The Broken Flame

The cave was drenched in darkness and the light of the torch the queen held in her hand, along with the natural light from Brine’s eyes, were the only things to break it. The cave seemed to get bigger as the two walked further in. They had been walking for several minutes now, having made their way past the entrance a bit ago.

The cave was dark as night, but with what Brine and Celina could see with their lights, it was decorated with andesite, diorite, mushrooms, vines, and even some shrubs that sprouted from dirt blocks in the ground. The sounds that often accompanied caves let themselves be known every once in a while, sounding in their ears and making Celina shiver.

“Man… this place is huge,” Celina spoke, keeping her voice low should they not be alone. 

Brine nodded in response. “It really is. Glistenia carved much of this place out of a natural cave and just kept expanding it. She did it with some of the time she had before she met me, when she was without purpose in the world. She said it was a good way to pass the time of thousands of years.”

Celina could hear the occasional drip of water alongside the natural noises of the cave as Brine talked and she looked to him with curiosity. “How long do you think it’ll take us to get to where Steve could be?”

“It should be only a short time if we keep a good pace,” he responded. “The cave seems large, but it’s not that long into the cave heart itself.” He turned to look at her, the lights from his eyes seeming to brighten up a bit. “It should only take us a day or two to get there if nothing interrupts us.”

Celina opened her mouth to speak, but a loud hiss had her freezing and her eyes going wide. It wasn’t the hiss of a creeper, but she knew a spider hiss when she heard one. “Shoot,” she murmured.

Brine heard the hiss as well, and he snapped his head to look in front of him and the queen. His eyes and her torchlight showed the shadows of several humanoid figures heading their way, as well as a few spiders crawling along the walls and a couple of skeletons following suit. 

Celina quickly drew her sword from her belt and clutched her hands around the leather handle, hearing Brine summoning his swords as well. “Well, so much for nothing interrupting us,” she muttered with determination on her features.

Brine nodded. “Watch my back, I’ll watch yours.”

“You know it.”

Brine chuckled and flashed her a grin, before the two rushed forward, swords raised.

The two skeletons nocked their arrows as the Demi-God and human rushed forward, but only one was able to release the projectile before it was sliced down, the other being reduced to a bone pile with Brine’s speed. The released arrow missed Celina by a long shot and the skeleton tried to scramble away, only for the queen’s sword to break apart it’s spinal structure. Bones clattered to the ground.

A zombie tried to reach out and grab the human, but she was quick to use her sword to shove it back. She could another growl at her side and she quickly swung her sword around to slice through the undead’s torso. She could see the first zombie coming back and she reeled her sword back, pushing it through the chest of the monster when it got close. She pulled her sword through its flesh and turned as another fiend tried to come at her from her other side.

Brine jumped up into the air after having already sliced down a few of the zombies, and as he came down, the impact with the ground knocked several of the monsters off their feet. He could hear Celina take a few steps back to keep her footing and he watched her for a moment to make sure she wouldn’t fall down. Luckily, she didn’t, but Brine’s attention returned to their more present problem when nails scraped across his face. He stood and turned his head to see a zombie trying to claw at him again, its fetid arms reaching towards him. The being quickly grabbed the monster by the neck and flung it into a few of the other fiends, hearing bones breaking as they fell to the ground, limp as ragdolls.

Celina could hear an arachnid hiss and she turned to see the monsters crawling on the ceiling, barely lit by the light of Brine’s eyes. She could see one of them crawling towards--

“Brine, above you!”

The Demi-God immediately moved his eyes upwards and they went wide as one of the spiders jumped down towards him. He sliced through the monster, but didn’t even realize one of the other insects was jumping behind him. A grunt escaped Brine’s lips as a form slammed into his back, sending him to the ground and causing one of his swords to fly from his left hand.

“Brine!” Celina ran towards her friend as the spider moved its head back, jumping up and landing on its abdomen. It hissed and tried to push her off, but she quickly hit it on the head with the flat side of her blade. It seemed to be dazed long enough for her to step off of it and for Brine to push up, flinging the mob off his back. 

When it fell to the ground, Brine grabbed his lost weapon as the queen sliced through the spider. Another spider scrambled towards the superhuman as the remaining zombies stumbled towards the queen, and Brine was quick to react. He forced power to surge into his veins. “Celina, duck!”

Celina crouched to the ground as he commanded, hearing a hiss and the sound of bodies being hit again. She looked up to see that Brine had thrown the spider into one of the zombies, before he ran towards them with a shout. He jumped up and landed on one of them, slicing down the others when they tried to stumble towards him.

When silence fell all around the two, save for Celina panting as she stood up, Brine lowered his blades and let them dissolve into small particles that faded away. He could hear the queen put her sword back into her belt and he turned to see her with her hands on her knees, slightly bent over while taking deep breaths. “Are you okay, Celina?”

“Yeah, I’m--I’m good, just… a little winded is all.” She could see Brine turn to her and she smiled. “Well, at least we won’t have any mobs running back to tell Glistenia that we’re here.”

