Lin the Piglin Book 3, page 1
Lin the Piglin
Book: 4 The Little Pig Lin’s Way Home
Casper Craft
PUBLISHED BY:
Casper Craft
Copyright © 2021
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Table of Contents:
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
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Chapter One
Everything was exploding, and nothing was alright. The True Wither burst through, well everything. Three coal-black Wither Skeleton heads sat atop four soul sand blocks. This simple recipe created the True Wither, a nightmare of mass destruction. Lin knew of only one way to deal with the thing as it shot exploding skulls in every direction. Run, panic, scream and run faster. She yelled at Mc Boned Face.
"Run faster, you fool!" Screaming at the top of her lungs, her piggy hooves digging into the skeleton horse's side, trying to make it go faster herself.
Before Mc Boned Face could so much as turn his head, the True Wither had obliterated the walls of the castle. Launching exploding skeletal heads in every direction as it rose into the air. Mc Boned Face whistled loud enough to be heard over the dim of the battle as the two Golems threw themselves into the True Wither. Their arms snapped up, slamming into the True Wither and drawing a screech of pain from it as it shot blue skulls into them, causing even more massive explosions.
A white wolf burst from the mobs, its teeth covered in black ash from biting who even knows how many Wither Skeletons. Mc Boned Face finally turned the horse's face to the wind and the rain, sending them rocketing away. Lin risked a glance back to see the True Wither blast the Golems into iron bars and red poppies before turning to fly after them. It launched a skull directly at them, blowing a massive hole in the blocks right behind them. Mc Boned Face screamed out.
"We have to find Steve! He is the only one who could beat this thing!"
Lin nodded as she tried her best not to cry. It would not matter if they found Steve or not. Nothing could beat a True Wither. They were unstoppable killing machines that could tear apart almost any block between them and their prey. Legend has it that True Withers had been responsible for the devastation of the Nether as well as the final blow against the original Builders. The True Wither was rumored to have created the massive ravines that could be found across the Upper World.
The skeleton horse raced across the blocks in a blur, with Mc Boned Face making it jump up ledges as they went. Lin's arms moved on their own, spreading wide as green skin and zombie muscle filled out over Mc Boned Face's ribs. Lin looked up at him, her head tilted to one side. He did not look back at her as they raced just out of reach of the True Wither. He must have noticed her look, though, as he spoke.
"That golden apple ruined my diet. Look at how much weight I put on."
Mc Boned Face pushed his head down from the rain where Lin could no longer see his face.
Looking down, Lin could see that the skeleton horse was not changing with him.
"What's happening to you?" Lin asked as softly as she could but still yelling over the storm.
"The Witches’ brew can cure any undead back to its living form. When I ate the apple, I triggered it the same as you. I hadn't planned on doing it because I won't be able to fight as a villager. They have such noodle-like arms after all."
From ahead, they saw a glimmer of light glowing more and more as they raced forward. Mc Boned Face turned to the light as another explosion rocked their path. With no other choice, he jumped the horse over the pit it created. Lin looked at the light and could see Steve! He was using buckets of lava to fight the Wither Skeletons mobbing him. Even as she watched, Steve was leaping from one tower of blocks to another. He used a bucket to scoop up and drop down lava in strategic points to fight off the Wither Skeletons. Steve looked awful, as if he had not slept in ages. His armor was tattered, near-total uselessness. She had to warn him right now before they got too close, and the True Wither caught him off guard.
"Steve, look out!" Lin squealed louder than the storm that was trying to drown out her warning.
The sight of Steve fighting for his life was the last straw as her tears mingled with the raindrops against Mc Boned Face’s back. The legendary Steve was already at his limits. She was bringing a fate worse than death down on him in an attempt to save her sorry hide.
Steve froze for a moment as the True Wither bore down on him. He did not scream or panic. He just calmly assessed the oncoming threat with a detached look in his eyes. Steve tilted his head back, letting the rain wash the dirt from his face. He would need to see clearly for what came next. With his face clear and his eyes resigned, Steve pulled a rocket from his inventory. Lin watched as he jetted into the air. Silver wings sprouting from his back and a missile in his hand. As he rose into the sky, the last Builder drew forth his mighty bow. It too, was chipped and cracked like his armor, but the enchantments still held firm across the hardwood.
The True Wither flinched as an arrow from Steve’s bow hit it, knocking it back a few blocks. Steve did not wait for his nemesis to catch its breath as he began raining arrows down upon it. Black and blue skulls flew screaming into Steve as the True Wither forgot about Lin and Mc Boned Face when it caught sight of the last Builder.
