Look me in the Eyes

A Time for Vengeance

I returned to our cave easily enough, despite having to pause between each teleportation so as to rest from carrying the heavy chest. A fear still lingered in me that the Player might have followed me, but it is hard to track an Enderman, as I know. Our teleportation makes even keeping us in sight a challenge, and following in our trail a practical impossibility. There was a reason we were some of the more numerous mobs around.

I set the chest down with a sigh and began sorting the contents thereof into various bags brought along for this purpose. Outside the cave, I could hear Rolburn ambling about aimlessly, muttering things to himself. "Come, my friend!" I called to him. "We should set out soon. There is a Player nearby, he may find us if we are not careful." Rolburn answered with a grunt, but remained in the sun. Perhaps he was cold. Could he even feel cold anymore?

I set my teeth and ignored the painful questions for now. Once I was finished gathering our stolen supplies together, I would give some to Rolburn, along with his "yellow peace", and we would leave this place. Where we would go and what we would seek, if anything, I had little notion of at the present. It was enough, now, that we would be gone from the vicinity of that Player.

After a little time, I had completed our preparations and stood satisfied with my work. "Rolburn!" I shouted once more, going to the entrance of the cave. I saw no sign of him. "Rolburn?" My heart began to pound. When had I last heard his voice talking to himself? Panic lent me speed and I began teleporting in various directions, looking for signs of the Piglin. I called to him each time I paused, my desperation growing as I continuously found no trace of him. What had I been thinking, letting him wander alone? His mind was cracked, he could not properly care for himself. I cursed myself for a fool.

And then I heard his voice. A sudden squeal from close by, just behind a little slope to my right. A creek was flowing there; perhaps he'd fallen in. Purple particles swirled and flashed as I instantly landed at its edge and saw my friend.

The Player stood before him, his hands outstretched. Reaching for Rolburn. I roared, my jaw stretching wide enough to swallow the Player's head whole, and lunged at him. He looked up, his eyes wide and scared, but too late to dodge me. I smashed into him, bowling him into the grass. "Rolburn, get behind me!" I cried, rushing forward again. The Player hadn't time to get up before I was upon him.

My fury burned as though the Ender Dragon had set her fire ablaze in my heart. Rolburn had been trapped and led out into a world that had stripped him of sanity and flesh alike by a Player just like this one. Maybe it was even the same one. I didn't care. The only thing that mattered was protecting Rolburn. I seized the Player's hands and held them apart. He yelled in fear and scrambled to get away from me, but my hold was firm. I kicked straight down, my foot slamming into the monster's chest. All his breath flew out and he gasped, his face going white with pain. Once more I stamped on him and then again. A sharp crack broke from his body. His hands were limp in my grasp. I dropped them and stood back, panting. The Player lay there, his eyes wide and his mouth open without breath or sound. But I saw he was still alive. He stared at my hands in dread, his own trembling on the ground. All at once air came rushing into his lungs and he started groaning. It sounded like his voice was almost gone, and there was a harshness to it that grated.

I looked back at Rolburn. The Piglin stood, unharmed and shaking, behind me. His back was pressed to the trunk of a tree that grew close to the creek. He tried to speak but didn't seem able to. I went to him, looking him over for anything wrong. "Rolburn. Rolburn, talk to me. What is it? What did he do to you?"

The Player cried on the ground behind me. Rolburn seemed unable to take his eyes off the limp monster I had defeated. I laid my hand on one side of his face. "Did he hurt you?" A shake of the head was my only answer. It was enough. "Good." I turned back to the Player.