How to train your hoglin

Rest

Techno had found this place years ago. It had been his resting spot. The friendly piglins nearby had given him an old manuscript, where he'd discovered that the Dreamon King had created it as a gift for his chaotic little sister, who loved that water could exit in a place otherwise too hot for it.
It was a safe haven of sorts. And it was full of food.
"I need to pull these spears out." Phil said. "I'm sorry, but it'll hurt."
Techno grunted and lifted his head, grabbing a fallen stem in his teeth.
Phil gripped the first spear, the one in Techno's shoulder, put his foot on Techno's back for extra force, and pulled.
Techno roared as white hot pain stabbed into his body. He bit down in the stem, which splintered, but didn't break.
The pain faded, pulsing. Phil pulled bandages out of his inventory and pressed them to the wound. The pain slowly faded.
Techno panted, dropping the stem.
"Sorry fella." Phil said, patting his neck. "It has to be done."
He moved to the second spear. Techno took a deep breath and picked up the stem again.
This one was worse. So. Much. Worse.
The pain filled his mind, blotting everything else out. Techno was roaring, but he couldn't hear it. Everything faded to black.

"ᴼⁿʸˣˀ ᴼⁿʸˣ ᶜᵃⁿ ʸᵒᵘ ʰᵉᵃʳ ᵐᵉˀ ᵂᵃᵏᵉ ᵘᵖ ᶠᵉˡˡᵃ. ᶜᵒᵐᵉ ᵒⁿ ᵇᶦᵍ ᵍᵘʸ."
Phil's voice was concerned. Techno woke up slowly, blinking. The stem was nothing but scraps of wood. Everything hurt.
"Hey, it's ok. You scared me there." Phil said.
A hand stroked Techno's snout. It felt good. Amazing, in fact.
Techno groaned, weakly lifting his head to look at Phil. His neck muscles gave out, and his head fell to the ground.
"Hey, take it easy, fella. You lost a lot of blood. You've been out for.... probably two days."
Techno took a deep breath and raised his head, twisting it around to look at his back. All the arrows were gone, and his wounds were bandaged.
"Here." Phil said, piling mushrooms, some kind meat, and some other plants in front of Techno's face.
Techno lowered his snout to eat. It tasted amazing. Better that anything he'd had in a while.
"There you go, fella." Phil said, patting Techno's nose.

Onyx had survived. Somehow, miraculously, it had survived. Phil had bandaged its wounds and it would recover. Slowly, but it would.
Every few hours, when he could spare the time away from his injured friend, Phil had limped along the tunnel to make sure the wither knights hadn't found them he'd spotted patrols, but for now, at least, they were safe.
"Ice in the nether." Phil said quietly, stroking the hoglin's snout. "How did this happen?"
Onyx lifted his nose and seemed to point at a wall of blue leaves. Phil stood and walked over. The wall wasn't a wall.
Phil pushed through the warped vines and leaves and came into.... an office?
It was carved into the netherrack. A desk, a chair, a burnt out torch. The desk was covered in a large manuscript, probably what Onyx had been pointing to.
"The eternal ice." Phil read. He walked over to Onyx and sat down, leaning against the hoglin's neck.
"The eternal ice is a spire of ice that despite always feeding the pool below it, never shrinks. It was a gift from the Dreamon King to his younger sister, the chaotic demon."
Phil looked at Onyx. "The Dreamon King? He's nothing but a myth. Techno and I have never found him, and we've spent centuries searching."
Onyx grunted. Phil shook out his wings and continued.
"The chaos demon experimented for years, trying to find something that could deny the rules of the nether. But she did not have the power. So she rampaged, until the great gods held a council to stop her." Phil paused. "I remember that. Techno and I were there. Along with the sea-sun totem of life, the ancient Astrals, and the white eyed terror. Even the old pirate captain was there. And of course, the Ender Prince."
Onyx grunted again.
"They could not find a way to stop her, so the Dreamon King created the eternal ice to placate her madness and return her to her slumber."
Phil looked up from the manuscript. "I don't believe that. The Dreamon King, if he ever existed, died a long time ago. Five of the strongest hunters our world has ever known, besides the immortals, were sent to hunt him down. Well, originally just one, but they quickly grew their numbers."
Onyx snorted and flicked its feathery tail.
Phil shook his head and put the manuscript down. "He's dead. He has to be dead. No one, not even an immortal, not even that immortal, could survive that."
Onyx appeared to shrug.
Phil patted Onyx's nose. "You need to rest, fella."
Onyx grunted, looking irritated.
Phil laughed. "You look like Techno. Wilbur and Tommy would have to help me drag him to bed some nights. Always work to be done, no time to do rest or eat."
Phil looked down, Wilbur and Tommy. He wondered if they were still alive, fighting all those wars of theirs. It didn't matter. They'd agreed, they didn't need Phil. They told him to stay away. So that was what he did.
Onyx snorted, nudging Phil into the side that was still relatively uninjured.
Phil practically sank into the soft fur. He laughed. "Don't even try to steal my hat.
Onyx grunted, feathery tail flicking back and forth, and Philza was happy.
For the first time since he entered the nether, looking for his friend, he was happy.