[CH. 006] Soaring Sights

Almost 650 years have come and gone in Mileena's time. After banishing her late husband and son, the OverWorld entered into a new era; a peaceful time where no wars were fought, no lives were taken, and blockheads lived in unity.

Mileena has since returned to being the leader of the Resistance, a group in which she founded to fight against her husband.

Now, 647 years later, she remains underground in the main base of the Resistance. With her ability to shapeshift into a falcon, she can soar at great heights over the World she considers home.

On her way to see Leona in the Jungle Biome, she must first traverse the vast Plains and Dark Oak Forest, and the Desert biomes. This is something she's used to doing, so it doesn't bother her like it used to way back in the day.

"Ho, ho, ho," a familiar male voice was heard. Mileena, in her falcon form, looked down and began scanning the vast Spruce Forest biome below. Her hearing is amplified when a falcon. "You're definitely going on my naughty list!"

"Don't care," a female blockhead responded by yelling. "You took what I loved most, my husband. You banished him to a place I cannot go or find!"

Mileena, after flying over a barren patch of the forest, she saw Santa and a strange, ice cold blockhead.

CAW!

Santa was being pulled along behind a dozen or so golems; ice golems.

Ms. Frost looked up when she heard the circling falcon overhead. Santa happened to look up to. When he did, he started waving his tied up hands back and forth in the air.

"I have to do something," Mileena said, "I must!"

She counted out how many ice golems were accompanying the female ice blockhead. Mileena hadn't seen this blockhead before, and this was the first time.

"HELP ME!" Santa shouted, "PLEASE! She kidnapped me!"

Ms. Frost turned around and looked up into the night sky, scanning it carefully. When she saw Mileena circling back around and diving towards her, her walking quickly turned into running.

"Keep that bird away from me!" Ms. Frost demanded of her ice golems, "do whatever you must! She must not get close to me or this fat man!"

"I'm fat?" Santa asked.

"Very," Ms. Frost said as she briefly looked back at him, "should lay off the sugar cookies?"

"I will not!" Santa replied.

"Then stay fat," Ms. Frost said as she turned back to face forward.

The six ice golems that remained by her side all stopped following her. They began going back the way they came to confront Mileena.

Ms. Frost was nearing a ravine that was just ahead. A Bridge had been erected in Daniel's honor, but it was still in its early phase of construction.

"Leona," Mileena said telepathically, "I need your help. In pursuit. Hurry, I'm losing them. They're trying to stop me from getting too close!"

In the Jungle Biome, in Merlin's new treehouse, Leona heard Mileena's plea for help. When she heard Mileena's call, she jumped into action.

"Hey voice man," Leona said, "I don't need a narration of what I'm doing. Mind my attitude. I mean no disrespect."

You wouldn't exist if it weren't for me. I created you. I created the world you live in, and the tree you and Merlin live in.

"Is that so?" Leona asked. "If you created me, then you must know everything about me, right?"

More than you think.

"Weird," Leona said.

Eh, not really. It's what authors do, right? Like Franklin, Stanley's father.

"One of my favorite writers," Leona said.

"LEONA! Where are you?" Mileena telepathically called .

Go! Go be a hero! Save Christmas!

"I'm a hero?" Leona asked.

Always have been, always will be. You're a hero in my eyes.

"I'm a hero," Leona smiled and mumbled to herself.

Always will be!

"I'm a hero," Leona smiled as she began to blush. Putting her wand into her inventory, she sported a determined smile as she ran for the door. She swiped her hand to her left, which opened the oak door.

Running through it and outside onto the deck, she jumped over the wooden railing and began flying up into the night sky, racing to go help her friend.

"Oh no, you don't," a demonic, deep voice shouted as a chain smothered in flames flew into the air, wrapping itself around Leona's leg. The chain tightened itself on her leg.

"What the?" Leona said as she turned and looked down at the ground. The chain wrapped around her leg was giving away the exact location of the culprit behind the flaming chain.

"It's a goat man!" Leona said as she took her wand out of her inventory.

