Chapter Text
“What has he done…”
In front of the group stood the monster who had now fully appeared before them. Looking at it, Ivor judged that it was about 5 blocks tall.
Terrified, he got down the stage and ran to his friends. Instinctively, Ellegaard let go of Gabriel with one hand and used it to grab Ivor’s arm and put him behind her.
They all looked at Petra expectantly, it wasn’t long until the creature attacked, swinging its paw at her, she dodged with a spectacular ease and stood in front of the group to protect them.
“Petra!”
“Run away! It’s after me, not you!”
None of them could move, paralysed by fear. After a few seconds though, Gabriel shook himself off the others’ grasps and pulled out his own sword. Drawn by the sound, Petra turned back.
“What the- Did you not hear me?! Stay away!”
The dragon attacked again, and this time, Petra almost couldn’t escape, she barely managed to step away but was greatly helped by Gabriel, who had lunged forward and blocked the attack with his sword.
To everyone’s horror, the sword broke, which made the young warrior lose his balance. He looked at his hands dumbfounded, where only the handle stayed before poofing away.
“I- I repaired it just yesterday!”
The dragon roared, it sounded angry. Suddenly, it opened its maw widely, almost too wide for Ivor’s liking. The inside was glowing a bright purple, and it only got brighter until the ground started to shake, everyone lost their balance and could only watch as the blocks started to fly, attracted by some sort of beam coming from the dragon.
The blocks flew toward it, and the dragon absorbed them, and as if matters couldn’t get worse, this made it grow bigger, its body stretching with a terrible noise in the process.
Ivor wanted to cry, scream, but nothing came out. After it closed its maw, the dragon turned to Petra, no one did anything, too scared to act. The dragon bent down before opening its maw again, much faster this time, they could see the tractor beam clearly now, directly aimed at Petra. Before they could do anything, she started to float up alongside the blocks around her.
“Fuck!”
Ellegaard didn’t think before dashing and catched Petra. But it was too strong for her and her feet started to lift off the ground.
“Ivor, help me!”
The tall boy got back to his senses and also catched Petra, he isn’t the strongest, but it was enough to manage to pull the hero free.
The monster roared again and started hitting and attracting everything it could, getting too big for the broken down stage.
“Thank you…” She regained her composure as the group gathered around her. “It’s true that I did defeat that thing, but it was decades ago, and I wasn’t alone.” She looked at the doors that had been broken down. “Everyone’s running away… Except for you.” She looked at them as she said this. “I hate to have to ask you this but… Will you help me? I must get to the temple, but what needs to happen next, I… I can’t do it alone.”
Ivor felt his heart beating in his chest. “H- help you? How?”
“Just follow me.”
As if the dragon heard them, it started roaring loudly, the sound was deafening. It opened its maw again but this time, fire came out of it, a deep, beautiful purple. The dragon directed it toward the ceiling, making the dome heat up at an alarming rate.
“Shit, I completely forgot she could do that.”
“She?”
“It doesn’t matter, we need to get out now!”
As they ran toward the exit, the dome broke. All of the glass blocks shattered at once as the dragon broke free, echoing its roar through the whole town.
Once they left the conference all and ended up on the bridge they watched the chaos unfold. Civilians ran everywhere, panic taking over logic. Some were more unlucky and couldn’t escape the dragon’s wrath, getting absorbed by its beam. Ivor didn’t know if they were still alive, and he didn’t know if he wanted to get an answer to that.
The group started to run through the swarm of people, maybe it was because of the panic, but it felt longer than before. Ivor tried not to think about it, he tried not to think of the monster behind him, about that bold guy who jumped in the water in an attempt to get away. He just ran and followed his friends.
But as much as he tried his best to not think about it, his body didn’t listen and his leg eventually gave out, making him fall, and as if life couldn’t be more cruel, the portion of the bridge he stood on got stuck in the tractor beam.
He almost started to cry, choking up as he tried to call his friends for help, but all he could do was sit there helplessly as none of them noticed.
Suddenly, out of nowhere (or maybe the desperate situation he was in called for it), adrenaline kicked in along with the urgency of wanting to stay alive. He used his hand to crawl toward the end of the platform, he then positioned his foot between his two hands and pushed as hard as he possibly could to jump off, landing almost perfectly (save for scraping his hands).
