Living in Me (Sequel to Not Gonna Die)

|Chapter 28| Deja vu, but worse

"Sit with the pain until it passes, and you will be calmer for the next one."
-Naval Ravikant

          The ringing that filled his ears was almost as bad as the disorentiation that hit Jason like a hammer when he tried to stand up. He blinked the spots from his eyes and looked around, the ringing slowly fading to a dull hum before disappearing completely. Around him, the huge collection of warriors were slowly rising to their feet, all seeming to feel the same nausea that he did. He saw Ian stumbling over to him and would have gone to meet him, except even the simple motion of turning his head had made the world spin uncontrollably.

          "What happened?" he asked as Ian reached him. "There was just a huge explosion all of a sudden, I missed what caused it."

          Ian nodded to something behind Jason. "There's your answer. We might want to start clearing people out of here, I don't want to risk being hit by that thing again."

          Jason spun around (and instantly regretted it) but after his vision had cleared a second time, he saw a huge circle of ash right in the middle of where the large majority of Entity's warriors had been. The rest of them had simply disappeared, perhaps taken out by the shockwave. In the middle of the ash circle was a figure, hunched over on the ground, nearly glowing golden, sending out pulsing waves of light that never strayed more than an arm's length away from the person. Arcs of magic rose and fell as the figure shivered but even from this distance, he was recognisable.

          "Start getting people up and over the ridge, set up the medical tents there," Jason said quickly. "We need to clear this area until it's safe." Ian gave a nod and jogged off, calling orders and yelling for people to get back over the ridge to safety.

          Jason looked back to Adam, holding the bracelets tighter in his hand. He waited nervously as the warriors started filtering out around him, watching as the magic that surrounded Adam pulsed brighter then dimmer then brighter again. Taking a deep breath, Jason started moving towards him, eyeing the halo of light as it shimmered, then it shrank just a little, and then a little bit more.

          He moved around to the right a little so that he could see Adam's face as he approached. It was hard to look right at him with the light pouring from his glowing skin, but with squinted eyes, Jason saw that Adam's eyes were screwed up tight and his hands were balled into fists and the light dimmed a little and shrank a little more. Taking another breath to push down his nerves, Jason entered the circle of magical energy. The hairs on his arms and legs and the back of his neck stood on end and tingled nearly painfully but he wasn't hurt as he knelt down next to the shivering Adam. He reached out with the bracelet and took one of Adam's clenched fists.

          The instant the bracelet touched Adam's hand, the General took a deep shuddering breath and his arm relaxed just enough for Jason to be able to slip on the cuff, and he quickly did the same on the other arm. As both cuffs were secured, the magical energy faded away and Adam was kneeling on the ground, taking huge, shuddering breaths. The glow of his skin faded and Jason realised that it had been glowing white-hot, as if about to burst into flame. He noticed the blood that coated his friend's arm and his shirt and he put a hand to the wound to stop the flow, feeling the small trickle of warm blood.

          Adam tiredly lifted his head enough to be able to see Jason and with a thrill of fear, he saw the blood that was running down from Adam's glowing eye, a large cut extending from either side of it, and exhaustion lined his face. "D-Did I get him?" he coughed. "Please tell me I got him, I-I can't do that again."

          Jason glanced over his shoulder to the piles of ash that surrounded them. Not too far from the two was a pile of ash that had a few shreds of blackened clothes and a blood red sword that had been split directly down the middle of the blade, fading out of existence even as Jason caught sight of it. He swallowed. "Yeah, you uh... you got him good."

          He heard Adam breathe a sigh of relief and he gently pulled Adam's arm over his shoulder. "Come on, let's get out of here."

          The two limped across the battlefield, Adam leaning heavily on his friend, barely able to see where he was going. Jason looked ahead and caught sight of Ian standing atop the ridge and giving him a nod, seeing that the danger was passed as the warriors stopped their retreat out of the basin. He glanced around the battlefield. Ahead and to his left, he saw Quentin shaking his head as he stood up from a fallen Lord. Almost directly left, he saw Steve kneeling next to the body of Notch, placing a hand on his brother's forehead and a moment later, the body dissolved into silver light and disappeared. To Jason's right, he saw Mitch huddled over another body, head bowed and shoulders shaking, hands clutching tight to the shirt, a bloodied axe on the ground beside him.

          Jason didn't think that he could have hurt more after losing his family, but somehow, seeing the bodies of his friends, seeing all this death and knowing that he could have done nothing to prevent it and could do nothing to make it better... this was worse. He and Adam moved past the dead and the wounded and the mourning, up to the ridge and over to the medical tent that had been hurriedly set up.

          Several hours passed before the worst of the aftermath was over and it was a few hours after nightfall when the leaders of the many armies that had answered the call gathered in the main tent of the camp, set up a short walk from the battlefield. Jason presided over the meeting as the official peace maker of Team Crafted. Quentin and Ian were there, Quentin nearly dead on his feet from caring for the wounded. Adam was there too, healing fast from his duel, though his eye was covered by a bandage. Mitch sat in the corner, his eyes red from crying, and he showed no shame. Steve was present too, keeping to the background of the scene.

          General Andreas was there as well, sitting with all the other Lords, though Lord Vikk and Lord David had joined many others in the afterlife. There wasn't much to be said now; they had mainly gathered for comfort and confirmation that the war was well and truly over. Lord Noah muttered about how he was sick of war and nearly all of the other Lords mumbled in agreement. Jason looked over them individually, a sort of tentative hope blooming in him.

          "Does this mean that you guys might stop terrorising each other's borders and lands?" he asked innocently.

          The other Lords looked as if the suggestion had never occurred to them, and they glanced around at each other. Lord Sparklez cleared his throat. "I mean... I guess. It'd be nice to just... sit at home, do nothing for a while. Only temporarily of course," he added with a quick glance around.

          The other Lords quickly chimed in in agreement, saying that the feeling would probably leave in a few months and whatnot, and Jason shrugged. "Best I can ask for," he muttered to himself as he stood up.

          "We have to work together if we want to make sure that this doesn't happen again," Adam said, leaning forward to be able to see everyone with his good eye. "There will be others like Entity and Dreadlord and Acid. They'll try to use whatever means they can to bring war and destruction and pain. Herobrine and Queen Anne used to protect the land and all of us from that as best as they could but... now that they're gone, the job's fallen to us. All of us."

          He looked around. He didn't see as much agreement as he would have liked, but no one was denying it so far. "I'm not asking you to hunt down people or actively seek out a fight. All I'm asking is that you're aware, and that if you see or hear anything suspicious, that you tell us, and that if we ask you to check something out, that you do it. I'm asking that you'd be cooperative, basically, with us and with each other."

          The Lords sat in an awkward silence until General Andreas cleared his throat. "You'll always have the support of the Snow Strikers," he said. "We'll watch the snow country, and while I can't promise prompt updates, you'll definitely be hearing from us."

          Adam nodded his thanks to Andreas as Lord Ghetto heaved a sigh and leant back in his chair. "Why the hell not. If we don't then we'll just be back here in another six months doing the same thing all over again. I'm in as well."

          With two people agreeing, everyone else seemed only too happy to comply, and not much else was said as they each departed and left for their own tents to sleep of the dregs of the war.