War of Fire

Not Prepared

I had just woken up from sleeping, and I guess I was a bit late. I smelled Zoey making a wonderful breakfast downstairs, so I got up and into my usual clothes. I looked into Levin and Malachai's room to see if they were still sleeping, and they were. I went downstairs to see that Zoey was making some pancakes for us all. I greet her and say hello. I had to get going if it was late, because then I had to do my usual check up on the village as I do every morning. Zoey finished the pancakes soon, so I ate. As soon as I was about to open up the front door, I see a sweating Laurence running up to our house. I open the door for him. He just stands there for a moment, panting. "... Laurence?! What's wrong?" I ask, and he takes a few seconds to answer. "Where's Garroth? He's usually the one to bring me the news!" I continue questioning him. (Let's take a moment to pray for Garroth in the Irene dimension, I'm worried for him) "Garroth? He's in the mine. That's what I have to tell you about- the miners. They... (he pants) they found something! And it's not... (he pants again) it's not good...!" I frantically race out the door to see if I can see down into the plaza, where the mine entrance is. Of course, I couldn't see it, with Dale and Molly's house blocking it. It was fine, everything's fine, I'll go look. But Laurence was already ahead of me, and he was down the stairs. "Laurence?! Wait up!!!" I call for him, and he waits for a second and waves his hand, signaling for me to hurry- and I do. Whatever this was, I wanted to see, especially if it has Laurence all worked up like this.... This couldn't be good, not at all." I was walking down the main road now, almost to the plaza. When I did get there, though, I looked to the mine to see a red and purple light coming from the entry. Then my stomach dropped- by now I had a pretty good idea of what it was. When a few of the town members saw me run into the glowing mine, they started to gather around the entrance, but knew well enough not to come inside. It was only me, Lucinda, and the guards. Soon Zoey joined us. Kawaii Chan was also a magiks user, but she couldn't help this with her animation magiks. Zoey set up a small barrier around the area. I walked into the crowded area, and worked my way up to the front. All of a sudden, I felt very, very, very light headed, because in front of me was the most dreaded thing in the Overworld: a Nether Portal. "N-No. No. No! Th-this CAN'T be happening! Oh, god..." I absolutely panicked after I said that. I made sure everyone was safe in their houses, and the guards and magiks users stayed down in the mineshaft. But even after we waited there, a bunch of nervous wrecks, for a full hour, nothing happened! Zoey told us that attempting to close it would get one of us seriously hurt, or it would make the portal bigger. Or worse, both. Eventually, something did happen. The glow of the portal started to get brighter. That couldn't be good at all, so everyone took their stances. I got out my iron sword, Laurence got out his emerald sword, Lucinda took out her wand, Garroth got out his diamond sword, Dante got out his duel swords, and Zoey made a barrier around the portal, though we all knew that it wouldn't last for that long. The glow did not stop getting brighter, but it was happening very slowly. "I don't think anything or anyone is coming out just yet.... This is a curse," Lucinda's voice trailed off. She looked like she was thinking, trying to figure out what the apparent curse was. She told us all that if she could figure out what the curse was, then she might be able to break it. There was a very small chance of that, though, knowing the power of the Nether, and the time we had. We were helpless, there is nothing we can do at this point, is there? But I wouldn't give up hope that easily. No way. Ever. In history. I will fix this, even if it takes forever. Even if this does happen, whatever this even is, I won't let anything or anyone stop me from reversing it.