The pain was completely forgotten for now, he ran as fast as he could until he reached the end of the bridge and ran down the stairs. When he got down, between the crafting table and the broken down machine, he felt all of his body at once, it felt like his burnt leg was bleeding and his hands stung.
Yet that didn’t stop him, he kept running, driven by fear and the desire to reunite with his friends.
Eventually, he slowed down and completely stopped. This was too much for him. Screams and loud sounds came from everywhere, movement got caught in the corner of his eyes and all the running around him made him dizzy. He just couldn’t do it.
He heard someone call his name, but he couldn’t make out their voice, who was it? Was he dead and didn’t notice it? He heard his name again. Come on, come on. He can do this.
He was brought back to his senses when the dragon landed not far from him. It was a miracle that it hadn’t crushed anyone, but the shockwave affected almost everyone in the area, Ivor included.
He stumbled over and fell. When he was about to get up, a hand was held out to him. He took it and hauled himself up.
“Soren!”
The small boy looked upset. “You guys left me down there! You abandoned me!”
Ivor’s eyes widened. “No! We thought Petra could help so we tried to warn her!”
Before the two of them could say anything else, the dragon swayed its tail close, breaking a few stands and absorbing a lot of people at once. Ivor grabbed Soren’s arm and ran to the nearest street, sticking close to the wall, Soren quietly did the same.
“How did you get out?” He whispered.
Soren inhaled and held his breath a little before sighing. “Jesse-”
“What did he do to you?”
He seemed to hesitate. “He… helped me.”
Ivor’s confusion grew wider, he raised his eyebrows. “Wha-”
He was cut off by a loud sound, which was the tail of the creature who had just smashed the ground, desperately searching for more victims. Ivor couldn’t think anymore, he looked at the other side of the street and noticed the rest of the group hidden under a stand. He made sure Soren followed him and ran to them, ignoring the growing pain in his leg.
Upon seeing the two, Ellegaard’s eyes lit up. “Ivor! Soren!”
The tall boy resisted the urge to collapse, he couldn’t, not now, he isn’t safe yet.
Petra glared at the dragon before turning to the group. “We need to go to my fortress, it should be safer there.”
They all nodded and sat down, waiting for her to give out instructions. Ivor glanced briefly at the group, no one seemed to be hurt. Magnus stood there, holding Ellegaard’s arm loosely and staring into nothing. He was quiet, too shaken to utter a single word.
Gabriel was still staring at his hands, he had broken his sword, and that seemed to leave the boy feeling guilty. Ivor looked at the dragon before searching in his inventory to take out the stone sword. He handed it to Gabriel as best as he could without letting it fall to the ground.
Gabriel looked at it for a bit before slowly looking up at the one holding it. “I can’t, it’s yours.”
Ivor said nothing, he just poked Gabriel’s leg with it.
“Ivor no, you need something to defend yourself!”
He smirked. “I have a few tricks up my sleeves.”
Gabriel stared at him, then looked at the sword before looking back up at him. He grimaced as he took the weapon from Ivor’s hands.
“Fine, but you’re getting it back later.”
Ivor shrugged and looked at Petra.
“So, what’s next?”
The warrior turned to him, a frown on her face. “I told you, we’re g-”
“Then when are we going?”
She scowled. “You’re annoying, you know that?”
It was Ivor’s turn to scowl this time. He had literally done nothing for the hero to be angry at him. He decided to play into her game. She thought he was annoying? He could show annoying.
“I know, that’s one of my best traits.” (He actually didn’t want to mess up his only chance to survive)
She looked at him confused then grunted. She seemed to be about to say something back but was cut by a sound that was more deafening than the dragon that stood not far from them.
The gates were closing.
Ivor's stomach clenched, he didn’t know when they had reopened, but for some reason, they were closing again.
“Fuck, we need to go, now!”
Petra looked at the group to make sure that they were following and started running toward the entrance. Screw trying to avoid the dragon, it was already drawn by the commotion anyways.
They didn’t ask anymore questions, they just ran toward the entrance. They were at least lucky that they weren’t far from it and that the gates were slow to close, but it was still terrifying.
As much as he tried not to, Ivor started to cry. His leg hurt so much he couldn’t take it anymore. Still, he ran, he ran because there was nothing else he could do, because there is a monster behind him, and because he’s scared damnit!
