Chapter Text
The first thing Techno noticed as he stepped through the portal, was the nauseating warping of the world around him, shadowed in purple until he blinked the colour clear of his vision.
The second thing he noticed was the horrendous temperature of the world. Waves of heat, like the blast of a forge, made his eyes water and a sheen of sweat immediately soak through his clothes. He quickly removed the outer layers of clothes under his armour, tying his hair back away from his face, grimacing as the heat made his tunic and trousers cling, disgustingly damp, to his skin.
He took a moment to reassess his situation.
Techno took a deep breath, inhaling the bitter sulphur air, gagged, and then released it, wiping the sweat from his brow. He then huffed and sat himself down on the crumbly red earth beneath him and began to re-arrange his pack, chiding himself for not taking Phil’s warning about the heat as he was forced to abandon most of his heavier clothes. At least he had brought extra water, he told himself.
Finally satisfied with his new arrangements, he shouldered his pack and stood, taking in his surroundings.
It was...strange. Hellish, if he was being honest. A constant, dull, blood red glow from various pockets of lava scattered dark shadows along the massive chasm he found himself staring into. The portal had opened out onto a ledge, carved into the sides of the chasm and leading into a makeshift road of rock that jutted out from the cliffside and patches of scorched wood bridges where the nether-rack was crumbled away. Far below, softly pulsing like a vein of blood, was a slowly churning, bubbling river of lava. The source of the heat.
The third thing, Techno noticed, after he had finally taken in the sights of the strange new world, was the unmistakable scream of pain far down the hack-carved road of the cliff.
Blood!
Blood!
Hurt?
Blood!
Caution!
New place!
Hurt!
Someone hurt!
Blood!
BLOOD!
Techno snarled, shaking his head at the voices as he withdrew his pickaxe, ears twitching in the direction of the scream.
He’d only just arrived, he didn’t want to have to fight anything now. He’d have the disadvantage, he knew. Anything living here clearly knew the location better than him, was better acclimatised to the environment, it would be easy, too easy, for him to lose a fight with anything he encountered.
He grit his teeth, Phil had been right about this place, he realised. He knew from the stories the man had told that it was going to be difficult to explore, but his mind had never fully imagined the concept to be anything like this.
Techno’s ears twitched. Whatever had been screaming was coming closer, he realised with a sharp thudding in his chest as his heart began to race at the prospect of a fight, so soon into arriving in this new world. He cautiously peered over the edge of the road, glancing down below as the screams, now followed by the sound of hoofbeats, grew closer.
His eyes caught sight of a humanoid figure, a dull sword in hand, and two massive, red boar-like creatures close on their heels. The humanoid was limping, running as fast as they seemed to manage with an injury, occasionally taking a swipe at the boars.
Techno saw blood dripping from the tusks of the boars.
Blood!
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
The humanoid was close now, no more than ten feet below where Techno perched, only a few switchbacks down from him. They rounded a corner, tripped, slamming hard into the jagged red rock of the path, before bringing up their sword, a whirling redness in their eyes as the boars screamed towards them.
BLOOD!
BLOOD!
CONSUME!
Techno obliged.
He dropped from his perch, pickaxe and armoured legs slamming into the back of one of the boars, breaking his fall and shattering the spine of the creature below him. He rolled off it’s side, and with a quick swing of the pickaxe to the beast’s head, ended its suffering.
Its comrade had noticed him, Techno realised too late as he felt something slam into his back, barreling him into the ground. He barely had time to cover his face with his free arm before being shoved against the jagged, ruddy stone beneath him as he was dragged by the second boar’s tusks. He could feel the large teeth pressing against the back plate of his armour, threatening to puncture it at any moment as the beast dragged him across the ground, scraping up his arm.
The voices shrieked as he felt as if something pierced his back.
He saw red.
He flung the pickaxe up and backwards.
Then everything went black.
For a long moment, he felt nothing. Only a vague warmth in his arm and lower back.
And then that warmth spread, covering his entire body as he returned from wherever his mind had gone from the shock.
He felt something hot and furry pressing heavily against his chest, crushing him as he came to.
Techno hissed as he tried to shove himself free of the thing, and nearly yelped as an arm grasped his wrist, pulling him out from under the now still body of the massive boar.
He heard what sounded like a voice, albeit in a deep guttural language he didn’t understand, as he was helped to his feet.
“...Thanks…” he coughed, taking a moment to breath, leaning against the wall of the cliff as he eyed the humanoid before him. The one who had helped him out from under the boar.
The one he’d just rescued, he realised.
They were tall, taller than him by at least a full head. Broad shouldered and muscular with simple, lightweight clothing, save for the metal breastplate. They looked human, almost. Their ears were quite similar to his own, he noticed, large and pointed and pig-like. Their face looked human enough, though far broader than his own and with a heavy underbite, accommodating for a pair of wicked looking tusks far larger than his would ever grow to be. Unlike him, however, their legs were clearly digitigrade and hooved.
