mindcracklove | The Survival Saga

What can I say? After 4 years it's finally over. I thank all of you who've stuck around this long (especially my wonderful beta silvercheers who keeps me motivated and my writing crisp and shiny). It's been an amazing journey writing this and is by far my favourite work to have ever written. And I really hope you enjoy this and what's to come. The party ain't over yet.

Chapter 14 - Intermission

In the beginning, there was Arkas: a lonely king to this empty world with a throne of dust and a crown of bone. And when his castle turned to sand, he set out to conquer the far-reaching land.

And so the saga begins...

~ ~ ~

In the early days, Arkas' discovery of fire was a blessing. Food, warmth, protection, everything a lonely man in a strange land could ever want. Now, with smoke so thick he could barely see and his lungs burning with every breath, he dreaded it with every fibre of his being. Stranded at the highest edge of the jungle canopy, he, Aurey, and Chad flinched away from the blistering fire below. Sweat clung to the ridges of their noses and tickled the napes of their necks, but the only things they felt were heat and fear. Under their hands, their precious tree branch groaned and cracked. The jungle fire licked closer, threatening their already-precarious position.

"What are we gonna do?" said Aurey. She shifted uncomfortably on her perch, eyes darting around for any sort of escape. With thinning jungle canopies in front, and a growling fire below, they were well and truly fucked.

"Maybe we can jump?" said Chad. He coughed and looked down at the fire. It danced mockingly beneath them, as though it had already claimed the group within its gaping maw. They had at least twenty blocks to fall – more than enough to crunch bone – but their chances were looking slimmer by the minute.

"And miraculously survive the fall and make it past the fire before our skin melts off our bodies," Arkas snapped. He teetered on the branch, on the verge of panic.

"I know, but what other option do we have?"

"Either way, I think we're dead," said Aurey. "It might be the only shot we have."

Arkas took another searing breath and closed his eyes. Below him, the charcoal remnants of his tree-top watch tower crumbled to the jungle floor. All of it, gone, in a blink of an eye. The fire had spread from the coast to the jungle, leaving his kingdom in ruins. All he had now were his secrets and a miracle. And now, he would have sacrifice one to keep the three of them alive.

The branch below them cracked again, the crowning twigs catching alight. "I think I have something," he said, "but you'll have to trust me."

"Trust you!?" said Aurey. "You've given us no reason to trust you since we got here. And now, now this.” She gestured expansively at the burning jungle. “You've done this. This is all your fault."

"Aurey," warned Chad.

She simply shook her head: no.

"Why should you trust me?" said Arkas. "I know I haven’t given you much, but if nothing else, I’m your friend. At least trust me on that. I know I haven’t told you things, well, a lot of things really, but this is one of those things and, and really, what else do we have?”

"I don't think I can," said Aurey, her voice strained with conflict. Sparks spat at her fingertips and she strangled a cry into a whimper, shuffling back.

Arkas palmed the small metallic pearl in his pocket and prayed to whatever god he could imagine existing in this empty place. "Please," he began to plead, before a loud cry cut through the smoke.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

The next thing Arkas knew, he was being swept off his feet and sent flying through the air. His toes grazed the flames as they passed by in a blur. Then, there was a crash and a shout as he and his unknown saviour came to a lumbering stop amid the undergrowth, just beyond the reach of the flames.

Eyes stinging from the smoke, and the world still spinning, Arkas looked up in a daze at the stranger who had come to their rescue. "I don't- who are you?" he stuttered, throat dry and raspy with acrid ash.

The man gave a self-assured smirk. "I'm Sevadus, but you can call me daddy."

~ ~ ~

Sevadus let out a triumphant whoop as his diamond blade cut through the enderman for the final time, damning the creature to dissolve to dust. He turned back to the other three, dishing out hi-fives to Chad, Aurey, and finally Arkas.

"Nice swing," said Aurey, eyeing up Sevadus' new diamond sword.

