Down with the King- Dream SMP

30- Technoblade

He urged Carl to go faster, maintaining a safe following distance from the two horseback riders ahead of him. If he looked back, he could see the bright tongues of fire that ate up the castle, sending smoke curling into the ink black sky. The shouts and screams had already faded away, though they echoed in his head alongside the voices.

Eyes on the target, he thought to himself in an effort to stay focused. He'd recognized the figures on horseback as they fled the castle scene and in a moment of weakness, he decided to follow them. It was a decision he knew he'd come to regret, but something compelled him to follow through.

They rode for about an hour or two, the air crisp and bitingly cold. Techno breathed hard into his hands, trying to keep his fingers from freezing. He pulled his red cloak tighter against the cold. In the process of doing so, he almost missed the two horses veering off the road and into the snowy woods. He pulled sharply on Carl's reins, following the hoofprints in the snow.

Soon, he came upon a small cabin in the middle of the woods, it's windows dark. He would've thought it empty if it weren't for the two horses left tied outside. He dismounted his own steed, waiting behind the trees for the occupants to come out.

It wasn't until the stars began their descent in the sky that he determined they weren't coming out of the cabin anytime soon. Stretching out his frozen limbs, he quietly took Carl's reins and led him over to the other horses. Grabbing their reins as well, he led all three horses towards the stable around the back of the house. He unsaddled them, shaking his head at the cruelty of leaving the poor creatures out in the cold. The horses sank into the hay and Techno joined them, only slightly humiliated at sleeping in the stables. However, he'd done worse for less.

When morning came, Technoblade crept around the house, making sure to disguise his footprints in the snow as he did so. It seemed that the house was empty, which didn't make sense to him. There was no way they could have left, he would have seen their footprints in the snow, even if they'd covered them.

Unsheathing the Orphan Obliterator, he crept up the stairs to the house, quietly pushing the door open. It creaked loudly, though no one came running to see what the noise was. Pulling his mask lower, he cautiously entered the house, scanning for traps or signs of life. Wet footprints led to a ladder that led downstairs into a basement. It was these footprints that he followed, though the basement was completely empty. He was about to leave when something caught his eye: a crack in the wall that seemed a bit too straight to occur naturally. Frowning, he brushed his fingers over the crack, deducing that it was a secret door. Instead of wasting time searching for the hidden button or lever, he kicked the door down, waving away the dust as the door shattered under his third hit.

A set of cobblestone stairs led down into darkness. Techno sighed, wondering yet again why he'd decided to do this before lighting a torch and descending into the unknown. The stairs spit him out in an even longer underground tunnel, this one with rails leading further into darkness. His uneasiness grew as he stared at the redstone torches lining the floor disappearing into nothing. He'd only seen redstone rails a few times before in his travels and never within the borders of Dream's kingdom, so why would there be some here?

Grabbing a cart, he took a deep breath and jumped in as the wheels hit the powered rails and took off. The wind whipped his hair and brought tears to his eyes as he sped down the dark tunnel, finally stopping in an old stone brick room. Torches had been placed along the walls here, making it easier for him to see.

He stepped out of the minecart and pushed open the heavy iron door, staring down a mess of hallways and doors that all looked the exact same. He dropped to his knee, staring intently at the mossy floor. Just as he'd thought, there were the faintest impressions of footprints in the dust and moss on the floor. He began to follow them, taking in his strange surroundings at the same time. The place was like an ancient labyrinth; by the conditions that the walls were in, it had to be thousands and thousands of years old. Technoblade was surprised the place hadn't caved in already.

He followed the trail past various cells, all of them empty. The sight of the cells worried him, but he continued onward. He walked past a library and against better judgement, he took a brief pause to enter it. Cobwebs were everywhere, but he managed to pull a book off the dusty shelves anyways. Opening it, he was surprised to find it written in a language he didn't recognize. The letters were strange and foreign, swimming through the pages. He closed the book in disappointment and put it back, returning to his original task.

Technoblade descended another set of cobblestone stairs and entered a large room that made him freeze. Fear clawed its way into his heart and he slowly backed away, wishing he could look away. There were very few things in this world that scared him. The monstrous thing in the room was one of them.