The Warped Monstrosity

  It had been five years since the dreadful day. The day his parents died. Ghaystan still remembered the day well. It’s what drove him to fight ghasts. His parents had gone to the Nether to explore. They had told Ghaystan to stay, but he sneaked past his grandma and entered the portal behind them. There he watched the horrors unfold. His parents climbed to the top of a hill to get a view, and three ghasts appeared out of nowhere. The ghasts all fired their orbs of blazing fire at once. The flaming orbs smashed into the netherrack and exploded at his parent’s feet. His dad was closest and died from the initial blast. His mom ran behind the hill to hide. With her out of view, the ghasts turned on Ghaystan. He saw them fire, but he was stunned by panic. He couldn’t move.



  “This is the end,” He thought. The fireballs were just about to hit, when a blur flashed in front of him, his mom. She flashed her blade and blocked the fireballs. Then she ran, drawing the ghast’s attention, and turning to block more fireballs. She kept running, but Ghaystan saw something horrifying. She stood on a plateau of gravel. A fireball hit the gravel and it gave way. She looked one last time at Ghaystan and mouthed one word “RUN!” and then fell into the lake of lava below. Ghaystan made it to the portal coursing with adrenalin. He made it back to the overworld, and collapsed on the ground. He was twelve then. After that day the portal had been closed for years.



  Now he was seventeen. The portal reopened two years ago, and the exploration parties had gone well. He had joined one, and had journeyed to the Nether many times since. Every Ghast he faced, he overcame, fueled by the memory of his parents. This day was no different. With strange sounds echoing from the portal louder than normal, he set off. Deep in the nether, were the netherite mines, owed by the king of Telyndia, the kingdom Ghaystan was from. There had been stories for weeks of a powerful ghast that had been lurking near the mines. It had forced the mines to close. It was rumored to be stronger, smarter, and more elusive than any other ghast, but that had never stopped Ghaystan. He had heard those stories in the two years of fighting ghasts, but all had led to normal ghasts. Today he entered the portal alone, dressed in his typical. He was dressed in magenta leather armor and a turquoise tunic, the colors of the nether biomes. He stepped into the warping, swirling purple of the portal. With a “whoosh” he was through. The heat hit him first, the sweltering, dry heat that saps all the water out of your body. He had gotten used to little water in this heat, he would manage. But the smell was different. He still had not gotten used to it. Think of all the descriptive words you can for a bad smell. This smell was ten times that bad. He covered his face with a think cloth and set off, following the road made by the miners deep into the Nether.



  Five slain ghasts, a piglin party appeased with gold, and two hours later, he rested on a plateau overlooking the mines, scanning the surroundings. The mines lay on the right, dug into the hillside of a warped forest. Ghaystan covered his eyes with his cloth so that the enderman wouldn’t attack him. On the left was a lava ocean bay that wrapped around to meet the hillside that the mines were in. In between the mines and Ghaystan’s position was a valley filled with soul sand.



  “No Problem”, he thought, “I have soul speed enchanted boots and the flat ground of the valley is perfect for ghast fighting.”

The first ghast rose from the bay after just a few minutes. It started firing. Ghaystan deflected the fireballs easily with his diamond sword and launched a counter attack of his favorite, soul fire arrows. He had learned how to harness the fire on the tips of arrows. It made for a deadly weapon. His first shot dispatched the ghast easily.



  “That was too easy. That couldn’t have been the monster,” he thought.



  Then he saw it, looming over the warped forest. It rose from behind a hill, and Ghaystan’s heart stopped, just for a moment. The ghast was four times the size of a normal ghast and was turquoise and purple, warped like the forest in dwelled in. Its eyes shone black, sending shivers down Ghaystan’s spine. He took too long to take this in. The warped monstrosity had fired a giant, blue orb of destruction. Without hesitation, Ghaystan leapt out of the way. Deep inside he knew that blocking the fireball wouldn’t end well. The heat of the explosion rolled over him in waves, drying his whole body. The force of the explosion sent him rolling down into the valley. He hit the bottom hard, but jumped up fast, wincing at the gash on the back of his leg. He didn’t stop for a little pain but raced into motion. Drawing his bow, he fitted an arrow in and fired. He cursed under his breath as he ran, seeing that the arrow missed its mark. He fired with great speed, arrow after arrow, only a few found their mark. The ghast still lived, and kept firing back. His clothes, burst alight with blue fire, as a flaming orb landed just too close. He reached back for another arrow, and felt only two left. He fired one… missed. He locked the other arrow in and rolled to the side dodging another fireball. His leg bumped the hillside. He looked to the side. It was a cliff. He couldn’t escape another fireball in this spot.



  “This is it. If I miss, it’s over.” He fired his last shot and ran as the ghast fired another orb. He looked toward the ghast just in time to see it scream its last. It fell to the earth with a thud. He had slain it, but he didn’t have time to process this, as his world was washed in blue and erupted in searing heat. Ghaystan felt himself lift into the air. He landed on the hot earth hard. There was life left in him, but not energy.



  “The mine was safe; he could rest now.” Those were his last thoughts as his mind drifted off to a happier place. The place of dreams.



“Ghaystan, Ghaystan wake up,” someone called. Ghaystan’s eyes flitted open. He looked up and looking back at his was the beautiful, weather worn face of his mom. His body filled with excitement. “Could it really be her? How is she alive? It can’t be her. It’s a dream,” he thought.



“Is this a dream?”



“No, Ghaystan, this is real. I’m going to help you back to the portal.”