The Broken Flame

Brine watched closely as bubbles came from the river, heading for the lure on his fishing pole. He waited, before pulling up the line, seeing a salmon fly into his outstretched hand. He placed it into the bucket of fish he had been filling during this small fishing trip outside of Creatoria. 

Over the past couple of weeks, Brine had made friends with many of Celina’s citizens and answered many of their questions. Despite everything he had done, they gave him a second chance and it was wonderful. He finally felt like he had a place where he belonged. 

Brine knew now that he wouldn’t be going back to the mobs or ruling over them. He knew they might be confused, even angry. He had ruled over them for so long, they had dragged down many humans in his honor. Brine had ruled over them with an iron fist.

But now, the Nether Prince had a place he truly belonged in, a place with friends, people who meant more than anything to him. He knew not everyone would be happy with his decision back in the Nether, but as if he cared. They were mobs, and before he ever stood with the mobs, he stood with humans.

Brine truly felt happy now. And no one could take that away from him.

Brine pulled another fish into his bucket and put his fishing pole back into his inventory. That should be enough for the meal he was planning to make for dinner.

“Well, I should probably be heading back to the kingdom,” he mused to himself. “Celina could probably use some help around the castle.” He put the bucket into his inventory and began to walk back up the small path he had made through the forest where this river was located. He began his walk, slow steps to take in the beauty of the landscape around him. 

The forest whose river he had been fishing in was quite pretty, with tall oaks and birches standing proud. A few beehives sat on the trees and the little buzzing inhabitants would occasionally fly by in their search of flowers. Pigs and sheep also wandered about, nibbling at the grasses as Brine walked by.

Everything was perfect right now. And he wanted it to stay that way.

*****

Celina looked up from her knitting as Steve shifted on his bed. He was taking a nap to get his energy up a bit and Celina was working on a little knitting as he slept. She watched him turn onto his side, a small smile gracing her lips.

At this point, the wound on Steve’s back was healed, and his chest wound was only a small cut now. Her potions combined with Brine’s care had done wonders for the miner’s wounds. He was almost healed, and soon, he’d be able to walk and fight with perfect vitality once again. The miner would probably like to head home once he was fully healed, he hadn’t been home in over two months now.

Celina was surprised that Stephanie had been away this long, but the miner’s fiancee loved her mother and tried her best to take care of her. It surprised her that Cenlar had been away for this long too, but she knew he was taking care of important stuff for their kingdom. And travel wasn’t quick unless you could teleport. 

Celina shook her head. She just hoped Stephanie and Cenlar would come home safe.

Setting her knitting needles aside, the queen stood from her seat and dusted off her skirt. She needed to start making lunch. It was almost noon by now, so it would probably be wise to start making food now.

The girl moved to a nearby crafting table and pulled out some things she had gotten from her garden this morning.

She didn’t even notice the purple eyes now staring at her from outside one of the throne room’s windows.

*****

Brine stopped in his tracks. He seemed to sense something that shifted in the air, something didn’t feel right. He found himself standing in the small path he had made through the forest with his ears twitching. He listened closely for any sound not made by mobs.

At first, all was quiet.

Then, he heard it.

“BRINE!”

Celina was yelling his name.

Brine took off at an inhuman speed, running past mobs and trees and jumping up hills as quick as he could. Celina’s voice had called for him and it sounded scared, perhaps even in pain? He didn’t know for sure, but he knew he had to get back to the castle. He didn’t know what was wrong but the queen wouldn’t just call for him like that for anything.

After a few more minutes of running, Brine made his way up to the top of a large hillside overlooking Creatoria. He stopped as soon as he reached the top, and his eyes went wide in shock.

Mobs. Zombies and skeletons. Endermen and spiders. Mobs were running about in the city streets, chasing down the citizens of Creatoria. A few of the houses in the kingdom were on fire or had large holes in them from what he could only guess were Creeper explosions. The undead ones weren’t burning, they were all armored and were now running rampant on the gravel streets. Several of the knights were running around the kingdom with swords in hand, doing their best to fend off the monsters. Even Irona was in the streets, taking what monsters she could and throwing them off into the air.

The screams and cries of the citizens made Brine’s heart wrench, and he forced power to surge through his veins.

*****

Irona threw another zombie over her shoulder and turned to see it fly off and roll onto the grasses several blocks away. It didn’t move after the strong impact and she huffed. 

Everything had been just a short time ago. The citizens had all been out in the streets, children playing and running about while their parents went about their days. The knights were keeping a watchful eye after the events of a couple of weeks ago, but it seemed as though the events were temporary. 

However, she realized something was truly happening when she and the other knights saw the Enders.

Several Endermen quickly appeared at the gates of the kingdom, before grabbing several blocks from it and teleporting away. It happened too fast, and before they knew it, the gate had been ripped apart enough for several Creepers to completely destroy it.

