Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Hello, I am CountCard

After releasing 9 chapters of this I have realized that perhaps a introductory chapter would be wise to put, not only to inform readers of what they are getting into and how the world building works without revealing too much of the plot.

First off, I should warn that this is my second time writing fanfiction outside of joke fics and what can be described as alphabet soup with a side of chicken flavored elementary school writing that was made under a cafeteria microwave set to below absolute zero. 

The way I plan to have this go is I will be writing the Wither arc, a filler of between that and the portal arc, the portal arc, another in-between of the portal arc and season two, then season two, and finally a little bit of epilogue to wrap up the story.

So yes this will be a long fic with many chapters, how many I am unsure of but once the Wither arc is done and the filler comes along I will add a arc index on the summary so you can jump between arcs or skip some if you really want too.

 I don't dictate what chapters you read ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Oh and another thing, read the tags for a general understanding or what you are getting into, there are some major and minor character death as like the original game and I will make sure to but any trigger warnings into individual chapters (like chapter 10 which is technically 9)

And finally Jesse is not strictly male or female but genderfluid per the tags, Jesse's gender fluidity manifests in using mainly Any/all and their gender expression fluctuates on how feminine, masculine, or androgynous they feel that day.

Exceptions to this do exist however, sometimes they will state that they explicitly want to use a specific set of pronouns sometimes like She/Her, He/Him, They/Them, etc.

Also their race will not actually mentioned purposely because with so many different Jesse's exist so I thought it would be a good idea to actually make it that you can image your own Jesse! Whether you like red suspender, Green suspender, pink hair clip, etc you can choose what Jesse is for yourself!

Oh and also I'm colorblind and projecting that on Edward so if he mentions anything about color in his point of views don't trust him it's basically my break part every now and again having to not research every individual color in scenes and go wild.

Now for some world building info!

Crafting and enchanting both run on experience points which is basically essence of souls from humans/mobs that get absorbed back into the earth and enchanting and crafting things are just harnessing that essence to use.

There is in fact a semi-strange hiarchy in place, It goes in the following order from highest to lowest + run down on them:

• Owner / Founder: Self explanatory, creator of the first world. Contrary of Romeo's fragile ego, he is not on this level.
• Developer: Beings that work in the literal background that are basically everywhere, often docile unless they think the very fabric or the world's are at risk of breaking and will stop at nigh nothing to eliminate anything they deem as a threat. They are almost constantly invisable to the naked eye, however certain people or beings can have the ability to see, hear, sense or feel them
• P.A.T.A / Plot And Timeline Agency: They are directly between developers and admins, Romeo hates the fact that he has to answer to them and often will heavily deny it if you asked. They keep the general Minecraft Story Mode plot and keeps track of prophecies or omens and tries their best to make them fulfilled… unless they hate your guts for purposely messing with the plot line Edward. they also work with the multiverse and the portal network after the old builders opened that up on accident.
• Admin: There are an admin for every dimension, or, was really considering Fred. Romeo is admin of the Nether, Xara is was the admin of the End (She still technically is but I'm not getting into that), Fred was the overworld admin but after his death the overworld kinda shit itself and split off into four sub dimensions. 
• Moderator: An admin but on a much lower power / permission scale and actually don't really have any powers aside from nigh-immortality, increased inventory space, and can change the world settings for the one they are in charge of. The old builders were made Moderators as you could probably guess and that's how respawn is active in their little game area thing.
• Anomalies: Remember Herobrine? Entity 303? the various colors of Steve? Yeah most of the well known minecraft creepypastas are here and are under this classification as they aren't the ‘normal’ people. Edward falls under this category since he is technically a hacker from somewhere else but actually is inside the world, you also get put in this category if you deviate from mortal normality even if you are native (Hadrian got mad about being here at first before he got properly bumped up to moderator lol)
• Mortal: Pretty self explanatory again, Jesse is one, Reuben is one, Lukas is one, the average person is this category

also you know I how if you load a really old world version and load it up in a very more recent version the world generation gets messed up with most of the biomes being in-tact with some of the new ones appearing in the random chunks? 

Yeah Edward almost got terminated by the developers since his presence is forcing the world to update to the most recent version which of course is straining the world code going from 1.7 to 1.20.6 so chunk errors started happening and devs almost bitch slapped Edward out of existence.

Also after chapter 9/10 you can comment and Edward has a little You got mail! notification in his brain and can hear your comments so have fun with that 👍

Anyways thank you for clicking on here and reading, hope you have a good day and stick around!

Chapter Text

Aiden POV

“Aiden go get some eggs in town, Aiden it's your turn to go to town, Aiden stop being lazy and get up. Ugh!” I groaned to myself while I walked down the path back to the house.

Lukas kept nagging me about how we were getting low on groceries and instead of going himself makes me do it since I was quote-unquote 'Doing nothing all day and everyone else is busy'. I mean, come on, I'm allowed to relax for a day after fixing that stupid garden yesterday.

I sighed while kicking a stray cobblestone pebble on the path, keeping an eye out for mobs since it's starting to get dark. The leaves on the trees rustled in the wind as the sound of crickets started up now that the sun was setting, casting a warm glow in the sky.

The house was now in sight, but the sound of the bushes rustling got my attention.

My eyes widen a little, slowing to a stop as I stared at the direction of the sound before, totally not, screaming like a girl as a person came out of the bushes.

“Aye, woah woah woah woah calm down dude, are you trying to attract mobs man?!” The person said, raising half gloved hands up in a peace stance.

The person had silvery white hair fluffed up like wool with thick framed glasses sat on the nose, they wore some weird looking trench coat with blue inner embroidery and a neck jabot over a yellow vest jacket.

Overall, they did not look like they are from around here.

“Hey, I'm new 'round here," The person said, confirming my suspicions, "Don't got anywhere to sleep, mind if I bunk with you tonight man?” They continue speaking in an accent I had never heard before, alarm bells were ringing in my brain, but also this weird sense of they won't murder us, so it's fine.

“Uh… yeah… sure, just got to make sure the others are okay with it-” I didn't even get to finish my sentence before I was rudely interrupted by the other person again.

“Awesome man, thanks.” They said before heading into the house, opening the door without care as I heard Maya scream, and the sound of glass breaking with the person letting out a very loud swear.

Oh stars, what did I get myself into… It's fine, they'll be gone by morning… I think… hopefully…

Jesse POV, 5 months later

Bang, bang, bang.

The sound of the armor stand echoed inside the treehouse as I hit it with the wooden sword, Olivia paced around the tree house doing… something with redstone before she started up a conversation, after taking a break from carving a trench into the floor of course.

“Would you rather fight a hundred chicken-sized zombies, or ten zombie-sized chickens?” I heard her ask as I continue swinging my sword as I thought on my answer. “Just to be clear, you wouldn't have any weapons or armor. So, you'd have to fight them with your hands.” She continues after a beat of silence.

After a while I came up with my answer, “I'd have to go with the giant chickens. Not because I want to or because I think it would be easy, but because they would be an abomination.” I respond finally, continuing my swinging while she raised her eyebrow at me no doubt.

“Imagine their giant feet.” She says, letting out a quick shudder.

“Like I said, an abomination.”

“Soo… I’ve got a daylight sensor on the roof…” She began as I idly listen in, giving the occasional 'mmm hmm' to show I am somewhat listening, before she finishes with, “I didn't want to just leave Reuben here with nothing while we're at the building competition.”

Which I heard, loud and clear as day, “He's coming with us.” I say confidently almost instantly as Reuben gave a small oink, nudging the stand with his face.

“Really?” Olivia asked, sounding surprised and unsure.

“What kind of question is that? Of course he is.” I say back a little hurt at the thought of leaving him behind as much as the little guy himself.

“Okay. I'm not saying he shouldn't come. I'm not… But don't you think it's a little weird that you take him with you everywhere you go?” She says awkwardly before walking over to the window, “He kind of makes us look like… I don't know… amateurs.”

“It's not weird at all. Reuben is the best pet I could ask for. Obedient, loyal, and always happy to see me at the end of a long day.” I say sincerely, until I saw Reuben make an angry face at me did I retract a bit of my sentence. “Friend! I should have said friend, not pet.” I say awkwardly as Reuben gave a smug snort,

Olivia chuckled a little before sighing and saying, “I didn’t mean anything by it. I’m glad he’s coming. I just don’t wanna give people one more reason to call us 'losers'. I’m getting tired of it! I’m tired of being a laughing stalk!” She said sounding a little frustrated.

“Who cares what other people think?!” I say and crossed my arms confidently over my amazing encouragement speech.

“I know, I just… it wears you down.” She sighed insecurely, I sigh as well before I walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“You say you’re not a loser, Olivia! So WIN!” I say before saw her crack a small smile looking at me now.

“Okay. Fine.” She mumbled with a light huff.

Ssssssss…

I heard Reuben let out a squeal of fear, running away from the trap door and over to us. “Do you hear that?” I ask nervously.

Sssssss…

“Oh, no.” Olivia gasped before the trap door swung open and a loud distinctly male voice yelled “BOOM!” and caused the three of us to scream in terror with Reuben falling from shock, before the culprit takes off a creeper mask and reveals... it was Axel.

“Hahaha! Oh man, you guys totally freaked out! That was awe-” He didn't get long to speak before Reuben charged and bumped Axel in the chest with a squeal which caused him to let out an “Oof”.

“Axel! What’s the matter with you?!” Olivia shouted angrily while Reuben strut away offended.

“Great. Now I’m gonna smell like a pig at Endercon. I thought we were buddies!” Axel groaned, which I rolled my eyes a little at.

“That’s what you get, Axel!” I say and gave him a little glare.

“I brought you good times, and now I’m being punished for it?” The nerve.

“You scared us half to death!” I shouted  angrily, much like Olivia.

“Nothin’ is fun if you’re not scared half to death!” Axel replied, trying to defend himself, while I continued to frown at him.

“Did you bring the fireworks?” Olivia asked, trying not to sound annoyed.

“Of course I did! I even brought something for the little guy!” Axel replied before pulling out a small Ender Dragon costume, which I of course complimented because it looked awesome!

“You brought Reuben a disguise?” Olivia asked, raising a brow yet again.

“Umm… We’re going to a convention! SOMEBODY’s gotta wear a costume!” He said after he finished putting the costume on Reuben, which he immediately ran around the tree house in, squealing and oinking happily.

“He looks AWESOME!” I say with a smile at the little guy.

“You definitely brought the fireworks, right?” Olivia asked to make sure.

“Yeeesss! I’m ready! Waiting on you guys!” Axel groaned impatiently, “Hurry up and grab your stuff!” He continued before he walked back to the trap door.

“We’ll meet you downstairs, okay?” Olivia said before she went down the ladder following Axel. I picked up Reuben after grabbing some stuff from the chests and climb down the ladder then put him back on the ground, “That’s everything.” Olivia said after making sure we had everything.

“Let’s roll!” Axel said excitedly

“Yeah, dude! 'Roll'!” Olivia said, rolling her eyes lightheartedly.

“Let’s go!” I finish off as we started walking down the path to the build competition, although, it might just be excitement or stress…

But it kind of feels like someone is watching us…

Chapter Text

Jesse POV:

“I heard a pretty juicy rumor about the building competition, but you guys have to promise not to say anything.”

“Okay.”

“Also, it’s in two parts, each part more exciting than the last!” Axel started still drawing on.

To which I responded with a quick “Spit it out, Axel.” getting impatient with the vague speaking, but it clearly must be exciting since Axel continues to smile like a kid getting a present they wanted.

“Part one. The special guest at this year’s Endercon is none other than Gabriel the Warrior him-freaking-self! “ Axel said, which me and Olivia both widened our eye’s at before he continued, “Part two, According to my sources, the winner of the building competition’s gonna get to meet him!” he finished dramatically as Olivia’s mouth opened wide in shock.

“Meeting Gabriel would be a dream and an honor!” I say with a large smile on my face,

“Totally, he’s awesome, It’d be amazing to meet him” Olivia agreed beside me as Axel gave a small snicker before looking down at Reuben trotting beside me with the wings of the cardboard dragon costume.

“Reuben better be careful in that costume, last time Gabriel saw a dragon, it didn’t end well.” Axel joked as Reuben glared at him with the behind the dragon head cut out eyes.

As we walked, Olivia looked around at the trees surrounding us before speaking up, “Soooo, does this 'source' of yours make posters for a living?” Olivia asked, narrowing her eyes at him before noticing the almost comical amount of different posters hung up on the tree trunks.

A sign next to one of them with the words Gabriel's Keynote: Sold out before Axel spoke up after a brief beat of silence, “Yeah… My source, uhhh, doesn’t… uh… exist. You guys army only friends.” he admitted awkwardly.

We started walking again before I spoke up after an awkward silence fell over our little group, “Guys, let’s stay focused. We have a competition to win!” I said optimistically.

Before Olivia spoke up with her voice dripping with pessimism, “We never win, and this year we’ve got Reuben with us! We basically have no chance…”

After a while, I say, “Anything can happen, Olivia.” I say still being optimistic.

“Then why have we lost nine of these in a row?” Olivia retorts back, giving me a deadpan stare, which I shift awkwardly trying to think something up to keep the team optimism.

“You can’t. No, you can’t look at this as a whole. The odds are… refreshed each time… maybe no one else will show up!” I say with an awkward smile.

Olivia chuckled at me, “Now you’re being realistic, same as always.” she teased.

We did some more idle short talk before something brilliant came to mind.

“Wait a minute! Wait a minute!” I say, causing Axel and Olivia to stop walking momentarily to listen to what I had to say, “We’re thinking about this all wrong ! The point of the building competition isn’t just to build something! We have to do something to get noticed by the Judges!” I continued with my voice dripping with enthusiasm.

“Okay, then. So how do we do this?” Olivia asked with a raised eyebrow, waiting for me to give them a good game plan.

“We don’t just build something functional, we build something fun ! After we finish the fireworks machine like we planned, we then build something cool on top of it!” I say animatedly.

Olivia’s eyes widen along with Axel before she speaks up again, “You might be onto something!” she said excitedly as Axel prompted his input in.

“If you wanna get a reaction out of the judges, you build something scary.” He said, flaying his arms up in the air to emphasize his wording. “I say we build a creeper!”

“Wouldn’t an enderman be better? I’m more scared of endermen than creepers.” Olivia asked.

“They both have their moments. Both pretty scary.” Axel responded, choosing the middle ground of the argument.

“Then again, you scared the crap out of us, with a creeper today.” Olivia responded with a subtle shrug.

“Let’s build an enderman!” I decided.

“Aww… Olivia’s thing?” Axel sighed, letting his shoulders droop a little while Olivia looked at him, raising an eyebrow and saying, “Are you whining?”

Which Axel quickly responded with, “No, I was saying “awesome”.

“Yeah. I think this is the first time we've decided on something before getting to the competition. Think we've got everything we need?” Olivia states, looking at me towards the end.

“It wouldn't hurt to grab a little more.” I respond, rubbing the back of my neck a little.

“Let's get with the Grabbin', then.” Axel responds excitedly.

“We're so prepared. We can't lose. Cannot. Bring it in.” I say hyping up the group before putting our hands together and splitting off into different directions to grab materials.

After all that we approached the building competition grounds as people walked around to either their booths or to spectator spots, “We know what we're building, we've got all the stuff for it. We are so ready.” I say confidently as we walked out into the clearing from the woods.

“This year, it's going to be different. I'm not just ready to build. I'm ready to win.” Olivia said confidently before a town's person walked by us, giving us an offhanded,

“Nice pig, losers .” while walking by which made us pause walking.

Axel and Olivia look angrily at the town's person, while me and Reuben both groans embarrassed, with Reuben more offended than anything.

We continued walking towards the sign in booth before Axel spotted some people ahead and groaned before grumbling, “Oh, great. There's Lukas and the Ocelots. The rivalry continues.” he finishes as we continue walking before Olivia pipes up,

“Man, they've got matching leather jackets and everything.” she sighed.

Axel sighed a dejected, “So cool…” before widening his eyes and squinting at the group, “Hang on, there's more of them than usual.”

Me and Olivia's eyes widen in surprise as yes, in fact, there was a fifth person in the matching ocelot face on the back. Instead of a short leather jacket, they seemed to have a trench coat with blue hem and wore what looked like a lace black head covering which showed silvery white hair underneath in a flowery pattern.

Aiden heard us apparently because he turned his head to look back at us with a curious look on his face before quickly morphing into a smug smirk. “Well well well, if it isn't the Order of the Losers.”

Maya and Gill to turn back to look as well. “Great, the fail squad's here.” Maya said, rolling her eyes.

“Lukas, get a load of these losers!-” Gill said with an equally condescending tone before getting smacked on the back of the head by the mysterious fifth Ocelot while flicking Aiden's forehead.

“If you are going to insult people, at least be creative about it next time, those sucked.” They say in an ambiguous voice in a foreign accent I hadn't heard before with a hint of masculinity before turning to face us.

Their face was covered by a semitransparent black face veil that covered from the nose down, with their face shown in a seemingly bored frown. They also wore gray glasses with blue tint and a silver chain decorated by various blue rocks.

Under the coat they had a yellow vest coat with a pastel yellow ruffled jabot with a sapphire jewel at the neck point.

Lukas had finally turned around after finishing talking to the receptionist, saying, “Let's go, guys.” before walking to their booth with the fifth member practically shoving Aiden along as he stuck his tongue out at us with an angry glare.

The receptionist looked at us and gave us a polite smile before asking, “Name, please?”

Axel misunderstood and replied, “Axel, and how do you do?” which the person running the booth gave a quick chuckle at before continuing,

“No, your team name.”

Which caused us to look at each other awkwardly before Axel said an awkward “Team name? We are not ready for this.”

Olivia mumbling “So much for losing anonymously…” after some thinking I look at them and say.

“We're the Order of the Pig!” which Reuben oinked happily at. 

“Really?” Olivia asked with an unsure look.

“Is it meant to tie us to Reuben, or are you making fun of me?” Axel asked playfully.

Before I could reply, the receptionist says, “Okay, Order of the Pig.” The receptionist said, sounding unsure, “You guys are in Booth 5.”

We walked through the gate, Axel had a bit of an issue with his width and I heard Aiden laugh for a split second before yelling “Ow, Edward are you trying to give me a concussion?!”

I briefly looked over to see the person from before now known as Edward. Holding a stick in their hand while Aiden held his head, Edward looked down at him with a disappointed look on their face before turning to look inside a chest as we walked to our booth.

“Is that a freakin' beacon? They have a freakin' beacon?! Freakin' Beacon!?” Axel said in shock as I looked over to see Lucas pulling a beacon out of the chest they have, while the others started taking out stained-glass as well.

“That's stained-glass. They aren't just building a beacon. They're building a rainbow beacon. We're gonna lose. Their difficulty score is going to be higher than our total score.” Olivia said losing confidence while I look and could have sworn that Edward had floated some of the glass out of the chest, but that might just be my imagination playing tricks on me.

“But we’ve got something they don’t… fireworks.” I say with a grin.

Olivia speaks up, semi whispering to us, saying “We should probably stop staring at them.” But unfortunately, we weren't fast enough to look away since Gill walked towards us with a smirk along with Maya.

“Hahaha! Look, it's the Order of the Losers. Again.” he said condescendingly.

Maya piped up “Good one, Gill!” which they stopped laughing when Edward gave a quick smack of the stick they were still holding in their hand on their other hand with a raised brow and glare.

“We're just looking.” Olivia retorted sharply before Aiden had to of course open his big mouth. 

“There’ll be plenty of time for you all to look at it after it wins and gets shown at Endercon.” Gill and Maya looked at him, shaking their heads rapidly.

Axel spoke up replies with “You're being unpleasant.”

“Maybe not all of you… Endercon doesn't allow outside food or drink.” He responds with an evil smirk.

“Shut up.” I respond, getting angry at the comment.

“What's that?” Aiden said, trying to egg me on before getting picked up by the back of his jacket by Edward.

“They said 'Shut up' which is something you really should be doing before I shove you in my bag of holding again, and I'm not letting you out until we are done building.” He said passive-aggressive with a glare that made me glad it wasn't directed at me before releasing Aiden back on the ground after he nodded his head with a guilty face.

“He's right, stop wasting your time, Aiden. We've got work to do.” Lucas said, walking over to our little feud before I start to hear footsteps behind before a familiar voice spoke up.

“Hey Jesse. Guys.” Petra said, coming into view.

“Hey Petra.” I respond with a smile, “How's the build going?” Petra asked us. 

“Only time will tell. But we’re optimistic.” Axel said with a slight shrug.

“Hey Petra, I forgot to thank you for that nether star.” Lukas said walking closer to us past the other Ocelots,

“Yeah, those suck trying to get, no matter how you do it you're a lifesaver.” Edward said before walking over to the chest again, grabbing more items.

“Hey, not a problem.” Petra replied before Axel quickly chimed in sounding betrayed, which I honestly can't blame him,

“You helped these tools?” which caused Petra to look back at him with a raised brow before responding with

“For the right price, I’ll help anyone. If you need anything, you know where to find me.” She finished, starting to walk away from us.

“None of us know where to find you.”

“Exactly.”

After she left, Lukas looked over at us and said, “No hard feelings, guys. If you're cool with Petra, you're cool with us. Cool? So why don’t we just forget about all this, and, y’know… make this about how cool our builds are.” He said, trying to sound peaceful with his stupid perfect voice and stupid perfect vocabulary and his stupid- 

Okay dude we get it, you're in denial, quiet down your thoughts are loud as hell and I don't want to be hearing them.

My eyes widen, because I could have sworn I heard Edward, but he wasn't nearby nor talking.

After a while I realize everyone is staring at me expecting an answer, “We’re cool with Petra… but you need to teach your friends some manners.” I reply to him after a while.

“He’s just trying to get in your head.” Lukas assured, which earned a glare from Aiden.

“Well, have you heard the saying… it’s possible to be nice and win?” I say after a while realizing I didn't really have a saying to say, Olivia gave me an unsure cringed look after saying that.

“Sounds like something a loser would say-” Aiden said before the sound of something flying through the air sounded and Aiden lets out the most high-pitched scream ever as a live salmon flopped around on him. He ran away from it as Edward gave out a manic cackle.

Before anyone could say or do anything else, the person who checked everyone in before saying, “Ladies and gentlemen… welcome to the Endercon Building Competition! The winners of this competition will have their build featured at Endercon. The winners will also meet, in person, Gabriel the Warrior!” after saying that numerous excited shouts occurred with us joining as well.

As we got into the middle of our area getting ready to build, we hear in the booth beside us, “Ocelots! Ocelots! Ocelots!” looking over to see them doing some kind of handshake with Edward stood to the side leaning against a fence.

“Whoa. Handshake? We don’t have a handshake.” Olivia said, sounding jealous.

“We’ll just make one up. We’ll call it the uuhhhhhh…” I trail off trying to think of a name before deciding on “The 'Warrior Whip'!” I say before we try and do the handshake we just thought up and after failing a little more than wanted. 

Olivia sighed before saying, “Aaaand just like that, I’m nervous again.”

“Don’t talk like that! We can do this! Just stick to the plan and everything will be fine, this year, the Order of the Pig can't lose!” I say confidently, trying to bring up the team spirit before the Announcer speaks up.

“Building… starts… now!” which we quickly got to work building our fireworks machine.

After finishing the mechanism, I heard Aiden say, “Oh, no! A fireworks dispenser?! I’m soooo scared!” sarcastically.

“You worry about your build, and we’ll worry about ours.” I retort, giving him a quick glare before we build the Enderman, placing down the black wool and purple for the eyes.

After we finished that we flicked the lever and the fireworks go off, people are gathering around in awe with the person calling Reuben a loser shouting “Good build man!”

Aiden POV

… You have to be kidding me.

It took so long thinking of a build that would secure our winning stance. I even got Edward to agree to come this time, and all he wants to do every time Endercon comes around is play some stupid instruments and shoplift some stuff during the market.

Say's he isn't good at building which we all know is a damn lie but for once he agreed to come in return, we pack up our stuff into bags he gave us.

Won't even tell us why, all he says is it's a surprise and unavoidable or something. I honestly don't get it, He's been acting odd recently and won't tell us anything being all cryptic and what not, but it's a little odd how he's not using his abilities as often as he usually does.

He says it's nothing to worry about, but Lukas and I know he's lying. Anyway, back to the present, I can't help but feel angry at seeing The Order of The Loser's build attracting more attention than ours. I mean, come on, “it's just a bunch of dyed wool!”

Before I realized what I was doing I had punched a block of stone leaving it broken and lava started to poll out towards their build and consequently setting the loser's stupid pig on fire, he squealed and ran off. “Whoops…”

Jesse POV

“Oh, no! Reuben's on fire! Reuben, no! Come back!” I shout, watching Reuben run off to the woods with the wing of the dragon costume going up in flames.

“It was Aiden, that punk.” Axel growled before Olivia says in a panicked tone,

“The lava's getting closer!” which I looked down and saw indeed the lava was coming closer to our build at an alarming rate. “It's gonna ruin the build!”

“We’ve got to get Reuben!” I shout, jumping down and landing on top of Aiden, knocking him to the ground semi-unintentionally.

Axel and Olivia jumped down to follow me, with her shouting “We're right behind you!” following me,

Before I got far I saw something thrown to me to find an instant health potion which I caught on instinct. “You might need it, sorry 'bout Aiden.” I heard Edward say apologetic, I briefly nod my head quickly before running to the woods to look for him with my friends close behind.

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

“I don't see him anywhere -- Reuben?!” I shouted, looking around trying to find him as Olivia and Axel came up behind me.

“The sun's going down -- we've gotta find him fast.” Olivia said, jumping a little at a tree branch falling. 

“He could've gone anywhere… and this part of the woods is huge.” Axel spoke up with a slight frown on his face.

“We stand a better chance of finding him if we split up.” I am anxious to find him.

“If either of you get lost, just use the lights from EnderCon to make your way back to town, right?” Olivia says before running in a random direction to start searching.

Axel gave a brief “Got it.” before going his own direction, while I went running my own direction into the woods to look for Reuben, but there is no sign of him. 

“Reuben?! Where are you? Just give me an oink if you can hear me.” I call out before noticing smoke coming from a tree nearby, could that be Reuben?

I ran over in the direction of the smoke and found a burning tree. “He must have run by here!” I say to myself, widening my eyes before looking at the tree a little closer to see that the tree had been set ablaze rather recently. 

“Doesn’t look like this fire will spread. I bet Reuben started this.” I mumble before walking past the tree. I rushed to another forest clearing surrounded by other pigs and then stopped to check if one of them might be Reuben, “Reuben. Are you in there?” I call out to the pigs before they all start oinking loudly, making a ruckus.

“No, not you, gu… pig! Hey, All pigs but Reuben, shut up!” I shout, with them all comically shutting up. I walk onto a hill, jump off of it and continue walking. 

“Reuben, it’s getting scary out here!” I call out getting nervous seeing the sun set knowing the forest wasn't that lit and would be prime mob spawning and all I had was a wooden sword and a health potion. 

I pause walking, hearing something in the distance, “Reuben, is that you?” I called out, after a while I heard an oink and noticed smoke nearby, so I walked over to see if it was Reuben. I stopped a few steps away, noticing a burning costume that Reuben was wearing, which made my heart feel like it stopped and dropped like a dead weight into my stomach.

“Reuben? Reuben?! Oh, no! You in there, buddy?” I mutter, feeling my voice shake a little, examining the costume. “Oh geez, please don’t be toasted, Reuben…” I mutter feeling my throat dry and my breathing quickened, if he's in there and burned to death Aiden will pay. 

I lift the costume and luckily Reuben isn’t in it. I let out a large breathless sigh relieved. I stomped on the costume and put out the fire before leaving to not risk more of the forest catching on fire.

I then came across a cave and a river, the water rushed along its banks taking stray rocks and sand along its path while the cave held pitch darkness illuminated only by the outside light. I decided to enter the cave tunnel, not wanting to get wet today since it's cold and I still can't find Reuben. 

Once I passed through not looking in the very dark and creepy hole and back out onto the grass when I noticed something hiding in a shrubbery. I jumped down a small ledge and looked in the vegetation, at last I found Reuben shaking and hiding his face.

“Reuben! There you are!” I said, greatly relieved, Reuben perked his head up at my voice and oinked in excitement, happy to see me again walking to me. “Oh, I'm so happy to see you!” I laughed with a huge grin. Reuben smiles but then suddenly screams and I look behind me to notice a zombie right behind me. 

The zombies approach us and Reuben panics. “Reuben, run!” I shout before we start to run from the zombies. After a while, it sounds quiet, and we slow down to stop for a bit, my hands on my knees bracing me as I breathe. “Whew! I think… I think we’re good.”

I say before a creeper approaches us out of nowhere giving a hiss thus we run again, I jump over a block and stop to reassure Reuben again. “I think we made it!”

A skeleton shoots an arrow right above me. “Aah!” I yelp, I really should not say we are okay.

The skeleton attempted to shoot me again, this time it hit as I felt a sting of pain feeling it lodge into my flesh and through my shirt on my shoulder causing me to let out a quick and sharp “Ow!” Before I run with an arrow in my shoulder. 

Reuben and I run together before getting ambushed by a group of zombies. I pull out my wooden sword, praying it will last long enough to help as I took the first swing at a zombie.

“Back! Get back!” I shout, swinging it some more before turning my head slightly to the side to say to Reuben. “Stay behind me! I’ve got you.” Reuben obediently hides behind me, shaking and trembling. I hit the zombie several times until it died, then hit another once more and stabbed it in the head. 

Just then two more zombies now, this should be easy.

I kill the zombie on the left after hitting numerous times, then the other zombie but then my sword breaks. “Stupid wooden swords!” More mobs appear and approach us, with Reuben squealing in freight.

The zombies close in on us and a spider joins the party. Great. Amazing. Love that.  I thought to myself frustrated before speaking to Reuben again after he oinks at me, “I know it’s bad, I’ll think of something!”

I panicked watching the mobs close in on us before reluctantly saying, “You’re gonna have to make a run for it, okay? I’ll meet up with you back in town, I promise!” I plead, Reuben looks at me unsure. “Get outta here! Now!”

Reuben runs off, a zombie attempts to hit Reuben but misses, and Reuben successfully evades the mobs. Reuben is now gone.

Another spider jumps out and attacks me, which causes me to shout in surprise, knocking me to the ground. “Aah!” I try to crawl away, but the spider jumps on me with its long legs, attempting to take a stab at me. “Get off of me!”

I push the spider off with my feet, causing it to tumble. It gets back up, approaches me again as I crawl anxiously, and the spider once again jumps on me. But before it could take the final blow, Petra intervenes and kills the spider with a pickaxe. She reaches her hand out.

It was rough and calloused yet inviting all at the same time. I looked up at her to thank her before she said, “Come on, let’s get out of the open.” I nod my head wordlessly before I get lifted off the ground, and we escape the forest while I grab some string from the remains of the spider.

Olivia POV

“He should have been back by now, it's really dark outside and mobs had already started spawning…”

I mutter to Axel, looking at the gate to Endercon with worry in my stomach, while Axel scarfed down some food he got at the food court. I wasn't hungry, knowing the anxiety would just make me nauseous enough to throw up.

“They'll be fine Olivia, Jesse can handle themself just fine, plus they got a sword and that potion one of the Ocelots threw them.” Axel replied with his mouth still mostly full, but the disdain for even mentioning the Ocelots was clear.

Our build had burned down with the lava as everyone was more worried about their own builds to protect ours. Jesse asked us to help him find Reuben, so consequently it went up in flames, so the Ocelots won by default.

I can't blame Axel for being in a sour mood when talking about them, especially considering it was Aiden's fault the lava went out in the first place.

“I know, but what if something happens like their sword breaks, or they get ambushed, or they fall down somewhere they can't get out of or-” I ramble going down a spiral of what bad things could happen before hearing a voice from behind us. “I can tell ya something if it will ease your mind for now.”

I look back and see that new Ocelot member from before, Edwin? Eduardo? Edward? Something like that. “What would you have to tell us, hmm? That Aiden was sorry for losing his temper and setting Reuben on fire??” Axel said sharply, glaring at the person before us. 

They sigh before talking again, “Look, I get it, you are mad and rightfully so. However, I don't control his actions, no matter how much I try. I would have stopped him had I not gotten distracted, Your build was pretty cool at least.” They said with pressed lips in an awkward smile. 

“Anyway, that's not what I can tell. What I can tell is that Jesse isn't dead or lost, if I remember correctly, they should be with Petra now. The worst they can come back with would be an arrow to the shoulder, or a bruise if they remember the potion I gave them.” They say casually. 

Axel and I raised our eyebrows, and my mouth fell open, confused. “How do you know that is the case?” I was skeptical about the source of this information.

“Same way I know you might want these and not want to lose them after tonight, consider it as an apology since I wasn't going to do this originally.” They say before tossing 3 separate bags to us, Axel and I look inside them and I felt my face turn pale as we saw it was filled with our stuff back at the tree house plus some food and bedding. 

One was full of my stuff, Axel had him, and Jesse and Reuben shared one bag. “Hey, why did you-” Axel began before realizing the person was gone, no trace of where they went or that they were ever there.

'You might want these and not want to lose them after tonight'… What's happening tonight?…

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

Petra jumps down the hills. The sounds of boots on stone resonate throughout the cave entrance. I follow her; we walk through the cave together. I had drunk the health potion I was given after taking out the arrow in my shoulder to seal the hole in my skin. It was still kind of sore, but it's better than nothing. 

“I wanna show you something,” Petra said with her amazing slight vocal fry in her voice, her ginger hair flowed slightly in the wind as she walked from a draft that blew from ahead of us, and her eyes- 

Holy shit Jesse, I swear to the admin you continue to be any louder than you already are I will snap you like a twig I'm trying to scam people here and your thoughts are distracting.

I'm starting to think I might actually be crazy now.

“Not this isn’t a cool, dimly lit tunnel,” I say ignoring the inner terminal going on inside my brain, “but… how far away is this thing you want to show me?” I asked, tilting my head slightly, subconsciously waiting for her to continue. 

Apparently, my fear was noticeable, but she misunderstood what it was about because, after a few seconds, she said. “Careful, Jesse. You don’t want to get a reputation as a wimp.” She said, raising an eyebrow at me when I started stuttering trying to speak and defend myself. 

“This isn’t my first time in a cave, Petra,” I say, laughing awkwardly.

Suddenly we stopped walking abruptly which caused me to stumble a little at the sudden halt as Petra began to speak with a smug smirk on her face, “Yeah, but have you ever seen… A wither skull?”

Petra dramatically pulls out a freaky-looking black skull that looks charred and on the edge of crumbling to soot, as its eyeless sockets stare into my very soul. 

“Woah!” I shout in surprise at the sight of the disembodied head in her hand. 

“Fresh from the Nether. You’re the first person I’ve shown it to, so you’d better appreciate this,” she said with a teasing smirk before pocketing it back into her bag.

“That’s insane, Petra. You could’ve gotten yourself killed.” I say concerned, which Petra chuckles at, 

“Don’t worry so much. I can handle myself.” We resume our walking, basking in the silence after a while. “There’s this guy I’m meeting up with at Endercon… he’s gonna trade me a diamond for it. Being the resident go-getter pays off every once in a while. Literally.” Petra admitted nonchalantly, while some alarm bells rang in my head.

“The guy you got the skull for… what’s his deal?” I ask skeptical about this deal Petra is getting into. I know she is far more than capable of handling herself, but I can be concerned for a friend. 

“He’s kind of strange, I guess, but hey… everybody’s got their thing.” She shrugged.

To which I sarcastically reply, “And you never thought to ask him, 'Hey… what’s with your whole… totally normal… not at all weird… skull thing?'” crossing my arms with a furrowed brow of concern. 

“As long as this guy is willing to pay… I earned that diamond,” she said casually. 

“Wow.” I sigh in awe. 

“Wow… what?” she asked, confused. 

We temporarily stop walking for a bit, “In a single day, you went to the Nether, you killed a Wither skeleton… I mean, I did build a super cool statue, but still. It’s pretty sweet being you, huh?” I say with a smile. 

“You know… you could come with me.” Petra offered awkwardly.

Petra starts walking again, I follow her, trying to find my words again. “I mean, if you’re too nervous, I totally get it. But I wouldn’t mind a little backup.” Finally, my mouth caught up to my brain and I said excitedly.

“I’d be honored to be your backup.” which caused Petra to twitch a little smile,

“You don’t have to make such a big deal out of it, I just said that…”

I accidentally cut her off excitedly “'You could come with me' I know! I was there! It was amazing!”

“Kinda starting to have second thoughts…” Petra said awkwardly before stopping in a larger clearing in the cave lit by more torches than the rest of it, “Here…” She finishes before pointing at a crafting table nearby next to a single chest box. 

The tools on the side showed use and the wood of the chest looked chipped and splitters were bound to happen just by poking it. “You just keep a crafting table down here?” I say, raising an eyebrow. 

“Comes in handy. Since that wooden sword of yours got busted…” Petra trailed off, waiting for me to finish the sentence. 

“You’re giving me a new one?” I guessed. 

“Even better. You can make your own.” Petra responded with a grin. 

I walk over to the chest; I open the chest, being careful not to give myself a splinter on the oak wood. “Just grab what you need.” Petra reassured. 

I replied with a quick, “Oh. Okay. Thanks.” I searched inside the chest, shuffling through the random assortment of items inside. “Hey, is all this stuff yours?” I ask over my shoulder moving aside some rotten flesh with a leather cap inside, it makes a wet squelching sound I didn't like. 

“No, we’re just stealing from whoever was dumb enough to leave this here. Of course, it’s mine.” Petra says, rolling her eyes lighthearted and teasingly at me. 

“Just making sure- Oh, here we go! Jackpot!” I shout pulling out some tightly packed cobblestone and a stick then going to the crafting table. 

I placed the cobblestone in the center of the 9 squares, with the stick below them. The tiles glowed with a soft glowing green light enveloping the ingredients before morphing into a well-made stone sword that clambered to the top of it with the last of the glow leaving the item before picking it up.

“See, isn’t it better when you make it yourself?” Petra said, before we left the cave and entered a bridge that led to the town, Endercon was being held at. 

“Check it out… Endercon’s all lit up.” I look over and see it with its lighting casting an exciting and inviting glow out into the surrounding atmosphere. I also see the distinct beam of changing colored light in its center that went high into the sky, not seeming to ever stop as it reached up into the Aether.

“Aw, man… looks like Lukas and his ocelots won again.” I sigh disappointed.

“Sorry, Jesse. But you’ve got to admit… that beacon does look pretty sweet.” Petra says, putting a hand on my shoulder. 

“Yeah, yeah. I just wanted this to be the year we finally beat that jerk!” I groan. 

“You know, Lukas may be kind of arrogant, but he has come through for me in tricky situations. You might wanna get to know him… just in case.” Petra responds to my little pity party, while I felt a little better a question popped into my head. 

“Hey, what's with their new member, by the way? Edwin-” I ask before getting cut off by Petra correcting me, 

“You mean Edward?” she corrects me with an amused look on her face which made my face heat up a little from embarrassment.

“Yeah, Edward, what's their deal?” I finished asking. 

“He's… well, it's interesting, to say the least. A bit of an odd fellow with crappy social skills, but he means well… when he's not purposely scamming people, that is.” Petra admitted with a little awkward chuckle at the last part. 

“He's great for when you need to get something at a low price, just not too great when they're trying to sell you your own stuff while saying it's not already owned by you and that it is a newer quality of the same thing to have…” 

“… Also, not so good when he spite shoplifts if he can't strike a good deal. But don't tell anyone I said that I get free stuff from them sometimes that way,” Petra admitted, rubbing the back of her neck. My mouth fell open, and my eyes widened at the causal mention of Edward committing crimes.

“You know, why am I surprised, he's an ocelot.”

Petra looked at me with a side eye, “You know they aren't that bad, right? It's mostly Aiden if I'm being honest, but he gets tolerable when Lukas or Edward are around to keep him in check.” Petra said with her mouth pressed in a thin line. 

“So, keeping him in check is throwing a fish at him, according to Edward?” I asked with a raised eyebrow while Petra snorted, starting to laugh. 

“He did what?! Man, I should have stayed around longer, that sounds hilarious.” We both end up laughing for a good long while before we calm down.

“You know, it's kinda strange how Edward just wormed into their lives, to be frank,” Petra said, giving a quick chuckle as we got over our quick bout of laughter.

“Apparently Aiden found him while he was walking home close to their shared cabin home on the path, he was allegedly much more casual than a stranger usually is when they asked to sleep the night at their place and just never really left.” 

“He's also really cryptic sometimes and knows random stuff that he shouldn't really have the knowledge of siting a gut feeling and what not, Kinda makes you wonder if it was intentional or not…” Petra admitted.

“So, like a stray cat?” I asked jokingly, and Petra snorted again. 

“Yeah, pretty much.”

We were walking in silence with the sound of water flowing below us under the bridge which reflected the stars up in the sky. 

Petra idly said, “Remember what Endercon was like before it was cool?” 

To which I replied, “Remember what we were like before we were cool?”

Petra turned her head slightly to me before saying, “…some of us will never be cool.”

I gave a very dry laugh before we spotted creepers on the other side of the bridge. “Creepers!” I shout before glancing at the other side of the bridge only to find it surrounded by more creepers as well as zombies. “Crap… “

“This… doesn’t look good,” Petra said as the mobs started to close in on us like a pack of hungry wolves. After a few more seconds of panicking, I remember the water beneath us, looking at Petra as she came to the same realization.

Man, I'm going to be so cold when we get out of that water… “Well… there’s only one way off this bridge.” Petra said, “Whatever we do, we do it together.”

“All right, let’s jump!” I shouted while taking a leap off the bridge as a creeper was about to blow up next to me, and Petra followed suit, “Woo-hoo!”

While we were falling, I hit some bats away from me, and a creeper almost blew up next to me in the air before I managed to shove it towards the wall, hitting some chickens in the process. I looked down to see the fast-approaching water before my body began to sting really bad after landing in it.  “Aaaaah!” Petra screamed before diving into the water. 

“OWWWWW!” I shouted once I got back up above the surface of the liquid, “Burns, it burns!”

While Petra rolled her eyes and teasingly went, “Don’t you know? You dive into the water… you don’t land on top of it. Pull yourself together and follow me.” Petra says before swimming forward, and I follow her till we reach a way into land and to the Endercon gates.

“Just let me know if you see Reuben anywhere,” I said, looking at her worriedly. 

“He’s gotta be here somewhere, Jesse” Petra reassured me as we walked.

“I hope you’re right.” I sighed, worried about where Reuben was and whether he was okay or not…

“So. When we’re making the deal, I need you to let me do the talking, okay? I just don’t want anything to screw this up.” Petra said seriously which I, of course, got nervous about so I asked, 

“Should I be nervous about this?”

“Given your personality, your life experience, and everything else you've done to make it to this moment? … Yes.”

We come across Axel and Olivia. “Jesse!” Axel shouted, happy to see me in one piece. 

“… and… Petra?” Olivia said with a hint of confusion in her tone and what seemed like nervousness. 

“Hey, you all know Petra… my new super-close friend. We're super-close now.” I say with a round smile while Petra facepalms. 

“We ran into each other while I was looking for Reuben.” Axel looked down beside me towards the ground and noticed that Reuben was still missing. 

“Couldn’t find him either, huh?” He sighs with his lips pressed in a thin line while Olivia begins to speak, 

“I’m sorry, Jesse -- we looked everywhere!” She exclaimed with her voice a bit distressed. 

“I saw him, but before I knew what was happening, we were under attack by a monster horde, and I got shot in the shoulder and surrounded by zombies! I told him to run -- it was for his own good!” I explained trying to make them not feel as bad as they were right now, especially with how quickly Olivia spirals under stress.

Olivia and Axel both jump at this, looking at each other nervously. “Wait, shot in the shoulder?” Olivia asked nervously, 

“Like with an arrow?” Axel continued. Okay, they were starting to freak me out a little. 

“Yeah, why?” I asked, raising an eyebrow, confused. 

“Edward came up to us earlier saying, 'They should be with Petra now. The worst they can come back with would be an arrow to the shoulder, or a bruise if they remember the potion I gave them.' while we were waiting for you to come through the gates into town.” Olivia explains, which startles both me and Petra. 

I looked at Petra with wide eyes before she gave a nervous laugh, saying, “See, knows random stuff that he shouldn't really have the knowledge of.”

“Yeah, and apparently packed our stuff into bags from the treehouse, here,” Axel said before tossing me a bag, I looked inside and saw that in fact it had stuff that was distinctly mine inside plus food, a bedroll, and some of Reuben's things. 

“Said he wasn't originally going to warn us to pack or pack our stuff in general but said he felt bad about Reuben being on fire, so he did it anyway.” Axel continued while Petra spoke up, 

“Yeah, He told me to pack everything that I would be upset to lose when I was giving them the nether star as well. He won't tell anyone why packing stuff was needed, even the other Ocelots. It's weird, but I trust them, considering they have this weird knack for knowing stuff is going to happen.” Petra says before pulling out a bag as well to show us before putting it back away again.

After some talking and getting to catch up, Petra looks over at me and goes, “Hey, Jesse. It’s time to go see about that -- thing.”

Of which I respond in the subtlest way ever, “Oh, right, The 'thing'.” I say Olivia raised an eyebrow at me before saying 

“Subtle. As a punch to the face.” Like, ouch, Olivia, I thought I was doing pretty well. “Axel and I were gonna head into Endercon anyway -- see you in there?” She finished before she and Axel began walking more towards the Endercon main area.

“I heard somebody saying there’s free cake by the map booth.” I heard Axel briefly before he and Olivia walked out of sight. 

“Hurry -- we’re supposed to meet in the alley over there,” Petra says, pointing to a very normal, totally not creepy alley. We arrive in the alley to find the dealer, but there is no sign of said dealer. 

“Dark. Dark. Very dark in here.” I mumble, keeping close to Petra. 

“That's weird -- he said the dark, creepy alleyway close to the gates, but he's not here. Maybe he's late.” Petra mutters under her breath.

“Are you sure THIS is the dark, creepy alleyway he was talking about?” I ask, trying to be helpful. 

“Hmm…” Petra hummed, “I was… Okay, new plan.” She says before turning to fully look at me. “You stay here just in case this is the spot he meant, and I'll look around,” Petra says. 

