Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 41

Ana's POV

As the Mooshroom Mage started throwing more bombs and darts, keeping the enemy at bay, the Snow Mage hurried to her fallen friend, kneeling next to the Chicken Mage and putting a gentle hand on her uninjured shoulder.

Through the intense pain, the Chicken Mage managed a smile.
"Welcome back, Caitlyn," she rasped, and then hissed in pain, gritting her teeth as a droplet of blood oozed from the wound and rolled down her shoulder.

"Hush," the Snow Mage ordered, carefully lowering the Chicken Mage to the ground. "Don't talk, just be quiet and try not to move."
She glanced over her shoulder at us. "Does anybody have a healing potion?"

Lyta started fumbling with her bag. "I have one here."
She withdrew a small pink potion bottle, and tossed it to the Snow Mage, who deftly caught it and uncorked it. With the care and precision of a nurse, she trickled some potion into the wound, then made the Chicken Mage drink the rest.
She gasped, colour returning to her pale face, and I saw the wound slowly start to heal, the skin and flesh already knitting back together.

"Stay here," the Snow Mage told her, and got to her own feet.
The Chicken Mage tried to rise, weakly protesting, "But the Portal..."

"I'll take care of the Portal," the Snow Mage said sharply. "You need to rest. Lie down. Now."
The Chicken Mage did as she was told, and the Snow Mage took her place.
Without being told, the other Mages reformed the circle, raised their hands, prepared to chant.
Right before they entered the spell-casting phase, I saw the Iron Mage's eyes flick to the Snow Mage, and when their gazes met, I could almost feel the waves of sorrow pouring from both of them, see the gap that had forced them apart.

And then the magic took hold, and the Mages began to chant.
The small blue dot, that rip in the fabric of the Overworld was no bigger than an apple, and still shrinking rapidly.
Then it paused, listening to the voices laden with power, and shuddered violently.
And, with the sound of an Ender Dragon's roar, it slowly began to open.

But I didn't stick around to see the Mages do their thing; I spun on my heel and charged straight back into the battle. The mobs had started coming back again, scuttling back and forth, wary of each bomb that appeared in the Mooshroom Mage's hand.

As a spider dodged an ear-splitting blast and leapt towards the Bat Mage, fanged mouth bared in a hiss of hatred, I threw my hands to the skies, and a pillar of rock erupted from the earth, rocketing skywards and smashing into the spider's body. Its broken body sailed through the air, and when it fell back to earth it bowled over a couple of skeletons, sending bones and skulls flying. Amber zipped around in a black-blue blur, slicing and dicing and leaving carnage in her speedy wake.

A few feet in front of me, whirling his sword with deadly skill and decapitating everything, Dax's face suddenly lit up like he had a crazy idea, much like Tash or Loca did, which made me nervous.

"Hercules!" He yelled over his shoulder, a crazy grin spreading across his face. "Ever wanted to be a cannon?"
Hercules stared at him blankly, then something clicked and he was pushing his way through the mass, pushing and shoving until he reached Dax.
With a single grunt, he scooped up the Fire Realmer like he was a child's toy, and tensed his arms.

"You really wanna do this?" Hercules growled, using a tendril of light to keep a persistent zombie at bay.
Dax grinned down at his pig-man companion. "Are you kidding me? This is gonna be great!"

And, with an exasperated sigh and a shake of his head, Hercules pushed upwards with all the strength his pig-man body possessed, and Dax was sent hurtling forwards, a whoop of delight escaping him as he shot over the heads of some very startled mobs like a mini Ender Dragon.