Chapter Text
“It’s shifted again.”
“Mhm…”
Impulse stares around the Nether just outside their portal. It’s been a bit since he was last in here so he wasn’t all that surprised it’s changed.
It is the nature of the world, constantly shifting, entire chunks moving and blipping in and out of existence. It’s just a relief that their server’s Overworld had been mostly stabilized, but the Nether was another beast entirely, partially detached from any singular world, almost like it was a separate thing entirely. Impulse wasn’t too familiar with world code, it was not a skill the average player, or demon for that matter, possessed, but even he knew how volatile the Nether could be, with the knowledge that those shifting chunks could quite possibly be moving across worlds.
It was for this reason he didn’t venture into the Nether much, none of their group, who sometimes affectionately referred to themselves as hermits, did. There was always the fear, always the threat, that one wrong step could send them so far from home, left with only a faint hope of finding their way back. But their storage was running low on quartz, so he and Skizz had volunteered to take a mining trip.
“The terrain hasn’t settled yet,” Impulse says, pointing at the very clear divide between chunks. “We'll hopefully have some time before the next shift, but we should still be quick.”
“Right,” Skizz nods, setting off to a nearby patch of quartz and getting to work.
Impulse picks a different patch close by, counting them lucky that there was at least some quartz this close to where their portal opened up. That and the current state of the terrain were two small blessings in this situation.
When shifts happen they leave behind a distinct line between chunk boundaries, often marked by sharp cliff faces and uneven terrain. As time passes the netherrack settles, and the divide becomes more natural, supposedly resembling how Nether terrain used to look before the dimension became unstable, though still without the sheer amount of plant life that Impulse was told used to exist.
For as difficult as navigating recently shifted chunks can be, Impulse considers them lucky for it. The shifts were unpredictable, but it being so soon since the last one would hopefully be lessening their chances of having to deal with one today. Hopefully.
They work in relative silence, the pair’s usual laid back and familiar attitude with each other clouded by a feeling of anxiety as they move further and further away from the portal. Neither were thrilled to be here, let alone get far enough away that Skizz had started placing down skompasses to keep them from getting lost, but the more quartz they gathered now, the longer it would be before someone else had to make this trip.
Though now they’re at the point where Impulse is ready to get going, their inventories are far from full but being out of sight of the portal has him very anxious, when Skizz abruptly stops mining. Impulse pauses as well, watching as Skizz stands up taller, his ears twitching and swiveling around.
“Is it shifting?” Impulse asks softly.
“Maybe, I- I don't like this, we’re leaving,” Skizz insists.
“Yeah, agreed.” Impulse stashes away the last bit of quartz that he’s mined into his inventory and starts following Skizz back the way they came.
They're not running, but they're definitely moving faster as they follow the skompasses back towards the portal. Impulse can't hear the way Skizz can, even enhanced demon senses don’t quite compare to wolf hearing, but if his friend has picked up on blocks shifting, even if it's very far away, then he trusts that. Better to cut their trip short rather than their lives.
Impulse doesn't relax even when the portal comes into sight, and he won't relax until they're through and back home.
Skizz picks up the pace just a bit, and Impulse is about to match him, when the netherrack beneath their feet trembles. Impulse lurches forward, grabbing onto Skizz’s arm for support to keep himself from hitting the ground. The world around them shakes but thankfully doesn’t start to shift yet, though the tremors echoing through the ground cause bits of terrain to collapse in on itself..
And Skizz isn’t moving.
“Come on, man,” Impulse urges, pulling gently in the direction of the portal. It’s so close, twenty or so steps and they’d be through. “We have to-”
His words are cut off as a pillar of netherrack crumbles, crashing down way too close for Impulse’s liking. The dust that billows up gets in his eyes, flooding into his mouth and throat. He sputters, trying not to breathe it in but it’s too late. It tastes like ash in his mouth, with a hint of iron that is uncomfortably reminiscent of blood.
