Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 8

I looked up at the enderman without fear. I would not make a sound as he killed me; I would not plead for my life. I would not show weakness. Ana had her head raised proudly, challenging her executer with a glare. Lyta was staring straight ahead, eyes unfocused. My heart dropped to my stomach. I didn't want my friends to die. Ana had once accused me of not thinking, just charging heedlessly into battle after battle. I guess it was time to prove her wrong. "Alright." I said, trying to sound defeated. It wasn't hard. "I give up. I'll confess." My captor tilted his head. "Confess?" "To being an Elemental. They're not," I nodded to my friends, "And neither is Loca. I just used him as a decoy. I'm the Fire Elemental. I don't know what happened to the other three, but they're still alive." I pulled up the sleeve of my jacket, baring my arm, and the other endermen recoiled, hissing. There on my arm was a tattoo. My parents had told me I'd been born with it, but it was a tattoo. Four elements combined together into a person, with dark hair and glowing orange eyes. I'd had this tattoo forever, looked at it a thousand times, but now it was different. The air symbol, a cloud, was glowing, pulsing with white light. The water symbol was starting to light up, slowly, but the fire and earth symbols were still just normal tattoos. "Its never done that before..." I said quietly to my friends. Ana was looking at the tattoo, surprised. "You have a Mark?" I glanced at her, about to ask what a mark was, when I saw Lyta collapse, shaking uncontrollably. Ana lunged forwards, but got pulled back. "The mark of Virus." I said with distaste, masking my horror. "She won't survive." I was hoping to keep the endermen off her, and it worked. They backed up quick, excited. My arm began to throb with pain, so I looked down. The water tattoo was glowing brighter and brighter, the blues swirling like moving water. My arm felt like it was on fire, and as I curled into a ball, the pain cleared my panicked mind, and several things clicked. I scrabbled through my pocket, a desperate plan forming in my mind. My fingers closed around the flint and steel, and I drew it out. One of the endermen saw me move. "Hey! What are you doing?" He shouted, and teleported in front of me. I grinned at him. "Wrong move." I threw down my flint and steel, which instantly went up in flames. The flames consumed the enderman before he could cry out. "Stay back, or I'll unleash my powers on you!" I yelled to them.When they didn't attack I leapt to my feet, snatching up my bow. "C'mon!" I yelled, and Ana attacked. She smashed her captor in the face, snatched up her staff and slashed outwards. The enderman's head fell from his body, and she was running at the other endermen, murder in her eyes. I picked up Lyta as Ana spun and sliced, dodging fists and leaping out of the way when an enderman teleported in front of her. Then she did the strangest thing. She threw out hrr empty hand, and the enderman running at her flew backwards, smashing against the pillar and crumpling. Then the odd moment was gone, and within a matter of seconds Ana was standing among the bodies of endermen foolish enough to take her on. She was breathing heavily, hands clenched. I walked over, and made her look at me. She sighed, all energy gone. "What?" "Loca's not dead." I said, but she shook her head. "He is. You really think the endermen let him live?" I rolled up my jacket sleeve again, forcing her to see the tattoo. "You see this? You see the way its glowing? That shows Loca has powers, I'm sure of it. If he was dead, this light would go out, I'm sure of it." She shrugged. "I'm not so sure." I looked to the eternal night, and grinned. "Then how come I'm seeing him flying?" She jerked her head up, and it was her turn to smile. "Loca!" And sure enough, the Chicken Man was shooting through the air, his hair blown back from his face, covered in black powder but looking extremely pleased with himself. He was mainly flying straight, occasionally diving and rising. He came soaring towards us, a huge grin on his face. Then he realised he was going too fast, and tried to stop. He hit the ground and slid on his stomach towards us, leaving a black mark behind, before coming to a stop at Ana's feet. He lifted his head weakly. "At your service?" Ana jumped on him, hugging him tightly. He hugged her back, then messed up her hair. She got up, and Loca looked up at me. "How's it going, Tash? You know, you still look drunk." "Nice to see you to." I said, and crouched next to him. "I need to ask you about getting your powers." I turned Lyta's head, baring her neck and exposing the symbols. His carefree smile faded. "It hurts. It's like bring run through, and then they keep twisting the blade, until you pass out from the pain." He shook his head. "Looks like she's already on that stage. She'll come out of it soon." I put Lyta on the ground, gently, and we stood watch, not wanting to break the silence. The silence stretched, plunging the End back into its eerie ways. Then Lyta jerked, foam dribbling from her gaping mouth, blue eyes rolling back into her head. Ana knelt, pinning Lyta down. I saw a glimpse of the friend I'd met as a child; tough, calm and almost alien in some way I couldn't describe. Lyta let out a rattling gasp, and went still. We waited quietly, tension crackling through the air. Then Lyta's eyes fluttered open, the pain in my arm subsiding as the symbols faded away. She rubbed her head wearily. "What just happened?" I nodded seriously at her. "You just became an Elemental. Happy three thousandth b-day." It wasn't even funny, but we all cracked up laughing, nerves dissolving as we laughed ourselves hoarse. Then Lyta sat up, and held out her hands, studying her long, thin fingers. "So I supposedly have Water powers, right? I guess I should test them out." She closed her fingers into a fist, then they snapped open. What happened next would forever be remembered to us as "The day Lyta made Loca Speechless." Water blasted from Lyta's hands, which missed Loca by an inch and carved a hole clean through the obsidian. She tilted her hands down, and the twin jets propelled her skywards, a sight to behold. She threw her hands out to the side, and the water turned into a swirling serpent that coiled around her with incredible speed, her hair floating. Then she came back to earth, the water torrent came to a stop, and she bowed to a soaked, stunned audience. "Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. That was my trick for tonight." Loca stood there, damp hair hanging over his face, mouth literally hanging open. Ana wrung out her hair and said dryly, "Nice theatrics, but next time, tone it down a little bit, huh?" Lyta nodded sarcastically to Ana, and made another exaggerated bow. "Yes, milady." Now she was free from the pain of transforming, she was back to her sarcastic self. She reached into her pocket, drew out a shining blue bottle and tossed it at Ana. "Water-proof potion. I'll give you my Water breathing potion as well." She laughed. "I don't think I'll need it anymore." "Yes, while I applaud the fact you actually managed to shut Loca up, we need to concentrate on getting out of here." I turned to Loca. "No sign of the Ender Dragon?" He shook his head. "But the strange thing was, there's no End Portal, no Dragon Egg, and the beacon crystsls are still intact. It makes no sense." "Nothing makes sense around here anymore." I said tiredly. "Now, if anyone knows how to replicate a Portal-" "That's not what I meant," Loca interrupted. I glared at him. "That's the weirdest thing. There's a Nether Portal just round this pillar. I can't understand it..." "You can't understand many things." I told Loca seriously, and he scowled while Lyta and Ana laughed. "So, impossible. Yet the Ender Dragon's just up and left his highly secure prison from which he will never escape." Loca lowered his head in shame. "We should stop questioning all the crazy, guys. Just accept it." Then he grabbed Ana by her shoulders. "Catch you guys in the Nether." He soared off, and Lyta grabbed me by my wrist. "Try not to drown." There was a blast of water, and we were rocketing across the endstone surface, swerving around yet another pillar and heading straight for a glowing Portal. As my hand touched the surface, pain racked my arm and I yelled, "Wait!" But it was too late; as we passed through, a scream of agony was ripped from my mouth, and darkness enfolded me.