Mc Boned Face kept the horse running as Steve's bow snapped. It had barely been holding together like the rest of Steve's equipment. They crashed into each other mid-air, both screaming at a volume that cowed the storm in the thunderous wake of their mutual hatred, trading a dozen blows in a moment. The lighting from the storm raged, illuminating the battle between them as Steve used his sword to deflect the exploding skulls. The chipped and cracked blade of Steve's sword exploded into tiny slivers of diamonds. Steve tried to back away from the True Wither’s destruction, but the True Wither launched another volley of exploding skulls into Steve's backside. Steve’s wings broke next, sending him crashing into the ground as the True Wither rained destruction down on him. Lin watched as he fell, a scream held silent in her clenched throat.
"We have to go back!" Lin pleaded.
Mc Boned Face looked back at her, his face no longer a regular zombie but now a zombie villager. He kept the horse running too fast for Lin to jump off as he spoke.
"And do what, Lin?"
His words rang in her skull as the heavy truth slammed into her. She did not have an answer for what they would even do if they did go back. She looked back again to see Wither Skeletons pouring into the hole the True Wither had blasted into the earth. Rockets shot out of the hole to burst into the Wither. For a moment, it seemed to be working. The True Wither went into a frenzy, sending countless exploding skulls screeching into the pit below. She could picture Steve surrounded by loose blocks swinging wildly with his bare hands as the last bits of his armor broke down. Wither Skeletons attacking from all sides as the True Wither dug Steve’s prison out one blast at a time.
Lin did the only thing she could do. She wept harder than the rain fell as they ran for their lives like cowards. They kept running until the only noise besides the shower of raindrops around them was the heaving sounds of Lin’s weeping. Time passed as Lin racked her mind for anything at all she could do. Without an army, she could not hope to fight back. Mc Boned Face stopped, Lin's thoughts stopped with the horse as they entered a village.
Mc Boned Face fell off the horse, his golden sword falling to the ground from his now too weak arms. The transformation was complete, and Mc Boned Face looked up at her sadly. He bent over to pick the sword up again, his face twisted in an effort even to lift the handle from the grass blocks below him. Tears formed in his eyes as he strained until he fell back from the sword, never lifting it entirely from the ground. His voice still sounded like it used to, but his words had changed as he tilted his head back to cry out.
"WAA!" His voice was that of a villager.
The white wolf walked up to him, sniffing once and then licking his face softly.
"Waa." Fear and shame filled his voice in a way that words never could.
Mc Boned Face buried his face in the wolf's fur, taking non judgmental comfort from his furry friend. Lin looked down on him sadly and dismounted the skeletal horse before carefully walking toward him. She had no idea what to do or say to comfort him, but still, she wanted to be there for him. They both froze as a groan filled the air. Looking out, Lin could see a simple zombie shuffling towards them. Its empty eyes focused on Mc Bone Face. Night must have crept up on them unnoticed through the darkness of the storm. He leapt to his feet and, instead of running away, ran straight at the thing.
"Mc Boned Face no!" Lin called as she raced to him.
The zombie punched Mc Boned Face down and went to bite him. The only thing it got was a mouth full of Lin’s sword and a few swings. She dispatched the undead monster, turning to look down on her friend as he lunged to his feet angrily.
"Waa!" Mc Boned Face challenged her, his face twisted with anger.
He started hitting Lin with his frail vill
"Don't you ever try that kind of stunt again! After everything that happened to you, are you really going to throw your life away at any random chance that you will become a thing of the darkness again?"
He went slack in her arms as she glared at him. He waggled his arms, not trying to get free but emphasizing how weak he had become. He looked defeated, as if everything in the world no longer mattered. Lin spoke again, softer this time.
"We will figure something out, Mc Boned Face, anything but going back to the darkness. Okay?"
He nodded slowly, looking at the grass blocks as the rest of the fight drained out of him. Lin led him to the nearest house. The floor was familiar, and Lin realized that it was the village she had protected by hiding the villagers under fake floors.
She glared at Mc Boned Face, but it didn't have the heat of real anger behind it. He did not even notice her look as he stared blankly at the ground. Sighing, she took the bed out of her inventory. Carefully placing it down to put Mc Boned Face into it, he instantly went into a deep sleep. She watched him in silence for a bit. After Lin was sure Mc Boned Face was asleep, she gave a disgusted huff before going to work. She did not have time to sleep tonight.
It took several hours to dig out all the villagers who were happily asleep in their beds as if nothing were amiss. She fought off the oddball undead as she went. They were no longer a real issue as far as she was concerned. After freeing all the villagers, she went to the town center to dig out the Golem. He looked at her with sad eyes, a red poppy in one hand like a tiny teddy bear. With the voice that sounded like the chime of a silver bell, it spoke to her.
"Hello, little Piglin. It is good to see you again."
A genuine smile played across her face as she replied.
"It is good to see you again as well, big Golem. Do you know if… Steve survived the
Withers?"
The Golem did not move as its eyes shone brighter for a moment as it stared at things she could not see.
"Many things did not survive the night, little Golem. Many of my brothers have fallen to the Withers. Steve is alive, as Steve will always be alive. He is, however, trapped in a state perhaps worse than death."
