Love Lost and Found {Mianite/Sparksize} - ON HOLD ↹

-=+Chapter Eight+=-

     I slipped my sword into the scabbard tied to my belt loops, and strapped a small dagger to the back of my leg. Today was the day that everyone was going to the Nether to retrieve a skull. Originally I thought it would have been easy, just decapitate one of the beasts. But no. The Champions insisted that as soon as the skeletons were killed, they crumpled into dust with only a slight chance of the skull remaining in tact. Usually only a bone or two survived, sometimes a piece of coal that developed in place of a heart.

     A knock on my door startled me slightly, and the dagger I had been strapping to the inside of my sleeve slipped from my grasp. I cussed lightly as Redbeard strolled into our joint bedroom.

     "Ready to go, Sister?" I stepped past him to the deck of the ship, squinting as the sun assaulted my eyes. My brother came out behind me, his own weapons strapped to his clothing. I walked down the gangplank, and lifted it back on deck before he could walk down. It wasn't much of an obstacle- he could easily kick it back down.

     "Aye! Bit premature there, Kate." I walked backwards to maintain conversation.

     "You won't be coming with, Redbeard. I want you to keep the ship while I'm out." He rolled his eyes, pouting slightly. I smiled. "Stop being a child." Redbeard vanished back on board, and I jogged over to the Priest's house. Soon enough the cold stone walls loomed over me, casting shadows across the ground. I walk inside the gates to see the others waiting near the swirling purple portal. Tucker and Sonja seemed a bit irritated; they probably had a small argument prior to arriving.

     Jordan looked up and waved at me, drawing Sonja's attention. She instantly brightened. "There you-"

     "FINALLY! Gods, you took forever." Tom interrupted. I shot him a cold glare, which he surprisingly returned just as ferociously.

     "I don't recall yer presence being needed, Tommy. You're a Dianitee; ye shouldn't be here." The others were looking at him now, all peering with eyes of both concern and suspicion. Tom open and closed his mouth a bit, trying to come up with a response.

     "I'm just going along to thwart you guys." Tucker laughed, and the others simply smirked at the reply.

     "Sure you are, Tom. Sure you are. Now let's go." One by one the group hopped into the portal, fading into the purple screen and into the Nether until only Tom and I were left. I grabbed his arm as he went towards the portal.

     "Let me get this through to yer thick head, Thomas. If ye interfere with liberating my Lady in any way, I will not hesitate to treat ye just the same as yer God is to me Goddess." Tom narrowed his eyes and pulled his arm away, stepping into the portal. I didn't miss his whisper on the wind.

     "I won't." Satisfied, I stepped into the portal. My eyes closed involuntarily, and there was a small falling sensation before the air's temperature raised several degrees and a wave of humidity nearly sent me tumbling backwards. I instantly regretted wearing my jacket. Whatever force made me close my eyes allowed me to reopen them, and I did so to see the others standinging in a semi-circle pointing in different directions and talking. Minus Tom, who was standing off to the side. I walked up to them, overhearing Tucker speaking.

     "Alright, if I remember correctly then there should be a fortress... that way." He pointed over past Sonja's shoulder, who had her back to a pool of lava. In his hand he held a compass, showing that the direction was West. In a near perfect single-file line, we walked along edges of lava lakes, on cliffs, around many fires, and even treaded across the sand of lost souls. Poor things were already eternally doomed; they didn't need to add our shoe to the list of woes. Finally, though, the raw and wild landscape of the Nether faded into crimson and decaying brick.