Brine nodded in agreement. “Hopefully. We can rest here for a moment, that wasn’t an easy battle.”

Celina nodded and followed him to a nearby wall, sitting down near it and pulling some water and a few pieces of food from her inventory. She handed a bottle of water to Brine and he popped the cork and took a drink. She watched him for a moment, before taking a drink from her own bottle. “That seemed… easy. Almost… too easy,” she murmured. 

Brine nodded in agreement. “That wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.” He pursed his lips together. “I don’t know what that could mean, but I have a very bad feeling about it.”

*****

The duo rested for a bit more before deciding they needed to get back on the move, finishing their food and water and setting back off on their journey. The two had walked for some time, finding some areas where they had to jump or climb. With Brine’s powers and Celina’s agility, these were no trouble for the two of them. A few more battles against mobs were a little tougher than they thought, but so far Celina had only come out with some smaller cuts and bruises. Brine had promised to keep her from getting hurt too much, and she promised the same to him.

The journey wasn’t as quick as Brine hoped it would be with traps and mobs at what seemed like every corner. They had already been in the cave for their second night when he realized this. 

As he sat with Celina sleeping next to him on that night, he listened to her soft breathing as he thought. His pensive face betrayed the fact that he was scared. 

Brine didn’t want to admit this, but he was afraid, not just for his own life, but also for that of Steve and that of Celina. He had no idea what Glistenia could be doing to his brother, she was quite an unpredictable Ender. She was smart, he knew that and she knew how smart she was. She knew Brine quite well, and the Demi-God was very aware of this.

In a sense, Glistenia had made Brine what he was when he was the Lord of the Mobs and Prince of the Nether. She taught him how to harness his new powers, taught him how to bring forth his rage into his abilities, and how to hunt and kill humans. She had made him, she had used him… 

Glistenia knew Brine, and all his weaknesses.

And this is what made him let out a shiver as he sat there, his thoughts growing dark.

This Enderwoman knew his weaknesses, but if there was one secret he kept, it was what could kill him. He never told her this, out of fear of betrayal one day. And it looks like that day has come. Brine frowned deeply as he realized this. He had kept his secret well from the Ender, but he also knew how intelligent she was. If she figured out how to kill him…

Brine shook his head. He kept this well to himself. He wouldn’t let himself fall to Glistenia, not when she had betrayed him.

He was going to save his brother, even if he had to kill his once loyal servant. 

He wouldn’t let her take away everything he worked for.

*****

Celina’s eyes fluttered open when the sun rose outside the cave’s walls. She let out a tiny yawn as she moved to sit up from the bed she had put down for herself. She stretched her arms above her head, before opening her eyes and looking around. She realized something.

“Brine?”

A small shifting noise had her looking to a small hole in one of the stone walls, leading down towards a light source. She slowly stood from her bed, stretching out her legs a bit as she walked towards the light. Celina peeked around the corner of the stone wall, seeing who she was looking for.

Brine sat down on a stone edge, his feet hanging over it, just a few blocks above a large pool of lava. The glow of the molten rock seemed to highlight his features with a soft orange glow, his face passive as he started down at the burning lake.

The queen’s soft footsteps followed her as she made her way to Brine, sitting down cross-legged next to him. She could see he had a few stone blocks in his hand, and she watched him take one, and gently toss it into the lava. It sizzled for only a second before it burned away, gone from the plain of existence. 

Brine knew Celina was there, but he was really unsure what to say after his thoughts from last night. He could tell the queen was looking at him.

“Are you okay?”

Celina’s voice was quiet, soft, with a gentle tone like a summer breeze. He sighed. “I don’t know.”

The queen shifted in her spot, watching his body language as he tossed another stone block into the molten rock. She turned her head forward and she watched the lava bubble and shift for a few moments. It was kinda soothing, like watching a campfire burn. It was nice.

“I’m afraid.”

Celina blinked in surprise. She turned her head to look back at Brine. “You’re afraid,” she asked.

Brine nodded, but didn’t say anything else. 

The human frowned, knitting her brows. “What are you afraid of, sweetie?”

White eyes lidded halfway, a small frown beneath them. “What if… what if we’re too late?”

“Too late?”

“To save Steve?” Brine sat a little straighter and found himself clenching onto the stone block in his hand, feeling the rock cracking in his palm. “What if she’s already started hurting Steve? What if she… she…”

Celina saw his lip trembling and she watched a small tear slide down his cheek. She was about to speak, but her friend did before her.

“I don’t want him to die, Celina. I want to save him. I want to bring Steve home. I really do. But… I know how powerful Glistenia is and how smart she is. I truly don’t know what will be waiting for us when we get to her lair. I’m afraid we won’t make it there in time, or that if we do, she’ll… do something that will make us feel like this journey was for nothing.” He furrowed his brows in anger. “If Steve dies, it’ll be my fault. It’ll be my fault for not protecting him from Glistenia. I… I don’t want him to die because of me.”