Cycle of Vengeance//A Camp Minecraft AU

Chapter One: Path of Destruction

CW: Insanity from the British Child

     "I told you guys a long time ago what needed to happen. Look what he's done. The kid needs to go," A man dressed in the colors of a forest muttered, his hands clasped behind his back. Accompanying the green shirt was a brown belt that held up pants as black as night. Two white knee pads were on top of those pants, one on each knee.
     "I don't think he'd take kindly to you calling him a kid, Sigils," Another man said from across the room. He sat upright in a basic wooden chair. His haunted blue eyes flicked from person to person as if he were expecting an ambush at any moment.
     "Yeah, well he's not here right now, now is he?" Sigils shot back. He adjusted the baseball cap perched atop his head.
     Henwy, the "kid" in question, had crossed a line he would regret stepping over. That's why everyone was gathered in the Mayor's Office.
     The large, bee-infested building had been constructed after the true mayor was established. Its walls were plastered with vibrant honeycomb and bees nests. Bees fluttered to and fro, happily buzzing their cares away, not fully knowing the drastic situation being discussed around them. On the front of the Mayor's Office was a large monocle made out of- you guessed it- honeycomb- and a bit of concrete.
     The office itself wasn't very organized. At all. Stray bottles of honey littered the floor, some full, some empty. Papers stacked a mile high cluttered a wide wooden desk that faced the entrance. The stacks were so unstable that a mere hand gesture would probably send them tumbling to a heap on the floor.
     Various plants and fauna decorated the room. Vines clung to the ceiling, draping downward or curling around anything within reach. Occasionally, a bee would pass it and the vine would swish. Large ferns in ordinary pots stretched their leaves towards the sky, basking in the sunlight gifted to them from several windows surrounding the office.
     Awkward silence bloomed like weeds in an unkempt garden. No one could quite make eye contact with anyone else.
     "Gold's on our side now," the man to Sigil's left murmured, his gaze trained on the desk in front of him. His dark brown eyes, once full of life, now conveyed the stress of being a leader. "We want to keep it that way. Don't alienate him."
     "He knows something that he's not telling us. That's dangerous, Biffle," Sigils said, keeping his voice equally low.
     The mayor nodded once, albeit stiffly, then cleared his throat. "Look, I know some people are hesitant to take down one of our own. But is there another option? He resisted imprisonment, tried to kill several camp members, he's the founder of the Mafia, if anyone's forgotten about that, and he rigged an election and turned a democracy into a dictatorship. Anything else?"
     "He burned down Sigils' house," Nicovald said flatly. Out of everyone, he seemed the calmest. He was a tall, muscled man dressed primarily in red. He stared calmly around the room. A sheathed sword was strapped to his side, the only part of the deadly weapon visible being the ebony hilt.
     Across the room from Nico, Gold fidgeted nervously. He wore a black shirt with a gold "G" sewn in the center accompanied with generic shorts. Even when winter froze the land with its icy grip, Gold could still be found in shorts.
     His partner in crime, Karan, scratched the back of his head. "That, uh, that was us, actually."
     Karan was a bit of an anomaly. In the form he wore most of the time, he was a human dressed in blue accompanied by a brown belt and a washed out fishing hat. However, he had another form that went by the name of Fishsticks.
     Karan's flesh would turn to bright orange scales. Gills would carve their way into his neck and fins would sprout where he ears would usually be. His nose would shrink, his eyes enlarge, and his fingers- no, his claws- would become webbed.
     The duo had previously been in cahoots with Henwy, aiding him in his reign of terror. They had thrown black cloaks over their heads and, shrouded by darkness, took the name of the Johnnies.
     One of their despicable deeds was capturing the moon and enslaving the rock to their will. That was a story for another time, though.
     To Karan's left was Alxton. Thus far, he had kept silent, ears flattened. He was another anomaly. However, instead of webbed claws and gills, he had fur and a long, fluffy tail. Alxton was part fox, part human.
     Ambrew, who sat on the far side of the office, adjusted the mask obscuring his face, shrugging as if he were shaking off Karan's words. He was extremely overdressed for such a brutal gathering. Ambrew wore a smooth black suit and tie with a white mask covering his face. The mask was etched in black ink, drawn in such a way to resemble a troll face.
     "Even if we leave Henwy alone, the dragon egg has to go," Ambrew muttered. No one could ever tell where he was looking because of the mask, yet the man always seemed to have an eagle's eye. "A wild beast such as that will destroy, well, everything."
     "I've tried to destroy it. Nothing works," Gold said, his eyes flicking from person to person. He clasped his hands together, still fidgeting.
     "Maybe we can kill the hatchling while it's still small," Nico suggested.
     Sigils shook his head. "It'll be fully grown when it's hatched. It will never be a whelp, only a full grown dragon. We don't want to be anywhere near here when that happens."
     "What's it going to do, wreck camp more than Gold's redecorating did?" Alxton muttered.
     "I'll have you know, good sir, that a Nether-themed camp is very fashionable this year," The ore-obsessed man grumbled, shooting the hybrid a nasty look.
     Biffle adjusted the monocle circling his eye. Small beads attached in a chain dangled down from the ovular disk, running down into the man's mustache. The Mayor was dressed formally, like Ambrew, except his suit was brown. "Can we please stay on topic? We're trying to figure out how to stop the end of the world."
     The world's already lost. None of us trust each other enough to do anything. Sigils inwardly sighed, momentarily lost in times long past, where camp was merely a place for jokes and laughs. Now? Now it was full of schemes and traitors, and the ground would run red with blood.
