He walked among the tons of his faithful servants. They were turning their head to him whenever he was near. The lava springs were a crimson orange and the heat they were providing was barely bearable; but he was used to it now, and his sweat was hidden behind the mask he always had on. He has never been the sensible type. Today was definitely not the day he would be one. His allies have always been there for him and that was the reason he was the King of this land nowadays.
He hadn't seen the children in a while, but he was pretty sure they were alright. He had sent Wilbur to look after them, and he had sent Fundy for the mission. Together, they had gathered the stuff they needed to open the New World. It's been half of a year already, but finally they were ready to move on. They were finally ready to establish their Kingdom. The next step was to get more allies, and he had two meetings he had yet to attend.
The last time they did an alliance, it turned out terrible. They had lost two people and there was no way of going back. He knew he has made a mistake. The guilt was still haunting him to this day; but they couldn't just stay just the three of them. It would be bold of them to assume they could manage to build their own land with only three pairs of hands. They needed more. They needed more allies. More hands to carry this weight.
He walked though the labyrinth of corridors of the bastion, leading to the main room, where his throne was, and where his crown was. Growls of joy and relief to see their ruler back welcomed him. He was born in the shallows of Munchy, and never had the chance to wear any jewelry. This golden crown, given to him by his people, was the most valuable thing to him. It meant they trusted him as a ruler. It meant everyone was counting on him. It meant everyone was expecting him to build a better World.
His faithful friend was here. Waiting patiently near the throne, wearing his large, magic cape. Their eyes met and they respectfully nodded to each other as a greeting.
"Are they coming?" Wilbur asked.
"My men are escorting them," he said.
A Piglin took the crown and gestured the man to sit. Technoblade sat on his throne and crossed his legs. He felt his servant crowning his head with the golden crown he deserved. The lava springs were coming from everywhere, and were illuminating the room and its dark floor. His golden boots were shining from all the lights that the lava was providing, but also from the spell on them. All around him, the Piglins were respectfully looking at him, like when you look at your King, or when you look at your God, your only reason to be, and Technoblade could only feel pride and joy for the clout he had.
"You don't feel hot with that mask?" Wilbur wondered, showing with his chin the pig head Technoblade never takes off.
"I do. But I must represent the pigs Nation."
Wilbur giggled despite him, and coughed discreetly to make a serious face. "Whatever you say."
The brown-haired man stared at the entrance of the room, thinking it over and over. He has been standing there for a while, lost in his thoughts. It was definitely a bad idea, no matter how many times he thought about it. They were going to be fucked up another time. They no longer needed allies. They already had lost two of them, and Wilbur had promised himself they were the last loss they would ever have. Technoblade had always been so confident about everything, and it was his biggest quality and his biggest flaw at the same time. If only that Knight hadn't joined, then their friend wouldn't have died. Under his cape, above his casual clothes, Wilbur was still wearing his old friend's black and green jacket, who was the only memory left they had of him.
"Tell me one more time why you want him to join us," Wilbur declared. His veins had started to glow progressively in green, showing his stressful state. He glanced at Technoblade, waiting for an answer. A little bit of fog was progressively appearing on his glasses, which was as annoying as ever.
The pig-headed man remained silent for a while, before turning his head slowly the Wind Mage. He stared at him for a while without saying a word. "You're still thinking about them," Technoblade ended up saying, breaking the silence. Wilbur frowned and he took a few steps ahead out of anger.
"That was a mistake to let Eret join. You knew that. And yet you let him join us, and he betrayed us, and now the two of them are dead. And now there is only the three of us that can protect the kids."
"I know Dream," Technoblade interrupted abruptly. His tone of voice was more imperious. That was unusual of him, and Wilbur slightly flinched. He kept on adding. "He is not like the others. He has a clout that I've always wanted. And he had one because he deserved it. He was a good operator. He is smart and his help would hit different. He will not betray us," he concluded.
"How can you know?"
"I trust him."