I looked around at how desolate of life this area felt compared to the rest of town, right now with the muffled sounds of Endercon in the background gave me this eerie feeling… 

“Something about this feels off to me,” I say, nervous and a little on edge. 

“All of my secret deals feel off. That's why I usually keep them a secret. I'll be back before you know it. If he shows up while I'm gone, just stall for me.” Petra says before walking off, leaving me alone in the dark.

After a while of waiting, I heard footsteps come up behind me and I turned around to see a familiar figure very close behind me with black tints on the glasses instead of blue. The trench coat was closed instead of open., 

“Hey bucko, you look like the type fella that'd want my stock, ain't 'cha?” Yep, that's Edward. 

I gave out a startled yelp as he opened one of the flaps of the jacket to show an absurd number of enchanted weapons. 

“Oh shit, I know, that high-pitched wimpy yelp…” Edward groaned before flipping the black tint on the glasses up to show the normal blue tinting underneath. 

“Curses, uh- Hey Jesse you want some speed potion?” Edward says before pulling out a potion bottle that looks like a potion of swiftness. “Limited time offer for 3 emeralds, satisfaction guarantee if you don't snitch on me to any officials.”

“Edward, what are you doing?!” I asked, “Are you the dealer Petra is supposed to be meeting?!” I shout, with Edward giving a snort. 

“Nether nah man, I don't need some witherskull I could get as many as I want if I bothered,” Edward replies. “Now fork up the emeralds, you want the potion of swiftness at a discount or not, 'cause I could very well charge you the 18 emeralds if I so chose.” He said, narrowing his eyes down at me, curse my height. 

“Fine, I might need it later, who knows.” I relented and gave him some emeralds. Once he hands it to me, I look at the bottle and notice something weird, The liquid wasn't moving around.  

I realize the bottle was painted over and uncork it to find out it was not in fact swiftness but harming?! I looked back at him to yell at him before realizing he was gone as quick as he appeared, did I just get scammed?!

I then noticed a chest and got curious as to what was inside and moved to look inside it. The wood looked new and barely used, with the metal still holding its shiny Iron look without a hint of rust or wear that I could see. 

I had placed my hands on the hand grippers on the edges of the chest before a voice clears its throat behind me startling me as I let out a yelp in surprise before the voice speaks. “And just who are you ?”

Once I calmed down, I looked at the person behind me to see a man with long black hair and a long beard dressed in green robes with potions hooked onto a belt at the waist. His face seemed pale from lack of sun and had bags under his eyes. Once I calmed down my heart rate, I spoke, “You know you really shouldn't creep up on people like that. It's… creepy!”

“Don't test me.” the stranger said with a glare that made even the toughest shiver.

“I'm supposed to meet up with Petra, not whoever you're supposed to be! Give me one good reason why I shouldn't walk out of here right now!” The stranger says before I realize this must be the dealer Petra was talking about, oh no if I don't say something now, I could ruin the deal for her, and she will resent me forever! 

“I'm with Petra.”

“My deal is with her -- not her partner.” The dealer said, crossing his arms with his brows furrowed. 

“She'll be here. But we can get started without her.” I say without thinking too much about what I just said. 

“Do you have the skull?” The dealer asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Uh… well…”

The dealer glared at me harder, scrutinizing my every appearance, “You do, or you don't. You'd better not be toying with me!” He warned threateningly. 

“Petra has it -- and she'll be back any minute now!” I say truthfully.

“Well. As long as she's bringing it… I suppose it wouldn't kill me to wait a minute longer.” The dealer relents.

There are a few seconds of uncomfortable silence.

“Uh… well…” I tried to make small talk but failed.

And then another few seconds.

“Ivor!” I heard Petra shout as I let out a sigh of relief that the awkward silence was over. 

“Ah, here she is!” The dealer now known as Ivor let out. 

“Sorry I'm late, but -- good things are worth waiting for. I've got what you asked for.” Petra said, pulling the wither skull out to show him.

“If you have what you promised us,” I say, crossing my arms to appear tough. 

“You didn't say anything about 'us' when we first met. And I don't like surprises. If these are the people you associate with, perhaps we should call the whole thing off.”

“My friend is fine, right, Jesse? There's no problem here.” Petra says quickly looking at me with a face that reads 'If you ruin this for me, I will be very angry with you' 

“I'm cool if he's cool.” I said quickly, looking away from her awkwardly.

“It's settled, then -- you're both cool.” Petra decides.

“Proceed, then.” Ivor replies.

Petra gives Ivor the wither skull, he holds it with glee like a kid who just got their favorite toy from a store. “I'll take that diamond now,” Petra said impatiently, tapping her foot on the ground. 

“Take it, you've earned it.”

He says, pointing to the chest behind us, so that's what was in it. We walk over and open the chest only to find lapis. “Uh, this isn't a diamond…” I say trailing off at the end as Petra begins to look enraged. 

“No, it's Lapis!”

We look back to find Ivor gone.

Petra looked visibly upset, shoving the lapis in her pocket aggressively, “Of all the dirty, underhanded tricks to pull. I can't believe he got one over on me!” She groaned.

“Let's go after him!” I said just as pissed but for Petra and the fact that I technically got scammed twice in the span of a single hour and started running after Ivor. 

“I'm either getting that diamond, or I'm getting my skull back” Petra growled as we took off out the alley to see where he went, 

“Or you'll make him pay, right? Right?” I offered and Petra looked at me briefly, not saying anything before looking forward more. 

“Come on…”

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

We finally got out of the alleyways and out into the open as people walked around checking out booths and talking with each other, Petra while looking around goes “Do you see him anywhere?” After a while of scanning the various faces and people, I couldn't see anyone that looked like the Ivor. 

“We lost him.” I groan in disbelief.

“Then we'll just have to find again. Go!” Petra said before running to the left while I headed to the right, As I was walking around trying to find Ivor, Gabriel walks by, and an excited crowd notices this and runs after him. 

How do I know this? Simple, I got shoved aside by one of his many overbearing fans almost falling onto some poor guy's booth selling steaming hot soup, that would have hurt a lot.

“There he is! Gabriel! Gabriel!!!” One guy shouted, jumping in the air to see above the crowd, before The Usher steps in-between the crowd and Gabriel. “Step aside, please!” The Usher says as one girl got up to his face and shouted, “I just have one question!” practically pleading to be let through, but The Usher would not relent and just said, “Hold all your questions until after the keynote!” while the guy from before yelled out in an exasperated tone, “But the keynote's sold out.” This did not convince The Usher to let them through however and just stood his ground and spoke. “Hold all your questions anyway!” I have no idea how that guy can handle such a large crowd, but hey, he's effective.

I walked away from where the crowd of people that were surrounding The Usher to get going past some more stalls and booths. One was selling Redstone, another selling flowers and bone meal, and then I see Lukas leaning against a booth selling rabbit soup next to an exp potion stall. I walk over to him to strike up a conversation, weeding my way through some people. After a bit of small 'excuse me's and 'pardon me's until I reached Lukas.

“'Sup?”

“'Sup?”

“Nothing, 'sup with you?”

“Nothing, 'sup with you?”

“I just said -- nothing.”“

“Sorry, you guys didn't win this year.” Lukas said, breaking the loop we had unintended put ourselves in, “It might have turned out pretty cool. If it hadn't -- you know -- burned down or whatever.” Lukas continued. We stared at each other for a little longer before I decide to bring up the Ravager in the room.

“You know, that stunt your friend pulled really hurt my pig.” I said, narrowing my eyes and furrowing my eyebrows at him.

Lukas looked a bit awkward at the mention. “Okay, maybe, but I had nothing to do with that.”

“And then the other one scammed me of 3 Emeralds and is selling enchanted weapons, probably illegally, considering how he was acting.” I continue crossing my arms.

“Again, I had nothing to do with that.” Lukas repeated with his mouth pressed in a thin line. 

“Reuben's still missing, you know.”

I continued with Lukas looking even more guilty and remorseful. “Sorry, I hope you find him soon.” He says genuinely. 

After another few seconds of awkward silence, I spoke up, “Hey, you didn't happen to see a creepy guy with a long hair and a beard roaming around, did you?” I ask with drawing out my words a little subconsciously while Lukas looked at me strangely. 

“I don't think so… why?” He asked, raising an eyebrow at me.

“He kinda scammed Petra out of a diamond earlier.” I explain getting a little upset at the reminder, but quickly calmed myself to wait to vent that all onto the guy I'm mad at and not just Lukas, who was not even there at the time. 

“Whoa -- everyone knows, you don't mess with Petra.” Lukas said just as angry at the news. “Not if you know what's good for you.” He continued looking away for a seconded before looking back up at me, “I'll keep an eye out, okay?” Lukas said with a smile, which made me smile back. 

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

“So, uh, we're cool?” Lukas asked.

“Yeah, we're cool.” I replied with a slight chuckle.

“Cool, cool.”

“Coolio.”

“Coolness”

“You both are dorks.”

Me and Lukas both screamed in surprise, while I totally did not jump closer to Lukas as we both turn to see Edward standing there holding a brown baby Mooshroom cow like a football. “Like come on man, 'Coolio'???” He continued with a deadpan look on his face. 

“Please don't scare us like that!” I exclaim, holding a hand to my chest to feel my heart beating like crazy, while Lukas raised his eyebrows and pointed at the small animal.

“What's with the cow?…” He asked.

Edward wink-blinked for a second, seeming to process Lukas's words, before his face lit up. “Oh! Yeah, I some dude gave me him if I sold him some of my…” He trailed off staring uncannily blank at me before continuing, “… Completely legal enchanted…'tools'…” not breaking eye contact, which was honestly starting to freak me out. “His name is Mozo now, better than Marty or whatever his old owner called him, ain't that right little Mozo~” He said doing a baby voice at the little brown Mushroom cow as it let out a cute 'moooo' with Edward scratching his head affectionately.

Lukas stared at the cow with a look of confusion before leaning closer to me and whispering into my ear, “I've never seen him act like this, it's somehow creepier than when he is being the definition of creepy…” he whispered which caused Edward to snap his head in our direction unnaturally. 

“I heard that.” He said, which caused Lukas to jump.

“Well, I'm just going to go now, have to look for that guy that scammed Petra and all that…” I say with an awkward laugh before speed walking away going past the DJ and hear Axel's voice nearby laughing.

I locate the source and see Axel staring at a chicken farm and laughing. “Hahaha!” A chicken gets dropped into the farm as he scream-clucks as it fell. “Thought you could just wiggle right out of that trap, didn't you? Well -- Wiggle as much as you want -- you're not goin' anywhere!” Axel teased the chickens before I come up beside him and tap him on the arm.

“Axel, listen up -- any chance you've seen a creepy-looking beard-y guy anywhere?” I asked. “No, but Petra told me what happened -- I'm keeping an eye out for him.” He responded, I put my hands on my hips raising an eyebrow before he relents saying, “Okay, so I got a little distracted. It's just this machine presses all my buttons” Axel admitted before turning back to look at the chickens running around inside the contraption. “Unnecessarily complicated and mean to birds for no reason. It's just, when something like this calls, you gotta answer.” He continued before turning back to look at me. “But I swear, as soon as the demonstration is over…-” Before he could continue, I cut him off. 

“We really need your help, Axel. If we don't find this guy soon, we might never find him.” I pointed out.

“I was looking. I just got distracted.” Axel poorly defended himself.

“Have you seen Reuben?” I asked when I noticed Axel starting to turn back to the chicken farm, “I was hoping he might've made it to town while I was distracted.” I continued as Axel shook his head no.

“Haven't seen hide nor hair. But I'm sure he's fine. He's a tough little ham.” Axel says optimistically before going back to staring back at the chicken booth, which frustrates me a little. 

“Axel?” I say, drawing out my words while my eyes narrowed into a light glare. 

Axel turned back to me and went, “All right, all right. I'll look.” Before looking back at the machine. Again. “After I watch one more chicken get owned.” He said as the chickens clucked some more.

I roll my eyes and leave, deciding it was a better idea to continue looking now than try and keep Axel focused, turning around I notice a person who looks to be Ivor. “Ha! I see you now, weirdo…” I said under my breath before I began to follow Ivor, but it doesn't even take me walking past a single stall selling glowstone for me to get interrupted by Aiden.

“Well, if it isn't Team Trashbag! How's your stupid pig? I hear intense heat causes brain damage.” Aiden said with a cruel smirk. 

“Kinda busy right now, man.” I said really not in the mood to deal with Aiden right now and honestly was this close to punching him in the face. 

“Busy trying to get a life? Busy trying to get some friends?” Aiden sneered before the sound of something flying through the air sounded and a live flopping fish lands smack in his face as he screamed. 

I blinked, confused and a bit slow of a reaction before just kinda inching myself around him and continued walking to go catch Ivor, weeding my way through more people.

Once I get close enough, I place my hand on Ivor's shoulder, saying, “Hey! Where do you think you're-” I began before Ivor turned around to reveal it was, in fact, not Ivor but some woman who looked like him from behind.

“What do you think you're doing?” The lady yelled which made me jump startled.

I could start feeling my face get hot in embarrassment, “Oh, I'm sorry.” I said awkwardly. 

She continued backing away from me shouting “Get away from me!” with the people she was with staring at me with disappointed looks on their faces and furrowed eyes in anger. 

“I said I was sorry.” I said looking at them all, trying to portray that I was being genuine before the woman turns away disapprovingly. Before this situation could get any worse, I suddenly hear a very distinct sound…

And that sound just so happened to be an alarmed pig squeal…

“Reuben? Is that you?!” I shouted, walking to the source of the noise until I am in front of what looked to be a butcher stall with a large pig face. 

“Getcha pork shops here! Fresh off the bone!” The butcher calls out as I walked over before placing Reuben on the table about to kill him, “Nothing sticks to your ribs quite like a juicy pork chop!” He shouts before raising the stone pickaxe as Reuben shakes in fear.

“Reuben!” I shout running up to the table with the butcher looking at me with his eyebrows faced down in annoyance. 

“What's the big idea? I'm trying to run a business here.” Which caused me to get defensive.

“That's my pig!” 

“Oh, really? Well, I found him out in the woods, so I think that makes him my pig.” The butcher retorts back as Reuben continued to tremble on the wooden counter. “Not the fattest pig I've ever seen… But he should cook up real nice, anyway.”

“He's not food!” I Proclaim as Reuben looked at me with fear. 

The Butcher rolled his eyes, saying, “Once I butcher the thing, we can all have a piece. I like the jowl myself. Just a fancy word for cheeks.”

“Oh, come on!” I cry out.

“I might be amenable to some kind of trade… Not that you look like you got much of value. I gotta get some kind of return on my investment. Otherwise, it's straight to the slaughterhouse for… this… one…”

Butcher POV

What in the Nether is that…

I thought as I saw something standing behind the whiney teen in front of me. Its body morphed and twisted unnaturally with an elongated jaw that smiled a dark black void like how people rumor the End's surroundings to look like. 

Its eyes were shaped like crescent moons faced upward in an actor mask like smile, with a small circular eyeball floating inside that seemed to shake like it was wearing that of a horrifying fleshy mask. 

Its limbs stretched bending in multiple places like that of an Enderman but somehow worse, unnatural, terrifying…

“Here be a good deal for ye, return the piglet to the one before ye or face the wrath of that of a god…” The entity whispered in a raspy voice that sounded breathless and serene with an echo surrounding all around me yet not all at the same time.

“Do not scream, no one will be able to help ye~” The being coos before its long tentacles snaked in the air, wrapping around my arm, its cold slimy texture burned my skin like burning metal.

“Return the companion of the hero of near, or ye shall lose yourself in my realm never to escape with no one knowing the difference of if ye were to be here or gone…” The entity says with its eyes squinting with its shadows covering the top and bottoms of them as the world seems to grow distorted and darker, darker, yet darker as the temperature drops to freezing levels…

Jesse POV

“A-A-All right, you little maniac, fine. Take him, he's yours!” The Butcher stutters shoving Reuben over to me seemingly scared for no reason, I look around and see nothing and caulk it up to the guy being weird. 

“C'mon, Reuben.” I say as Reuben glares at me as we walk. “I'm sorry, Reuben. I never should've let you run off in the woods.” I say apologetically. I walk around, passing by more stalls selling items and people talking to one another before I spot Olivia close by and begin to walk over by the chicken farm, which I notice is vacant of Axel.

I get close to her and talk to Olivia “Remember that thing I had to go do with Petra? Long story short, we met up with this guy, he cheated me and Petra on a deal, and now we're trying to track him down.” I say quickly explaining the current situation. “You in?” 

“Oh, I'm in, all right.” Olivia responds determined to find this guy.

“Any sign of him?” I hear Petra ask coming up behind me along with Axel. 

“I thought I saw him earlier, but it was just a false alarm.” I groan before jumping as I notice someone heading up the stairs to the hall where Gabriel's Keynote was at, “Wait! There he is!” I say as the rest turn to see Ivor look back at us and laugh evilly, “Looks like he's heading towards the Hall.” 

“We're going to have to get past that usher to follow him.” Petra said, turning to me.

“Let's go!” I shout before we go up to the Usher, as we all put on our best smiles. “So, yeah, hey.” I say with a normal grin.

“What would it take to get us inside tonight?” Petra asked with a smile on her face as well, hoping getting in would be easy,

“Uh…tickets…hehehe…Hahahahahaha… That was a good one. You should laugh.” The Usher said laughing, making the conversation a little awkward, man I praised this guy for being good at his job I jinxed myself…

“Here's the thing -- we had tickets, but we lost them.” I say trying to gain sympathy from The Usher.

“Oh man, I hate it when stuff like that happens.” 

“Me too! I feel like such an idiot!” I say, laughing awkwardly.

I didn't convince the Usher, apparently “I'm sorry, but… no tickets, no show.” He says, shrugging his shoulders.

A sudden chicken appears next to the Usher, which frightens him. “Chickeeeeennnnnn!!! Chicken - Chicken - Chicken!” The Usher shouted until the chicken ran off to go peak some food on the ground, “It's gone, you're totally fine, you're a totally cool dude.” The Usher says to himself under his breath before we walk away to rethink of another plan.

“We have to do something” Petra states.

“Like what? This show has been sold out for ages!” 

“I could bust right through.” Axel offered, trying to be helpful, “I just need a little wind-up room…” Petra looked at him with a tightly pressed mouth before looking at the rest of the group again. 

“Any other bright ideas?”

“We need a distraction.” I offer, with Petra nodding her head in agreement.

“A lot of chickens running around might be a distraction.” She says as we all turn to face the Chicken machine yet again.

“The usher is afraid of chickens… What would you say if I told you I wanna break this guy's chicken machine to create the mother of all distractions?” I say, pointing at the many running chickens inside the glassed-in area up at the top that made up the area behind the high of the giant chicken head of wool. 

“But you have to break that pane of glass.” She said, pointing to one of the low-level ones that were still a bit too high for me to simply jump and break before turning back to look at me, “How're you going to reach it?”

“Let's look around, there has to be something we can do.” Petra decided, as they all walk off in various directions, not going far from the surrounding area. 

I looked around, passing by more stalls selling stuff, to see if maybe I could use something being sold to get up to the machine's glass. Eventually I come across a stall with banners up at the top showing slime blocks with a man jumping up and down on a slime block. This looked like one of the people that was with the lady I thought was Ivor earlier. 

“Hmm… I bet I could reach that glass with a slime block.” I mumble to myself before I enter in line for a slime selling booth, only to realize in horror that the merchant selling them was the very same lady from before, oops…

“Ohh…heeyyy…we meet again…hehe…he…” I laugh awkwardly as the lady glares at me, “One slime block, please.” I say awkward, with the lady continuing to glare at me.

“We don't give out slime blocks here. Just slime balls. But we've got a limited supply today, and we're only giving out 2 per customer.” She explained with a monotone look on her face before turning to the guy jumping on the slime block and added, “You could craft your own slime block if you had 9 slime balls…” She finished before staring at me again.

 After a while I began to apologize, “I'm really sorry about earlier -- I honestly thought you were someone else…”

“Apology accepted.”

“A round of slime balls for everyone, please.” Axel said coming up behind me along with Petra and Olivia all smiling. 

Once everyone had gotten 2 slime balls, we came to the realization that between us all, we only had 8 slime balls when we needed 9. “Wait, this is only eight slime balls, we need one more to make a block.”

“Okay, we need to find another way to get some more slime, and quick.” Petra declared. 

“On it!” Axel said running off.

Lukas POV - 5 minutes ago

“Why…”

“Why what?”

I was staring at Edward with a dumbfounded expression on my face. He had asked me to get a singular slimeball, and then stand leaning against a fence post close to a crafting table flipping it up and down making it obvious I had a slimeball so I could help Jesse…

 “Why do I have to do this? What's the reason, Ed, you've been acting really weird lately…” I say as Gill, Maya, and Aiden stood nearby with Aiden having a bored look on his face.

“The reason, to be blunt, is if you don't the already looming apocalypse will be much worse than it already will be, and this world would have less of a chance of survival.” Edward said with a smile while petting his new pet on the head. 

I backed up a step-in surprise at not only his bluntness, but the words he said. “What do you mean 'looming apocalypse' Edward, what's going on!” I panicked, catching the attention of some passers-byers and my other friends who were standing nearby, with Gill having the most horrified look out of the 3 of them since he was passively listening in on our conversation.

Edward pressed his mouth in a thin line before leaning close to me, “Listen, I know this is a bit of a shock, but this is some serious shit, so listen up. I don't need anyone causing a panic or alarm right now, so P.A.T.A don't get mad at me for messing up the world line too drastically.” Edward whispered in my ear. 

“What's P-”

“Plot and Timeline Agency,” Edward said, cutting me off, “Anyways that's not important right now, what is that you don't move from that spot until Jesse comes up to you, and you hang out with their group for a while. While you are doing that, I will be keeping an eye on the others to see if maybe I can make it to where they don't get consumed for the next few days or so, if I succeed, they should join you in the Nether so if that's the case try and make sure Aiden doesn't cause any trouble.”

I stood there frozen, processing all that, Plot and Timeline Agency? My friends will get consumed?? “Ed, this is a lot to process, why don't you just stop this 'looming apocalypse' as you call it?” I ask, feeling my hand shaking a little.

Aiden went from a bored expression waiting for us to finish talking to what looked like genuine concern unaware of the conversation topic going on. 

“I would change a lot if I could, but the higher ups will get mad at me, they don't even like me being here interacting with all of you in the first place. If I change something as big as The Wither Storm, I could get in some serious shit for it and potentially be kicked out of the world.” He explained, with a sullen and guilty expression on his face, after he said that Maya walked over.

“Hey, what's going on over here?” She asked, concern evident on her face.

“It's nothing you need to worry about, I was just telling Lukas about… uh… aaaabout this animal I found yesterday by the cabin, yeah, that's it, was all dead and gnarly and what not and was one of those cute ones too, like uh, a rabbit. Yeah, Rabbit.” Edward said, forcing a smile on his face before elbowing me in the side a little before I got the message.

“Yeah, he described it in gruesome detail, you know how he is with his uncomfortable attention to detail. eh heheheh…heheh…heh…” I chuckle awkwardly.

Maya clearly didn't buy it and was going to say something more before Edward clapped his hands suddenly and went, “So, you guys ready for the keynote! Lukas will be there shortly; he just needs to buy some more stuff at the stalls, come along!” He says before gently shoving Maya back over to the others and then starts leading them up to the hall. He looks back for a second with a look of sympathy before heading inside the hall with the others in tow. The Wither Storm?…

Jesse POV

I notice Lukas holding a slime ball, flipping it up and down in the air, and get the good idea to talk to him. “Hey, uh, Lukas? Can you do me a favor?” I ask Lukas as he stopped tossing the slime ball in the air, jumping slightly at my voice before smiling and saying. 

“Anything's possible.” with his perfect smile. “I need slime balls. I swear I have a really good explanation --” I say before Lukas quickly looks at me, looks at the others approaching, and turns back to me with a smile and says, “Whatever you guys are doing, count me in.” before Lukas gives his slime ball to me.

“Thanks, Lukas.” Petra said gratefully before turning to me and going, “Told you he was useful.” While Axel began to immediately complain by groaning, “Aw, man --this guy isn't actually cool, is he?”

With Olivia quick to clap back with a sharp “Remains to be seen.” which caused Lukas to furrow his eyes at them about to get defensive before I go over to the crafting table and start placing the slime balls in the slots of the crafting table.

“So, you guys been building together long? You've got good chemistry.” Lukas asked idly behind me.

“You jealous?” I heard Axel say back, hearing the grin in his voice.

“I'm just saying. I think it's cool you have a team that works so well together.”

“You're totally jealous.”

“Ta-da!” I shout once the slime balls in the tiles glowed with a soft glowing green light enveloping the ingredients before morphing to a blob of sticky oozing green slime. “One slime block! Gross!” I spoke, making a disgusted face at the item in front of me on the table. 

“I'll take that.” Olivia said before just picking it up with her bare hands and walking away as the block left a semi clear trail where it was. “Riiiiight there.” Olivia said before placing it on the ground, 7 steps from the crafting table. 

“It's all you, Jesse.” Axel said looking at me, right, of course, I'm the one who suggested it so it's my duty to do it. “Gimme a boost.” I sigh in acceptance, knowing it's going to suck getting the slime off my shoes. I get lifted onto the platform and then jump.

“Whoah!” I shout after failing the jump and belly-flopping on the slime block and crashing into the window, Ew this is worse than it being on my shoes…

The window breaks, which release several chickens. “My poultry! My precious poultry!” The machine's owner cries out as the chickens surround The Usher, “Keep your eyes closed! They'll peck out your eyes!” He shouts before he gets knocked down by a chicken. 

“Ahhhhhh!” he screams as they bawk. “Now's our chance!” Petra shouts before we enter the stage room of the hall. “Hey!” I hear The Usher shout slightly before turning back for a second and see him get knocked down by another chicken before following the group and heading inside…

Chapter Text

Lukas POV:

We ran in through the doors to the stage area to find the dome like area devoid of many people and, unfortunately, devoid of that dude we were chasing in the robe.

The place had been decorated in purples and lit up by red stone torches aside from the stage. The stage had a large Ender dragon head above the stage, with some Redstone lights directed to the stage's backdrop to cast a glow on the stage area. This kept the rest of the auditorium dark, but not too dark to allow hostile mobs to create from the darkness.

While I was scanning around to see if I could see that guy, I noticed my friends over to the back corner while Maya held onto Ed's new cow. Aiden leaned against the wall, and Gill was laying his head on Maya's shoulder.

Edward noticed we had entered through the gate and raised a hand to his lips and then jerked his head to his right facing me which would be my left, I was confused on what he was trying to say before Petra spoke up in front of me saying, “Where'd he go?” with a slightly annoyed tone before Jesse spoke up to my left kinda whisper shouted to the group.

“There! Through that door!” which I notice then that they were pointing at a slightly open door a bit aways over to my left, oh, that's what he was trying to signal to me.

We ran over to the door with Jesse going first, then Petra, then Olivia with Axel and Reuben trailing close behind, and I came in last. I decided before we ended up running into this guy I should ask, “What do we do once we catch him?” which caused everyone to pause and look back at me. “There are a million ways to play this. But considering this isn't my fight, I'll follow your lead.” I continue not wanting to give off any bad impressions with how Axel and Olivia kinda outwardly resent me.

“Whatever we have to.” Jesse responded with a serious look on their face.

“You're way more intense than I gave you credit for, Jesse.” I admit awkwardly.

“Ready?” Jesse says to the rest of the group, with Petra responding,

“Ready.” and we all file in through the dark and creepy door. 

Jesse POV:

“See anything?”

“He must have gone out another way.”

“What is all this?” Olivia asked confused looking around.

“Looks like it used to be the basement.” I guessed, “Weird place to have a hideout.” I commented while Axel ran ahead of the rest of the group.

Petra stopped next to me said turned to me, saying, “I bet you anything I'll find my Wither skull here.”

“And if we find anything else cool to steal along the way, so be it, right?” Axel called out like a child being told they could have whatever toy they wanted at the amusement park.

Petra rolled her eyes and walked over to Axel to have him in eyesight and said, “Axel, that's not what we're here to do.”

“I did say we should do whatever we have to…” I repeat with a shrug.

Axel responds with, “And if this guy's not around, what we have to do is steal.”

“I don't want to stoop to his level.” Petra tells Axel after my he finished talking with her brows furrowed in agitation.

Axel blinked and spoke sounding and looking genuinely confused, asking, “But isn't that the best way to get back at him?”

Before either could continue this conversation, I butt in, reminding them, “Ivor could come back any minute. There's no time for looting.” I say looking at Axel specifically at that last part.

“There's always time for looting, Jesse -- always.”

“The faster we find what we're looking for, the faster we can get the heck out of here.” I retort before I split off from Lukas, I walked around mostly finding books on brewing, Petra almost hitting me with a golden sword Which was super cool by the way, it really suited her eyes. And Axel going on his little kleptomaniac ramblings trying to decide what he wanted to steal before my eyes set on some really weird looking potion that glowed a weird murky purple color. “Oooooh, take a look at this!” I say excitedly as Axel joins me.

“You're not gonna believe me, but I swear I had a dream about this.” Axel muttered and began to reach for the potion which I put my arms on my hips at shaking my head.

“C'mon Axel -- make yourself useful and go find that skull.” I scolded while narrowing my eyes at Axel.

“I am…” Axel responds before grabbing the potion off the pedestal.

“Uh, nope. You're literally doing the exact opposite of what I just asked you to do.” I deadpan matter-of-factly, “There's no way he won't notice his fancy potion is missing.” I point out with Axel quickly looking around and then walks over to a wall picking up another purple potion.

This one did not glow but passed well at first glance. “A good thief always covers his tracks.” Axel explained before he places it on the stand where the original potion was. “Fixed it!”

“Oh yeah, the perfect crime.” I respond sarcastically.

I walk around, noticing Reuben and go up to him and go, “Hey, Reuben. Find any clues?” which he gave an oink at and sniffed the ground, walking off. “What it is, buddy? You smell something?” I ask following where he leads me until Reuben points to the lever on the wall. “Good work, Reuben!” I say, scratching the top of his head.

I pull my hand away and move it to the lever and pull it, which opens a wall made of shelves, startling Olivia, who was right up in front of it. The wall lowered and ends up revealing a T-stand made of soulsand with a weird glowing block with small squares that flickered in different colors in the middle.

“What the nether is all this stuff?” I question as everyone approaches it curious as well.

“Soul Sand. It was everywhere in the Nether.” Petra said automatically before I point at the weird color changing block and ask, “What about that block in the middle?”

“I've never seen one of these before…” Olivia sighed, taking a step closer, “I wonder if I just -- take a closer look…” She continues starting to reach toward the block. “Do you feel that? It's -- almost pulsing.” She gasped as her hand got even closer to touching the mystery block.

“Don't touch it, Olivia!” I shout after getting a horrible gut feeling when she reached out to touch it.

“I was just curious.” Olivia complained.

“Don't forget what we're for -- find that skull.” I remind her, Olivia nods at me and walks away from the abnormal block finally.

I looked down to notice a massive chest in front of the T-shaped stand of soul sand and open the chest. “Sooooooo…. Good news, weird news. I found the skull, but…” I trail off, waiting for the others to peer over to look inside as well, unsure how to describe what I'm seeing as I look down at not one, but three wither skulls.

“What the hell? Why'd I risk my neck for that skull if he's got two of them already?” Petra said, sounding annoyed as everyone looked inside the chest, adopting various looks of confusion.

“He was in such a hurry to get it, too. There's gotta be something bigger going on here.” Petra speculates while I get to thinking.

“This has gotta be connected somehow. The chest with the skulls was hidden back here with everything else -- that's gotta mean something.” I offer with Petra mumbling a quiet,

“But what?”

After about a minute, I hear Lukas speak to my left, “I think I know what's going on here. Soul Sand, plus three Wither skulls… That's the recipe for a Wither.” Lukas concluded with a horrified pale look on his already paled face.

“But… A Wither… That's --”

“One of the worst monsters there is.” Lukas mutters before turning to us. “I have to tell you guys something, something that Edward said earlier…” He began as Petra and I raised our eyebrows curious while Axel and Olivia shared looks with each other. “Me leaning against that fence post earlier flipping that slimeball up and down for Jesse to see wasn't a coincidence, Edward specifically told me to stay and wait for you. Said something about a looming apocalypse and how I was a deciding factor on whether this world continues along with you guys, and he specifically called it the Wither Storm…” Lukas admits as everyone froze. 

“Wait, hold up, is that why we had to have our stuff packed?!” Olivia gasped sounding terrified, “Please tell me you are joking, please let this be a joke I do not want the world to fall on our shoulders like we are some heroes or The Order of The Stone!” She continued looking on the verge of a panic attack before Axel grabbed her arms and squeezed her in a hug, unsure how to react.

“I know how he acts when he is joking, he deliberately makes it as obvious as possible since Gill and Aiden have issues on picking up that and never does stuff like lying pranks or stuff like that, this was genuine and serious.” Lukas explained trying to hold it together.

“Well, if we have the skull, the wither storm can't become a thing, right?” I inquire, reaching out to grab it before the sound of a door opening.

“Uh, guys?” Lukas whispered.

Petra hissed a quick, “Scatter!” I was so worried about being caught, I forgot to grab the skull before Reuben flipped the switch and the shelf went back up. We all split up and hid in separate places. I run to the bookshelf attempting to hide but find that Axel is there. Axel shakes his head at me in sympathy, knowing we both couldn't hide there at the same time, so I then hide by an enchanting table.

We hear footsteps and see Ivor start walking around and talking to himself. “ 'Don't you recognize me?' Or… wait… 'Surprised to see me?' No, that's not good… 'Thought you were rid of me, didn't you?' That's better.” Ivor rambled muttering to himself as I stare at Ivor behind the shelf, Ivor examines a chest, Olivia knocks over a potion which I cringed at due to the loud sound as Ivor stood up straight and shouted. “What was that? Who's there?”

Before Ivor rushes to find the noise, Ivor slowly walks toward where Olivia was hiding, and I creep up behind him. After he got dangerously close to discovering Olivia, I took an arrow for the group and yelled, “Hey, you!” which distracts Ivor.

“What are you doing here?! What did you see?!” Ivor exlaimed.

Petra stepped out of her hiding spot and shouted, “Leave them alone!”

Axel coming up close behind stating, “Yeah! Back off, pal.” while crossing his arms to seem intimidating.

“You two?! Did you follow me here?” Ivor questioned, sounding surprised.

“You thought you could just screw us over and get away with it, didn't you?” Petra responded angrily.

“We're here to prove you wrong.” I state confidently while Ivor looked smug.

“What are you going to do about it? I have what I want, and you have exactly what you earned.” He taunted smirking at us like some comical supervillain in a book.

Which pissed off everyone around him more, I walked up to him, going, “We know what you're doing here. Soul sand and three wither skulls? You're building a Wither!”

Ivor's eyes went up in shock before going, “Hmph, Smarter than you look.” he finished with a surprised tone in his voice yet was still very condescending.

“Hey! Nobody talks to my friends like that! Now shut your mouth -- or else.” Axel threatened defensively walking up to him, towering over him crossing his arms over his chest.

Ivor looked annoyed before shouting a quick, “Enough! You've wasted too much of my time already.” Before he runs off.

“Where'd he go?!” Petra exclaimed.

Suddenly we hear Ivor directly behind us and look behind and see him by an iron T-stand holding a pumpkin. “If you won't leave of your own volition, I'll happily remove you myself!” I finished before placing the bottom of the pumpkin onto the middle Iron.

The iron shifted and warped as it took the shape of a large humanoid with long arms and short stubby legs as it formed around the pumpkin covering it in iron to form an eyeless face with green veins forming on the torso snaking down the right leg, the Golem stretches and Ivor goes, “Show our friends the door, will you?”

The Iron Golem begins attacking us and nearly hits Olivia but misses, it them aims at me. I duck under, narrowly avoiding the attack, and stand back up quickly to get out of its melee range. Reuben squeals and I end up dodging another attack and grabbed Reuben, running to safety. The Golem rage and we manage to escape seeming to be everyone accounted for, making a beeline for the door to not only get away from the golem but to figure out where Ivor ran off too.

Lukas POV:

I cracked open the chest I hid in slightly, looking out to see the golem was patrolling the area looking for any of us, looking for me.

Crap, I really hope either Jesse or anyone will get me out of here before I am found out or have to make a run for it all by myself…

Chapter Text

J̶̠̀ë̷̗́s̴̬̏s̵̙͒e̷̛̖ ̸̌͜P̸̺̈O̴͓̿V̸̋͜ ̷̡̚-̴̧͊-̶̦̏-̵̠̉-̶̡̈́ Edward POV:

I stood on the sidelines with Maya and Mozo while Aiden and Gill stood with the majority of the crowd waiting for Gabriel's reveal. 

The lights had been further dimmed, with the occasional guard holding a torch in one hand and a sword or axe in the other. This kept hostile mobs from forming inside the dark areas, so the stage could still have its center focus point and dramatization.

I had to bargain with one of the guards that was stationed over where we were to let us keep our bags, considering the auditorium was a no bags zone. No one wanted anyone smuggling anything in that could cause a disruption.

“Oh man, this is so exciting.” One of the hosts on the stage shouted as I focused my thoughts back on my surroundings, hyper aware of every little thing that sent my senses batshit insane. Thank god, the lights aren't as bright as they were when we first came in.

“And now, for the first time ever, here at Endercon! We are very proud to present --” Oh boy that's the cue Jesse and their buddies must be out by now, 

“The one! The only !” The second one piped up before both shouted at the same time, “Gabriel!!” as the crowd shouts in obnoxiously high volumes which caused my ears to tighten to reduce the impact of it. 

They part and Gabriel is standing behind them as one of the light fixtures above him lit up to cast a showcasing glow over him. The glow reflected off his pale deep blue diamond trimming on his darker blue armor as he turns around and smiles.

While the crowd of screaming proclamations of either 'I love you!' or just over all fanboying, I notice a large figure wearing a gray top weeding through the crowd before figuring out it was Axel. Yep, they got out already, nice to see that didn't change.

Gabriel shouted for everyone to calm down with a slight chuckle before waiting until all the voices quieted down, “Thank you. Are. You. With me ?” And the cheers are back and louder than ever, great. 

“With the right training, and guidance, anyone… and I mean anyone can become a hero.” I heard Gabriel shout words of encouragement as people came up towards the stage one by one to ask him questions, “You just have to believe it. I want you to look me in the eyes. And I want you to know that I am looking into yours.”

I looked around and noticed that Jesse was making their way through the crowd of people. Alright, no biggie, they just decided to ask Gabriel for help instead of going to rescue Lukas. 

It's not unheard of after all if I remember correctly, just not common, I'm sure nothing different will happen that will make him trapped down there for longer than necessary.

… Yeah, I don't gotta use any self-incriminating powers that reveal my power status at all to Lukas…

…

… You know what, I don't actually trust that Lukas will be fine, fuck it, I don't care if someone higher than me gets mad at me for telepathy.

Dude, Lukas, you hearing this man? Don't say anything out loud, just think it.

Edward… how…

Oh goodie, you are okay. Listen, how are you holding up with the iron golem?

Not good really, this chest is super cramped-

Yeah, yeah whatever, anyways I'm sending someone down there to get you, follow the person but don't look them in the eyes you hear?

… As long as it gets me out of here, I'll take it.

That's all the Info I needed.

I looked to the guard nearby that had been side eyeing us the whole time we stayed back in the dark and strut on over, got right in his face and whispered in his ear, “ʖ∷╎リ⊣ ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷ ʖꖎ𝙹リ↸ᒷ ⎓∷𝙹ᒲ ʖᒷꖎ𝙹∴, ↸𝙹 ℸ ̣ ⍑ᒷᒲ リ𝙹 ⍑⚍∷ℸ ̣  ᔑリ↸ ╎リ 𝙹リᒷ !¡╎ᒷᓵᒷ”

The eyes glowed a soft blue color and like that of a puppet moved robotically toward the door to the basement. The downside is that getting the Ocelots to the nether will be a bit tricky, with me already using a bit of my energy.

“Start. Believing. Today. Now I'd like to open up the floor for a few questions.” I heard Gabriel continue up on the stage as people kept shouting, begging for attention from the warrior himself.

“Aaaaand -- you, right there in the front row.” Oh, sweet it's getting close now, the big moment I've been worried about as I see Jesse pushing through the crowd.

“You know when uh… Ellegaard… and the dragon… umm… like what was her favorite food?” I heard Aiden ask, looking like an overexcited chihuahua speaking fast from excitement so much his mouth could barely keep up. 

Gabriel just kinda stood there, unsure how to react before going, “Bread. Next question.” Man, that answer was lame, honestly I feel kinda bad for Aiden. He's been excited about this moment for days since he found out Gabriel was going to be at Endercon. 

Jesse raises their hand right behind Aiden, thankfully Aiden doesn't be a prick and makes way for Jesse to speak.

“Yes, next. What question do you have for the mighty Gabriel?” Alright Jesse, you can be subtle and not cause that much of a panic-

“Every person here is in danger!” Or you can do that.

“Now, hold on just a minute. If this is a joke, it isn't funny.” Gabriel responded, and rightfully so, crossing his arms kinda like a parent, honestly. 

“I'm not joking -- somebody's been building a monster in the basement.” Jesse explained with urgency, again Jesse, yikes.

“Hmm. Perhaps we should have this checked out…” Gabriel mumbled a little under his breath about to hop off the stage and investigate before hearing a voice call out from the back. 

“I have a question for you.”

Oh fuck, I really hope Lukas is alright down there now- oh thank god he's coming out of the doors now, good. “Maya, I need you to go find Gill right now, I'll grab Aiden, but we need to group up here as soon as possible, Also keep a hold of Mozo.” I told her before walking into the crowd to go grab Aiden as Lukas grouped back up with Jesse's friends, giving me a little thank you nod.

“Excuse me, sir -- you'll have to wait your turn!” I heard Gabriel call out as his voice was much louder with me having to get closer to the stage to go grab Aiden. 

I was almost going to tap him on the shoulder, but someone pushed me while I was walking through, asshole. “Just tell me first: do you really believe anyone can be great?” I hear Ivor continue.

“With enough hard work -- yes!” Gabriel answers, sounding genuine, before I tap Aiden on the shoulder and gesture for him to move back to where we stored our bags. 

“Was that where I went wrong? I simply didn't work hard enough?” I heard Ivor shout as people began to whisper and me, Aiden, Gill, And Maya grouped back up with the later three looking in confusion as Gabriel's face contorted in surprise. 

“Ivor? Is that really you?” before his eyebrows lowered, and he put his hands on his hips, “How dare you interrupt like this!”

“Why don't you tell them the real story, Gabriel?” Ivor shouts back as Jesse was too stunned to speak fast enough. 

“Ed, what's going on?” I heard Gill ask as they looked at me awkwardly, oh boy…

“Alright so long story short that guy,” I explain pointing at Ivor, “Is essentially going to release a horrifying monster on us all and if we don't get out and be ready to run, we are toast.”

I continued before picking up everyone's bags and tossing it to them, and then grabbing mine. “You three will have to stick with Jesse for a while, understand? No running off and try to keep the insults and picking on to a minimum, I don't need you for getting kicked out of a shelter for being rude.”

They looked at me in mixed looks of terror and skepticism and Aiden was probably going to make some snide remark before they all turned around to Jesse practically screaming, “Gabriel, you have to stop him!”

As while, we were speaking, Ivor had gotten on the stage and pulled the lever that made the wither spawn structure rise up from below the floorboards.

“But nothing built can last forever, Gabriel.” Ivor stated, practically spitting out his name like it were some disgusting food.

Gabriel looked extra horrified and yelled “Ivor, no!” before Ivor places the skull on the stand and unleashes the wither, causing both him and Gabriel to get knocked off the stage and onto the ground. 

Ivor stood up again and yelled, “Creature -- attack!” And the wither started to fire off wither skulls like it were candy as chaos erupted. 

“I told you we need to run!” I shouted before grabbing both Maya and Aiden and pulling them along as we were the first to run out with Gill dragged along as well since he was hanging onto Maya.

Jesse POV:

I quickly had to maneuver myself out of the way of these weird skull attacks. The thing was shooting out leaving holes in the floor as people ran around trying to get away, almost getting hit by some of them.

 After a couple of close calls, I look to Gabriel as may others did for guidance. The building was being literally torn apart bit by bit and absorbed by the monster as it floated around. Its eye sockets and slack mouth were illuminated by an off color white.

“Everyone stay calm! This foul beast is no match for me!” Gabriel shouted, holding up his sword ready to either attack or defend.

Ivor points to Gabriel and simply shouts “Creature -- attack!” and the monster starts to float on over, still absorbing the building. 

Gabriel jumps at the wither and tries to hit with his sword, but it has no effect and worse yet, the sword breaks almost immediately, throwing him back to the ground on his back. “What have you done?” He shouted at Ivor.

“Gabriel! -” 

“No! Stay away! It's after me, not you!” Gabriel cuts me off as the monster lets out another one of those mini skulls and destroys a wall. 

“Look at him! The mighty Gabriel! Looks like true greatness is out of his reach.” Ivor shouted tauntingly as Petra glared at him. “He may not be able to defeat this creature -- but I can!” He shouts standing before it and shouting at it, “Creature -- retreat!”

The monster didn't seem to care at all or was annoyed as it slowly turned to face him. The middle head was covered in the weird purple stuff that was made up of what used to be the auditorium. “Ahem. Creature -- retreat! Retreat, I said! Retreat!” Ivor continued getting more desperate as the monster slowly floated towards him menacingly.

“That's not working!” 

“No need to be alarmed, my friends.” Ivor stammered, voice shaking as we all gave each other a worried look, “I have an elixir that will destroy this creature.” Ivor quickly tried reassuring and pulled out an elixir, and worse, yet I recognized it… 

“That potion -- is that…?” I trailed off as Axel came to the same realization and mutter a small, 

“Uh-oh…”

Ivor throws the potion, but of course nothing happens. “Uh, what? Impossible! It should have worked -- I took such care!” Ivor muttered, sounding genuinely confused as he started backing away. 

