#goldsolace

There was a distant odd sound that caught her attention, almost metallic, like blades whirling through air, then the splash of water along with a muffled impact. Stacy stopped kicking at the poor log and looked over her shoulder with a pout. Kothra emerged from the shadows of the jungle trees nearby, trident loosely held in one hand. "It would have been faster to come with an elytra," she pointed out in lieu of a greeting.

"The elytra doesn't also act as a weapon and I've greater skill with water combat than air combat," Kothra replied and the flower-crowned Avatar nodded in understanding.

"Right, right, you used to be a Squidling," she said and waved her hands around. "Kothra, what is going on?! There's been enchanted mobs and weird drops from them and armor I've never seen before!" she went on rambling and threw an arm in the direction of one of the other Cultists. "MilkyMomma got a thing of wheat and every time she shakes it, a llama spawns! What's up with that?!"

"We're still accumulating information from agents in the field, but the general consensus is code, items, mechanics, and mobs from Minecraft Dungeons are being imported into Minecraftia to increase the difficulty of survival," the Power Avatar explained, twirling the trident before flicking it away. "Change of orders. Stacy, you and I will continue the hunt for Lord Herobrine's vessel ourselves. All others, move out to the Nether Portal located at one of Sky Army's supply towns, Pumpkin Pastures. You're to provide additional support to the Cultists currently engaging with the Recruits there. Coordinates will be sent by the commander of that unit."

There were salutes all around and the group of Avatars gathered up their things and took to their horses, galloping off. Stacy and Kothra looked at one another and nodded resolutely, turning together and running into the jungle, following the direction the Herobrine Compass pointed.

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"Who deployed the elytra unit?" Sky asked in a cold, quiet tone, eyes roaming over the members of the Sky Army High Council. Logdotzip and TrueMU looked at each other in alarm, then at the other Avatars. Deadlox gave Sky a sharp glare, eyes wide and face pale; Sky was aware of why he was getting that look. Asking would leave him open to questions aimed at him, questions that could lead to revealing the information that Dream was out there, with the artifacts sealing Herobrine inside him and Sky wanted so, so badly to leave the city and go to him to train him and pass on the book of experiences for reference.

But something poisonous was creeping through the ranks of Sky Army and he couldn't trust the Recruits to not be up to something.

"Odd, we thought that was you," Ssundee replied in confusion. "Isn't that why you called the meeting? To discuss what the Recruits found?"

And if that didn't raise all sorts of red flags in his head, Sky wasn't sure what else could. He swallowed, throat dry, as his gaze flicked to Deadlox and then back to the others. "It wasn't me or Deadlox, but what did they discover?"

"Other than I might've gotten scammed out of a lotta emeralds from our construction budget?" Logdotzip muttered, flicking his fingers at the pages spread in front of him on the table. He sighed and tapped at the paper. "They found the Herobrine Virus host west of the city, in a woodland mansion. The unit was pretty much wiped out by him almost single handedly, so we're dealing with a potentially dangerous Avatar."

No surprise; Viral Modes were always devastating and it was rare for an Avatar to survive a fight against him or Deadlox in that state. At least, back when Sky was the one infected with the Virus.

"According to the unit leader, the Avatar is, or rather was, a Recruit as well. One of the scouts that had gone missing during routine patrols of the Nether Portal Borderlands," Seto continued, reading off from his copy of the reports. Sky blinked.

"You guys were sending people into the BrineLands?!" he asked in shock. "That's a dead zone! Infection rates jump up in those lands, that's why I always had to go there ahead of the Army to purify pathways leading in!"

"Remind us where you've been for the last few years?" Seto asked with a smile, leaning forward and propping his chin on his hand.

"Point is, this scout killed the unit leader by summoning a Wither Skeleton.. in the Overworld," TrueMU sighed. "Considering that Creative Mode is currently inaccessible to everyone in Minecraftia, except you, Sky, and there wasn't any indication of a command block being used, we'll have to conclude it was a power from Viral Mode, which is proof of an infection on the same level as you and Deadlox back in the wars."

Seto picked through his papers again. "Strangely, getting this report was like grinding for mob heads. We likely wouldn't have gotten any of this information if they hadn't respawned yelling and screaming in a fury over it," he went on. "So, from what we gleaned from all that yelling, the scout is a Speed Class Avatar named Dream."

Sky's hands tightened into fists, hidden under the table, his heart rate already jumping as his mind raced to think of new ways to provide protection, distraction, anything that could keep his Recruits at bay until he could find the root of the disturbing shift in Sky Army's conduct.