He put his pride aside for once. Some weird man had done something kind of illegal in his basement with some sparkly stuff, and even if in any other situation he would have found this cool, right now, they were all paying the price.
Ivor hardly made it past the gates before it closed, trapping a few civilians that quickly got caught in the tractor beams. He tried not to think about it and kept on following his friends.
They kept on running, following Petra as best as they could, other people followed hoping she would save them or just followed the movement. The dragon was still behind them, trying desperately to catch people and destroy everything it could.
Ivor risked looking back and fell over from the shock. He grunted as he tried and failed to get up, his body finally giving up on him. Two heads, it has two heads now.
Everything blurred around him, he could only make out shapes and colors that flowed around him. Looking up, he saw the tractor beams, because of course, there had to be two now.
He tried to get up again to no avail. Just… why? Why did Jesse do that? Was it a wicked sense of humor? Did he just get tired of everything? Why?
He was jolted from his thoughts when a firm hand grabbed his arm and helped him up. He recognised him, Gabriel.
“Come on Ivor, you can do it!”
Ivor sniffed. “I’m scared.”
Gabriel let his hand slide to Ivor’s. “It’s okay, I’m here.”
The tall boy nodded and let himself be dragged, just like earlier, he thought. He’d have to make it up to him.
They finally reached the fortress where Petra urged them to the lower parts. “The basement is made out of obsidian! She shouldn’t be able to pass by that!”
The hero activated a few levers and an opening in the wall appeared. The little group entered and looked around them, it was only them. Ivor, finally master of his own body again, turned to her, she kept staring at the stairs, her sword in her hand.
“I- There’s so many of them…” Her grip tightened. “I have to save them…”
She seemed to hesitate before turning to Ivor and searching in her inventory, she took out something small and shiny. It had five jewels, one on each side and another in the middle. One of them, a yellow one, was glowing.
“Take this amulet, and guard it with your life.”
“What? Why me? And what about you?”
“Go!” She pointed at an unlit portal behind them. “I’ll be right behind you.”
Ivor took the amulet carefully and tucked it in his inventory. He then grabbed his flint and steel and nodded, it was all that Petra needed, she nodded back and ran up the stairs.
The group ran to the portal, Ivor a little bit behind. He lit the portal and Magnus immediately jumped in, dragging in Ellegaard who yelped. There was only Gabriel, Soren and Ivor left, who decided to wait for Petra. After a few seconds that felt like hours, the room started to shake violently. Ivor grabbed Gabriel the whole time it lasted.
They didn’t have much time to recover before the roof broke and Petra fell through it, barely having the time to roll away and escape the beast’s deadly attack.
“Sup- Wait, why aren’t you on the other side?!”
Gabriel didn’t hesitate before drawing his sword out, he ran to Petra and helped her up before turning to the dragon paw which still hadn’t moved. A few seconds later, the dragon removed its paw before approaching one of its heads to the hole it created. It was so big now, and in such little time… The dragon raised its paw again to break the roof open even more, Ivor and Soren put their arms up in defense as debris fell all around them.
The breaking sound became louder as the entrance also broke open, the dragon’s tail, long and spiky, appearing. It hit the wall, making the whole room shake again. It went back to normal before the dragon hit the wall again, this time it didn’t wait before hitting the opposite wall, it went on for a while, the dragon’s tail movement similar to a pendulum.
When it stopped, the dragon opened both of its maw, the tractor beams appearing. The dragon immediately directed it toward Gabriel and Petra, they didn’t have the time to escape before they left the ground.
Ivor had to think fast, they need Petra’s help, but he just can’t lose his friend! It didn’t take long for him to run off the platform and grab Gabriel’s arm, trying his best to pull him free from the beam.
Turning his head to his right, he could see Petra, too far for him to reach. He looked at the portal, Soren stood there unmoving, looking terrified.
“Soren, do something!”
The small boy didn’t move, he didn’t even look in his direction. Ivor couldn’t tell if he had heard him or not.
After a bit of struggling, he was able to set Gabriel free.
“Th- thanks Ivor.” He turned to Petra. “Petra’s still up there!”
