Monstrous (Chapter Eighteen)
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mindcrackloveThere are fun parallels in this chapter, and also it's the MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR.
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Chapter Eighteen
Nether Fortress Alpha, Nether. July 13, year 373. Time instance 483Z.
Vechs wasn’t entirely certain where he was when he opened his eyes. He sat up and rubbed the lump on the back of his head, trying to recall how he got here. He glanced around and was immediately certain that something was very, very wrong.
He was in what appeared to be a prison cell made of dark red bricks that radiated heat. The door was made of obsidian with dark bars for a window. There was a true window in the room as well, but it too was barred and Vechs knew that it would be easier to claw through the bricks then get those bars off.
Vechs got to his feet and noticed that his sword was gone, but his toolbelt had been left alone, as had pretty much everything else. He looked out the window to confirm what he already suspected.
A landscape of red stone and lava greeted him.
The Nether.
He was only mildly surprised by this, but no less dismayed- this was the literal worst place he could be.
Vechs looked out the window of the door. A hallway of red nether brick stretching in either direction.
There was a zombie pigman outside his door. Surprisingly, this one wore armor- rusted, burned, and deteriorating iron, but armor. It snorted at him when he peered out the window and raised its golden sword threateningly.
“Hey, hey! Careful with that thing. You could poke your other eye out.”
The remaining eye of the pigman (his right) narrowed as it thought that over, but eventually decided it meant nothing and lowered its sword, going back to surveying the hallway.
Great. A guard. It wouldn’t be easy to escape with that bozo watching him.
Vechs paced, looking out the main window again. How would he ever get out of here? Obviously he needed to escape, but how was beyond him, and he had no idea how to find his way back to the portal, or how to survive in this place.
He paced for awhile, and was so lost in his thoughts that when the door was opened, he jumped and reached for his sword before remembering it was gone.
He could feel the power of the fire spirit even from five feet away and he shuddered, definitely not wanting to get into a fight with THAT.
“Lord Nian wishes for you to remain here until he finds a use for you.” the blaze informed him. “You are to remain in this cell until he says otherwise. Do not try to escape. You will be destroyed.” It drifted out of the room, leaving Vechs stunned.
Nian.
No. That was nonsense. There must be plenty of pigmen with the last name Nian. Maybe it was even the guy’s first name. Besides, a zombie pigman wouldn’t be intelligent enough to orchestrate this. It had to be a mortal like Kaltaerion or a fire spirit.
Vechs shook it off. The past had really been bitchslapping him and Blame lately.
He wondered how his friends were doing, and if they were okay.
~~~
Vechs couldn’t think of a way out.
What little he tried failed immediately. Despite having his toolbelt and its contents, when he had fallen to Minecraftia, it had been mostly empty at the time. Nothing in it was too helpful- a screwdriver, a chisel (which was completely ineffective against the nether brick), a slinky, and a few assorted pieces of things that were useless without the rest, including the handle of a pickaxe.
Irony was sickening.
So there he sat for an unknown amount of time, the zombie pigman guard occasionally shoving him a bowl of mushroom stew.
He had always been in the habit of talking to himself, but never had he had someone answer back.
He had been saying something to himself about wondering if his friends were okay when a voice from within the walls replied, “We’re fine.”
Vechs jerked. “Blame?! Is that you?”
“Keep your voice down! Yes, it’s me.”
“How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy. I had to track a group of zombie pigmen to a sort of hub area and guessed that you would be in Nether Fortress Alpha, and if you weren’t, there might by records of you.”
“How long have I been gone?”
“A few days, I think. I’ve lost track of time in here, but I think it’s been…two days? Three? Everyone’s fine last time I checked. How did you get snatched?”
“I got knocked out the same way you tried to knock me out in that first meeting. Sword hilt.”
“Ah. But why?”
“Easiest way to knock someone out, I suppose.”
“No, I mean why did they kidnap you?”
“I don’t know. Some guy called Lord Nian sent a blaze here the first day to tell me that I was to remain here until he found a use for me.”