"Name sounds familiar," Logdotzip mused, brow furrowing as he thought it over. "Like... I think Captain Sparklez mentioned him once or twice as a rising star in the Players' world."

Seto's eyes narrowed as he scanned the report. "He is, him and his Player. Only a few months and he's gained millions of followers.. his sphere of influence expands rapidly," he commented and members of the council shifted in their seats uncomfortably. "How is that possible? How did this slip by our notice? Sky Army's power relies on maintaining a large sphere of influence in the other world; this Avatar is gaining that same amount of power in a fraction of the time it took Sky."

"That's not good. Herobrine vessel and he's already gaining influence and power at a rapid rate? That's dangerous for Minecraftia!" Ssundee pointed out in concern. "We have to do something about it. Any word on locating the artifacts?"

"From what our last message from Technoblade said, he's still investigating how to safely retrieve them. I tried getting coordinates from him on where the artifacts are but no response yet," Logdotzip returned, scowling a little as he flicked open the chat screen to see nothing new sent.

"Well, we know where his last location is; we can pull back some of the forces from the eastern Nether Portals and deploy them to the west and search for Dream," Husky declared with a shrug. "Capturing him alive for Sky to Purge seems to be the best move; we just gotta figure out how to pin him down without settin' off a Viral state. Maybe whittle down his heart meter with distance attacks? Kill him enough times that he loses enough levels he won't risk fighting back?"

"Orrr," Seto began with a gleam in his eye, "actually, this could work in our favor. We could use this to gain an advantage over the Cultists that we never had before."

"Seto, no," Sky growled out warningly and the sorcerer held up his hands placatingly.

"Just hear me out! This Dream has Herobrine's complete viral code but even with the amount of influential power he's got, we haven't seen Herobrine respawn and try to reactivate The Convergence," Seto explained and several members of the council nodded slowly in agreement. "Maybe Herobrine isn't fully activated or there's a certain level of influence needed to trigger the overwrite? Either way, we have a rare opportunity to disarm Herobrine and put His code to work for us."

"What?" Deadlox asked, eyes widening in alarm. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm saying, we should try to capture him, bring Dream in and let me analyze his files," Seto suggested. "I can check for where Herobrine's coding is embedded and we'll finally have a record of how He is assembled. Then I adjust that coding so if it ever triggers, instead of carrying out whatever orders Judas programmed, Herobrine will follow ours!" He traced out a path on the paper as if moving pieces around on a board. "We send Him to the Cultists who will follow anything He says, and if Herobrine tells them to stand down and never fight with us again, we can put an end to that conflict for good. No more wars! We can finally have peace!"

"But we'll lose Dream," Sky pointed out coldly. "Isn't this a little familiar? Sacrificing one Avatar to end a war? What makes you think I'd agree to this?" A few of the council members nodded, faintly disturbed expressions on their faces. "You convinced my Third to kill himself to 'save' me; now you want to throw Dream on the altar to gain control over Herobrine and the Nether. What is wrong with you?!"

"I'm not suggesting this because I like doing this to Avatars!" Seto shot back, standing up and slamming his hands on the table. "We have to think of the whole population of Minecraftia! The fact that if The Convergence is triggered again, we might not be able to survive separating the two worlds again!" He looked around at the other members of the team. "If it was any one of us that had Herobrine's code, I'd still suggest this plan. One for the many; I'm sure if Dream knew that sacrificing himself to save this world his friends live in would work, he'd do it gladly. Wouldn't any of us do the same? Knowing that it's a guarantee that Herobrine would never threaten anyone ever again?"

"Bad as it sounds, Seto does have a point," Einshine muttered, picking at the corner of one of his report pages. "If we could separate Dream's Core File out, keep him safe somewhere, then maybe that'd be better? We'd just have an empty body for Herobrine to use and Seto could work with that. We don't have to lose the guy that way, right?" Seto nodded, gesturing towards him.

"There, see? Even better! It's what I did with Avec's Core File; I kept the original stored and just worked my modifications on a copy that was then installed into him," the sorcerer explained. "I can do the same thing with Dream, and one of the researchers in my division has even been working on a project to create shell Avatars here that don't have a Player or soul-link attached. I can install him to one of those and he'll be fine!"

"Except you'll cut him off from his Player," Deadlox pointed out icily. Seto threw his hands up in exasperation.

