The Nether's Child

The Lava is Comforting

It's been about 2 days since Ghostbur left and Tommy is ready to leave for the Nether. He has some Iron tools and a little extra Iron. He has about 2 stacks of cobblestone for tools because if he places it down to use as building blocks it would mark someone as having been there. He has some shoddy leather armor but that's ok, he shouldn't need any more protection than that. He knows that eventually he'll get used to the heat.

Tommy also has some extra materials and the only thing he might need to go back for would be some sugarcane, but he has 3 stacks of that. Tommy didn't make a new base during that time. He just mined and occasionally went up to collect the crops and sugarcane. Tommy didn't even sleep, but he wouldn't be able to in the Nether anyway so it was ok.

Tommy walked towards the portal Dream had made to tease him by walking through and leaving him right outside of the main portal. Tommy stepped in and immediately felt at peace with the purple screams, as that was the same sound his heart had made for so long. Tommy was in tune with the Nether, both of them screamed the same way. Tommy's soul cried that same broken and weeping scream. So the Nether gratefully accepted it's new inhabitant, knowing that he would stay permanently.

When Tommy came out in the Nether he felt the heat, but surprisingly it felt warm and comforting. Like the lava. Tommy pointed out. He sighed, feeling at peace for the first time in years and he knew that he was not leaving for a long time.

He had wandered around in the Nether for a few days. Tommy was very far away from the portals, but he decided to walk around more. Tommy had grown familiar with the environment very quickly. He had even crossed a soul sand valley, but the soul sand didn't try to pull him down. The souls pushed him up and across to where he wanted to go. Tommy was confused at first but then he realized: His soul cried out in so much more pain than theirs, so they worshipped him as a pure child of the Nether.

Tommy had always been drawn to the Nether, whether it having been because the lava looked so pretty and warm or because the piglins always seemed to love and praise him. But Tommy knew that his other family members never shared the same love of the Nether that he did. The closest person was Techno, since the piglins always seemed to mumble something nice about him when he passed by. Tommy also figured out that he could talk to the piglins, use the zombie piglins language, and understand the Ghasts cries of pain.

Tommy could understand and relate to the Ghasts cries when he was only 7, and as the wars were fought the trauma kept building up. When he went to the Nether 6 months ago, it was about the week before Tommy accidentally burned down George's house, he found that he could use the calls the Ghasts made to communicate with them. The moment he accidentally called out using a cry, he was shocked. The cry sounded so much more painful than any of the Ghasts cries had ever been. Tommy knew in the moment right after when all the Ghasts came towards him and didn't shoot that the Nether was his home, Tommy's soul cried out in the same ways as the Nether did and it had since he was a kid.

In all honesty he should have known sooner. He was 4 at the time and he had just seen his first Nether portal, Tommy was so curious. Why did his older brothers flinch away as soon as the portal was lit, they both covered their ears. Why? The sound the portal made was so wonderful in Tommy's ears, it sounded like a symphony that even Wilbur's music couldn't come close to. When Tommy had started to walk towards the portal Phil had frozen, why was Tommy walking closer to it?

Tommy knew he was different in the moment Phil pulled him away from the portal and told him not to go in the portal without some one else. Tommy was confused, why were they pulling him away from the beautiful sound, why were they pulling away?

Tommy didn't listen to his father.

Techno, Wilbur, and Phil had gone out on a trip and would be gone for a few days. Tommy never slept well at all, with the most sleep him having ever gotten being a measly 20 minutes when he had gotten sick at 3 years old. Tommy only slept less than 10 minutes every other night of his life, and for some weird reason his body functioned better when he had no sleep than when he did. Everyone else forced him to sleep though, it just made him feel weak. So when they left and were already gone for a day and Tommy saw no signs of them coming back, he didn't sleep. Tommy went a full night without sleep for the first time and when the sun came back up Tommy felt more energized than he had ever been before.

In the next morning Tommy stood in front of the portal he sat next to all night. The sound was just so comforting and it felt like a hole in him had been filled. Tommy decided to walk through the portal and see what was making that wonderful sound, and the moment Tommy was all the way through every single thing in the Nether turned and came to see him. The piglins and zombie piglins grabbed him and ushered him with them. The Ghasts cried out in joy, not pain, joy.

Their keeper was home.

Tommy was surprised to say the least, he giggled along with these creatures. He felt as though they were a second home, like they were a family that would care for him. The Nether was beautiful in Tommy's eyes after that day. He had played with them and they taught him their language, Tommy had picked it up very quickly to say the least, they also gave him a mark. It was permanent, but Tommy didn't mind. They had asked him if he wanted to be permanently attached to them, he had said yes.

Tommy hadn't felt any pain as it was branded onto his right shoulder. All he felt was pure and undying peace. Tommy didn't realize that his soul had sung their song since the beginning and this was just them marking their new king so he could always come back later.

Tommy realized this now as he went through a couple old memories while he sped across the soul sand.

He had never actually been burned. He never caught on fire when lava was poured on him or he fell in it. Tommy realized quickly that this was not happening to anyone else and he should probably fake getting caught on fire. So Tommy always kept a flint and steel somewhere near him, but when he was exiled that was taken so whatever he didn't need it anymore anyway. When Tommy lit himself on fire the first time he was in lava he noticed it didn't burn at all.

Tommy took no damage from fire.

But he was a great actor, so he pretended every single time. Tommy was learning more things about him that were different every day. But now that Tommy looks back on it, did he really even need any of that? He had forgiven them all and gotten to go back to his true home, so he didn't really think there was anything else left for him there. The only thing he regrets is not being able to say goodbye to Ranboo other than through that letter.

He was like him, Ranboo was the keeper of the End. 

1337 words, Pog!