Chapter Text
“Go ahead, guys! We’ll catch up!”
“Just… hurry, okay?”
“I don’t like worrying about you”
It’s safe to say these past few hours have been crazy: Moments ago a prismarine giant attacked the city, now Lukas and Radar are exciting an ice palace made by “The Admin” the previous attack’s orchestrator, and the one who chose Jesse as his champion
Like Lukas said: “It’s very her”
Although deeply concerned for the others, they have immense faith in them. Nothing the order can handle! At least that’s what they think… it’s been a long while since they went headfirst into danger. After beating The Admin’s challenges, the rest of the team stayed behind to search for a certain ally—One Lukas wasn’t particularly fond of, but an ally nonetheless. No one deserves to be trapped in a god’s weird creation
It was a long trip to Lukas’ house, cabin housed just minutes from Beacontown. Home of the mayor Jesse and Radar as well. A search is nothing for The Order of the Stone, both men knew that
A moment to themselves won’t hurt
“Welcome Ray” Lukas invited him while opening the door
“Woah!” Radar entered nervously to the cabin “I’m in a member of The Order of the Stone’s house!” He let out a high-pitched scream
The man’s fanaticism didn’t faze Lukas, all his life has revolved around that. It’s nothing he’d mention due to wanting to stay humble, maybe that’s why he was so loved. Or is it for his “amazing hair”? He doesn’t know either
“Want some tea?” The blonde offered Radar to which he accepted. Lukas grabbed a few petals from his flower and began making tea
“Ocelot’s don’t hurt, right?” Lukas turned his head and saw his friend cornered up by his feline
“Dewey’s not very friendly with people he doesn’t know, but don’t worry he doesn’t bite” he said as he finished making the drink
“It’s a wild cat, Lukas. How are you so sure?”
“I tamed him… technically” he gently moved the animal away and gave Radar his tea
“How did you do it?”
“He was hurt, I helped him, and I fed him. I suppose that’s what made him want to hang out with me”
Radar took a sip of the tea “Reminds me of someone” he smiled playfully. Lukas didn’t understand what he was saying but he didn’t pay much mind to it, they simply sat down and started chatting
“And how has it been going with your book?” Radar asked
“Fine! I talked about it yesterday with Axel, Olivia, and Jesse if you can recall”
“Of course I do!” said the man with excitement “I would’ve liked to see Ivor and Harper as well”
“Yeah, that has been a problem with the book’s progress” Lukas mentioned “I’m behind with their part of the book”
Radar sighed “It’s taken them a long time, don’t you think?”
“Yeah but who can blame them?” he quieted down for a moment “Talk to me about you, Radar. What has working for Jesse been like?”
“Uh I…” he took a moment to find his words “Good! It’s been an honor to work with her. It’s better than my last job”
“Oh yeah, Stella wasn’t it? Must’ve been annoying”
“A lot” he rolled his eyes “Good thing is that I didn’t see her a lot” Radar saddened “Although, I’m still thinking about what she said before we entered the castle”
Lukas took his last sip of the tea “What did she say?”
“Something about me not knowing how to use swords, Jesse stood up for me obviously and I know sometimes you have to ignore people who are being difficult but what she said is true-“
“Trust me when I say you’re brave, a whole lot than me my first time out”
“Lukas you don’t need to do this-“
“I mean it, Ray”
Radar smiled “Thanks Lukas”
Then than moment passed
The silence had become worrying. Radar was glued to the window, with the hopes of seeing any trace of his friends. Lukas on the other hand was the only source of sound in the cabin, his leg anxiously shaking making the wood from the floor announce its presence, with a bitten nail that looked ike Dewey’s finished food
“We’ve waited more than enough” Radar said worryingly
“I’ll go back!” Lukas suddenly stood up, mildly scaring Radar. Lukas put on his armor and frantically packed his stuff. He opened the door with Radar following behind him
“Lukas!” he interrupted the man. His friend turned to look at him “I know what you’ve seen but be careful, alright? Beacontown wouldn’t handle seeing our greatest heroes disapearing”
The blonde sighed “I know, I’ll come back with everyone safe and sound” he finished strapping the saddle to his horse and he proceeded to mount it “Are you coming?”
