False led the way.

The heat from the nether was getting to them all. It wasn't safe to fly here - lava dripped from the ceiling, the terrain was uneven and filled with pits of fire and lava, and the waves of heat that rose from the ground disrupted with the steamy air currents that elytras relied on.

Instead, they had to walk. Her exposed skin was already red from the biting heat, and wherever her armour touched her was drenched in sweat, but she didn't dare take them off. To be armour-less in the Nether was a death sentence.

A Ghast screeched somewhere, its wandering cry echoing through the stifling air.

The Nether was somehow simultaneously too empty and too full at the same time. There were dangers everywhere. One wrong step could send you plummeting to your death, or into a pool of lava, which was just as deadly. Glistening red and blue trees could be seen, their gnarled roots clinging precariously to the jagged crimson rocks that made up everything. 

There was always movement. The flickering of flames, the dust and grime that fell from the Nether ceiling, the slow bubbling of the lava. 

There was always sound too. The faraway screeching and snarling of hostile creatures echoed through the desolate wasteland. Fire crackled, devouring air.

Yet at the same time, there was nothing. Heat, misery and death were heavy in the atmosphere, clinging to everything, muffling all of one's senses. It was like walking in a barren desert, with only the stifling heat for company.

She hoped they were going the right way. Compasses didn't work in the Nether. Maps were useless because things changed way too quickly. An island seen one day could be completely submerged in the lava ocean the next. A whole forest could grow in a week. A cave-in could create an entirely new impassible wall of red rock in the blink of an eye.

The only things that didn't change was the place the portal was, and the location of the fortress, but getting to it was always a challenge.

She raised her head and slowed down as they emerged from the cover of a crimson forest. Thankfully, they had only run into one small Hoglin, and Etho had taken care of it with one expertly shot arrow between the eyes. Now that they were going to be more exposed, their archers were more valuable than ever, their keen eyes and long ranged weapons the only reliable way to take down Ghasts.

She could hear the rest of her group stumbling to a halt behind her, and she turned to face them, checking that everyone was accounted for.

Hypno stood right behind her, his bow gripped tightly in his fingers. His long grey coat fluttered behind him, too big to be hidden under his armour.

She peered behind him. Keralis, Bdubds and xB were clumped together. Bdubs met her gaze and managed a slight smile.

"I hate this place." Keralis puffed, exhausted. She couldn't blame him, they were all tired. They had been traveling for a day now, with a couple breaks in between, and they were all drained.

Bdubs nodded in agreement.

Bad was right behind the builders. False couldn't quite figure him out. She liked knowing people, knowing if she trusted them enough to let them have her back in battle.

Bad was a mystery. He seemed nice enough, and was always trying to give her a muffin, but she had seen intelligence behind his gaze, the wary sadness, and the excited fury when Techno had been declared missing. He was loyal, almost deadly loyal, and strong willed, but extremely unwilling to take part in conflict. Unless he truly believed in his cause.

His black cloak fluttered around him, the blue sword strapped across his back gleaming brightly.

Etho stood behind him, pale hair gleaming in the maroon landscape. His eyes were determined and focused, his hands holding his bow casually, but she had seen how quickly he was able to shoot after running into the Hoglin and had no doubt that he could be ready to fire in an instant.

She felt her heart swell with pride. She trusted them all. Even Bad. She couldn't really figure him out, but could sense that he had good intentions. True intentions.

"I think we're close." She announced.

Hypno narrowed his eyes, peering into the Nether fog.

"Close to a Ghast." He finished, an arrow nocked. False strained her eyes, as did the rest of the group, but no one except Etho seemed to be able to see it.

Hypno paused for a moment, then adjusted his angle and let the arrow fly. It vanished into the gloom, and a heartbeat later she heard the dying shriek of a Ghast somewhere off in the distance.

"Good shot." Etho said after a heartbeat of silence.

Hypno managed a smile. "Thanks."

"That was incredible." False admitted.

Etho placed his own arrow back into his quiver. "The journey is supposed to take a day, correct?"

False nodded.

"Then you're right. We should be close. As long as we're headed in the right way at least."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took them another hour. False was afraid that perhaps they had overshot, and walked past it completely, or maybe they were just walking in the wrong direction, but then she had seen the dark red towers looming in the distance.

Now the problem was getting up it.

Keralis paused, humming. "I can craft some ladders."

Etho shook his head. "No. We need cover and a quick escape. It's better to mine a staircase through a pillar."

"Wouldn't it collapse?" Bad tilted his head.

"Never happened to me before. If we look around, we might be able to find the one that I made last time I was here"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They did find the one that he made.

It was a rickety uneven staircase that wound upwards through the colossal column of thick red bricks, and it made False a little dizzy when she peered at it. True, it covered one's head, but the sides were completely exposed.

The journey to the top was slow and treacherous. Keralis nearly slipped over the edge. He certainly would have if Etho hadn't managed to catch him by the back of his shirt, and the rest of them had shakily managed to pull him back to safety.

By the time she reached the top, her hands were trembling and she leaned on dusty red bricks for a moment to catch her breath. The rest of her group evidently felt the same way, with Bdubs immediately hugging the ground. "A flat ground?! I haven't seen one of these in a while!"

She managed a slight smile. "Etho, do you still remember which way the Blaze room is?"

He tilted his head, looking around. "I think so. I believe it's down that corridor over there, then down a set of stairs."

She glanced over at the corridor where he was pointing at and readied her sword. "Everyone good?"

They all nodded. She continued forwards, the hilt of her weapon slippery in her palm, slick with sweat.