Ivor also turned to Petra, she was now too far up to reach, which wouldn’t have been if Soren did something. He still tried to rush to her and help, but before he could reach her, the dragon’s tail started moving again.
Ivor couldn’t even react, he took the hit which sent him flying to the portal, knocking Soren down with him. And in just a flash, everything disappeared.
Ivor wanted to scream as he fell through the portal. They said the travel to the Nether was harmless, but he felt nothing but pain as he got to the other realm.
Both he and Soren landed flat on the ground. Magnus and Ellegaard ran to them as they recovered.
“Where’s Gabriel?”
“We… We did everything we could.”
Ivor glared at him. “I did everything I could!”
“What are ya sayin’?”
“Ivor?”
Tears started forming in Soren’s eyes. “I got scared, okay?!”
“Oh you got scared? He clenched his fists. “Now Gabriel is in trouble!”
Magnus’ eyes widened, it didn’t take long for him to corner the poor boy.
“It wasn’t my fault!”
“Ye got scared and it ain’t yer fault?”
They looked down on him, even Magnus somehow, even if he’s shorter than him.
“Boys! What is wrong with you?!”
Ellegaard furiously yanked away Magnus. “Don’t you dare act like you did anything!” She let him go and turned to Ivor. “And you-” She let her arms fall down on her sides and shook her head. “You know what, forget it.”
She sighed and put a hand on Soren’s shoulder to try and comfort him. As Magnus crossed his arms and huffed, Ivor was hit by the realization of what he did and almost immediately felt bad when he saw Soren’s face, he looked like he was about to cry, or maybe he already did but the Nether is too hot for tears to spill.
He was about to say something when they heard some weird pulsing sound come from the portal. Soren quickly straightened his posture.
“It’s Gabriel! It has to be!”
The group gathered around the portal as the person making their way through came nearer and nearer.
“Come on, come on!”
But to their dismay, it wasn’t Gabriel but Jesse who landed on the floor.
“Are you kidding me?!”
The man got up and dusted his cloak before looking up at the group surrounding him.
“Oh great.”
Before anyone could do or say anything, the dragon’s tail emerged from the portal and attacked the group. It managed to knock Ivor down before destroying the portal. But it didn’t have the time to fully escape before the portal closed on it, cutting a portion of the tail which fell on the floor, a purple liquid flowing out before it completely disappeared.
They all stared in shock at where the portal stood just a minute ago. Jesse cut the silence with a sigh.
“Sadly it’ll grow back.”
Ivor clenched his fists. “Jesse…”
“Yeah I know, I fucked up. But isn’t she a beauty?”
“Jesse!”
“Okay! Okay!” He sighed again. “Look, I know my plan failed-”
“Your plan was to bring back the Ender Dragon and set it free in a theater full of people?!”
“I know. Most of them are my people goddamnit!”
“Then why did you have to put them through this?!”
Jesse gulped, he averted his gaze, uncertain. “What’s done is done anyways. There’s nothing left up there. Nothing but that Mega dragon.”
“Hey why are we wastin’ our time with him?! We need to go an’ get Gabriel!”
“The boy, I saw him.”
“You did?”
Jesse massaged his temples. “He was literally running the opposite direction from the portal, straight toward the monster. Such bravery.” He fixed his cloak. “But then again, there’s a fine line between bravery and stupidity, and your friend is about to cross it, if he hasn’t already.”
Ivor saw red. “Our friend is in danger because of you! And now we’re trapped in the Nether!”
“You’re the one who decided to follow Petra.” He chuckled. “But now you’ve got much more problems to deal with.”
He pointed to the tunnel behind them. “Through that tunnel is a network of minecarts that the Order of the Stone built a few years ago. It’s pretty much your only way out.”
Magnus pointed in the opposite direction. “I say we go that way.”
“Magnus…”
Soren looked at the floor and played with his scarf before looking back up at Jesse. “But what about you?”
“What about me?”
“Yeah, how will you get out of here?”
Jesse’s gaze softened and a smile formed on his face.
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll use my imagination.”
The man looked back as the scream of a ghast could be heard. “I’d wish you good luck, but it won’t help you down there. Until next time.”
He nodded before disappearing behind one of the many netherrack formations.
“We need to get out of here!”