"No doubt about that," he replied. "Was a shame that Arkas couldn't take it down, though. If I sweat any more through these pants I'll look like I've wet myself."

Arkas grimaced and looked away, hand still stinging from Sevadus' enthusiastic high-five. Ignoring Sev's quip for the better part, he tried to peer through the woodlands and make sense of their new surroundings. While the trees were still thick and abundant, the undergrowth was unusually sparse for the climate. He kicked uneasily at the downtrodden grass. They had neither seen nor heard a single animal since they'd came through the forest.

"Where to next?" he said to Sevadus. "You seem so sure of the way."

"Well, I wouldn't quite call myself sure. But if there's one thing for certain, it's that we're heading towards adventure.”

"That works for me," said Aurey, wiping the dust from her sword.

Arkas huffed, but the unspoken decision had already been made. The other three moved practically in unison, onwards to whatever direction Sevadus had arbitrarily picked. All he could do was follow as they broke out of the forest and into a sweeping green clearing.

The sight was magnificent: a ridge of gently sloping hills came curling around the bowl-shaped valley they stood within. The spring-green forest draped lazily around the edges of the clearing, forming a near-perfect circle around the grassy plains within. To the west, he could see the sun shining over the hills to light the edges of the valley in a golden glow. It made him want to build and conquer and complement the land with an equally grandiose creation. At least, it would have if it weren't for the tall, wooden fence, worn and splintered, surrounding a clutter of buildings that had already made home on the easterly side of the clearing.

"This one of yours?" asked Chad, breaking through Arkas' imaginings.

"Nope, but that raises its own questions. If it's not mine, then who or what the hell did create it? I thought we were the only ones here.,” Arkas replied.

"Me so too," Aurey added quietly.

"Either way," said Sev, "Dibs on not being the one to knock."

Much to his chagrin, and Arkas’ carefully hidden delight, Sevadus was the one to knock.

The fence gate rattled loudly. A moment passed before the sound echoed back through the stillness of the valley. "Hello?" he called out, tentatively. "Anyone there?"

Nothing but silence. He knocked again, harder.

Wood crunched together under the force and the latch gave way. The gate swung open, its bottom edge dragging in the dirt. Sevadus placed a single foot past the barrier. His eyes twitched about nervously, as though he were waiting to be struck down where he stood. "Hello?" he asked once more, voice softer this time, less sure of himself. Again, he was greeted with silence.

"Should we go in?" asked Aurey. "Do you think it's safe?"

"I don't know," replied Sev, "but there's only one way to find out."

"I don't trust this," said Arkas. "Nothing about this feels right. If there's no-one here, it feels like we're intruding."

"I'm with Sev on this one," Chad said, resolutely.

"Then it's settled," said Sev, "we're going in."

The dirt paths were just as empty as the entrance: doors closed and windows sealed, with the occasional piece of scrap tumbling across the path in the breeze. Underneath a nearby awning, armour stands stood at haphazard angles and chests remained opened as though the tenants had left in a hurry, taking most of what they owned with them. At a fire pit near the centre of the compound, freshly burnt ashes still lingered between the stones.

At the back of the group, Arkas looked around hawkishly. It was all too quiet, all too eerie. He wasn't sure if he even wanted to know what had happened here. Still, the others continued forward, fascinated with the abandoned complex.

"What do you think happened here?" Chad wondered, directing the question at no-one in particular.

Aurey shrugged. "Maybe the mobs got to them? Maybe they just got sick of living here."

"Maybe they're all out for something," supplied Sev, "and they'll be back any moment now."

"If that's the case, I hope they don't mind us wandering in here," said Aurey. She rattled the handle of a passing door. To her surprise, this one opened, revealing a single line of bookshelves against the back wall. "In here," she said, beckoning the others to follow.

The shelves were stacked with rough, leather-bound tomes, some coated in dust and others still glossy with the shine of new leather. Arkas picked one up and idly flipped through the pages. It was filled with a mishmash of rough sketches and neatly penned diagrams of monsters - the mobs he knew to roam the night. Between the pictures, descriptions and notes were written in small, but legible, lettering. He stopped on a page near the middle with a lanky, inky drawing of an enderman. Nightman was printed as the caption beneath.