He spits and wipes his eyes, frantically trying to clean his face so he can at least see and talk again. Impulse has barely recovered from clearing his eyes and mouth when Skizz breaks away from him, dashing in the direction of the collapsed terrain.
“Skizz!” Impulse’s heart lurches as he tries to stumble after him, his steps uneasy on the still shaking ground.
The chunks hadn’t started shifting yet but there was no doubt in his mind that they would, that these tremors were just a precursor. And he does not want to be around for what comes next. So what is Skizz doing???
“Skizz!”
“Help me dig!” Skizz barks back without looking up.
With the dust settling Impulse can see that he’s got his pickaxe in hand and is frantically mining through some of the recently collapsed netherrack. A million questions race through Impulse’s mind but he doesn’t vocalize any of them, he just pulls his pick out and joins Skizz in whatever sort of panicked mining he’s doing.
Why? Why are they doing this? Why aren’t they leaving? For as confused and scared as Impulse is, he trusts Skizz more, he trust that there is a reason for this.
After what feels like an hour of digging though really is only a couple seconds, Impulse’s questions are answered. They punch through a layer of netherrack, exposing a small carved out area. Skizz quickly ditches his pick to instead support the small entrance that they’ve dug out, preventing it from collapsing any further.
And several feet away from them, pressed up at the back of this little cave, is a a humanoid-ish figure with wide and piercing red eyes staring back at them.
“Come on, move, get out!” Skizz orders, voice coming out strained as he struggles to support the netherrack threatening to crumble down again.
When the person doesn’t move, it’s Impulse who acts first. He pushes his body about a block or so into the cave, the narrow entrance just a bit claustrophobic to him, but he extends his hand out.
“Come on,” he repeats Skizz’s words, almost pleading.
That gets this person to snap out of his paralyzed state. He reaches out, and Impulse is just barely able to grasp his hand, helping to tug him towards the exit hole. He grabs the stranger’s arms, pulling him out and to his feet to race back towards the portal. Impulse doesn’t even look back, just trusting that Skizz would be following right behind them.
Once again they’re so close to the portal, so close to being out, when a large tremor knocks Impulse off his feet. He loses his hold on the stranger’s hand as he tumbles to the ground. He’s not able to recover quickly, too panicked and shaky to regain his bearings, but as he does manage to at least push his chest up off the ground, the world abruptly stills around them.
Impulse stares around, almost disbelieving of the sudden silence. The terrain has changed, more areas collapsed in and some new chunks entirely. But by some absolute miracle, this chunk seems completely untouched. Somehow, they are fine.
Skizz is a few feet away, slowly rising to his paws. He seems unhurt but definitely a bit shaken.
And the stranger. Out in the open, Impulse can get a good look at him.
He’s wrapped in a blanket made of animal hide, with only his head, bits of his limbs, and his tail sticking out. Large, fur-covered ears, strikingly red eyes, and a fuzzy tail, he’s a netherborn. Impulse has never even seen one, let alone met one, but demons were originally Nether dwellers, so he’s definitely heard of them before and knows… at least a few things about them.
Digging back into his memory pulls up something that is a bit concerning, because as far as Impulse has been told, netherborns are pack creatures. And this one is alone.
He doesn’t look all that healthy either, his eyes are tired and his face looks thin. As he stares out across the changed landscape, there’s this almost haunted look to him. A resident of the Nether, of course, these shifts are familiar to him. But Impulse can’t imagine that makes them any easier to deal with.
The netherborn’s gaze moves to Impulse and Skizz and his eyes narrow, expression completely shifting to anxious hostility.
“Hey, you alright?” Skizz asks Impulse gently.
“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine…”
Skizz nods and turns to look at the netherborn. “What about you? Hurt at all?”
The netherborn just stares back at him, with a quick, nervous glance at Impulse. His ears are folded back but still twitching ever so slightly.
“Do you… understand me?” Skizz asks awkwardly and something else in Impulse’s mind clicks.