“Well, he won’t find a use for you until after you’re long gone.”
“How are you in the walls?”
“Mined it. It’s not easy, believe me. I’ve almost broken this pickaxe but hopefully it’ll get us out of here.”
“Let’s hurry, then, and hope one-eye out there doesn’t notice.”
“There’s a guard?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’ll have to move quickly.”
“Oh, Blame?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Blame didn’t respond, but the sound of bricks breaking (as quietly as he could manage) began. Vechs wondered how he got so close without him hearing and resolved to ask later.
It took Blame about ten minutes to break through the wall, and unfortunately a chunk of brick fell and hit the floor, shattering and sending debris everywhere, including under the door.
THAT the guard noticed. It roared in rage and opened the door, brandishing its sword.
“Uh, Blame? Maybe get that wall open?”
“I can’t! Hang on, here!” Blame shoved a stone sword through the gap for Vechs to take. He seized it and parried the blow from the zombie pigman. He couldn’t deliver a decent blow do to its armor, but he held it off long enough for Blame to get through the wall and finish it off.
“How do you do that?” Vechs demanded. “Your sword cuts through literally anything!”
Blame held up his gray blade for inspection. “You will never meet its equal. It’s sharp and reinforced enough to cut through pretty much anything. It’s enchanted to never dull as well.”
“Wow. How did you get that?”
“That is a story for another time. We need to get out of here.” He motioned Vechs through the wall and led him up through a tight, rough tunnel. It took several minutes but they found themselves outside the fortress on the red stone that radiated more heat than the bricks. Blame led the way across the landscape, mumbling to himself to try and remember the right way.
A horrible shriek ripped the air.
Vechs covered his ears but Blame tackled him out of the way as a fireball shot over their heads, exploding the stone behind them.
“Shit!” Blame jumped up and ran, Vechs hurriedly following. They two dodged fireballs from the ghast as it shrieked and wailed after them. They ducked into a tunnel and paused, breathing heavily.
“It seemed to have better aim than I’m used to.” Vechs panted.
“It’s on its home turf. They’re tougher like that.” Blame informed him. “Come on, he alerted everyone as to where we are. We need to get out of here, before-“
“Too late.”
They both whirled around, back towards the tunnel entrance.
A zombie pigman with a blaze on each side of him stood there, a diamond sword in hand. He wore iron armor except on his head, on which he wore a golden crown. His right eye was missing- in fact, his entire right side seemed rotten. But there was a cruel intelligence in his green left eye unmatched by that of the other undead around. Some kind of red crystal was sticking about five inches out of his chest. It glowed faintly with little bolts of purple energy shooting across it occasionally. It struck a resonance within both Blame and Vechs, but that wasn’t what had Vechs’s attention.
The height was right, the facial structure was right, the eye color was right- pigmen usually had brown eyes, with the rare blue-eyed pigman and almost never green. Vechs was certain that had the pigman still had his right eye, it would be blue. The way he stood was right, and that confident expression was right.
Perhaps the final thing that reinforced what Vechs’s mind was processing was the sign in the crowned pigman’s left hand, glowing faintly with enchantment.
Blame was fairly certain that this pigman was the Lord Nian he had heard about, and Vechs agreed with him.
But Vechs was certain he knew something else about this pigman.
He recognized him. He knew who he was.
Zisteau.
Chapter list: http://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/382.html
Chapter Eighteen
Nether Fortress Alpha, Nether. July 13, year 373. Time instance 483Z.
Vechs wasn’t entirely certain where he was when he opened his eyes. He sat up and rubbed the lump on the back of his head, trying to recall how he got here. He glanced around and was immediately certain that something was very, very wrong.
He was in what appeared to be a prison cell made of dark red bricks that radiated heat. The door was made of obsidian with dark bars for a window. There was a true window in the room as well, but it too was barred and Vechs knew that it would be easier to claw through the bricks then get those bars off.
Vechs got to his feet and noticed that his sword was gone, but his toolbelt had been left alone, as had pretty much everything else. He looked out the window to confirm what he already suspected.