The group started to run toward the tunnel, Soren stood for a little while longer in the same spot before joining them. Just like what Jesse said, a few minecarts sat unused there. Ivor looked behind him and saw that the ghast followed them in the tunnel, he rushed to the first cart and fell inside. The others quickly joined him and successfully jumped in the following ones. It didn’t take long for Ivor to recover and activate the lever that sent them off.
They settled down and looked at their surroundings, nothing but lava and red cliffs on the horizon.
“The Nether…”
“Wow, there’s a ton of lava down there. So cool…”
“Yeah, and a lot of fire and other things that could burn you to death.”
Ivor nodded sadly as he tried and failed to find a comfortable sitting position.
Suddenly, they couldn’t see the tracks ahead anymore.
“Oh no…”
“Oh that’s a drop.”
“What do you mean new guy? What droooOH shoot! Ye weren’t joking.”
Ivor was very tempted to put his hands in the air but decided against it and held on for dear life instead, gripping his cart. The drop was harsh and knocked the air out of their lungs.
Ivor was pretty sure he felt Magnus raise his hands behind him and heard Ellegaard wail.
As soon as it stopped, huge chunks of netherrack got in the way. Ivor ducked under the first platform with no problem but got back up too fast which got him hit by the second one.
The rest of the ride went on too quickly for Ivor to completely understand what was happening except that at some point, they got separated. Ivor heard screaming from everywhere, and he honestly pretty much wanted to do the same, though no sound came out of his mouth. And even if this was already a terrifying experience, he was even more scared about how long this would last.
Ivor was the last to reunite with the other, his cart bumping against Soren’s. Everyone turned to look at him.
“Is everyone okay?”
“Well, no one died so…”
“That’s a very valid point.”
“I can’t believe Gabriel comes here all of the time! It’s awful.” He relaxed a bit. “Also Magnus, I’d be worried about my throat if I were you.”
“Uh… Why?”
“Well… I’m pretty sure I heard you scream really loudly the whole time.”
“Oh yeah, I heard it too, didn’t know you could scream like that Maggie.”
“Nuh-huh.”
“Yuh-huh.” Soren snickered.
“Pff.”
When Ivor regained his composure, he looked toward the end of the tunnel, then back at his friends.
“You know how there’s wonderful moments in life that you usually look back to with a fond smile?” They all nodded. “Well this is none of them,” He frowned. “and I’ll punch whoever tries to remind me.”
No one said anything until the end of the ride, once they finally reached the end, they slowly got down one by one. Ivor flinched when his foot touched the ground and Ellegaard fell down, which made Magnus burst out laughing. Soren quickly approached her and lent his hand to help.
“Urgh… There’s a reason I didn’t want to go on the roller coaster.” She grabbed Soren’s hand and held onto the ginger for a little while before nodding and stepping away from the minecarts, her legs shaking a bit. Ivor started to join her and Magnus, but stopped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Soren who looked worried.
“Hey, is your leg okay?”
“Huh?” He looked down. The truth is, his leg hurts like hell, and it’s probably going to be for a while longer, but no one needs to worry about him, he doesn’t need pity, especially not from Soren. He sighed. “It’s been better.”
Soren frowned but didn’t say anything else. They joined the other two and looked at what was before them, stairs carved into the wall. Nothing had to be said for the four of them to start going up.
“Hey, how the hell did Jesse know about the minecarts? I mean, it’s obvious it would belong to the Order of the Stone.”
“Yeah but…” Ellegaard paused to think. “Forget it, that guy is odd.”
Ivor snorted. “I don’t think ‘odd’ would be the word I’d use.”
Soren just hummed, staring into nothing.
When they got to the top, they found another portal.
Ivor looked up and was met with a dome made out of stone which prevented ghasts spotting and attacking the group, looking around, he noticed two openings, a red one with a hanging sign that read ‘Redstonia’, and a green one that read ‘Boomtown’ with multicolored letters on it.
He turned around to face where they came from and sure enough, it was yellow, but there were no signs.
The floor was still made out of netherracks like everywhere else, but there was also the same shape as the amulet made out of colored glass with glowstone underneath. He had to admit the sound it made when he walked on it was pretty satisfying.
He approached the others in front of the portal, which was also nicely decorated, and turned to them.
“Are we sure that we really want to go out there?”
“We have to.”