She walked onwards, aware of how loud their footsteps were, echoing through the eerie fortress. The clattering of arrows met her ears and instantly she was on alert. A skeleton emerged from the next intersection, several blocks away from her. But it was no regular skeleton. It was an entire block taller, with thicker bones that were charred black. It held a dull but heavy stone blade.

An arrow whistled past her ear and embedded itself in the skeleton's skull, cracking it a little. The skeleton turned around.

Hypno drew a gasp behind her. "That should have killed it!" He protested.

"With these, you have to knock out their spine." Etho explained, his arrow flying neatly between the skeleton's ribs and shattering the thin bones along its spine. Instantly it clattered into a pile of rapidly dissolving bones, until only one was left, as well as a lump of coal and two arrows. Hypno retrieved the arrows, handing one to Etho who nodded wordlessly, slipping it back into his quiver.

False shuddered. Nothing in the Nether was normal.

They found the Blaze room after getting lost about twenty times, and False was not looking forwards to trying to find their way out. It turned out that Etho did not remember where it was, and they had spent at least ten minutes going in circles. She had nearly died to another skeleton - a Wither skeleton she had learned they were called, when it stepped right in front of her, and only her lightning fast reflexes with her sword had saved her.

Keralis and xB had also gotten cornered by a stray blaze and they had huddled carefully directly in front of it - it's blind spot, until Etho had shot it and retrieved a single glowing rod.

Their first blaze rod.

They needed seven. Seven blaze rods would be ground into fourteen jars of Blaze powder. They would be combined with the Enderpearls to make Eyes of Ender. Two would lead them to the stronghold, and twelve would be used in activating the portal.

False grinned. She was confident in their abilities to succeed. The flickering of flames from the Blaze spawner brought her back to reality and she hefted her sword.

Keralis, Bdubs and xB were building a wall-like structure that would allow them to shoot arrows through the gaps, but not allow the Blaze to get though. But this meant that they had to be protected while they built it. False was the frontline fighter, Etho and Hypno perched on a ledge behind her, bows taunt.

Bad was behind the little bit of wall they had built, cooking muffins on a little tin tray over an open fire.

Three Blazes appeared in a shower of sparks. False lunged forwards nimbly, and before the first one could react, stabbed her sword through it's middle, then quickly let go of the hilt. She had learned that when Blazes die, they create a brief inwards vortex of hot fiery air before dissolving, and she didn't want her hand in it.

Arrows sprouted in the chests of the other two, simultaneously.

It shuddered, flames flickering around it, then crumpled, dissolving into nothingness. No rod. She sighed and recovered her sword from the pile of previously Blaze ash. The other two didn't leave any rods either. They were pretty rare.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

False was sore and tired. They just needed one last rod. They were so close. She had lost track of time. Clocks didn't work in the Nether either, so none of them knew how long they had been fighting Blazes for, but it was several hours at least.

A shower of golden sparks flashed around her, and two blazes appeared, smoke rising from their internal fire. Arrows streaked past her, hitting the Blazes at the same time, and they melted into nothingness, leaving behind a single, golden rod.

"Yes!" False cheered, as did the rest of her group. Bad jumped up in delight, abandoning his fiftieth tray of muffins, and high-fived Keralis, Bdubs and xB. Etho and Hypno exchanged a nod.

False snuck forwards, carefully grabbing the rod, and then rejoined her friends on the safe side of their barrier. "We have all of them!" She announced victoriously.

Etho lifted his head, scanning their surroundings. "Only problem now it getting them back in once piece."

Hypno shifted his grasp on his bow nervously. The fortress was making them all jumpy.

Carefully, Bdubs broke the cobble barrier they had put into place between them and the rest of the fortress, and they stepped out of their safe little bubble.

False strained her eyes, glancing around at the smoky terrain, her sword grasped firmly in her hand. Etho stood in front of her, Hypno at the back of the group, both of them on high alert. They were low on arrows, so they had to make every one count.

The clatter of bones startled her, and she whirled towards the sound.

Four Wither skeletons, their smoky grey swords raised in hostility, their long legs bringing them closer to the players with each step.

"Skeletons!" She managed to shout, before they were upon her, and she barely managed to parry the strike that one of them sent her way. They may have been dead, or rather, undead, but they were strong, and that single strike had almost knocked her off balance. An arrow flew past her ear and one of the skeletons exploded in a cloud of smoke and dust, bones clattering lifelessly to the ground, but the other three were angry.

The one who had attacked her first advanced, swinging its sword wildly, and she blocked and slashed, years of trained keeping her alive. She barely had any idea of what was going on, her instincts moving her blade alone.

Bad was throwing muffins at another Wither skeleton, and Hypno was aiming at it frantically, as it was swinging its sword and running back and forth, managing to slice a few muffins clean out of the air. He had to be careful with his shot - if he missed, he might accidentally shoot another player.

Keralis, xB and Bdubs were pinned between the cobble wall they had built earlier, and a Wither skeleton. It advanced with horrific speed, and suddenly Etho was behind it, an arrow nocked in his bow, but it was moving too fast, and if he missed, the arrow would go between it's empty ribs and right at his friends.

The skeleton raised its sword. Keralis threw a brick at it desperately, which glanced off its skull, doing no damage. Its bones clattered fiercely, and for a moment the light of the nearby fires reflected off its dusty blade as it held it over its head.

She could hear Bad scream as he caught sight of the situation, a scream of helpless fury.

She was locked in combat with her own Wither skeleton.

Time seemed to slow down for a moment.

None of them could move fast enough.

The blade came down.

==============================

Cliffhanger yay :D