S҉h҉a҉t҉t҉e҉r҉e҉d҉ But Alive (Rainimator Story)

Chapter 10

A few months later...

A gleaming blade tore through rotting flesh swiftly before being drawn out, being plunged into the bones of a nearby skeleton. Gunshots could be heard as a creeper fell to the ground, prominent bullet holes riddling its corpse. The sound of ragged breathing filled the air as the duo turned to look at the bodies of mobs that lay around them. 

"Daryll, you good?" The woman with the katana spoke first, enquiring the wellbeing of her partner. 

"I'm fine, what about you, Astra?" The bandit asked in turn. Astra exhaled softly, her breath coming out in tiny clouds. 

"I'm good," she replied, picking up an arrow. Shrugging, she stored it into her inventory as they looked around the ruined village. 

"The Undead are moving closer and closer with every attack..." Daryll frowned, worry shadowing his expression. 

"I know," Astra muttered, mentally tracing the attacks. "Wait- Glacierford is next! We have to warn them." 

The bandit let out a heavy sigh. "I think we might be a little too late..."

They could hear loud hoofbeats and looked up to see Patrick approaching them on horseback, dismounting and running towards them. 

"We've gotten word that Glacierford is under attack... there could be survivors, apparently, among the villagers, there are some good fighters, Ser Theo hopes to recruit them." 

"Oh, let's... let's go then," The Reader mumbled, cursing herself for not foreseeing this earlier. Daryll placed a gloved hand on her shoulder and she felt somewhat comforted as he smiled at her under his mask. Mounting their horses, the three of them rode quickly, leaving prints in the snow behind them. The rhythmic thrumming of the hoofbeats seemed to mirror Astra's pounding heart, which was palpitating. Fear. The feeling washed over her as they neared the village. 

What if... Ebony was there? Trying not to focus on that, Astra turned her attention to the smouldering ruins. 

Patrick got ready to dismount, but she shook her head, stating, "They're gone. See, fresh footprints. Some managed to make it out." She paused after observing something else. 

"But not many of them escaped," The bandit next to her voiced her thoughts and Astra's mouth turned dry, a lump in her throat. Why are you doing this? Why, Ebony? Have I ever wronged you? 

"Then we better catch up," The knight murmured, urging his horse onwards, the other two doing the same.

Finally, they caught up with the horde and Astra could hear the groans of the zombies. She shuddered, seeing the black, empty eyes of the Undead, decorated only with a blood red pupil. Ser Patrick was slashing at the zombies with his glaives, Daryll himself getting rid of a few. Astra unsheathed her sword, digging the blade deep into rotten flesh. One by one, the walking corpses fell to the snowy ground and Astra carefully picked up the items they had dropped. Suddenly, as she crouched down, she saw a flickering light come from the ravine below. The person lying there made her gasp. 

It's him! 

"Wait! Don't kill him!" Astra exclaimed as Patrick took a step forward, about to teleport into the ravine. 

He shot her a questioning look, and she hurriedly explained, "He is a good fighter. How else would he have made it so far?" 

"Well, what about the girl then?" Daryll cut in, gesturing at the orange haired girl across the destroyed bridge. 

"We... we only have one potion," Patrick muttered unsurely. 

"We don't have the means to resurrect her. Only The Undead. And only one," The Reader reminded him, though a twinge of guilt pierced through her at the thought of just leaving the girl there. 

I'm sorry, She apologised silently as she watched Patrick feed Rain the Paralysing Potion and hoist him onto Daryll's horse. With one last glance over her shoulder, the trio - and one extra passenger - rode back towards Dreadfort. They had no knowledge of a particular robed skeleton arriving right after their departure, lifting the limp body of the orange haired girl - no - the Nether Princess and carrying her into a swirling, purple vortex...

The ride back was silent, and both Daryll and Patrick could see that Astra was deep in thought. They exchanged a glance but didn't say anything. She clearly had a lot on her mind. Meanwhile, Astra was thinking - no, she was worrying. There has been a... disturbance in The End lately. She had felt a ripple of worry tear through her randomly just yesterday. Worry. Why? 

Ceris... What are you thinking right now? Snow crunched softly under the horses' hooves, jolting her out of her thoughts. They had arrived. Ser Patrick gave her a small nod as he lifted the boy's limp body off the horse and to the main castle, the three of them arriving at Azura's lab promptly. 

"You really think this'll work?" Astra questioned softly. Azura gave her a confident grin. 

"Hey, you're looking at the best technician in Minecraftia, of course it will!" The both of them let out tense laughs, clearly betraying their worry. 

"Quiet," Ser Theo murmured, before turning to face Azura. "Are you ready?" 

"Stand aside while I prepare, please," she simply replied, and the Grandmaster gave her a curt nod. Astra fiddled with her hair nervously, twisting the loose black strands. She saw Azura let out a quiet breath, lifting the glass covering and checking the golden apple inside. She quickly looked over the command blocks before finally flicking the lever. 

Astra's eyes widened as the apple started spinning rapidly, emitting vibrant bursts of light. With each flash, she saw images flit past. The boy, with a witch, journeying. She could see the Ender Dragon... of course. And... glowing white eyes. The Undead King... The images blurred together, a swirling mess. Until there was a brilliant flash of light, and she lifted an arm to shield her eyes... 

Daryll recovered first. He could see Astra blinking rapidly, and... he could have sworn he saw... no, it must have been a trick of the light. After all, purple was easily confused with blue. Astra's eyes had always been blue. 

Stupid machine! He cursed silently, rubbing his eyes. They all turned to look at the confused boy, now sitting up on the bed, he had different coloured eyes. An effect of the machine, maybe? His left eye glowed red, while his other was blue. 

"Abigail..?" he rasped, trying to recognise where he was.  

And that's Chapter 10! Apologies for going MIA for a bit... Writer's block can be annoying. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, please vote, comment and follow! :)

~Lightningstar out