Meeting

Ethan moved cautiously through the strange, quiet Nether. He'd been walking for hours now, his every step echoing against the barren, crimson landscape. The further he went, the more the unsettling quiet gnawed at him. No ghasts, no magma cubes, no piglins scavenging in the distance, nothing but an oppressive silence that pressed in on him from all sides.

"This isn't right," Ethan muttered, gripping his sword tightly as he scanned the horizon. His blackened netherite armor, enchanted with the strange crystals he had found, felt heavier than usual. The Nether had always been hostile, but this quiet was unnatural, as if the entire realm had paused to witness something far worse than anything Ethan had encountered before.

After hours of walking, a flicker of light caught his eye in the distance. He crouched low, moving behind a cluster of towering basalt formations to get a better look. As he peered out from his hiding spot, his breath caught in his throat.

Ahead of him, sprawled across the barren landscape, was a massive camp. Fires flickered throughout the camp, their light casting eerie shadows over the tents and the piglin soldiers moving between them. But these like the piglins Ethan had encountered before. These were heavily armed, disciplined. Their golden armor gleamed in the firelight, their weapons polished and sharp. This wasn't a random group of piglins. This was an army.

He was about to turn away, retreat back to safety, when a group of piglins suddenly emerged from the shadows around him, blocking his escape route. Ethan tensed, raising his sword defensively, but the piglins didn't attack. Instead, they stood there, their eyes watching him carefully, as if waiting for something.

Ethan frowned, glancing between them. "Back off you pigs" he muttered under his breath, his muscles coiled, ready for a fight.

But the piglins didn't make any hostile moves. Instead, one of them, clearly a leader of some sort, stepped forward and grunted, gesturing toward the camp. The other piglins followed suit, motioning for Ethan to follow.

Ethan narrowed his eyes, unsure of what to make of the situation. They could have easily attacked him, but they hadn't. And now they wanted him to follow them? He hesitated, glancing back toward the direction he had come from. He could still run, escape into the Nether before they could surround him again. But curiosity pulled him back.

Maybe there was something here he needed to see.

Taking a deep breath, Ethan slowly lowered his sword and nodded. "Alright," he muttered. "Let's see where this leads."

The piglins led him through the camp, their eyes never leaving him as they walked in silence. Ethan kept his guard up, ready to fight at a moment's notice, but the piglins remained calm, their movements measured. As they approached the center of the camp, Ethan's heart began to race.

In the middle of the camp stood a massive tent, larger than any other. Torches flanked the entrance, their flames casting long shadows across the ground. The piglins motioned for Ethan to enter.

He hesitated for a moment before stepping inside.

The moment he entered, Ethan felt the air grow heavier, thick with tension. Sitting on a large, makeshift throne at the far end of the tent was a creature unlike any Ethan had ever seen before.

The Piglin King.

The king was enormous, even larger than the mutant creatures Ethan had faced. His body was wrapped in crude bandages, his massive frame covered in golden netherite armor that gleamed in the dim light of the tent. But it wasn't the king's size that terrified Ethan. It was the injuries.

The Piglin King's left arm was missing, His left eye was gone, replaced by a deep scar that ran down his face. His body was covered in countless wounds, most of them fresh, others old and scarred over. It was clear that the king had survive recent life and dead battle.

For a long moment, the king simply stared at Ethan, his one remaining eye burning with a fierce, cold intensity. Then, his voice rumbled through the tent, low and gravelly, like the sound of a mountain crumbling.

"Human... are you one of those wizards?" the Piglin King asked, his gaze never leaving Ethan's face.

Ethan blinked, surprised by the question. "Wizard?" he repeated, shaking his head quickly. "If the wizard you're talking about is the one chasing me, then no—I'm not with him."

The king's expression shifted slightly, a dark grin spreading across his face. "Hah! Great! Enemies of my enemies are my friends," he said, letting out a deep, guttural laugh that echoed through the tent. But as quickly as the grin appeared, it vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating expression.

"It has been a long time since I have seen an outsider like you," the king said, his voice quieter now, filled with a strange, distant sadness. "Maybe..."

Ethan frowned, unsure of what the king meant. "Outsider?"

The Piglin King's one eye gleamed with something unreadable as he leaned forward slightly. "Yes. Outsider. It would be better if you learned the truth yourself, rather than from me."

Ethan opened his mouth to ask what he meant, but before he could, the king stood up, towering over him. With his remaining hand, the Piglin King reached into his armor and pulled out a glowing red crystal, its surface pulsing with a strange, dark energy.

"Take this," the king said, holding the crystal out to Ethan. "War is coming. You may find this... useful."

Ethan hesitated before reaching out and taking the crystal. The moment his hand touched it, he felt a surge of energy coursing through him, dark and powerful. The crystal pulsed in his hand, and for a moment, he thought he could hear whispers, faint and distant, but gone before he could make sense of them.

The Piglin King stepped back, his gaze hardening. "Pigs, take him away," he ordered his soldiers. "Away from the Nether. The war have nor mercy"

Before Ethan could protest, the piglins surrounded him once again, motioning for him to follow. They led him back through the camp, their movements swift and purposeful. Before he knew it, they had brought him to a Nether portal, its swirling purple energy casting an eerie glow over the surrounding landscape.

Without a word, they shoved him toward the portal. Ethan stumbled forward, caught off guard, but before he could react, he was thrown through the portal. The world spun around him as he was yanked from the Nether and thrown back into the Overworld.

As he landed, he quickly turned to see the portal flicker and vanish behind him. The piglins were gone. The Nether was behind him. And in his hand, the blood-red crystal pulsed softly.

"What... just happened?" Ethan whispered to himself, staring at the crystal in his hand. His mind was racing, trying to piece together everything that had just happened. The Piglin King's words echoed in his mind.

War is coming.

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2 hour to write 1k word chapter... :)