𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕚𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕊𝕜𝕚𝕖𝕤 ℂ𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝔸𝕗𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝔸 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕞

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟼

The two phantoms dipped their wings, gliding down toward the layer of mycelium below them. Dwell took the lead with Ethereal following just behind her. He had never traveled this far from the swamp before, much less the entire continent as a whole, and the only things he had ever seen of the mushroom island were depictions in paintings or on advertisement banners.

The island was flat around the edges, but it gradually sloped up into a purple mountain. It was surprisingly massive for being called an island and it was covered in towering mushrooms that varied in size and shape.

A large opening to a cavern was not far up the large hill, where two guards, a creeper and a polar bear, had been posted. Its entrance was marked with towering dark oak logs and hanging from iron chains were bright lanterns that lit their way as they ducked inside the cave.

It was a mine. He could tell by the countless rows and columns that branched off into different directions all illuminated by the light that emitted from torches clamped and secured to the stone walls. There were railways that went down each corridor, meeting up in the center. There were a few minecarts too here and there, and while most of them were empty Ethereal could spot a few that held coal and the occasional raw metals such as iron or copper.

"Woah," Ethereal couldn't keep back his gasp of surprise. "Do creatures still mine here?"

"Not since the portals were hidden here," Came Dwell's answer, "but before war broke out in the End and the Nether, Overworld prisoners would work in these mines, under supervision of course."

Among the mess of the long-abandoned mine, the phantom spotted tools scattered about. Most of them were broken or chipped, but as Ethereal peered closer at the pickaxes and shovels he passed, he realized that some looked newly crafted or at least in good condition. Something about the eerie mystery in the mine sent chills down his exposed spine and as the two phantoms continued their flight, he couldn't shake the feeling that something bigger went down in that mine. Questions filled his mind as his curiosity grew, but he had to keep himself from asking them aloud. After all, wasn't he still supposed to be mad at Dwell?

They veered sharply into a branching tunnel and to his surprised, the walls were smooth other than the occasional crevice or cranny. When the mine had been in use, it had clearly been well kept up, holes where ores and other minerals had been removed, filled in with stone. Perhaps it was once a popular area for the mining industry, rich in ores and rocks.

Two figures tall and lean stood at the far end of the stone hall. Ethereal gave a shudder just by glimpsing the two pairs of ominous purple eyes that fell on the arriving phantoms.

If there was one creature in the Overworld he feared most, it was endermen. Well, endermen and cats, anyways. The creatures even looked like creepy, looming shadows that were just waiting to lurch out and snatch their prey and strangle it with their long and flexible arms. And their eyes were like an endlessly mesmerizing void he felt could hypnotize any creature if they stood into them for long enough. He took a deep breath, casting his eyes at the stone below him, avoiding the gazes of the endermen as their eyes followed him.

"Took you long enough." One of them said in a sarcastic tone. Her arms were crossed and her eyes glistered with annoyance. He hoped he wouldn't be stuck with this enderman as his companion for their journey until their deaths came upon them.

His worries were cut short though when he noticed the iron band around one of her wrists, where an emerald in the shape of the Overworld's symbol had been embedded, marking her place in the Council of Creatures.

"It's good to see you too, Snatch." Dwell replied, waving a tattered wing towards him as she continued. "This is Ethereal,"

The introduction was followed by an awkward moment of silence before Snatch gave her companion a shove forward. "Go on, introduce yourself."

The other enderman was slightly shorter than the Council representative and looked a bit flustered and embarrassed. However, she was able to collect herself and greeted him with the widest smile he had ever seen on any creature. "I'm Elude! It's nice to meet you!" She beamed, and all of the fear he had been feeling up until that moment melted away at the pure joy and innocence he saw in her bright, magenta eyes. This particular enderman didn't seem to be a threat in the slightest, not like the ones he had met in the past. He was taken aback though when he felt her hand brush gently along one of his wings. "I've never met a phantom before, much less see one up so close..."

He instinctively flinched away, maneuvering his wing out of the way, and lifting out of reach. He worried he had offended her for a moment, but she still looked as happy as she did before. In fact, it was almost creepy how much she seemed to radiate with optimism.

"You two might as well get to know each other if you plan to venture to the End and the Nether as a pair." Said Snatch, her arms still crossed. She looked as if she just wanted to get this over with and send the creatures off as soon as she could.

"We're going to the End? And the Nether?" Elude's eyes only seemed to grow wider and wider at every moment. He felt a stab of sympathy for the excited enderman as he came to realize that she didn't at all understand how dangerous the tasks up ahead of them would be.

He began to reconsider not wanting Snatch as the enderman who would accompany him. But one glance at the intimidating Council representative assured him that he would much rather in fact have Elude as his partner.

Does she even know there's a war still going on in both of those realms? Does she even realize these may be her last moments in the Overworld?

The pity he felt for her made him realize just how selfish he was being and, at that moment, he wished some other creature could take her place instead. After all, the Overworld needed such a positive and optimistic influence like her.

But it was far too late now. This happy enderman that no creature would come to know was going to be sent to her death. And Ethereal would likely watch it happen right in front of his eyes.