“The potion -- Axel! You've got to throw the real potion!” Olivia shouted, turning to Axel. 

“But -- finders, keepers!” He complained before Ivor practically snapped his neck in our direction, yelling, 

“You thieve! You're ruining everything!”

After a while, I decided that Axel was taking too long and grabbed it out of his hands and chucked it. Just as the potion is tossed, the monster blocks it with the clump of mass that surrounded it almost entirely.

“It's protecting itself! Without the command block exposed… The potion is useless!” Ivor shouted mostly to himself, “It wasn't supposed to happen like this…” Ivor mumbled before he runs away.

Gabriel shouted after him, “Ivor! You coward, come back here!” in his direction before he disappears from sight and Gabriel gets caught in a tractor beam and starts levitating.

Olivia quickly reacts and tries to help him as he screams in panic, flailing around. “Jesse, help me!” Olivia shouted looking back at me.

I ran over, and we managed to pull Gabriel free, getting him back on the ground with a thud. “Thank you, Ivor was right about one thing -- I can't defeat that thing. Not on my own.” Gabriel sighed, looking up at the monster as it enlarged. “Everyone's running away… except for you.” Gabriel sighed before turning to us with a pleading look in his eyes, “Will you help me? I must get to the temple -- but what needs to happen next, I can't do alone.”

I guess we really are going to be heroes as Lukas says… “Help? How?” I ask determinedly before Gabriel nods his head in respect.

“Follow me!” he shouted with a determined look in his eyes, and we as a group follow him.

We all ran out of the auditorium, the ground shakes as the monster breaks through the glass dome and its long tentacles snake out into the sky as it rises. Its long needle thin white teeth and grown longer and the monster got bigger, and the skulls had all been covered to form actual cyclops like heads with long purple beams stretching out for what seemed like forever.

I gave a roar as it was shadowed by the moon light as its beams of light went over the large crowd making some poor innocent people fly high into the air screaming in panic. 

We got separated, and I had a close call with being sucked up myself. Thankfully, I was able to grab onto a floating part of the bridge before I tumbled down a small flight of stairs once I got out of the beam and gravity applied to me again. I quickly got up, ignoring my body screaming about any pain as adrenaline coursed through my veins.

After jumping over some chickens and watching others get sucked up, I heard Lukas's voice call out to me and then once I approached Lukas, Petra located us and called up over to a small booth with a carpet roof.

The reunion is short-lived, however, as the tractor beam reaches us. It pulls apart a roof, breaking it, and we quickly got back to running away, accidentally leaving me and Petra behind. 

“Wait -- wait! We have to stay together!” I shout before hearing Petra scream out my name, leaving chills down my spine.

“Jesse! Help me!” I froze before grabbing Petra's hand and try to pull Petra while grabbing a nearby fence. 

“I can't hold on!” I shout as I had a death grip on her hand as the sound of wood splitting started to sound and the fence breaks loose, and I get captured too. “Noooooo!” I shout, trying to get us both out before feeling someone grab my leg keeping us from floating away.

I looked down to the ground expecting it to be Gabriel but surprisingly enough it was Aiden! He held onto my leg keeping me and Petra from floating away before the tracker beam moved away from us, and we fell to the ground.

 The others came back once noticing we weren't with them, with Lukas shouting “Aiden?!” which caused him to turn around and sigh in relief. 

“Oh, thank the stars you are okay! I came back looking for you after Edward brought us out to the gates of town before he collapsed!” Aiden explained quickly. 

Before much else could be said, Gabriel spoke up, shouting, “We must set out for my fortress -- we'll be better protected there.”

We continue our escape, this time with Aiden running ahead and probably going to tell his friends waiting at the gates that they needed to get to Gabriel's fortress. The monster sucks up the rainbow beacon as it goes on a general rampage, destroying the town and sucking up civilians.

“Incoming!” Petra yells before she tackles me, everyone is running to the gates as pits littered the ground and people were getting sucked up left and right as I ran faster once realizing that someone was closing the gates. 

I ran before sliding under the gates and escaping trying to pretend I wasn't hearing the screams of people still trapped inside as I ran out into the forest. 

I continued running and saw that the Ocelots had combined with us as Axel was carrying what looked like a limp Edward, “Stay together everyone! We'll be safe as soon as we get to my temple.” I hear Gabriel shout as we all continue running as the monster shot flaming skulls out to the crowd, igniting the forest as it roars.

“Everyone, keep going! We'll meet up on the other side!” Gabriel yells as we all split up between a giant mass of flaming trees, I chose to stick with Petra, Lukas, Aiden, and Gabriel as Axel, Olivia, Gill, Maya, plus Edward ran to the other end. 

Skulls went flying all around, almost hitting me multiple times before the fortress comes into sight. “Ahhhhhhhh!” I scream as the monsters' tentacles started to swipe at me attempting to grab or trip me, by sheer luck I manage not to get hit by them and make it inside with everyone else.

“The inner chamber is built entirely of obsidian. We should be untouchable in there.” Gabriel explains before he flips a lever on the wall surrounded by other levers and opens the door just as another tractor beam appears. Me, Gill and Olivia scream and run from the beam along with the rest of the group.

We all make it inside the chamber which has a nether portal frame in its center led up to by stairs. The tractor beam and tentacle enter the chamber, which causes Gabriel to draw his sword and fight it off by swiping at the tentacle. “Hurry! If you can get through the portal, you'll be safe!”

We all head to the portal with Axel running through it, but nothing happens. “Uh, something's not right here.” He said as I catch up with the group. 

“It's not lit! We need something to light it.” Olivia exclaimed. 

Maya takes out a flint and steel and walks up to the frame. Gill is ready to question why she had one before she sends a spark right into the frame as it comes to life in a swirling purple color.

“Everyone! Get in! NOW!” Petra shouts as everyone runs through the portal except for me, Lukas, Petra, and Gabriel since we heard Gabriel scream “Ahhhhhhhh!” as we looked back and saw him get captured in the tentacle. 

“Gabriel!” I shout, running to Gabriel's aid; I jump over a second tentacle and grab onto Gabriel and manage to pull him free. 

“Thank you…” Gabriel sighed before he looked directly outside the chamber and saw more people get captured. “There's so many of them… I-I can't save them all. I can't stop this by myself. We need to find the others.”

“Others?” I ask confused for a second and Petra fights off a tentacle. 

“Soren's been missing for years. But the others -- you must seek them out. Take this amulet,” Gabriel reached into his pocket before pulling out a circular shaped item made of gold that had the diamond glowing as he held it along 4 other jewels. “And guard it with your life.”

“How am I supposed to find Magnus and Ellegaard?” I ask, unsure of whether I should really take the amulet or not.

“The amulet will guide you. Take it through the portal, and then-” Gabriel got cut off by the monster breaking through the ceiling and a tentacle slam down close to me, barely having the chance to dodge it. 

Another one knocks Petra back, I noticed this and draw out my sword and rush to help her but encounters the same tentacle as before. This time it got me and knocked me down to the ground, feeling the wind get pushed out of my lungs.

While I was getting back up, I hear Lukas scream as a tentacle positions like it was about to go after Lukas as he stood frozen in fear, unable to move. Petra hits the tentacle and makes it leave before looking at the both of us and shouting.

“You two, go through the portal and meet up with the others. I'll stay here and do whatever I can.” Petra decides as I quickly speak to try to talk her out of it, after all, 

“I'm not leaving without you!”

“The gang needs you, Jesse -- go through the portal! If anything happens, I'll meet you guys at the temple.” Petra reassured me as Lukas runs to the portal but stops. 

Petra and I look back to see what Lukas was looking at and notice that Gabriel is captured in the beam, trying to struggle free.

 Petra rushes to help Gabriel but soon gets captured too, causing me and Lukas to end up staring in shock. 

I luckily got out of that state faster than Lukas and rush to help them but am stopped by another tentacle as it tries to swing at me.

I yelp and duck under the tentacle, narrowly avoiding it as the tentacle swings at Lukas but thankfully misses, but Lukas still fearfully stands back and screams. 

I rush back to help Gabriel and Petra before I quickly rush to pull down Petra, as she floats upwards, I grabbed onto her leg and pull her and me down towards the ground. “Thanks Jesse! Gabriel's still up there!” Petra exclaimed, pointing to him as he floats higher than before. 

“Jesse!! Go!!!” Gabriel shouts as he flails his limbs, trying fruitlessly to get out on his own. 

“No!” I shout before rushing to help, but I get stopped by yet another tentacle. I attempt to swing at it as it tries to go after me again, but it knocks both me and Lukas into the portal.

My vision was clouded with bright purples, and I felt my body feel weightless like when I was in that beam before the world shifts in these strange quick fast-paced colors and then black…

Chapter Text

Gill POV:

We were standing right outside the portal waiting for Lukas and the others to come on in, we had subconsciously separated ourselves into our groups.

Jesse's friends on one side of the portal and us on the other side, with Edward laying on a temporary makeshift bed we made out of some leftover cobblestone Maya had in her inventory. So, he wasn't in direct contact with the ground with Mozo cuddled up against him.

He would not be happy if he found out we let his veils get scorched by the weird hot red ground. 

While we were waiting idly in silence, I was about to bring up the question of why Maya had a flint and steel on her person before the portal made this mysterious whooshing sound. Before Jesse and Lukas fall through the portal. Both landing on the floor. Ouch. 

The pig walked up to them as the two get up from the ground while I quickly went up to Lukas to help him and assess any burns, luckily there wasn't any I could find. “Where's Petra?” The big guy said whilst walking up to him.

“We did everything we could.” I heard Lukas start saying right next to me before the big guy turned to look at him with his raised section of the unibrow somehow more raised. 

“What are you saying?” He asked as the girl with goggles looked at Jesse with a worried look, “Jesse? What is he talking about? Because it doesn't sound… It doesn't sound good.”

“It was chaos.” Jesse began, “There wasn't much I could do, Petra is still up there.” 

Lukas then looked towards the ground looking guilty before speaking up saying, “I got scared. Just for a second.” which caused the big guy to immediately look at him in an aggressive way. 

“You got scared?” The big guy approaches us and corners us, towering, taller than us, intimidatingly. 

“It wasn't my fault.” Lukas quickly tried to defend himself.

Big guy quickly interrupted him and went “You got scared, and it's not your fault?!” before cornering him and indirectly me further but got stopped by the girl with goggles.

“Back off, Axel.” She warned before the big guy, who I now remember is named Axel, turned back to the portal and started to walk over.

“We gotta go back.” before the girl with goggles blocks him. 

“No! We just have to wait. Think about what you're walking into.” Olivia spoke, trying to persuade Axel to stay behind and not go through. 

Jesse turned to face Axel and sighed before speaking up, saying, “There's nothing we can do. You'll just end up getting yourself killed.” 

Axel did not like that answer. “You don't know that! You don't know --”

Axel was going to continue on his rant and was about to go past Olivia to go on through before Lukas left my side and approached the portal and excitedly yelled “Hey! There she is!”

The portal began pulsing, and we all gathered around it (minus Edward for obvious reasons), as someone is about to make their way through. We were all standing there with bated breath hoping it was Petra who came on through…

“Oof!” But no, the creepy dude who started this all lands through the portal and onto the ground, Much to literally everyone's displeasure. 

The guy quickly got up before spotting us and scowling, “You again.” but before he could say anymore, a tentacle of that monster emerged through the portal, snaking around in the air like a vine swinging at random. 

The tentacle apparently took Jesse by surprise, considering it knocks them down before wrapping itself around the portal frame until the obsidian crumbled like sand. The purple mist that made up its frame had dissipated into a small hole which the tentacle exits through, leaving us stranded and leaving Petra unable to go on through.

Everyone who fell got up with a few pained groans and grunts, mostly from Jesse and Axel, since they were the closest to the portal. “You ruined everything!” The creepy guy practically growled out with so much hatred and disdain in his tone, standing up straight and glaring at Jesse specifically, 

“Don't pretend you don't know, thief. You took my most valuable potion… And what should've been my moment of triumph!” he shouted very animatedly with his arms as we all gathered around Jesse with Aiden taking on a defensive stance smacking his fist into the palm of his hand threateningly while Jesse had their arms to their hips.

Before Jesse suddenly walks up to him and punches him in the face, hard.

The creepy guy held his nose with one had as some blood dripping down it with his eyes squeezed shut, “More needless violence. It solves nothing.” He groaned before opening his eyes again, “Learn the lesson now, or you'll share Gabriel's fate.”

“There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Wither storm.” He continued after his nose seemed to stop bleeding. 

“Why are we wasting time talking to this jerk? We have to go and get Petra.” Axel proclaimed while the creepy guy was walking away before he stopped, he just stood there for a second before speaking, 

“The girl. I saw her.” which caused us all to look at him in surprise. “While I was running toward the portal, I passed her. She was running in the opposite direction.” He continued turned slightly towards us, we all looked at each other confused yet hopeful that she made it out, 

“Such bravery. Of course, there's a fine line between bravery and stupidity.”

Yeah, whatever he was going to say after that was promptly forgotten as Aiden just about lunged to punch him in the face as well, unfortunately he dodged. 

“Our friend is in trouble because of you. We're trapped in the Nether because of you!” Jesse yelled as Lukas and I held Aiden back from trying to pick a fight, even though he so deserved it.

“You have much bigger problems to contend with.” Ivor said with a shit eating grin, the urge to just let go of Aiden's arm is so high… “Through that tunnel is a network of mine carts built by the Order of the Stone, It's your only way out.”

He stated, pointing to the tunnel up ahead. “We should go that way.” Axel countered pointing in the opposite direction, I don't blame him for not wanting to trust Ivor or listen to any advice he says, but there are more important things to worry about.

“How will you get out of here?” Jesse asked, raising their eyebrows at him. 

“I'll use my imagination.” He responded sarcastically before we heard something screaming, he sounded like it was something close, something big.

“What was that?” Axel asked, we were all wondering. 

“I would wish you good luck, but luck won't carry you through the Nether.” He sighed before looking over briefly to where Ed was laid down before adding a quick, “You have my sympathies.” before he pulled out a potion from his robes and downed it, then tosses the empty bottle to the ground as he vanished.

We were too busy trying to figure out how he vanished before we heard a loud screech from behind us. We all slowly turned around to see a giant gray thing with long tentacles that hung down it like a weird fat squid with gray scars. Two went down from the eyes as if it had been crying before it opened its eyes, oh mother of monsters… 

Its eyes were pitch black with red pupils just floating in its eye sockets. “RUN!!” Jesse screamed as Axel quickly picked up Edward and I grabbed his bag, and we took off running down the tunnel with the thing floating closely behind us as we all screamed.

After a bit of running, we caught up to what looked to be a station with 7 minecarts on the tracks. “This must be what Ivor was talking about.” The girl with goggles pointed out before the thing screamed again behind us and- OH MY CROPS, ITS SPITTING FIRE! 

Luckily we narrowly avoid the fire charge, and it hits a wall and explodes leaving a hole. We quickly go the hint and rush to the mine carts, Jesse is first to get into one and jump in.

Everyone else soon followed, with some of us having to share carts due to space. Axel got into the one cart in the back, Olivia and Maya hopped in the one in the middle, Aiden fell into the one behind Lukas, and Lukas jumped into the one behind Jesse. Reuben and Mozo got their own carts for some reason, and I went in the cart right in front of Axel with Edward to keep an eye on him.

The minecarts take off once we are all inside, and we thankfully escaped whatever that thing was, we all looked around at the long lava-falls that fed into the lake beneath us. 

Looking at it all makes me extra aware of how hot it was here. “Wow… The Nether…” Lukas sighed.

Girl in goggles spoke up, “Yeah… That is a LOT of lava. And fire. And other things that could burn you to death.” she listed off, probably out of fear or anxiety. 

As the minecarts went on through a tunnel, Jesse suddenly shouts “Oh no!” before Lukas quickly followed suit yelling “Oh that's a drop. That is very, very much a drop.”

“Lukas, what are you talking about- oh!” Maya squeaked in surprise when she looked ahead and saw a very deep drop that we were rapidly approaching. 

“Everybody, hold on!” Jesse exclaimed as we got dangerously close to the dropping part.

Out of nowhere, Aiden yells out, “I admit! I’ve been cheating at that stupid board game Edward had us play for months, I WAS STEALING MONEY FROM THE MONOPOLY BANK WHEN NO ONE WAS LOOKING!” He screamed out of fear, closing his eyes.

Lukas turned around enraged, shouting “I KNEW IT YOU CHEATING PIECE OF–” before the minecarts dipped down the steep tracks, cutting him off as we all screamed.

My eyes widened as my heart experienced this weightlessness as we descended out in the open, the minecarts accelerated due to gravity making me feel the hot air push against my face hurting my eyes a little.

Once we got to the bottom of the drop, we abruptly hit a stable part of the tracks, causing the wheels to screech slightly. As we were going along the track at a much faster speed, I felt my knuckles turning white from the pressure to keep my grip on the minecart.

“Duck!” I heard Lukas shout before we all had to lower our heads to avoid hitting our heads on some of the weird red rock stuff before another one appeared as I lifted my head up and had to duck again.

We kept going, thankfully with no more platforms trying to take off our heads, and we all saw that the track seemed to be going right into a giant wall of lava. “Okay, so, I'm not the only one seeing that we're running out of track, right?” Axel asked.

“No!” Lukas responded quickly.

“Good!”

“Jesse! That switch! Now! Do it!” The girl with goggles shouted as we were vastly approaching the lava wall and Jesse stuck their arm out and flipped it, almost tipping their minecart off the tracks but managed to flip the lever.

The minecarts came to an abrupt halt, causing my head to jerk forward, almost hitting the edge of the cart. I saw Maya and goggle girl hit each other in the head though, yikes. “Haha, wow. I thought something bad was going to happen there, but, heh, I guess everything's going to be- Whoa!”

Jesse got cut off by the tracks splitting up suddenly, causing us to go in all sorts of directions. 

“Jesse!” 

“No!” 

“Whoa!” 

“Wait!” 

“Oh man!” 

We all reacted differently as we all quickly split off into different directions, I was the last to split from grouped up carts as much as I could tell.

“Guys? Guys!” I shouted, hoping for some kind of response but got none as the cart continued to go down the track. I looked around, hoping to spot someone on any future tracks, but so far, the only track I could see was mine. 

herrrrm…

Oh no.

I looked behind me and saw those floating things again. I quickly ducked down hoping it hadn’t spotted me, looks like it did, since it had done anything, yet before I felt my blood run cold seeing it floating right over the cart. Its freaky tentacles brushed against the top edges of the minecart’s walls as I dared not breathe.

While I was waiting for the stupid monster to move faster than the cart, I suddenly felt a weird drop again and the monster went upwards away from the cart, or am I going down …

I peeked my head over the cart in front of me and saw- HOLY CRAP THAT’S A HOLE THAT'S A VERY DEEP HOLE!

I saw the tracks going into what looked like an endless abyssal hole devoid of any light besides the sides that ran with lava for what looked like forever, like it was a whirlpool empty and very dangerous.

I braced myself waiting for the inevitable fall into nothing before that weightlessness came back, but oh so much worse, I actually felt myself lift upward slightly as the cart descended along with Edward before we hit something that made a squelching noise, and we went high back up into the air.

Soon after though we fell back down again and hit another thing that made a similar sound before I looked ahead and realized this was a bunch of slime platforms we were jumping on, WHO’S IDEA WAS THIS?!

We kept jumping up and down, and I had to not only hold onto the cart to not go out of it. But I also had to keep a hold of Edward and make sure he didn't fall out either. After 4 more jumps a platform suddenly came from the side and bumped the cart while midair sending up flying towards to the right.

Due to the fact that we were more than likely unbalanced by being two people instead of one in the cart, the thing started spinning in midair. I screamed super loud, almost falling out of it multiple times, and Edward almost fell too before I just barely caught his jacket. Jeez, he’s heavy.

After a couple of spins, not only was my stomach feeling queasy, but my arm was getting sore. Luckily, the cart spun in the right position before we hit the tracks, and we kept going bumping into the group again thankfully, although some carts seemed to be missing, mainly Jesse, that pig, and Edward’s cow. Aiden’s cart was also missing, since he was now sharing one with Lukas.

I was going to ask what happened and where Jesse was before we all heard a loud scream before the carts jerked forward as a cart hit right behind mine. We all turned around in surprise before seeing Jesse and the animals behind me.

Jesse looked as worn out as everyone else was and went “Is… Ha… Is everyone okay?” 

Axel awkwardly went, “I mean, I'm not dead. I guess that's pretty good.”

“Ditto. Ditto with the not dead.” goggle girl added while I decided to butt in.

“I basically went on a really messed up spinning slime adventure and almost fell out of the cart.” 

While Lukas piped up going “I just can't believe that Petra comes down here all the time… This place is awful.”

“You know how you have those experiences you remember and reminisce about for the rest of your lives?” Jesse started before Axel looked back and went, “Yeah?”

“This isn't one of those. Let's never discuss this ever again.”

After a while of (thankfully) uneventful cart riding we approached this weird looking fortress on a ball that looked to go in four different directions with ours being one of them. We hopped out of our carts and Axel grabbed Edward before we walked up a flight of stairs.

“Can you throw up… like, inside your body?” Jesse suddenly asked.

“Uh-huh. I know because I just did, about five times.” Goggle girl groaned.

“Wow -- look at this place!” Jesse sighed as we got up to the surface to see the upper layer of whatever we were at. 

We all looked at everything curiously, taking note of how far so many tracks went. “All these tracks converge at this point. You could probably get anywhere in the world from here.” goggle girl pointed out enthusiastically.

“There's the portal!” Jesse stated, pointing at the portal that was in the middle of this spherical platform we were on. The purple mist swooshed and swirled like the one back at Gabriel’s fortress inside its frame.

“This is what Gabriel was talking about.” Lukas said, walking up to it, not touching the glass on the floor that looked like they bore a few cracks but not enough to make it completely unstable. Also, a little melted or hot to the touch, considering the lava.

“That's our way out.” Axel shouted walking up to it and stood in front of it after handing Edward to Aiden which looked like he struggled a little with the sudden weight. 

“It must lead back to the surface.” Maya suggested ignoring Aiden’s grunts and grumbles.

“The surface is also where that creature is.” Lukas points out, which caused Axel to pause right as he was about to step through. 

“He's right. We have no idea what we're walking into. It could be dangerous.” Jesse agreed.

Axel turned to Jesse, pressed his lips together in a thin line, and scratched the back of his head out of what looked like nervousness or anxiety and turned back to the portal.

“Thanks for being so brave, Axel.” Lukas spoke hesitantly after Axel stood in front of the portal for a long time. 

Axel sighed his shoulder before moving, “All right. I'm going to go. I'm going. I'm going right now.” Before nervously turning back to us for a few seconds and then back to the portal, “Like right, right now. I just need to make sure I have everything I'll need. I think I put the uh, thing… over in the um…” 

Okay, he was very obviously stalling and did not want to go through.

“I'll go first.” Jesse sighed after a while. “That's not what I was saying-”

“I am. Going.”

“… Well, if you absolutely insist.”

Axel moved to the side to let Jesse go on through with the pig grunting in disapproval but couldn’t do anything about it due to the fact that it was, well, a pig. Axel at least was kind enough to grab Edward again at least which Aiden actually gave a small thank you for.

“Well -- see you guys on the other side, I guess.” Jesse sighed looking back at us not wanting to do it themself, but someone has to do it. 

“Be careful.” Goggle girl.

“Thanks Jesse.” Axel thanked.

Once they stepped on through, we stood there in awkward silence before I decided it was rude not to ask and since we were told not to be rude, I turned to goggle girl and asked,

“Hey what’s your name by the way?”

Chapter Text

Edward POV

Ugh… I don’t feel too good…

“Edward, wake up!”

Wait… Maya?…

“Hang on, I'll find Lukas!”

Aiden? Alright, what’s going on-

“There's nothing left up there! Nothing but that Wither storm.”

Okay, this is getting freaky…

“I W__ ST__LING _____ FROM THE ________ BANK WH__ NO ON_ WAS ____ING!”

No wait please don’t go, damn it why are the voices getting quiet and breaking up.

Alright, let's try to figure out what went wrong, let's see… we were running out of town… I started feeling lightheaded when we got past the gates… the command block-

…

The command block

That’s right, the command block was absorbing all the surroundings it could get and hooked itself onto my powers, I think. So that means I’m passed out, right? Yeah, must be that since I can’t see anything.

Alright, Let’s test something…

…

…

Alright, trying to move a body I can’t feel is next to impossible, I now realize. Uh, Crap, how do I wake up? Is it like a lucid dream, or is that not going to work? No, wait, I kinda feel floaty so that's a sense I still can feel, I’m also kinda cold.

Greetings.

What. The fuck.

Please do watch your language, I just want to have a quick chat.

… You are with P.A.T.A aren’t you.

Clever boy. Now, we have reports that you are messing with the world line after explicitly stating in your contract that you signed that you would not be doing that. So, we had the administrative commandment cube siphon your abilities as punishment and as a way we can talk one on one.

Your reports are shit.

I will put a filter on you, now refrain from swearing like that of a mortal sailor as the saying goes.

Fine. Anyway as I was saying, your reports are wrong I did nothing of the sort, and you can’t prove it-

Explain Aiden, Maya, and Gill being present and not in the Wither Storm if our reports are supposedly ‘wrong’ as you put it.

Okay fine, I messed with it a little, so what, it's not going to break the world or anything.

“Maybe we should bed down for the night. It's dangerous to be out when it's this dark.”

LUKAS HELP I’M BEING INTERROGATED WITHOUT A LAWYER PRESENT, GET ME OUT OF HERE

He can’t help you here, and if you so need, I can request this so-called lawyer to be present in our meeting.

Actually, you know what yeah, my lawyer’s name is Herobrine-

Nice try, not happening.

Worth a shot.

So, are we done talking, and can I go now?

No, we are not done, we barely started.

Well can you at least make it to where I can see at least something, the black void is super boring-

After saying that, my sight shifted to not just an empty black nothingness but instead a weird bathroom with fake mirrors, one had the word ‘afraid’ on it while the other was blank. There was a sound of music muffled behind a door outside the bathroom.

I swear to fucking God if this is what I think it is…

I go out the door and there is an entity in white robes holding a piece of bamboo in its void black and clawed hands. It turned to face me and had blood shot eyes only shown underneath, the rest being pitch black void.

“Oh, hey sup 303.” I say giving them a small wave, they return it hesitant before simply pointing to the door and going back to staring off to the flashing light below over the railing. Christ, if this is what I think it is, I’m strangling whoever I’m talking to.

I walk over to the door and kicked it open with my legs and walked on in, the door closed behind me and a looming face appeared behind the shadows. It had rows of sharp teeth that stuck out at random places and empty eye sockets that seemingly bobbed up and down with no neck or body. It then placed its hand on the edge of the oak wood table in front of it.

“I told you I liked that game once, ONCE.”

“Yeah, well too bad you wanted something, and I did something.” The floating head replied, somehow stretching its grin wider than it already was, “Besides I don’t actually have a comprehensive form, now let's talk”.

“We don't want you here.” wow, way to put it bluntly, asshole. “And you know that you can’t just be messing with the plot so drastically like that-”

“Actually I could have done worse, like make the Wither Storm is not made, so what I did actually wasn’t that drastic.” I corrected them, the smile on the ‘dealer’ twitched into a frown for a split second before going back to normal.

“While yes, you could have done worse, that applies for the past not the potential future.” The being in front of me states seriously. “Honestly, it's bad enough that your very existence is straining the world's plot already, not to mention that prophecy put in place by the overworld.”

“Pardon?-”

“You don’t need to worry about that now, Anomaly R.” The being in front of me sharply spoke, if words could hurt, I would look like it had bitten me with those teeth, considering how it practically spit out that last part.

“I have a name, jackass.” I grumble at the designation that assholes gave me when I first spawned in, honestly while it sounds badass it's also super shitty because they refuse to use my actual name.

“And so do Anomaly E, Anomaly D, and Anomaly F. However, it is much easier just to address you by your classifications rather than your mortal names.” The ‘dealer’ explained professionally.

“Soooo are you done lecturing me now?” I groan, pinching the bridge of my nose with my fingers. “I would really just like to be conscious again and this is taking too long.

“Oh, boo hoo you are missing all the action,” The entity taunted before throwing a paper at my face. I grabbed the paper harshly before reading it over. Blah blah blah They are not held liable if I don’t return to my physical body due to death or injury in the in-between, yada yada yada.

“Are we seriously doing buckshot fucking roulette right now.” I groan, “Do you have nothing better to do, man.” I damn near complained, I really was not in the mood for this, but what choice did I have really.

I sigh before writing my name on the dotted line, this is going to suck.

Meanwhile in the physical world with our guest star Reuben:

I was eating a carrot next to my new friend, he seems nice, likes to sleep next to the strange monster my human keeps referring to as human. It's strange but I trust my human, my human gives me food and ear scratches, so they are good human.

My human and the human’s friends don’t like the other humans, they don't like my humans back. They were yelling at each other right now with the other one being loud and mean to my human’s big friend. I don’t like the yelling, it's loud and scary.

I was laying next to my new friend, he's a special cow, he likes his ‘human’, I like mine, we are alike!

My friend started panicking, I asked my friend why? New friend said his ‘human’s heart stopped beating, that wasn’t good! I went up to my human and tried getting their attention to inform them of the issue.

“What is it boy? Is something wrong?” My human asked concerned as I pointed my head over to my new friend’s ‘human’. My human got up and inspected the monster before shouting loudly “Guys, Edward isn’t breathing!”

A lot of fast things happened at once, they stopped fighting, and everyone crowded around the ‘human’ shouting worriedly. I sat back over with my new friend comforting him as he moo’d in distress.

Back to Edward:

[]

HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT HOLY SHIT

Did I just almost die?!

“Not bad, we still got one more to go through, however.” The entity spoke, its face had become disfigured after a couple of shots and my body felt like it was on fire from the pain. “Oh, stop whining you can handle worse than being shot at.” they continued rolling its head as an alternative to eyes as it had none.

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt like hell!” I shout back quickly, grabbing a pack of cigarettes and getting a quick smoke to regain some health, which is ironic considering how it usually makes you worse in terms of health.

“Edward, come back!” Wait, Lukas?! “Ignore, your heart momentarily stopped, but we fixed that. Now, let's continue.” The entity spoke quickly before loading the shotgun with more bullets, with one being black and the other 4 being live.

‘The dealer’ placed the shotgun on the table and I reluctantly picked it. I trusted my intuition and did the smart move and used the magnifying glass to see the current round. White, it was live. I knew that if I could get my hands on a handsaw, I could see the end and do double damage, effectively getting my ass on outta here.

I inwardly sighed before grasping the rusty adrenaline needles and after some hesitation slammed it into my arm and quickly grabbed the handsaw from the other side of the table after pulling it back out. I'll worry about the missing needles later.

I sawed off the end of the shotgun and shakily lifted the gun and pointed it at ‘the dealer’ before my finger pressed down on the trigger, sending the bullet into its eye. It shrieked and disappeared behind the darkness.

Fuck, did it kill it?! Am I going to have a murder charge on me from P.A.T.A?!

[]

“Well… done…” the raspy voice spoke from the shadows. “You may leave, don’t do anything too drastic from now on, the world timeline can only handle so much meddling before it becomes unrecognizable even to us…”

I just stood there with shaky legs before muffled voices started to be heard from all around me, the world faded into a white void as the voices got louder and louder, and it became clearer.

“Jesse… Your friend is WAY out of line. I wasn't going to bring it up, but I can only take so much.” I started to get a feeling in my hands, it was freezing.

“Don't be like that, Jesse.” Now I can feel something wrapped around me, it's not like my clothes but more of a blanket…

“Just drop it.” I twitched my fingers experimentally, they felt like needles poking me, but I was slowly coming to.

“Haven't you done enough damage for one day? Petra might be dead because of you.” Come on, come on, open your stupid eyelids!

I twitched my fingers again before I was able to flutter my eyes open before squinting at the harsh light in front of me that was generating warmth, Damn I didn’t have my glasses on. I just kinda laid there for a bit before my vocal cords finally worked and shouted…

Jesse POV:

“You aren’t going anywhere, Lukas, sit your ass back down.” We all heard a groan before we all turned to look at Edward, who was previously unconscious since Endercon, had his eyes barely open and there was a multitude of reactions.

From Lukas, he froze in shock like back in Gabriel's fortress, Axel started choking in surprise on some chicken, Maya jumped up and practically tackled him, and the rest of us may or may not have screamed.

“Ow ow ow, please stop suffocating me. I don't want to play Russian roulette again…” He groaned as I heard his spine cracking a little from the pressure as his eyes went wide, bulging as he patted Maya’s back awkwardly while she was crying hysterically.

“Don’t do that ever again, you hear me!” Maya yelled right in his face, flip-flopping emotions left and right. “Alright, alright, just stop screaming in my ear!” He moaned in agony as Maya reluctantly let go of him from the intense hug and helped him sit up.

After Gill stopped intensively making sure his heart wouldn’t give out again, we all surrounded the fire, and we all dug into our bags and pulled out food inside our bags thanks to Edward. While we were satisfying our hunger, It started raining, the water pouring down hard and rapidly.

After a while, we rested for the night until morning came, and we all crawled out of our sleeping bags. The sun was shining through the windows of the door we made, and we all filtered out. We quickly looked around for hostile mobs and luckily found none before we set off following a stone brick path we hadn’t seen last night.

“Hey! There's something over that way!” Lukas pointed out, pointing ahead of us over the small cliff covered in vines.

“What is it?” Olivia asked curiously.

“Some kind of building. I think.” Lukas said, sounding unsure.

“Let's get a closer look.” I suggested before we all head down the path and climb up the vines and stand up in the building in front of us.

It was in disrepair and clearly had been through some stuff like it had been exploded many times and then nature decided to start taking it over with some block rubble lying around.

We all jumped down the cliff waiting for everyone to land, Aiden almost fell flat on his face before Edward grabbed his jacket keeping him up. We looked a lot healthier today, last night he was super pale and looked weak.

“What is this place?” Axel asked idly. “That's what we're trying to figure out.” Olivia responded as we all looked around before Lukas looked up at the glass above what looked like it used to be a door and spoke up.

“It's the Temple of the Order of the Stone.” Lukas said in awe as we all looked up at the glass as well.

“That's a tongue twister right there…” I heard Edward mumble under his breath.

“He's right! Look.” I exclaim as I see the amulet-colored glass and compare it to the real amulet, confirming the location.

“Do you think they're in there?” Olivia asked as we began walking towards what used to be the entrance of the building.

“Let's go in and find out.” Axel said excitedly. We entered the temple, it was dark and full of cobwebs and barely lit up by somehow still going torches.

“Let's just all be careful, if you spot anything, call it out. We don't have a lot of time.” I told everyone as we walked around with Edward lighting the way a little more with a torch in his hand.

“Isn't it weird how dispensers are carved to look like spooky little faces?” Axel piped up out of nowhere as we walked down the creepy halls, “What do you dispense, little guy?” Axel went as I looked at the dispensers that lined the walls.

“I get the feeling that we don't really wanna find out.” Olivia spoke nervously before suddenly we heard a really weird noise. 

“Get behind me.” I said quickly as I heard everyone file behind me, I walked forward hesitantly with the others following close behind.

Another noise went off and Reuben got frightened and ran ahead with us following close behind. I shouted after him to slow down and that we should be sticking together before the sound of something closing sounded behind us. I looked back and saw that a gate went down behind us blocking off our path.

“What was that?” Lukas asked nervously. 

“That's probably not a good thing.” Axel muttered before a grinding sound with clicks sounded from the dispensers in the walls, “Aw, come on, dispenser faces! I thought we were friends!” Axel moaned before they made one more, it sounded like it was charging up.

“Scatter!” Edward yelled before taking off running ahead before flying arrows began to shoot from the holes in the dispensers. We all took off running as well, I got hit by 2 arrows in the shoulder again and then got hit in the hip.

We made it to safety in a small filler room with a single crafting table and furnace but thankfully no arrows or dispensers, but soon we all noticed that there were more arrows in front of us. “We're trapped.” I shouted worriedly.

“We activated the dispensers with that pressure plate. If we can figure out a way to trigger it again, I'll bet that'll shut'em off.” Lukas pointed out as I saw the wooden pressure plates over by where the gate had closed in on us, Luckily the pressure plates were on our side and not the other.

“On it” Edward said before reaching into his bag and pulling out something before throwing it up into the air, it glowed a soft white before the tiny object grew in size into a full trident. Its white tips were sharp and hooked, while the cyan stick was covered in symbols and glimmered a faint purplish hue.

It fell to the ground and Edward caught it in his hand before preparing to throw at the pressure plate. After a few seconds, he threw it in the air and it spun a little. It soared through the air down the hall until successfully landed right on the edge of the plate, making it press down and cause the arrows to finally stop.

We all sighed in relief as the trident returned to Edward’s hand by a wispy black and green string that connected the base of the trident to his fingertips. Edward stored it on his back this time instead of putting it back in his bag. “All right!” Lukas said excitedly.

“The Order of the Pig's luck is changing!” Axel spoke up as I heard Aiden snort but ignored it as we walked down the hall further into the building. After a bit of walking, we went up a small flight of stairs and entered what looks like a library and walked around. Lukas: This… must be their enchantment room.

“Doesn't this look like Ivor's creepy basement?” Axel spoke up as we looked around and yeah, it kinda did look similar if not almost the same. 

“Who’s Ivor?” I heard Gill faintly whisper amongst his group. 

“Wither Storm dude with yellow robes.” I heard Edward explain.

“Edward, his robes were green.” Aiden told him bluntly. 

“Same thing basically.” I heard Edward respond as there was just a back and forth banter between them for a while before Maya broke it up.

While I was looking around, I noticed a book lying on the table and read it aloud. “The battle was fierce, but the Order of the Stone emerged triumphant, saving the land and ensuring that peace and prosperity would reign forever.”

“Well, not exactly forever.” Lukas sighed and came up behind me, as I looked back and saw everyone start crowding around me as I continued reading.

“These five members… five friends. Together, would give so much to gain their rightful place, as five heroes.” what the… “They would author their own end. They would slay a dragon…”

“Ivor was a member of the Order of the Stone!” Olivia exclaimed in shock as everyone looked at each other confused. 

“The stories never mentioned him…” Aiden added, sounding a little hurt. 

“This is so crazy…” Lukas muttered, mostly to himself.

“This might explain why Ivor had such a grudge against Gabriel.” I finally spoke once I had the chance to add to the conversation and wrap my head around it. 

“They lied to us. They lied to the whole world.” Maya blurted out.

Suddenly, Gill turned to Edward and whispered a bit too loud so all of us could hear and went “Is that why you made so many offhand ‘I’m not a fan of liars’ comments every time Aiden would talk about the Order of the Stone?”

“It wasn’t my place to talk about it. Besides, I didn't want to upset Aiden, you know how much he idolizes those guys…” Edward responded awkwardly, a bit quieter, but still was able to be heard if you strained your ears hard enough.

“This is so crazy.” Lukas mummers besides me. 

I sighed before speaking up “The Order might not be what we thought they were, but Petra is still out there. The monster is still out there.” 

“Jesse's right.” Lukas added, “We need to focus on what we came here to do.”

“Where do these stairs go?” Olivia’s voice was heard a little ways away as I noticed she moved away from the group and was looking at something a little ways away, I walked up to where she was standing and saw white quartz stairs.

“Only one way to find out.” I sighed before walking up the stairs. After a bit of walking, we diverged into two different paths but seemed to go the same place. I chose the path on my right and saw that I was what looked like a large room with a map, with the others following close behind me.

Axel was the first to speak up, going “Now this is cool.” while almost everyone else had various tones of wow’s. 

“What happened to the walls?” Lukas spoke up suddenly.

“More like, what happened to this whole place?” Aiden added.

“This must have been where they met.” Olivia suggested confidently as we all spread out with the sunset sun casting an orange glow into the room. 

“So where are they then?” Axel asked, confused.

“Gabriel said that once we find the temple, the amulet would lead us to the Order of the Stone.” I recalled.

 “Well, what are you waiting for? Pull it out then.” Axel told me, I held up the amulet, but after a while I realized that nothing was happening. 

“Is… something supposed to happen?” Olivia asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Well, that was a let-down.”

“There's got to be something we're missing. Look around and see if you can find anything.” I told everyone.

“Why do we have to listen to you again-” I heard Aiden say before Edward whacked him on the head with a book he probably grabbed from the library downstairs, begrudgingly agreeing to listen to me at least.

We all split off into individual groups around the room. I noticed that there were lights on the edges of the map on the wall and a table with 5 switches. I started to flip and switch and saw that it lit up a light on the edge of the map, score!

After an agonizingly long time, I figured out that I needed to have all the lamps turned on and figured out how to turn them all on without them turning off by lighting another.

Once I turned them, the lamp on the table lit up white and shun a strong beam on light onto the map going through the hole in the weird fence thing on the pedestal with banners depicting the amulet.

I decided to give it a go and placed the amulet in the middle. The light shines through the middle dark blue gem on the amulet and instead of shining a blue light right where it was going through, it starts to emit both a green light and red light onto the map. “It's absolutely incredible. How did they build this?” Olivia said in awe.

“I'm with you on how they built it, to be honest.” I heard Edward mumble under his breath as the lights moved on their own, with the red one landing on an island out in the ocean on the map. The green one landing in the middle of a desert biome.

“This looks like some sort of tracking system.” I said in awe as well. 

“It's the Order! It's showing where they are now!” Aiden butted in excitedly, I could have sworn I saw his hands flapping up and down in excitement for a second out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned to look at him, he immediately stopped.

I internally shrugged it off as Lukas says, “Look, we don't know enough about how this thing works.” he started, “Maybe the amulet only tracks them when they're on the surface. Or maybe it doesn't work when they're in the Nether, we have to go off of what we do know.” He finished.

“There's only two lights on that map. If there are only two heroes left, then we know what we need to do. Petra's relying on us.” I spoke after a bit of silence. 

“That Wither Storm is still out there. We know that Gabriel was trying to tell us something. We've got to find the Order of the Stone.”

“Gabriel did say that Soren was missing.” I added. 

“That leaves Magnus…” “Or Ellegaard.” Lukas and Olivia spoke up. 

“Let's head out.” I decided.

“I'm not going with you guys, I have to stay here.” Lukas said as I turned to face him, “If I know Petra, she's probably doing everything she can to find this place. She's still out there. She has to be.”

“What if she didn’t make it?” Gill spoke up meekly as the sense of dread filled the area. 

“Don’t say things like that, Gill, I’m sure she made it out.” Maya said, putting a hand on his shoulder. 

“I’m just saying, what if she got sucked up by that Wither Storm…”

“If there's even a small chance she's alive… I have to stay. Go. Get help. I'm going to focus on making this place safe before nightfall.” Lukas said hopefully. “This temple is pretty big though. If we're going to have a chance at fortifying it, I'm going to need some help.”

“Sounds like Olivia's have you totally covered while me and Jesse are out finding Magnus.” Axel butted in. 

“‘Finding Magnus’? You really think that's how it's going to go?” Olivia said, furrowing her eyes offendly, “We need Ellegaard. She's the world's greatest engineer. She'll figure out a way to stop that thing.”

“We're trying to DESTROY it. And when it comes to ‘destruction’, Magnus is the master. You're a smart person, Jesse. And obviously the SMART is to go get Magnus.” Axel countered.

“Olivia, you and I are going to Ellegaard's.” I decided so they would stop bickering. 

“Awesome.” Olivia responded. 

“Axel, you stay here with Lukas and the others and get the place ready for when Petra shows up.”

“Better idea,” I heard Edward say before guiding Maya to stand over with me and Olivia, “You go with them to get Ellegaard.” He said before moving over to Aiden and Gill and moving them over to Axel. “And you two go with him to pick up Magnus, since he’s just going to leave anyway. While I really hate the idea of leaving you alone considering you tend to escalate any fights with these guys, it's the only way it will even out for when Petra arrives and Lukas gets to stay here.” he finished walking back over to Lukas.

We all (reluctantly) agreed to the set-up, and we set off to get the rest of the remaining order before I heard Lukas go, “Uh…guys?” as we looked over to where Lukas was looking and noticed the Wither Storm approaching the temple from afar with its long tentacles writhing around in the air shadowed by the lowering sun…

“Please hurry…

Chapter Text

Maya POV

The minecarts rode down the tracks in its bumpy fashion, the wheels screeched a little showing how old the thing was as we went over some powered rails. We got blown off the track earlier after a run in with a Ghast, so the momentum was kind of skewed off the tracks.

We passed by the sign in glowing red stating we were almost to Redstonina’s nether docking station, after a while we hit the stopping point and the minecart halted to a stop, and we all got out. We all crafted extra minecarts before we left, using some leftover items in chests we found around the temple, so no one was short on carts and no one had to share.

“You're about to meet the greatest Redstone Builders in the world…” Jesse half whispered-shouted to us (mostly Olivia). 

“Wow. Who would've thought that someday I'd really get to visit Redstonia?” Olivia sighed excitedly.

“Ellegaard's Capital City of Engineering, Incredible…” I added, sighing myself as she idly nodded her head as we approached the portal.

“Do you think Ellegaard will be willing… you know, to help us?” Olivia asked right as we stepped through the portal, I looked at her and responded, 

“I sure hope so.” as we walked on through, with Jesse going first.

We walked on through to see the blinding blue sky of Redstonia, barely any clouds were in the sky as we stood on a platform the portal was on.

We looked around confused on how we were to get to the main island before the sound of redstone pistons moving sounded, and we looked down at the water to see that there was something moving up from underneath.

The sides came up first and out came 3 pieces of a bridge that clicked into place allowing us to get across. We walked off the bridge and there was a really skillfully made fountain with redstone lamps at the top casting a glow on the water that flowed beside it. There was a ball of lava up at the top, encased in stained-glass.

We were looking around confused about where to go until we heard a voice call out nearby, “Builders of Redstonia!” oh my gosh oh my gosh it's her!

We walked over to this giant building decorated with colored redstone lights that a crowd of people were surrounding down on the ground. Up at the top we all saw Ellegard up doing a speech, “I want you to know how much I value and adore each and every one of you — Your hard work inspires me every day!”

“Look, there she is.” I heard Olivia gasp in awe as we joined the group of people.