"What'd you call me?" Krampus asked.

"She's trying to distract you, dumby," Scarlet said as she took the burning chain out of Krampus' hands and began pulling Leona down towards them.

As trouble continues to brew around the OverWorld, it's becoming more apparent that the threat is far worse than the Dark Elves ever were and would have been.

We now make our way back to everyone at Thomas and Aurora's mountains biome house. The snowstorm overhead was peaking with intensity. The wind is starting to pick up, causing loose snow to blow amok.

Thomas, Aurora, Frankie, and Misses Claus all stepped up into the sleigh. Victoria and Jack couldn't come because there was no room for them in the back.

"You kids be safe now, you hear?" Victoria said as she hovered slightly off the ground next to the sleigh. "Misses Claus," Victoria continued as she looked front and center to Misses Claus.

"Yes dear?" She said as she turned around to look back at Victoria.

"Find the cave and you'll come across a room full of passageways. Enter the green one. That will take you where you need to go. We can't stop Krampus, Ms. Frost, and Scarlet on our own. Jack and I will do what we can to contain the threat until your return."

"That's a lot to remember," Misses Claus said.

"Find the cave, find the green portal. Bring back help!" Aurora interrupted with confidence and excitement in her voice tone.

"You'll do great. I have faith in you. Find him, and bring him back. He is the key to ending all of this," Jack chimed in.

Victoria then went back down and touched the ground. She took a few steps backwards away from the sleigh.

"Where's the candy cane bombs?" Thomas asked as he looked all around in back, but couldn't find anything of good use.

"You mean these candy cane bombs?" Frankie said as she held three of them in her hand, waving them back and forth.

"Hey!" Thomas said in disappointment. "Can I have one?"

No!

"Who said that?" Thomas asked as he glanced aside at Aurora, and then forward at Frankie and Misses Claus.

You, no touchie!

"That's the mystery god man talking," Phineas said, "he interjects here and there, sometimes randomly."

"A mystery god man, huh?" Thomas wondered.

"It's probably a girl, speaking into a note block to change his voice," Aurora considered.

Not a girl!

"He's not a girl," Misses Claus said as she looked back at the kids in the back.

Thank you, Misses Claus for clearing up that confusion.

"Anytime…Austin," Misses Claus said with a devious smile as she laughed alongside the kids.

HEY! The point of being mysterious is to…uh…be a mystery!

"Oops," she smiled and chuckled.

"Hi Austin," Thomas said as he looked up into the sky.

"Ew, a boy," Aurora said with disgust in her tone as she stuck her tongue out and shook her head.

Thomas., pleasure to make your acquaintance.

"On Dasher, on Dancer," Phineas began calling out the reindeer's names in order from front to back.

"On Prancer, on Vixen," Thomas shouted in unison with Phineas. Aurora and Frankie and Miss Claus joined in.

"On Comet, on Cupid," everyone continued calling out their names. "On Donner, and Blitzen too!"

Phineas whipped and lightly tugged on the straps which are connected to the harnesses.

"And Rudolph too," Thomas added.

Miss Claus looked down to her right. Phineas was standing so he could see over the sleigh, focusing purely on the reindeer and the surroundings ahead.

Thomas stood up in the back just as the reindeer started running forward. The sudden jolt of forward momentum almost caused him to lose his balance.

Misses Claus and Phineas made brief eye contact. Thomas and Aurora hadn't noticed. Flying this fast in the midst of a snowstorm was chilling. The snow felt like spikes as it hit your face, and your breathing transitioned into irregular intervals.

"Rudolph's not guiding the sleigh tonight, dear," Misses Claus said as she looked back at Thomas.

"Why not?" He asked curiously.

"His nose wasn't shining bright," she explained as she briefly looked down at Phineas. He looked back up at her. He sighed and rolled his eyes. She turns back around to face forward.

"Misses Claus telling her first lie?" Phineas whispered as he glanced up at her.

"Hogwash," she said, "you and I both know what happened to him. It'd break their hearts. Some lies are meant to be told," she argued.

