order eliminated

badgey woke up with a shuddering gasp, sputtering as the new air trailed a foreign, acrid taste down his tongue and invaded his lungs. the air at home was cold and smelled faintly of smoke, but here it felt like it was burning his tongue, the tinge of sweetness stickying up his throat and making it hard to breathe. he wanted to hold his breath until his head went fuzzy, so that the sickly sweet taste smothering his every sense couldn’t get him anymore. maybe if he passed out he’d wake back up in the end. back at home.

 

he felt itchy all over, and looking beneath him he saw green, fine-pointed fingers grasping and lapping at his skin. they moved as one when the wind came, swaying in perfect, synchronised time. if badgey had the strength he had felt just a moment ago he would have leapt into the air, or blinked away in a second; far, far away from these strange, waving things. but, at this moment, he was at their mercy, watching as they clawed at his limbs with surprising weakness. they did not slice, or pull, or even hurt. they simply waved in their little group dance, to and fro, not seeming to care whether badgey was there or not. his fear quickly washed away into a sense of shame, having appeared in the middle of their dance.

 

more importantly, some of the green things had a splatter of rich, vibrant purple. at first, badgey believed this to simply be a part of their strange dance, like their own version of facepaint, but then it dawned on him: that was blood. enderman blood- his blood! he had woken up bleeding all over these poor things below him. i’m sorry… he thought, broadcasting his thoughts in hopes they had the same telepathic senses he did. 

 

examining the source of the bleeding, he remembered exactly how it had happened - as much as he didn’t want to. three large claw-marks scored his shoulder, tearing the flesh down to the upper half of his ribs. the cuts were deep, making any movement with his shoulder spark a sharp ache that made him hiss under his breath. turning his head further, he swallowed hard as he saw the yellow plumage that sprouted from his back. for a while they had made him feel as if he were on top of the world, but right now they felt like they were dragging him down to the lowest of lows, like two bright yellow weights. 

 

the wind had felt so freeing. feeling the movement of gliding, the strength in these newly-equipped wings as they shot him through the air, over the heads of everyone he’d ever known. his hubunits, his fellow fragments, and even the people he vaguely knew, they all had their complete and utter focus on him, staring as he soared over his entire life.

then he landed, and everything went wrong.

 

from high up he couldn’t hear the cacophony of thoughts below him, but they flooded his mind the second his feet were on solid ground. a whispering, muttering undercurrent of judging, loathing, with the slightest amount of worry mixed in, like some twisted recipe made just for him. it all melded into incomprehensible noise, but amongst the murmur he heard things. things like order, and chaos and blasphemy and human. human? from all the stories he’d been told as a younger fragment, humans were confusing, noisy hunks of flesh, the stories told him nothing about humans with wings. nothing of the sort.

 

in an instant he was surrounded by people he had considered cordial: neighbours, acquaintances, even some of his friends. they gathered around him in a hushed judgement, flicking their magenta gaze at him, but blinking away the second he made eye contact. they shuffled forwards, making him stumble as he was pushed with the force of the crowd. he tried to get a word in, tried to think as loud as he could in hopes someone would respond to him, but they couldn’t bare to look at him - let alone talk to him. long hands poked and grabbed at the wings he had began to wish he’d never picked up in the first place, before snatching themselves away as if it burned their skin. the air around him became warmer with the shuffling mass of bodies, but before he could catch up to their pace, the front of the shuffle dispersed to the sides like double doors, and badgey was shoved into the open space. 

 

stumbling, he fell to his knees in front of a familiar, huge shape. perched on the overworld portal, the ender dragon brought her scaled, dark head closer to the enderman, making him seem tiny in comparison. 

 

a.. all hail the great chaos..? badgey thought tentatively, trying to keep his breathing steady and not completely freak out. the mass of noise behind him grew aggravated, as if he’d sworn in front of their faces.

