Of a Flock

Chapter Nine

Lava was nice. It was a guard against everything, threatening to burn the entire planet if somebody did something against it.

Dream liked the Lava, especially from a far distance into a cave. It slowly fell, concealing his hiding place and at the same time threatened to smoke him out with bubbly fits of rage. But it was the one thing that could protect him in the world of might makes right. He was still panting, his mind running circles around itself and yapping a thousand thoughts a second.

Most of them were about Technoblade.

His bird brain was insisting that he had finally found a father, and had also abandoned him the first chance he got. Dream thought otherwise. Techno was just some dude who was forced to protect him, and his birdbrain could shut up because it got excited over glitter. And here a soul was, in the middle of two entities, trying to figure out which one shouted the loudest so that it could follow them and pretend to be somebody.

He groaned and curled his legs closer to himself. Maybe Technoblade wasn't his father, but he had still left him. The guy was probably panicking. A morsel of guilt managed to worm its way into him.

But what was he supposed to do now? He was in the middle of the Nether without any sense of direction, he dropped his stack of Ender Pearls, and he knew that sooner or later he was going to feel the burn from all of his injuries.

Minecraft was stupid. Who had even invented it in the first place? Was it made so that people could realize how weak and dumb they are?

Dream harrumphed. Well, he could show them. Instead of moping over his life, he was going to do what he always did; grow stronger.

Taking his pickaxe from behind his back, he whacked it against the ceiling of the little box he made for himself. As soon as it crumbled away, fresh air came swooping into the new space, making him realize how dangerous it was to be boxed up with lava.

Straightening his shoulders, he hopped and placed the Nether block that he had just previously mined underneath his boots

"All right. The first plan is to search for Techno." He fixed his mask and ran a hand through his hair. Some of the moisture stuck to his hand and he flicked his arm. "Luckily I have the jelly beans."

Taking out the bag, he munched on a couple. The slight sting that had slowly crept up faded away slightly as the candy healed him, and Dream sighed. His adrenalin was receding, and with it, the only thing that was keeping him up on his feet. His green wings rustled lightly behind him, reminding Dream that when he was back to his normal heart beat, they were going to hurt at any sort of movement.

After taking a few steps on the sandy ground, he winced and paused. "Never mind. First thing to do is to wrap my wings."

He reached for the backpack he usually wore, but his hand touched his chest instead. Glancing around, he confirmed that the bag really was gone. A groan slipped out of his throat.

"Now you disappear!?" he hissed, walking back to his little hole. No pink and lime green bag lounged against the ground, like a taunt that he had almost missed it. Looking around for a little longer, he turned his sights to his pockets. They were all stuffed to the brim, except for the now empty pocket that held his ender pearls. He pinched his lips together but forced himself to move on already. They were gone.

"Let me see what I do have," he said out loud, opening his pockets and spilling the contents to the ground. A few pieces of squared blank paper thumped onto the ground, some stray wool, the jelly beans, blocks of wood and dirt, a crafting bench, a water bucket, an empty bucket, a few ladders, some pieces of leather, and some leftover iron and diamonds Techno had given him.