"I don't think Santa would agree," Phineas said.

"He's not your husband now, is he?" She asked. Phineas simply shook his head.

"No," he replied, "he's not. Mine is back at the North Pole, doing who knows what, and who knows where."

"I'm sure he's okay. He's a smart elf, much like yourself."

"Gee, thanks," Phineas chuckled as his cheeks turned red.

"There's the cave. Down there," Misses Claus called out.

As the sleigh flew overhead, no one noticed Mileena lying alone on the ground. She had lost the fight against the Ice Golems, taking an icicle in the torso. Her eyes rest half open. Remnants from the fight she put up lay scattered around her.

Just before she closed her eyes again, she struggled to say her final words.

"Wait!" She mumbled as she raised her hand, but struggled to keep it raised. She was weak…very weak. "Come back. Come ba—back."

But the sleigh continued on, flying out of sight.

"I'm—sorry," she muttered as she exhaled her last breath.

Her body laid there in the snow, motionless for a minute before turning to dust and disappearing. Items that were in her inventory spilled out onto the ground.

In the nearby Mountains biome, Miraz felt a sudden feeling he hasn't felt ever before. He stumbled and almost fell, but was caught by Victoria. He was breathing heavily as his body began trembling.

"Woah, hey?" Victoria said as she grabbed his arm, "you okay? What? What is it?"

Miraz knew something Victoria didn't. He fell onto one knee, keeping his head facing down. He sniffles and wipes a tear off his cheek. When he looks up, he answers.

"Mileena," he stuttered.

"What about her?"

"I can't feel her anymore," Miraz muttered as he got back up and looked over at Victoria. "She's—"

"No!" Victoria said as made a serious facial expression, "don't say it! She's not!"

She's right, you know.

"Go away god man," Victoria shouted as she wrapped her arms around him and gave him a comforting hug.

"You're going to be okay Miraz, I'm here for you," Victoria said.

Deep within the Mountains, Phineas brought the sleigh to a halt after a gentle landing. They had arrived at the location Victoria described to them. The wind continues to howl and the snow continues to drift and flutter around.

Upon entering the cave, they ventured deep within to find the hidden room of portals.

"We have two days until Christmas," Misses Claus reminded everyone as she led the way into the cave. Everyone else followed behind her.

"Why does it always have to be in a cave? I hate caves," Aurora complained.

They'd found the green portal, but were skeptical. It had the same characteristics of a Nether Portal, but was just green. There were two flower pots on the floor with withered, dead flowers drooping.

"It says—," Phineas said as he squinted his eyes, looking up at the sign above the portal. "E.A.R.T.H."

"What's Earth?" Frankie asked.

"It's a world similar to ours, but not blocky and square. I've never been. Only read about," Misses Claus mentions.

"Phineas can go first. Let him go first," Frankie said.

"No hold on," Phineas said, "we don't even know what's on the other side. What if it's a trap?"

"The Builders of Old never boobytrapped the Nether Portal when they opened the first one. Why would they boobytrap this one?"

"Move outta my way," Thomas said as he walked up to the portal, examined it briefly. But just as he was to take his first step into it, a hand poked through.

AH!

"Someone hold me," Phineas said as he jumped up into Aurora's arms.

"Ew, boy cooties," she shouted.

She dropped Phineas and he fell back onto the ground. When he got up, he was cross and slightly upset.

"I'm an elf, not a boy," Phineas reminded her.

"My bad. How's this? Boy elf cooties," Aurora corrected herself, "better?"

"Much better," Phineas said, "I'm not a boy. I'm an elf," he continued as he fluffed out his coat.

Thomas jumped as a head and another hand poked through.

"Who's that?" Frankie asked.

Misses Claus pulled Thomas back away from the portal…just in case the person coming through wasn't a good one.

"No. Freaking. Way!" Phineas said as his mouth dropped. "It's him!"

"Who's him?" Frankie asked.

"That's Daniel!" Misses Claus said.

"Boring. He's so like yesterday!" Aurora said.