Ellegaard started breathing loudly and grabbed her stomach, Soren put a hand on her back and smiled at her.
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m sure we’re far away from it now.”
She looked down. “For now but… Thank you Soren.”
Magnus moved to stand right in front of the portal. “Welp. Time ta go.”
“Yeah…”
They waited for a bit, the sound of the nether cutting through the silence.
“So huh…”
“I’m goin’ I’m goin’! Don’t rush me!”
Ivor didn’t voice how they never said that he had to go first and sighed instead.
“I heard you, Ivor.”
“ ‘I hEaRd you IvOr’ Aren’t you forgetting something?”
Magnus turned to his friend, an annoyed look on his face, though it quickly changed when he noticed the flint and steel in his hand.
“Oh- Yeah.” He frowned. “Thanks.”
“Be safe up there Magnus.”
“Psh, don’t tell me what to do Ellie.”
He then lit the portal and jumped in. The other three stood there for a while before Ivor decided to follow his friend on the other side, knowing damn well it could be risky to leave him alone for more than five minutes. He braced himself for something as uncomfortable as the first time, but surprisingly, it was okay.
When he got back to the overworld, it was still night. Whatever was built for that portal was now broken down, the stairs leading straight into the water, unless that was the point. He hissed when his leg made contact with the cold water, the fabric of his pants sticking to his leg. He snapped his eyes shut and tried not to think about it.
“You good?”
Ivor turned his head to his left, Magnus was out of the water, completely wet.
“Did you trip into the water?”
Magnus took off the cloth around his eyes and squeezed the water out of it. “I have the right to remain silent.”
Ivor chuckled. “Oh yeah, my bad. You’re so small it probably submerged you.”
Magnus stopped dead in his tracks and gasped. “Dude I swear-”
He was cut by Ellegaard and then Soren exiting the portal and taking in their surroundings.
“Where are we?”
Soren jumped off the platform and joined Ivor in the water. The tall boy looked around before putting his arms on his hips.
“In the dark, in the middle of nowhere.”
Soren looked at the horizon, the stars barely showed, covered by clouds. He then turned back to the group.
“We should probably find somewhere to sleep.”
“I thought we were headed toward the temple.”
Ellegaard left the platform and headed straight out of the water. “Soren’s right, even if the temple was big, it’s still dangerous right now.”
Magnus got up. “Tsk, sorry. Didn’t know ya two had your little nerd club now!”
Ellegaard frowned and grunted, Soren looked at him confused, then at Ivor who seemed to already be giving up.
“Do whatever you want, I’m just gonna sit down for a while.”
True to his words, the tall boy walked slowly to the waterside. He sat down and took out his lantern, hoping it would dry him faster.
Realising he was the only one left in the water, Soren quickly made his way through and hauled himself out of the water to stand next to Ellegaard.
“All right,” She started. “I think we should build a treehouse-”
“I don’t like treehouses.” Magnus looked away, crossing his arms in front of his chest as he finished. “It’s always a spider fest and I hate those.”
“Just- What is wrong with you?”
“Nothin’. I just don’t like your idea, let’s build a hut.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “If we build a hut, we won’t see any threat coming until it’s knocking on our door.”
“And what if it starts to rain huh?”
“Oh Admin give me strength-” The two started to quarrel, both wanting to make their idea win.
Soren glanced at Ivor again to see if he would do or say anything, but the boy didn’t seem to be worried, he was annoyed at best.
After a few minutes, he turned around. “Ellie.” They stopped to look at their friend. “Even if a treehouse is safer, I don’t think I can climb a ladder right now, and a hut won’t take long to build.”
Ellegaard nodded, she felt bad for forgetting Ivor for a moment. She still sighed though, annoyed to have lost this fight.
“That’s it Ellie, Ivor made the call.” He grinned like an idiot, proud of himself, even if there was not much to be proud of.
Ivor got up and attached the lantern to his belt, they quickly started to move and built a little hut out of dirt and anything they could find. Soren went back to the nether to retreat a netherrack block so the fire wouldn’t die, he also put a little flower in front when he thought no one would notice. Ivor did, he didn’t say anything.
Once they were done, they all stood in front of it.
“All that work and we’re still at eye-level with monsters that are going to try to kill us.”
“It’s done, it’s over. We aren’t talking about this anymore.”
