Azin and Garaa burst into the room, and, witnessing what was going on, drew their respective weapons. Garaa and Cub stared each other down, waiting for the moment to fire or throw their weapon. Tango and Azin began making their way down the stairs, ready to run forward and strike at a moment's notice. Even Jellie had her claws out, and was hissing threateningly.

In a flash of movement, the tension broke. Cub suddenly spun on his heel, firing an arrow into Azin's throat. The immortal tutted, pulling it out as the wound magically closed. Cub quickly nocked another arrow, barely dodging Garaa's trident, and fired it at Tango. The two melee fighters ran forward, stabbing at Cub. 

He dodged Azin's axe, but found Tango's sword cutting right across his side. He responded by drawing his own, and knocking the blade out of Tango's hand. The two both made a desperate dash for it, and Cub felt the smug pride bubbling in the room fall steeply off as he grabbed the sword first and raised it in triumph. 

Tango grabbed Cub's wrist, preventing him from wielding the blade, and with a kick, swept Cub's legs out from under him. Cub let out a yelp as he fell, hitting the ground with a heavy thud.

"Cubby..." He chuckled, regaining some of his old swagger. "I've been doing this far longer than you have." He wrenched the ruby-adorned sword out of Cub's hand, and pointed it at Cub's throat. And then the doors to the rest of the fortress burst open, and to everyone but Cub the air was filled with tangible rage.

Reverse time skip... 5 minutes? Yeah that sounds good.

"Come to gloat some more, have you?" Scar looked up at the bars of his cell, and at Kelgi standing on the other side. He slowly stood up, and walked over to her. "What did you do to Jellie?"

Kelgi chuckled darkly. "You'll never see her again."

"No." Scar whispered. "No no no no no NO NO NO!" He backed down, covering his ears and closing his eyes. He slumped against the wall, sobbing. Kelgi unlocked the cell, and stepped in, smiling a fanged smile.

"I can put you out of you misery," She whispered temptingly, approaching Scar. "I just need your agreement."

Scar looked up, face wet from tears. He saw the person who, as far as he knew, had killed his cat,  and he saw the open cell door. He felt something explode in him, as he filled with rage. He leapt up, tears still streaming from his eyes, and ran for it. Kelgi drew her bow and fired, missing with her first two arrows, but the third sinking into Scar's shoulder as he reached the cell door.

He screamed from the shock and the pain, and turned around. She had her bow drawn once more, arrow nocked and aiming at his heart. Scar did the only thing he could: he pulled the arrow out of the back of his shoulder, and pointed it threateningly, like it was a dagger. Kelgi loosened her grip on her bow, walked over to him and snatched the arrow out of his hand.

He backed away slowly, but tripped on his own feet, falling prone. Kelgi pulled back her bow once more, looking him dead in the eye. Scar was scared for his life, he had no weapons to defend himself. All he was reading off Kelgi was minor annoyance that he'd taken so long to go down. He swallowed, and braced himself for the end.

And then he remembered something. He remembered being this afraid as a child, and doing something, and then his assailants left him alone. If he had all of this negative emotion, surely he could weaponise it. And with that, something clicked, and he felt his fear explode outwards, pushing Kelgi back. He staggered to his feet, and ran. He didn't know where he was running to, but he knew what he was running from.

He eventually came to a door, and heard sounds of a struggle on the other side. He paused, and listened. And he heard Cub's voice yelp, and Tango say something unintelligible. He clenched his hand into a fist, and burst through the door, weaponising his rage. The three demons gasped and backed down, filled with a fear that was not their own.

He ran down and helped Cub up, before suddenly feeling something brush up against his leg - Jellie. He picked her up, and she draped herself across his shoulders, purring. The three ConVex then ran for it, Cub covering their backs with his bow and arrow.

"Scar," Cub asked, once they got out, "Do you think we can still join the revolution?"

"I don't see why not."

"For Hermitcraft?" Cub offered his hand.

"For Hermitcraft." Scar took it.

And that's all the main arcs of Act I done! Next up (after a break with another story): Act II - The Conquered!

We're halfway there! Livin' on a prayer!

Can you tell I'm excited about getting this done?

I've been Entropy, peace out from the present!