"But he'll be alive! Isn't that what you wanted, Sky? No more deaths?" he asked the brunet.

Maybe whatever poison was flowing through Sky Army was getting to the council as well. Seto acting like this, in the open, announcing his coding plans to everyone; it wasn't like him at all.

Deadlox reached aside and tapped his arm to get his attention so he glanced aside at the russet-haired Avatar. Sky raised an eyebrow questioningly and Deadlox shot a look to his hand, then up to his eyes, then tilted his head. Sky returned it with narrowing his eyes and tilting his head the other way, opposite of how Deadlox tilted his head. Deadlox rolled his eyes and raised an eyebrow back.

"Does anyone else find it disturbing that those two can hold a conversation like that?" GoldSolace asked with a wry grin.

Sky furrowed his brow at Deadlox, squinting, and Deadlox returned the look with a smile and nod. Content with the conversation, Sky turned back to the council. "What I want is for Sky Army to go back to the way I had originally envisioned it," he announced and stood up, sweeping his hand before himself to open a command window, "but I'll settle for dealing with Dream myself, personally."

[/tp SkythekidRS Dream]

The council cried out in surprise as the Commander of the Sky Army blinked out of sight, teleporting away. In the chaos of members arguing and trying to figure out what happened and whether or not Seto's plan was viable or ethical, the sorcerer slipped out of the room with his notes. There was still work to be done, after all.

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Sapphira sighed, looking over the notes Seto passed down to her. Her agents failed to bring in the Herobrine Vessel, but they did promise to go back out to try again once they regained levels at the mob grinder. At least they brought back information for her; too bad the Sky Army High Council also got access to it. On the plus side, Seto provided her with more information and even his plans for altering the vessel's coding to be devoted to the Army and grant them control over the Nether and the Cultists.

"It's an okay plan, I guess," she remarked to her colleagues with a pout, "especially when he mentioned my Artificial Avatar project. But I still think it's better to just create a perfect Vaccine and end the Virus for good. It'd be nice if we could extract that perfect immunity code from Sky himself, but he's too heavily guarded, so using Dream to build our own version is the best we can do."

"What about that idea of transferring a copy of an Avatar's Core File into the shell?" the teddy-bear onesie Avatar asked, "That way you can keep a control copy in case we make some error in building the vaccine. Didn't Seto say he had some Avatar's Core File stashed away?"

Sapphira blinked and her wings fluttered. "Oh? Oh! That thing! Yes, I remember seeing it when he was making modifications on that Avatar, back before Seto ordered him to die and helped me realize how expendable we all are in a viral war." She flapped a hand dismissively. "I already checked for it. The file's gone. Seto thinks it's still there but only because he hasn't had a reason to check on it in ages." She sat up and wove her hands together, resting her chin on them and thinking. "Still, once we get our hands on Dream, making a copy of his Core File and implanting it into the Artificial Avatar would be useful. I can finally test my hypothesis that transplanting a Core File doesn't negate an Avatar's sentience and they can stay sane even without a soul-link." Sapphira gave a happy little squeal, her cheeks pink as she giggled.

"I'm going to have so much fun with you, Dream~!" she exclaimed as the other Avatar clapped their hands for her. "I can't wait to get my hands in your code and make such wonderful science~!"

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[Teleported SkythekidRS to Dream.]

"What," Dream growled under his breath. He stayed in his huddle, wrapped in his cloak and hood pulled down to cover his hair. The room he was in was decently furnished, if abandoned, and the distant sound of Illagers moving about the expansive dungeon kept him fairly on edge. It didn't look like the sort of dungeons Dream was used to, with walls and floors of mossy, cracked, and regular cobblestone, looking like fancier versions of vanilla dungeons; this made him think of a mansion or castle built by Builder Avatars with all their decorative tricks and trimmings. Luckily the mobs weren't in every single room, staying in a sectioned off area to stay close to their fireplaces to keep warm.

Dream had slipped into the dungeon to get out of the cold of the taiga biome and sped through the structure, sticking to shadows, hiding behind pillars and pieces of furniture, and using Shadow Brews from what few chests he could loot to cross large, open areas until he was a decent distance away from the mobs. He then ducked into the first room he found and let himself rest at last, only to be interrupted by the command message alert.

So the leader of Sky Army could use teleport commands and didn't need consent from the other party to make the jump? Made sense; Sky was the system operator since Minecraftia used his server as the anchor.

