The Burning ~ Dreamnotfound + Skephalo

Chapter 14: War Pigs

Dream was running, dragging Sapnap behind him. He didn't even hesitate after he heard George scream. He was in trouble and a lot of pain. Sapnap had his sword at the ready. Neither of them were about to give up on George. Ahead of them, Dream spotted a path that led to the top of the cliff that they heard the scream from. He led the way, climbing up the steep path as fast as he could.

By the time he made it to the top, he was out of breath. He stayed on his hands and knees as he waited for Sapnap to catch up. When Sapnap made it, he wasn't given the pleasure of catching his breath like Dream was. Instead, Dream yanked him up, and the two began running in the direction they heard the scream from. As they ran, they passed by large hogs that seemed to be preoccupied fighting Piglins. Dream was thankful that they were all busy, he lacked any sort of energy.

Sapnap started to fall further and further behind Dream until eventually stopping to catch his breath. "DREAM! I can't keep going!" He held his stomach and leaned up against a tree as Dream turned around to come back to him. "Something is wrong. I feel sick."

"We have to go get George," Dream said, diverting his attention from Sapnap to the direction he was running.

"Then go!" Sapnap nodded towards the direction that Dream was focused on. "Go get him! I'll catch up." Dream hesitated for a minute but ultimately decided to continue. Sapnap could handle himself just fine, unlike George, who sounded like he was about to die.

The closer he got to the source of the scream, the more Dream realized that the Piglins were also making their way towards the voice, hoglins attacking them as they went. Dream kept his head down in an attempt to go unnoticed, which (to his surprise) worked. He continued until he got to an open area with a tall twisted vine in the middle of it. Dream looked around, hoping that he'd find George. He found him, but not in the way he wanted.

Two Hoglins were pulling apart a corpse that was laying next to his blood-covered hoodie. The corpse had been shredded beyond anything recognizable, but Dream didn't need to see George's face to know it was him. The area around him started spinning as he felt the urge to vomit. He closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them, George would be alright. But it didn't work. Dream's eyes began to fill with tears as he did everything he could to keep himself from going crazy. Behind him, he heard the snorts of the Piglins. He drew his sword and turned around, not expecting to be met with a large group of seven to eight Piglins, ready to kill him. With barely a second to spare, Dream dove to the ground to grab his hoodie, then pushed himself to continue running, tying the hoodie around his waist as he went. He wasn't prepared to take on so many Piglins at once.

Now in a blue forest, Dream found that the Piglins were not only chasing him, but he now had to deal with Endermen. He tried to keep his eyes on the ground but found that it was incredibly difficult to run without looking at his surroundings. He also had to make sure he didn't stray too far away from Sapnap, afraid that he'd get lost on his own. Not only was he struggling to breathe now that George was gone, but he had been running for his life ever since he jumped off of the fortress. He wanted a second to breathe, but couldn't shake off the Piglins. Dream kept running and found himself trapped between the pigs and a large cliff that was too steep to try to climb up. He turned to face the pigs, noticing that there would be no way around them. He backed up right against the wall, feeling the netherrack against the palms of his hands. Dream then readied his sword, deciding he wouldn't go down without a fight. He'd at least kill one of two of them before his death.

He closed his eyes and steadied his breathing as much as he possibly could, prepared to reunite with George soon. As he opened them, he saw a Piglin charge at him. But before he could react, he heard what he could only describe as a warcry ring through the air. From the top of the cliff, a figure jumped down, holding a golden sword in his hand, his whole arm bleeding from some wound on his shoulder. The figure landed right in front of Dream, digging the sword deep into the Piglin's chest. He breathed heavily as if that one thing took all of his energy. He looked back at Dream, making his heart stop.