Ivor opened the door and entered. “It’s ugly but it works.”
He was followed by Soren then the other two. They lit up the netherrack and settled down, the silence louder than expected. Ivor brought his knees to his chest and put his arms over them, burying his face in them before turning a bit to look at Soren discreetly. Eventually though, the boy spotted him, he didn’t say anything, his gaze just switched between him and the flames.
Magnus made some noise, searching through his inventory. “Oh man!” They all turned to him.
“What.”
“Guys, I’m going to tell you something, but you have to promise not to freak out.”
Ivor sighed. “Just say it.”
“I have… cookies!” He got up. “One for me… One for Ellie… One for Ivor.”
He stood for a few seconds in front of Soren who watched him expectantly.
“Sorry Soren.” He took a bite of his own, looking him straight in the eyes. “Only had three.” He stood there a bit longer before going back to sit down.
Soren hid in his scarf and looked at his shoes. “It’s okay… I’m not that hungry.” His voice was low, as if he expected that no one would listen.
Ivor looked at his cookie then at Soren. He ignored his empty stomach and the fact he hadn’t eaten since breakfast (that he had taken late anyways) to give out the cookie to Soren.
“Take mine.”
Soren looked at him, surprised. “Oh! No, no- I can’t.”
Ivor didn’t budge. “Soren, you look like a kicked puppy, eat the stupid cookie.”
Soren’s cheeks reddened a bit, he carefully took the cookie, his hand brushing briefly against Ivor’s. He examined it for a bit before taking a bite.
“Thanks Ivor.”
The freckled boy smiled, and it warmed Ivor’s heart, who tried to play it down. “No- no problem.” Shit. He ignored Ellegaard's judgmental look.
“That was for you Ivor, not him.”
Ivor shrugged and looked away as they all ate their cookies, only looking back up when he heard Ellegaard clear her throat. She looked at Soren.
“If you had to, which would you rather fight, a hundred chicken-sized zombies? or ten zombie-sized chickens?”
The tall boy chuckled. “Choose wisely.”
Soren perked up. “Oh that’s a good one! Let me think…”
Magnus glared at the ginger. “How can you guys joke right now? Gabriel is still out there, and he’s all by himself!”
Ivor grunted. “All right, no more jokes then.”
Magnus frowned. “Sorry, I’m just…”
“We’re all stressed, Magnus.”
Soren nodded then looked at the fire. “We should start looking for the temple as early as we can. I think that if we start at the portal and then sorta split up we-”
“Woah woah woah, the fuck ye think yer doin’?”
Soren flinched. “Did- Did I do something wrong? I’d really like to know because you seem to be angry at me for some reasons.”
Ivor looked at Magnus. “He’s just trying to help.”
Soren beamed at Ivor.
“Sorry Ivor, I don’t speak nerd and I won’t learn just for him.”
Ellegaard shot him an offended look.
“I’m just trying to get ready for tomorrow.”
“You know, just because Hadrian isn’t around right now doesn’t mean you get to have a personality and boss around people.”
“Wha-”
“Magnus, leave him alone!”
“Why? He’s giving out orders!”
“I never-”
“Haven’t you done enough damage for one day? Gabriel might be dead because of you!”
Ellegaard gasped. Ivor got up, ready to defend Soren, but he didn’t have the time to say anything before the boy got his scarf out of his face, glaring at Magnus.
“What were you doing when it happened? Because I don’t recall seeing you doing anything either.”
That seemed to shut him up. He stammered for a bit before looking away. Looking satisfied, Soren hid back in his scarf.
Ivor stared at him dumbfounded before looking at Ellegaard who was already looking at him, surprised.
He carefully sat down and looked at Soren again, the boy’s eyes were closed and his breathing was even, it looked like he was sleeping, or that he was trying to at least.
Ivor closed his eyes and tried to sleep too, but the stress and the anger he still had toward Magnus made it impossible for sleep to come. And it seemed like the others couldn’t either. Then, Soren opened his eyes again.
“Zombie-sized chickens.”
“What?”
“If I had to choose, that’s what I’d fight. Because it’s easier, and I’m starving.”
No one said anything, Ellegaard simply nodded and scooted closer to Magnus who took her hand. Ivor watched the flames dancing. This was going to be tough, but they can do it, they have to.