Jess sits on the grass leaning against a tree, the thick leaves shrouding her in shade and rest, she leaves her axe beside a log away from Aly. Aly joins her at the stump and rests her head on Jess' shoulder, inhaling deeply to catch her breath. It had been three days since they retrieved an eye from Briyako Coast. Though it was much easier than anticipated. The guardian was no more than a mere witch, whose magic was not developed for the task of defending the eyes. It was anticlimactic in retrospect. Jess wanted a challenge but the witch was only a challenge to herself. She holds Aly's hands.
The pair had travelled west of Resort Kingdom towards Bukala Town, a town rich in glass and where another eye was said to be located, according to Steven. Although their first eye was a success, Aly couldn't help but feel unease around the man. Knowledge was another form of beauty, in and of itself, but to have a stronger understanding of Yomar in this context -- related to the Yomarian War and Tero Joklip -- was concerning to her. Franni was a man who prepared for all possible outcomes considering he held a sigil beneath the table, so it stands to reason he would notice Jaden's unnerving friend.
'How much further?', Jess asks picking up her weapon
'According to Steven we should reach it before nightfall'
Aly looks up at the leaves parting in the sky, the bright blue peering inside. This was the only place in the woods where the dark oak-wood parted ways, the others growing wildly in different directions crowding over each other in an effort for light. Her gaze returns back to Jess who has begun hacking at the tree beside her, and using a rock to sharpen her axe. She opens her book filled with information about the nether star, and ponders at the idea of holding it in her hand. Her bag always contained a plethora of rare items -- glass-stones, enchanted books with different inscriptions, a sword that could rival the power of a god, amongst other things -- collected from a variety of sources. It wasn't until recently her desire for the nether star was created. It was quite typical. Stories about the destructive power it possess and the idea of holding that power was enough motivation for Aly to search for it
They continue walking through the trees, Aly tightening her grip on the bag and Jess her newly sharpened axe, until they come up across an entrance into a cave inside a mountain. Aly looks at the map, then back to the mountain and notices the locations are similar, then nods to Jess that another eye should be there. Aly whips out a bunch of torches, hands a couple to Jess who by this point it exicted she gets to murder something for fun. They take a deep breath and step inside together, the owl watching from afar
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Steven sat at the cliff beside his house looking out to the rest of Bomar, the liveliness and beautiful camaraderie made everything so peaceful. He stands from the edge and heads towards his warped-fungus tree, caressing the curves of the wood and watching the roots reach into the ground. He puts his hand through a hole and his body becomes mist and is transported through a nether portal into Briyaki Tal.
"That never gets old", he says getting out walking over to his seat high above the floor
Steven's cerberus runs after him, meeting him halfway, and tackles its master onto the ground. He chuckles in delight and reveals a severed head he picked up along the way, and through it in another direction where the beast would run off to. He composes himself when he stands, then sits on his seat, lifting his legs on the arms of the netherite throne. Steven admires the combination of blackstone and glass that make up his palace in Briyaki Tal, the grooves on the stone and contrasting colours gave him delight. A few minutes pass. In the time Steven tried to discover something to keep him busy, but his thoughts continuously drifted towards Jaden and his mission.
"Let's go have some fun? Shall we?" he turns to Anosha's severed head on block, held by iron chains dangling from the ceiling
He chuckles to himself, jumps off his seat and walks over to a map sprayed over the walls. There were coloured dots -- emerald for Franni, purple for Aly, red for Jess, lime for Ash, baby-blue for Jaden and magenta for Hina -- each moving ever so slightly in accordance with the person. Steven places another dot for Michael, yellow, and smiles eerily.