“I am about to enter my Dome of Concentration, where I will be unreachable for the foreseeable future, but I will emerge when I complete my latest and greatest creation: the Command Block!” Ellegard shouted as the crowd began to cheer and clap enthusiastically.

“So please! Continue working! Continue building! And whichever person most impresses me… They shall be my protégé! Ready to help me usher in a new era of innovation and creativity! Calvin, throw the switch!”

After saying that a person, presumably known as Calvin, moves over to the lever and flips the switch causing the Dome to begin to close. oh crap.

“We need to get there before she totally locks herself in!” Olivia shouted as we quickly ran up the stairs but ended up falling due to the stairs closing and disappearing into the wall.

“Oof” we all went before we got our railings and stood back up. “Ah crap.” Jesse groaned as Reuben came up to us to see if we were okay, well, probably mostly Jesse and Olivia, but I was beside them, so I’ll count myself.

We looked around a little lost before we approached the Calvin person and Jesse goes, “Excuse me, Mr… Calvin, was it?” She asked, unsure, not wanting to assume, “We need to speak to Ellegaard, It's urgent.”

“Ohhh, I'm afraid that's quite impossible. Did you hear the speech? She's on lockdown until she completes her next great invention.” Calvin told us calmly, “But lucky for you… I'm here! How can I help you?” He finished asking us with a raised eyebrow.

“Can you give her a message? Please?” Jesse asked with her attempt at puppy dog eyes to get Calvin to cave, unfortunately he is not Lukas nor Petra so that obviously didn’t work.

“Hmmm, no. I'm afraid not.” Calvin spoke after a while. “Look, I can tell you're not from around here. Level with me - Who are you? Why do you need to see Ellegaard?” Calvin asked the series of questions, walking up to Jesse almost in the face if not by a single foot away. “We don't do tours this time of year, I must tell you.”

“I have a message from Gabriel, okay? Ellegaard’s old friend?” Jesse told Calvin. 

Calvin raised his eyebrows and turned away, clearly skeptical, “Hmmm, You must admit this all sounds a little outlandish.”

When suddenly Olivia got an idea, “Jesse! Show him the Amulet.” and it's a pretty good idea, hard to fake an Order of The Stone amulet, after all.

Jesse nodded briefly before reaching into her bag and pulling out the amulet with the red stone glowing strongly, “Look. This is Gabriel's amulet. It's how I got here.” Calvin turned around quickly in surprise as Jesse continued, “It's how I found Ellegaard in the first place.”

“Oh my.” Calvin gasped completely turning to face us, “Well that is interesting. If you'd like, I could send that to Ellegaard. Maybe that would help with your mission?”

“Might not be a bad idea…” Olivia mumbled, yeah, no, I don’t trust that too much. 

“No way, Gabriel gave that amulet to her — No way is she parting with it, you’d probably just lose it somehow.” I told him before Jesse got the chance to do something stupid.

Calvin obviously took offense to that, “Well fine then. I don't have time for this.” Calvin groaned, narrowing his eyes at me, “I'm afraid I have many more things to attend to than answering all of your questions. I must go.” He continued, hiding the venom in his voice behind clearly fake politeness.

Calvin walked over to the controls and bent down, tearing the redstone repeater off the circuit. “Better just take this repeater and disable the stair controls.” he said before side eyeing us and going, “We don't want any troublemakers disturbing Ellegaard.” He finished before walking away.

“Guess we'll need to get another repeater.” Olivia sighed. 

“Right.” Jesse groaned before we went off in separate directions to figure out how to get another one. 

I was walking around and walked past a catapult, or, cow-aplut according to the sign next to it and kept looking around before I noticed some guy with a stage and curtains and went to check it out.

“Heyyy how’s it goin’ how ya doin’?” The guy up top idly dancing asked enthusiastically, “here to see the next great revolution in entertainment? It is preeeeeetty amazing.” man, he kinda sounds like Ed after too much sugar.

“Hey do you have extra repeaters?” I asked, trying not to sound pushy, even if I was impatient with the world at stake and all that stuff.

“Ooooh, sorry friend. Actually, just used my last one on this puppy.” He explained still dancing but sounding sympathetic at least, “One of the key components that helps the cows dance, ha ha!”

“… What am I looking at exactly?…” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him looking at the wall of lava, not seeing any supposed cows this guy has. 

“This, Friend-o-mine,” we just met, “is a Bovine Lava Disco!”

After saying that, the wall of lava went down to show cows jumping all around in a panic and had some scorch burns on the fur. Geez, what is with cow torture around here, I’m glad Ed didn’t come with us considering his new pet.

“The perfect fusion of my two loves: Cows and Mu-sic!” Disco cow torturer said, still dancing like normal, “Ellegaard’s gonna see it and make me her protégé for sure.” highly doubt that.

“I’m just gonna go…” I told him awkwardly, unsure on how to get out of this conversation. 

“Enjoy the dancing cows!” He told me with a grin, “Just stay away from that little schoolboy, all right? He’s never had an original idea in his life.”

I wonder if I can distract him somehow… Wait, I GOT IT!

I quickly got to work and walked around in search of Olivia. Once I located her, I went up to her and explained the plan, “Olivia, we may not be on good speaking terms considering our past. However, I need you to distract that guy so I can steal the redstone repeater to power the stairs.”

“What, are you crazy! What if we get caught?” She squawked a bit too loudly, but thankfully everyone here is too stuck up to notice. 

“Shush! Just trust me on this.” I pleaded. After a bit of thinking she reluctantly agreed and walked up to disco cow torturer who I don’t actually have the name of nor do I care for it.

After a bit of distraction, I snuck behind the stage and snatched the repeater off the circuit board and the sound of screaming cows filled the surrounding here and the smell of steak. Oops.

“Oh no, my machine!” I heard the disco guy yell as the sound of cows mooing in pain stopped, and the cows are probably dead, I really should get away from the scene of the crime.

“That machine's been a cow death trap since block one.” I heard someone say.

“Oh, my poor cows…” Disco guy weeped before I got out of earshot, with Olivia trailing behind me towards Jesse by the auto farm. 

“...How did you get that-” Jesse started off concerned before I cut her off, 

“Don’t question it, just use it to get us inside.”

Jesse sighed before taking it from my hand and walked over to the levers and flipped them one by one after placing the redstone repeater back on the redstone circuit. One opened the shutters around the dome, another popped out the stairs and the final one caused a mechanical piston sound meaning the door had been unlocked.

I wonder how the others are doing on getting Magnus.

Gill POV

“You're completely surrounded by hundreds of hidden death traps. One step closer… And KABOOM!”

Magus flipped a switch from in front of us and directly in front of me a piston raised a bunch of grouped up TNT that was hidden under the compacted sand.

“It's Magnus! We totally got caught by Magnus!” Aiden and Axel somehow said at the same exact time, jumping excitedly in sync as well before the both of them noticed and stopped to glare at each other.

“I am regretting agreeing to this arrangement…” I groaned under my breath as the lava below us was making me sweat a little, also from the run we had to do to get here. Maybe I should have bargained and gone to Redstonia or stayed behind…

Maya POV

Eh, they are probably fine.

“Wow, here it is, Ellegaard’s redstone laboratory.” Olivia sighed as we walked inside and down some stairs, I gotta say if this is the lab, I am a bit disappointed.

“Seems more like an entrance or a foyer or something…” Jesse pointed out before Reuben walked over to a set of pressure plates and the next door opened. I shrugged and followed the pig.

We all stepped on through and the door closed behind us, and we looked around in awe as glass pipes carried redstone dust, blocks, and items up. “That must be the most redstone… stuff… I’ve ever seen in my life.” Jesse gasped, looking around. Oh my gosh, this is a dream come true!

After almost getting crushed by a rogue door with messed up repeater ticks, but we fixed it thankfully so we all got through, got past some lava again - man I have a hunch she doesn’t like people interrupting her. And then regrettably getting our clothes soaked to use a water elevator, we finally saw Ellegaard!

She was crouched down in front of a repeater before standing up, clearly in thought and not noticing that we had walked in. “This is just like I dreamt it. Entering Ellegaard’s laboratory. See her… right there.” Olivia gasped. 

“We must be sharing dreams, then.” I lightly chuckled in awe at finally meeting my idol in the flesh!

Anything else the loser said to each other was overwritten by my ears tuning into Ellegaard’s self-talk. “Time to pace back and forth and check the system, Inventory request? Operational. Delivery latency. Speedy.” as Jesse walked forward, and she must have heard her steps this time, since she suddenly turned around to greet us.

“Whoa, Hi! Hey! Didn’t see you sneaking up on me — guess that's the point.” Ellegaard quickly greeted us, she acknowledged me! Eeeee! “Don’t touch anything in here, okay. It’s all supremely fragile and genius.”

I understand how Aiden acts now. This is the best day of my life!

“Did Calvin send you? You my new Assistants?” She asked after a bit of silence from us not really knowing how to act, and I personally wanted to not embarrass myself, but Jesse doesn’t have any problem with that considering her pig. I and Olivia’s mouths fell open in shock, and understandably so.

“New assistants with a stupidly adorable pig, that is!” She cooed the pig, Am I seriously about to get jealous over the fucking pig right now? Yes, yes I am. 

“Oh my goodness, she thinks we are her assistants!” Olivia whisper-shouted excitedly.

This. Is. A. Dream. Come. True.

“And you, leather jacket.” I suddenly heard Ellegaard address me, startling me out of my thought, “Go switch on that T-flop circuit to activate the delivery chutes, I would have goggle girl do it, but she's out of commission.” Wait what?

I looked down beside me and sure enough there was Olivia on the floor, Welp, Guess I don’t have to battle for this position after all she already knocked herself out. I gave a quick salute before sprinting over to the button, pressing it a bit harder than needed.

We helped with whatever Ellegaard was doing before the weird plus sign of crafting tables joined together and the flickering cubic thing that had colored buttons on the sides of it. It rotated and spun inside before ultimately not forming before the machine retracted.

“Ugh… Trial #6,451… Another bust.” Ellegard groaned as Olivia got back up,  “Now about you four.” She turned around looking right at us while she spoke, “Does she fall over frequently? Is this going to be a regular occurrence?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“I… no, I’m sorry. I was just so excited to-” Olivia started trying to defend herself. 

“Ellegaard? We actually have a lot more bigger problems to deal with.” Jesse started awkwardly, giving Olivia a sympathetic look. “We are actually here to get your help. There is a giant Witherstorm, and it is attacking the entire world.”

“A Witherwhat–? What are you talking about? Who… Who sent you?” Ellegaard questioned, narrowing her eyes at us. “Was it Calvin?”

“Listen, Gabriel sent us, the world is in danger and we-” I started before she cut me off and began walking away. 

“Look, You three seem like pleasant people who are prone to fainting, But I simply don’t have the brain-power for this.” She explained, “I am in the middle of my greatest project to date - a powerful block capable of altering reality itself!” 

“We saw it before.” Jesse suddenly blurted out, causing Ellegaard’s eyes to widen. 

“Yeah, It was on that Witherstorm I remember!” I added.

“The world needs The Order of The Stone! That’s why we are here!” Jesse explained. 

“Erm, sorry to bust your circuits, but the Order isn’t really ‘together’ anymore.” Ellegaard spoke awkwardly, looking to the side. “We, ah, sort of disassembled.”

“That’s actually kinda why we’re here.” Jesse explained before pulling out the amulet finally and the red on the amulet glowed even brighter than before. 

Ellegaard looked at it in joke before muttering a soft “Gabriel’s amulet. This certainly changes things.”

“So, do you believe us now?” Jesse asked, exasperated, before Ellegard turned around again. 

“Yes… This is serious indeed. All the more reason why I need to finish my command block!” She shouted before she started pacing again, “I can use it to fight this Witherstorm… monster… thing… or whatever!”

We all looked at each other and shrugged before deciding we might as well help her out with making it, if she is that determined to make it why should we stop her, much less could we.

After a while of gathering materials all around the lab and messing with redstone, Ellegaard flipped the switch again and the crafting table went back to its combined state as the flickering command block came in, fading into our view.

Although, something wasn’t right. The ground was shaking a lot.

“Is it… destabilizing?” Ellegaard guessed before the sound of metal bending and being torn apart was heard, and the tentacle of that monster busted through the wall of the dome.

Reuben squealed and made a run for it as the thing's eye peaked into the room, and we almost got swiped by the tentacle. “Come on Ellegaard!” Jesse called out before grabbing her just as the tentacle went down, almost getting her, and we made a run for it out of the dome.

Chapter Text

Jesse POV:

“We need to go! We need to get to the portal!”

We were running out of the dome and once we got outside what awaited us was utter chaos, the ground was being taken apart, screams echoed through the once semi peaceful island with redstone floating high up into the sky.

We started to run down the steps before one of the monster’s tentacles snapped at the stairs in front of me and Reuben causing me to stop in surprise for a second before taking a jump just narrowly landing on the last of the steps with Reuben squealing and landing beside me before we join the others.

I ran feeling this fight or flight response kick into my nerves just like back at Endercon, the screams muddled under my heart beating in the years that I just barely heard Ellegaard shout, “The Portal, hurry!”

Suddenly I feel something tingle the hairs on the back of my neck and looked behind me and just narrowly duck to the ground to avoid a tentacle the Witherstorm tried to swing at me. But unfortunately, while I was on the ground, it wrapped it around my torso and hoisted me up into the air.

Oh, crap I thought as I was held upside down in the air causing my head to tingle a little. I quickly tried clanging my sword against the tentacle even if the stupid thing's flesh was stupidly strong, not even leaving a dent!

After maybe the 4th hit, it finally let me go and dropped me to the ground, which I barely shifted myself to land on my feet in time before taking off running after the others who were heading to the portal.

I made my way onto the bridge before the piece I stood on made this grinding, cracking sound and disconnected itself forcibly from the other pieces. “This way,” Ellegaard shouted from all the way over by the portal before I took a leap and landed on the platform below, thankfully not breaking any legs.

I ran to the edge of the one I was on and once the part of the bridge floated away in the monster’s beam and Olivia yelled out to me with clear urgency “Jesse!” She shouted, shaking    a little.

I sighed before taking a running start and just narrowly grasping onto the edge of the stairs but, uh, now I’m kinda stuck dangling with a lot of deep water below me…

“Guys, help me up!” I called out to them before I felt multiple arms grab onto mine to help list me more securely onto the platform, with Reuben squealing in a panic. Luckily, I got pulled up enough I could grab more of the floor with my other hand and hoist myself up the rest of the way before getting up and looking back at Redstonia.

Or, what was Redstonia.

The place was in shambles, redstone contraptions that honestly looked really cool were torn to pieces flying into the air, joining their creators in the Witherstorm. Sucking it up into the air before it can open its gaping maw and consume whatever it wants.

I noticed that it tried to take another swing and me and dodged before deciding it was now time to get on out of here. I shot my way into the portal, it's swooshing sounds loud in my ears and the weightlessness of the times before returns, I end up on the other side to go back to the temple.…

Edward POV:

She should be here by now. Why isn’t she here yet? Did something happen? No, nothing should have happened otherwise, how would she have gotten here otherwise?

Although… The Witherstorm’s world soundtrack just ended, and Boomtown’s stopped a while ago, which means both should be coming back now. They told me she arrives here after both Magnus and Ellegaard are through the portal and into the nether so why isn’t she here-

“Ed? Are you listening to me?”

“Gah!” I jumped thrusted out of my spiraling thoughts and back into reality, “Oh, uh, yeah totally, I swear.” I chuckled awkwardly, pressing my mouth into a thin line.

“Really, then tell me what I just told you 5 seconds ago.” Lukas said, putting his hands on his hips. 

“Uh… Something about building?” I responded not that all confident, and judging by how Lukas reacted was the wrong answer.

“I said that Petra arrived.” SHE DID!? WHEN?!

“Oh really? Sweet, where is she at?” I asked, playing it cool like I wasn’t just worrying about her not showing up, noooooo that would never happen.

“Downstairs,” Lukas answered, “She’s over by the entrance to be specific.” He clarified. 

“Hey thanks Lukas.” I thanked him before not even bothering to hide it anymore and hopped down the hole that was still in the wall down to the entrance. I explained the whole shebang of how I’m not human or whatever, and he took it surprisingly well.

If you classify well as he fainted and then thought he was hallucinating.

But anyways I hopped on down to the ground doing a tiny bit of last second floating to not hurt my legs but still look dramatic as hell, I look over to the entrance expecting Petra right?

Tell my why the fuck I saw what was not Petra.

In front of me was something that looked like Petra, it sounded like Petra, but it sure was not Petra, that's for sure. “Hey Petra, lookin'…uh…lookin' kinda off you okay?” I said feigning innocence just in case I am wrong in my assessment. 

“Oh yeah I'm fine, honest, just wither sickness and all that!”

Gotcha.

“… Petra doesn't tell anyone about it unless it's Jesse in a long while from now.”

Bud must have realized that I got my own realization and looked at me nervously before going. “Now, I get that this looks bad…” the thing said using Petra’s voice.

I will admit, I might have gone a bit overboard with my reaction of picking it up and throwing it against the floor. But if you saw something that was pretending to be a friend, you would want to beat it up asking for answers.

“Explain.” I snarled, showing off my good ol’ fashion eldritch horror look, which reminds me that it needs a bit of lotion. The skin is getting flaky and it feels weird. “Alright alright I’ll talk, just don’t try and kill me please, this is just my first day!”

You gotta be kidding me.

“What do you mean first day? I know you are a dev. How the nether is this your first day?” I asked genuinely confused cause last I checked devs don’t just look at someone and decide they should be hired and come a dev, no, they are born that way and into their jobs in instant adulthood. 

Even then I was told a dev hasn’t been born is hundreds of years due to over-abundance of the damn beings.

“It's a bit of a long story-” I cut it off, glaring at it.

“Then talk, and stop being disguised as Petra, it's weird.”

The dev sighed before the body melted into a glob of living code of 1’s and 0’s, and took on a humanoid shape but had no nose, mouth, ears. It had only eyes on its face that were glowing in the dark blob that was this fella. “Hello!” The developer said- hang on.

“Was… Are you seriously using the voice of Stephen Merchant.” I groan, son of a bitch, of course the guy who’s apparently just formed sounds like Wheatley of all people.

Man, the British suck.

“Yeah! Someone pirated the games you had on you from your own copies and someone was playing Portal 2 while I was forming, and I liked the voice, so I'm using it!” The dev said, sounding cheerful, hearing a dev speak to me in a non-condescending way felt kinda nice actually, I’ll try being nice to a dev for once.

“That's…oddly kinda sweet, A little weird how you have access to those games and can somehow play them, but I won’t question that until later. Now, Explain where Petra is before I…totally not break your skull into the stone…because I am nice…” I said, remembering halfway into my threat, that I was trying not to be threatening.

“Oh! Yeah, Petra entered a glitched chunk and is sorta stuck, it is going to be a while, so I got sent to pretend to be her and by time before we can get her out- hey where are you going?” The dev spoke before going confused as I started walking away. 

“I'm going to get her.”

“I wouldn’t suggest that, you’ll get worn out trying, probably with you not being a dev like us and all.” The developer stammered trying to get me to stay as Lukas finally got down to the ground level to check up on us. 

“Hey guys, how’s it going- uh.”

The dev and I froze and slowly turned to face Lukas, I still had my eldritch horror skin on and to him Petra just suddenly disappeared. 

“EDWARD, DID YOU EAT PETRA?!” Lukas suddenly shouts, concerned. 

“WOAH WOAH WOAH, I DID NO SUCH THING!” I quickly defended myself.

“Then where did Petra go?!” Lukas asked with his eyes wide still probably thinking I ate Petra somehow, this is why I hate how easy you are to jump to conclusions sometimes Lukas… 

“Okay so long story short that Petra was fake as you can see right here this bucko was pretending to be her, and I’m going to get the real one.” I explained, pointing to the dev beside me.

“Edward, there is no one there.”

Huh? 

“Oh yeah mortals can’t see us, remember?” The developer explained to me. 

“Oooooh, that makes a lot of sense, actually. Alright, anyways I will be gone for a bit and grab Petra and finish fortifying the area. I won't be gone long.” I quickly said before pulling up the little chat console and running a locate player command.

It took a second to load (I really need to update this, the version I have is like the Windows vista of console command.) and yep, info on the chunk is supplied and sure enough she is apparently in a lush cave somehow.

I of course make the smart decision and don’t run the teleport command to get over there because it is so unpredictable on where I end up at. Instead, I opt to just give myself some elytra and some fireworks and fly my way over.

After a stupidly long time of flying, I found the glitched chunk. How, you may ask? 

Simple, I ran right into it almost head first and instead flew through a dev.

Ew, that felt weird…

I stopped my elytra flying and landed towards the ground and made the dumb idea of hey, maybe it's solid ground!

Newsflash, it was not.

I ended up nocliping right into the ground, making my lungs hate me before hitting a patch that thankfully had a collision and opened my eyes and noticed I was inside the literal walls and the cave was close by.

I quickly moved my way into the lush cave so I could breathe and not suffocate and low and behold Petra is on the clay passed the fuck out, shit.

“Hey Petra?” I asked poking her in the side to see if she would move, she didn’t but at least she was alive, I guess. “Hey, so like I’m gonna try and get you outta here, k’?” I explained to her unconscious body before picking her up and lifting her on my back and trying to get back up to the surface, only for her body to be affected by the cave collision.

“So that’s why they were having a hard time getting you out…” I mutter under my breath before looking up at the ceiling and try to break a block. It didn’t work, since it was a glitched one and had no real collusion to break.

“Alright, I am going to try something that might be a bit stupid.” I sighed to no one in particular before lifting Petra up and placing her on my back before thinking really, really hard and pulled up the console command before putting in the coords for the temple.

“Come on, for once, do not spawn us halfway inside blocks…” I mumbled under my breath before sending the command in the chat console. After that got sent out, wisps of broken code danced around our bodies before seeping into my skin and I felt myself get pulled apart atom by atom before falling a bit onto hard stone ground.

“Holy crap!” I heard Lukas say before I shrugged Petra off my back and tried to get up, but I have to get a stupid migraine and black out. The last thing I see is Lukas being worried and an absurd amount of devs surrounding me before everything went black.…

Lukas POV:

I just kind of stared at Edward, he was just kind of lying there having passed out, I sigh before lifting Petra up and placing her in some beds we have. 

I was going to do the same thing with Edward but when I tried to pick him up a violent chill went down my whole body and this random thought of, I should not touch him came into my mind.

That was unnerving.

I was going to question it more before sudden a loud voice booms from the stairs case going, “Boom master is back baby!” before turning suddenly and its Magnus, Gill, Axel, and Aiden all coming up the stairs.

“So glad you guys made it!” I spoke with a smile on my face, turning fully to face them. 

“Yep, we got Magnus- Oh come on!…” Aiden said excitedly before noticing Ed passed out behind me. “Again?!”

“Uh yeah, Don’t worry, this is supposedly harmless so he tells me and nothing to apparently worry about.” I sighed as of course everyone gives me strange confused looks. “I’ll explain later, it's confusing even for me a little…”

“Hey, uh, is your friend always this… floaty?” Magnus suddenly asked before I turned around and- What?

Sure enough, he was floating. Edward was just ascending a little towards the ceiling. Axel quickly was the first to recover from this strange development and grabbed a bag of rocks he for some reason had and tied it to Edward. This made him like a kind of balloon still floating but at least not any higher with the rocks weighing him down.

“Yeah, I’m not going to wait for a later to arrive, I want an explanation now.” Aiden states, crossing his arms across his chest, I sigh before starting with a, “Fine, but buckle in it gets confusing very quickly…”

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

After a long minecart ride we walked back through the portal at the temple and this time managed to avoid stepping into the water, aside from Reuben, but he was purposeful about it. I was the first to climb up the vines and once at the top I looked down and shouted, “Okay! Just a little farther.” 

After Ellegaard pulled herself up the vine wall she looked out to the temple. We both saw how the entrance had been fortified by blocks filling what used to be holes, and an iron door had been added for extra protection.

“Well, that's certainly impressive. Wow!” Ellegaard sighed as Olivia and Maya came up behind us. Once everyone was up the wall, we jumped down to the ground below and walked up to the entrance.

Suddenly we heard a Hiss, “Gah!” I shouted startled as suddenly a creeper came towards us out of nowhere and got plummeted with a bunch of arrows along with a comforting voice.

“Who goes there!?” Lukas! “Oh, Jesse, is that you?” Lukas called out again as I turned to look at the entrance and up above at a vantage point was Lukas smiling down at me holding a bow with an arrow just going off the string holding fire.

“Lukas, hey, we're back!” I called out just as happy to see him. 

“I'm so glad you're back.” Lukas called back, putting down the bow somewhere and leaning over the edge of his little platform on the bricks and cobblestone. “Quick guys, come one!” Lukas said, opening the door for us to head inside, “You're not gonna believe who showed up while you were gone.” he continued as he moved out of the way and,

“Petra!” 

There she was, leaned against the wall all cool and all “Hey guys, how's it going?” She asked, her voice sounded a little raspier than normal, but that can just be caulked up to her being tired from the undoubtedly long walk over here.

Reuben got excited and ran happy circles around her, oinking up a storm before she crouched down to rub him behind the ears.

“I'm so glad you're okay Petra” Olivia sighed, giving her a hug which Petra returned with a smile that looked tired. 

“Yeah, I'm pretty stoked about it myself.” She said before Olivia let go and Petra turned to me, “And it's really good to see you, Jesse”.

I will admit, when she went into the hug, I may have hugged her a bit too hard but dang it, I was happy to see her after not knowing if she was ever going to make it here!

After a while, Petra pulled away and looked at me with a frown on her face, “Things got pretty dicey back at Gabriel's Bunker…” She started, “If you hadn't saved me… Well, I owe you everything, Jesse.” She finished.

“Did anyone else get away too?” Maya suddenly asked with barely audible to us. “The whole chase was a blur, but The Wither Storm left almost nothing behind. Everything… Everyone… was just …gone…” Petra admitted as the air felt heavy with dread.

We started walking past the now deactivated arrow hallway as it seems someone broke the pressure plates so no one could accidentally trigger the traps again, Ellegaard suddenly speaks, “I wouldn't believe that anything could defeat Gabriel if I hadn't seen it for myself… This is terrible.”

As we walked into the enchanting room, I heard what sounded like someone, Aiden, yelling about something up on the top floor with Lukas’ face cringing awkwardly, “Aw man, was hoping they stopped fighting by now…” Lukas groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“What’s going on?” Maya asked, tilting her head a little before Lukas turned to look at her with an almost guilty look on his face. 

“It's… There is something about Ed none of us knew about that he has been keeping secret for a while…” Lukas sighed again before continuing, “I explained what he told me to the others when they got back and Aiden… He didn’t take it very well…” He finished.

“Oh my…” Olivia gasped as the sound of something fragile sounded breaking up above, “We should probably go up there before someone gets hurt.” Olivia said before going up the stairs, and we all followed behind at varying speeds.

The higher we climbed, the louder and clearer the shouting got, “What else has been a lie? Huh? Is your name actually Edward, or did you lie about that too?” Aiden shouted very loudly.

“Why the fuck would I lie about that? I have always been genuine, honest-” I heard Edward say before getting cut off by Aiden. 

“Oh really? Because you sure haven’t been pretty honest about the fact that you aren’t even human so what else am I supposed to believe about you for the past fucking 5 months, I thought we were close!”

Oh boy, that doesn’t sound good

We walked up to the top floor and there they were with Aiden on one side of the room and Edward on the other with Gill in between the two seemingly torn between either side, 

“We are close damn it, it's not my fault I couldn’t trust that you would react well to being informed of my non-mortality and I guess I was correct!” Edward shouted as another the sound of glass shattering sounded as a glass pane suddenly flung itself from somewhere random in the wall, narrowly hitting us.

“Okay, I think everyone needs to calm down!” Lukas shouted, causing both to look at him with both having some variation of fury on their faces, with Ed looking less than human now that I think about it.

“How can you be calm about this?” Aiden shouted back pointing accusingly at Edward, “He is the one who didn’t bring it up!”

“Oh, so you tell everyone you meet how you like it in the bedroom or something? It's been 5 months you think I would have gone ‘Oh yeah I’m kind of a god and have powers and shit you should be friends with me’ like no I’m not the fucking British lava man up in administration!”

After saying down suddenly a random lightning strike just went off directly next to Edward almost frying him, “Oh is that a challenge, come fight me to secretly pale ass twink!” Edward bellowed, raising his hands up to fight the air or whatever before suddenly vanishing.

“Where did he go?” Olivia asked, very much confused. 

“I… I don’t know to be honest…” Lukas sighed, seeming to be just out of it, not wanting to deal with fighting anymore, as Gill led Aiden over to the side to seemingly try and get him to calm down.

I would say that that was the end of it, but no.

“Would someone care to explain what he is doing here?” Ellegaard asked, looking visibly annoyed, and Magnus and Axel walked out from what looked like some kind of cover fort thing made out of planks and TNT.

“Call this a hunch… But do you two not like each other” Petra asked, raising an eyebrow at Ellegaard’s clear irritation. 

“You'll understand when you know him. Did you know about this???” Ellegaard continued looking to glare at me.

“Is… this a problem?”

“You bet it is. I will not work with him ! Not after… well. Let's not talk about it.” Ellegaard snapped back scoff and gave him the side eye. 

“Well, if it isn’t the Queen of the Nerds.” I suddenly heard Magnus shout tauntingly as he and Axel walked on over to us.

Ellegaard narrowed her eyes on him, crossing her arms over her chest “Well, this is unexpected…” She grumbled, yeah, my bad I didn’t think a warning would be necessary…

“I'm not entirely sure what you mean, but I'm definitely sure that I don't like it.” Magnus retorted. 

“Yeah! Show him some respect!” Axel said determined to defend his idol.

“Oh. You're sticking up for Magnus. That's very… sweet…” Ellegaard said it very condescending. 

“Yeah, he's sticking up for me. It's because I'm really awesome and super cool!” Magnus responded by crossing his arms defensively.

“I'll never understand your fans.”

“Uh, sorry to intervene, but can you guys cut it out? We've got bigger problems to deal with than arguing with each other!” I butted in after getting tired of them bickering like children. “There's still a hungry Wither Storm in the process of turning the whole world into its dinner!”

Ellegaard looked to me for a second awkwardly before speaking up, “It was terrifying. It came out of nowhere and just destroyed… everything.”

“A little too scary for you, Ellie? Couldn't just think it away?” Magnus gave his snide comment trying to get a rise out of Ellegaard. 

“You weren't there, Magnus. I'm telling you -- This thing was like nothing I've ever seen!”

“Why? Because it's never come inside one of your little workshops?”

“Oh for fuck's sake, would you two stop fighting?” I snapped after getting frustrated at us getting absolutely nowhere, my hand tingled in my pockets as my fingers clenched around the amulet. 

“Woah!” 

“Yikes!” 

Magnus and Ellegaard responded respectively.

“Oh, come on! Don't yell at me! You are the ones who couldn't stop bickering for the last few minutes!” I shouted, placing my hands on my hips glaring at them both, “We need to find some way to stop that thing.”

“Well, I don't know if you've had the chance to poke around this old dump yet, but it's pre-tty much stripped bare.” Magnus said with a blank look on his face. 

“So, what are we gonna do? How are we going to stop it?” Gill suddenly spoke up, joining us in the group discussion.

“That thing was massive, It would take more than TNT to get that thing down, cause I know that’s what you were going to suggest, Magnus.” She said, side eyeing him as he stuck his tongue out at her.

Holy crap, how childish can one person be? 

“If only Soren were here… He might have something we could use…” Ellegaard sighed as Magnus groaned. 

“Oh, Ellie. Not this again. You know, I hate it when you brag about you and Soren's little brainy club.” he grumbled.

“I'm not bragging!” Ellegaard retorted, “I think I've got a legitimate idea here!”

“What are you talking about? What did Soren have?” Lukas asked. 

“Soren had a kind of ‘Super TNT,’ stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world. The ‘Formidi-Bomb.’” Ellegaard started to explain.

“Yeah yeah yeah, I've heard all about the 'F-Bomb' before.” Magnus rolled his eyes as I heard Aiden snort before covering it with a forced cough.

“F-Bomb?” Axel asked, causing Aiden to snicker again.

“Yeah, Soren claimed that dropping the F-Bomb could destroy anything !” Magnus responded to Axel with Aiden mumbling a small “The jokes just write themselves, holy shit…”

I decided to ignore him and asked a very important question, “Do you know where it is? Can we get some?”

“Well, there's a little problem there…” Ellegaard trailed off before continuing, “We don’t know where Soren is. But you found us. Can you figure it out?”

“Well, the map might.” I offered.

“Well, unless he's in the Nether or the End. But it's worth a shot.” Ellegaard sighed, as I placed the amulet on the pedestal, and we activated it once again. 

I heard Lukas mutter a small “I knew it my theory was correct” beside me. This time when I turned on the beacon, the green and red lights were both shining in the middle of the map.

“All right, there's your light, my light…” Magnus sighed walking up to the map before suddenly, a third gray light appeared at the top edge of the map. 

“That's new…” Axel stated.

“There he is. Soren had his fortress deep inside the mountains. After the Order… broke up, that's where he went to keep doing his experiments.” Ellegaard spoke, pointing to the light up in the mountain range north from here.

“Look, he invited me there a couple of times, but it always seemed a little…” Magnus trailed off before Ellegaard finished his sentence with, 

“Weird, right? It always seemed a little weird…” 

Suddenly, a fourth blue light appears north-east of us, slowly heading to Soren's. “Whoa…” I gasped. 

“Uh... it didn't do that before…” Olivia supplied placing a hand on her chin. 

“Are you sure it's working correctly?” Lukas asked, trying to be helpful.

“Wait…” I gasped before looking behind me at the amulet. The place the blue light was coming from was the middle and I remember that Gabriel’s light was the top blue one… Magnus and Ellegaard we know their colors… Soren is gray… so that just leaves… “That's Ivor!”

“Ivor's going to Soren's! We need to move!” Ellegaard suddenly said while Magnus looked at her funny. 

“It doesn't look too far... We could probably make it on foot.” Maya said pointing out the proximity.

“Righteous. But the sun's going down soon. Let's just get some rest first and head out first thing in the morning. Avoiding all the 'nighttime' and 'monsters' and everything.” Magnus said, sounding very condescending probably directed to Ellegaard.

“No!” Ellegaard suddenly shouted, making some of us jump, “If you had seen that monster you wouldn't be saying that! We need to leave, now!” 

“What? It's so bad you're going to just go waltzing out in the woods at night?” Magnus asked raising an eyebrow.

“Magnus! This is serious! If we don't hurry, then–” Suddenly the sound of something teleporting sounded and a thud occurred and Edward was on him back before standing up right, his eye was bruised and his neck was– 

Hang on, what is up with his body, actually.

It looks weird, his legs ended like sharp needles and his mouth hung open with an empty blackness inside of it, along with his eyes being warped into upright crescent moons. His eyes looked like they internally blinked under the skin. His arms were bent in 3 separate ways and his neck looked like a one of those twisty noodles.

“I’m okay…so much theatrics and teleportation…” He groaned standing up unsteadily, almost falling backwards at the first step. “I’m okay, these legs are just really not useful in the slightest and makes it hard to walk.” He explained before his body shifted to looking human again.

He walked over to where we were at and Aiden very much glared at him while his mushroom cow came up to him and rubbed against his legs, his very human legs. Edward noticed the glare and glared back, “Oh come on you seriously still can’t be mad about earlier.” he sighs staring at Aiden.

Aiden reacts by scoffing and goes back to sulking, Edward sighed before just seeming to ignore him despite his body language showing that it was affecting him. “Anyways, Did you guys find Soren yet and are deciding whether to stay the night or go now?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“How-” I was going to say before he cut me off. 

“That tells me all I need to know. Now, we should go now if we don’t want to deal with that.” He said before pointing his thumb behind him.

I looked behind him and saw faintly small those stupid purple beams in the far distance, crap it already found us!

“What are we waiting for?! Let's get going!” Axel said, no one went against it. Even if the sun had slowly started to set, anything was better than running into that monster again so soon. 

We packed up everything we needed and headed out into the forest bearing in mind that there is a chance that the temple won't be standing for long if it passes directly through it…

Chapter Text

Aiden POV

We were walking through the sparse forest between the temple and the mountains, we would worry about normal monsters stopping us, but if we count the animals we are a group of 13 so honestly we should be fine.

“Alright, let's keep moving.” I heard the loser say ahead of us leading the group based on how the formation is, despite the fact that she probably has no idea where they are going. “We should be getting close to the mountains.”

“Soooo Gabriel is meeting us back up at Soren’s right? Been a while since we caught up, and he’s a good wall against the nerds.” I suddenly heard Magnus say casually as we all just looked at each other awkwardly, right, forgot to say that…

Ellegaard sighed before looking at Magnus’s confused expression and dropped the TNT above the fire saying, “Magnus… Gabriel isn’t going to be joining us…”

“Sure he is, that’s why Squishy’s got his amulet.” Magnus responded like this was obvious, gesturing his thumb at the loser, which caused them to cringe awkwardly.

“I uh, it seems the others haven’t told you yet…” Ellegaard sighed before finally letting the TNT explode.

“Gabriel is gone. ”

“…” Magnus was silent, seeming to process that, “… You’re lying. ” Magnus finally spoke, seeming to take the denial path immediately.

“Magnus, she’s not lying, he gave me this amulet as his last wish before he got sucked up into the Witherstorm.” Jesse explained, holding the amulet in question, as Magnus just stared blankly at it.

“I… I’d say I need a moment, but now might not be the time…” Magnus mumbled as we all looked at him sympathetically. Ellegaard gave him an awkward look before looking away from him again as we continued to walk along in silence.

The moon was high up into the sky with the stars twinkling in the night sky, no lights were around, and we only had some handheld torches to light the way. Liar over to my left kept on mumbling something about how he couldn’t wait for lantern recipes to work or whatever while we were making them.

Speak of the liar, and he shall appear, I felt a tap on my shoulder and there he was walking beside me.

“Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyyy Aiden, listen about earlier-” He started before I cut him off, not bothering to give him the satisfaction of my gaze.

“ Don’t act all buddy-buddy with me, I’m still mad at you.” I grumble, seeing him cringe out of the corner of my eye.

“Look, I get you hate me right now, but I just want to explain my side of our… disagreement.” He started, he stayed silent but since I mostly ignored him he took that as a sign to continue talking, “I didn’t tell you of my, um, origin so to speak because I didn’t want you to treat me differently,”

“I’ve tried interacting with some others when I first came here and made the wrong choice of not even bothering to blend in with the populace,” 

“So when I tried to make friends and stuff like that, it was really obvious they only hung out with me because they either were going to exploit me somehow or felt they had some kind of divine need to hang out with me otherwise I would smite them or whatever.” He continued.

He stayed silent for a while before letting out a sigh, “So to be honest, when I encountered you that night, I just, I don’t know, felt like you wouldn’t give a shit about who or what I was and where I come from.”

“… Of course, I was better at looking human so you didn’t know better, but I guess this argument we are having kinda just proves me correct, you are not like being a suck-up or anything you are just being, well, you. ” He finished awkwardly.

I stayed silent, unsure how to respond, as many different emotions I didn’t know how to identify or express were pulsating through my body right now. It was just awkward because neither of us were going to speak until the other did.

“… I may not completely forgive you but… I guess it's a start.” I sighed, “It's going to be a while for me to fully trust you again, but I think we can tolerate each other until this is over.” I finished hesitantly, he betrayed my trust but by the stars, him looking like a kicked pup is a bit sad and annoying at the same time.

I swear to you, he just lit up with happiness, literally, he’s fucking glowing.

“Thank you, no more big secrets any more scouts honor!” He said giving a salute, I don’t understand the phrase, but I guess I’ll take it.

“That’s wonderful Ed, but uh, could you maybe glow a bit more? We are running out of fuel for the torches.” I heard Lukas call to us in the front, as Edward just blinked at him, looking confused.

“I’m not glowing?” Edward responded, sounding unsure looking at himself, “Yeah no that’s not me…”

“… If you aren’t glowing, then what is?”

Growl

“…” 

“What was that?” Ellegaard asked, confused, as we looked around trying to identify what made that noise. “

Rumble

Oh no, the ground is shaking, “What’s going on?” I shouted as everyone started panicking.

“Everyone shut up and drop!” I heard Edward shout before dropping to the floor as we quickly followed.

Just as someone was about to ask what was going on, a fucking arm shot out of the ground where we just were, before another shot out. Both gripped on the dirt, pulling some scary-looking mob out of the ground.

Nobody make any loud sounds or screams. It's attracted to vibrations and can sniff you out if you get too close. I heard Ed’s echoing voice in my head as the thing’s tentacle things moved and glowed that same color that was beneath us just a few seconds ago.

It groaned, turning itself towards our direction and did not seem to be looking at us, but we could see its front now. It had some kind of hole in the middle of its stomach with light blue light shining inside it. Its eyes were nonexistent, and its mouth was a large gaping maw, seeming to be in a permanent frown.

Everyone continued moving, crotch close to the floor to lower the sound, and Don't. Run. It will outrun you if you try.

We all followed his advice getting up as stealthy as possible and started sneaking away, but before long a spider hissed to our left. The monster heard it and let out a clicking sound before roaring and charging at the spider before squashing it to almost nothing!

Jesse had to clasp a hand over the stupid pig to make it not squeal in terror and give us away, it loud out a groaning sound before sniffing around trying to look for something, like us…

We kept sneaking away from the thing as its groans turn into whines- OH FUCK!

While we were sneaking away someone up front stepped on a twig, and it snapped, the monster’s tentacles on the head clicked before groaning again and walking towards our direction.

Lukas suddenly pulled back the string on his bow and shot the arrow into a tree away from us, and thank the stars it took the bait! 

The thing ran towards where the arrow landed before realizing nothing was living there and smashed its arm into the ground before disappearing with the earth seemingly swallowing it up, leaving no trace of its presence behind.

“What the fuck was that.” Magnus finally spoke after we were certain that thing was gone.

“That would be a warden, an extremely powerful hostile mob summoned by sculk shriekers in the deep dark.” Edward sighed, “The issue is I haven’t heard any sculk shriekers, and it was glowing before it spawned so either that was a one-in-a-billion chance just now, it's not following the rules it's supposed to be, or something else is going on.”

Edward then held out his hand and moved his fingers on something that was either invisible or straight up not there before letting out a quiet hmm sound, “Yeah that’s weird, there is a deep dark a chunk to the left of us, so the shrieker sounds are probably faulty, however, that doesn’t explain the glowing.”

Yeah, I have no idea what he is talking about, and Edward noticed everyone else held the same sentiment. “16 meters to the left.” he explained with a deadpan look on his face, “We should continue going before those trigger again.” he suggested as we all got back to moving.

Jesse POV

“Hey, look guys, I think I see a door!” I called out behind me.

Everyone was currently climbing up the side of the cliff that looked far too sculpted to not be a kind of blend-in stairs. And sure enough that was correct as I stood looking at a rather large door made of what looked to be gold!

Reuben oinked next to me as everyone climbed up the rocks, with some being more winded than others, more notably Edward looked like he was dying for some reason with Mozo strapped to his back.

“It was 50 blocks, you are fine.” Magnus groaned, standing up, “Didn’t know you younger gen were so out of shape, sheesh.” Magnus continued looking down at him laying on his stomach.

“The cow moves a lot and I have asthma.” He groaned before sitting up and- ewww what the heck!

He sounds like he’s hacking up a hairball! And that's not even the worst part, the worst part was something actually came out of his throat it looked like, and it was just, ewww…

“That was disgusting.” Ellegaard put it bluntly.

“Not the grossest thing he’s done, at least he did it outside and not on the carpet.” Maya sighed as Edward stood up himself. 

“Maya it was one time and I apologized and got you a new one!” He tried defending himself fruitlessly before sighing and just accepting he wasn’t going to win.

… Grossness aside, Ellegaard flipped a hidden lever and the doors opened up to show off a room of elaborate design of white and blue hues, the place looked amazing compared to the outside with the cold boring snow.

“Soren really lived down here? So far from… anyone.” Lukas sighed as we walked inside onto a bridge thing of quartz above, giving a weird look as it was suspended in the middle of the air almost.

“Enchanting, isn't it?” Ellegaard groaned before Petra suddenly went into a coughing fit and slowed down behind me as I noticed her footsteps stopped a little. I looked over at her concerned when I noticed that it looked like she was holding her arm.

I was about to ask if she was okay before she just walked past me, giving me an awkward side eye. 

She was always the person to never show any weaknesses, for better but mostly for worse, so it was concerning to just see her so… I don’t know… fragile? If that makes any sense? 

But more often than not, you have to wait for her to tell you what's wrong before you can find out, so I won’t corner her unless it seems to get worse.

The end of the hallway led to a large room with a huge pit splitting the room in half, the only way across were columns that were scattered across the hole. It honestly looked like some kind of obstacle course or something to deter unwanted visitors. 

At the end of the room was another large golden door like the one we first came through, wow dude must be rich. Looking down the pit, but I couldn’t see anything down there in the darkness.

“Yeah, and I'm reeeeally not feeling those columns…” Lukas groaned looking at what looked like pretty unstable columns, the middle was filled with gravel with the sides branching out and looked to be made of clay.

What especially didn’t help me trust these columns anymore was how far apart they were, one wrong jump, and you’ll be falling for who knows how long, considering I can’t see the ground of this pit.

“Aw, come on! It's fine! Look!” Magnus rolled his eyes before jumping over to the first one and landing in the middle, Axel followed right after, acting like it was some fun carnival ride.

“I’m not doing that.” Edward sighed before walking towards the edge, did a tiny hop and fell down into the pit, although based on the cursing that was probably not what he was expecting.

“You okay down there?” I called down into the darkness before I heard him call up.

“Yeah, I’m okay! Powers did the stupid daily reshuffle and thought I still had the semi-hovering thing but guess not!” He shouted in the dark. “Don’t worry, I will find a way back to you guys!” 

Olivia surprisingly was the next to jump onto the platforms with Aiden, Gill, and Petra. After Petra jumped, there was some hesitance from Maya before she took a running start and jumped practically into Gill’s arms.

