"Once you two have established that the way ahead is clear, one of you come back to signal us. We'll move through, two at a time, taking the stone with us, whilst AMPHIS and Amie cover us as we go through. If we're lucky, we can make it back to the base without any issues, although getting it into the base is another problem entirely... We'll get to that stumbling block when we get there, although it may just be a case of dropping it down the hatch."
As we rounded the final corner, we looked down the rough staircase, illuminated by random patches of fire and burning embers, and headed towards the purple light at the end. Hermes and Chiron came with us, making it easier to spot any enemies that we missed in the dark. We would just need to illuminate the area around the portal a little better once we passed through it. UOPETA stood at the bottom, waiting for everyone else, whilst I remained slightly ahead of the four carrying the stone, guiding them carefully down the stairs. It looked liked it weighed a ton or more, so letting that crash down the stairs would be disastrous. Once the stone was safely on the ground at the base of the stairs, me and UOPETA, followed by Hermes and Chiron, passed through the portal, back into Minecraftia. The purple light filled my vision entirely, forcing me to close my eyes, only to still see the tint of the rift beyond my eyelids. After a few seconds, the light faded, and I stared out at the opposite wall of the chamber we had originally found the portal. It was good to be back!
I waited for UOPETA to pass through before searching the area. The main chamber itself was deserted; small chunks of the floor and wall were still missing from the Creeper explosion, and a huge portal-shaped hole was still visible where we had managed to destroy the first. UOPETA went on ahead to check the other tunnels on the way out, whilst I remained by the portal. This is where it had all started; the need to go into the Nether, through a portal had been because of this place. One mistake... One mistake I will never make again... UOPETA returned a few moments later:
"All clear. It's still daylight out there, but it's getting late. We'll need to hurry. I'll inform the others. See you in a minute."
UOPETA passed back through the portal, and literally seconds later, he passed back again. Moments later, COLUS and THEXIS appeared through the portal, facing backwards, holding their half of the stone. Another second or two, and THEROS and OROTHO appeared, holding the other side, facing forwards. Last to pass through were Amie and AMPHIS. Once Everyone was fully through the portal, the stone was placed on the ground. UOPETA informed the others that the path ahead was clear, and that we still had the daylight on our side.
"Good. As for getting it into the base... Four of us will descend down the ladder and stand back. Then the rest of us will attempt to drop it lengthways down the hatch. It will likely do a bit of damage hitting the ground, but it's nothing serious to worry about. When it's down, the other four will attempt to drag it out of the tunnel, until the rest of us can get down and help take it across the lava channel. From there, it'll easy to get it to the lab."
Once we were all settled with the roles, COLUS, THEXIS, THEROS and OROTHO began to move the stone again. It was going to be slow progress, especially around some of these tight corners, but they could always be made wider to accommodate the stone.
It was a slow and exhausting hour or so. Thankfully the chamber with the portal is literally around a small rock-face from the base, so we only had to get round it, activate the walkway and get it to the hatch. Once there, myself, COLUS, OROTHO and THEXIS climbed the ladder to receive the stone, whilst the others remained on top. After we were all clear, COLUS gave the order for the others to push it. Standing well back, we all waited for the stone to come crashing down to the ground, but due to its size and shape, it instead slid down slowly, catching against the walls and the ladder every now and again. It was a surprisingly graceful descent considering, and with the hard part out of the way, three of us managed to fit into the tunnel and drag it out. That proved more difficult than initially anticipated; the stone had fallen in such a way, it was hard to gain decent leverage on it, but after some forceful rocking, we managed to drag it free, allowing the others to climb down. Another ten minutes later, and it was now atop OROTHO's desk where he can get to it easily, however the sag is quite bad...
"Good work team! Only cooperation has brought us this far. After all that palaver though, I think we should all get some rest and we'll look at it with fresh heads..."
As we all left the lab, I waited for OROTHO to come with us, but he hesitated slightly, still in awe of the huge chunk of stone. He kept whispering "beautiful" to himself, but after some persuasion, he followed us to bed. I watched as the torches were put out one by one, and noticed the eerie yellow glow it gave off, throwing faint shadows around the room... OROTHO was right; it was beautiful... I really hope it's worth it though...
Syeonyx signing off
No comments:
Post a Comment