[OLD] Blood On Fire (A Hermitcraft AU)

Chapter Nine: Trapped

Six days.

It's been SIX SCUDDING DAYS.

*buries face in hands* I'm sorryyyy

Warnings --->

WC: ~1100

Enjoy!

"What?!" Iskall shrieked. "I- what?!"

"Oh wow," Impulse breathed at the same time.

Grian, in the same moment at the other two, was clearly at a loss for words and merely squeaked.

"Welcome back to the Overworld, Grian and Impulse," Hels told them with half a smile. They had built a new Nether Portal and spawned in a relatively wooded area. "And Iskall, well, this is the Overworld."

"It's..." Iskall trailed off, obviously still in shock.

"I'm surprised you can breathe," Hels remarked. "You're used to the thick air of the Nether. Actually, you'll probably just run out of breath easier. Maybe, I'm not sure. Keep that in mind." Iskall nodded in understanding.

"I wish we could show you everything," Impulse sighed. "But, y'know, idiot to chase!"

"One more thing," Hels grumbled, pulling off Impulse's gloves.

"Hey!" Impulse cried, reaching to take them back.

"Burn them, Hels!" Iskall shouted. Hels sighed.

"No," he replied. "I wouldn't do that. I'd rather have Impulse learn what a bad idea these are. But right now, I need you to repeatedly zap the base of that tree." Hels pointed correspondingly. Impulse sighed, then did as he was told.

"Okay, stop," Hels instructed when the tree was smoldering and clearly very weak at the trunk. Hels then walked over, and swung his sword at the tree, sending it crashing down on the portal.

Iskall and Impulse dove out of the way, while Grian instinctively launched himself into the air. The fallen tree had completely obliterated the portal, leaving only fragments of obsidian that were barely visible.

"Uhm... how will we get back now?" Impulse asked, staring at the fallen tree.

"I have a plan, don't worry," Hels assured him. "But I needed to remove the evidence that Nether portals exist, or I'd be in more trouble than I already am in."

"More?" Grian echoed, swooping down. Hels ran a hand through his hair, sighing softly.

"I wasn't supposed to bring you here," he admitted. "I'm definitely going to get yelled at and I'll probably have my Overworld privileges taken away for a while. But eh."

"We should stop stalling," Hels pointed out after a moment of silent thought. "And get going."

"Right," Impulse agreed.

"Erm... so, what's the plan?"

The first thing that Xay registered when he woke up was cold.

He was absolutely frigid.

Xay blinked open his eyes, then squeezed them shut again at the pain that suddenly came with it.

The next thing that he heard was screaming.

Not just wordless, panicked screaming.

Furious, meaningful screaming.