Wither

Chapter 27-War

*Ember's POV*

I grimaced as the bloody scene unfolded before me. My soldiers all launched into battle, most of them destroying Herobrine's militia. But ghasts aplenty fell around me and the thought that we would run out of forces nagged me in the back of my mind.

Snapping out of the daze, I whipped my sword out just in time to parry an attack by a zombie pigman. The undead animal's sword pressed against mine with surprising strength and, sensing something behind me, I grabbed my other sword, impaled the pigman, and rolled under the attacking skeleton. He shot an arrow at where I was one second ago and the already dying pigman screeched in pain as the arrow hit it. The skeleton turned around and fired an arrow sharply. My sword flashed up, seemingly of its own accord, and smacked the arrow away. Sparks flew as metal skated on metal, and the arrow ricocheted harmlessly off of the ground. Unfazed, the skeleton loaded another arrow in a blur.

Abruptly, I heard a thunk. A knife was embedded in the skeleton's ribcage. It collapsed alongside the pigman, both lying still. I turned around and saw the grinning face of Skydoesminecraft. "Sky?" I yelped, astounded. His face, still plastered in a grin, widened as he sensed my surprise.

"I'm ba-!" He was cut off by a dull thwack! In horror, I watched him wobble and fall, an arrow deeply sunk into his mid-back. I screamed, grabbed my almost unused longbow, and shot a cherry wood arrow with a pitch black arrowhead towards the skeleton. It collapsed into a lazily drifting stream of code immediately. I knelt beside Sky, who was still there, not yet the code we all dreaded to become. He weakly lifted his head up, his eyes glassy and blood trickling out of his mouth. But the smile, if tighter, more pain-filled, was still there.

My eyes welled up with tears. However, now was not the time to cry. "What happened to the rest?" I asked gingerly, my voice almost a whisper with the sensitivity of it all.

"Dead. We all were thrown into a Nether portal by some guy in black. Jerome tried to fight him and ended up getting killed. We never resisted him after that, and soon we found ourselves trapped in this hellhole with a broken Nether portal," Sky's smile faded. "Jason provoked a few ghasts - on accident, of course - and Mitch and him got caught in an explosion. By then it was just me and Ty..."

Sky coughed weakly, blood spattering on my black jumpsuit. I ignored it and he went on. "We had no food...and Ty went crazy. He...he tried to kill me...to...." He needn't finish. Sickened, he continued his tale. "I accidentally wounded him mortally - self defense, I assure you! And I continued on. Then I found you guys," his grin returned, though tiny in comparison to the previous. "I feel like I've finally redeemed myself for everything I've done..." He trailed off and my stomach dropped. I felt Sky go still. I bit my lip as a lump formed in my throat and I dropped his hand. His body dissolved into code, but all I could see was the happiness on his face.

*Mabel's POV*

I dissolved into the now familiar rage that overcame me so easily. This time I let it free. My hair flew above my head and I began to levitate. I let out a bloodcurdling scream and my eyes glowed red. Lasers shot out of my eyes, and sweat formed on my temple as I struggled to hold the laser. Enemies of every type were annihilated by my deadly gaze. Rocks were pulled out of the ground by my apparent telekinesis and hurled at enemies. Finally I had to stop. I couldn't keep going, not at this rate.

I dropped to the ground, exhausted. I was surprised to see the wasteland I had created. More than 1/3 of Herobrine's army was either burnt to a crisp, crushed by a rock, or ran away in fear. I felt woozy and wobbly. A hand settled on my back just as I toppled over. I let myself be carried back to the fortress.

*Lauren's POV*

I saw my sister kneeling besides a now wisp of code and ran over to her. "What's up?" I asked, concerned.

"Nothing now," she sighed grimly. I patted her back sympathetically.

I saw ghasts and blazes falling all around as I narrowly dodged badly aimed arrows. Our army is depleting, I thought. We need to destroy the sources: Herobrine, Notch, and the Wither. I floated up and located Dusty in a fierce battle with a few zombie pigmen. I shot down like a dart, my double knives flashing in the firelight. I slashed through all three of the pigmen in a devastating aerial attack.

"Hey, Lee," he grinned fondly. I smiled briefly, and knew that even in the midst of a war happiness was possible.

"Listen, Dusty, I have a plan, but I need your help." I broke the comfortable silence occasionally filled with screeches of terror and pain. "We're going to take this war to the core: we need to destroy Herobrine, Notch, and the Wither. You go to Notch and I'll get Herobrine. We'll meet up from there."

Dusty nodded grimly. "Before I go," he murmured and kissed me. "If I die, I want you to know that-." I cut him off.

"I do too." With that I launched myself up into the sky, scanning the area for Herobrine. Eventually I found him by a glowstone cluster, overseeing the battle like the coward he was. My insides were boiling with anger and I narrowed my eyes. I flew down to get Toboe. She had been tortured by him more than anyone, and deserved to assist me in destroying the menace. Time to end this once and for all.

*Ember's POV*

I looked up from the place that Sky's code disappeared and surveyed the battle. It was not going well. The attacking army had lost more soldiers, but for every one man fallen another two took his place. Herobrine's army was a fearful, overwhelming force, and we had too few numbers to overcome it.

I gazed around, looking for everyone. Seto, check. River, check. Poof, check. Sora, check. I listed off everyone's names in my head until I reached my sister; Toboe was also not to be seen. My eyes swept across the battlefield until they landed on Dusty. He would know where they are!

I zipped over to the boy. "Dusty, where's Lauren?" I gasped, slightly out of breath. "She's not..." I didn't go on.

"No, no, no! She's just, uh, battling somewhere. I saw her with Toboe a few minutes ago; they were flying off somewhere in that general area." I could tell Dusty was hiding something, but I never got the chance to prompt him.With a devastating echo, an ear-splitting, bone-rattling, spine-chilling, bloodcurdling roar off in the distance sounded, making everything go silent.