 

do not speak to me of chaos, blashphemous traitor. the ender dragon’s thought made his mind whirl - the rage behind it piercing his head, despite the calm manner she delivered it. a throaty growl built in her throat, and a lick of deep purple fire escaped between her fangs. the crowd grew silent.

 

traitor?! badgey replied. if the ender dragon had not made him feel so small he would’ve gotten up then and there, gone back home and complained to his hubunits about this, but her steely glare froze him to the spot. i was exploring! i was learning about who made the cities and the boats and the-

 

the ender dragon lashed her tail, and narrowed her eyes to thin, purple slits, you were doing NOTHING of the sort, she began, beginning to lose her calm demeanour, you boarded that ship to find human resources, humans that follow order, humans that we destroy. you INSULT the great chaos, equipping the very device those disgusting creatures use to carve out their blasted, undeserving place in this world. and then you use it to BOAST, thinking you are above your folk because you ride the wind so gracelessly. she took a ragged breath before continuing, you are a disgrace to your hubunits, your people, and your end. we will be rid of you at once, so our end can return to chaos once more, with no brainless fragments who think they can rise above their position. her head pulled away from badgey’s trembling form, and her gaze rose to the group behind him, to the overworld with it. now. i want it out of my sight.

 

badgey’s brain felt as if the dragon had sliced it open. his body couldn’t bare to move, apart from the shaking that wracked his form. he cant go to the overworld- only grown endermen go to the overworld- even then, some of them get caught in rain, or murdered, or harvested for pearls, or… his mind reeled, but there was no time to think about his inevitable fate, as two older endermen grabbed him by his shoulders, and began dragging him closer to the portal.

 

adrenaline shot through his system, ignited by the fear of whatever awaited him beyond the swirling gate. he screamed in his mind, kicking and writhing against his captors as the distance shortened. NO! he yelled out, YOU CAN’T.. YOU CAN’T DO THIS I’LL- I’LL DIE! his eyes began to brim with tears, tears that burned as they rolled down his cheeks, PLEASE I CAN.. I CAN TAKE IT OFF I CAN TAKE THE WINGS OFF JUST- JUST DON’T PUT ME IN THERE- PLEASE! he begged through broken sobs, broadcasting his pleas further and louder than he ever had thought possible. but no response. not his friends, not even his hubunits. maybe he was a disgrace. 

 

when the enderman gripping his left shoulder slipped, badgey felt a spark of hope, and twisted out of their grasp. he turned on his heel and ran, his eyes set on the mass of people he knew, or at least, he thought he knew. he scoped out his hubunits, and quickened his speed as he could almost feel the breath of his two captors on his neck; they were close, but badgey was agile. if he had a steadier mind, he could’ve teleported away in an instant, but in the heat of the moment he longed to be back with his hubunits, back at home… 

 

and then a searing pain shot through his shoulder. 

 

badgey screamed. not telepathically, but a guttural, throaty noise that came from his actual mouth. the ender dragon’s teeth were sunk into his shoulder, with an iron force that gave him no chance of escape - unless he planned on losing an arm in the process. the scream turned into pained, choking cries, made far more painful by the burning sensation as he let hot tears stream from his eyes. the crowd was either silent, or badgey was screaming too loud to drown them out. but a thought, clear as day, pierced his mind all the same:

 

you. are. scum.

 

the dragon lifted her mighty head from the ground, taking the diminished form of the young fragment with her. badgey felt himself rise, higher and higher, until he could see the tops of the end towers, far into the distance, where his city sprawled across an island. he could see his home from here. his home he had spent years growing up in, from being the smallest fragment of his hubunits, counting each inch of growth as a step towards being as big and strong as one of them. serving the great chaos had been his dream for as long as he could remember. with plenty of his end ruffling his hair, titling him the future mouth of chaos, that he was destined for greatness, or even to lead. the brightest of his group. the overachiever. 

 

badgey smiled, just for a moment. 

 

and badgey fell.