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五** (Chapter 5)
eng: The demon's world (aka the Nether)

~

Skeleton

~

Wither and I earned the title of first place, tied with Ghast and Enderman. I didn't have much use for the loot anyways, so Wither and I ultimately decided to let the other winning team take the goods.

I remember sitting in class that whole day, unable to focus on anything Herobrine was teaching. I couldn't even begin to process what happened last night— not only did the greatest enemy known to my kind save my life, but he also has magical abilities?!

I glance at the snoring black-boned skeleton, watching him sleep peacefully while Herobrine was busy lecturing the class. I was pretty tired myself, barely getting a wink of sleep during the previous morning.

To be completely honest, I was no longer scared of Wither. I just... Am extremely cautious around him. I don't exactly trust him, not one bit. Especially with abilities like those.

..But I can't neglect the fact that he used those abilities to save me.

"Alright, class, you're all dismissed. Have a great weekend."

I snap out of my daze, standing up and getting ready to leave. Wither was still dead asleep on his desk.

"Wither," I say, gently tapping his shoulder, "Wake up." He shuffles a bit, groaning and turning his head to face me. "What."

"Class is over, get up. If you sleep any longer you'll be up the whole day."

"Don't care, let me sleep." He closes his eyes again, nearly falling asleep again. I roughly elbow his side. "Get. Up." He sends a cold hard glare at me.

We were the only two in class, as everyone had already left— even Herobrine. Wither finally stands up and pushes his chair in.

"Finally. Now c'mon, let's walk back home."

"Walk? No way," Wither says, crossing his arms. "If you want to walk that's fine." Before I get the chance to reply, he had already teleported. I stare at the empty space that was Wither moments ago.

"Oh well...," I mumble, "That answers that..." Maybe I'll go out for a bit and hunt. I don't remember the last time I've eaten, and my stomach is no longer numb. It's starting to hurt a whole lot. I exit the school, considering which direction to head for. At this point, I didn't care what I'd catch. I'd eat basically anything.

~

It's been two hours. No luck so far...

I slump and walk back to the house, my stomach grumbling in hunger. "Shut up, I know."

I open the door and slam it shut behind me. Wither was currently munching on a cake, eyeing me as I glare at him.

"What's got you all grumpy?"

"Nothing. I'm going to sleep now." I walk past him, ignoring his questioning gaze. I walk upstairs to my room, flopping onto my bed hopelessly as my stomach grumbled yet again. My body felt weak.

"I'll be able to sleep this off...," I tell myself, rolling to my side and closing my eyes. I snuggle further into my pillow. Sleep is near. Finally-!

My stomach interrupts this thought, grumbling even louder than previously. I jolt and sit straight up, cursing at my own stomach.

"Shut. Up."

"What are you even doing?"

I tumble off my bed in surprise. Wither was floating a few inches from the ground, staring down at me with an amused expression.

"Don't do that!" I exclaim, "You don't just enter someone's room without knocking!"

He brushes my outburst aside. "Seriously though, what were you doing? I could hear you shouting from downstairs."

"I... It's none of your business. Now get out." I gather all of my remaining strength to point at my door. Wither just stares at me with an unreadable expression.

"D-Did you not hear me? I said get out-!"

"Why is your hunger bar always so low?" He asks suddenly, catching me off-guard. "E-Excuse me?"

"Now that I think of it, I've never actually seen you eat anything. Are you trying to starve yourself?"

I stare back at him with my mouth agape, no words coming out. How many supernatural abilities does this skeleton have?

"You haven't answered my question," he says, "Why is your health so low, Skeleton?"

"I... It's not. I have no idea what you're talking about." He facepalms.

"I can literally see your stats, Skeleton. You're at half a hunger bar. Do you not realize that means that you'll probably die within the next hour?"

"..."

"Ugh. Here. I don't know why you're so damn stubborn and resistant." Wither shoves a stack of cakes into my hands. "Eat up. I need to see you eat at least one before I leave."

I open my mouth to protest, but my stomach grumbles at the sight of food. I sigh and basically inhale the first cake, my health bar replenishing almost halfway. (A/n: I have no idea how much a cake would replenish his food bar. I'm winging it here.) I eat one more, my health and food bar fully recovered. I place the remaining sixty-two cakes into my inventory and sigh.

Wither crosses his arms. "You're unbelievable."

I glare up at him, thinking of a retort. Truth was, he did just save my life. For the second time, at that. How embarrassing.

"..."

"Anyways, I'm going to head off to bed now. Don't even think about waking me up like a crazy person, tomorrow's Saturday." He starts to float towards my door, twisting the nob.

"Wither," I say. He turns around and glances at me. "Yeah?"

"...Goodnight."

"'Night." The door clicks shut. I push myself off the ground, climbing back into bed.