Lin felt a whirlwind of emotions at the Golem's words. Steve had survived the attack somehow, but he was being tortured by the Withers forever.
"You can summon the Golems to save him then!" Lin screamed in excitement.
The Golem stared at her silently. She spoke again, more desperate than hopeful.
"You can summon the Golems to save him, right?"
The Golem looked at the stars, sadly reaching its arms towards the heavens slowly as it spoke.
"I can call the Iron Golems to fight, they might even rise for Steve on the principle of the matter, but I will not."
"What! Why?" Lin snarled back.
"We were built to protect the Builders and the villagers, little Golem. The True Wither was built to destroy us. It was made from a corrupted version of that magic which created us. I will not ask my brethren to fight a war they cannot win. I will not march them to their destruction while they abandon the villagers who needed them. The Golems that came to your aid came from Steve’s own house, not from villages abroad. Even if they did come, they do not have the numbers needed to take down the True Wither."
"What if I beat it?" Lin whispered.
The Golem did not look down at her as it spoke.
"If the True Wither should fall, I am sure some of my brothers would be willing to risk destruction to save Steve from the Wither Skeletons."
Lin looked around as the sun began to rise, thinking to herself. The True Wither was a nightmare to her people that could fight off maybe a hundred Piglins with ease. How was she, a lone Piglin, supposed to beat the thing? The only reason that Wither Skeletons did not use the thing all the time was how rare it was that one of their kind would leave a skull after its death that could be turned into a True Wither.
"If you can tell me a way to beat it, I will fight it. Even if it is the smallest of chances, I want to try. Just point me in the right direction, and I will try. It's the least I can do."
The Golem nodded slowly. Reaching out with one of its giant hands, it handed her a red
poppy.
"No matter how small you may be, little Golem, you should have flowers to offer children."
She took the poppy flower gratefully, feeling like it was the polite thing to do. The Golem smiled at her fondly and spoke again.
"There is a Witch far from here in the Swamp Biome. If anyone knows what it would take to beat a True Wither in single combat, it is her."
Lin heard the words and made the most logical choice she could. She tilted her head back and screamed to the stars.
"That old hag! Are you kidding me? She tried to eat me the last time I was there. No, wait, of course, it is her. It always comes back to her and her crazy ways."
Lin tried to calm herself, but she could not get the image of the crazy old bat sprinkling pepper on her hoof from her mind. She didn't want to be eaten by that old hag, but she could not think of anyone else that could help her. The Golem spoke again slowly.
"Or…"
"Or what?" Lin asked, willing to fight the True Wither with a stick and a snowball before seeing that Witch again.
"Steve’s, the Builder's house has fallen to the True Wither. Everything he has built is gone now. However, not everything the Builders created has been lost. There is a place called a Stronghold that Steve has found. Should you go there, you would find a portal surrounded by Ender Eyes. Go through that portal, and you will find the lair of another eternal being: the Ender Dragon."
"You want me to fight the Ender Dragon?" Lin did not mean to shout at the kind Golem, but she couldn't help it because of how insane that sounded.
"Steve has banished it for now, but it will be gone for a long time. Find another portal near its nest. Throw an Ender Pearl into it to go further into the homeland of the Darkness. In that land, there are houses the Builders made still stocked with powerful weapons and armor that you could take to battle with the True Wither. Once there, you will find one who may be willing to guide you further."
"So, I can either go see the Witch, or I can travel into the very heart of the Darkness for weapons?"
"Or you can walk away. No one but you is asking you to take this battle as your own."
“How do I find the way to the Stronghold?”
“A friend will give you the guide to follow.”
The Golem walked away from her. It had told her all she needed as it went quietly stomping
off into the village to let Lin think over her next move. She sat down to watch the sunrise
deep in thought.
The Witch is crazy but powerful and wise. She helped me once, but if she had more help to give, she would have done it when I was in her hut, right?
Lin nodded her head; sure, she was right and not just making up excuses to avoid the crazy bat who wanted to eat her bottom hooves.
Chapter Two
She went through the village wanting to be there when Mc Boned Face woke up. He was right where she had left him sleeping soundly. As the sun finally cleared the horizon, he sat up in bed. He looked at her and gave a disgusted, "Waa."
Lin tilted her head, confused as he leaped from bed with a clear purpose in mind. He immediately grasped Lin’s hoof and tried dragging her behind him. He was not strong enough to make her so much as lift her arm as his feet slid uselessly against the blocks. Head still tilted, she asked.
"Are you okay, Mc Boned Face?"
He raised one arm, waggling his fingers in the air as he did and gave her another useless, "Waa."
As if that one noise explained everything. His giant villager nose covered his mouth, making all of his words sound the same. He kept pulling her arm as hard as he could until she finally gave in and went with him, worried he might hurt himself if she didn't.
