"Jesse..."
A voice echoed in a sea of darkness. Nothing stirred.
"Jesse!"
Just a little more. Just for a little longer.
"Jesse, wake up!"
Jesse woke with a start to the feeling of someone shaking his shoulder, and Petra's voice yelling his name again. His senses came to him, and he suddenly wasn't so comfortable. Who would feel comfortable sleeping on the grass in full armor?
"One second", he murmured, pushing the hand away, pushing himself up to the ground in a sitting position.
He let his eyes adjust to the light for a moment before glancing around. He was in the makeshift shelter he and the other Order members had built to avoid the mobs as the sunset. Olivia was putting out the bonfire by throwing dirt on it, and Lukas was sitting against the wall, writing in his journal. Axel had gotten sick right before they planned on setting out for the temple that Ivor had recently discovered, and Jesse's twin sister, Jess, had caught the sickness as well. Jesse wanted to call off the adventure to let Axel and Jess regain their strength, but the greifer and warrior had urged them to go and get some treasure, and Axel wanted them to get some treasure specifically for him. And, reluctantly, the remaining four set off. What Jesse found weird was that Ivor had left them a note and a map, instead of meeting with the New Order in person.
"You look like you slept well," Petra commented jokingly.
Jesse didn't need a mirror to know that his hair looked like a rat's nest.
"Let's bring sleeping bags next time," Jesse said, standing up and stretching.
"Yeah, definitely." Petra looked over to the other Order members. "We ready?"
"Yeah. I cooked that raw mutton, so we won't have to hunt later." Olivia stood up, wiping the dirt from her gloves.
"This terrain's really weird," Lukas closed his book. "These mountains are so... high. And steep."
"Eh, it makes this place cooler." Jesse shrugged.
"Well, let's get a move on," Olivia said.
"Yeah," Jesse agreed.
The four stepped out of the shelter and into the chilly morning. The tall, steep mountains loomed over them, shading the area. A few flowers were scattered about, giving the area a nice aroma. There were a few lone trees a distance away. Jesse pulled out the map. The temple was east of them, and couldn't be more than a day's walk from where they were. And they had already been traveling for a week, so they were close. They started off.
Minutes turned into hours. And the New Order was still walking. They didn't talk much, and when they did, it was usually small talk. Eventually, the mountains that towered above them turned into steep hills and then rolling hills. A few single trees turned into clusters of trees, and then into a forest. Still, after five hours straight of walking, save for a few breaks, there was still no temple in sight. At this point, everyone was exhausted. So they stopped for a rest.
"We're still not there," Petra sighed, sitting down on the log of a falling tree.
"Maybe we passed it?" Lukas guessed.
"I could've sworn we were just west of it," Jesse was studying the map. He usually wasn't bad with maps. He was pretty sure he was right, but maybe he led the four down a wrong turn. Shielding his eyes, we looked up towards the sun. It was long past noon, and the sun was too the west. They had been going the right way.
"...Maybe it's underground." Jesse stood up. "I'll go look around for it."
Nobody protested. Jesse felt tired himself, but he wasn't ready to let this adventure be for nothing, especially after they spent a week trying to find this temple. Adjusting his armor slightly, Jesse walked away from the group, keeping his eyes open for any sort of building or structure. There was not a single cloud in the sky, allowing every single beam of sunlight to come down from the sky and make the day a lot hotter than it should be. Jesse adjusted his armor uncomfortable. He did love the Redstone Riot, but man, it was horrible in hot weather.
It was quiet in the forest. Aside from the rustling of leaves, there was no sound besides the crunching of dead leaves under Jesse's boots. There was still no sign of the temple, not even any stone. It almost made him uneasy. There wasn't even the faint hissing of a stray creeper that had survived past the night. Just silence. As he walked, Jesse no longer felt like he was walking through a peaceful forest, but an off-limits area. Something about the whole atmosphere felt off. He drew his enchanted sword, coloring the area around him with a faint pale. Still, nothing around him stirred. Jesse kept walking. He climbed over a log in his path. It had looked like it had been knocked down recently, not like it had been chopped, but more like broken with brute force. Still, he kept going. He found nothing even hinting that there was a temple for what felt like forever.
Jesse stopped dead in his tracks as he heard a snap behind him. He turned sharply around. He didn't see a figure, mob, or even an animal. Just nothing. Still, Jesse felt the hair on his neck stand on end. He had the urge to run, get away from whatever was chasing him, but he didn't move. It was probably just himself stepping on a twig, he told himself. Still, he turned around and nearly screamed out.