A landscape of red stone and lava greeted him.
The Nether.
He was only mildly surprised by this, but no less dismayed- this was the literal worst place he could be.
Vechs looked out the window of the door. A hallway of red nether brick stretching in either direction.
There was a zombie pigman outside his door. Surprisingly, this one wore armor- rusted, burned, and deteriorating iron, but armor. It snorted at him when he peered out the window and raised its golden sword threateningly.
“Hey, hey! Careful with that thing. You could poke your other eye out.”
The remaining eye of the pigman (his right) narrowed as it thought that over, but eventually decided it meant nothing and lowered its sword, going back to surveying the hallway.
Great. A guard. It wouldn’t be easy to escape with that bozo watching him.
Vechs paced, looking out the main window again. How would he ever get out of here? Obviously he needed to escape, but how was beyond him, and he had no idea how to find his way back to the portal, or how to survive in this place.
He paced for awhile, and was so lost in his thoughts that when the door was opened, he jumped and reached for his sword before remembering it was gone.
He could feel the power of the fire spirit even from five feet away and he shuddered, definitely not wanting to get into a fight with THAT.
“Lord Nian wishes for you to remain here until he finds a use for you.” the blaze informed him. “You are to remain in this cell until he says otherwise. Do not try to escape. You will be destroyed.” It drifted out of the room, leaving Vechs stunned.
Nian.
No. That was nonsense. There must be plenty of pigmen with the last name Nian. Maybe it was even the guy’s first name. Besides, a zombie pigman wouldn’t be intelligent enough to orchestrate this. It had to be a mortal like Kaltaerion or a fire spirit.
Vechs shook it off. The past had really been bitchslapping him and Blame lately.
He wondered how his friends were doing, and if they were okay.
~~~
Vechs couldn’t think of a way out.
What little he tried failed immediately. Despite having his toolbelt and its contents, when he had fallen to Minecraftia, it had been mostly empty at the time. Nothing in it was too helpful- a screwdriver, a chisel (which was completely ineffective against the nether brick), a slinky, and a few assorted pieces of things that were useless without the rest, including the handle of a pickaxe.
Irony was sickening.
So there he sat for an unknown amount of time, the zombie pigman guard occasionally shoving him a bowl of mushroom stew.
He had always been in the habit of talking to himself, but never had he had someone answer back.
He had been saying something to himself about wondering if his friends were okay when a voice from within the walls replied, “We’re fine.”
Vechs jerked. “Blame?! Is that you?”
“Keep your voice down! Yes, it’s me.”
“How did you find me?”
“It wasn’t easy. I had to track a group of zombie pigmen to a sort of hub area and guessed that you would be in Nether Fortress Alpha, and if you weren’t, there might by records of you.”
“How long have I been gone?”
“A few days, I think. I’ve lost track of time in here, but I think it’s been…two days? Three? Everyone’s fine last time I checked. How did you get snatched?”
“I got knocked out the same way you tried to knock me out in that first meeting. Sword hilt.”
“Ah. But why?”
“Easiest way to knock someone out, I suppose.”
“No, I mean why did they kidnap you?”
“I don’t know. Some guy called Lord Nian sent a blaze here the first day to tell me that I was to remain here until he found a use for me.”
“Well, he won’t find a use for you until after you’re long gone.”
“How are you in the walls?”
“Mined it. It’s not easy, believe me. I’ve almost broken this pickaxe but hopefully it’ll get us out of here.”
“Let’s hurry, then, and hope one-eye out there doesn’t notice.”
“There’s a guard?”
“Yep.”
“Then I’ll have to move quickly.”
“Oh, Blame?”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks.”
Blame didn’t respond, but the sound of bricks breaking (as quietly as he could manage) began. Vechs wondered how he got so close without him hearing and resolved to ask later.
It took Blame about ten minutes to break through the wall, and unfortunately a chunk of brick fell and hit the floor, shattering and sending debris everywhere, including under the door.
