Fallen Towers, Silent Ruins | Dream Smp

4

Rose pressed herself against the saddle and the arrow whizzed above her head. She pulled her sword from its scabbard and rolled off the horse just as the sound of multiple footsteps echoed in the mountain pass around her.

When she looked up, a troupe of illagers had appeared from within the trees. There were seven pillagers and a ravager. The illagers were tall beings—at least a foot taller than her—and three of them carried large metal axes that glowed emerald green on the sharp sides of the head. Two more had large wooden crossbows, while the last two carried no visible weapons.

All the pillagers had smoky gray skin and their hair was long and pulled back with a band. Some of their bodies had battle scars or red-painted patterns, and one of them had a large, gray banner slung across their back.

The ravager was a creature of its own. It probably came close to twice Rose's height and had horns longer than her sword. It wore metal armor with chains hanging from its shoulders and a pillager in red-colored leather armor rode on top, a crossbow in its hands.

Rose dodged another arrow with her sword and ducked as two of the vindicators swung at her. She blocked one of them and kicked it in the chest, causing the pillager to stumble backwards, and then turned to stab at the other one. Her blade cut through its exposed chest and it collapsed on the snowy ground, a pool of light gray blood beginning to form below it.

Something scratched Rose's arm and she turned to see a white, ghost-like vex behind her. She swung at the tiny being and then was forced to duck an incoming arrow from one of the pillagers. She rolled to the side as a vindicator slammed its axe against the ground.

Rose dodged the pillagers' arrows and ran towards the two evokers. One of them narrowed its eyes on her and raised its arms in the air. Rose quickly jumped as the illusions of gray crocodiles snapped their jaws beneath her. Then, she attacked the evoked with her sword, killing it easily.

The ravager snorted and kicked up the snow in the ground as it suddenly charged at her. Rose gasped and jumped out of the way, rolling in the snowy ground and slamming against the side of the terrace. When she looked up, one of the vindicators was above her, its axe held over its head.

As the vindicator swung down, she quickly held up her sword above her and winced at the hard impact. She kicked the being in the stomach and stumbled back to her feet as it recoiled. Rose sliced her sword across its neck, spilling its gray blood as its eyes unfocused and it fell backwards into the ground.

Suddenly, an arrow from one of the pillagers was flying right at her. She only just saw it coming as it impaled her deep in her right shoulder, gasping as her left hand reached up to grab at the wound. The ravager flashed its green eyes at her.

Rose slid to the side as it charged her and clumsily blocked another arrow, running towards her horse. Somehow, the gray and white horse was perfectly fine amidst the fighting and was peacefully standing on the left side of the path. Rose slung her sword over her shoulder and jumped onto the saddle, flicking the reins hard which caused the horse to snort and take off at a decently fast pace.

From behind her, she heard the shouts of the illagers as they began to pursue her. The ravager was keeping close pace while the pillager atop it continued firing arrows, forcing Rose to weave in a zig-zag pattern to avoid getting hit again.

Her shoulder was throbbing, but the pain wasn't overwhelming as she continued down the snowy path. Luckily, she managed to keep a safe distance from the illagers as she rode her horse. Only the ravager and a single pillager remained behind her, the other four having given up since they could only run on foot.

The sky has grown dark, but the snowy surface reflected the moonlight onto the world around her as she travelled. Rose didn't know how much time had passed, but her horse was beginning to slow while the ravager seemed no more tired than when they first began the chase.

Her eyes darted around the area, searching for a way out of this predicament, so concentrated that she didn't realize what was up ahead until she was almost on top of it.

A ravine.

It stretched across the entire length of the pass, like a crack in the world diving straight down to a frozen river down below. Its width was around four times her length, and maybe her horse could have jumped across if she noticed sooner. Instead, her horse let out a screech as the ground disappeared from underneath it and Rose found herself flying through the air, adrenaline furiously pumping through her veins.

She slammed onto the ground on the other side, rolling in the snow and wincing as the arrow dug deeper into her shoulder. Then, she scrambled back to her feet, breathing quickly, and watched as the ravager came to a stop on the other side of the ravine.

The pillager shot an arrow at her, but it landed a few feet in front of her. With a snort, the ravager flipped around and disappeared back down the path into the mountain pass. Rose let out a long breath as her eyes drifted to the ravine that separated herself from the illagers. Her horse was gone, but thankfully she still had her sword and belongings.

This was quite the streak of bad luck she was having. With a sigh and a glance at the starry sky above, she began walking onwards. Rose wasn't sleepy after that ordeal, so she decided to get the hell out of the mountains as soon as she could.

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A/n - Hi guys!! I know it's been awhile haha, but i haven't been feeling well for the past two weeks and have been spending my remaining time trying to keep up with schoolwork. But I finally managed to finish out the chapter and publish it :))
Love you guys!! <3
~Echo