Beyond The End [Dream team x Reader]

Chapter 43

Y/N's POV

We went into the fortress just after sunrise.

Not that sunrise mattered here.

Everything looked the same in the Nether.

Just red light, stone shadows, and heat that never changed.

But today felt different anyway.

Heavier.

Like the air itself knew we were walking into something worse than usual.

Dream led the way without speaking.

George stayed close behind him, quieter than normal.

Sapnap walked beside me for a while, then drifted slightly back when the fortress corridors narrowed.

We all did that without saying it.

Like instinct.

Like we already knew positions mattered here.

The deeper we went, the more the fortress seemed to stretch.

Hallways looping into each other.

Bridges crossing over lava streams.

The sound of distant fire crackling never stopping.

Then we heard it.

A sharp, rising screech.

Sapnap stopped immediately.

"...Blazes."

Dream raised a hand.

"Everyone—listen."

Another screech.

Closer.

George exhaled slowly.

"Why do they always sound like they're personally offended we exist?"

"Because we do," Sapnap muttered.

I didn't laugh.

Because I could already feel it.

Heat building somewhere above us.

Movement.

⸻

The first Blaze appeared above a broken archway.

Floating.

Rotating rods of fire circling its core.

Then another.

Then another.

Dream moved instantly.

"Spread out!"

We scattered just as fire erupted toward the floor where we'd been standing.

The impact lit the stone up in a flash.

I rolled behind a pillar.

Heart already racing.

George fired an arrow upward.

It hit one Blaze.

It didn't drop.

"Okay that's insulting," George said.

Sapnap was already moving.

Too fast.

Too close.

"Don't push in!" Dream called.

"I'm not pushing— I'm repositioning aggressively!"

"That's literally pushing in!"

A Blaze shot toward him.