Of a Flock

Chapter Eight

Dream stared at the deactivate portal, watching as the last purple winks faded away. They had failed. There was no way they were going to get to the End first and beat Minecraft.

"Um," he started, feeling a heavy weight pile up in his stomach. "What do we do now?"

Techno kicked the portal, grumbling something under his breath. "I don't know," he admitted, staring at the bubbling lava. The sky around them sank into hues of deep blue and rich purple. Stars peeked out of their hiding spot, reminding Dream all too well of the first night he got his wings. "I didn't plan for this."

He sighed and fixed his pink hair. "That didn't turn out like how I thought it would."

Dream ducked his head and rubbed his left arm. "Sorry." His right wing burned slightly, but he decided not to say anything.

Techno sputtered. "Dream, does this look like your fault? Did you tell the quack guy and red eyes to come and take our portal for us?"

"Well, no," he mumbled.

"Exactly!" Techno said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "We couldn't do anything about it. They had the advantage of a surprise attack on us. Please don't blame this on yourself, chick. You had nothing to do with this."

"I told you not to call me that," he mumbled, wearing a small smile as he ran his hands through his fluffy lime wing. The wound where the hook had latched onto still stung, but he was going to survive.

Heaving a sigh, Techno looked around. "Well, there is still the chance that somebody might come out sometime soon, so we should stay here and wait. We have enough ender pearls to last us, and mobs will keep coming so we should have enough food to last us."

Dream nodded and shivered. A flush of wind slithered past him, forcing him to pull up his hood. Thunder crashed ahead.

"Looks like a storm might be coming," he said, looking up. Dark clouds slinked by in the distance, and yellow flashes blinked underneath them.

"We'll just have to make us a small house then," Techno said, sighing slightly.

"How long do you think we are gonna wait?" Dream asked, eying the storm and shifting around.

"Probably for hours. Can you get sick in Minecraft?"

"Not that I know of, no?"

"All right. Then let's—"

A loud buzz racked the night sky, and a fwoosh echoed along the trees, before a bright light burst out. Dream felt a scream rise up in his throat like a rock as he threw himself to the ground, but he swallowed it down. The grass tickled his face a little bit, as if trying to distract him from the new threat. He heard his rough breathing, and waited a few moments.

Only the thunder grumbled in the distance, and the trees swishing next to them.

That might have been another ambush!

Dream leapt to his feet and whipped out his clear diamond sword, when he froze. "Techno! The portal's open again!"

The pink-winged avian was by his side in half a second, staring at the rectangle portal and the purple flashed swirling inside of it again. "Get in! Get in!"

Spurred on by his excitement, Dream raced after the Blade, spreading his tiny wings out like he was getting ready to fly. The wind stung the injury, but he brushed it off and kept going, feeling his heartbeat pound a million miles per hour. If they could just make it . . .

The purple light flashed before them, filling up their entire world, before everything shifted. Dream phanted, grimacing at the woozy feeling and hoping with all of his flutter brain heart that they were going to make it into the dangerous nether.