"This is kinda weird. Where the hell is this? What is this? Some kinda prison? Don't remember anyone building a new prison map to play in." Sky fired off questions at random, sounding confused and annoyed at the same time.

"Hey! Shut up! You're gonna call attention to me and I don't want to end up captured again," Dream hissed, lifting his face from where he'd hidden behind his knees. The mask highlighted the Avatar dressed in gray and black armor circling around the room, overlaying a small gold crown above his head. Makes sense.

Sky stopped moving around and looked back at him, eyebrows raised over the sunglasses that hid his eyes. "Hi," he finally greeted in a quiet tone. "So, you're Dream."

Dream rolled his eyes as he stood up from the floor, pulling his hood back and tapping his mask to collapse it away into goggles that he pushed up onto his head. He narrowed his eyes distrustfully at the brunet. "And you're Sky," he returned bluntly. "If you're here to try and turn me into a weapon, I'm sure as hell gonna make it a nightmare for you."

The other Avatar lifted his hands and shook his head. "That's not what I want. I'm trying to keep everyone else from doing that to you but believe me, it's harder than I thought," Sky protested. "Something happened to my Recruits, they're going rogue on me and I can't seem to pull enough influence to get them back to following the peaceful path I asked them to follow."

A faint Illager grunt caught Dream's attention and he lifted a finger to his mouth in warning. Sky immediately fell silent, concerned expression on his face as the blonde carefully moved to the window of the little room and peeked out. A Pillager and Vindicator were looting one of the rooms lower down in the sprawling structure, carrying boxes of food and gear across a stone brick bridge to the staircase leading back to their portion of the dungeon.

"Okay, we're clear for now," Dream sighed and pulled away from the window, closing the trap doors over them that were used as shutters. "Whatever you want, I'm not interested. Go away and let me sleep so I can keep moving tomorrow."

"I know you have my amulet and Deadlox's headset," Sky pointed out flatly. Dream spun on his heel, iron axe flicking into his hand and lashing out, just in time to get blocked by a shimmering golden sword in Sky's hand. "Goddammit, stop taking everything I say like it's a threat to you! I know you have them, I'm not taking them from you because I also know you have Herobrine's coding inside you! You need them to keep Him sealed!" Sky snapped, struggling to hold back the axe.

"I've heard stories about what you and your army do to hold onto power! What'd you expect from me?!" Dream shot back. "Your stupid Recruits tried to buy me from a bunch of Illagers and acted like I fucking offended them because I got shot by a stupid arrow that uploaded a bullshit virus into my body! That's not my fault! I'm just trying to find a cure so I can get my life back!"

"And what if I offered training to help you get your Viral Mode under control?" Sky asked through his teeth, pushing more weight into his sword. The iron and gold blades sparked against each other and Dream flinched, giving the brunet the opening to sweep the sword down, hook the axe, and fling it out of his hand. "I'm not here to fight you, I promise," Sky pleaded, keeping his sword down and holding one hand out to him. "I just don't want anyone else dying in my name, and you're the Herobrine Anti-Virus. You need to stay alive to keep Minecraftia safe from Him."

Dream snorted, turning away from him to fetch the fallen axe. "Yeah? Tell Minecraftia to quit trying to kill me then, bringing in all this Minecraft Dungeons bullshit to mess with my speedrunning," he retorted. He grabbed the axe and flicked it away into his hotbar, then went over to the fireplace to sit and get warmed, pulling his cloak around himself again. "If you're not here to capture me or kill me, at least tell me you have some food on you. I'm low on hunger and I lost three hearts trying to dodge those assholes outside and taking fall damage for it."

There was some movement around himself, the sound of typing into a screen, then the plopping of beds nearby. Eventually, Sky joined him at the fireplace, sitting down beside him and draping his royal blue cape longways across his shoulders in a makeshift blanket. A flick of his hand and he held out a steaming bowl of rabbit stew towards him. Dream reached out to accept, paused, then hurriedly brought down his goggles, tapping the mask back out over his face. A scan was run on the bowl and it reported back; Rabbit Stew. Only then did he accept the food with a quiet 'Thanks' and start eating.

"What was that? What you did with the mask," Sky asked in surprise, flicking his hand again to bring out another bowl of food for himself. Dream shrugged.

"Dunno, but it checks items for me, makes sure they're what they look like," he replied between mouthfuls of stew. "No offense, but last time someone gave me stew it turned out to be drugged and I'm not going through that hell again." Sky only nodded in understanding and the two went back to eating in silence.

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[$%#v@%$$* has joined the game.]