I don't understand... Why does he choose to help me? He's a wither skeleton, for crying out loud... All wither skeletons are evil... He's no exception, right? I glance at my ceiling. Damn. Guess I'm going to be awake for a while...

~

I wake up at around midnight, having a slight headache because of my lack of sleep. I reckon I fell asleep a bit past three last night, and my body was not liking seven hours of sleep.

"'Bout time," Wither says, "Wow. For someone that slept til' midnight, you look like you didn't get a wink of sleep." I ignore his comment and sit at the dining table, yawning and closing my eyes for a moment.

"Anyway, I'm going out. See ya."

"Where are you even going...?"

"...The Nether. I need to pick up some stuff from my old house. The lack of decoration in here is driving me insane— I feel like I'm living in a mental ward."

I scoff at his use of words. There's nothing wrong with plain and simple, geez...

"Speaking of," he says, "Don't you want to grab some stuff from your house as well?"

Maybe if I had one. "No. Unlike you, I'm quite satisfied with this 'mental ward' of a house."

"Suit yourself."

"...Hang on a second. Did you say you were going to the Nether...?"

"Yeah. And?"

"..." Truth is, I've only heard legends about the place known as the Nether. When I was younger, Elder would tell us terrifying stories about the Nether. According to legend, the Nether was a pitch-black void where nothing thrived but the sinister wither skeletons. It was also said that it was a place where players would be banished and lost forever, trapped in a void of darkness for all of eternity.

"...Nevermind. Have fun in that crazy dark asylum."

Wither raises his eyebrow. "What asylum?"

"The Nether, you idiot."

"..." He stares at me for a few moments before bursting out in laughter.

"What are you even laughing about?!" He wheezes slightly, wiping a single tear off of his boney cheek.

"Skeleton," he chokes out, "Have you ever even been to the Nether before?"

"No, and I don't plan to."

He grabs my hand and smirks. "Well, I guess your plans have changed. You're coming with me."

"Hell no." I withdraw my hand, sitting back down. "I'm never going near that hell."

"You're acting like you've lived there half your life. Cool down, it's not even that bad. It's not even crazy dark like you think it is... It's honestly brighter than the nights in the overworld."

"Nothing you say is going to change my mind."

"Fine then. Guess I'm going have to take you there unwillingly." In a quick motion he grabs my hand, covering my eyes with his other hand. I feel an odd sensation of unbalance for a mere second, then a weird and unsettling downwards motion.

"Wither," I warn, "I swear to Notch, we better not be in the Nether..." My voice was shaking slightly. Truth was, I was beyond scared of even the mere thought of the Nether. A normal skeleton like myself can't be in contact with Nether dust— with prolonged exposure, I'll be transformed into a wither skeleton in a matter of minutes!

"Will you seriously cool down? Jeez, I don't know who told you such lies about this place. Honestly, it's better for mobs like us than the overworld. And would you stop gripping my hand? Open your damn eyes and see for yourself."

I should've just ran away from Wither when I had the chance. Why did I agree to be his deskmate in the first place? Why did I take Herobrine's hand...

I open my left eye a peep. To my surprise, it was actually pretty bright.

I open both eyes fully, scanning the area. Wait... This is the Nether? No... It can't be!

"See? There's nothing scary about the Nether. Well, take that back. There is a scary part in the Nether, but it's far out from here. Anyway, follow me." I trail behind Wither quietly, taking in the mystical scenery. The Nether was nothing like Elder described. The Nether was truly beautiful. There were many streams of lava illuminating the area, along with lantern-like blocks.

"We're here." I enter Wither's house, my eyes nearly popping out my sockets.

"This— This is your house?"

"Yup." Wither shrugs and starts digging through one of his many chests. I marvel at the beautiful design, noting the unique fixtures and occasional diamond blocks. The pattern was equally symmetrical on both walls, made up of exclusively Nether blocks, diamonds, and emeralds.

As much as I'd hate to admit it, Wither is an extremely skilled builder. I'll give him that, at least.

Wither chuckles, eyeing my marveled expression.

I glare at him in response, secretly embarrassed that he caught me. He tosses a few more items into his inventory. "Alright, Skeleton. We can get out of this 'crazy dark asylum' now."

"..." I glance outside of a window, enjoying the beautiful view one last time.

"Skeleton?" He says, seemingly amused.

"Yeah. Good riddance." He only chuckles in reply before grabbing my hand. "Cover your eyes," he commands. I do so, feeling the ground below me shift.

"Alright, you can open them now." We were back at our house. Barely any light shone through our window, except for the dim moonlight and few stars.

He was right... This doesn't even compare to the Nether. If anything, the overworld should be considered the dark void.

"Here." He tosses me a few stacks of items. "Help me decorate, this place is driving me crazy."

"Ugh, fine."

And, so, we ended up finishing right before the crack of dawn. Between me and my terrible building skills and his horrible teaching abilities, we actually did pretty dang well.

~


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