     Silence filled the room. Concerned looks were exchanged. Finally, Karan straightened up and spoke. "I think we just need to fight it. But we'll need the other camp members. Where are Jerome, Garry, Chang, and Cheri?"
     "We won't be getting help from them," Sigils said. "They're MIA. It's just us."
     "Last time I saw Jerome he was living in a hole with a bunch of chickens," Alxton said, casting a wry glance at Sigils.
     Nico shook his head, worry flooding his eyes. "We can't take on an Ender Dragon by ourselves. It can't be done!"
     "We have to. If we don't, we'll die. And if Henwy tried to stop us.... Then he goes down with the beast," The solemn words were from Biffle. Slowly, one pair of eyes at a time, they all turned to look at him. Was this really the same man who lit aflame houses for the fun of it? The man who decided building a bunch of boats on top of each other was a good idea? The man who helped monopolize and steal berries of all things?
     Mayor Biffle stood straight and stiff, making eye contact with each and every person before him. His eyes were stern, as if daring anyone to argue. Biffle's gaze softened slightly. "We're facing impossible odds. But you know what? The only thing to fear is fear itself. This is the camp we're talking about. If we have each other, we'll be fine."
     And you said you wouldn't be a good leader. Sigils watched as morale swept through the assembled members. Nico stood up and handed a shimmering helmet to Alxton. Karan clapped Ambrew on the back, chuckling as the masked man rubbed the spot where he'd been hit. Gold slung a quiver full of arrows over his shoulder, all traces of fear vanishing.
     Armor and weapons were being passed around, each piece of gear rippling with ancient magic, when Gold glanced out a window. The man froze, then pressed his face up against the glass.
     "Uh... guys...." He called, turning to them with round eyes. His voice was hesitant, cautious, as if he didn't want whatever he'd seen to hear him.
     Sigils opened his mouth to ask him what was wrong.
     The office entrance exploded.
     Smoke and dust flew up, followed by chunks of debris. Bees swarmed uncertainly around their nests, their buzzing growing louder by the second. Everyone scrambled to put their gear on. Shouting and coughing usurped the previous atmosphere.
     As the dust cleared and Sigils could start to see properly, he couldn't help but gasp.
     A crater lay before him where the office entrance once stood. Fire lapped at the unlucky fauna near the door, turning their luscious leaves withered and charred. Unstable bits of concrete used to build the elaborate office fell in chunks. Smoke seemed to reign forever in this ash-covered world.
     But that wasn't what he was looking at. Sure, the damage was bad, but it wasn't anything they couldn't fix. He was staring at the leviathan that had undoubtedly caused the destruction.
     The beast loomed over him like a black tsunami. Its eyes glittered as it scanned each person. A low rumble escaped it and it rose on its hind legs, spreading its great, leathery wings. The dragon opened its maw and spewed a cloud of acidic fire into the air. It dropped back down to all fours.
     The creature was terrifyingly magnificent. Black scales covered it head to toe, gleaming like polished armor in the sunlight. Grey scales outlined its wings and the spikes running down its back. Intelligent magenta eyes narrowed as it gazed at its prey. Each tooth in its jaws was easily as big as one of the humans below.
     And sitting atop the dragon, ever so calm, was Henwy.
     "Oh boyyyysssss." The man's netherite armor glistened, but not as much as the glint of madness in his brown orbs. He was hunched over the dragon's neck, grasping a yellow wand. The energy surrounding the tool sparked and danced. It showed no sign of faltering anytime soon. "Do you like my new friend?"
     The camp members picked their way over the wreckage. They lined up, shoulder to shoulder, against one of their own. Every face was grim. Alxton's ears flattened as he tightened his grip on his sword. Gold's eyes flashed with outrage. Karan's fingers started to merge together.
In a way, it was touching. Everyone here, though divided before, would stand as one to take down a common enemy. But how many people will never see another sunrise?
     The madman chuckled. "Are none of you going to respond? What kind of courtesy is that?"
     "Go away," Biffle said, only slightly flinching when the dragon let out a growl. "Take the dragon and leave."
     "Exiling me again? Rather redundant, is it not?"
     "You heard the Mayor. Leave." Sigils grasped his trident tighter until his knuckles turned white. Not only did its rider look insane, but the dragon did too. It dug its claws into the earth, gouging out huge chunks. A low snarl built in its throat.
     "Sigils, Sigils, Sigils." Henwy shook his head. "Don't you see? I'm not leaving. Maybe this pitiful excuse for an army should leave instead."
     Nico took a step forward. "Never. This is our home. It always will be."
     Henwy stared at the man. When he spoke, his tone was dark and bitter. "It was my home too."
     "And if you stop this nonsense, it could be again! You could come back, and we could start fresh. All you need to do is let go. Let go of the power you want so badly. Let go of the feeling that you need to prove yourself to us. Let go... let go of your anger," The man with a monocle pleaded. It was clear he was just doing whatever it took to get Henwy to stop. The question was: would the madman see through it?
     There was silence. It was like the eye of a hurricane. A moment of peace before the world collapsed. Henwy sat frozen, staring at Biffle. For a moment, indecision crossed his features. Then fury blazed in his brown eyes.
     "No, it's too late for that. I won't forget what all of you have done to me," He hissed. As several people started desperately shouting at him to stop, he raised his wand in the air. It shook with power. Energy fizzed around it like deadly fireflies. Slowly, he pointed the wand at the throng of people. There was no remorse in his next words. "Carnage."