Piglin!
Pig boy!
Pig boy!
Ancestor!
Grandpa?
Phil mentioned…
Piglin!
Ow…
Piglin!
Piglin hurt…
Techno hurt…
Hurt…
They were, weren’t they. Techno winced as the pain of his injuries began to finally register. He gingerly sat himself down against the cliff wall, eyeing the piglin as they proceeded to do the same, and began to inspect his wounds.
The arm he’d used to protect his face was covered in scrapes and seeping with blood. Not deep, but still stinging with pain. He reached for his canteen, unscrewing the cap off to clean up the wound, until he heard a concerned snort from the being beside him.
The piglin’s eyes narrowed as they shook their head at him.
To Techno’s surprise, they signed.
Save water.
He thought about it for a moment, until it finally clicked what the piglin had meant. Of course this environment wouldn’t have much water, he realised. It would be stupid of him to waste it on a wound.
He quickly capped the canteen, and signed in return, Thank you.
The piglin snorted, their ears perking up at his understanding.
Clean wound. They made a motion with their arm, as if licking it.
The voices suddenly began to stir at the thought.
Blood!
Blood!
Fought but no blood for us?
Blood!
Give us…
Give us!!!!
Techno shook his head at the thought of sating the voices’ desires.
Can’t . He signed to the piglin, tapping at his head, hoping they understood.
The piglin blinked, then chuckled, holding a hand out.
Can clean?
Techno inwardly cringed. He’d only just met this person, he didn’t know them, he didn’t trust them.
Except, they did pry him out from under the boar, he tried to reason with himself. And, it wasn’t as if he had anything else to clean his wounds with.
Besides, he thought, he did save their life.
Slowly, the voices chattering tensely in the back of his mind, he nodded, holding his wounded arm out to the piglin.
They, to his surprise, took it with gentle hands. Calloused fingers lightly turned his wrist and bent his elbow as they inspected the damage, before glancing back at him.
Can clean? They signed once more.
Techno nodded, hesitantly. He flinched as he felt a rather large tongue lap across the torn skin. The motion stung the raw, exposed nerves, the saliva nearly burning as it cleared away the blood and gravel.
Ew... He cringed. It was...admittedly gross. But at least it was something.
Techno continued to hiss between clenched teeth, wincing now and then, as the piglin cleaned the wound. Though, after awhile, the motion felt almost numbing. Eventually, while the pain certainly hadn’t stopped, he noticed it had lessened quite a bit.
Finally, the piglin stopped, before tearing up a strip of cloth from their tunic and bound it gently around the wound.
They grinned. Not from here? Soft skin?
Techno nodded.
Traveller? They asked, now cleaning their own wound, a deep gash along their upper arm.
Sort of. Techno shrugged, removing his armour to inspect the throbbing ache in his lower back. It had been steadily growing worse as the minutes had passed. He hoped the boar hadn’t punctured through the metal and stabbed him…
He sighed in relief as he saw there was only a dent in the metal plating, the armour had held. His back, though, still bore a deep seated bruise, he felt. Just below where his ribcage ended, near the kidney.
As if the realisation of the wound had kickstarted the true pain of it, Techno suddenly felt a horrid, pulsing ache in his back.
He leaned back once more against the cliff wall as his vision started to swim, the pain in his back rising as his stomach began to clench angrily. He felt a faint whimper of pain escape him as he tried to sign to the piglin, only to drop his arms to his sides as the motion sent a stabbing sensation through to his core.
He knew the wound wouldn’t kill him. But it did HURT.
Great. Techno hissed to himself. He’d just arrived, in a strange new world, in the hopes of escape from the pain of the old for awhile, only to have his spine nearly snapped on his first day here.
What are the odds?
Stupid boy!
Haha!
Stupid!
Idiot!
Shut up!
Technodumb!
Stupid!
Can’t escape it!
Follows!
Always follows!
Freak!
Shut up!
Follows the freak!
Always follows!
Can’t escape!
Shut up!
Through the flickering white of his vision, Techno noticed the piglin before him signing once more.
Bastion not far. Can help. They held their hand out for him.
Techno numbly took it, the prospect of getting help, any help, was far better than having to fend for himself with his wounds.
He grimaced as the piglin hoisted him to his feet, drawing his good arm around their shoulders with a grin.
Owe you. They crossed their free arm over their chest. Indebted.
And then they spoke.
It had to be speech, Techno realised, he’d heard them before as they had dug him out from under the boar.
It was oddly familiar.
“Ulnar.” the piglin pointed to themself.
A name.
Techno mimicked the gesture.
“Technoblade.”
Ulnar grinned.
“Tech No Blade.” the piglin nodded, then signed. Indebted to you, brother.