing his Ender Eye, it seemed, when he opened them to reveal his glowing eyes. It was uncanny how much it resembled the nether portal from before.
His eyes darted quickly to and fro all directions. It widened quickly, the pupils dilating and squishing into itself in a split second. "There..." He said ominously. He pointed towards the northwest, "This time, I think I should lead all of you there."
Shawn made a presenting gesture that said, "After you".
Adonis smirked, happy Evan was leading the crew.
Heya guys! Hope you all enjoyed the chapter! This may be a little long, since I didn't do one yesterday.
Tell me what you think in the comments, and if you're registered, make sure to give this an upvote!
Love ya'll
nobodyimportant out—