The next while was filled with screams of terror as what seemed like a battalion of mobs ran into the kingdom, clothed in iron and golden armor, some wielding blades of the same ores. The town immediately went into a panic and Irona had quickly ran out with her knights to fight against the mobs.

As Irona threw another zombie into a skeleton, making the archer shatter from the impact, she growled and shouted, “Where in Minecraftia did all these mobs come from?! And why are they attacking now?!”

A nearby knight pulled their sword from one of the zombies and shouted back, “I don’t know, Lady Irona, but if we don’t do something, they’ll tear the kingdom apart!”

“What else can we do but what we’re doing now?!” the golem shouted again. “We’re outnumbered here and--”

A sudden shout of rage rang through the air, echoing through the kingdom and making all the beings within it stop in their movements. Something suddenly launched into the skies, the figure of a person. They flipped a few times, before coming hurtling down towards one of the large roads of the kingdom. As they fell, the figure caught aflame and raised up a hand. When they struck the ground, the circle of mobs around that spot all went soaring high above the houses, the skeletons shattering upon impact with the ground. All the zombies and creepers caught in the impact flew away and stilled upon their landing.

The mobs and humans in the area had all jumped as the figure landed, and as they stood, the citizens’ eyes all went wide. 

Brine stood within the center of a ring of fire with his eyes blazing. Even in the daytime sun, his eyes shined with their natural light. He held out his hands and his two crimson blades formed within them, his fingers gripping tightly around the black dyed leather handles. He snarled as he sprinted towards a group of the mobs, raising his swords before spinning and swinging his blades out. The monsters had little time to react before the swords sliced through them, sending pieces of the monsters falling to the ground. 

Brine stopped in his spin and saw several of the mobs trying to rush him. He shouted out and swung his blades against every mob that ran to him, either shattering them apart or slicing them down. At one point, several Endermen even surrounded him and tried to attack him, only for his blades to cut them to the ground.

Brine could hear more screams and so he turned and sprinted down the streets, using his blades on every mob he could find. Every mob that didn’t flee in fear was killed and laid on the ground for a short time before dispersing into dust.

Brine soon sliced down the last mob he could find in the street, seeing all the others beginning to flee. He watched them closely, before a loud scream caught his attention.

That was Celina. 

Brine teleported into the castle, his swords at the ready.

An Enderman was holding Celina by her neck and had its claws ready to slice into her. She was kicking and flailing around against the monster but she wasn’t strong enough to get out of its grasp. Her sword laid a few feet away, having been taken from her grasp.

Brine surged forward, sliding one of his swords through the arm of the mob that held onto the queen. It screeched out in pain as Celina fell to the floor, grunting and falling back to lay on the stone.

Brine could see the monster fall onto its back and clutch onto what was left of its arm with its remaining hand. Brine made a slow, grim walk towards the monster, seeing its purple eyes land on him in fear. It tried to back away in terror, but the being was too fast for the injured mob. He stopped before the Ender with his eyes blazing brightly. He snarled loudly before whispering in a dark voice, “Go. Tell all of those other mobs that if they dare step into this kingdom again, they will face a fate worse than death itself. This is my home, and if they dare try to hurt the queen or any of her people again, I will tear them apart and watch them slowly die on my blades.” 

The Enderman let out a small noise, before teleporting away. He saw it outside the window for a moment, before it began to teleport again.

Brine watched it for a second, before a groan of pain caught his attention and he let his blades dissolve and fade. He ran to Celina’s side as she tried to push herself up from the floor. As he made his way to her, he noticed how there were holes in the walls, blocks knocked over, and fire licking at some of the banners on the ceilings. Those mobs had dared to try and destroy the castle in their terror spree and that angered him to no end. What concerned Brine more though was the condition of his friend.

Brine knelt and helped Celina to sit up, feeling some cuts on her arms and seeing bruises forming on her skin. He watched her as she coughed a few times. He quickly put a hand to her back. “Celina?”

The queen opened her eyes, tears rolling down her face as she did so. She looked to the source of the voice to see Brine, and she leaned over to wrap her arms around him. Celina trembled as she grasped onto Brine. She cried out, “Brine, it was horrible! We--were just… just talking, Steve and I… and… and… the--the mobs! They came in and started… started tearing the castle apart! I--I tried to fight them all off, but… Brine, it felt like a whole army was here. They kept coming and coming and I couldn’t stop them.” She closed her eyes. “I… I’m so sorry, I just--”

Brine carefully put a hand to her mouth. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m just… I’m just glad you’re safe, Celina.” He held onto the queen for a few moments, before a thought struck him. He looked around. All the mobs had fled, and he could see people outside the windows trying to recuperate from what had happened. But there was one face he didn’t see. When Brine realized this, his heart sank. He turned back to the trembling queen. “Celina, where’s Steve?”

Celina blinked tears out of her big gray eyes, before she said something that made Brine’s world come crashing down on him.

“Brine… the mobs. They took him. They took Steve.”