Of course this guy wouldn’t understand them, the Nether has its own language, just like the Overworld does. Netherian, not a language that many Overworld inhabitants know. But demons, they had their own history with the Nether, so Impulse just has to hope that the language he was raised with is close enough.
/*Do you understand me?*/ Impulse tries, the Infernal language feeling familiar on his tongue even after all these years.
The netherborn look at him and hesitantly nods, much to Impulse’s relief. /*I… I do…*/ he says softly, his voice coming out a bit raspy.
/*Are you hurt at all?*/
He seems to hesitate before whispering out a soft /*No.*/
Skizz looks between them, head tilting as if trying to follow along. “Are you two…?”
“Netherian and Infernal come from the same place,” Impulse switches back to explain it to him. “So yeah, I can understand him and he understands me. Mostly,” he adds.
The netherborn is still watching the two with wary hostility, his tail flicking anxiously. And Impulse can sympathize. He can’t recall ever being caught up in the middle of one of the Nether shifts before this, and it's not lost on him that had they been a little less lucky, things could’ve ended a whole lot differently.
“So how is he?” Skizz asks.
“Says he's fine, but he…” Impulse sighs. “I'm pretty sure I remember being told that netherborns live in groups and, well…” He gestures vaguely around at, well, nothing.
“They're pack creatures? I-” Skizz goes silent for a moment, mouth still parted as he pauses mid-sentence. “No pack…” he finally whispers, and Impulse nods. “Do you think we could… bring him back with us? Like offer it up to him, I’m sure the others wouldn’t mind and… Dop, look at him, look at this place.”
Impulse doesn’t need to look around to know exactly what Skizz means. In the back of his mind, he was always aware that there were still players living in the Nether despite the dimension’s increasingly desolate state. But to actually meet one of these inhabitants, and to see the impact that all the instability has had, that is something else entirely. And Impulse cannot in good conscious just let this go.
It would be hypocritical of him, selfish to deny someone else the help that he had had once received.
/*You can come with us,*/ he offers, getting just a confused glare from the netherborn. /*You’ve never been to the Overworld, right? But it’s safer there, I promise. We have this world, us and some others, we’ve stabilized it, it doesn’t change. And we’ve got food,*/ he adds, hoping that enough words get across for their offer to be understood.
The netherborn’s ears lift ever so slightly. He looks from them to the portal still with that untrusting stare. /*Why?*/ he asks softly, a hint of a growl just barely audible.
/*Why? We- our home server’s just for that, a place for people to be safe. The two of us moved there to find a home,*/ Impulse glances at Skizz as he rises to his feet. He quickly dusts off his clothes and extends a hand to the netherborn. /*You can too.*/
He eyes Impulse’s hand warily but doesn’t take it, instead slowly standing on his own. /*Alright…*/ he agrees hesitantly. /*I’ll come with you.*/
Impulse smiles. /*It’ll be different than what you’re used to, but hopefully it’ll be better. And of course, you’re not obligated to stay forever, but some food and some sleep might feel good.*/
He nods at Skizz, and Skizz, without even understanding their conversation picks up on what’s happening and starts to lead the way to the portal. Impulse follows him, with the netherborn just behind, keeping a slight distance from the other two, all while holding the hide blanket around his body.
“Skizz, maybe you go through first?” Impulse suggests. “And we’ll be right behind.”
Skizz hesitates for a moment then nods. “Be quick,” he says, before stepping into the portal.
/*Going through a portal is a bit of a weird feeling but it’s completely safe,*/ Impulse explains. /*That’s Skizz, by the way, he’ll be waiting just on the other side for us. I’m called Impulse, and you are…?*/
The netherborn doesn’t answer right away, only silently watching as Skizz vanishes into the portal. Impulse thinks for a moment he just won’t answer, which is fine, but as the two step up to the obsidian frame, he speaks.
/*Tango.*/
/*Tango, huh? Well then, it’s nice to meet you.*/