"What will you do if he doesn't want to join, huh? If he decides to call the Army instead? Are you ready to kill him?" Wilbur proceeded to say, knowingly pressuring his friend. Technoblade was staring at him, silent. "Like you could kill your best friend."
Around them, the Piglins had started to get agitated and they were dangerously snorting and grumbling, looking at Wilbur with mistrust. Wilbur inhaled and carefully stopped breathing for a second. When he noticed their behavior, Technoblade abruptly stood up. He drew his sword out of his back, and defied every Piglin with his death stare. His red eyes were meaningful enough. Every Piglin that met his eyes progressively looked down respectfully, immediately being quiet.
"I am not a coward. I am ready to do everything for them," Technoblade said, and he gestured to show his people, the Piglins, which understood right away what he meant. Their guilt after being scolded changed to hope, and they started cheering with happy growls and dancing joyfully. Behind his mask, Technoblade was smiling and he looked at the Piglins confidently. "If Dream doesn't want to join us, we will not let him get away."
The Wind Mage looked at the Piglins quietly before glaring at Technoblade with concern.
"Philza was an amazing Mage," Technoblade said when he noticed Wilbur's glance, and he tightened his grip on his sword. "He left this World, but he didn't leave us. There is still his magic everywhere in these lands."
Wilbur couldn't argue with that.
Philza had done a lot for them. This bastion, and these boots, and these swords, and these ideas, they were all his. If he wasn't dead, Technoblade and Wilbur wouldn't struggle this much. This death has been a very hard time that that every of them still hadn't recovered, even though they were desperately trying to hide it. Since his death, Wilbur had promised to himself a lot of things. That he would no longer let any of them die. That he would never waste Philza's work. That he would do everything in his power to protect the kids and give them what they deserved. They deserved everything in the world, everything they never saw and never experienced due to their heartbreaking situation, and Wilbur would be there to teach them about this fantastic world instead of Philza.
Technoblade sat down, still holding his sword. Thank god his expression was hidden by the pig head he was wearing. Despite his positive and encouraging speech he just did, he was so stressed that his whole body was burning and shaking with worry, and not because of the heat.
Of course, he was not ready in case he had to fight Dream. Their last encounter had grown him so weak he still felt ashamed. Close to his heart, there was the magic Item the little Tubbo had created for him. In case the encounter would go wrong, he knew he had to kill the two intruders, he had repeated this sentence to himself a million times already. He was supposed to be ready for this meeting.
But right now, all he could think about, was that he was about to see him again. Just the thought of being joined by him was able to make him feel so happy and relieved. They would do an amazing job like they always did before, when they were spies together. The fact that he thought about such fantasy made him feel even more guilty. He needed to act more responsible and stone-faced, but he just couldn't.
"I'll do everything I can to make them safe," the Mage said out loud, talking to himself. "And I will never let them touch any of their hair if it turns out that we have become enemies."
Technoblade didn't reply. What he saw in the distance left him speechless, and hopeful. Afar, they could see two silhouettes approaching, escorted by several Piglins which all had golden swords in their ugly paws. All the Piglins around started to growl, and to scream with excitement, and Wilbur put his hood on silently. The Mage's hands were sweaty. There was no going back. There was no going back. He knew it. Deep inside, he had prayed that the same things wouldn't happen. That they would not lose anyone else. He did not believe in god, but he had prayed the skies, the world and the universe that their project would work out and that there would not be any other loss.
The more they would approach, the more recognizable they were. When the two Hypixel Warriors stopped in front of Technoblade and Wilbur, there was a moment of silence where everyone would only glace at each other, wondering who would talk first.
The green Assassin stepped ahead. His teammate looked at him silently, not moving an inch, while the Piglins that were escorting them stared at him, ready to jump on him. Technoblade stood up slowly, and took a few steps ahead. The two mages stared at each other, clearly mistrustful, but not saying anything. They could both easily see that they were tense, due to the fact that the two of them had their veins concerningly glowing in green.
The two Knights faced each other.
"Hello, Techno."
"Hello, Dream."
They smiled.
No one could see, nor hear, but they smiled at each other behind their masks. Despite the situation, they were both happy to see each other.
