Welcome to Cubeland

by Zaleros

Bone

The sounds of death filled my ears as the prince disappeared from sight going behind me. When I turned around I saw about a third of the skeletons that had accompanied the three of us to the cave, their remains littered the ground.

“Weak!” the prince shouted, disappearing behind me again. The sounds of death repeated and I turned once more to find the rest of the skeletons were down and out.

Bones and arrows were scattered across the field making a circle of death, surrounding the three of us. He disappeared again.

“GAH!” Com shouted from my side. I turned a third time to find the prince holding his arm, twisting it around and looking pleased with himself.

“Stop it!” I growled.

“And why should I? This is the most entertainment you’ve given me yet!” he shouted while twisting Com’s arm further, eliciting another scream.

“I said STOP IT!” and with that I charged at him, only to have him sidestep at the last moment and push Com into me, sending us both crashing to the ground.

“My brothers...” I heard Skeleton say weakly, observing the remains of his fallen family.

“You talk as though a monster like yourself could ever feel emotions,” the prince said, appearing behind him.

Skeleton snarled and turned around so fast I was sure he would’ve gotten whiplash were he a fully fleshed being. He aimed his bow at the prince’s head and fired. At nothing.

It baffled me as to how it was possible that he could be moving so fast. It baffled me that he could take the beating I gave him and come out without a scratch. But it baffled me most what was happening now. He was flying.

“How are you flying?” I asked with a fair amount of confusion, and a hint of jealousy.

“When the world favors you, anything is possible,” he said, with a huge twisted grin plastering his face.

He slowly descended to the ground and walked over to me. I would’ve run, but he would’ve caught me. I would’ve attacked, but he would’ve struck me down. I would’ve done either anyway, but then I would’ve left my friends behind, and that was something I couldn’t do. Instead, I faced him down and almost wet myself out of fear. I prayed that Chrysalis never found out about that.

“You are the only one who has ever given me a challenge. We are going to fight,” he said, changing his stance to one for a proper duel.

I gulped and raised my own, taking my own stance, “And if I choose not to?” I asked, defiantly.

“That’s not an option, I’m afraid,” he said with an even tone. Then he closed the gap between us, and the fight began.

I have to say that a diamond sword is much sturdier than a wood one, a stone one, and even an iron one. My armor, on the other hoof, was not so sturdy and soon was full of dents from blows I thought I could block.

Kaile began laughing like a lunatic dancing before the moon. His swings were precise, always aiming for my armor. When he swung his blade, I would raise my own to defend myself, but it was as though mine didn’t even exist. It was simply pushed aside and the hit would connect.

“What’s wrong, creature? I thought you’d provide a much better fight than this!” he said, pausing his strikes to taunt me with hand gestures and words.

I took the moment to catch my breath and cough up my life’s substance. After wiping what I could from the sides of my mouth, I took a look at him and looked into his eyes. They were cold, they were like a frozen metal and even more empty than The Abyss. To say his eyes lacked any trace of a soul would be an understatement. It was as though he thrived on taking the souls of others and reducing them to nothing, crushing any hope they might’ve had of having a decent life. These were truly the eyes of a monster.

After another moment, I got up and ignored my instincts to flee. I pulled my blade back out and stood my ground, waiting for him to make his next move.

“Good, it appears I haven’t broken you yet,” he said.

I smirked at him, “I’ve had worse.”

He stopped smiling and spoke with an even tone, “Such bravado will only get you killed quicker, beast.”

“You haven’t been able to yet,” I challenged, waving my foreleg around, trying to get Skeleton’s attention. He noticed, but so did the prince.

“What are you doing?” he wondered aloud.

“What’s it matter to you?” I countered. I had to stall for time so Skeleton could get Com out of here. They had to escape.

The prince pointed his blade at me and I looked at it. Even after smashing into my armor so much, there wasn’t even a scratch on it. My armor was starting to push into my chitin after the beatings and my heavy breathing, but I couldn’t land a hit on him if I tried. This wasn’t a battle; this was a child playing with his food. It was a cruel kid burning an ant with a magnifying glass and Celestia’s sun.