In front of him was... something. He had no idea what it was, but it was huge. It towered over him by what had to be at least four feet. It had the sun behind it, so he couldn't make out what it looked like. And it wasn't even like he had time to anyways. Out of pure instinct, Jesse yelled out and threw a punch at it. The thing dodged nimbly, and his glove barely grazed its dark cloth. A leg, or what he thought was a leg, came out from under its robe-like cloth and swept his feet, and Jesse didn't have any to react. He was knocked to the ground in an instant. He hit out a sharp yelp, and he raised his hand to strike with his sword- only to realize it wasn't in his hand, but stuck in a bush a few meters away from him. He felt his heartbeat quicken as he turned his gaze up to the creature.
It didn't move an inch. He tried to get up, but the thing only pushed down on the teen harder. Jesse yelled out for someone, Petra, Olivia, anyone to help him. There was a silence only broken by Jesse's own heartbeat. He saw something come up behind the thing. It was blue, and gleaming brightly- It was his sword. And it was... floating? Jesse froze up, his fingers digging into the dirt below him. The sword floated in front of the thing, illuminating its face. Instead of an actual face, however, it was a mask- a plain mask, only with round holes like eyes. The flat end of the sword was brought down on Jesse's face. He felt pain for a split second before everything went dark.
Jesse's senses returned to feel the cold.
He let out a groan, putting a hand to his throbbing head. He opened his eyes. He saw a ceiling, stone grey, with a hole in the center, allowing light to come into wherever he was. Jesse sat up, nearly losing his balance from the aching of his head. He looked around. He was in a circular hole and had to be at least fifty feet in diameter. It was straight down, no slopes, just vertical stone wall.
Jesse jumped to his feet, looking around. Where the heck was he!? He walked over to one of the walls. It was completely smooth, and there was no way he could climb up. There were crystals sticking out from a ways up, but there was no way he could reach those. There wasn't any place to get up in the rest of the hole either.
There was no way to escape.
Jesse went back to the middle. He didn't understand. What was that thing he encountered? Was it a person? Where was he? And since when could his sword float? He tried to call out for help. He hated having to need help- He wanted to show people that he was strong and could do things for himself- But he really needed help now. But he was only met with an echo of his own voice.
Until he heard somebody else's voice.
"Hello, Jesse."
Jesse turned.
At the top of the hole, on the very edge, was a figure. Behind them was the same creature that had pinned him in the forest. The person had ginger, curly hair, with an untrimmed beard. He wore a sort of tunic-like armor that had several pockets and sacks, most likely for carrying supplies. His grey eyes stared down at Jesse, glazed over with tiredness and hatred.
He recognized the man.
"S-Soren!?" Jesse stuttered.
"So you remember my name," The ginger frowned, starting to walk along the edge of the hole. "I was afraid that you would forget while engrossed in your... popularity."
Something about Soren just seemed off. Jesse knew that his intuition wasn't always accurate, but something about Soren's face made his instincts scream "danger."
"Where am I?" Jesse asked. "Why am I down here? Why are you here?"
"You are going to be apart of a large cause, Jesse. You'll play a very important role." Soren stopped and put his arms behind his back. "And you will be lucky to be right with me once my plans spread worldwide."
"...What do you mean?" Jesse took a step back.
"You're going to be right by me as I set my plans into action. Don't you want me to be your master and not somebody far lower in rank and intelligence?"
"W-what are you saying? You're not making any sense." Jesse could feel his heartbeat quicken once again.
"I'm going to make you better, Jesse. Stronger faster, smarter, and best of all, you're going to be my pet." Soren grinned, which only made Jesse's hair stand on end. He reached for his sword. Of course, it wasn't there. That thing took it. He looked up at the creature. It was standing unmoving next to Soren. It wasn't like he would have been able to use it anyways.
"I have wasted enough time talking that a thing that is supposed to be my pet." Soren turned to the creature. "Gabe, will you begin the process for me?"
...Gabe?
Within a moment, the crystals lining the walls of the hole lit up, covering the whole room with a pale silver light.
"W-wait!" Jesse stuttered. "W-what are you-"
He didn't have time to finish his sentence before he felt pain. In his chest, it started as a faint aching, but very quickly grew to feeling like he had been shot in the heart with a poison arrow. Jesse screamed out in pain, clutching his chest, staggering back a few feet.
"Yes," He heard Soren's voice, edged with a toxic joy. "Change."
Jesse couldn't respond to it. He felt the pain spread across his body, especially to his arms and face. He collapsed, writhing on the floor. He was dying. He was slowly dying. He took one last look up at Soren. His face turned from having a terrifying grin to his eyes widening and his jaws dropping. Jesse had to look back down as he coughed up something, which splattered onto the stone floor. It was black, like thick ink. He felt the pain worsen horribly before he heard a deafening boom, followed by a flash of light.
Everything turned to black.