Dream cleared his throat. "Why did you want us to come here?"
"You are smart, Dream. I think you can think about that one by yourself."
George noticed that Technoblade was wearing a crown, and he desperately flinched despite himself. After the conversation he just had with Dream that made his eyes wet, he couldn't help but think about it, over and over, the bad choices he had made and the fact that he could never go back on what he had. He tried to hide his jerky breath and gulped worryingly. It was not the moment to panic, clearly not.
Adding on that anxiety, the air, and atmosphere, and everything in general were so warm, and hot, that George was feeling dizzy non-stop. If he wasn't a mage, he would have gotten rid of his magic cape. The heat was unbearable for someone like him who had lived in colder, rainy cities. But he had to get himself together, and blinked many times for his eyes to readjust to the way too bright room. When he quickly recovered from his thoughts, George tried to analyze the situation.
They've been welcomed by plenty of Piglins right when they landed. The view was outstanding, yet extremely freaky. The two of them would have never thought there would be so much lava in this land. They had to be so careful. Although, they didn't even have the time to be surprised, since the Piglins immediately came to them and forced them to follow them. George had tried to talk to them, and the only response that came back to him, very jerky and barely audible, was Pig King.
There were the only words they would say to him each time George would try to talk to them. They would say it on an obsessive, respectful yet creepy way. George wanted to get away at first, but Dream suggested to follow them. He was pretty sure they would lead to Technoblade. There was no other possible reason why the monsters would come to them and drag them along if it wasn't Technoblade, the literal pigman, who asked them to do so.
And here they were.
"What do you plan to do?" Dream asked calmly. He spread his arms in order to show what he was talking about. The bastion. The Piglins. The land, everything. "Are you building a new Kingdom of your own?"
"You figured it out. As expected," Technoblade said.
"What do you want from us?"
"I don't expect anything from him," he gestured George. The Mage frowned a little, but did not dare to say anything. "I expect you, Dream, to join me. Let's get an alliance and work together for this new future."
Dream hid his surprise and confusion behind a determined and unimpressed tone of voice. A lot of questions rushed through his mind, and he wanted to ask them all, but he knew he had to be careful to learn more information. "Mind to tell me more?"
Technoblade looked at Wilbur, like he was waiting for an approval from him. Wilbur nodded back at him.
"Dream, do you remember that legend when we were children?"
Dream seemed surprised, and tilted his head to the site a little. He hesitated. "Huh? You mean the Enderman tale?"
"Yeah. Do you recall what it was about?"
"I think, yes."
"Tell us about it."
Dream glanced at George, before looking back at Technoblade.
"Once upon a time, a long, lost time ago," Dream started to say, and George felt his own mouth moving by itself, suddenly overwhelmed by the nostalgia. Just the thought of Thomas lifted and weighed down his heart at the same time. "There was a kingdom built by the strong hands of humans. Magic was first the Queen of the land, but the humans soon learned how to tame it. When magic and humans were originally two, they then became one and got united."
Technoblade nodded when listening.
"The monsters who were rulers of the Land got banned, and chased, and fled," Dream continued, surprised by how well he could remember this long-time silly legend. "The monsters decided to get revenge on the Humans. The zombies decided to bite their flesh until they became infected. The skeletons decided to pierce their heart with their own weapons. The spiders decided to invade their houses. The creepers decided to give their life away and to take the humans' lives along with them."
"The Endermen were the smartest," Technoblade interrupted and he continued the story instead of Dream. "They decided to interfere with their feelings. They had long, black arms that could carry anything, and purple, special magic that allowed them to teleport anywhere. With this power, they started to abduct the human children to scare them and make them go away."
The silence fell on the room, with only on the background the noises of the Piglins growling around. Dream and George glanced at each other with confusion and slight concern. They still didn't understand what was the point of all this.
"Is there anything you want to tell us?" Dream asked.
"Yes, there is. Don't you understand?"
The Assassin shook his head silently.
"This tale wasn't a legend," Technoblade said. "We have found these children the Enderman had abducted."