“I would but Beacontown needs someone to keep the order around there and that privilege was given to me”
Lukas smiled and the mare didn’t take long to hurry her way to the castle
The castle was as beautiful as it was before: Frozen fountains, lights, and a path leading right to the hole where he and his friends had fallen before. The only difference was that the clock wasn’t there and the only sounds were the horse’s galloping. Lukas came down from the mare and searched for an entrance
He quickly ruled out the hole, he was sure his legs wouldn’t work anymore if he took that path. Upon finding no entry he decided to make his own. He clenched his fists and began punching through the ice, granting him access
“Stay here, Dewdrop” he said to his horse “I’ll come back with the others” he said as he went inside
Lukas would lie if he said the ice palace wasn’t one of the most beautiful places he had ever seen, the blue reflection of the ice was especially gorgeous. Under different circumstances, Lukas wouldn’t mind staying to admire it but his friends and his wife were lost, appreciation could wait
“Jesse? Dear?” he called out “Petra?” no response. Nobody being here was good, Petra would for sure bother him for being visibly startled. He recalled how Jesse held his hand in their first visit, a tight grip after a supposed rival flirted with him. He was starting to miss them
A freezing droplet that fell on his body took him out of his mind, he looked up nd it took him a while to make sense of what he was seeing. Two ice tubes with water flowing in them
“They could be there” Lukas said to himself. He’d had to climb but that was no problem, he pulled out some blocks from his inventory and began stacking up. It didn’t take long to get to the top, the bridge where he, Jesse, and Radar came out from after completing their challenge was waiting for them. He set foot in it and called out
“Guys?”
No answer once again
“Dammit” it was hard to stay calm in this situation but he knew this could go wrong if he didn’t. Being in a corner, frozen and terrified—similarly to the castle—didn’t sound good. He quickly shook off those thoughts and decided to check
the rooms from earlier, unfortunately they were empty. Only one was left, a deliberately impossible room where the admin had put Radar in danger. Upon entering everything was deactivated
“That’s not what I was expecting” he murmured. Lukas noticed the shortcut Jesse had made earlier, there were shulkers behind. Maybe the others already arrived to Beacontown? Hope echoed in his heart. He’d rather come all this way for nothing than his loved ones being in danger
“Maybe they found a way to deactivate this room!” he came to the conclusion. He made his way to the handmade exit and he let the shulker attack him which made him levitate. The feeling was strange, especially during his first time where he got distracted but he quickly got used to it. He really hoped everyone was safe
The way up was peaceful due to lack of hybrid Ender-Creepers although the levitation effect wore up faster than usual and he had to land in the ice platform, what he didn’t expect was it being slippery. Lukas hit the ground hard but nothing was severely damaged
“Shit” he carefully got up and jumped towards the other platform. He felt it was equally slippery but he kept climbing. He was so close to the exit, an eternity later he reached the obsidian stairs they made to get to the clock, he sat down and took a deep breath
“Why did the admin made this place so unnecessarily complicated?”
A few breaths later, Lukas brought his attention over to the platform and he noticed it felt more wet, he dragged himself back but the ice didn’t take long to melt. Before he could get up he came plummeting down as the whole castle melted away
His horse Dewdrop that was waiting for him outside ran fast, more than she normally did. She got away from the castle just in time. The panic of not seeing her owner and the others didn’t take long to grow, fortunately Lukas came out of the water coughing and shaking
“Dewdrop? Did you see the others?” asked Lukas hysterically but the mare didn’t see anything at all and she made him understand. Still not recovered, he looked back where a horrifying sight awaited him
What once was a beautifully dangerous castle has now been reduced to a big lake. No trace of the fountains he saw at his arrival, no trace of the icy structure, and after scanning the area
His heart sank at seeing no trace of them…