The last to jump was me, Reuben, and Mozo as the poor animals were scared not wanting to jump across, “Just don’t fall okay you two.” I spoke to them before backing up a bit before taking a running start to rapidly jump onto the platforms, Reuben squealed and followed close behind with Mozo mooing in protest before hesitantly following too.

I was doing really well with my jumps, but good luck ran out eventually, and I landed wrong and fell to the ground after failing to pull myself up.

“Oof!” I groaned as Reuben jumped down to me, with Mozo staying at the top, mooing in what I’m going to assume was concern.

“Oh, sup guys.”

I jumped, forgetting Edward was also down here, before the sound of a screaming cow sounded as the little buddy jumped down and landed on him. Ouch.

Grunt.

Crap Endermen! I saw just out of the corner of my eye the long, lanky legs of an Enderman and quickly faced the ground to avoid eye contact. “Oh yeah right, I should’ve warned you about that.” I heard Ed groan, getting up and putting Mozo in his makeshift baby carrier backpack again.

“AAAAHHHH!” I heard Lukas scream before dropping from above, face-planting into the ground. He quickly got up though and dusted himself off while he stood. “I heard your voice and thought I would come down and help.” He said, trying to save face.

“Sure, slugger.” I heard Edward snorted, seeming to act like he knew some big secret or whatever. “I’ll take your word for it.”

I unfortunately became aware of the fact that, oh yeah, we are surrounded by Endermen!  

“There are so many. I didn't think they ever came in groups that big.” I said as I looked at the large gathering of the lanky monsters.

“No kidding.” Lukas sighed nervously.

Suddenly I heard Reuben’s panicked oinks a bit away from me reverberating off the area. I should follow Ed’s example and get a baby backpack carrier…  

However, I didn’t have much more time to dwell on that because I turned to look at where he was only to be face to face with an Enderman!

It screamed in my face as I fell back startled as Lukas screamed and ran from fear, “Come on champ, we gotta skedaddle!” I heard Edward shout before grabbing me by the suspender straps and hoisting me off the ground just as the Enderman was about to strike its claws right where I just was.

“Hold your breath!” I heard him shout again, but before I could ask why I felt this weightless-ness and the sound of splashing water before I was underwater! Luckily, I was able to be pulled back up to the surface so I could actually swim properly.

The water was quite cold, but I'll choose it over getting eaten by Endermen all day. 

I heard another scream as Lukas jumped in with Reuben squealing close behind before we ended up together going down what seemed to be some kind of water canal.

Huh, this was very convenient!

“Umm… do you hear that?” Lukas asked as the sound of an approaching rushing sound got closer and closer. 

It's a little too convenient.

“Uh-oh.” I heard Lukas gasp as the sound got louder and the- oh crap, that's a waterfall!

“Don't tell me. We're about to go over a huge waterfall.” I heard Edward deadpan.

“Yep.” 

“One of us is probably gonna drown?”

“Most likely.”

“Bring it on.”

Chapter Text

Axel POV

I followed closely behind Magnus as we walked through hallways along with the rest of the group. Well, okay most of the group if you don’t count 5 soooo 8 of us were walking together.

The hallways were lit with a lot of lights that looked almost completely white with some blue tinted on the edges, which bounced off the already white walls and stairs. 

Maybe this Soren guy is allergic to color and fun, I'll ask when I meet him. 

After a bit of walking it got dark again, and we almost had the funny faces shoot arrows at us if Ellegaard hadn’t warned us ahead of time. So now we’re just walking down a bunch of stairs, this guy really likes stairs.

Once we got to the bottom, another door was there, and I got to be the first one to open it. Behind it was a lot of water and a platform up ahead with four massive statues and a hole in the roof that looked like it's meant to be there to let in some sun.

“Man, good thing Ed isn’t with us.” I heard Mayo- no wait, it was Maya right? Should’ve eaten before we left, anyway Maya said that with Grill- Gill letting out a chuckle huff as we all jumped into the water to swim across.

“No kidding, we’d be stuck here for hours before he willingly got out.” I heard Apple- Aiden say back to them looking hesitant to go into the water before joining us.

Once we swam across Olivia pointed out that the four statues resembled the members of the Order of the Stone decorated with their represented ores, and between the statues were two hallways leading to somewhere.

“This place is absolutely incredible. ” Ellegaard praised as we got up with our clothes a bit heavy from the water, her hair was dripping with water weighing it down as well.

“It’s really not that impressive.” Magnus said, squeezing out the water from his mask before putting it back over his face.

“Can you not always have to counter me on every little thing I say?” Ellegaard responded sounding a little irritated, awe man not again.

“I’m not trying to do it, you are just saying all the wrong things.” Magnus shot back as Ellegaard turned to him, crossing her arms.

“At least I can appreciate good art when it's due, but you wouldn’t know what that is considering your crappy town. ”

“My town is NOT crappy, at least it has personality compared to your little island of nerds!”

“Oh spare me the speech, you don’t understand something and your little primate brain just goes ‘Oh TNT go boom!’ ALL THE TIME!”

“Those two never stop arguing, do they?” Gill sighed and we all hummed in agreement.

“You ever wonder what happened to them, like in the past?” Olivia said, “Cause, they can't despise each other over nothing, right?” She pointed out, again we all agreed even if we weren’t talking to not get caught in the crossfire.

“Don't know… I mean… it had to be something that bad if they ended up like this…” Aiden mumbled as a loud scream and shout in the faint distance echoed throughout the room and the sound of something falling into water and making a big splash.

“OH BE QUIET. IT'S JUST A POINTLESS BUILDING! That's all I'm saying, I mean, just look at-”

“Magnus, if an artist painted the inside of your mind, he'd end up with the most extraordinary desertscape paintings! THAT'S IT! I'M GOING!” Ellegaard shouted, turning her back and walking away, “Once again, it falls to me to take care of everything ! I'll find this 'Super TNT' myself!”

“Oh no no no! You do NOT get to be the one who walks away!” Magnus looked like he was about to explode as well, “THAT'S IT! I'M GOING!” He then proceeds to leave in the opposite direction, leaving us in the middle, before shouting behind him with his arms in the air, “See!? I'm walking away too now! 'Super TNT,' here I come!” 

“It's hard to pick 'glass half full' when they keep kicking the glass over.” Huh? Who is she talking to- Oh it's the others they’re back!

“And I thought they were doing so well…” Lukas sighed standing next to Jesse apparently having snuck up behind us!

“Yeah, I wouldn't go that far…” Olivia trailed off, “They were arguing a lot while you guys were gone, it was getting pretty heated.” Olivia explained.

“Well, they've definitely got issues to work through.” Jesse shrugged.

“Hey, Lukas, where’s Ed-” Aiden was going to start speaking before Lukas pointed at the water and gave a blunt,

“ Where do you think ?” 

Aiden gave an uncomfortable look at the water before Maya sighed, stepped back into the water a little, and shouted, “Ed come on, you can swim later!”

After a bit of silence, she pulled out a fishing rod for some reason before throwing the bop thing whatever it's called into the water and stood there, “Hey Axel, was it? Mind giving me a hand real soon?”

I was surprised that I was needed, but I guess I’ll be nice to the jerks since they’ve been nice so far, “Uh yeah sure, what do you need?” I asked.

“Just hold me and be ready to pull.” She said vaguely, I shrugged and despite probably my better judgment held onto her. Not long after I grabbed her the line was pulled on suddenly!

I pulled with my strength and easily pulled back on the source before whatever it was pulled out of the water, and I ended up falling on my back and into the water causing water to splash on anyone close.

I groaned before I got up and on the other end of the fishing line, Eddie was just lying there before he got, upholding the fishing bob in his hand. “You know, I hate how this genuinely works on me.”

After all that was sorted, though, we decided to split up and try and follow Magnus and Ellegaard. While we were sorting ourselves into groups, Petra walked up to Jesse and whispered something in his ear before leaving to go into the hallway Ellegaard had gone through.

Jesse POV

“I feel bad for ditching everyone else, but I just wanted to talk to you about this alone. It's… A little hard to talk about.”

Petra and I had been walking in the dimly lit hallway for a while in awkward silence before she actually spoke up, well if there’s any time to worry it's now.

“Hey, whatever it is I trust you, you can tell me.” I told her to be completely genuine with my body language and tone to ease her nerves. 

She smiled at me and told me, “Thanks for being so understanding.” before we walked in even more silence as she probably was trying to decide the words she wanted to say as Reuben’s hooves echoed in the hallway along with our footsteps.

“You got me away from the Witherstorm…” Petra started before pausing her pace and standing still, “But I’m worried that I didn’t get away soon enough. ” She finished as I turned around to look at her worried.

“What–?” I gasped as she pulled up the sleeve that was pulled down on her arm and- HOLY CRAP!

It was purple! The skin around the area looked dead and grayed as if it was dead!

“It showed up not long after you saved me…” Petra explained as she held her arm with her uninfected hand, wincing when it touched the purple area, “Jesse… do you know what Wither is?”

“The Wither? Of course, We’ve been–”

“No Jesse. Just ‘Wither’ or ‘Wither sickness’, I guess.” Petra cut me off explaining it to me while taking a step forward, now that I was up close I could see her normally vibrant and energetic eyes were sunken, and the eye bags had gotten worse. “… and I feel like it's just going to keep getting worse…”

“This is bad! You have to notify the others about this! We can get help-” I rambled as so many terrible scenarios went through my head rapidly, when I suggested telling the others her eyes widened and she grabbed my arm.

“ No! You can't tell anyone about this!” She pleaded, but before I could argue I heard a hiss and a creeper materialized from the shadows and started to charge at us, “Ah! Creeper!” 

Luckily, Petra and Reuben were quick to duck away, but I was less fortunate and got hit by the explosion. This left a giant hole in the ground I used to be standing on before I quickly just barely grasped onto the ledge of the hole.

“Grab my hand! I'll pull you up!” Petra called down to me as I placed my hand in hers, it was cold as she tried to pull me up with both of her hands. 

However, her infected arm gives way after a struggle, and her other hand, unable to support my weight alone, also gives way.

I shouted as with nothing to grab onto I fell down the hole and painfully landed on some kind of man-built cave or tunnel below. 

“Oof!” I grunted as the sound of a clanging was heard, and I noticed the amulet fell out of my pocket and rolled away from me.

I looked up and Petra and Reuben looked down at me worriedly from above, “Jesse! I just couldn't hold on… I'm sorry!” She apologized profusely as I dusted myself off and got up.

“It's fine, go and find help! Hopefully you can find a way to get down to me or something!” I called up as Reuben oinked in concern.

“Okay… I got this. Stay safe. I'll find a way down to you!” She shouted down before standing up before she and Reuben dashed off. 

I sighed before going to pick up the amulet when I noticed, hang on… The lapis was glowing.

I picked it up, and it cast a strong deep blue color lighting up the surroundings like a torch, and good thing too my torch got wet and wouldn’t light back up even if I tried.

I walked through the cave, making sure not to fall into the absurd amount of holes in the ground, before I reached the end of the cave and found myself in a library? Just how big is this place???

I saw these glowstone lamps that decorated the interior of this place, the library was split into different rooms with a small opening leading into each of them. 

The bookshelves extended quite high into the air, how one person can have this many books is beyond me. There must be a lot of knowledge stored here.

I walked around before hearing the sound of someone rummaging through books in one of the rooms, could it be Soren?

I quietly sneaked to the room where the sound was coming from, and then… I heard the voice of the person that started this whole mess!

“He must have something useful in here! He has to! Why would he have so many books?!”

“Ivor.” 

Ivor jumped and turned to me in what looked to be shock, “You…” Ivor's face turns into a pissed-off expression to his face, “Trying to interfere with my plans again, I see.” He scowled before walking towards me, “Your tenacity is commendable, but misguided.”

“You are the one being in a place where he doesn't belong.” I retorted, placing my hands on my hips, and glared back.

And then he has the gall to look me in the eyes and say, “Don't make yourselves the villains in my story.”

Which, by the way, “Says the person who caused this mess in the first place! We're here with the Order to find Soren's Super TNT. We're going to take down your Wither Storm.”

Ivor looked at me confused before adopting a stupid smug look on his stupid ugly face, “The Order? Ha! Believe me, that plan will blow up in their faces in more ways than one. They can't help you. But me? I choose not to. Now, out of my way.” Ivor scoffed before shoving past me.

“Oh you aren’t going anyway” To Ivor's surprise and my gratefulness, Petra arrives on the scene, drawing her sword and blocking off the door!

“P-Petra?! You escaped?!” Ivor stammered before walking backward with Petra advancing towards him, she backed up towards the wall and unfortunately, Ivor had the chance to grab a sword from the rack.

Petra was the first to attack once Ivor got the sword with Ivor blocking her in return, this went on for a long while with Petra on Offense and Ivor on defense as the swords clung against each other.

“Foolish girl! I-”

“Shut up!” Petra interrupted him, “I don’t care what you have to say, I’m just gonna take you down. ” Man, I always like how scary she can be sometimes…

While Ivor was busy fighting Petra, I took my own stone sword out of my bag and snuck up behind him before landing a blow to his back. He stumbled backward with his robes torn a little, showing a white undershirt.

“I'm the only one who can stop the Wither Storm! Not you ! Not the Order !” Ivor snapped, charging at me, and we engaged in a struggle over who's stronger. Thankfully I managed to gain the upper hand with Ivor already being tired from clashing against Petra.

But of course, he decides to play dirty and kick me in the gut, pushing me onto the ground!

I got up before he could sink his sword into the spot where my body had just been moments ago. I leaped forward, blocking his attacks before I pushed him to the ground. For someone who thinks he is so much better, he sure can’t use a sword.

Ivor tried to back away from me and get up before Petra came from behind and pushed him back down, “You’re not going anywhere, creep!” She scowled before he scurried off like the little rat he was.

He's starting to finally realize that he's losing this battle. “This could all have been avoided… If you want to stop me, you'll have to catch me first!”

Ivor brought out a potion and drank it, luckily I was able to fling a book at him and knock the potion out of his hand just in time before he drank enough to give the full effect.

“You brat!” He scowled before swiping at me with still heightened speed and just narrowly missed me and sliced through my bag, causing everything to spill out onto the floor.

He suddenly went diving after something on the floor and I saw him grab another bottle, but jokes on him, that's the fake speed!

“Such a high-level potion, you must have stolen this from me too, thief!” Ivor scowled before blindly throwing his head back and drinking the potion quickly, but as Petra was advancing, he suddenly started coughing violently.

It got to the point that he somehow looked worse than he already did by an insane amount, he dropped his sword and coughed up some blood, THAT WAS WHAT EDWARD SCAMMED ME INTO HAVING?!

After that violent coughing fit, he was undoubtedly far weaker than before, “Eugh… There's no time… No time… This all could have been avoided…!”

“Jesse! Petra!” Suddenly, we hear Lukas's voice, along with everyone else, minus Ellegaard and Magnus, running up to us.

“Even more of you?! Will this endless parade of useless babblers never cease?!” Ivor glowered, definitely pissed off.

“What's going on?!” Olivia asked, coming up next to me. “We found Ivor! We stopped him!” He explained as he gave me another one of those smug looks as we all grouped up.

“False, You have stopped nothing.” We all glare back at him. “A query… Have you ever seen the effects of a Splash Potion of Slowness?” 

“What?-” Crash, a splash potion was slammed to the ground between us all, causing the effect to get everyone in the group, “-aaare yoooou taaaalkiiing aboooouuut?”

Oh, you are kidding me right now?!

The green hobo is just limping past us, and with us all being slowed down drastically we were powerless to stop him.

“Yoooouu biiiiig jeeeerk!” said Axel. “Geeet baaack heeeere!” Petra called.

“Fuuuck yoooooou Asssshooole!” I also heard Aiden supplied while Edward was moving his hands weirdly again like back out in the forest just at a much slower pace due to the potion's effects.

Ivor turned around, just outside the gap between the two bookcases, we were still far from reaching him. “Magnus and Ellegaard may think they can stop me, that they can destroy the Witherstorm… but they are mistaken. And it will cost them their lives.” He said ominously, narrowing his eyes at us.

He turned around just as the bookcases slammed together and closed the gap, sealing us inside…

Chapter Text

Edward POV

OS booting up….

Powered on.

Connecting to online services…

Connection completed.

Welcome, Anomaly_R!

<Developer_4634A> Effect commands on the ready.

<Developer_2951H> Ready for execution.

<Developer_9999T> Ready for execution.

<Developer_7327B> Ready for execution.

<Developer_1110P> Ready for execution.

<Developer_9524J> Ready for execution.

<Developer_4634A> 5

<Developer_4634A> 4

<Developer_4634A> 3

<Developer_4634A> 2

<Developer_4634A> 1

<Developer_2951H> /Effect Jesse_J Clear

<Developer_9999T> /Effect Olivia_M Clear

<Developer_7327B> /Effect Axel_B Clear

<Developer_1110P> /Effect Lukas_P Clear

<Developer_9524J> /Effect Petra_E Clear

<Herobrine> /Effect Anoamly_R Clear

<Herobrine> you forgot several people.

<Anomaly_R> /Effect Aiden_J Clear

<Anomaly_R> /Effect Gill_L Clear

<Anomaly_R> /Effect Maya_S Clear

<Anomaly_R> you are the goat thanks man

<Herobrine> don’t worry, you owe me now I get to cash in a favor at any time now.

<Anomaly_R> and i thought you were being my friend :(

<Herobrine> I hate your guts.

<SportsAss1> Please do not clog global with your petty debates.

<Anomaly_R> hehehehe nice username 

<PATA_Exe17> Shut up, dirty Glitch.

Message deleted by Autobot, reason: No slurs. Of any kind.

<Herobrine> WOAH.

<Entity_303> BRO-

<Anomaly_R> 😨

<BlueSteve> NAH YOU CAN'T BE SAYING THAT

<Anomaly_D> What a lovely first thing to see when I log in for the first time.

<Developer_4634A> EDWARD.

<Developer_10000W> It wasn't his fault only, Romeo had a part in it.

<NetherAd> WHY ARE YOU THROWING ME UNDER THE MINECART HERE?? I DON'T EVEN KNOW WHO THAT IS???

<Anoamly_D> Well I will let you all have a good time, I have to go deal with prisoner X again.

<NetherAd> …

<NetherAd> no…

<Anomaly_R> Wait, how did I cause this?

Flashback to Edward when he got snatched a day prior

“You have a lot of nerve picking a fight with a god.”

“You have a lot of nerve being a little bitch.” I responded with my arms crossed over my chest, glaring at him.

“You insulted me, you called me a ‘British lava man’ and a ‘secretly pale ass twink’ quoting you exactly. I think my reaction is justified.” He said bluntly floating above me in the terminal space.

“But both of them are true.” I shot back, and I am correct, he is both a British lava man and is also secretly a pale twink, he is still a twink either way, but I am still correct and he can not change this.

“Incorrect, for I am just simply dramatic and have a sense of style.” yeah and that style is flamboyant as hell, “Which by the way, last I checked mortal disguises were so last year.” He added with a snarky smile.

Justice is demanded. Ok, random voice in my head can you like not please, I’m kinda in the middle of something.

“You gonna not be a pussy and come down here then?” I taunted raising an eyebrow.

“But that's boring…” the male groaned, still high up in the air, his bat-like wings flapping in the air idly. Honestly, I’m convinced those are purely for looks, and he can just float on his own. He doesn't flap his wings like a normal winged thing.

Fly.

What? But I can’t fly I can kinda hover for a bit, but I’m not exactly a flier-

Do not question me, now fly.

Fine.

I breathed in, breathed out, and thought about flying. Corny I know, but hey it might work, worked for most of the stuff I do anyway!

I suddenly felt this weird energy inside me flowing from every tip of my body, it gave this weird feeling of justice and hatred for some reason yet felt caring, safe even which was very contradictory.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be a good flyer.” I heard Romeo gasping in confused shock, I swear I heard him say flier the British way.

I blinked my eyes open and sure enough I was fucking flying!

“Woah…” I gasped seeing as I was quite a couple of feet above the ground, the platform the place had was a bit below me, and I was at Romeo’s eye level.

I suddenly started feeling like my back was tingling at first, before the worst heartburn in my life started up- OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!

“Holy fuck it feels like I’m having a heart attack!” I shouted as I suddenly noticed my hand gripping my shirt in agony probably leaving some holes in the skin, huh, when did that happen?

“_re y__ __ay?” Man, can you speak louder, please? You are super muffled, and distant…and…hang on when did I get here?

“I should never have trusted you, I knew you were too far gone!” I felt my mouth say as we were somewhere out in what could be described as the cosmos since there was nothing around me except for a yellowish-gray blob.

“Your choice was made, as the righteous hand of the overworld, I shall rend you apart, and you will become dead much like us, you insignificant fuck!” I felt myself say again as I felt my body move on its own, swinging down on Romeo, oh, so that's the yellowish gray blob.

I felt myself teleporting somewhere, and now I was somewhere with lots of things again, oh hey it's the colossus and the platform was close by a little.

Oh, where did Romeo go, I feel furious, and I don’t know why anymore…

“Romeo, I know you're here. I can smell the insolent stench of your bloodstained hands. Show yourself so I shall tear your heart out of your chest and make sure that is the last thing you see in your dying eyes!”

“You've taken everything from me, Romeo. We were happy, we were home, and now all that remains is perfect hatred!” my body roared before I blinked, and I suddenly felt my wrist tighten around something.

Oh, shit!

I’m choking him, why am I choking him? I don’t understand what is going on anymore, oh man I just now noticed my hands are really long. I think I’m in eldritch mode now, I'm not sure, but I think I am.

I suddenly felt my arm getting chomped on, I looked down and saw Romeo had sunk his teeth into my arm.

I blinked and now my back felt a bit sore and I noticed I was now on the ground of the terminal platform, my legs were sprayed out in front of me as needlepoint sticks, and they bent weirdly, but that wasn’t what was trippy…

It was how it looked like someone else's legs were phased with my legs.

I blinked again, and now I’m getting motion sickness cause there is a lot of rapid teleporting going on, uh… I can see the portal hall, I think? Oh, never mind, I’m in some kind of house? Cabin?? I don’t know, looks kinda familiar, but I don’t think I was here before.

“No, no no no no no no why did you bring me back…”

Hey Romeo what’s going on?

“Shut up, both of you, justice demands to be served.” I felt my body speak again without my input as I saw Romeo’s eyes widen. “My hands shall relish ending you… HERE! AND! NOW!” I heard myself say before everything went black…

<Anomaly_R> yeah I just had a flashback and I still don’t know :(

<NetherAd> I'll tell you another time, I need to go read something.

<Herobrine> oh wow, didn't know you could read.

<NetherAd> Didn't think you were literate either yet here we are.

Chapter Text

Edward POV

What's that?

That’s stone bricks.

The texture looks weird.

I assure you, they have not changed in texture.

No, I’m pretty sure they did. It’s smooth, they were rough.

Oh, then yeah they changed, honestly the version updates are just all out of whack with the deep dark existing before lanterns somehow even though different wood signs are here.

What about that?

That's an iron blo- hang on that was already out before I got here and the texture has been changed for a very long time.

I mean yeah, I wasn’t really working with it much and I’ve been kinda dead maybe memory just isn't the best.

Fair enough, just wondering cause didn’t you die recently and didn't want to move on or something?

…Yeah…I died last night…

…I thought you said you died a couple weeks ago…

…

…I’m just a little guy :3

Did you just somehow say an emoticon?!

You got mail!

Huh?

What?

The Minecraft story mode brain rot has got me in its cold dead hands. Thank you for scratching The Itch (tm), loving the fic! 💕💕💕

…

Dude was that you?

No, that was not me.

Then who- wait hang on, fic?

Uh…

Be honest with me here, if I look in a random direction will I be pulling a Truman show and suddenly see a camera?

I don’t know what a Truman show is so I can’t tell you.

Fair enough, I don’t feel like figuring out what that is about right now…

Jesse POV

“Hey, guys, I have an idea!”

Giving Petra one last look of concern, I walked over to Axel. I had just had an intense conversation concerning her arm, it had somehow gotten quickly worse since the last I saw less than an hour ago.

I did tell her that we needed to tell the others but, in classic Petra fashion, she doesn't want to have them worry, especially with the Witherstorm going on.

I hope she'll be okay…

Lukas raised an eyebrow, “Okay.”

Axel turned back to the bookcase, grinning confidently, and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Magnus, help!”

…

…

…

After an uncomfortably long silence, Axel looked back at us, who most were giving him flat, unimpressed looks. 

Axel turned back to the bookshelf expecting something to happen before his shoulders slumped when nothing happened, “Well, all right… but I have another idea.” 

He turned to face the bookcase again, raising his hands to cup his mouth.

Olivia sighed, holding her head with one hand, the other plastered to her hip, and asked the question of the hour “Is it yelling for Ellegaard?”

Axel's face fell, and he rubbed the back of his neck, “Not… anymore.”

Lukas walked away from them, “Look, they aren't coming back. We have no idea where they are.”

“They couldn't abandon us if they wanted to,” I said, trying to be optimistic. Lukas turned to face me with a raised eyebrow waiting for an explanation, “As long as we have… this!” I continued, pulling out the 'amulet'.

“Flint and steel?” Olivia said, frowning, “I don't get it.” oh.

“It-It's not… that's not what I meant to pull out.” I stammered, storing the flint and steel back in my bag, before I plunged my hand inside trying to look for it in the large assortment of items like food, a bed, and tiny Reuben-sized clothes. 

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lukas and Petra looking at me in a mix of confusion and expectation, Oh this was so awkward… 

“Hold on… uh... this!” I pulled out the amulet after finally finding it hiding behind Reuben's little suspenders that matched with me, the green and red gems were, thankfully, still glowing. 

But after a few seconds, they both faded away, uh oh.

“Looks like it might be broken” Petra said, offering her explanation on what was wrong. But how did it break?!

“Here, let me see it.” Lukas stepped forward, taking hold of the amulet and trying to pull it away. 

I was about to give it to him, but I don't know what came over me because I started pulling it back.

Lukas tried to tug harder, but I tugged back, and soon we were in a full-out game of tug of war.

“Maybe you're just,” Lukas grunted, “Holding it wrong. Or maybe,” more grunting, “You just have to jiggle it a little.”

“Do you mind?” I said, narrowing my eyes at him.

“I just want to see it.”

“You can see it without touching.”

“Not if you can't get it to work.”

“It's working fine.”

“It's clearly not-”

“It's glowing, you should probably stop fighting before you tear it in half.” Edward pointed out as both of us noticed the white glowing really brightly, it was a shock neither of us noticed.

Lukas' gasped, letting go of the amulet in his shock, allowing me to hold it without resistance. I gaped at it with my eyes widening as I let out a gasp. “Soren!”

Petra walked towards it with wide eyes, looking even paler in the white light, “Find him, Jesse. Maybe he can help us.”

I looked down at the amulet and started walking around the room when I noticed it glowed brighter when it was near the floor. I walked over to a little ways away from where I and Lukas had our tug of war.

The glow brightened as I moved it down till it was practically touched the stone bricks as the glow intensified. “He's below us?”  Olivia asked.

“This is the spot.” I said, kneeling on the floor, “It has to be.”

“Maybe…” Axel said as everyone walked towards me. I hovered the amulet over the spot on the floor, looking back up at them.

“This is definitely it. Get ready to dig, people.”

“Who knows how far down that goes?” Lukas said, “We might end up digging until we hit bedrock. Guys, we're not really equipped for this.”

I looked around at everyone before landing on Lukas, “Anyone else have a better plan?”

No one said anything for a moment. Olivia put a hand on her hip, gesturing to the blond. “Jesse's talking to you, Lukas.”

“I know.” Lukas sighed, “I- I just… need a…”

“PAI-GOW!” Axel shouted, cutting Lukas off and hitting the ground, leaving a small hole.

“Let's get to it then,” Aiden shrugged before crouching down and punching out a weak point in the bricks as it crumbled. 

I pocketed the amulet and got to digging- “Not with just fists, you're not!” I heard Edward say before throwing a couple of stone pickaxes.

“You guys get digging down, I need to have a word with Jesse really quick.” He responded before gesturing for me to follow to the other side of the room, with my reluctant following.

“How are you doing buddy, have some bread, you look nauseous.” He said pulling out a loaf of bread, it somehow looked fresh like it had just been made even though it should have been soggy from the water earlier and cold.

But I couldn't care less, to be completely honest.

I took a few bites and felt it helped the queasiness I felt in my stomach that I didn’t notice until now. I was going to thank him but was cut off before I could, “Alright I’ll just cut to the point, be careful with that Amulet.”

I blinked at him, taken aback by the rather blunt statement. “Why exactly? Is there something wrong with it?”

“ Devs help me…” I heard him groan under his breath before taking a large breath. “Did you not notice anything weird when Lukas tried taking it?” 

“I mean, I guess why do you ask exactly?” I answered while thinking back on how I felt suddenly very protective of it so suddenly.

“Jesse, as a recently discovered halfway possessed person, you totally got halfway possessed.” He said after a short while, “I don’t know exactly how the Order of The Stone made these work, but I don’t feel comfortable having you be in potential danger.”

“But I don’t feel in danger-”

“Yeah, well, you don’t exactly have the best survival preservation now do you?” He shot back near instantly. Ouch. “Look just, hand it over, and I can give it back to you when I deem it safe enough to use again.”

He’s lying, don't give him the Amulet… But he wouldn’t- He totally would do something to it.

“Jesse?” See he even sounds untruthful, Gabriel gave it to you knowing you could keep me safe.

Wait.

‘Knowing you could keep me safe’?

Fuck.

“Yeah, sure, hang on.” I quickly said, plunging my hand into my bag, practically ready to tear it out of the space it clung to in my inventory.

Now Jesse, think about what you are doing…

“Here!” I said, finally finding it hiding deep inside again somehow.

I held out the Amulet waiting for him to take it, but I felt my arm pause frozen in place.

Jesse, think about what you are doing-

“I think the young fellow knows exactly what they are doing.” I heard Edward say oddly, his body language changed as he gingerly took the Amulet into his hand, and I felt an invisible weight be taken off my body.

After taking it the white gem continued to glow but the one that represented Gabriel had started flickering brightly. He looked at it seemingly unimpressed with his head held high and proper, much unlike his usual slouched and casual pose.

“Don’t bother, you’ll find I am far stronger than you.” He spoke to the Amulet like he was talking to someone before summoning some kind of translucent box and hovering it inside before it closed around it and vanished again.

“So sorry about that young one, Do not fret as we know how to find Soren by now that we need it no more.” He spoke to me with a smile that looked nothing like Edward’s as he had this almost calming effect to his voice.

“Hey, Jesse! We got a good hole going, you done over there?” I heard Axel call behind me as I looked behind me and say they had in fact dug a sizable hole in the stone, I turned back to Edward and his previous proper look had gone back to casual.

“Come on, let's get back to the others, We gotta go grab Soren soon because he and I need a good talkin’.” He shrugged before moving past me to the others around the hole to help dig.

After a long time walking, we reached what appeared to be the end of the tunnel. Out of the tunnel was a main hub-like area with thousands and thousands of other tunnels, all at different heights, decorated with dyed wool and most connected by staircases. 

Far, far below us was some sort of machine that smashed together every couple of seconds, as we reached the edge, Lukas gave a startled yell next to me after seeing the drop.

“Whoa.” Axel gasped in awe.

“W_ ha__ to _et o_t o_ h__e!” I heard Olivia shout very faintly as I looked over and saw her shaking looking down at the machine, but the sound of the machine smashing together drowned out her voice too much to understand.

“What?” Lukas asked as Olivia started backing away from the edge.

“We have to get out of here!” she restated louder this time so we could all hear this time while Axel frowned at her confused. 

“We just got here!” he said, confused about her reaction, Maya looked down and adopted a similar expression.

“You don't understand… this is a grinder!” Olivia explained.

Below us, one of the tunnels spat out a wave of water, taking three skeletons with it. The skeletons free fell, and as they reached the machine, pistons slammed cobblestone blocks together, smashing the skeletons to pieces and leaving the arrows and bones they'd dropped to fall into whatever was below it.

“They're meant to kill monsters.” Olivia explained to the rest of us who weren't as know it all about redstone, “Trouble is, they can't tell the difference between monsters and people.”

“What's a grinder doing down here?” Maya asked.

“Not just any grinder,” Olivia sighed, “This is the craziest one I've ever seen. It has to be Soren's.”

“Hang on guys, I have an idea.” Edward added, placing his cow Mozo on the ground which he gave a protesting moo and then walking backwards a little before going into a take-off sprinting stance.

Everyone looked confused about what he was doing before suddenly I heard Lukas gasp beside me, “Edward you better not be doing what I think you are about to be doing!” He shouted, concerned.

“Hey, don’t worry, I'm comedic relief. I either end up dead or pass out for a little while for messing with the natural order more than I’m allowed, and I’ll be damned if I follow the rules of PATA and this is also probably the only way we can progress cause I unintentionally soft locked us otherwise!” He responded before charging forward.

We quickly moved out of the way as Edward took a swan dive off the side and towards the machine down below, screaming “YEEEE HAAAW!” all the way down before he got to the machine.

I couldn’t see much of what happened next up close, but suddenly a giant hole was made in the machine, leaving a gaping gap where the pistons couldn’t crush.

“EDWARD!” Aiden shouted coming out of shock and swan diving after where he went, everyone else following suit with me following after Lukas had jumped.

After free-falling through the air with the rest of the monsters still falling from the tunnels, I went through the now useless-grinder, landing in a large, deep body of water. 

I looked up, watching as the others and a few monsters fell after him. I looked over just as Reuben began swimming towards me, only to get sucked down through another hole in the floor, and I noticed that they were everywhere!

Petra tried to swim up above the water, but she too was sucked down into the floor, Olivia following. Mozo and Axel were sucked through ones in the walls.

I tried to swim up, but I was already too close to the floor, and with a scream that created bubbles in the water, feeling a bit of water go in my mouth, I too was sucked away.

Chapter Text

??? POV

Wake the fuck up samurai.

Huh?

You have a body to pilot.

What did you- AHHHHHH

After an agonizingly long time his limbs didn’t feel like they were ripping themselves apart, I thought I wouldn’t have to deal with that after my death but apparently not.

Alright, let's see what's going on- Oh my this is quite nauseating.

I am being shaken by someone, I don’t appreciate it.

Open the eyes then man I don’t fucking know what to tell ya.

Language.

Ahem, as I was thinking before I was rudely interrupted. I don’t appreciate being shaken this much so I will be opening my eyes to understand where I am and what has happened, only to come face to face with Andre-

It's Aiden.

Fine, Aiden.

Anyways I come face to face with Aiden shaking the body violently with some kind of worried look on his face.

“Edward!” He shouted quite loudly in the ears, “Don’t ever do that again you absolute dumbass, you could have died!” Again with the swearing.

Oh dear, how am I to approach this… hmm… I guess I have to think how to act Edward-ly?

Say 'fuck me, my limbs feel like they were stomped on by ravagers' and you nail the personality down pretty good.

First off I'm not saying that, Secondly it is better to say pretty well rather than pretty good in this context.

Who are you, my damn English teacher or something?

No, I am simply someone who knows how to be grammatically correct.

“Is he in shock?” I heard Gillion-

Gill.

Gill, whisper horribly to his feminine partner- 

They aren’t dating yet. 

Seriously? They ogle at each other like they are to be partners for life at the altar.  

I know man, we’ve been trying to get them to realize but not yet.

Well, ignoring that, I needed to speak my mind before that Aiden fellow shook me like I were some stuffed toy. So I concocted the best idea of speech.

“Mushroom spores can survive in the vacuum and radiation of space.” That was smooth.

Ah, look at them, they are all giving me looks of enlightenment for bestowing this knowledge onto their mortal- “What is space, and radiation?” Never mind, I stand corrected.

Replace your accent, and you are basically a weird version of Romeo- 

Do not speak that bastardly admin’s name nor compare me to him.

Okay, understood. Now try to keep up the terrible act you are doing to seem normal. I get your whole gimmick is like honestly and all that, but let's not freak everyone out.

“Hey, aren't you the one I met briefly when Edward was talking about possession right?”

Never mind Jesse can't keep a secret for shit you can do whatever.

“Yes, that would be I.” I answered giving a proper bow after remembering how legs work again, “Wonderful to meet you once more in person, well, as personally as I can, I suppose.”

“Yeah that is definitely not Ed-” Lukas said before I had to move this meat sack out of the way to avoid being tackled by that Aiden fellow.

“Give him back his body you jackass!” He shouted attempting to lunge at me again, which I dodged a second time causing him to go headfirst into one of the many transport tubes of mob drop items.

“Oh my!” I gasped, “I do hope you are not hurt, that would be rather unfortunate.” I continued approaching him to assess the damage done to the young man's body.

Alright, good news, he doesn’t look concussed nor bleeding, may bruise, but that can be easily managed. I will spare him some of a health potion later if it somehow becomes worse.

Seconds after meeting my friends, and you already got him hurt, good job man. Note the sarcasm.

Hey, not my fault for his aggression and hostility causing injury to himself.

“Now if you could cease your hostilities, so I may explain myself, that would be very helpful.” I spoke calmly, helping the lad up.

“Well, spill.” I heard Petra speak brandishing a golden sword, well that is quite rude and not even effective but whatever.

“Hello, as you all now know, I am not Edward, you may simply address me as R.” I started, “Edward seems to have done something stupid while I wasn’t looking for 10 minutes, so I have been put in charge.”

“He exploded I think.” Axel informed me, “And it was super cool!”

“That would explain why the limbs felt like the very atoms were being torn apart.” 

WHERE IS YOUR SELF PRESERVATION?!

You say that like you saw I had any to begin with.

You know what, I’m not dealing with this right now, I’m going to hang out with your group, and you are banned from operating this body for the next couple of hours.

What?! You can't do that!

Watch me.

Before anything more could be said, a loud rumble echoed throughout the room, and we looked to the ceiling, admittedly startled.

“Sounds like the grinder is backed up.” Olivia pointed out as we all gathered up.

“With loot?” Axel asked before a waterfall came from the ceiling that was bringing live, vicious monsters.

“Go, go, go, go, go!” Jesse shouted as we all took the initiative to start running towards the archway, with me taking the lead.

Unfortunately, none of us made it in time before the monsters started getting up. By the stars, I hate Romeo for making these hostile mobs, they used to be just the friendly bunch…

After a free-for-all against all these mobs, we ran up some steps with me coming up from the back, coming to a stop and staring wide-eyed at what was in front of them. “Holy crap,” Olivia gasped in front, “An End portal?”

What is she talking about- oh, it is indeed an End portal, with its delicate surrounding structure and the bright night sky of a center just like those years ago.

“That's the way out.” Jesse said as I quickly went to grab Petra who we accidentally left behind us and not a moment too soon if that arrow meant anything.

We climbed up onto the platform set around the portal helping Petra since she looked like the walking dead, and an arrow was fired, embedding itself into one of the blocks. 

Jesse glanced over their shoulder at the monsters behind us, before turning to the portal and shouting, “Jump!” vanishing through the portal, and we all followed suit, with me coming last before jumping through myself.

Can I pleeeeease-

No, we came to a forced agreement.

I was now traveling through the cosmos, the stars warped around me as I came back to a place where I had been before, bringing back some…memories…

Straying my thoughts back to the present, I landed back on solid ground that gave a crunch under my shoes.

And of course predictable enough we were surrounded by billions of endermen, which the young ones did not think of this, and started freaking out, apparently.

“So what do we call that?” asked the blond, “A- A 'herd' of Endermen? A 'flock' of Endermen? A swarm?”

“Last I remember it's called a haunting.” I supplied as I joined up with the group from behind.

“At least we're alive.” Jesse said finally, “And well.”

Lukas glanced at Petra, who was holding her head, “Yeah.”

Jesse continued, “We just have to keep on truckin' until we get to Soren.”

Lukas sighed, “Face it, Jesse. We might never find this guy.”

“There he is.” Axel said, pointing off into the distance in the direction behind us.

Sure enough, a figure could be seen in the distance, climbing a long staircase.

Actually, hang on, he looks kinda familiar…

Well, I mean yeah he's popular for quote ‘defeating the Ender dragon valiantly’ unquote.

No, he looks familiar outside of popularity, like I have seen him personally before…

Well get in line I got a lot of questions for him too.

“Did that just happen?” asked Lukas, “I can't believe that just happened.” He looked around at the others, who were all staring up at the stairs, “Am I the only one that's surprised? Because that was… I mean… that was like we conjured him.”

“No, no, you aren't the only one Lukas.” gaped Maya in equal disbelief as everyone else.

We all looked back up to the distant figure, watching as he went up the last few flights of stairs toward a ladder. 

Jesse looked back at the group. “We gotta go.”

“Everyone follow me.” Petra said, walking to the front of the group, “I'll get us to the other side! Just stay behind me, and we'll-” she cut herself off with a cough, “We'll be fine.”

Jesse hesitated, “We'll be right behind you.”

“Uh… that doesn't sound like a good idea,” said Lukas hesitantly. He straightened, “Actually, you know what? I'll just go.” 

“Actually I should be the one leading, I know this place better than you all do, after all, I have been here many times.” I decided, going in front of them all.

After some clear reluctance, we came to a mutual agreement, and we set off towards the stairs.

I led them all through the endermen and the pillars before we had reached this sides part of the End Portal, only instead of nothing around it there was some kind of platform surrounding it.

We got on the platform with thankfully no incidents before we all set our eyes on the long flight of stairs, shouldn't be too hard.

“I hope that someday,” the large male said, “I love something as much as Soren seems to love stairs.”

I internally sighed but decided not to say anything of it, clearly, they don't understand the thrill of a good staircase.

“So many stairs.” Olivia groaned. Jesse looked up the last flight of stairs, spotting a ladder shrouded in light.

“There's a ladder.” They told us, making their way up the last flight, Gill and Lukas right behind them as the others got to their feet while I helped Petra up the last flight.

“It better not be a long one.” Axel grumbled. 

“Whatever this is,” Petra started, “Looks like that's the way in.”

“After you, dude.” Axel spoke directed at Jesse.

Jesse looked back up at the ladder, “Here goes.” Before grabbing the ladder handles and hoisting themself up.

“What do you see?” Lukas called up after Jesse disappeared from the trapdoor.

“Please don't say more stairs.” moaned Petra.

“I think I must be… seeing things. It's like another world up here. A brand-new, totally unspoiled world.” Jesse called out to us.

What is Jesse- HOLY MOTHER OF THE OWNER!

It is absolutely blinding up here after getting used to the darkness of the end, getting assaulted by bright lights was not on my plan.

We started making our way down some kind of bright surprisingly soft hill. Axel was last to come up, Axel ended up tripping on something, however.

And with a yell he fell halfway down and knocked into Lukas, sending them both to the bottom, Axel landing on top of him.

“That's my body, Axel.” Lukas groaned underneath him, as Jesse inspected one of the trees, “My broken, battered body.”

“The ground is almost… squishy. Like carpet.” Gill pointed out as Aiden started poking at some of the ground, confused.

“Looks funny, too.” Axel added, “Hey, I can see again.”

“Glad to hear it.” Lukas groaned again, sounding like he'd just been punched in the gut, “Now could you please get off me?”

“Sorry, dude.”

Jesse reached forward and touched the tree, eyes widening, “What in the- it's made of wool!”

“Okay, it just got creepier.” Maya said what most of us were thinking.

Jesse turned to face the others, walking forward and looking around, “This tree, the grass… it's all… wool!” 

“You're telling me, we've been resting all our hopes on this guy, and this whole time he's been building some… totally artificial Happyland ?” Lukas shouted, silence met his words. 

Axel was the one to break it. “Well… it's real wool.”

Lukas looked at him, “It's real evidence that Soren is whacked .”

Jesse looked around at the 'Happyland' again, “Could it be he just… missed home?”

“Still creepy.” Aiden said, crossing his arms.

“If you miss home,” Lukas started, “You go and visit. You don't build an exact replica.” Yeah Romeo, listen to Lukas. “We came here for nothing!” Lukas walked away, his back to the others, “What are we even supposed to do now?”

“Hey, Lukas, you okay, man?” Jesse asked, Lukas turned to face them, gesturing to the wool world.

“Just look around, Jesse! If the greatest builder of all time has spent years working on this, what're the chances he'll even have that bomb, huh?” Not waiting for an answer, Lukas turned around and walked over one of the bridges, “I've had enough crazy for one day.” We watched him go.

“What's his problem?” Petra asked, “He seems pretty upset.”

“Just… give him some space.” Jesse sighed looking off at him, “He'll be okay.”

The first argument of the relationship, hmm.

It might seem crazy what I'm about to say… They aren't dating.

Seriously??? Is it because Jesse hasn't brought it up to Petra yet?

Again, the same problem.

I am this close to playing matchmaker at this point, I swear to the owner.

Anyways, we all spread out, into little groups minus Lukas sulking against a tree, Petra looking like a dead girl walking, and me checking out this weird-looking stage with black wool with smiley faces on the tops of faces.

While I was looking at the wool ‘people’, a musical sound imitated through some hidden speakers like a little bell ring before I saw something out of the corner of my eye. The very far left of the lamp-cloud up on the wall lights up, looks like Jesse is figuring it out.

Romeo POV

“No…no…not this one either… nah… ah ha! Found it.”

Soul fragmentation: Volume 7.

I sighed before floating down to the shoulder of my prismarine colossus, the prototype at least, the lower part needs a bit more fixing before I start scouting out new champions.

Now of course there were no chapters on admins, so the one on developers should do just fine.

Mhm… 

Flip

It is extremely hard to kill yada yada yada… 

Flip

While rare if the- oh?

“While rare, if the developer in question is to be killed but has a high ranking in responsibility there is a chance to be brought back as either a new developer or to take on a shared body role with another.” I read aloud,

“However, requirements are hard to achieve, requires a high ranking… lack of a replacement beforehand deemed by the world… A refusal to move on in any afterlives… and an unexpected event that requires the return of this developer…”

“Normally it takes on one body but can be spread to multiple, check with P.A.T.A for more information on how many…”

Great, I don’t want to talk to my stupid bosses to find out if my ex-friend is actually there.

Unless… he is a part of the anomalies that have only a letter to their names…

Let's see if I can remember what they said at the first meeting… 

Anomaly River… 

Anomaly Dark…

Anomaly Fauna… 

and Anomaly Ethereal- 

Wait. 