“I’ve given you the fight you wanted. You will treat me with respect, you vile creature.” I saw Com getting up behind Kaile and Skeleton was helping him get out of here. I didn’t look directly at them though, as the prince would probably catch on and turn around. Just another minute and they’d be safe.

It seemed as though that wasn’t going to happen, however, as I forgot something that now was biting my plan in the butt. Com picked up a few bones and arrows trying to get away, and even I heard the sound over the dying flames of the forest. The prince looked around and saw them limping away and began walking toward them.

I feared for the worst and resorted to my plan I used the last time he turned his back on me and rammed him to the ground. I don’t know why, but apparently that worked as he didn’t dodge me or even try to evade me in any way.

I looked at them and shouted “Run!” while doing just that myself. Luckily, Com seemed to be able to fight through his pain and he let go of Skeleton, nodding at me. The three of us ran out of the area as fast as we could, the low number of Player soldiers still around was surprising. I guess the nightlings were able to fight them off; either that or some of them took my words to heart and fled the fight on their own terms.

The few that did spot us didn’t seem too worried about us and instead looked as though they were merely hoping we wouldn’t attack, or maybe they were afraid to interfere with the prince’s prey.

After all the fighting I was tired, Com was tired, even Skeleton was tired. Even so, we kept running. It seemed as though the prince wasn’t chasing us anymore by the time we reached the edge of the forest, with daylight approaching fast, and as far as anyone was concerned, we had no plan of what to do next. I had a feeling that there was one place left that I could consider safe right now. It was a feeling I wasn’t completely sure of, but it was the only thing I could think of at the moment. As we rested, I figured this was a good time to bring this up.

“Com,” I said between a few hard breathes.

“Yes, Craft?” he wheezed, wincing at the movement of his injured arm.

“We need to get back to the witch. I think she can help us.”

This seemed to peak Skeleton’s interest in the conversation. “A witch?”

“Yeah, she helped us when the endermen got us out of the village.”

“What was her name? Did she tell you her name?” he asked, nearly demanding an answer as he walked up to me. The sudden rise in interest caught me by surprise.

“I uh, I didn’t catch it. I ran out of there really quick when she gave us energy potions.”

“Her name was Agetha,” Com spoke up, his second wind kicking in and his injury appearing to be in more control by the looks of it, though he still held it and a trace of him wincing was still noticeable when he shifted it around.

“Oh, thank goodness it’s her. If it’s her, I’m sure we’ll be safe. I know she’ll be able to help us,” Skeleton said, clearly relieved and in favor of the plan.

“How did you know her name Com?” I asked, curious since she didn’t mention it while I was there and we left at almost the same time.

“You ran off right before she said it,” he said, looking at me like I asked an obvious question with an obvious answer, one that would’ve been obvious if I hadn’t run off so quickly earlier. I looked away, feeling the slight embarrassment that came with making rash decisions sometimes. “I remember which way it was from here, but it’s almost day time. How are you going to get there safely?” he asked the skeleton in our group. It was a fair question; with daylight here he wouldn’t be able to travel over land safely like he would during the night.

“Hmm, that is a troubling thing indeed,” Skeleton said, realizing with the rest of us how impossible the journey would be given the current circumstances.

I looked at the sun as it began its ascent over the horizon, cursing it silently for the harm it caused the nightlings. Not a moment after I finished my internal monologue of dislike, the sun vanished behind the clouds and the loud sound of rain was heard. The effect was instantaneous, and, like most things I had encountered in this world, it was weird.

I saw Skeleton come out from under his tree and for a moment I panicked, thinking that he would die because it was day. Then I remembered the last time I was out during the rain, how the nightlings simply seemed to ignore the sun since it was hidden.

With a renewed hope, Skeleton stepped into the desert. “It appears that luck is on our side.” He turned around to face us and said, “Let’s go, before they come looking for us and before this rain decides to let up.”

I nodded at him and moved over to Com, helping him stand up while he muttered thanks to me.

After a few moments to ready ourselves, we began our journey back across the desert to the witch’s hut. I just hoped she’d really be able to help us like Skeleton believed she would.

Author's Note:

Told you we'd get back to the witch. Also, convenient rain is convenient. As for why the prince didn't just chase them after he got knocked over again, or why he got knocked over again in the first place...all in due time.