THAT the guard noticed. It roared in rage and opened the door, brandishing its sword.
“Uh, Blame? Maybe get that wall open?”
“I can’t! Hang on, here!” Blame shoved a stone sword through the gap for Vechs to take. He seized it and parried the blow from the zombie pigman. He couldn’t deliver a decent blow do to its armor, but he held it off long enough for Blame to get through the wall and finish it off.
“How do you do that?” Vechs demanded. “Your sword cuts through literally anything!”
Blame held up his gray blade for inspection. “You will never meet its equal. It’s sharp and reinforced enough to cut through pretty much anything. It’s enchanted to never dull as well.”
“Wow. How did you get that?”
“That is a story for another time. We need to get out of here.” He motioned Vechs through the wall and led him up through a tight, rough tunnel. It took several minutes but they found themselves outside the fortress on the red stone that radiated more heat than the bricks. Blame led the way across the landscape, mumbling to himself to try and remember the right way.
A horrible shriek ripped the air.
Vechs covered his ears but Blame tackled him out of the way as a fireball shot over their heads, exploding the stone behind them.
“Shit!” Blame jumped up and ran, Vechs hurriedly following. They two dodged fireballs from the ghast as it shrieked and wailed after them. They ducked into a tunnel and paused, breathing heavily.
“It seemed to have better aim than I’m used to.” Vechs panted.
“It’s on its home turf. They’re tougher like that.” Blame informed him. “Come on, he alerted everyone as to where we are. We need to get out of here, before-“
“Too late.”
They both whirled around, back towards the tunnel entrance.
A zombie pigman with a blaze on each side of him stood there, a diamond sword in hand. He wore iron armor except on his head, on which he wore a golden crown. His right eye was missing- in fact, his entire right side seemed rotten. But there was a cruel intelligence in his green left eye unmatched by that of the other undead around. Some kind of red crystal was sticking about five inches out of his chest. It glowed faintly with little bolts of purple energy shooting across it occasionally. It struck a resonance within both Blame and Vechs, but that wasn’t what had Vechs’s attention.
The height was right, the facial structure was right, the eye color was right- pigmen usually had brown eyes, with the rare blue-eyed pigman and almost never green. Vechs was certain that had the pigman still had his right eye, it would be blue. The way he stood was right, and that confident expression was right.
Perhaps the final thing that reinforced what Vechs’s mind was processing was the sign in the crowned pigman’s left hand, glowing faintly with enchantment.
Blame was fairly certain that this pigman was the Lord Nian he had heard about, and Vechs agreed with him.
But Vechs was certain he knew something else about this pigman.
He recognized him. He knew who he was.
Zisteau.
no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 01:01 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:03 am (UTC)Great chapter friend. That suspense though.
no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:07 am (UTC)I FOOLED YOU
I FOOLED YOU ALL
MWAH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA *coughing intensifies* wait what
>:3 SURPRISE
no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 02:45 am (UTC)Zisteau Nian.
no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:04 am (UTC)I'm so blind...
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Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 11:59 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 04:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 06:59 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 10:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 10:44 pm (UTC)(Talk about an "oops" moment...)
no subject
Date: Thursday, March 19th, 2015 10:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 20th, 2015 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 20th, 2015 11:20 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 20th, 2015 07:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Friday, March 20th, 2015 09:56 pm (UTC)That's his reasoning, at least.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 04:22 am (UTC)The second I saw "Lord Nian" I knew it was zisteau, not from me being clever or anything, but because earlier this year for my Mindcrack superhero chart I made, I gave everyone racket a last name and made Zisteau's Nian as well. :p
Great minds think alike I suppose.
no subject
Date: Wednesday, June 24th, 2015 04:50 am (UTC)HECK YEAH ZISTEAU NIAN
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Date: Wednesday, April 20th, 2016 02:42 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, April 20th, 2016 02:45 am (UTC)And you have a lot ahead of you, friend. Monstrous is a scant 41k words compared to the 102k of Residual or the 190k of Fated (and the in-progress-ness of Static). I believe in you! ^^