“It was right there the whole time?!” I shouted accidentally setting the book ablaze out of rage, how it has not been more obvious to my intelligent mind is infuriating .

??? POV

Oh wow, so Gabriel’s comment about Soren’s revealing bathrobe in another timeline wasn’t a lie.

… I do not wish to be picturing that man in this bathrobe…

It was entirely see-through! The garment hung from a hanger on the wall of his closet at this body’s shoulder height and still reached the ground, it was covered in sewn-in roses and with jewels adorning it causing it to glitter in the light.

This looks like something flinting even Romeo wouldn’t wear! And I have seen him wear revealing stuff-

YOU HAVE???? What did he look like-

I AM NEVER TELLING YOU THAT INFORMATION, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.

“Okay, so Soren is definitely not hiding in the closet…” Aiden groaned trying not to make eye contact at the garment, I don’t blame him, which is why I am slamming the door shut.

“There are only so many places this guy can hide, we’ll find him eventually.” Gill offered optimistically as he stopped looking under the bed.

“Well, I can definitely say that this guy is into some freaky shit!” Maya yelped red in the face after taking on the sacrifice of looking in this guy’s OTHER closet that he has… Yikes…

“Hey guys!” we heard Axel shout down the hallway before sliding his way across the carpet and stopping at the door after briefly falling onto the wood floor, “We found Soren!”

“Oh, thank god we don’t have to find more weird stuff in closets.” Maya sighed in relief before being the first to exit out of the bedroom, running after Axel. I was last after Aiden because I spotted something that caught my eye.

It was a crude drawing on the desk, but the skill wasn’t what startled me, it was the writing next to it.

‘The admin said I am his champion, I am so honored! Best spawn-date ever! ’ and dated with 451.

No way…

I felt a sudden burst of energy and without thinking teleported directly to Maya and now that I was up close, I now knew why and how I recognized this man.

And before I could even get a word out, he recognized me too…

“Fred?!”

Chapter Text

Maya POV

“It… It’s really you!” 

“Well, of course, you think I would stay dead for long?” 

Edward, or who I am assuming is now known as Fred, responded with a soft smile to his face holding his arms out as if offering a hug.

And Soren seemed to take it with glee.

“Oh, you have no idea how absolutely stressful it has been without you! Romeo bedrocked the old world, with me barely escaping. I got trapped in a whole other world until some travelers making the portal network found me. I risked getting caught using the command block by Romeo so many times. Any friendships I had crumbled into practically nothing , even the first love of my life left me, and- and- and-”

Oh man, the poor guy is going hysterical, must have a long history…

“Shush… it's alright… just let it all out you’ve been strong for I don’t know how long, you can be vulnerable for once…” Fred spoke gently as his, or really Edward’s hands this is getting confusing, pat Soren on the back glowing a faint blue.

Whatever he was doing seemed to calm him down and after a while, Soren seemed to start to untense and calm the tears.

“Now, before I let Edward bombard you with questions, do you feel better now?” Fred asked softly.

Soren nodded before backing away and swiping away some tears from reddened eyes, “Yeah… It was nice catching up at least, but I guess the real owner needs to use their body eventually.” He then looked at all of us awkwardly, “So sorry for that outburst, everyone.”

“Nah nah it's chill, you sounded like you needed that.” Petra said after everyone else stayed quiet.

Suddenly Fred seemed to crumble like paper onto the ground before pointing an accusing finger at Soren, “Alright fuck knuckles, I got questions .” Never mind, that's Edward again.

“…can I ask for Fred back-”

“No, you can talk to him later, luckily your little pity party answered some questions I had, BUT I think we all need to know how you made these things work.” He spat before summoning a box that had the amulet inside.

Soren stared at the box dumbfounded before asking the following, “Why is it in a box?”

And in a deadpan expression with a monotone tone, he answered, “Because it growled at me.”

He confirmed this by slightly opening the lid and a growling sound started emitting from inside with these weird skinny hands reaching out for Jesse before the box was sealed back shut.

…

“… We let Jesse hold that the whole time?!” Olivia squeaked, breaking the silence as everyone turned to face Soren, who had his lips pressed in a thin line.

“…oh no.”

“What do you mean ‘oh no’ Soren?” Jesse asked worriedly.

“'Oh no' as in the magic I trapped in the amulet woke up and is a little emotional…”

“WHAT?!”

“It was the only way I could get it to work with the tracking, It liked Gabriel the best out of all of us, so he kept it after we split!”

“Hey guys, not to be the bearer of bad news here, but there is an enderman over there!” Aiden said, pointing behind Soren.

Soren looked over his shoulder, his eyes widening when he spotted the Enderman. Then another one teleported in, and then another. 

We all moved closer to each other and looked away to not set off the monsters, “Look away!” Jesse shouted, pointing out the obvious as we all immediately scrunching our eyes shut. 

Despite this, an Enderman began screeching in rage, and Jesse gasped, The Enderman stopped screeching as the one next to it gave a screech of its own. This seemed to anger the first Enderman, for it began screeching at the second.

“You've upset them!” Soren accused, glaring at Jesse, “You've altered their behavior!”

“Okay, let's go.” Jesse said, completely ignoring the glare she was getting from Soren as they began tiptoeing towards the door, being sure to keep his head down as we followed suit.

Jesse opened the door and the place was crawling with Endermen.

“And the hits just keep on comin'.” Jesse sighed as we all crowded behind them at the end of a dining table.

“I wasn't expecting so many house guests.” Soren whispered, crouched on the other side of the table, parallel to Jesse, “There's no way I have enough seashell soaps for all of them.”

Edward perked up at the word seashell and chirped up a quick “Seashell?-”

Before I cut him off from giving away our location due to his volume, “Do not ask for some right now, we are trying not to die here.”

Jesse looked at Lukas for a moment, before turning to the Order's leader, “Soren, you've been studying Endermen for ages. Any bright ideas?”

Soren was silent for a moment. “One constant about Endermen is that they hate water.” He looked at the second fountain a few feet from us, “If we can force that fountain to overflow somehow…”

“Let's ask Edward to break the fountain blocks then.” Axel suggested pointing at one of the fountains, and we all looked back to see- son of a bitch, I'm this close to putting him on a leash or bell collar.

He's in the fountain just sitting there, not even doing anything, just sitting under the tiny waterfall just out of view.

“Eddy, bro, break the fountain!” Gill whisper-shouted to not attract attention from the endermen, he poked his head out of the water and tilted his head with a confused look on his face. Gill sighed and repeated, and he finally got it.

“But what if it makes the water sad?” I’m going to strangle this water-loving hippie, “Water has feelings too you know.” he added, not making his case any better.

“Stars have mercy on me for indulging this…” I heard Aiden groan under his breath before speaking in a loud whisper as well, “If you break it, you will be freeing the water!”

That's probably not going to- oh shit, it actually worked!

Not only did he break the fountain he was in, causing the endermen to screech as the water wrapped around their legs and made this sizzling noise before teleporting to higher ground. He also broke the fountain in the next room over, considering the booming sound. The piling water leaking to join the other water, making a water-filled path to the door to Coo-Coo Wool World.

Axel threw his hands in the air and began screaming, running past the fountains with us close behind. Gill snatched Edward out of the water by the coat collar as Endermen hissed and screeched at us.

We got to the doorway outside the main house area and the place was noticeably less vibrant and filled with endermen! “Aww crap…” I groaned, making sure to avoid eye contact with them all.

“They're everywhere.” Lukas gasped, “How are we supposed to get through this? I mean physically and psychologically.” he shielded his eyes to avoid accidentally looking at the Endermen, “Say we somehow make it… I can't say this won't become a recurring nightmare.”

“Everyone just hold onto me.” Jesse commanded, “I'll guide us through them.”

Lukas sighed, putting one hand on Jesse's shoulder and covering his eyes with the other, “I guess if this is the only way to make it to that trap door…” and we all formed a line directly behind one another.

It was almost as if we were playing Follow the Leader… An incredibly terrifying and extraordinarily deadly version of Follow the Leader.

We slowly started to make our way towards the bridge, as we walked through the endermen I accidentally brushed against one of them, and they felt so cold!

“They're taking too much interest in us.” Edward whispered a few people in front of me, “They know we're ‘humans’, but with Jesse in that awful smelling costume they think Jesse's an Enderman. It must be a confusing sight to them.”

“Maybe we should, uh,” Jesse whispered, coming to a stop out of nowhere, “Turn around.”

Jesse yelped suddenly as the sound of an Enderman teleporting sounded concerningly close, taking startled steps back and causing us to accidentally ram into each other.

“Oh, bad, bad, bad.” muttered Jesse.

I looked up a little to see what was going on, and there was an enderman right in Jesse's face!

They stood like that for a long moment, before the Enderman slowly backed off from their face, but still stood in front of them. 

The Enderman opened its mouth and let out a loud, horrifying screech of pure rage. OH FUCK!

“Quick!” Jesse shouted, “In the water!” She destroyed the fence, and one by one we all dived into the small stream and luckily were not cold.

Jesse resurfaced near the front of the group, Reuben sitting on Axel's head behind them. 

Soren swam past him, turning around to face as they started swimming away from the bridge in an attempt to further the distance from the Endermen. 

“Oh! When I constructed this place, I worried about how flammable my building material was. So, I installed a fire suppression system to prevent the whole thing from going up in flames.” Soren pointed to the tower with the waterfalls, which had no Endermen on it. 

“The stone is here…” I heard Edward hiss beside me and I looked and he had that look again with his pupils all wide n' shit.

"Ok Soren, does your water have potions that only affect Edward in it or something? He's been acting like this since your mountain base." Aiden asked, staring at the architect struggling to stay afloat without help from Olivia.

Soren blinked confused before his face lit up in realization, "Oh! Hatch on the top next to the lever." he explained to Edward, pointing to a ladder on the tower that leads to the top, "I put the stone inside the water tower so it probably has been blessing the water for some time, I also used the water here to fill up the overworld one so it makes sense given the context." 

Edward had already taken off swimming towards the tower after placing Mozo on Aiden's head, using his trident to propel himself causing water to splash all around, the endermen standing by the edge to screech as water hit them.

He launched himself into the air and onto the roof of the water tower before slamming open a trapdoor I think and diving out of sight before a sudden rush of water came in from the wool sky ceiling.

The water joined with the stream water and rose even higher, and the Endermen on the bridges teleported onto the trees, hissing at the water as it began to gradually rise.

"It's working!" Lukas exclaimed, Soren swimming up to him. The water went higher, momentarily taking half of us under from a sudden burst of water before they resurfaced as we all swam up together.

Well, Aiden was more of an awkward wolf paddle.

"Quick, we need to get to the trapdoor to get out of here!" Soren shouted before swimming towards the exit.

Everyone began swimming immediately, shouting for Jesse, who was falling behind, to hurry, as the water level rose with every second. 

Within moments, we were above the trees. We began diving down to reach the trapdoor, and a moment later Jesse did the same.

We piled on through the trap door with Soren, Olivia, and Aiden first then Gill, Axel, Lukas, and the animals were next while me and Jesse were lagging behind.

Jesse suddenly turned around and her eyes widened before swimming backwards. I looked back and saw that Petra was being concerningly slow!

I swam after them and helped Jesse grab Petra to bring her to safety, God my lungs are burning right now…

I wonder where Edward is, he should have gone out of that tower by now… things are getting kinda dark I hope we make it.

I probably wasn’t going to make it so my brain decided on the action of pushing them forward so they could reach the trapdoor leaving me behind, they would be of more use than I would be anyway…

My lungs are burning but I see something approaching in the darkening waters… it looks so… 

Familiar yet so different…

Jesse POV

“Maya is still in there!”

“What?!”

Petra and I had just gotten out of the water, and Maya had stayed behind to push us closer to the trapdoor to escape.

“You idiots, she'll drown in there!” Gill shouted before he pushed us aside and tried getting back up the ladder to go rescue Maya before a bright light started shining above the trapdoor, and he fell backward onto Lukas.

“Why is everyone falling on me today…” He groaned underneath as some kind of weird tentacle, luckily didn't look like the WitherStorm ones, emerged from the water.

Then more and more popped out, and we all backed up, with me drawing out my sword before the mooshroom trotted forward towards them before we could stop it.

The tentacles felt around the surrounding area before making contact with the mooshroom and pats its head, then a giant burst of water fell over the ladder and two humanoid-looking beings fell onto the ground, one of them being Maya!

“Holy shit!” Gill shouted, jumping off Lukas and snatching Maya up and away from the strange, unknown creature- hang on.

“Hey guys, I might be going crazy, but is that…” I started before getting cut off by the being in front of me, its voice sounded like two layered over each other with one being deep and kind of wise sounding while one was very distinctive.

“Yello everyone, I am perfectly fine.” It was Edward, he looked way, way different now with some kind of weird fins on the side of his face, the veil he wears is still on but glimmered a sea blue now and was adorned with many jewels.

Attire was still the same minus the, um, lack of pants now, but at least it was covered by some fabric. Which, I guess, makes sense since his legs are now 8 long tentacles instead of 2 human legs. Also, no shoes for obvious reasons.

His eyes were also very different. Under the glasses, his eyes glowed a bright light blue and the pupils changed from the natural circular shape. It was now shaped like hearts with the majority being black minus a section of the bottom left half of each eye a scarlet red.

Screech!

Oh crumbs forgot about them!

“Let's get going, everyone, endermen will probably head back out here now that the interior is mostly flooded.” Aiden called out after they verified that Maya was fine and now awake instead of a reanimated zombie, and we all walked down to the end portal.

Well, Edward was more of a slinky down the stairs while Axel was mostly a fall, but we got down nonetheless.

“We made it!”

“'Making it,” said Soren, dusting himself off, “Is relevant.”

Petra gasped, pointing towards the archway. Their eyes widened as a zombie groaned, slowly making its way towards them. The room was filled with monsters.

“Oh, come on!” I groaned, drawing out my sword, the golden blade flashing in the light. 

I whacked at the zombie, killing it within three well-placed hits. It fell to the ground in a puff of smoke, disintegrating into nothing. But as I looked up, two skeletons loaded their bow and took aim with a zombie poking its head around the corner.

“Get down!” Petra shouted.

I leaped to the side and pressed my back against the wall next to the archway, the arrows narrowly missing me. “Not that this isn't a ton of fun,” I said, looking over to the other side of the archway, where Soren stood, “But let's grab that Formidi-Bomb and get out of here!”

“One small problem.” said Soren, carefully peeking through the archway as the arrows continued flying. 

He drew a sword, “Tiny, really.” A zombie walked through the archway, and Soren slammed the butt of his sword into its face. “Minuscule.” He stabbed the monster, then looked back at me, 

“I haven't actually built it yet.”

“That's a small problem?!” I exclaimed after he finally spit it out.

“You seem like a person who appreciates cool stuff that's cool for no reason.” By the End Portal, Reuben stood shaking, two arrows embedding themselves in the steps next to him. Giving a scared oink, he backed away, curling up in the shadows.

I turned back and blinked at Soren slowly, “Thanks?” I said, unsure if I was supposed to take that as a compliment or not.

Soren gestured to the inside of the archway, “Go ahead and throw that lever behind you.”

I poked my head around the archway, and sure enough there sat a lever on the wall. A skeleton fired an arrow, which hit the wall just in front of me below it.

“Jesse?” Olivia called out from a bit behind me. Eyes narrowing on the lever, I lunged forward, knocking the arrow off the wall in the process, and pulled the stick down into an activation position.

“Hold onto your socks,” came Soren's voice, as inside the monster-filled room, I saw pumpkins fall from the ceiling and landed on top of four iron blocks, “'Cause they're about to get blown off!” And he sure was not kidding! One by one, the six statues turned into six Iron Golems, breaking free in a cloud of iron shards. “Go to work, boys.”

A Golem raised a long arm and whacked a zombie out into the sorting room. 

Another Golem put its hands on the ground and slammed its strong legs into a skeleton, knocking it into the wall. Another took hold of a zombie by the leg and raised it above its head, slamming it into the ground. 

A spider lunged at one of the Golems, but it simply raised an arm and caught it, before tossing it over its shoulder. Another Golem held a zombie as if it were a baseball bat, and hit the spider with it, sending the eight-eyed monster into a group of other monsters, scattering them and knocking them down like bowling pins.

“Awesome!” Gill breathed watching the scene unfold before us.

A skeleton started backing away as two Iron Golems advanced on it, and they both raised an arm and hit it at the same time. 

Soren winced at the skeletons' brutal defeat before a zombie went flying past us to slam into the wall. A skeleton hit the inside of the archway, falling to the ground at Soren's feet. “Ouch.”

A zombie suddenly appeared, backing away hastily, but a Golem raised its fists and sent its face to the floor. “Eeeyikes.”

“When those Golems are done with the monsters,” I started questioning, “They won't attack us, will they?” I finished while the Golems continued tearing the monsters limb from limb right in front of us, reminding me of back in Ivor’s library at Endercon. 

Soren glanced over his shoulder at me.

“Ask me no questions, and I'll tell you no lies.”

Lukas blinked. “What?”

I hesitantly glanced at the ground, “That… didn't actually-”

Soren's head snapped towards me again, “Ask me no questions!”

“He doesn't know, does he?” Olivia whispered to us, Maya awkwardly moved more behind Gill, while Edward was downright glaring at the constructs.

The monsters now dealt with, Soren grinned and led us into the room, the Golems starting to lumber about at random in search of any leftover monsters.

“You guys hear that?” asked Axel.

I glanced at him, “Hear what?” as I heard a golem stomp its foot on something, making an uncomfortable squishing sound.

“All that stuff whispering,” he put on a ghostly voice, “'Take me, take me now.'”

I rolled his eyes at him, typical Axel behavior. I looked up at the many minecarts still zooming back and forth above us with stuff probably inside.

“I think it's saying 'Olivia should get to take more than Axel.'” said Olivia, doing her own ghostly voice, “But why? 'Because she's cooler.'”

“Aw, c'mon, loot.” said Axel, looking at the minecarts and crossing his arms, “I thought you and me were tight.”

You know, now that I think about it, “It wouldn't hurt to take a few things.” I decided to give them a shrug that said go ahead.

Axel raised an eyebrow at me, “And by 'few' you mean 'all,' right?” 

“I'll just fetch the super TNT.” Soren said, gaining everyone's attention, “It's right up there.” He pointed to above the archway, where a platform with three rows of chests on it sat. There was no staircase or ladder to get up to it.

“How are you gonna get up there?” Maya asked, confused as much as the rest of us.

“Oh, I have my ways…” he turned around, as Iron Golems jumped onto each other's shoulders, creating a Golem-Ladder. Soren climbed up them, reaching the platform within moments.

He looked back down at us, who were once again staring at him with wide eyes because that was cool as an Ice Biome! “Oh, and feel free to help yourselves!” At this, Axel and Olivia grinned and turned around to search through the loot. “Just make sure you keep an eye out for the gunpowder we'll need to make that Formidi-Bomb.”

Petra sat on some steps in front of a chest, Lukas standing next to her. Frowning, I made my way over to them, “Are you both doing okay?” I asked concerned.

Lukas looked at me sadly, oh that's not a good sign, “It's gotten really bad. Part of me is hoping,” Lukas sighed, Petra was just staring at the floor, “That when we bomb the Witherstorm, this sickness will just- dissipate.”

Petra finally looked up at me, giving a weak smile, “Sure would be nice, huh?”

But after a moment, her smile faded, and she returned her gaze to the ground. Lukas gave her another worried look, “It makes sense, doesn't it?”

“In a way it kind of works like that, just a lot more complicated than that unfortunately…” Holy! We all jumped in surprise at Edward sneaking up behind us and speaking suddenly.

“Gravel! Can you go back to being human and not sneak up on us for 5 seconds?!” Lukas exclaimed, clenching his chest as Edward just stared at Petra, ignoring him.

“You have to completely destroy the Command Block to get rid of the sickness and even then it will take some time, do take it easy, miss.” He continued, the deeper voice overpowering Edward’s, but it was still there. “If I could help you I would, however, I’m instructed not to intervene too much.” He finished, Edward’s voice getting louder until it was like before back in the end.

And before we could interrogate him more he walks away, dude is weird as a mob sometimes…

Anyway, I decided to start snooping around for gunpowder and noticed a wooden button on the wall.

Now a normal person would go ‘I don't know what that to do, I will leave it alone.’ however you can never find out if you don't pursue it. So, I pushed the button.

After pressing the button, the wall next to me began to split in two, revealing a long line of minecarts on a track. The minecarts moved forward one by one, going around a bend and coming to a stop, the many super redstone tracks in front of them flickering on. In front of them was a long, empty tunnel.

Nice! I walked to a chest close to me and found more gunpowder, this should be enough to make this bomb.

“Hey, Soren?” I called out, walking up to him with the gunpowder now in my pockets. “I think I've almost got enough gunpowder now.” Olivia came up to stand beside me while shrinking a fishing pole to put in her bag.

“Glad to hear it,” Soren called back, sliding down the Golem's backs. “And Jesse, I am sorry for not keeping this place as organized as I should. It's very embarrassing.” he reached into his pocket, “And this is my Super TNT.” At first glance, it looked like any other TNT block. But there was a glow to it, an aurora, that said it was so much more.

“Wait,” Olivia said, as the Golems lumbered back into the other room, “But I thought Super TNT was the Formidi-Bomb.” She finished while everyone gathered around.

“Of course not!” Soren exclaimed, “They're two completely different words, aren't they?”

“So, what is Super TNT, exactly?” I asked.

“Well, it's just another one of my… marvelous Impossible Objects.”

“If it's impossible, how'd you make it in the first place?”

“Remember, Jesse. I killed the Ender Dragon. I do impossible things every day.”

“I am Fred’s honesty, Soren, just remember that.” I heard Edward say, with not a hint of Edward in that sentence, as Soren flinched and avoided his eyes.

“… Do we just combine it with the gunpowder?” I asked after a very uncomfortable silence, which seemed to get Soren back on track.

Soren gestured to the TNT, “Well, the crafting recipe is quite simple, really. Super TNT in the middle and gunpowder all around.”

I grinned at him and said “Got it!” Before trying to reach for the Super TNT, keyword is try here because Soren quickly backed out of my reach.

“No! No, no, no! The ingredients are highly unstable. Even putting them in close proximity to each other is a risk.”

“Okay, well…” I put my hands on my hips, “We may not have the Formidi-Bomb yet, but at least we finally have the ingredients to build one. Progress!”

“And now that we have them, we…” Soren trailed off, looking at me expectantly for some reason. “Ahem. We…” When I still said nothing, Soren continued, “I literally don't remember. You're going to have to help me out a little, Jesse.”

I’m just going to say the obvious here which is that “Now we just need to find a way to get it inside the Witherstorm to blow it up.”

I felt my eyes widen, catching sight of an Enderman arm, oh crap.

Soren looked over his shoulder when he saw me freeze and gasped. “Oh! Oh, dear.” Immediately, everyone turned around, Soren pocketing the Super TNT. “I was afraid of this. With the End underwater, the Endermen will try to escape.”

Aiden groaned next to me, going, “And as soon as I thought I'd never have to see another one of those things again.”

Edward whispered something to Soren, and he nodded before he pointed straight ahead, right towards the minecarts patiently waiting for passengers, see pushing that button was worth it. “To the minecarts, everyone!”

Everyone began running towards the carts, more and more Endermen appearing behind us. Soren, despite this, was grinning like a crazy person, “I've been waiting ages to say that…” he glanced over his shoulder at me, “To people, I mean.”

Reuben reached the minecarts first and jumped into the front one, me coming in from behind him and going into the minecart parallel to where Petra jumped in. Olivia went behind me with Axel next to her, then Soren went beside Reuben, and Lukas was in the one single one in the back before we realized we were short on minecarts again.

“Nuh uh, we are not sharing.” Edward exclaimed before 3 more minecarts appeared on the tracks. Aiden went into one of the new ones on the right behind Maya and Gill, who in the end ended up sharing, kinda think that was intentional. Then Edward went in front of Reuben with Mozo in the minecart as well.

The carts began to move, Behind me, the walls began closing again, the Enderman I accidentally looked at teleporting just in front of it and letting out an angry screech. The walls closed right in its face, and we sped on down the tracks.

It was a long uneventful ride down the tracks until we got to the entrance and Axel shouted “Incoming!” as we saw that the sun was setting and a creeper and two spiders were on the tracks. 

Reuben gave a squeal and covered his eyes with his hooves, right before the carts slammed right into the creeper.

Screaming in surprise, everyone went flying out of their carts, which scattered about the place and landed roughly on the ground. 

Groaning, I got to my feet, gasping a moment later when I saw just how many monsters there were, all running past me and not attacking for some reason.

“There you are!” Ellegaard shouted, coming out from behind a tree a little ways away with Magnus standing beside her, both of them holding stone swords.

“So glad you could make it!” Magnus shouted as well, giving a weak chuckle afterward.

I drew my sword as the others got to their feet, running towards the two. “Could have used you earlier.” Magnus was saying, standing back to back with Ellegaard, “Showing up just in time to hold up the trophy, eh?”

I turned around so that my back was to them as well before speaking, “I'm glad you're okay!”

“This looks like 'okay' to you?!” asked Magnus with a bit of an attitude, side-eyeing me with his eyebrows furrowed against the mask he wore.

“I thought Ivor was coming to get you!” 

“Ivor?” said Ellegaard, “We haven't even seen him!” she scoffed as a creeper jumped up a block from where it stood near a small pond, hissing quietly as it made its way towards us from behind. 

Spotting it too late, we could do nothing but jump out of the way with surprised yells as it exploded right in front of us.

I landed on my back at Lukas' feet, who looked around with wide eyes as I started to push myself back up. “Uh, what's going on?” looking around with wide eyes. 

Soren spoke up, gaining everyone's attention. “You don't have to worry about the monsters. They're running away.” Sure enough, they all seemed to be fleeing towards the tunnel we'd just come out of. 

“Worry about what they're running away from. ”

They all turned to face the direction the monsters were coming from, and in the not-so-far distance was the Witherstorm in all its three-headed, terrifying glory.

“I feel like that got bigger.” said Axel. Olivia glanced at him.

“It did.”

I stepped forward, feeling my brow set in determination, “It's Formidi-Bomb time.” I said, glaring at the monster floating in the air, towering in the mountain we came out of.

“Soren?” said Ellegaard, as she and Magnus walked towards them, sheathing their swords.

“It's him!” exclaimed Magnus, “I-It's you!”

Soren walked forward hesitantly, standing in front of the two and giving them a small smile, “Hello, old friends.”

But before anything else could be said, the Witherstorm gave an ear-numbing roar, causing me to subconsciously gasp. Soren ran up to a bridge “It's time to go.” said Soren, turning to face us all, Pig, Ocelot, and Order all in one place, “We only get one shot at this. Remember, once the Formidi-Bomb is crafted, it'll explode in a matter of seconds.”  We looked at him with wide eyes, as Soren paused to let this information sink in, “It means whoever is doing the crafting… will be in great danger.” Soren glanced at the Witherstorm, before returning to the group, rubbing the back of his neck, “I was hoping… well… perhaps we could draw straws?”

All eyes went to Magnus and Ellegaard, who stood there awkwardly.

“Don't look at me.” Magnus said.

“I think I may have tweaked an ankle earlier, so…” Ellegaard trailed off.

“I never wanted to be a hero.” I started before Soren cut me off by chuckling nervously.

“That's not how it works-”

“I never wanted to be a hero.” I repeated more fiercely, “But I'm willing to do the heroic thing.” I looked down, closing his eyes for a moment, bracing myself, if I mess this up I will never be able to forgive myself for dooming the world. 

Then, I turned to Soren, “I'm going to set off the Formidi-Bomb.” I stated finally.

“But- But you're the Order of the Stone!” Maya said in protest looking at Ellegaard, Magnus, and Soren, “You defeated the Ender Dragon, you're the best heroes there ever were! Why… why does Jesse have to do it?”

The Order was silent, looking down in shame.

“I'm afraid,” said Soren, after a moment, “We have not been in the Order for… quite some time.” Soren made his way down the steps to stand in front of me, and for a moment I thought he was going to say something encouraging or try to talk me out of it, that maybe Maya inspired him somehow. 

But then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the Super TNT, “That's what I was hoping for.” So, that's it, I’m all this world is going to be counting on now.

Without comment, I took the TNT, and Soren continued. “The rest of us will build distractions in its path. Hopefully, it'll buy you some time.”

On the ground, Petra coughed into her fist, glaring at Ellegaard and Magnus. “You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

At that, Ellegaard and Magnus looked down. After a moment, Ellegaard raised her head and looked me in the eye, stepping forward, “Jesse… take my armor. It will help.” Behind her, Olivia's eyes widened.

Not one to be upped by Ellegaard, Magnus stepped forward as well, “Nah, you can take mine.” Now it was Axel's turn to widen his eyes, “It's gotten me out of a lotta jams.”

Edward stood in the back looking at the two of them with a sad look on his face, like he knew something bad would happen to them, and he could do nothing to stop it.

“I insist.” said Ellegaard.

“I double insist.”

“I triple insist.”

“I… insist four times.”

“Quadruple.”

“Know-it-all.”

“I've never found that insulting.”

“I bet you don't know what the fifth one is, though.”

“Quintuple… alternatively pentuple.”

“Up to you, Jesse. Real armor or nerd armor.”

Finally, I walked down the steps and stood in front of Magnus, looking at him hesitantly.

“Right on Jesse!” Magnus exclaimed seemingly unaffected by the potential danger, “Uhhh… by the power vested in me… yadda yadda yadda… the Order oF THE STONE!” he suddenly shouted at the end with his eyes going wide looking behind me.

“What?!” I gasped, head snapping around. The Witherstorm was right in front of us now, roaring and screeching as it sucked up the ground, trees, and whatever else was unlucky enough to get in the way of its tractor beams.

I quickly took Magnus’s armor and left him in only a forest green coat with a red bowtie and a gray vest along with black slacks under his armor, his mask still on his head over his eyes.

“Jesse,” Soren shouted as we got running, “You're going to have to set down a crafting table out there and make that Formidi-Bomb!” Tractor beams moved all around us, “Everyone else, grab a buddy and split up. We need to keep that Witherstorm on track, so build, build, build!”

At Soren's words, we began to split up, Edward, Soren, Magnus, Gill, Aiden, and Axel going right and Petra, Olivia, Maya, Lukas, Reuben and Ellegaard going left. “Jesse! Don't forget!” called Soren, as Jesse ran straight towards the storm, “Super TNT in the middle and gunpowder all around!”

To my left, I spotted Ellegaard’s group building something that looked completely random before I returned my attention to the Witherstorm as a tentacle went swinging.

With a startled yell, I hit the ground, skidding a little, as the tentacle smacked some trees right out of the ground, roots tearing and leaves flying.

I got to my feet again and continued running, dodging to the left to avoid another tentacle. I came to a stop right under the Witherstrom, looking up at its ginormous underbelly. “I hope this works.”

I pulled out a crafting table and sat it down in front of me, looking over my shoulder to see the random structure Ellegaard’s group had been building. It was made out of some fancy stone, red wool, glass, Redstone lamps, and gravel. It was being lifted into the air. Being torn apart by the tractor beams. 

On the ground, the group thankfully ran away to avoid following the build’s fate.

I looked to my right to see Magnus’ group working on a statue of a giant pig, as the others ran up to help them.

Alright, Jesse, it's now or never, in the most dangerous and literal sense there is the entire world is on my shoulders…

I put down the Super TNT first, right in the middle of the crafting table just like Soren had said, before putting down the gunpowder piece by piece. 

But just as I sat down the last bit of gunpowder, the Witherstorm let out another roar and the middle head snapped down towards me. The tractor beam covered me, the crafting table, and the ingredients in a purple glow.

“No, no, no!” I shouted as I was lifted off the ground. The Super TNT and gunpowder began to shake as it started to form, but a moment later they all separated and became still. CRAP!  I was a foot off the ground now, the dirt shaking and lifting up as well. “Not yet!” I shouted to no one in particular but my cruel luck.

I looked up at the Witherstorm, before my eyes settled on a bit of gunpowder in front of me. Not willing to go down without a fight, I kicked my legs and moved my arms, almost as though I were swimming, and grabbed the gunpowder. “Got it.”

I 'swam' towards another bit of gunpowder, grabbing it. Almost as soon as I did that, I gasped as a tree made its way towards me, and I just barely air-swam out of its way. 

Dangerously close to the monster's mouth now, my eyes rested on the Super TNT and the last bit of gunpowder. I stretched myself thin and grabbed both of them, swallowing as I looked at the bomb to the gunpowder. “Please don't blow up.” I pleaded to the world.

Turning to the crafting table just a little below me, I spotted the others finishing up their pig statue below me, just as a tentacle came flying towards them. “Watch out!” I shouted loudly.

But they were too slow and the tentacle too fast. 

It smacked into Ellegaard and Magnus, who were standing on the pig statue's bottom feet, and the two went flying, Magnus smacking into a tree and Ellegaard out of sight.

“NO!” I felt myself scream on instinct “MAGNUS!”

This monster is going to pay.

I pushed myself towards the crafting table, kicking my legs and lifting my arms, as the pig statue was lifted and torn apart by another tractor beam. 

I reached the crafting table, the middle head giving an impatient roar, wondering why its dinner wasn't in its mouth yet, well guess what I’m not easy to stomach you stupid monster!

Moving quickly, I placed down the TNT and put the gunpowder around and, within moments, the ingredients began to shake before letting off a dramatic pow sound as it formed into a new block. 

It was shaped like any other TNT block, but a dark purple-grey color instead of red, and a glowing F on each side. Simply creating it had seemed to destroy the crafting table.

I didn’t take too long to admire the block before I grabbed it and spun around to face the Witherstorm, “Eat this!” I pushed the Formidi-Bomb away, and it began floating towards the beast's mouth when suddenly something snagged onto the back of my borrowed armor.

I looked over my shoulder in surprise, to see everyone minus Magnus holding onto the other end of a fishing rod, the very same one that Olivia had taken from Soren's loot room.

I twisted a bit to see the fishing rod's hook on one of the armor's belts, and then looked back at the others, and while they were struggling to not get sucked up themselves, the combined effort of them all kept them to the ground. 

I turned back to the Witherstorm and saw the Formidi-Bomb slowly floating towards it, and opened its mouth to grant it entry. 

Just as it entered its mouth, it exploded in a massive flash of white that left me squinting as I got pushed back away from the explosion. 

Before I passed out, I felt the fishing rod tug like something was climbing onto it and felt something crawl onto my arm with cold hands before my vision went from white to black.

Edward POV

FUCK IT GOT OUT!

HOW DID IT GET OUT?!

I DON’T KNOW BUT THE BLASTED AMULET GOT OUT OF THE BOX WHILE I WAS DISTRACTED!

It's true, While I was using a bit of slow falling on Jesse to minimize the damage, the Order’s amulet crawled its way out of the box it was in and climbed its way up the fishing line, and hooked onto Jesse before the F-Bomb exploded.

I propped myself up on my elbows trying to get up while my ears rang but the new legs were a very big problem, I miss my old legs. I wonder where my old first form went?

Meanwhile in the Sunshine institute

“Mr. Warden sir, Please calm down-”

“I’M AN ADMIN DAMN STICK AND YOU ARE TELLING ME TO CALM DOWN!?”

Crash!

“Sir please calm down until we find out how to fix it-”

“EVERYTHING IS TOO DAMN LOUD, EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO SHUT UP!”

“Sir I am the only one here in the room, everyone else is completely silent-”

“Holy shit he just sonic boomed that guard…”

“Dude shut the fuck up or else we will be next because our hearts are too loud!”

Back to Edward

Eh, I’ll figure it out some other time.

You got mail!

Oh, more mail, wonderful!

Yes yes yes aaaaaagh I love this

Love how you’re connecting Season 1 and season 2 stuff with all the new lore!

Thank you for this good food 🙏

You got mail!

Enter Fred. I don't know him yet (i only saw mcsm s2 from dantdm lol) but i love his sassy lil personality as a possessor (or however you call that)

Oh wow, the letters know of me directly.

Yeah, and they correctly called you sassy.

At least I do it better than you.

“You did it, Jesse! You actually did it!” I heard Lukas shout in excitement, as I looked over to see Petra and Lukas practically squeezing Jesse in a death hug.

“Not to say that I doubted you – but, I did a little – but now I don’t! And I never will again!” Ellegaard rambled with a grin as I walked on over.

“I know it wasn't easy, but…” Lukas shrugged, still grinning. Axel nodded behind him.

“About time we got a real win.”

Jesse looked over at Ellegaard, “Thank you for saving my life back there.”

Ellegaard gave her a single nod, smiling. “Happy to.”

Reuben came running up to Jesse, oinking cheerfully at her. Grinning widely despite the bruises she most likely had under that armor-

WAIT A MINUTE WHAT THE HELL!?

Jesse rubbed the pig's head, “Thanks, buddy.” she said as I darted over and grabbed the stupid amulet hiding in her damn pockets!

“GET YOUR SLIMY HANDS OFF, FISH!” It shouted in galactic as it hooked its hands onto the fabric of Magnus’s armor like a damn parasite!

“Wait Edward stop, it's fine, it saved my life!” Jesse said protecting the damn thing, sweet baby Jesus, it brainwashed Jesse!

“Fuck you mean ‘it saved your life’ I was the one with the slow falling!” I shouted, annoyed that my help was being mistaken for some jeweled glorified tracking device!

“But I kept me safe in other ways, I don’t even feel any bruises or sores!”

“Yea, I was better than you with your puny slow falling.” It was not puny, I was trying my somewhat best!

“Uh, has anyone seen Soren and Magnus?” Axel asked, breaking off the loop of insults I was about to get myself in. They started looking around at that and, sure enough, neither Soren nor Magnus were anywhere to be seen. Oh, right, I forgot about this…

Jesse looked to her left, eyes widening as she spotted Soren and Magnus a little ways away, on the ground, Magnus lying in Soren's arms. “Oh no…” she gasped, running towards them. 

Coming to a stop, Jesse knelt next to the two Order members. Behind her, the others came to a stop as well, Olivia's eyes widening in horror.

“You fought valiantly, my friend.” Soren said. Magnus gave him a weak smile, his voice wavering and strained as he spoke.

“You and I… both know… my fight… is over, man.” It seemed like it took all of his energy just to say that. He sounded like he was in pain, his bones shattered and piercing his insides.

“Stuff and nonsense, stuff and nonsense.” Soren interuptted, “Save your strength, Magnus. We'll take care of this. We'll take care of you.”

Magnus didn't seem to have an answer to that. He looked away from him, blinking in surprise, as if he was just seeing Jesse for the first time. “Jesse.”

“Magnus.”

The griefer smiled, looking him up and down, “My armor… looks… great on you, man. I want you to keep it… okay? It's… not going to be… much use to me… anymore…”

“Don't say such things!” snapped Soren, his hold unconsciously tightening on him. Magnus shook his head.

“Jesse knows… I'm right…”

“Please don't die, Magnus.” said Jesse, “Please, just- hang on a little longer!”

“I'm trying, man.” said Magnus, “But… 'A little' is all I've got left.”

Magnus looked up at Soren, “Hey… at least I… finally got to be… a real hero… right?” he coughed with a weak chuckle.

Soren closed his eyes, bowing his head. He didn't seem to know how to answer that. Magnus looked away from him, eyes widening as he spotted something over Jesse's shoulder. Frowning, Jesse looked over his shoulder, gasping in shock a moment later.

“All those people… they're alive!” Jesse exclaimed, turning back to Magnus, “The Witherstorm didn't kill them!”

“Jesse,” Magnus gasped, sounding out of breath, “Those people- you have to help them. All of them. Make sure they get out. Don't leave anyone behind. Swear, okay?”

“Of course, I'll save them all.” Jesse promised, “Every one of them.” He reached down, taking Magnus’ hand in hers, “We're the good guys, right? That's what we do.”

Magnus smiled weakly at Jesse before reaching a free hand into his pockets and pulled out a letter, handing it to Jesse. I saw the words For Gabriel on it before his eyes closed, and he went limp…

We should do it.

Fred no we will be breaking massive rules and could get punished if we try, besides we don’t even know if it will work.

Damn the rules I can’t stand by when we can do something!

Fine, let's just hope that favor I have been meaning to cash in works…

OS booting up….

Powered on.

Connecting to online services…

Connection completed.

Welcome, Anomaly_R!

<Anomaly_R> /tp MagnusTheRouge 7058 122 7080 90 0 World = 96

<Developer_4634A> What do you think you are doing Anomaly.

<Anomaly_R> Blame Fred.

Connection Terminated….

I watched as Magnus’ body glowed a bright white before disintegrating into code.

“I sent him to a cemetery over in BoomTown.” I lied as I saw Soren’s eyes widen, no doubt he saw the chat message too but didn’t say anything.

After all, he was now on the same hope that this plan works as I was…

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

“It's all over now. My friends are gonna help you.”

“I hope you're right… thank you.”

Looking about, I made my way deeper into the corpse, wrinkling my nose at the awful smell. I came to the bottom of the rib cage, the head at the top lolling to the side. 

“No…” I gasped.

Right in front of me, sitting on a large lump of flesh and bone as if it were a pedestal, was the Command Block, not sporting a single crack. Not even a scratch.

“The Command Block? That's impossible!” Reuben squealed in agreement. “I don't understand… Soren said the Formidi-Bomb would destroy it, but it looks… fine.”

Abruptly, the Command Block came to life, lighting up a sparkle of pink, green, yellow, purple, and red. “What the-” I cut myself off and turned around, “Guys! Over he-” I shouted in alarm before I was suddenly pulled back by some invisible force.

The sparkles that had surrounded the Command Block now surrounded me, pulling me closer and closer to it like a tractor beam!

Reuben gave a startled squeal, as I desperately tried to break free. “No! No!”

“Somebody!” I screamed, “Help!” But I received no answer, the Command Block pulling him closer and closer despite his struggles. 

“I can't help ya kiddo, blasted block's a strong fighter!” I heard the Amulet speak to me as a translucent field flickered around me, but I couldn't stop the Command block from continuing to pull me towards it.

“Can't- hold- on!” I felt myself lift into the air, My eyes subconsciously squeezed shut as my skin started to feel all fuzzy when someone else abruptly grabbed hold of me.

My head snapped towards my rescuer, a gasp leaving my lips as I realized who it was. 

It was none other than Gabriel the Warrior! His eyes were a rather odd pale color which made his eyes look very cloudy, pulling me away from the Command Block.

Gabriel pulled me out of the Command Block's reach, and we both fell to the ground. I pushed myself up, looking at Gabriel in disbelief. “But- I thought you were dead! I saw you…”

Blinking at me, Gabriel put a hand up to his head, and I scrambled to help him up. “What…what happened here?”

The ground shook, a loud, echoing sound coming from the Command Block. I held my arms out for balance, panic clear in my voice, “I'll explain everything, just not right now!”

The Witherstorm's head moved, the ribs shifted and moved to touch the ruined flesh of its insides, the sky darkened, and the monsters gave a growl of anger, of hunger. 

A growl that meant the Witherstorm was alive.

The ground shook without pause, I started backing away from the monstrosity as it rose. 

To my right, another head with another body appeared, slightly smaller than the one in front of me. Oh no…

Another growl pierced the air, and my head snapped towards it, revealing the third head with its own body. Crap… crap crap crap crap!

The Witherstorms rose into the air, withered bits and pieces that seemed to rapidly shift between black and magenta swirling around it and putting their mangled flesh back together.

People began running again, screaming, as three different Witherstorms, each head with a body of its own, a tractor beam appearing from its eyes. 

It was chaos, almost as bad as Endercon, with cries of horror and fire already there from the Formidi-Bomb.

We'd failed, and we'd made this so much worse…

Magnus died for nothing.

“C'mon, we've gotta get out of here!” The Amulet shouted, taking control while I was in regrettably frozen shock. 

Reuben and I began running away, but upon realizing Gabriel wasn't following, I skidded to a stop, turning around and running back to him. “Gabriel, let's go!” The Amulet shouted using my voice.

Gabriel turned to me slowly, face forming a look of confusion, eyes shining with worry, fear, and uncertainty. 

He looked at me as if he'd never seen me before, and what he said next caused what felt like the world around me to stop.

“Who's… Gabriel?”

Edward POV

Oh crap, things are breaking big time…

The three Witherstorms roared and growled, their tractor beams going far and wide, the millions of parts that had been blown away swirling around them in a massive black cloud.

Except there is a little, uh, error so to speak. Mainly that it first off the texture looked a bit broken and missing.

Second off, there is a whole army of devs floating around right now, so that was my second clue that something has gone terribly wrong.

The third nail in the coffin, I have to say, was chunks were acting just a tad bit weird.

“People are falling through the floor!” Aiden screamed as people were running away from the storm, with some unfortunate souls stepping onto fake blocks and falling until they probably met their untimely demise.

“Oh, that's not good.” I let slip out watching horses fall through the ground along with the people, oh no indeed because now how is Jesse's group going to- Woah!

I felt the ground below me bend in a way it was definitely not supposed to, taking Aiden, Maya, Gill, and Mozo with me before the ground cracked and everything got really bright.

Everything feels really weird right now Fred!

I know because we are going somewhere we are not supposed to be!

We all screamed as we fell for who knows how long, the landscape shifting all corrupted and broken making this really weird mirror effect. Other people were falling too, all with screams of their own, making it so much worse.

One, in particular, made eye contact with me, and looked like maybe an early teen, 13? 14? I don't know, but I swear I know that kid somehow.

Warm, tawny-toned skin, short black hair, probably denim jeans, a yellow hoodie with a slightly brighter vest maybe, and glasses.

Wait, that's Radar!

I think he was about to say something before a rip appeared with grass, and he fell through before it closed back up.

Rumble!

I looked down at the sound of what could be described as an earthquake before a cut that showed a stone floor came closer and closer before we fell on through.

“AHH!” 

“Oof!” 

“Zoinks!” 

“Yowza!” 

“Oh my!”

We were now in a mountain cave, judging by the snow tracks, but the real question was how.

“Are you people okay?” I heard Gabriel ask, coming up to us with concern on his face, while everyone else looked at us confused.

