How The Helsians Saw It

Chapter 1: Every End A Beginning

The first thing that he remembered was the light.

The light danced around the frigid Nether island, in ruby and golden and turquoise hues. It whipped around him, and with it he saw the memories and dreams of countless players. It formed a vortex of energy, swirling around him.

The light was an alien concept to him.

The focused energy of countless players was similar, but it was the will of the masses, instead of a single entity. It was a spiral representing a final stand, a final chance, a final hope.

It felt... warm.

He may have embraced it, if it were not trying to kill him.

Therefore, he focused his remaining power to resist the searing pain; to chill the warmth, silence the voices, snuff out the light. As he had always done.

But something within him wanted it to stay.

The something blossomed within him, his conscious thought fading to the very back of his mind as the foreign desire to remain within the warm embrace took hold of him.

Then, he woke up.

--<===>--

The sky was overcast. Snow coated nearly every surface Helsknight could see from his watchtower.

A silhouette was plodding towards the front gates. There were 3 possibilities of what it could be.

1. A lone mob, that he could probably take in as a pet. It's not like it would find its group anyway. Or maybe he could donate it to Allay's lab.

2. A bounty hunter, enemy organisation or the like, trying to destroy Hels. That would be good for target practise; he'd only restrung his bow yesterday.

3. A new Helsian to add to the community. That would be interesting, as not many really appeared anymore. He couldn't think of anyone who it could be.

Whoever or whatever it was, he needed to deal with it. So he threw on his elytra and flapped down.

"Who goes there?" he yelled, drawing his sword.

Glowing red eyes emerged from the steady stream of snow descending from the sky. Accompanying them was a humanoid silhouette, seemingly clad in armour.

So not a mob then.

The silhouette seemed frightened, and froze on the spot.

Most enemies wouldn't do that. They'd see that as an opportunity for us to strike. Plus, this one is exposing many of the places by which my sword could reach their vital organs.

"What are you doing here, at the entrance to Hels?" he roared, louder this time so that the silhouette would hear better.

"Um, I- I don't know w-what I-I'm doing h-here," they said, almost in a whisper. 

Helsknight paused.

This would be a very strange attacker. Maybe some sort of other outcast, sent to Hels to die? We wouldn't leave someone like that out in the cold; we're kinder than that.

"Very well then," he stated. "Come to the antechamber, and we'll decide what to do with you there."

WC: 458

Woop woop first actual chapter!

By the way, sorry for the inaccurate date on the prologue. I wrote it at that time and forgot to change it before publishing.

-Newmoon 21/2/22