Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 14

Lyta's POV

I stared at the seething mass of black below, looking but not seeing. My fingers still ached, from trying to save Tash. That moment would forever be imprinted in my mind - the way she turned, fear in her face, the crack as the bridge collapsed, the way she fell, fell to her death. Loca had dragged me away, forcing me not to look. Now I was back at the edge, oblivious to the world around me. Ana was sitting beside me, also looking but not seeing. She and Tash had had a wicked fight, but we'd done a lot together. My hand was clenched around a glass bottle, its contents a bright blue. A flight potion, something I had been saving, because I wouldn't be able to use it until five years later. Now it seemed worthless. "He got her..." Loca didn't try to tell me otherwise. He too was gazing at the place where he'd lost a friend, eyes clouded over. Then he sighed, and turned to us. "We need to get to Virus. She'd want us to take him down." "And she'd want us to free the Dax guy, too." Ana said, eyes closed. I stood up suddenly and looked at Loca. "Can't you summon her body? Use the air to pick her up?" Loca shook his head at me. "If I could, which I think I can, I don't want to." "Why not?" I demanded, angry. "She might be a Virus minion." Loca said stubbornly. "I would be able to tell. We have a sort of bond. If she got attacked by him, and resurrected, I would know." Ana told him, and lowered her head. "Then bring her up." I told Loca. "No." He growled. "Why not?" I exclaimed, ticked off. "Because I don't want to see her dead!" He sat down quickly, despite the scattered rocks, and clutched his head so tightly I thought he was going to draw blood. "I want to remember her as she was before she died, o.k? I don't want my last memory of her to be a charred body." I clenched my fists. "Oh yeah? Well, I don't want my last memory of her to be her falling to her death!" Loca looked away, and I softened my tone. "I can heal her body, but I can't bring her back. Do you really want to leave her here to rot?" Loca looked pained, indecisive. Then he said quietly, "Tash would want us to keep moving, to find Virus and take him out." "She'd want us to free that Dax guy, too." Ana said numbly, looking at me sadly. I sucked in my breath, got a taste of the sulphuric air of the Nether, and choked it out. "Fine. We'll keep moving, but let ne mourn for a second, o.k?" They nodded, and I sat down at the edge if the cliff again, feeling miserable. I noticed vaguely that the broken edge of the bridge jutted out over the cliff a few metres. I didn't really care, but I craned my neck to see the cliff. It was the usual mass of red and grey, nothing out of the ordinary, so I made to turn away. Then a fleck of black caught my eye. I peered closer at it, frowning. If my eyes weren't burning with tears, I would've said that was a person. I shook my head. I was seeing things, picturing that old black jumpsuit... Then the figure moved, raising its head, and I saw a flash of orange. My heart started to beat again, filling me with hope. I leapt to my feet and hurried over to Ana. "Ana, I need you to use your bond with Tash. I don't care how you do it, but I need you to tell her to blast fire." Ana sighed. "She's dead, Lyta." I grabbed her shoulders. "Look, if you do this, I won't mention it again." She looked reluctant, but touched her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. They opened, blank, and I raced to the edge of the bridge, calling to the others to come over, afraid they'd miss it. That didn't happen. A massive column of fire shot out over the sea of black, a beautiful orange colour. "YES!" I shouted, dancing around, oblivious to the rocks. Loca shook his head in disbelief. "She still hasn't died? That's unbelievable!" Ana ran to my side, leant dangerously far over the edge and screamed, "YOU IDIOT! STOP SCARING ME LIKE THAT!" Tash, for it was her, simply laughed. I couldn't hear her, but I saw her shoulders shaking. "Why isn't she climbing up?" I asked Ana. She closed her eyes and concentrated, before opening them, looking worried. "She says she's broken one leg, a foot, three ribs and one of her hands. She can't get down and she can't climb up. She also says something about the way Virus is sitting is a little odd." I snapped my fingers at Loca. "Could you get her up, or are you really that desperate to have her armour?" Loca muttered something, then clicked his fingers. "I'm getting better at this." He said smugly to me and Ana. "I still can't fight with my upgrades, but I'm coming along fine." His face lapsed into concentration, so I couldn't help it. "Oh, wow. You're actually putting effort into it. Tash must be really heavy." I said, and Ana turned her head. "Tash says to tell you she heard that, and that she's going to get you." I shrugged. "She's a pig. I eat her kind for breakfast. Literally." Then Loca reeled backwards, fingers smoking. He shook his hands. "Something's blocking my abilities. I can't do it." Ana growled like an ocelot. "Virus. If I ever meet this slimeball, me and him are going to have words. He's got to stop turning our journey into a drama show, having us pop up at just the right moment when everyone thinks we're dead." I smitked at her, then considered a plan B. "We can't climb down, it's a miracle Tash grabbed hold if something. Virus is below, so she can't get down either." I frowned, then clicked my fingers. I reached into my satchel and pulled out a healing potion. "I'll pour this onto her." I explained to the others, kneeling as I uncorked the vial. I tipped it, and it fell like a waterfall - right onto Tash's head. She blinked rapidly, surprised. Then she flexed her free hand and grinned. She mouthed thank you, and began to climb. But the potion hadn't fully worked its magic and she stopped, cringing. Loca came over, to offer support. Then his face whitened, and he yelled frantically, "Climb, dammit! It's right behind you!" I turned my head and saw the Virus goop start to bubble, slimy tentacles reaching up the cliff, trying to catch Tash. She leapt from rock to rock, trying to escape, but it was right behind her, about to consume her. As my eyes frantically scanned the monster, looking for a weakness to exploit, I saw it wasn't mingling with the lava or taking it over; it was stretched over it, just a few slab lengths from the surface. It took me a minute for it to click, but then I yelled, "Tash, it can't touch the lava! Kill it with fire!" I could see Tash now, see the determination in her eyes, see the way Virus glistened and moved like lava, bubbling and oozing. Just as Virus lunged upwards in a desperate rush to grab her, she kicked off the mountain, fire jetting from her open hands. Just as I thought, the monster screeched in pain and retreated rapidly, shocked and bewildered. Tash shot upwards with her rocket feet and ran for the bridge. Loca created a thin layer of air for us to walk on, in case the bridge crumbled again. I looked down at the creature, nursing its wounds and glaring at us with blank red eyes. We reached the side but kept on running, flying over fires and craters in the ground until the bridge was far behind us. We collapsed to the ground, panting, and lay on our backs, looking up at the sky. We might've been in the Nether, but at the moment, looking up at a glowstone sky free of mutant mobs, this spot felt like paradise. "Well," Tash said eventually, sitting up and looking around at us. "Should we stop dying every five minutes and please just get to killing Virus? He's really starting to annoy me now."

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while guys :'( I forgot. Can't believe I'm up to over 150 reads and nearly fifty votes. You guys are awesome readers. Show some love by reading. voting and eating cows. This person knows who they are. ;-)
Tash