“No, I'm pretty sure I lost it from the stress of that thing coming back to life that now I'm hallucinating.” Aiden groaned, standing up after face-planting onto the ground.

“If your hallucination is a cave, then we are sharing it.” Gill lightly joked, helping Maya off the ground too while I chose to stay on the ground cause I felt exhausted.

“Not the weirdest coping mechanism I've had, but usually I don't share.” Maya added standing up while horses neighed in their pen.

Hold up, I thought those fell into nothingness?

I think when we teleported Magnus, we screwed something up.

“You are bloody damn right, you screwed something up!” Alright, that horse is talking with Romeo's voice. I have gone mad.

“The horse talked!” Lukas gasped, dropping a carrot he was about to give said horse, backing up with us when the horse kicked the fence gate open and trotted towards me.

“Why is my Warden shaped like you now, why are you shaped like that now, and WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!” the horse screeched at me while I just looked at it really confused.

“Hey murderer, why are you morphed into a horse?” Fred asked bluntly, causing the horse to do a double take-

The horse is Romeo, are you daft!?

Fine, Romeo to do a double take, “How- How did- How did you do that.” He stammered like a fish out of water- 

Hey…

Sorry, forgot we are a weird water thing. 

Anyways he stammered in shock.

“You must have found out by now, should it really be a surprise?” I scoffed, glaring at him, I have every right to hate his guts considering he plunged a sword into my heart. “I mean come on they got lazy and spelled my name among the various people for usernames.”

I am the second letter? I didn't know that!

That's because you are a bit slow.

“Honey-”

“NUH UH, OH FUCK NAH YOU AIN'T STARTING THIS SHIT NOW.” I scoffed at the audacity with a hand to the chest.

Wait, is the ‘plunge a sword into my heart' thing literal or metaphorical?

“You lost the privilege to address me that way many years ago.” I scowled at the guilty man I had once loved.

The tea is boiling over here- 

Shut. Up.

“Fine, Fri- Fred.” He caved, but I knew he was going to say something else on that lying silver tongue, “Anyway that is not what I'm here to talk about. HQ is currently interrogating my employee away from the Sunshine Institute about how he looks like a stick figure now, and I overheard they were going to come get you soon, so I know one or both of you did something.”

“Um, I found a stone and became this, also Fred made me do something to mess with the plot line massively so that's probably why they want to talk to me…” I explained while eyeing Soren awkwardly.

“Anomaly R, your presence has been requested by Head Developer 4634A of the world stability division. I will be your escort.” Damn it, it's the Wheatley knock off, Developer 10000W….

“Don't cause too much trouble while I am gone, Aiden.” I sighed plopping Mozo into Aiden's arms again ignoring the offended 'hey' come from the male as I walked my way through the walls following 10000W with Horse Romeo trotting behind me.

Soren POV

It's all crumbling down, Magnus could be dead on the way out of the world and if not is going to be in the worst place you can be. And if he is dead, Gabriel can't properly grieve the loss of a childhood friend because the name Magnus is just a name to him!

And to make matters incredibly worse that thing is still alive and eating up my fortress and hurting my endermen I bet!

“I don't think I can read this now, sir, I don't understand who Magnus is.” I heard Gabriel apologize to Jesse, pocketing the letter Magnus addressed to Gabriel in his final moments.

“Being emotional is getting us nowhere!” I snapped, turned away from them, walking away, “What I want to know is what happened out there today?” I turned back around, my hard gaze on Jesse, gesturing wildly with my hands, “Why is that thing still alive?!” I walked over to Jesse, standing right in front of them. “My instructions were simple. You were the one in the middle of everything, what went wrong?!”

“You tell me!” said Jesse. 

“Excuse me?”

“Well, you're the one that thought we could destroy the Command Block with a big old bomb!”

“So the Command Block is still out there?!”

“Of course it is!”

“Oh, great!” I exclaimed, on the verge of breaking down, “Now to make matters worse, we've gone from one Witherstorm to three!” I turned around, starting to pace in a small circle. “Our plan was a total failure! I should've cast that foul thing into the abyss! Why didn't I destroy that cursed block ages ago?”

“So… is the Command Block controlling all three Witherstorms?” Jesse asked.

I twisted around to glare at them, “Oh, why are you asking me? Am I expected to know every last thing in the universe?” I let out a frustrated breath. “I need a moment to think.” I said abruptly, turning around and making my way out of the cave.

Damn it, I needed this moment of peace and quiet. I made myself a ladder to get up to a slightly higher area and just sat against the snowed-on trees. After clearing away some snow on the ground of course, far too cold for my behinds liking.

The trees blocked my view of the monsters roaming in the distance thankfully, the uncomfortable thought that maybe it was following us crept into my brain…

Damn it all, damn the admin, damn that Block, damn my old friends, and most of all, damn my ex! DAMN IT ALL!

Drip!

Oh, would you look at that, tears are falling out of my eyes? That's unfortunate, recent events seemed to have left me rather emotionally vulnerable.

…

Times like this where I wish I were something unaware like a donkey, they don't have to go through these emotions as badly as humans do.

Rustle Rustle.

Crunch Crunch.

That sounds too much like shoes to be an animal, perhaps the others have come to bother me with checkups after my outburst.

“Soren…”

Never mind, it's him.

“What do you want Ivor…” I groaned, turning around to face him with a hard glare, speak of the man and he shall appear.

Certainly doesn't look worse for wear, still has that stupid green robe I got him for his birthday, face as pale as I can remember sporting a couple more wrinkles than before. But I can't fault him for that. He's gotten older, we all have.

Unfortunately not too old to stop sneaking up on people though.

“I'm just here to tell you something important.” He sighed as I stood up from the ground.

“Oh, is it that you are breaking up with me? Oh yeah, we already had that conversation in the forest years ago.” I spat at him.

“Soren, this is much more important than what we had years ago-”

“Oh really??? I wouldn't have guessed that in a million lifetimes, the same amount that you promised you'd stay with me when we got together!”

“Damn it, you ginger hot-headed idiot of a builder! I am trying to help you!”

“Just as you once 'helped' us before?”

“This isn't about the past! It's about the future!”

“There are three of those things now!”

“You say that like it's my fault!”

“It is your fault!”

“Oh, take responsibility for once, Soren!”

“I did that by locking the command block away!”

“So only YOU could use it.”

“Do you still not realize how dangerous it is!?”

“Oh, the bitter irony. 'Soren the Architect.'”

“I do not need lectures from you!”

“That's debatable.”

“Maybe you should leave, Ivor.”

“If I do that, the world falls.”

“Oh, oh, I forgot -- YOU have a plan!”

“Why am I even bothering?”

“Why ARE you?”

“Soren, you need to listen to me!”

“Oh, what good has ever come of that?”

“Hey, what's going on over here-” Jesse peaked a head up before I quickly cut them off.

“Ignore him, Jesse!” I said, pointing an accusing finger at him, “He's been following us!”

“It's not like that.” Ivor insisted, “You need to hear me out!” Jesse glared at him, watching as Ivor started pacing back and forth. “What you don't understand is that you are all in very grave danger.” he turned around to face us again.

“Obviously!” my voice cracked as I scoffed at him. 

“No, I mean specifically this group!” Ivor reiterated, “The Witherstorm isn't acting randomly, it's following Gabriel!”

“Gabriel?” Jesse echoed.

Ivor rubbed the back of his head. “You see, I may have… programmed it to follow his amulet.”

“You mean the Order's amulet?” I clarified.

“Yes, Soren. That amulet!” Ivor said.

Jesse's eyes hardened into a glare. “Did you also know I was the one he gave the amulet to?” She reached into his pocket and pulled the amulet, all but the green gem glowing brightly. 

Ivor's eyes widened. “What? I… I didn't know…”

“Argh, Ivor, you fool.” I groaned, walking a little ways away, “You've created a monster that's following Jesse!” Jesse put the amulet away, watching me. “And it's only getting stronger!”

“You don't think I realize that? Nothing can stop those things!” exclaimed Ivor, “Nothing even hurts them!”

“Well…” said Jesse, looking thoughtful, “Except Endermen.”

Ivor looked at her as if Ze'd just grown a second head. “Endermen?”

While my eyes widened, interrupting any further questions Ivor was going to ask. “Jesse's right! The Wither's gaze passed over them… and they went wild. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes…”

“Trouble is,” said Jesse, “We've had a few run-ins with Endermen, and they're bad news.”

I shook my head. “Hm, not necessarily.”

Ivor was staring at us with confused eyes, as I continued. “Enough of them, working together, might ignore us and destroy a Witherstorm entirely!”

I started pacing in a circle again. “It's a promising concept, at least in theory… if I'm seeing all the pieces correctly…”

“Could you coordinate the Endermen somehow?” asked Jesse, “Make them attack all at once?”

“If I know my Endermen,” I started, still pacing in a circle, “All we need to do is get them into the Storm's vicinity. In fact, there's probably more than enough of them still in my fortress…”

I stopped pacing to look at Jesse with a deadpan look on my face. “An unintended side effect of you flooding the End.”

“This is just like the old days, Soren.” Ivor started speaking annoyingly, “You and your crazy ideas-”

“Hush, Ivor, for once!” I snapped, getting in the other's face. Ivor stared at me with a startled expression, as I turned around and made my way back to Jesse, letting out an annoyed breath.

“The question is,” I continued, “How do we bring the Storms and the Endermen together? Endermen aren't pets; they don't follow orders. At least, not from mere mortals…” mostly only Ms. Xara…

“We know for a fact that the Witherstorms will follow the amulet.” said Jesse, “So if we take the amulet back to your fortress where the Endermen are…”

“Yes.” I breathed, “Yes, that's it! We'll lead them straight into a massive trap!”

“If we can't bring the Endermen to the Witherstorms,” said Jesse, walking forward, “Then we take the Witherstorms to the Endermen!”

“Just one problem.” said Ivor, gaining our attention, “You're forgetting about the Command Block.”

I groaned, “Oh, yes. It's clear now that no weapon can destroy it, not even a Formidi-Bomb.”

Ivor stroked his beard, starting to walk. “Actually, I… may have a solution to that.” Jesse's eyes widened, and he turned to face him, “You see, when I first took possession of the Command Block-”

“You mean stole it.” I corrected him matter-of-factly.

“Yes, well, I created a failsafe.” he came to a stop in front of us, “A backup plan, for just in case.”

“Well, I'd say 'just in case' is here!”

Ivor nodded, “And I'm inclined to agree.”

“What kind of 'failsafe,' exactly?” asked Jesse, as I came up to stand beside them.

“An enchanting book.” explained Ivor, “One that contains the power of the Command Block itself.” Jesse and I looked at each other in shock. The power of the Command block?

Ivor turned to face the distance. “Use it to enchant a weapon… and you'll be able to smash the Command Block to bits. Forever.”

“Yes…” I muttered, putting my hands on my hips and looking at the ground with wide eyes, “Yes, that's it!” I looked at Jesse, grinning, “It could very well solve all our problems!”

“Then what are we waiting for? Let's go get that book!” said Jesse.

“Just one problem,” said Ivor, turning to face us. “It's at my secret lab… which is… sort of far away.”

“How far could it possibly be?” asked Jesse.

“Let's just say it's the farthest place a person can travel before being utterly-” A roar cut him off, accompanied by the sky flashing purple.

I quickly turned but realized I couldn't see where the roars were coming from, but I had a pretty good idea. “What was that?”

I ran to investigate, Ivor quickly followed me as I went down the ladder, Jesse coming up and following us.

The three Witherstorms, the giant one flanked by its smaller counterparts. They were far too close to comfort, and it was obvious they knew just where we were going.

“I can't believe it found us so quickly.” Petra gasped, still hunched over herself, as everyone gathered around on the ledge looking at the monster that floated towards us from a distance.

“We're not safe anywhere, are we?” A blonde guy, I think his name is Lukas, sighed behind me.

“We're safe from it in the Nether and the End.” Maya tried being slightly optimistic. Lukas shook his head.

“There's a reason no one lives in either the Neither nor the End. Well… except for Soren. But we saw what that did to him.”

I blinked, confused about what he meant, and turned my head, tilting it to the side. “Excuse me?” I asked.

Lukas looked awkward, apparently did not mean to have me here, my hearing is better than he thought most likely. “Oh, nothing.”

“Well, we can't just stand around and wait for it.” Olivia said, slightly determined in the tone, I think.

“So what do we do?” Axel asked before Jesse stepped forward, grabbing all of our attention.

“Guys, there's a reason it's been following us! Ivor says it's because of the amulet that Gabriel-”

“Ivor?” Ellegaard gasped, cutting Jesse off and walking towards us, “Well I'll be… It is you!”

“A pleasure as always, Ellegaard.” said Ivor, as the Redstone engineer came to a stop in front of him. Gabriel walked up to them, extending a hand to Ivor.

“Hello. My name is Gabriel.”

Ivor stared at the warrior for a long moment, before looking towards the others. “Somebody pinch me.” gladly.

“Anyway.” continued Jesse, pulling out the amulet and walking to the ledge, “Ivor's figured out that the Witherstorms are drawn to the amulet.” Gee, it's almost like he made it do that, “So we're gonna lure them back to Soren's fortress and destroy the Command Block with an enchanted super weapon!”

Olivia came up behind xem. “You figured all that out just now?”

“The point is,” said Ivor, walking forwards, “We need to get moving. We aren't safe. Not as long as we have that amulet.”

“I'll take it.” Jesse looked up at Axel in shock, not letting go as the amulet started growling.

Luckily Axel moved his hand out of the way avoiding how the amulet's middle gem split growing teeth and tried to bite his hand off before he grabbed it again trying to pull it from Jesse.

“You can't!” said Olivia.

“I can.” Axel stated firmly, “And I have to.”

“Axel, you could be killed!” exclaimed Jesse.

“And so could you.” Axel pointed out.

“But you will be killed!” Olivia exclaimed.

“We all could, Olivia.”

“Axel, are you sure?” asked Jesse hesitantly.

“Of course not.” admitted Axel, giving them a nervous smile.

“But you'll have three Witherstorms chasing you wherever you go!” Gill pointed out.

“If things get too intense,” said Axel, as Jesse hesitantly let go of the amulet, “I'll duck into the Nether or something.” Axel pocketed it, not saying anything for a moment. “I'm tired of always being the selfish one.”

Jesse looked at him with startled eyes, still seeming hesitant. Axel continued, crossing his arms. “You just go make that superweapon. I'll meet you back at Soren's fortress.”

“Well, Axel shouldn't have to do this alone.” declared Ellegaard, stepping forward, “I'm going with him.”

Axel grinned. “I appreciate that!”

“Well,” said Gabriel, “I'm going with Jesse. I pledged to help, and that's what I must do.”

“Maya will stay here and look after Petra and wait for Edward while we are gone, so I and the others will get some stuff to make fireworks, could be a good distraction when we need it.” Lukas decided as the group of leather jackets nodded their heads in agreement behind him.

Jesse gave a single nod, looking about at the group. “Everyone, take good care of yourselves.”

“You too.” said Axel.

We gathered materials for the various trips we were taking. Ivor didn't actually tell us where his supposed lab is but said it was a many days trip, so I packed weeks worth of stuff.

Lukas started leading a horse out of the cave, One that didn't talk this time, while we followed behind him.

“Hey, Jesse.” Axel said, walking towards him, “Let's try our handshake again. Just once, for the road.”

“The Warrior whip?” Jesse asked, as we got on our horses, “You got it.”

They did their weird handshake while I heard a loud “Ocelots!” at least five times, what is with these weird handshakes they are so unnecessary considering the state of the world is in. 

They laughed as each group finished, grinning at each other. Jesse climbed onto her white horse, Reuben sitting behind Xem, before looking down at Axel. “I'll see you at Soren's, all right?”

“Not if I see you first.” the larger boy said.

And with that, Jesse followed after Me, I had Ivor on the back of my horse, unfortunately. It's kinda nice having his arms around me again- Nope! I can't be falling for him again. He already broke my heart once.

Anyway, I was behind Lukas and Olivia, the latter who had Gabriel behind her. We made our way down the mountain, leaving the others to do their own parts of this complex plan. Hopefully, this trip isn't too long, or I will snap.

Chapter Text

Maya POV

“I'll be just outside Petra; call if you need me okay.”

“Yeah, I'll just wait to die a little longer, don't worry.” She joked before coughing violently before laying her head on the sleeping bag we set up.

Everyone was gone at the moment, and now is as good a time as any to relieve some stress. I felt my fingers twitching as I dug into my bag before reaching into the secret pocket, feeling the sweet sweet cylinder shape I hadn't been able to use for days. 

I slipped it up my sleeve along with my flint and steel before slipping out of the cave entrance. I sat against the cliffside, dangling my legs over the edge. The storm moved from going towards us to back to the fortress, so that was no longer an immediate issue.

I let the stick fall down my sleeve into my palm; its papery feel against my skin was cool yet welcoming. I stuck the orange end into my mouth, timing the flick of the flint against the steel perfectly after a couple years of practice lighting the off-white end.

I felt the rush of the herb float its way down my throat, an action that used to burn but now was a smooth descent.

I passed the stick between my fingers that had slightly yellowed and pulled it from my lips, releasing the extra smoke from my mouth into the cold open air as my body relaxed finally.

I don't want to worry my friends, back at Endercon I was worried Gill would connect the dots, but as far as I know, they are none the wiser.

I can just imagine their pleas to end this at once, calling me addicted, guilt-tripping me, saying it wasn't worth it in the long term, or that they loved me, but I know how to take care of myself.

I don't doubt their friendship; no, far from it, that's why I hide it.

I can't bear to see Gill's pitying eyes on his beautiful face; I don't know how I would live with myself if I had to go through that.

Aiden would bring up his parents, I bet, how he had it so bad growing up watching them go through it while growing up.

Lukas would mama hen me watching my every move I bet, like when he found out that Aiden was restricting his food intake.

Edward would just go on about how they are ‘expensive cancer sticks that probably aren't even that good of quality.’

“You are damn right I would.”

I jumped, letting out a yelp as Edward clawed his way out of the solid floor. Speak of the man, and he shall appear. “Edward! What the hell?!” I shout, fiddling with- 

“Don't even bother hiding it, Maya. I've seen enough.” He said before snapping his fingers, and a small cloud floated above my hand and drenched the cig in water. This motherfucker!

“Am I not entitled to a little indulgence considering the current state of the world?” I questioned, feeling my temperature rise a little from fury.

“You are entitled to indulgence, but indulge in something that isn’t something you get addicted to that actively hurts you.” He snapped back before taking a deep breath and continued speaking, “There are better things to do, Maya; you know that stuff hurts you.”

“I’ve lasted this long, haven’t I?” I spat at him, furrowing my eyebrows at him, “And when I want to stop, I can.”

“But do you want to?” He shot back, staring me in the eyes. The only visible indication that he was upset on his seemingly permanent happy face was his eyebrows, which seemed to be the only thing that moved on his face.

He sighed at my lack of response, crouching down beside me before hanging his tentacle legs against the cliff. We sat there in awkward silence watching the storm roaring in the distance, the clouds showing a break into the sunrise as the sun peeked over the mountain.

“… I won't tell the others yet, but I want you to cut back on those slowly. Don’t cold turkey, you’ll make it worse.” He said reluctantly, looking at me with his quarter-colored heart pupils, looking at me knowingly in his ocean blue eye sockets.

I felt a pain in my chest, like it was tight and burned in my heart. Much like my lungs sometimes, I looked away from him, not responding to his advice. I felt a hand on my shoulder, gentle and understanding yet kind of slimy. Like a fish, I looked and saw his webbed hands on my shoulder.

I then also felt a small nose nudge at my side and turned to see his new mushroom cow headbutting me with adorable sad eyes, “Damn it, you both are ganging up on me here.” I joked dryly.

“The apple doesn't fall far from the tree.” He chuckled a little.

I turned to face him but saw something weird, his coat was… a bit disheveled, and his posture was weird. “Hey Edward, what happened while you were gone?” I asked, concerned that he was hurt, his face suddenly glowed a bright purple, looking away from me.

“Take off your coat.” I demanded.

“I’d rather not.” He said back rather quickly, unfortunately for him, I am a stubborn woman. I grabbed his shoulder and saw him wince, gotcha.

After a tussle battle I was able to pin him to the ground, pulling his coat off and moving his shirt down to see- Is that…

“… Edward, what the fuck.”

“Listen, I can explain-”

“Yeah, please do, please explain the fucking bite mark on your shoulder I’m looking at!” I demanded, while his pupils looked away sheepishly.

“I… may or may not have made out with someone in the lobby room waiting for my meeting after bonding over the mutual agreement that someone else was hot…”

“HOW DOES THAT JUST HAPPEN?!” I shouted, getting right up in his face, “You don’t just do that spontaneously!”

“He was short and cute!”

“Everyone is short and cute to you, you are fucking 9 feet tall!  Did you even clean it??”

“…no…” Lord, have mercy on me…

“You are risking an infection like that, Edward,” I groaned, grabbing a med kit from my bag and pulling out the rubbing alcohol. “Now show me where you were bitten so I can properly clean them.” I finished pouring the alcohol onto a wool ball and applied it to the first weirdly crescent-shaped bite mark on his shoulder.

After he grumbled and pouted like a child, he allowed me to clean a total of 19 fucking bite marks, and at least half of them were on his neck and collarbone. “You are lucky your attire hides these well enough, for someone who veils for modesty-”

“What gave off the impression that that was why I veiled?” He asked confusedly, I returned the expression in equal confusion.

“Isn't that why anyone veils?” I asked, genuinely confused.

“There are more reasons than modesty; practicality, grounding, spiritual protection, or just cause they wanna. There are more reasons, of course, that's just a few.”

“So, why do you do it?”

“Well, I enchanted the head veil so that it helps me not passively hear every single other person's thoughts at once in a 10-mile radius since I'm a natural mind reader, the face veil is just because it helps with my asthma cause I also enchanted that to filter anything into pure air, so smoke isn't an issue that will try and kill me.”

“But what if it doesn't go through the fabric?”

“Doesn't have to, as long as I have a majority of the fabric over my face, it's protected. I would go into specifics, but Lukas and the others are climbing up the path now.”

I blinked in surprise and looked over and saw the faraway figures of the rest of my friends down at the end of the mountain. They left maybe 3 days ago and looked exhausted, to say the least, with Aiden spouting a few arrows and Gill having his shirt ripped, exposing his wonderful abs and-

“I get you like him, but keep your thoughts PG, Maya.” I heard Edward snort as I felt my face flush, embarrassed.

“EDWARD!” I squeaked, jabbing at his side as he gave me a stupid grin. “YOU ARE ONE TO TALK!”

“Oh, come on, it's obvious even without the mind reading, except for Gill and vice versa!” He defended himself, cackling like a witch.

“I'm just being a good friend that I acknowledge is conventionally attractive.” I huffed as he continued to snicker.

“You have sabotaged his dates like 7 times!” Edward pointed out,

“At that point, just court him, I doubt he would reject you.” with Fred butting in.

“What do either of you know about relationships? Last I overheard, one of you got killed by your ex.” I pointed out, narrowing my eyes at them.

“Actually, he killed me before he became my ex, I broke up with him after he killed me.” Fred corrected me with a raised pointer finger, “And I will have you know I set up and blessed hundreds of relationships, I was the TOP matchmaker back in my day.”

… I can already tell this will be a long day. I wonder how Jesse and the others are doing.

Meanwhile

"Are we there yet?"

"No, no, no, we are not there yet!"

"This is what you get for making your lab in the farlands."

"Soren, hush."

Back to Maya

Well, hopefully, they are wherever they went now.

"Maya!" I heard Gill shout, excitedly running up to me and giving me a bear hug.

"Gill! You were gone for only a few days!" I laughed, ignoring the knowing looks everyone was giving us as I hugged back matching if not doubling his strength.

"Come on, lovebirds, we got fireworks to make." Aiden snorted, turning to walk in the cave after Edward pulled the 8 arrows from his shoulders and gave him a health potion.

He had a health potion the whole time and didn't- wait, no I think I know why, never mind, I don't want to think about it anymore.

Anyway, I reluctantly pulled away from Gill zipping his jacket so he didn't catch a cold from the lack of a shirt and we headed inside.

Chapter Text

Amulet POV

Unbelievable.

Jesse seriously thought I would not just sneak my way along? I just left a replica of myself back with that Axel guy to throw off the WitherStorm's tracking thing that Ivor did, so I am here whether anyone likes it or not.

It was early morning, so the sun wasn’t out yet. We were making our way through a swamp with bleary eyes and rumbling stomachs.

Well, everyone except me, considering my lack of a stomach or exhaustion.

“My rear end is profoundly sore.” Gabriel groaned as the horses walked through the mushy ground.

“I am telling you,” Soren was saying, “We cannot go to the Far Lands!” It's a bit late for that now. “They're not just the edge of our world, but the limits of our comprehension!”

I'm pretty sure Ivor rolled his eyes. “Oh, please. The Far Lands are a happy accident. Nature's way of keeping life interesting.”

“No, no, no,” Soren insisted, shaking his head with each 'no.' “They are perilous and unpredictable! Perlin noise, floating points… these are not matters to be toyed with!”

“Why are you so down on the Far Lands, Soren?” Jesse asked, for some reason, “They sound cool!”

“I can assure you, they are very much not cool.” I decided to pipe into the conversation hanging off their neck after making my arms act like a string so I could actually look around instead of seeing some pocket fuzz and denim fabric the whole time we were moving.

“The Far Lands lie at the very edge of all things.” Soren continued after giving my vessel an odd look, bitch, “Where logic gives way to chaos. They're a dangerous place to visit,” he said, looking over his shoulder at Ivor. “And a ridiculous place to construct a laboratory!”

Ivor chuckled. “Just wait until you see it.”

“Do those two never stop arguing?” Olivia asked, obviously annoyed.

“I don't know.” I heard Gabriel behind us start, “I'm too hungry to care.”

“No kidding, I’m starving.” She looked up at the others, bringing her horse to a halt. “Maybe we should turn back?”

Everyone else came to a stop as well, turning to face her. Ivor shook his head.

"This isn't the time. Swamps are too dangerous. You never know what might be lurking around." A loud noise pierced the silence that followed.

Gabriel's head snapped around, spooked. "What was that?"

"My stomach." Soren informed the frightened warrior, calming him down.

"Let's look around." Jesse said, climbing down from their horse, "See what we can find out." The others happily climbed down as well, Ivor walking up to Jesse.

"We mustn't linger long. The Far Lands are just beyond this swamp."

We looked out towards a murky water lake, Soren turning to face us. "So this could be our last chance to find food?"

Jesse looked over at the others, who were sitting about looking miserable, tired, hungry, sore, and dirty. "Everyone doing okay?"

"Not really," Olivia groaned. "We're starving."

Jesse made their way over to the lake, jumping down into it, the water going up to their waist and splashing my vessel. Spotting some potatoes growing nearby, they waded over to them, grinning as they pocketed them. "Potato, you're coming with me. It's not much, but it'll help..." Looking about, Jesse spotted some more potatoes a little ways away and waded through the water towards them. "Like they say," they said as they pocketed the food, "Two potatoes are better than one." Jesse blinked. "I think they say that."

"I've never heard anyone say that."

"Hey, Jesse!" Olivia called. "Have you found any food?"

"I should probably take what I have back to the group," Jesse muttered, starting to make their way back to where they left the others. They looked around to see if they could spot any more potatoes, but there didn't seem to be any more in the lake. They jumped back up onto dry land, water dripping from their pants, and walked over to the group. "Check out what I found!"

Jesse pulled out a potato, handing it to Gabriel. Olivia didn't look all that impressed. "A potato." She said, unimpressed, "Incredible."

"At least they’re trying to get food." I grumbled, "You guys are just sitting about."

"Hey, at least it's food," Jesse said, glaring at her. Then, rolling their eyes, they pulled out the second potato and handed it to her. "Potato number two, coming your way." Olivia gave an amused huff, smiling at them.

"Could I have this one?" Gabriel asked.

Soren crossed his arms. "You had the last one."

"Oh, yeah." said Gabriel, "You take it, Ivor."

Soren gave him a look. "I'm Soren, not Ivor."

"Right. Of course, you are."

"Hey, you guys want to help me look?" Jesse asked hopefully.

Soren gestured to the horses with his head, "Probably best if we stay with the horses." just as useless as I remember.

Jesse looked at him for a moment, unimpressed, before turning and making their way up a short hill next to the lake. They walked up some mushy mud and dirt sticking to their boots, at least not making enough of a mess to get me dirty, walking about a bit in search of more food. 

Upon finding some more potatoes, they eagerly made their way towards them, scooping them up. “Gotcha, potato.”

Passing a tree, Jesse jogged up to another potato plant, grabbing it, “One potato, two potato, three potato, four.”

“You're singing about potatoes?” I asked, this was far too amusing. Jesse shrugged, giving me a small grin and looking down at me.

But then Jesse stopped, spotting something out of the corner of their eye, and he turned to face it. It appeared to be some sort of house- Oh shit.

Curious, Jesse made their way over to the hut, jumping down from the hill he'd been on. They came to a stop just in front of the hut, looking at it with wide eyes.

“A witch's hut!”

Jesse's head snapped to the side, and we both gave a startled scream, Ivor having abruptly appeared right next to Jesse.

“How do you do that?!” I exclaimed, I seriously don’t know how he does it; it's like he's a ninja or something!

“We should stay clear of it,” Ivor continued, keeping his voice low to avoid attracting any unwanted company. “Nothing good ever happens when witches are involved.”

Jesse's eyes landed on the window, spotting a cake just sitting there, unguarded. “Look, a cake! That's- That's enough to feed everyone!”

“It isn't worth it, Jesse,” Ivor whispered, “Witches hate trespassers. Besides… There are plenty of potatoes around.”

Jesse jumped, spotting a figure making its way through the trees, giving off what sounded like a weird, high-pitched laugh, “Is that a witch?”

“Jesse,” Ivor said, lowering his voice to a whisper again, “We shouldn't be here. Witches are very strong. And they know these swamps far better than I.” Jesse was silent for a moment, looking from the cake to the direction the witch had disappeared to.

"Ivor, I can't pass this up," They said finally, starting to make their way to the hut as quietly as possible. "I need you to watch my back, okay?"

"I'm telling you," Ivor whispered, following them to the front of the hut, "This is a bad idea."

Jesse ignored him, pulling themself up onto the stairless porch. They made their way to the hut's doorway, looking about to make sure there wasn't anything that could cause harm.

"I'll keep watch." Ivor loudly whispered, reluctantly, "Just be quick about it!"

Giving him a small nod, Jesse walked into the hut, which was quite simple, really. It didn't have a bed, and the walls had massive holes in them, although some could be brushed off as glassless windows. 

There was a cauldron filled with some sort of green sludge, a single chest with a torch above it, and the cake on the window ledge.

Ignoring the chest and cauldron for now, Jesse quickly made their way over to the cake, grinning as they grabbed it. "An entire cake. Nice!" That's when another laugh sounded behind them.

"Hold on a second," I muttered, "Where's Ivor? I thought he was keeping watch." Jesse's eyes widened. Slowly, they turned around, letting out a yell when they spotted the witch.

The witch took out a red potion and threw it at us, but I quickly took control and ducked, and it smashed onto the ground behind Jesse. I made Jesse straighten and ran right towards the witch as she pulled out another potion, ramming into her and sending us both flying out the window, hitting the ground harshly below.

"Ow!" Jesse exclaimed, but I was already getting Jesse to their feet and running under the hut, away from the witch. They came to a stop where Ivor had been waiting, but the man was gone, nowhere in sight. "Ivor!"

"He ditched us!" I accused, glaring at the spot where he was supposed to be.

Letting Jesse back into control, they ran back to where they'd left the others, looking around for the potion maker. "Ivor?"

They skidded to a stop, eyes widening as they took in the scene before us. Another witch stood before Jesse’s friends, potion in hand and glare on her face. 

She threw the potion, the others jumping to the side to avoid it. Reuben backed away fearfully as an arrow buried itself into the dirt a few feet from him.

The witch was flanked by around five skeletons with loaded bows. We are so cooked.

The witch took out another potion. "Jesse!" Gabriel yelled upon spotting us, "Help us!" An arrow embedded itself into the tree right next to his head, quickly followed by many more arrows and potions, the gang barely managing to dodge them.

The horses neighed loudly in fright as a potion smashed not that far from them, and they turned tail and ran away as fast as they could. "Oh no, the horses!" I pointed out, causing Jesse to turn and watch as the horses ran.

Jesse turned to look at the witch and shouted, "Hey, you! Witch!" 

The Witch turned to face them, and the skeletons did the same almost automatically, their arrows immediately aimed at us. Jesse's eyes widened, as the witch raised another potion and threw it right at their head.

I, of course, had to keep them alive and made Jesse leap to the right, the potion smashing into the ground where they'd been not moments before, and came back up right beside the witch and shoved her, knocking her to the ground. 

The skeletons began firing arrows at them again. I briefly stopped in front of Jesse’s friends. "Everyone, let's get out of here ASAP!"

The group started running, more arrows and potions raining down on their heels. Jesse looked over their shoulder at them as they ran. "Ivor said the Far Lands are just past this swamp!"

"Wait," Soren suddenly gasped, "Where is Ivor?"

"Wouldn't we all like to know that?" I drawled, making sure Jesse didn’t stop running from the stupid jelly leg feeling. 

"I thought he was with you!" Olivia exclaimed, looking over at Jesse.

"I don't know!" Jesse said. "He disappeared outside the witch's hut!"

"He ditched us!"

Soren shook his head, glaring at the ground, "Curse that fool of a man."

I looked at him for a moment, remembering his history and how they were interacting on the horse ride over with Ivor wrapped around Soren’s hips, Nether he fell asleep on him, before turning to face forwards. "Come on!"

So on we ran, arrows and potion bottles hitting the ground just at our heels as the ground squished below us as we ran. Herobrine is lucky I’m too busy trying not to get Jesse killed to call out the fact that he has been stalking Jesse for who knows how long now, but now that I have free rein to see something that isn’t a pocket or backpack, he is incredibly obvious.

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

“Wow.”

What stood towering above us was a massive wall of stone and dirt, with impossible twists and holes, tunnels, and floating lands. Waterfalls ran down its side, and it was so tall it went right past the clouds and who knows how far on.

“It's like we're at the edge of the world.”  Olivia said, coming up to stand at my side.

“Actually,” Soren started, walking past us. We seem to be at the corner of it.” He turned around, spreading his arms wide, and walked backward, facing us. “Welcome to the Far Lands, my friends.”

Soren turned back around and led us towards the Glitch Wall, passing trees with stone on their trunks and in their leaves.

“I'm glad Jesse snagged this cake,” Olivia mumbled while eating a slice of the treat as we walked. “Makes the whole wall of insanity a lot easier to face.”

“Say what you like about witches,” Gabriel piped in, eating his own slice and clearly enjoying it, “They sure know how to make a cake.”

“Quite a sight, isn't it?” Said Soren, as I looked up at the wall in awe. “Stretching skyward, in all its glory... like a monument to chaos itself.”

“Soren, have you been here before?” I asked, looking at the ginger with wide eyes of wonder.

“Not here specifically,” Soren said, “But I have been to the Far Lands. The Order traveled far and wide during our heyday.”

“Incredible,” Gabriel gasped. It appeared to be raining in a few spots, although it disappeared for a few moments before returning. Olivia shook her head.

“You can say that again.”

“Incredible.”

“...My fault, should've seen that coming.”

“How can Ivor live here?” I asked, doing some more digging for more info. “I mean, it's one thing to build a wool world inside the End, but this...”

“Oh, I doubt he lives here.” Soren said, “He most likely comes here only for his most secretive research. Whatever Ivor's hiding in here, it will be extremely well-guarded.”

We approached one of the lower caves, revealing them to be surrounded by waterfalls, lit redstone blocks, iron bars, ores, and many other things, placed seemingly at random. We stopped in front of the entrance, looking deep into its depths, where it gave way to darkness. Soren looked back at us, pointing ahead of them.

“This way, I suspect.” Without another word, he made his way into the Glitch Wall, and we all watched him, taking a moment to pull ourselves together. 

I looked back at the others, gesturing after Soren. “Come on.”

We made our way through the tunnel, the cave dimly lit by a glowing block on the ceiling, with Soren leading.

“Is this... a maze?”

“It would appear so,” Soren mumbled, coming to a stop in front of it. “A massive one, from the looks of it.” The maze was indeed massive, with crumbling stone walls comprised of four different types of stone covered in ivy. A small pond sat near the entrance of the maze, and little hills of gravel and stone littered the ground, accompanied by flowers and saplings. “If Ivor used the Command Block to build this,” Soren continued, “It could hold unspeakable peril.”

“So,” The Amulet finally spoke after going quiet for a bit, “Maybe we should not wander into the world's hardest maze without a guide?”

“Unfortunately,” Soren turned around to face us, “This seems to be the only way forward.”

“Of course it is...”

“There has to be another way,” said Olivia, “A secret door or... I don't know... some way around.”

I shook my head. “There's no way we're going into some crazy maze that Ivor built to keep people away.” Then, making my way over to the wall, “We'll find another way through.”

Olivia followed me. “Best decision you've made all day.” Rude .

She and Soren started examining the walls, Gabriel sitting down and leaning against it. I walked along the length of the wall, stopping in front of a bed of red and yellow flowers.

“Flowers, but no trees.” I muttered, “Guess it's a Far Lands thing.”

“Have you seriously never seen a flower field or plains before???”

Ignoring the amulet , my eyes landed on the vines crawling up the wall. I made my way over to them, looking up at the greenery entangling the walls, slipping through cracks, and crossing over each other. “Huh. We can probably climb these.”

“Everyone, en garde !” yelled Soren, causing me to jump and spin around to look at him. ‘En garde'? Really?

But getting back on track, a horde of zombies were making their way out of the maze, the others backing away, Soren with a golden sword in hand.

“There's too many!” Olivia exclaimed, “We can't fight them all!”

Upon seeing me, some of the zombies split off from the group and began making their way towards me, dragging their feet and groaning.

I felt my eyes go wide and began to back away, glancing from the zombies to the vines. I ran up to the greenery, grabbing onto them and hauling myself up. “Guys, climb the vines!”

My friends were quick to act, Olivia with Reuben under one arm. I started climbing the vines as well, the zombies reaching where I’d been not moments before.

The others seemed to reach the top first before I climbed up, and my eyes widened as I straightened into a standing position.

“Well,” said Soren, sounding slightly out of breath, “That worked, I suppose.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Olivia said, pointing to me, they all turned to look at me, Soren wincing when he realized what was wrong.

On the other side of the room, across a large gap, I raised my arm and waved at them.

“Oh, you've got to be kidding me.” The amulet groaned, “I'm starting to suspect that you attract danger." 

I looked down at the ground below me, zombies still lumbering about mindlessly, with no plans of leaving anytime soon. I looked up to the other end of the maze where, in the far distance, I could see a house in a sort of spotlight.

Turning back to the others from across the way, I gestured to the house. “Let's just head that way and find a place where the paths connect.”

Soren gave a small nod, turning around with little to no hesitation. Reluctantly, the others did the same, and they began making their way along the wall.

"Sure hope they don't get lost in there.” Then, turning to look out at the maze before me, “I hope I don't get lost in there…”

“Dead end after dead end, bat after bat that kept flapping past my ears, waterfalls everywhere, and an annoying amount of mobs trying to get me.

At least the amulet is having a good time at the cost of my sanity, singing some song for the last what feels like hours, speaking of which.

“So, bongo, bongo, bongo, I don't wanna leave the Congo, oh no no no no no! Ba na na na naaaa! Bingo, bangle, bungle, I'm so happy in the jungle, I refuse to go! Beh beh ”

Reaching another dead end, I came to a stop with a scowl before I looked at something a little ways away. It appeared to be some sort of machine, made up of pistons, slime blocks, and two boats. “Huh. What's that?”

“Don't want no bright lights, fake teeth, doorbells, landlords, I make it cleeeaaaar- hey where are you going?”

Looking down at the wall in front of me, which crumbled down to a sort of staircase, I started jumping down it, reaching the bit where the machine was. 

There was also a small chest and a crafting table, and Ivor's lab could be seen not that far away. 

Across a gaping chasm, that is.

I walked to the edge, looking down at the chasm and letting out a whistle. “I don't see a way across.”

Turning back around, I made my way over to the machine, muttering to mostly myself as I looked it over. “Hmm... redstone blocks, some pistons… Wonder what this thing’s supposed to be?”

“Hello? Anyone?”

My eyes widened at the sound of Olivia's voice, and I turned around to face the maze. “Olivia? Is that you?” I called out.

Sure enough, Olivia turned the corner, Reuben right behind her. She grinned upon spotting me running towards me. “ Jesse! There you are.” Reuben gave a happy oink.

“Oh, good, Olivia will be able to work that thing out.”

“I thought I'd never find you.” Olivia continued, “All those dead ends back there...”

I cut her off, pulling her into a hug. “Am I glad to see you guys!”

“Us too,” Olivia said as we pulled apart. “I thought Reuben and I would be lost in here forever!” I looked down at Reuben, reaching out and rubbing his head. 

Olivia was silent for a moment, looking over her shoulder at the maze.

“This maze... we don't have time for this.” Looking over to the chasm, she started walking to it while me and Reuben followed behind, “Who even knows where the others are by now?” Reuben made a sound of agreement. “I mean, the clock's ticking here, Jesse. Yet we're lost in some elaborate puzzle.” 

We reached the edge, looking out towards the lab, just out of our reach. “We really need to figure out what happened to the others,” I sighed. 

Olivia nodded. “I wonder if they found some other way across this gaping bottomless pit.”

Olivia and I looked down at the chasm, which held no bottom within sight. “I think it drops forever.” Olivia sighed.

I was about to bring up the unfinished machine before I heard a high-pitched squeal coming from behind us and a thud.

I twisted my body in a way that was probably going to hate me later and saw someone had face-planted onto the grass, looking like a young teen as I approached to help them up.

“Thank you…” The person said, as I got them to their feet, jet black hair in a mess, and some green from the crushed grass rubbed off on their clothes but wasn't too obvious with the green jacket. “Where am I?” the person asked me.

“We are in the farlands, I'm Jesse, that's Olivia, and the pig is Reuben.” I introduced us all as the teenager looked around.

“I'm Radar.” The teen said with a grateful smile. “He/Him by the way.” He added awkwardly.

“She/They right now, a pleasure to meet you,” I responded with a reassuring smile back as Olivia said a brief she/her while looking blankly over at the lap before turning back to us again.

“Where did you come from?” Olivia asked the obvious question I had completely forgotten about, her hands on her hips with a raised, curious eyebrow.

“Umm… I fell through the ground after the monster started floating up into the air, and after floating through some white, mirrored void, I think I fell through a hole, and now I’m here.” Radar explained, rubbing the back of his neck, “That's as much as I can remember, didn't you help some of the people back there a few minutes ago?”

“Wait… That doesn’t make sense, that happened maybe a little over a week ago if I had been keeping track!” I gasped as Radar’s eyes widened.

“I’m not sure if I have a physical brain, but my brain is mentally hurting…” The Amulet groaned around my neck, startling Radar.

“Holy smokes! That thing just talked!” He gasped, taking a step back from me. Before I could mediate the situation, it decided to show some of its eyes, opening and staring at him.

 It gave a grin in the middle gem and, I wish I was making this up, went “Ooga Booga!” forming some more bendy arms squirming out comically terrifying the poor teen some more and also startling Reuben, causing him to oink in fear, running in circles over by Radar.

“Hey, calm down, both of you!” I put my hands up trying to calm down the both of them. “I will put you back in the pocket!” I whispered to the Amulet, luckily it took the hint and stopped that and went back to looking normal while still hanging around my neck.

After calming down the two of them, I turned to Olivia and gestured to the unfinished machine. “Could this get us across?” I asked her as we all gathered around it.

Olivia inspected it much like I had done earlier. “It's some kind of flying barge. It would probably get us to the other side... but it's in really bad shape.” She peered past the slime blocks at the pistons and redstone. “And it's really complicated.”

“You can fix it though, right?” I asked hopefully.

“I don't know.” Olivia rubbed the back of her neck. “I think it's out of my league.” She walked around the barge to stand in front of us, shaking her head, “I wish I'd had more time to study with Ellegaard. She could have fixed this thing right up.”

“Come on, I'll help you.” I offered with a smile, Olivia gave me a look that made clear she would doubt that.

“How are you going to help me when I don't even know where to start!” She turned back to the barge and knelt in front of it, frowning. “This layout doesn't even make any sense. What was Ivor even thinking?” She was silent for a long moment before sitting down, looking at her lap, shoulders slumped in defeat. 

“Or maybe it's just me.” She sighed, “I mean, Ellegaard herself said that I don't have what it takes to be a great engineer.”

“She was right, I just can't hack it!” Olivia continued, as I knelt down behind her, “I might as well be a carrot farmer.”

“Now you listen here, young lady.” The Amulet said, taking over my body to speak to her properly with my hands crossed over my chest, “Now, I may not know you well, but I damn well know Ellegaard. She acts all high and mighty about what she makes and what she knows, but that doesn’t mean she is correct on her perception of you!”

“From what I have heard and what I have seen, you have shown that you are capable of something great, you just need to harness it and put it to work. If Jesse’s memories I have dug through have anything to say on it, you have done a lot of amazing things with redstone some could only dream of doing.”

“Also, you don't like carrots as far as I’m aware, so you wouldn’t want to be a carrot farmer.” 

“While I am somewhat flattered, albeit creeped out that you can see Jesse's memories…” Olivia shook her head, getting to her feet. “She’s the greatest redstone engineer- ever!” She looked out towards the chasm. “She’s in the Order of the Stone!”

“Olivia, as far as I know, the closest member to a god would be Soren, and even then he sucks at it and is weak both physically and philosophically. Don’t put them on a pedestal they don’t need people worshiping every little thing they do.”

Olivia turned around to face me but was still addressing The Amulet, “I mean, how are we the ones saving the world when even they don't have what it takes?”

“Soren and Ivor are always at each other's throats.” Olivia turned back to Ivor's lab. “The 'greatest warrior in history' doesn't remember his own name. None of them give Ellegaard any respect.” I felt myself walking up to her, both our eyes becoming sad at what she said next, “And Magnus lost his life trying to fight this…”

We stood in silence, I felt control slipping back into my mind but decided to keep the silence as Radar looked heartbroken at the knowledge that Magnus was dead. 