He flipped to the very front page and read the title aloud: "A Library of Monsters — Kurt J Mac."

"Well I think they're definitely people," said Sevadus, glancing through a plain-looking text titled The Secret Saturday Diaries. "If they come back, let's hope they're friendly."

"Oh, I assure you, I'm very friendly," came a gravelly voice from the doorway behind them.

Arkas startled, dropping his book with a particularly loud thud as he turned to face the voice. A man stood in the doorway, blocking their exit.

"But the better question is, I think, are you friendly?" the man said with an emphatic sweep of his hand. "Considering that you're the ones who've come traipsing through here to rummage through my stuff."

Arkas crossed his arms defensively and looked the man up and down. He looked quite ordinary: of average height with plain features and not-quite-messy brown hair. However, he spoke in carefully measured tones with an unmistakable air of authority. His voice alone was nearly enough for Arkas to skip over one very important detail—his eyes were a bright, unnatural purple. It was hard to tell with the light filtering in from behind him, giving his outline an almost ethereal appearance, but they almost seemed to hold a glow of their own.

"Kurt?" he asked, with an edge of wariness.

"Not quite," said the man, "but I suppose it's close enough. For now, my name's not important, but I would rather like to know who the four people I’ve caught sneaking around here are."

Sevadus was quick to introduce them all, ignorant to Arkas' hesitation. He offered up a charming smile and explained himself calmly. "We were just passing through when we saw this place. I’m absolutely amazed that others might be out here and we just had to come look."

"I'm sorry about us barging in like that," Aurey added, diplomatically. "This place looked abandoned and no-one answered when we knocked."

"Fair enough," said the man. He idly drummed at the diamond sword at his hip, as though to let them know it was there if its owner had need of it.

"And what about you? Did you build this all yourself?" Arkas asked, with a pointed twirl of his finger.

"Heavens no," he replied. "There were others here. Quite a few of them, actually. At least, until they all left."

"There were?!" Chad exclaimed in wonderment. "Why'd they leave? Are they coming back? How many were there?" he rushed to add.

"It doesn't matter. Just be glad they're gone," said the man. "They tried to kill me once, maybe twice. And only one of those times was an accident." He gave a sugary smile that Aurey, Chad, and Sev played straight into.

"Is that so," Arkas said, flatly.

"I do expect them to be back in a day or so. And when that happens, I'll be long gone. If you value anything about yourselves, really, you'll be gone too."

"Oh," Aurey said quietly, her features dropping.

Sevadus gave a Nebris thoughtful look. “I guess we really won’t be sticking around, then.”

“Which is a real shame,” added Aurey. “All these books here – there’s so much to learn from them. Potions, portals; I could sit in here for days.”

"It really is such a shame, but when you do leave, I hope it's no trouble if I tag along with you," said the man.

"It's no trouble at all," said Sev. Chad and Aurey nodded in agreement.

The man gave another of his winning smiles. “Absolutely perfect. Now, have you guys ever heard of a nether star?”

"If you're to come with us, it would be polite for us to at the very least know your name," Arkas interrupted. He scowled at the man, trying to read beyond his words and expressions. None of this felt right. It was all too convenient, all too sudden.

"Gosh, where are my manners? You can call me Nebris,” he said, offering his hand.

“An absolute pleasure,” said Arkas, though he ignored the waiting hand. He opted to stare straight into Nebris’ creepy eyes, waiting for… something. A glint of falseness, a shred of ill intent, anything. He found none and found himself even more leery of Nebris for it.

Later that day, with the compound behind them and the warm sun settling below the trees, Arkas spoke. “I don’t trust him,” he said, fully aware that no-one was listening. “Neither should you.”

~ ~ ~

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And fear not my lovlies, for all your (living) favourites will return soon in: The Wither Effect.