The sun was beginning to set by the time they were finished searching the house, the sky fading to a light peach colour, and the horizon brimmed with pink and yellow. They'd only been in there for about half an hour, so it must've been pretty late in this world already. The two Order members thanked Reginald for waiting for them, and started to make their way back to the portal to their own world.
The Portal Network brought back a wave of nostalgia that caused the two of them to pause for a moment. The Hallway itself hummed with power, sending a tingling feeling through Jesse's body. It was something she hadn't noticed the first time they were lost in this maze of portals. Perhaps it was because they were trapped in there for so long that Jesse had gotten used to it before.
"This place gives me the creeps," Lukas remarks, drifting away from the portals and closer to Jesse. Jesse nodded, and pointed ahead.
She had spotted their own portal, which had been constructed from oak wood; not as impressive as all the other ones. They dove into the portal, a familiar wave of cold engulfing them before they emerged in another world. Jesse's stomach leapt as they fell from midair, and landed flat on their stomachs in the Order Hall.
Jesse sighed with relief, brushing off her clothes before glancing out the big window behind them. It was night time, the stars twinkling brightly in the sky. She suppressed a yawn; no wonder she felt so tired.
Lukas paused and turned to face her. "So... uh-"
An abrupt slamming noise cut their conversation short, and they swivelled their heads to the source. Radar was rushing towards them, panting with exhaustion. "Jesse, am I glad you're back!"
Jesse ran up to meet him. "Calm down, Radar," She said. "What's going on?"
He flapped his arms nervously. "Somebody just turned up and collapsed at the gates! He's hurt really bad!"
"He?" Lukas repeated, stepping forward curiously.
"Yeah! Some fellow named Aiden!"
Jesse's eyes widened, jaw hanging open. "What?!" She spun around to look at Lukas, whose face had turned pale.
"That's not all," Radar blurted. "Jesse... he was asking for you."
•••••
"Everyone, out of the way!"
Jesse's stern and urgent voice carried over the chattering crowd that had gathered at the large red gates. The voices were a mixture of confusion, shock, and fear, but right now Jesse had only one priority, and that was getting through that crowd.
At the sight of their leader, with Lukas right on her heels, they all stopped immediately, their gossiping transitioning to low, hasty whispers. The crowd stepped aside, allowing a narrow, snaking pathway for the two Order members to run through.
"What's going on?" A woman asked.
"Did he look familiar to you?"
"It must be bad if Lukas is here as well..."
Even Stacy and Stampy emerged from the crowd. Stacy was clutching her dog, Wink, to her chest rather tightly, while Stampy was nervously tugging at his curly brown hair tucked under his orange cat hoodie.
"Guys, what's going on?" Stacy asked worriedly. Jesse barely even looked at her as she passed by, replying with a quick, "I'll explain everything later!"
"Oh dear," Stampy murmured, gripping his hair even harder. Wink yipped in response.
Jesse and Lukas finally broke through at the front of the crowd, and what they saw made them halt in their tracks and drove them speechless.
If it wasn't for his familiar messy brown hair and black jacket with the two Blaze Rods printed on the back, he would almost be unrecognizable. One of his feet were bent in an unnatural way, resembling that of a grape. His left arm looked like it had been scorched to a crisp, as though he had thrown it into an incinerator. His whole body appeared to have been used as a chew toy, his clothes ripped and scorched in several places. His face was covered in soot and fingernail-like scratches.
What was worse was what was around him: blood. Blood was pooling around his head, from a deep, open cut on his forehead. There was a stab wound going straight through his right thigh, which was even more concerning. Aiden wasn't moving, but the faint rise and fall of his chest indicated that he was still alive.
"Oh, my God..." Lukas said numbly, staring down at what used to be his friend. His face had turned starch white. Jesse gulped.
"Radar, you still with me?" She asked, her voice emotionless. She didn't bother looking over her shoulder to check.
"I th-think so." He whimpered, obviously not enjoying the sight of blood. Jesse nodded.
"I need you to get these people out of the area," She instructed.
"R-right." With that, Radar turned his back to the two Order members and started to usher the crowd away. Disappointed and confused, the crowd slowly began to break apart, their eyes stealing one last glance to the front gate before leaving. Jesse let loose a shaky breath once the people were gone, then bent down onto her knees to Aiden's side to look at the extent of the damage.
As she bent down, she lowered her head towards his chest, listening to his breathing. Each breath he took was shallow and raspy. The next thing she checked for was any internal damage, prodding around gently with her hands as she felt his ribs, not caring that they were being stained with blood. There were definitely a few broken bones in there. The fact that she could feel the break with her fingers made her queasy.
"Okay, Lukas-" Jesse strung one of Aiden's arms around her shoulder, the sudden jolt of movement making him groan. "-Sorry- I need your help lifting him."
