How to train your hoglin

Death

The sword plunged down.

Techno roared and felt something snap inside. He reared and lunged into the horse, smashing it into the ground with unknown strength.
Bones snapped under him as the horse was shattered.

Phil watched, unable to move, as the sword plunged towards his chest. Death had finally come for him.

An explosion.

Ringing. Techno staggered. That was all he could hear. Ringing. Everything was blurry. The world spun around him.
Phil. I need to find Phil
He raised his head as the smoke cleared.
Philza lay crumpled to the side. Negative was a few yards away, smoking.
Philza?
Techno ran to his oldest friend. Philza.
Blood poured down his shoulders, but he didn't care. He could barely feel it.
No. Nonononono please no.
He knelt next to the limp figure of his winged friend.
He nudged the crumpled feathers.

A wing shifted.

A snout nudged his wing. Phil groaned. Everything hurt. He couldn't hear anything except muffled sounds and high pitched ringing. His vision faded back and forth from black. Where had that explosion come from?

"Well that worked!"

Techno turned towards the voice. A piglin woman, in a purple robe and black witch hat, stood a few feet away.
"I mean, fire resistance reversed plus flint and gunpowder is known to be a powerful bomb, but still!"
Techno snorted at her.
"Oh yes. I suppose your friend didn't introduce me. I'm Kilaki. A nether witch. A very friendly one too!"
A friendly nether witch? That wasn't a thing.
"Anyway your friend gave me a feather, and I decided I wanted you two to make it so I came to help!"
Techno tilted his head.
"Oh come on! He's Death's Angel. I have one of his feathers! That is the biggest flex a witch could ever have! Unless of course you want to talk about dragon breath and scales, or perhaps shards of a Dreamon soul."
Again with the Dreamons.
"Anyway, you need to get through the portal, then follow the Eyes of Ender. And don't worry, you won't turn into a zombie."
Well that was one problem solved. But about the Eyes of Ender, could you maybe be more specific.
"Well? Go!"
A horn sounded. On the other side of the clearing, wither knights galloped out of the forest.
Kilaki pulled a staff with a blade on each end from her robe and got into a defensive stance. Negative was slowly pulling himself up.
Techno slowly lifted Phil with his head. Kilaki grabbed Philza's sword and returned it to his sheath.
Techno galloped towards the portal as Kilaki knocked the first of the wither knights from it's horse.
A spear cut into his side but didn't stick. Arrows plunged into his sides.
He didn't slow down.
None of the wither knights could get past Kilaki. Only their projectiles.

Negative rose and grabbed the handle of his morning star. Phil's eyes widened.
"Watch out!" He gasped, still winded from the explosion.

Pain stabbed through Techno's side. Spikes sank deep into his flesh. He stumbled. The portal was so close. Just a few more steps.

Onyx collapsed in the portal. A spear whistled towards Phil's head.

Techno blocked the spear. It sank into his chest. It hurt, plunged into his flesh. But nausea from the portal was setting in. Almost free.

Phil watched as Onyx slumped. He stroked the hoglin's nose, unable to do anything else. But with a whisper and an echo, they were gone. Safe.

Techno dragged himself out of the portal, into the cold snow. Phil staggered behind him. "Onyx.....no."

Onyx was in terrible shape. Its side was shredded, spears stuck out of its shoulders and back, and it was covered in arrows. Red soaked the white snow.

The pain was fading. Everything was turning numb. His vision faded in and out. He could feel liquid dripping onto the snow from his wounds, but it felt seperate. Like it was happening to someone else.
Techno lifted his head, searching for the eyes of his closest friend. It's not your fault, Phil.
Phil held Techno's head, his wings spread. Tears were falling down his face.
"I'm sorry, fella. I'm so sorry."
I'd do it again. For you the world, Phil. For you... the world.

Onyx looked up at him, and there was no anger in its eyes. Only acceptance.
Phil cried silently into the thick fur. Why did he have to outlast all of his friends?

It's ok Phil. I'd......do.......it..............again. A......thousand.................times.........for you.

Onyx shimmered and seemed to shrink, collapsing in on itself. Fur melted away. Phil stood quickly. He'd never seen anything like this.
Long pink hair, braided back, glassy black eyes with a white iris. White dress shirt, bloodied. A red cape, top lined with fur. A crown. A dead king.
"Techno?"