"Let the mind games, begin", then Steven puts pressure onto a brick, opening a room filled with weaponry and armour and magic
He collects a stone and throws it onto the ground, the stone shatters and a portal emerges from the dust, he drops in, with him a netherite star
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"Move your fucking ass, Aly!" Jess shouts above the noise of the spider-jockeys attacking the warrior
Jess swings her axe to ensure the creatures move no further, whilst using her shield to deflect the arrows fired at her. Aly had her own problems at this point. A baby-zombie riding a zombie was chasing her, alongside a few other undead creatures. She reaches into her bag for something and considering the bag contains countless items, it's reasonable that she would have a weapon. Aly gasps once she touches a potion of instant health, then splashes the contents onto the creatures, their wails were ghastly but they stopped pursuing. Aly runs to Jess who had finished killing a spider-jockey clinging to the ceiling of the cave, where she jumped onto a rock, flipped and decapitated the beast, the blood streamed across her face. She catches her breath then goes to meet Aly half-way
"Did you get it?" Jess says
"Not yet, we have to climb up to that point", Aly gestures upwards to the cobblestone platform floating, and pillars of fire surrounding it, "the eye is there"
"Let's go", she says removing webs from her hair
Noiseless footprints make their way to the pair, observing them from the bottom as they float to the top with a potion of levitation. The pair held hands to ensure their sense of gravity was the same, while Jess on the other prepared a lasso to swing them over to the eye. The feet remain near the back of the cave away from the entrance. Jess swings them to the platform, Aly passes a bucket of milk and the pair collapse into a heap, they giggle at the prospect then help each other up.
"This was a good challenge. Isn't that what you wanted?" Aly takes the eye and places it into her bag
"I mean, it was alright"
"Let's go, love"
"My way", Jess smirks, fastens the lasso onto a pillar, pulls Aly close to her and she's flushed with red
They jump down safely to the ground with Jess landing in a super-hero-type fashion. Aly pretends to faint
"Haha, you can wake up now"
But something was wrong Aly wasn't moving, her eyes remained closed
"Aly?" Jess lays her down, " Aly!"
She opens the eyelids and discovers they were filled with the darkness. There was no light, no warmth, and a few meters behind a rock Steven was holding nether-mist in his hand
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Jess' voice echoes all around her, but Aly didn't wake up until she heard a snap. However, she was still in the cave, Jess was rummaging through Aly's bag for something while her lifeless body was beside the pair, and there was Steven standing across from them, smiling. Aly's hand goes to her bag but it wasn't there,
"Astral-realm, isn't it?"
"But of course, I just need a few words with you alone"
"Shut up, I knew something about you was off"
"Yes, yes, I noticed it, too"
Aly's face scrunches into disgust
"Franni's gonna kill you, I know that he knows about your nature"
"Hmm...I know. I'm counting on it, actually. Haha, you're so adorable. I have a story"
Her face tilts in confusion
"There was a girl that we both know desires the rarest items in Yomar, right? She'd travel the four-kingdoms in pursuit of the items that were beneficial to her survival. Living in poverty as a child the only thing feeding her were stories about items that held immeasurable power. And when her parents eventually gave her up, and she was left to fend for herself she decided to collect. Her days as a ravager began. Now what do you get when you place three heads on soul sand?"
Words don't come out of her mouth. Steven smiles, then claws his hand at Aly, she screams, black symbols form on his arm, and he pulls her towards him
"What do you get when-"
"A wither"
"Good. And when you kill the wither you get?"
Aly stops struggling, she relaxes, "the nether star"
"This beautiful thing?" he removes Aly's bonds and she moves forward to him
"What do you want?"
"I thought you'd see it my way, haha. I just have a favour", and he gestures to the woman beside the limp body
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Aly gasps hard coughing as she awakens from her slumber
"Aly!", she hugs her, "are you alright?"
She composes herself and looks to Jess, "I've never felt better. We have to go to the others now"
"That's the three enders from Resort Kingdom, hopefully the others have theirs"
"I hope so, too", Aly looks behind, picking up her bag and sees Steven's footprints leave first and smiles
Steven hides behind a tree to avoid the pair leaving the cave. He looks from a distance and chuckles to himself, his owl lands on his shoulder
"Time to visit another pair", he holds his hand creating nether-magic and teleports into the viewing booth. A match is in play. A warrior surviving attacks, and a magician in hiding
"This will be fun"