Lukas instantly rushed over to help her, grabbing a free arm and tugging it around his own broad shoulders. The two of them straightened their legs and lifted Aiden off the ground, whose head was bouncing limply on his chest. It took a bit of effort, but they finally managed to haul Aiden inside the Order Hall and straight to the infirmary.
Unfortunately, with Ivor currently absent spending time with Harper in Crown Mesa (the two were totally a thing now), they had nobody to help them that had proper medical knowledge. Jesse herself knew the basics, such as cleaning a wound and bandaging it, but broken bones were out of the question. Okay... she did know the method of fixing a broken bone, but she's never really had to do it before, admittedly. And broken ribs? Pfft, forget it.
Luckily, Lukas could sense her struggle and voluntarily took over. He instructed her to keep Aiden still as he moved to set his foot. "One, two-" Before he even made it to three, he cracked the bone back into place, and suddenly a screech of pain resonated from Aiden. He grabbed onto Jesse's forearm suddenly, causing her to jump and stare at it.
"Okay," Lukas wiped his forehead, looking a little nauseated. "Uh-"
"We need to stop the bleeding before he loses too much blood," Jesse advised. She took charge in cleaning Aiden's cuts and wrapping them with gauze. Fortunately the stab wound in his thigh did not go all the way through, but Jesse didn't have a clue on how to stitch it up. For now, she heavily wrapped it in towels, which would hopefully slow down the bleeding. She then gave Aiden a potion of healing and regeneration to replenish his health.
Jesse groaned with relief and stepped back to collapse against the wall, completely drained. They'd done all they could to help him; all they had to do was wait for Ivor's return.
"Jesse," Lukas said. "Why don't you go ahead and get some rest while I stay with Aiden and try to contact Ivor?"
Jesse was about to protest, but she stopped herself. It was pretty late. Taking care of Aiden had proved to be harder than expected, and she was more shaken up from the whole ordeal than she thought. Jesse bit her lip in hesitation. "Are you sure?"
"I'm sure." Lukas nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Fine," Jesse murmured. "But if anything happens when I'm gone, come for me, okay?"
"I will," Lukas promised. "Cross my heart."
The door shut, leaving Lukas alone in the small room the size of an office that they called the infirmary. The blonde sighed as he turned to face his friend, who was still lying on the bed. He was sleeping, but it was evident that he hadn't escaped the pain by the way his face scrunched up with discomfort. Lukas pulled up a chair, and sat by his former friend's side, waiting for him to wake up.
After all, Aiden was the only one who could tell them what had happened to him.
•••••
Unbeknownst to the heroes in Beacon Town who were too focused on their own predicament, hidden deep underground lurked a mysterious figure. If you could even call it that. The figure was weak- nothing more than a shadow of darkness. But it was alive nonetheless.
It had barely escaped its last battle, coming out with nearly all of its power drained. It had been forced to flee into the fabric of the universe, where it was trapped in a cage forged by its own demon army, for its army fed on fear. That included its own.
If it wasn't for her- if it wasn't for them, it wouldn't even be there.
Eventually, the entity learned to fight back the fear. In order to escape, it knew that it would have to find a knew target of fear. A new power source in order to regain its strength. And, by chance and by luck, it found one. A hero. A female warrior nonetheless, who had been forced upon her role, into a rivalry that she had nothing to do with. Her fear was astronomical, fear that had resulted from stress, loneliness, and everything it fed on.
Immediately, it targeted her. However, soon it realized that this mere mortal- this little girl- could very well also be their downfall. For a very familiar prophecy repeated itself in its head over and over:
The ghost of her past shall return,
The lost one without soul,
A heroine heart pure with hope,
Shall bring an end to all.
With that, it knew, that once it was at full power- one that matched that of Notch himself- it would have to destroy her. Only when it truly regained its god-like strength would it be able to physically appear in the mortal realm. Such a shame that it would have to waste a lovely power source, but in order to succeed, she would have to pay the price.
All of a sudden, the entity was pulled into a vision. It briefly saw the girl and a blonde boy in front of the red gates of a town, bending over a fallen figure. If the entity could smile, it was grinning the most sinister of grins- one that could send the mortals fleeing on sight. The girl had taken the bait.
"The package has been delivered," It sneered. "Now onto phase two."
•••••
Word count: 1887
Dun dun dunn. And so we meet the villain! Most of you probably already know who it is by now, but i won't spoil it for those who are new.
(Comment section please be nice)
Haha there's an actual prophecy now. Before the prophecy was briefly mentioned, but nobody actually rehearsed it. I had a bit of trouble coming up with it, and had way more than this but I FRICKIN GOT RID OF IT WHY.
I think it was 8 lines before. That 4 line portion was the only part I could remember. :/ Rip.
Anyways, what do you think will happen next? Leave your theories in the comments!!