Chapter Text
The war with the LAW was finally over. For now, Flame decided to stay with Lomedy and help his farmer friend rebuild his farm destroyed in the crossfire of war. It was a good switch-up from the previous incessant tempo of hunt or be hunted by the LAW. In fact, he could actually sit down and preen his wings for once, with LettuceK and the LAW chungies out of his feathers.
“Yo Loms,” Flame called, stepping from the kitchen into the newly built, unfurnished living room. “Lunch is ready!”
For today’s lunch, the phoenix made pulled pork from a wild boar he hunted the other day and fries because potatoes was their first harvest after the LAW. In a few days, the first wheat harvest will be ready. Flame couldn’t wait to finally eat something other than potatoes.
Flame called for his farmer friend again, yet no reply came. Lomedy was probably still out in the fields somewhere working his butt off. While Lomedy tended the crops and built the farm, Flame cooked and cared for the animals.
Flame never worked well with plants, given his fire powers. He was netherborne, specifically half phoenix, half nether demon. Even though all netherborne, blaze hybrids, nether demons, ghast, wither, hogling hybrids, etc., all have some sort of fire control or resistance, Flame was born extra fiery. As a kid, he was able to summon fireballs larger than his head with ease, while most netherborne kids his age could only coax small embers to light up a campfire.
A gift like that was mostly a curse in his early life. He probably burnt a whole wool farm worth blankets in his sleep. As a kid, Flame had a tendency to… overheat while asleep due to the lack of control over his abilities. To prevent this, his blankets were splashed with fire res every night.
Just as he stepped out of the house to ring the bell at the front door, an oversized bundle of fluff zipped past him. It was Ashen, his loyal wolf. The adorable thing that killed more than half of the players on this server was wagging his tail, carrying an envelope and a long rectangular box between his canines.
The envelope was a rich red color any player could recognize. The majority of the server could tell at a glance that it was the same shade of ruby red stripes stretching across the tent canopies of Merchant City. To Flame, it was crimson of the banners and carpets that draped over his childhood nether home. Regardless of who it was, the pigment alone signifies the sender’s identity: the Nether Crown.
“Good boy,” He praised, opening the envelope with one hand and petting Ashen’s fluffy ears with the other.
My little fledgling,
It has been a while since you came home. How is the Overworld treating you? Recently, I’ve been hearing plenty about the overthrow of the LAW. Branzy is still very angry over their decision to exile you, and I cannot help but agree. I admire your loyalty and sacrifice to hide in the overworld to avoid bringing the LAW troops to the Nether, but the LAW’s embarrassment of an army is no match for the Nether’s forces. Stay safe, and don’t make reckless decisions like these again. Spark, please don’t take on that toll yourself.
The annual Nether festival is happening soon. Your favorite event, the arena, is up this year to run a PVP tournament along with some PVE spawner duels. The strider racing lineup this year is quite promising, and we’ve imported ice for the newest event, ice boating. I have also written to your brother to come. Hopefully, jousting and hoglin skewers are persuading enough for him.
Please bring the farmer friend you’ve been talking about. Hope to see you and your brother soon.
Love,
Dad
P.S Bring Ashen too.
Flame felt a smile tug at his lips and let out a chuckle. It has been a while since he last felt the scorching warmth and that distinct sulfuric smell of his home dimension. Ever since the LAW painted a target on his back, he’s been intentionally avoiding the Nether. He couldn’t risk the law tracking him 24/7 and following him home and bringing his parents unnecessary stress. Flame knew the Nether could probably defend against the LAW, but deep down, he couldn’t help worrying for the safety of the dimension. Also, he’d be able to handle a few chungies in diamond just fine; after all, he won 1v however many thousands a couple of times.
Taking a final scan at the letter, he folded the paper back into the envelope. Flame heard an unexpected scrunch of paper, and upon closer inspection, it was another letter.
Dear Spark,
We miss you so much! Knowing your dad, he probably scolded you for the way you handled recent events. Don’t tell him I told you this, but when he heard the news of you winning that 2v1000 and defeating the LAW, he was giggling all over. We're both very proud of both you and your brother. Still, your dad isn’t wrong, you know. Do stay safe, and don’t hesitate to reach out for help.
As your dad mentioned, the Nether festival is happening soon. I still remember little Mane and little Flame fighting for the podium in the PVP contest like yesterday. Come home, and bring your Overworld friends with you.
The wrapped box with the letters is a new sword model Ferre made. It’s designed to handle high temperatures. Ferre looks forward to your feedback.
Stay safe,
Pops
“Flame!” Lomedy exclaimed as he walked through the door. The phoenix quickly shoved the letters back in the envelope, turning towards the voice. “The annual Nether festival is in a few days! I bet we could find lots of cool nether flora, and we can go trade for another happy ghast there.”
“Sure, bro,” Flame nodded. He paused, thinking back to the letters, and added: “We could stay over at my parents’ place.”
“Right, I always forgot you grew up in the Nether. It’s probably not as exciting for you as I make it sound, then.” Lomedy laughed, scratching his head.
“Nah, there’s plenty to do besides trading, such as the games, bro,” Flame reassured. He thought back to the festival last year. There was a gardening competition to see who could grow the tallest twisted vine. He remembered the first place getting something crazy, like 14 blocks tall. Flame is definitely taking Lomedy there.
Lomedy pulled out two chest boats. “Well, we'd better get packing! It’s gonna take us a few days to travel to Merchant City on a happy ghast, and we are not missing this!”
Update: visualizations by me:
Yayy Flamee! His wings are clipped. This means he can't really fly. He could glide short distances and use them for balance and jump boosts. His wings are also ashed colored top/back view, and are fire colored on the underside. The underside feathers peak through the grey back ones when the wings are spread. It looks like dying embers in ash.