Work Text:
and the sin was mine alone
If you listen closely, the Nether hums. It’s a dull and distant humming, often more of a low pulse; the sound of fire and brimstone shifting underneath the ground joined with the groans of the mobs that roam the land.
For a visitor, it could be overwhelmingly constant. But once you become used to it, once it settles in the back of your head as only white noise, it is structure. It means comfort, it means shelter, it means safety. It is the song of the only world you would ever know. A harsh, burning world; but a home nonetheless.
Ray hums in tune with Nether, is in tune with the Nether, because he has nothing else to do. No other path, no other schedule. He fights in tune, he steps in tune, he plants and eats and breathes in tune. Sometimes when he’s tired, he’ll stare at the looming ceiling and the Ghasts sweeping by and swear it’s all in tune as he is.
He has a fragile structure, but he glues and holds it together with every fiber of life that he has. It doesn't change, and he continues to survive.
The zip of an arrow, the bubble of lava, the tangible crackle of fear as another nameless is lost; Ray lets the smoke burn in his lungs and tries to forget.
The Nether never changes, the Nether drifts.