Olivia glanced at me before taking a step closer to the edge, looking down at the chasm. “If the Order can't do this... how are we supposed to? How are we supposed to do anything? We're nobody. The Order of the Nothing.”

“All I know is,” I started softly, “The world is depending on us.”

Olivia's eyes hardened, and she glared at the ground as if it had offended her. “Then maybe the world is in trouble. I mean, they defeated an Ender Dragon. Can you name even one thing we've done right?” She turned around, walking away from the chasm, and said, “And I don't mean managing to stay alive. Something that actually matters.”

I moved to stand in front of her, looking up slightly to look her in the eye. “Well, for starters, we're the ones who brought them back together again. You, Maya, and I found Ellegaard together. We both played a role with Soren.”

Olivia blinked, finally looking up at me. “Yeah, I suppose that's true.”

I put my hands on my hips, looking at her with what I call my pleading face, which I have been told makes it look like I have puppy dog eyes, but it works, so I can't complain too much. Olivia looked at the barge, then back at me, before her face broke out into a grin. “Argh. All right. I'll try it one more time.” I felt myself smile as Olivia walked back to the barge, looking it up and down.

Olivia knelt in front of the machine again, Me and Radar watching silently. After a moment, her eyes widened, and she got to her feet. “Wait a second... I think I see what he was trying to do…”

“Jesse, take this piston,” she handed me a piston. “Craft it into a sticky piston, then place it on the other side of the barge, along with a redstone block. You got all that?”

I was looking at her with wide eyes, looking down at the piston in my hand. “I think so…”

Nodding, Olivia turned back to the barge, while I turned to the chest and crafting table. Opening the chest, I began searching through it. “Looks like Ivor left some redstone dust handy. And... a slime ball.” Taking the items, I straightened and closed the chest with a grin.

Making my way over to the crafting table, I sat down the piston and slime ball. The ingredients shook for a moment before the familiar glow from before encased the ingredients, merging together into a sticky piston. Pocketing it, I took out the redstone and began placing them into each slot, one by one. They shook just like the piston and slime ball had before fusing into a redstone block.

“Okay, a redstone block,” I muttered, pocketing it and turning back to the barge. “Okay, let's put the redstone block where it's supposed to go and place these pistons.” 

I placed the redstone block on the floor and then the piston diagonally above it to the right. Olivia finished what she was doing, and the redstone blocks lit up, and she and I stepped back to admire our work.

“Holy cow!” Radar exclaimed excitedly, “You did it!”

Olivia smiled a little before she turned to me. “We just need flint and steel to get it started.” 

“I'm proud of you, Olivia,” I say with a nod. 

“Thanks, Jesse. And... thanks for everything you said just before, or, mostly The Amulet, but it was still kinda you. It really helped.” She thanked with a smile.

I put my hands on my hips. “No problemo.”

Me and Olivia high-fived before turning to Reuben as he started sniffing about, looking up in the direction where he and Olivia had come.

“It must be this way!” Someone we couldn't see yelled.

Radar gasped. “Is that Gabriel!?”

“Run!”

“And Soren!” He shouted some more.

Sure enough, Gabriel and Soren came skidding around the corner, followed by a horde of zombies. Reuben gave a frightened squeal.

“Everybody, get on!” I shouted, pointing to the barge, “Quick, onto the barge!”

They ran past me, I turned to the zombies and backed away from them. Without my sword or any way of protecting myself, there was no way I'd be able to defeat them all. I turned around and ran to the barge, everyone else already in the boats, taking out my flint and steel.

Clicking the flint and steel together, the pistons started going back and forth, and the barge started moving forward, toward the chasm and Ivor's lab. I turned to face the zombies as they closed in on me before I sprinted towards the flying barge, the others watching with wide eyes.

“Jesse?” Soren gasped.

I came to a stop as the barge approached the chasm and, eyes narrowing in determination, I jumped, grabbing onto the boat Olivia and Reuben were in. The barge left the cliff behind, leaving me dangling above a bottomless abyss.

“Pull us up, pull us up!” The Amulet started screaming, using its limited stretch to try and help me from falling.

With a little help from Olivia, I climbed into the boat before looking back and watching the zombies as one fell off the edge and into the chasm.

“Well,” The Amulet sighed in relief, “At least that zombie wasn't you.”

“That was close.” I panted, “Everyone okay?”

Soren was standing as still as possible, carefully not looking at anything other than the lab dead ahead of them. “For the moment.”

“Wait,” Gabriel started, who was the only one of us sitting down, “I remember something. Didn't Ellegaard build a machine like this once?”

“Yes,” said Soren, sounding as though it were an unpleasant memory, “In the Nether.”

“Hmm...” Gabriel's eyes, still discolored, widened, “And you were terrified of flying on it!”

“What?” Soren laughed nervously, “ Stuff and nonsense!”

“No, no, I'm positive!” Gabriel insisted, “You spent the whole ride quivering in terror!”

“Soren, is that true?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him as the amulet started cackling.

“Of course not!” The barge rocked slightly, causing Soren to make an obviously frightened 'whu-oh-oh' sound.

Gabriel chuckled, “Well, I suppose I might be mistaken...”

“I liked you better when you had amnesia.”

The barge came to a stop in front of a wooden platform, and we all got off, Soren looking like he was trying not to vomit. Gabriel came to a stop in front of the stairs leading up to the door, turning around to face us all. “Well, that was exciting.”

“By 'exciting,'” said Soren, “I assume you mean 'absurd and unnecessary.'”

I shrugged, “At least we made it,” with everyone nodding in agreement. “Let's go see what he's hiding in there,” I stated, gesturing to the house. 

We all turned to look up at it before starting to make our way up the stairs. After a bit, we ended up reaching a set of double iron doors before we delved into the laboratory, hoping to find what we came looking for.

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

“So many books…”

We went past the doors and came upon a library with rows of bookcases, potion bottles lining the top of them, glowing Lapis ore, and lit redstone lamps lighting up the place all about.

Gabriel walked forward, looking about with wide eyes. He was the one who had gasped as we all held a similar reaction.

“We should be careful.” Olivia said, brushing her fingers against the spines of some dusty books, “This place could be booby-trapped.”

“Let's just start looking for the enchanting book.” I say as everyone nods and spreads out to search for the enchanting book, examining the bookcases. 

I glanced at some of the cases near the door, running my fingers along the covers.

9 ways to make a potion of leaping ‘Number 9 will surprise you’,

How to farm for all your potion needs,

How to cope with divorce,

Can dragon eggs hatch? And how to avoid custody,

And then we have Is someone you know possessed? Paired with How to perform an exorcism?

Overall, these were not enchanting books.

Looking over at Radar, who was still a few bookshelves over by me with a determined look on his face and seemed to be sorting all the books on the bookshelf. “Hey, Radar. Having any luck?” I asked.

“No. Just...” Radar sighed, turning to face me, “Been thinking about other stuff, actually.”

“Stuff such as... ?”

“Well, I mean, everything really.” Radar sighed again, “Don't get me wrong, I'm glad your group hasn't turned me away and left me alone!” He rambled quickly as if trying not to offend me. I tried saying something to reassure him, but he kept going. 

“Just that whole monster from Endercon, waking up in the middle of nowhere unable to find any of my friends or family that came with, this whole far lands situation, 

 “Hey, don't worry too much, if we minded, at least someone would have voiced it by now!” I reassured him quickly, trying not to stress him out more.

“And I feel a little self-conscious with all the staring your glowing-eyed friend keeps doing…” He whispered that last part to me, looking behind him, which was just another bookshelf.

“Glowing-eyed friend?” I asked, unsure if what I was thinking of was what he meant (and if he was hallucinating from stress or something), “There isn't any-”

“Hold up! The kid ain't crazy.” The Amulet quickly interjected, suddenly I felt the arms that the item had used to hang itself around my neck move until the lapis gem was covering my left eye.

Through the blue tinting, I saw the world around me in a multi-angled viewpoint, however in the middle, where the hexagon of the lapis was, I could see the faint silhouette of something floating behind Radar.

As the figure got clearer, I could see It looked like a person with glowing white eyes, a dark-colored complexion with a shaved beard, and a casual cyan shirt and dark blue jeans. The shirt hung half tucked in while the other half remained loose, hanging down their right side, dark brown hair brushed neatly on their head.

I gasped while I continued staring before the person noticed me and, with an equally shocked expression, phased through the bookcase, disappearing from the other side.

“ Hey! Come back!” I shouted, bringing the Amulet away from my eye and trying to go after them without a second thought.

The only thing that really stopped me was that I ran face-first into the wall when I tried to go behind the books.

“ Jesse? Are you alright?!” I heard Olivia exclaim, going over to me as I nursed my aching nose, the pain throbbing and probably going to bruise but thankfully not broken. “Who were you chasing?” She asked me.

“There was a person that phased through the wall!” I explained while everyone but Radar and Soren looked at me funny, “I'm not crazy, Radar saw them too, they had glowing white eyes, and I could only see them through the amulet!”

“That would more than likely be Herobrine; I've noticed him from the corner of my eye since our encounter back at my sanctuary.” Soren started to say, looking at the bookshelf where I had just run into, “I had assumed I was imagining things, but now that it has been confirmed, I feel the need to voice this now.”

After everyone was done glaring at Soren for not mentioning this VERY important information earlier, we got back to searching the library. Mostly looking around for that Herobrine person in case he came back.

How to Train Your Slime,

The Various Uses of Mooshroom Stew (I wonder if that's why Edward got the cow…),

Potion-ology Volume Twenty-Four...

I sighed and made my way to another bookshelf, “ A Brief History of Cubism... Crafting for Noobs, Revised... A Collector's Guide to Precious Gems... ” Disappointed, I stepped back. “None of these are enchanting books.”

“I don't think Ivor would store the most powerful enchantment book ever among current-day mortals among things like Crafting for Noobs Jesse.”

“Yeah, but this looks like the only room.” I pointed out, “Unless there's a secret door, it's gotta be in here.”

I made my way past Radar and into a second aisle, where Olivia was looking through a lower bookshelf, this one lined with a long row of potions. “Olivia, any luck?” I asked.

“Not really.” She sighed, “Ivor has too many books, and there's too few of us looking.” Olivia's shoulders slumped. “How did we end up all split up like this? I feel like we're spreading ourselves too thin. I miss how things used to be. That first night we all spent together? That was... kinda fun. Almost.”

I walked along the bookcases, muttering the titles to myself again. “ How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Mining... The Unabridged Redstone Encyclopedia... ” I crouched to read the ones near the bottom, “ Zombies and Pigs, An Intimate Memoir... ”

“A what now?”

“None of these seem to be enchanting books, either.” I groaned and left the bookshelf behind, turning a corner to find Soren looking through another shelf. “Find anything yet?” I asked, Soren turning to face me.

“In this mess?” Soren scoffed, “It's as though Ivor learned nothing from my lectures on organizational methodology! If only he hadn't gotten lost in that confounded swamp.” Soren looked around in annoyance. “He could just tell us where the book is! Coming here was his idea.”

“He was just doing what I asked,” I said, giving Soren a look. “It wasn't his fault we got separated. Not really.”

Soren shook his head, glaring at me. “Is that supposed to make me feel better?!” He marched away, standing in the middle of the aisle and looking up at the many, many books. “There's neither rhyme nor reason to how these books are stored. Finding anything here is impossible !”

“Well, it's not like you can just give up.”

“Tedious, maybe.” I started, “Impossible? No way.”

Soren was silent for a moment, staring at me with his hands on his hips. Finally, he sighed, walking back over to the bookcase he'd been examining earlier. “ Fine . I will continue this monotonous search. But I reserve my right to grumble about it.”

“It's a deal.”

I left the ginger to his searching, walking into a small room with a lava fireplace, more books, a chest, and a crafting table. Spotting Reuben sitting near the lava, I made my way over to him. “Reuben, what are you doing?” He gave a squeal in answer. “Yeah, well, you're gonna get yourself cooked.” Like back at Endercon… “I've told you before: Stay. Away. From lava.”

Grumbling, Reuben got to his feet and moved to sit a little ways to the left, out of the lava's way. I looked around at the potions lining the fireplace before my eyes landed on a hole in the wall. I made my way over to it, peering inside to reveal a trail of redstone.

“Yup, there's a secret door.”

“Hey, Olivia.” I called her over, “I think there's some Redstone over here.”

Olivia walked up to me, I stepped back to let her look through the hole. “Looks like a circuit. We probably just need a lever to power it.”

“Too bad I don't have one.”

“Yeah.” Olivia shrugged, turning to make her way back to the bookshelves. “No lever, no functioning circuit.”

I looked about the area, my eyes landing on the chest and crafting table. Next to the chest, looking up at the potions lining the shelves, was Gabriel. I made my way over to him, the amnesia-suffering warrior glancing at me as I approached.

“This Ivor character...” Gabriel had said, “I'm recalling that he knew something about potions.” He turned to face me. “Could one of these stop those Wither monsters? I'm remembering correctly, am I not?”

“What do you remember?” I asked eagerly.

“I seem to recall that Ivor was...” Gabriel looked away, frowning at the ground as he attempted to regain his memories. “Better with potions than people... and he... he...”

“Keep going.”

Gabriel sighed, disappointed. “Nothing else is coming. Besides the whole Ivor-being-a-jerk thing.” The amulet snorted, quickly turning it into a fake cough, Gabriel turned back to the potions. “Potion of blindness... potion of dullness... potion of nausea... none of these will help me.” He was silent for a long moment before slowly turning back around. “Jesse, am I going to be alright?”

I couldn’t think of a proper answer to him and walked away…

I made myself a lever and connected it to the redstone before the sound of pistons happened, revealing a secret door behind the lava.

Me, Soren, and Reuben began making our way down the stairs, the others not that far behind us. But then there was the sound of something being triggered, and Soren looked down to find himself standing on a tripwire.

“What the- ?” I started to turn around to find two walls closing behind us, the others on the other side. Little orange-red specks appeared here and there, indicating that the lava had come back on. “Are you guys okay?” I shouted.

“Oh, great.” The Amulet muttered, “We're separated, again .”

“We're fine.” Olivia called back, “But the lever isn't working anymore!”

I looked over at Soren, who shrugged. I turned back to the wall. “Stay there. We'll head down and see what we can find.” With that, me, Soren, and Reuben turned back around and made our way down the stairs.

Edward POV

“Life could be dream… Life could be dream!... Do-roo-do-do, sh-boom…”

The song was playing faintly in low quality from the speakers as me, the ocelots, and Petra were hanging out in the lobby of P.A.T.A. headquarters because they were meant to only grab me.

But the chunk everyone else was in unloaded, so now I am the only one awake while everyone else has passed out, so it's only really me hanging out.

“Life could be a dream, Sh-boom, if I could take you to a paradise up above, if you will tell me I'm the only one that you love, Life could be a dream, sweetheart…”

I was draped across the chairs on my side, luckily this place doesn’t suck too much, and there aren't separator bars for armrests, and they are just very long cushioned benches, to be honest. My legs were twisted over each other because the floor had an awful carpet texture I hated touching.

Since getting this new body, I noticed my physical sense got heightened or something, so everything I already hated touching, like microfibers and denim, has basically gotten so much worse.

I closed my eyes at some point, I think, and had almost gone to sleep like the others since I had nothing to do at the moment before I heard a footstep nearby. I strained my ears to listen as more sounded on the carpet like someone was trying to sneak around.

But before I could open my eyes, I felt a soft hand brush against my face and took off my glasses before I heard them clink on the side table, topping it off with a familiar set of permanent frown-shaped lips pressed against my forehead, kissing me.

When I felt him pull away, I decided to startle him now and used my legs to wrap around him and pull him on top of me, which resulted in a hilarious yelp.

I let out a chuckle and opened my eyes to see the handsome blurry figure above me, his face may have been nothing more than mostly a blob for me, but I could see the white blush on his face from the sudden contact.

“I thought you were asleep.” He sighed with an amused tone to his voice, causing me to giggle again. “You looked so peaceful I thought you passed out and forgot to take your glasses off. I heard sleeping with them on doesn’t usually end well.”

“Yeah, you are right on that. I have bent the arms of many pairs too many times to keep track anymore.” I chuckled, rising into an upright position while he grabbed my glasses and gingerly put them back on my face.

That lovely downward crescent eye stared into my upright ones, the gem in his eyepatch glittering in the light just right, reflecting my face in its many sides surrounded in gold that went from the top of his bald head to the left ear.

His jacket was mostly discarded to reveal a white tank top that had been underneath that hugged his body splendidly, holy shit, he looks just ravishing…

Dude, calm the hell down this is major weird.

Fine, overall his pant legs were rolled up a bit above the ankle, showing off his ankles from his military boots, even though I wish those pants were-

What. Did. I. Just. Say. What are you some grandpa during the time people went gaga for ANKLES?! What are you, ROMEOBURGIAN???

“Aw Eddy, I love how you think~” He purred, running his nails down my chest, “But I have to be on the good side of your Fred, so I have to agree with him.” He sighed as I heard his Fred’s complaining slip with his voice.

“But Gorey~ Your Fred is agreeing with me~” I coo, raising a tentacle to rest under his chin tilting his head up as he leans against my chest while raising an eyebrow.

“That reminds me, when we fuck, does it count as sex or masturbation?” He asked, catching me so off guard that I had to mentally take a step back, and Fred ended up responding for me.

“...What…”

“Well, you have a part of Fred, and I have a part of Fred, so if we, you know…” He said, making a crude gesture with his hands, “Does that count as doing it with someone else or with yourself?”

“THIS IS HIGHLY INAPPROPRIATE!” I screeched, putting a hand to my chest. I can’t believe someone can be so forward like this!

“Prude.”

“I am not a prude! It's just that you don't speak of something like this outside of the bedroom!”

“You didn’t complain when we were literally making out before, in the lobby at that.” Me and Gordon both pointed this out. My Fred didn’t speak up again, and now I think he is giving me the silent treatment.

After me and Gordon had a good laugh, we slowly settled down, and we cuddled up on the lobby bench, tentacles wrapped around him, pinning him to me even if he wanted to leave, which he very much didn't.

After a while, we both fell asleep, oblivious to the world…

Soren POV

“Whoa.”

We stepped down the last step of the stairs leading to a large room with two long red carpets and pedestals with items on them. “What is all this?”

I couldn’t help but give an astonished laugh as a response to Jesse. “Incredible! He's gathered them all in one place!”

“Gathered... what , exactly?”

“The treasures of the Order of the Stone!”

On many various pedestals, there was the Egg of the Ender Dragon, our first ghast tear we got on our own from the nether glowing in the light, the sea lantern on its own pedestal emitting its own glow, Prismarine Crystals floating idly in its own pedestal, and the packed ice.

“The stories I could tell about these dusty old things...” I sighed, looking left and right at the objects, taking a trip down memory lane. I stopped in front of the egg, giving it a sad little smile. I resisted the urge to run my fingers against the shell.

“I don't see any enchanting book, though...” Jesse said, coming to a stop in the middle of the aisle. Her eyes landed on some double iron doors off to the side, and she pointed to them. “Maybe through there?”

I walked over to the double iron doors, tugging at the handle and knocking on the metal. I shook my head, turning back to Jesse. “Locked. Of course.”

Jesse put a hand to her chin, looking about. “There must be some way to open it.”

There wasn't anything that could obviously open the door. No lever, no button, not even a drop of redstone. Jesse looked over at the teardrops she was standing next to, her eyes widening upon probably realizing just what they were. “These Ghast Tears... they're super hard to get!”

“You don't know the half of it.” I chuckled lightly. I stood off to the side trying to not constantly glance at the egg but failing miserably, Reuben sitting next to me. “It was our first official mission as the Order of the Stone. We fought those Ghasts for hours... and these tears were our reward.”

“Wow.” Jesse breathed in awe. She turned back to the Ghast Tears, reaching out to take them.

I blinked at them, confused by her actions. “…Jesse, what are you doing?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Uh... taking this really cool rare item? We might need it to unlock that door.”

“...Hmm... very well.” I said reluctantly, “Just be careful with it.”

Jesse nodded, turning back to the Ghast Tears and pocketing them. A pressure plate, previously hidden by the item, was revealed. “See?” She looked about at all the other items, squinting slightly when she looked at the glowing block. “So why does Ivor have the treasures of the Order of the Stone? Did he steal them?”

“No, no, no.” I quickly corrected her, “We... let him keep them. When we split up.”

“You let him keep your treasures?”

“Frankly, Jesse, it's a long story.”

Realizing she would be getting nothing else out of me, Jesse turned back to the treasures, walking up to the dreaded black egg. “Soren, is this the actual Ender Dragon Egg?”

“Alas... yes.” I said, a bit sadly, “The only thing that remains of our final adventure together.”

“No way I'm leaving this behind.” Jesse grabbed it, pocketing it. Just like with the Ghast Tears, a pressure plate popped up. Looking over to the sea lantern, Jesse made her way over to it, squinting as its bright light assaulted her eyes. “Am I crazy, or is this a Sea Lantern?”

“Ah! The very same one the Order built, all those years ago.” I sighed, “We were so great back then... it looks just as bright as the day we crafted it.”

Jesse grabbed the Sea Lantern off the pressure plate, putting it with the other two rare items. “A Sea Lantern, huh?” She walked over to the next item, which happened to be the blue shards. “These are Prismarine Crystals. You can only get these underwater, right?”

“Precisely!” I exclaimed, “We nearly ran out of oxygen getting these.” I chuckled a little. “Ellegaard had to use a spare bucket just to grab a few extra breaths. We used most of these to craft the Sea Lantern. This is all that remained.”

“Prismarine is such a cool word,” Jesse said, taking the crystals. “Prizzzzzmarine.” Jesse turned to the final item. “So where'd this Packed Ice come from?”

“We brought it back from the Ice Plains Spikes biome.” I explained, “It was colder there than anywhere we'd ever been. But Magnus slipped so many times, our laughter kept us warm.”

I chuckled a little more before I had to stop and say the final part of our ‘story’ of being in the order, “After that, we knew we were ready to face the Ender Dragon!”

Jesse grabbed the Packed Ice, jumping slightly as she touched it. “Ohh, cold! And slippery.”

The wall beside me shifted, coming down to reveal ten hoppers: five on the floor and five on the ceiling above them.

“Aha!” exclaimed Jesse, eagerly making their way towards it, “A hopper.”

“Why is Ivor hiding a hopper in his basement?”

Jesse didn't seem to have an answer to that. She moved closer to the hopper, kneeling down to examine it. “Looks like a regular hopper... that's hooked up to a bunch of redstone circuitry.” She straightened, shaking her head. “Man, Ivor sure does love his puzzles.”

Each of the bottom hoppers was numbered, from one to five. “Hmm... Five slots.” She took out the Ender Dragon egg, looking from slot to slot, before placing it into the fifth one. “The Ender Dragon egg. So cool. Let's try it here.”

Jesse took out the Ghast Tears next, placing them in the first hopper. “Ghast Tears. Let's try them here.” She put the Packed Ice in the fourth slot. “Packed ice. Let's put it here.” Taking out the Prismarine Crystals, Jesse sat them in the second slot. “Prismarine Crystals. Into the hopper.” Lastly, she placed the Sea Lantern into the third hopper, and the five items were sucked in, the iron doors flying open and banging into the wall loudly, making me jump in surprise.

“Yes!” Jesse cheered.

“You solved it?” I gasped, surprised that it actually worked. “But how in the world did you know what order to put them in? There were one hundred and twenty possible combinations !”

“How did you figure that out?” I heard the Amulet ask from around Jesse’s neck, but I didn’t offer an explanation to it.

“Everything I needed was in your stories,” Jesse explained. I nodded in realization.

“Nice work, Jesse.” I turned to look out at the pedestals the Order's treasures had previously rested on. “You know, I often give Ivor a hard time... but for all his complaining, his time with the Order clearly meant a great deal to him.” Like how he meant a great deal to me …

“Yeah, I guess so.” Jesse shrugged. “Anyway...” she turned to the doors, “Let's go get that enchanting book.”

When we got to the other room, I felt my eyes widening. “By the stars... the Ender Dragon!” There was a replica Ender Dragon made out of obsidian blocks with a glowing redstone lamp for the eye, with purple ones running along beneath it. Behind it was no wall, but a massive hole going into what appeared to be a fake End. “With replica Ender Crystals and all!”

“Wow.” Jesse breathed, “I always wondered what it looked like.” She and I made our way into the room, showing four obsidian stands with colored banners with an object on the front, a button under it, a lit redstone lamp on top of it, and Redstone on its back. “Hmm... no way out.”

I looked to where Jesse was looking and groaned at the sight of a set of more iron doors. Admin, does he need this many puzzles out here?!

As I was admiring the Dragon-Replica in awe, I heard footsteps behind me and saw Jesse come up to where I was standing. There are four stands with the Dragon-Replica. One banner was green with TNT on it, clearly showing… Magnus….

The one next to it was yellow with a loaded bow, more than likely me.

The one in front of that was red with some Redstone decorating its front, clearly Ellegaard.

And the one in front of the TNT banner was blue with a diamond sword on it, Gabriel. 

“Soren, what's this thing supposed to be?” Jesse asked,

“It appears to be an homage to our battle with the Ender Dragon.” I started, “Despite his anger, Ivor never stopped being fond of us. He was a big part of our team, after all. He knows his days in the Order were his finest.”

“This is the same Ender Dragon that you and the Order of the Stone defeated, right?”

“No, Jesse, it's just a model.” I said, amused at them for suggesting that this would be the exact same dragon we defeated.

“Right... that's my point.”

“Sure it was.”

“If you tell me about the battle, it could help me solve this puzzle.” Jesse also takes to ignoring the Amulet too, which makes sense, never really liked it when it talked back in the day because it usually only threw insults at me, hence why we let Gabriel keep it.

Soren put his hands on his hips, looking up at the ceiling and seeing something only he could see. “If you'd only been there... it was a fight for the ages.”

“Sure it was.” Does that stupid thing ever shut up anymore? It's acting like a damn broken record!

“We'd spent weeks preparing for our greatest battle ever. But even so, The Ender Dragon was stronger than even I had imagined.”

“I realized it was drawing energy from the Ender Crystals, and that the crystals had to be destroyed. I hit the first with a perfectly placed arrow.”

“The second, by launching myself on a shockwave of Magnus' TNT!” 

“Using only my strength and my wiles, I steered the foul beast towards the third crystal. I flew the dragon directly towards the final crystal!”

“Only then did Gabriel deliver his famous final blow. We became heroes and, eventually, legends. The greatest the world has ever known.”

“You... did all that?” asked Jesse.

I gave a single nod. “Indeed I did. They didn't call us the Order of the Stone for nothing.”

Jesse turned to the banners, muttering to himself as Soren returned to admiring the Dragon-Replica. “I wonder if that story will help me solve this puzzle.” He turned around, looking up at the Dragon-Replica, revealing a lever on the back of its head. “So Soren rode the dragon, huh?”

“Sure he did.” I faintly heard the Amulet mutter before just deciding to tune the blasted thing out.

I continued staring at the dragon replica, its form stuck in a flying position mid-air like all those years ago. The wings raised up and its mouth opened slightly, the tail looked like it was halfway to swinging left.

The longer I stared into its eyes, the more I heard a voice at the back of my head, sounding like my own and mocking me, ‘You shouldn’t have used that command block, you could have been a real hero…’

Shut up.

‘Awe, you are a coward who can’t admit I’m right.’

WE COULD HAVE DIED!

‘You don’t know that; you could have lived killing it like how you told your story. Instead, you lied.’

Luckily the bang of the iron doors burst open against the walls distracted me luckily. “Aha!” Jesse exclaimed in victory before shouting for a different reason, “There's another door?!”

I inwardly sighed, turning away from the dragon to look at the replica end crystals, running my hands along the soft woolen pattern of Ivor’s banner. Within moments, Jesse let out yet another “Aha!” and heard the other door open now.

Next to me and the pig, the third set of iron doors opened, allowing us entry.

“All right, Jesse! You're pretty good at puzzles.”

“Bravo! You did it!” I cheered as Jesse jumped down from the Dragon-Replica's tail. I reached forward and grabbed the younger one's hand, dragging her through the doorways, both of us grinning.

“There's the book!” Jesse exclaimed.

Sure enough, the enchanting book sat right in the middle of the room on a quartz block, purple runes and numerals floating around it.

I looked up and froze.

no…

No…

No… No… No… No… No NO NO NO NO!

NOT HERE! NOT NOW!

All four Ender Crystals, bobbing up and down on small obsidian stands like trophies. Taunting me, I could feel a tingling buzz around my back erupt and spread all over my body as I eyed the crystals in horror.

“Wait,” I faintly heard Jesse’s voice. “Aren't those the Ender Crystals?” They looked over at Soren, “Like the real ones.”

“No.” I gasped, feeling my voice waver, walking forwards, my face a mix of shock and horror. “It can't be. Not here. Not after all this time !” I shouted as I started to hear my heartbeat in my ears roaring, going faster and faster.

I heard Jesse say something, but I could barely hear her over the raging terminal in my brain.

“He kept them,” I said, I felt myself subconsciously step closer to the crystals, shaking my head slowly. “The fool actually kept them!” I turned around so that my back faced the crystals, although I didn't look at Jesse. “He looked us in the eye and swore...” I clenched his eyes shut. “He was going to dispose of them.”

“Soren,” Jesse spoke slowly, moving to stand in front of me. “You said destroying these crystals was the key to defeating the Ender Dragon.” When I still didn't look at her or answer, I could feel Jesse's eyes become suspicious and weary, as though they weren't sure if the man in front of her was trustworthy, that I wasn’t trustworthy... “You did kill the Ender Dragon... right?”

“Jesse, this isn't-” I glanced back at the crystals, panic unfortunately clear on my face. “This isn't what it looks like. Our story- the story- it's mostly true! I swear- I swear it!” I turned back, and Jesse had put her hands on her hips, her eyes hard. “Whatever you're thinking...” I pleaded, “I promise, I can explain!”

“So what really happened, Soren?” Jesse asked, gesturing to the Ender Crystals. “If you didn't destroy the Ender Crystals...”

“I- I can't.” I stammer, backing away a little. “We swore never to speak of it...”

“I think it's time to start talking, the secret has been going on for too long.”

“SHUT UP! ” I felt myself shout, but it didn’t feel like my voice. Everything is too bright, too loud, too much is going on, too much is falling apart!

I- I- I- Surely I can fix this! I can- I can fix this! No one has to know my mistakes! Maybe I can make an escape!

I hadn’t noticed then, but looking back, those blasted crystals had started glowing, and Jesse, I think, had tried to get me away from them, but that's what I can immediately remember before the crystals exploded, knocking me to the ground.

A shame I didn’t get knocked out by it, it would have been the easy way out of this …

I felt the dull tingle in my back burn intensely, I think I was screaming, but I can’t really know. Jesse was there trying to help me out, and it looked like she was also freaking out due to me freaking out.

The pain was making me delirious, I couldn’t hold it in anymore…

“We did defeat the Ender Dragon. But it... wasn't exactly as I said.” I started speaking between shaky breaths like my life depended on it. “We got rid of it... but we... we didn't kill it, per se. In fact... we didn't even fight it. We didn't even try.”

“So what did you do to it?” Jesse had asked me.

“We didn't do anything!” I shouted, “We used that damned Command Block!”

“You used the Command Block to defeat the Ender Dragon ?!” Jesse yelled, anger and betrayal in her voice. A preview of what will happen next when everyone else knows.

“I'm afraid so, understand,” I started, “When I found that blasted block, we were nobodies. But with its help, we became stronger. Faster. We could do so much more.”

“The others had no idea what I was doing. But the more I used it, The more we came to depend on it. I knew it was only so long before someone found out.”

“So, I concocted a plan. I would use the Command Block to blink the Ender Dragon out of existence… Securing our status as legends… Forever .”

Jesse was silent, even Reuben looked none too happy to me, and the pig was upset at me.

“We told the world we defeated a dragon.” I continued, “And the rest... is history.”

“Soren... I looked up to you.” Jesse said finally, “The whole world did.”

I closed my eyes. “No one is more ashamed than me...”

No one seemed to know what to say. There was no shouting. No disappointing words. Just disappointed faces.

“So you finally admit it.”

Jesse's head snapped around, I looked as well and saw that behind her was Ivor, Olivia, the new guy(Ralph?), and Gabriel.

“Soren...” Olivia gasped, “ How could you ?”

But I paid her no heed, my attention solely on the man who started this all. 

“Ivor.”

“How long have you guys been standing there?” Jesse asked.

Ivor walked forward a little. “Long enough that they heard the whole thing.”

“So we're liars?” asked Gabriel, “All of us?”

“You didn't think you'd keep it secret forever, did you, Soren?” Ivor questioned, marching past Jesse to stand in front of me. “The truth hurts, doesn't it?”

“But Ivor... why?” I asked, rubbing my back over my shoulder blades as they still tingled uncomfortably.

“Is this why you left the Order?” Jesse asked, “Because Soren lied?”

“Because they all did!” Ivor exclaimed, “Soren, Gabriel, Magnus, Ellegaard...” Soren put a hand to his head, moving to stand next to the enchanting book. “They all agreed to keep this a secret.”

“How conniving of us,” said Gabriel.

“And you!” I shouted, pointing at Ivor and moving to stand in front of him, “You agreed to stay quiet too! In exchange for all our treasures.”

“I've technically never told anybody.” Ivor said, “Jesse discovered the truth on their own.”

“So this whole thing,” The new guy started, “This Wither you unleashed, has all been to teach the Order a lesson?”

Ivor spun around to face him. “To teach the world a lesson!” he pointed to me, “To show you who the Order really is! Liars. Cowards. And now, they know.”

“Yes,” I sighed, trying to hide the aching pain I was in while trying to stand up, “I suppose they do.” I ignored the confused and slightly concerned look Ivor sent my way to glare at him.

“And how is that any better?” Jesse asked, “You reveal their lies, at the expense of the world itself?”

Ivor put his hands on his hips. “Look, my Wither plan obviously backfired.”

Olivia threw her hands into the air. “Ya think?”

“I didn't think we'd end up with three of those things tearing the world apart!” Ivor exclaimed, marching past Jesse and crossing his arms.

Gabriel sighed. “For a moment, I nearly forgot.” The irony is not lost on me.

“Which brings us back to why we're here.” Jesse said, looking at everyone, “We need to destroy that Command Block. Like, now!”

“Jesse's right.” I say, ignoring the faint double voice that combined with my own, “Destroying the Command Block is all that matters anymore.”

Everyone was silent for a long moment. I started to sweat, thinking someone had noticed something was wrong. Finally, Ivor made his way over to the enchanting book. “How ironic that the best thing that the Command Block gave us,” he closed the book, cutting off the purple numerals and runes, before picking it up. “Was the very means to destroy it.”

“Spare us the poetry.” I grumbled, coming up to stand beside him, “It's not your strong suit.”

“I've had this book for years.” Ivor continued, ignoring me now, I see, “Never thought I'd actually have to use it.”

“So the enchanting book... what do we do with it?” asked Jesse.

“You craft a weapon,” explained Ivor, holding out the book, “Then put it on an anvil. Follow me. I'll show you.”

Jesse took the book in hand just as I gained the courage to speak up.

“Ivor... I'm sorry. About everything.”

“Yes, well... it doesn't matter now,” said Ivor, his voice uncommonly soft, like how he used to talk to me after a long day of adventuring, side by side in his bed, usually while one of us read a book. I looked down at the ground, giving a small little nod. 

Maybe he can forgive me after all.

‘Don’t even bother, he doesn't want anything to do with you after this, I bet.’

“Grab some ingredients and craft a weapon.” Ivor said, before the rest followed.

I turned back to where the crystals had been, the empty stands charred with burn marks barely visible against the obsidian but there nonetheless. I sighed, reaching over to run my fingers against the stone, feeling the bumps against my fingers, wiping up soot in my wake.

I gently massaged my temples with a free hand, clenching my eyes shut as I got a raging headache that sprouted in my head, threatening to explode it into a million pieces. The only reason I opened my eyes back up was because I heard something odd and looked at the obsidian where my fingers were.

There, between my index finger and middle finger, was a tiny end crystal, bobbing up and down like it were the most harmless thing ever to come from the end.

I felt my breath catch in my throat at the sight. this shouldn’t be possible; how is it—

ACHOO!

I sneezed and clenched my eyes shut as I felt a burning sensation in my throat before opening them again and seeing a small purple cloud on the surface of the obsidian surrounding the end crystal. I looked at the cloud of purple in horror as an idea went into my mind that I refuse to properly acknowledge now!

I backed away from the obsidian and followed everyone else, hoping this was just my imagination. I don’t know how to process what this is right now…

Chapter Text

Lukas POV

HOOOOOONNNNK!

I jumped awake startled at the sound of a loud air horn sound from across the cave, the sound reverbing as the sound of multiple voices became clear-

Wait, why are there so many voices?

I crack open my eyes and find we are, in fact, not in a cave but in some room with long cushioned benches, bright overhead lights, cream-striped wallpaper, and dark brown short-stranded carpet floors.

All around there were a bunch of different conversations, some were carrying large amounts of paper while others were pushing carts of stuff. Some looked human while others did not, some floated white some walked and others wheeled and slithered.

I sat up looking around, Petra, and the rest of the Ocelots were all grouped in one area. Gill had his head resting on Maya’s lap, Aiden was face down on the carpet which I still don’t get how he can comfortably sleep like that, Petra was leaning against my shoulder, and Edward was on a bench instead of the floor sleeping with some other person on top of him.

I gently nudged Petra awake so she wouldn’t hit her head on the floor when I got up and started to walk around before the person sleeping on Edward abruptly sat up and looked right at me.

The person kind of shared a similar appearance to Edward with the whole blue skin thing, however, they had a stout frown rather than a thin smile, one visible eye that was downward crescent instead of upward, and was a lot more muscular than Edward.

It honestly reminded me of the tragedy mask while Edward was the comedy mask.

“You are awake.” The person said in a monotone voice, “It has been a few hours since you all arrived.”

“...Who are you?” I asked, looking at them confused, on both who they were and what their relationship with Ed was…

“I’m Gordon, I’m his unofficial boyfriend now.” The man, now known as Gordon, said, narrowing his eye(?) at me, it looked like there was an eyelid under the outer one because there was a clear line that shuttered around the glow the inside emitted.

Before I could say more a loud commanding voice sounded from somewhere in the ceiling, “ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, WE HAVE T-MINUS 14 MINUTES BEFORE THE PROTAGONIST GOES AGAINST THE WITHERSTORM. I WANT EVERYONE IN THEIR POSITIONS MAKING SURE EVERYTHING GO ACCORDING TO THE PLAN SET FOR 20,405,321 YEARS, 8 MONTHS, 14 HOURS and 17 MINUTES.”

After the announcement was made the beings hanging out around the room got up and moved quickly to various hallways going straight up and down or left and right, one stayed in the lobby and walked up to us.

“Mr. Porter, it is wise to get your friends awake to attend to the Witherstorm, Jesse will be arriving shortly and the chunks will properly reload so we can send your friends back to the mountain.” The one that stayed said in a corporate professional voice.

I blinked at them in confusion, where are we and what is going on here?!

Gordon proceeds to shake Edward awake causing him to groan before giving a big large stretch opening his mouth wide with a yawn that made his jaw go 4 feet from its original position like an Enderman before settling back to the default area.

Ignoring the fact that that would be in my nightmares for the following months now, I went over to everyone else and woke them up. Petra fell back asleep when I left so I had to reawaken her again.

Jesse POV

“Shouldn’t the Endermen have dismantled those things by now? Or am I just confused?”

“It’s not just you. Something’s wrong.”

“Jesse!” I turned to face the shout to find Axel standing atop a hill not far away, waving at them and grinning, “Over here!”

“Axel!” I smiled as he made his way towards me.

“You guys made it!” he said, the others approaching him. Axel turned to Olivia. “Nice freakin’ armor, by the way.” Olivia smiled.

“Good to see you too, Axel.”

“The Endermen...” Axel gestured in the direction of the storms. “They’re not angry enough! I mean, some of them are, but a lot of them are just standing around, moving blocks, you know, being Endermen.”

“Blast!” Soren hissed in annoyance, things were already not going to plan.

“They’ve kept the main Witherstorm busy,” Axel continued, “But one of the smaller ones started attacking us. And Ellegaard ran off to fight that thing, all by herself!”

“She’s fighting a Witherstorm? Alone?!”

“Yup,” Axel said, “Kept saying something about paying for the mistakes of the past.” He shrugged. “Whatever that means.”

“If a fellow member of the Order of the...” Gabriel frowned, “Of the... uh...”

I raised an eyebrow. “Order of the Stone...”

Gabriel nodded his thanks, moving to stand on the edge of the cliff. “Is out there fighting... then I belong out there too.”

“Gabriel, no!” Soren exclaimed, “No, I’ve told you, you’re not who you think you are!”

“My name...” Gabriel put his hands on his hips, “Is Gabriel the Warrior!” With that, he spun around and ran out of sight, yelling a battle cry. We all watched him go.

“And... he’s running the wrong way.” Axel deadpanned.

“Oh, for goodness sake.” Ivor groaned, “I’m not letting that idiot get himself killed! Gabriel! Come back here!” He ran after the amnesiac warrior, out of sight as well.

“Without the Command Block, none of them stands a chance.” Soren sighed, and Axel’s head snapped towards him.

“Say what now? Why do they need the Command Block?” Olivia, Radar, and I looked at each other.

“They’re frauds.” I finally explained, “The whole Order!”

Axel’s eyes widened. “What?”

“It’s kind of a long story,” Olivia interrupted, looking impatient. I nodded.

“One we don’t have time for right now.”

Axel shrugged, although he looked reluctant to drop the subject. “Fine.” After a bit of silence, he spoke again. “Hey, uh... you guys didn’t check on Petra, did you?” he asked.

Olivia shook her head. “No, we came straight here.”

“So what’s the plan?” Axel asked, “I mean, I know we gotta go in there, but... do we just go for it or what?”

“We find a way for me to use this!” I said, drawing my super pickaxe that I crafted back at Ivor’s armory, It glimmered with the enchantment in the air as I held it above with small glitching particles that dripped off the tips of the ends before they dissolved in mid-air. 

Axel’s eyes widened, and he looked at the pickaxe in awe. “Whoa. That is, without question, the coolest thing I have ever, ever seen!”

“Oh,” I sheathed the pickaxe, this time pulling out a clear helmet. “And I brought you some armor, Axel.”

“Nice!” Axel grinned, taking the helmet and slipping it over his head. It was incredibly similar to Magnus’ helmet, like in the stories. “I was feeling a little left out.”

Axel grinned and spread his arms as if silently asking how he looked. But his smile quickly fell when the Witherstorm gave a loud, booming roar that sounded almost like a clap of thunder. 

We looked at each other, any sense of happiness or excitement vanishing. I was looking up at the sky. “Guys...” I turned to my friends, people I have known for a long time and even some I’ve known for little, all gathered behind my command to defeat the giant beast. “Let’s go kick some Command Block butt!”

Faces setting in determination, Olivia and Axel nodded at me. I turned to the cliff, to the monsters that had caused us so much trouble, and walked to the edge. We approached the crater they’d created, which was reduced to bedrock and leftover dirt and stone as all three withers floated above.

We ran through the doors and into Soren’s fortress, only a little bit of the previously spectacular hallway remaining before opening up into a land of stone, dirt, bedrock, and Endermen. Far ahead of us, the statues of the amulet and the Order could be seen, having not yet been destroyed. Large parts of the walls were torn from the ground, flying over our heads towards the Witherstorms.

We came to a stop, looking up at the big one right in front of us. I looked from the bigger one to the smaller one on either side of it. “Does anyone see the Command Block?” I called out to everyone.

“We need to get more Endermen focused on the Witherstorm!” Olivia yelled over the chaos. Looking up, we saw that on the main one, the Endermen were teleporting here and there and tearing blocks off near its three heads but not making much difference.

“How do you make Endermen focus?” Axel asked, “I can’t even make myself focus.”

“W-we shouldn’t be here,” stuttered Soren suddenly from behind, starting to back away, his hands shaking. “None of this is going according to plan!”

“Soren? What are you doing?” I asked, my voice hard as I turned to look at the architect.

Everyone was facing Soren now, watching with wide eyes. He came to a stop a little ways away. “I, uh... you know, I’ve enjoyed meeting you all, but...” He didn’t seem to know how to finish that sentence. So, instead, he turned around and fled for the doors, leaving us to the battle.

“Soren!” Axel called.

“Did Soren just run away?” Olivia asked, as though she couldn’t believe her eyes.

“Soren, come back here!” I yelled. 

But the builder was long gone.

“Dude, what a chicken.” Axel said.

Olivia sighed. “So much for the mighty Order of the Stone.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I said harshly, turning to them, “We have work to do.” We turned to face the large group of Endermen standing about right under the big Witherstorm, not caring that the world was being torn apart block by block all around them. “We need to get those Endermen to attack it!”

As if on cue, a tractor beam shifted and landed on an Enderman. Its head tilted backward so that it looked straight up, and its mouth opened as it started to screech, shaking with rage. The tractor beam sent it flying up, but it teleported before it could be sucked up. We looked up and saw it starting to tear blocks off the Witherstorm.

Olivia gasped. “The tractor beam! Jesse, that’s it!” Olivia, Axel, and Reuben ran towards the horde. “Make them chase you into the tractor beam!”

I nodded and came to a stop in front of an Enderman and did something I’d never dared to do before. I looked it right in the eye .

The Enderman started screeching, and then Jesse looked at another one, and that one started screeching, and he turned in a full circle, looking each Enderman around him straight in the eye until he was surrounded by tall, enraged monsters.

Quick as ever, I ran out of the circle, just as a tractor beam came down on where I’d been just moments before. The angry Endermen looked upwards, just as they were sucked up.

Another tractor beam started chasing me as I ran past the many more Endermen, straight towards one holding a stone block. Skidding to a stop, I snatched it. “How do you like that, you purple-eyed freak?” I taunted it.

As the Enderman opened its mouth and started to screech, I ran off to the right, just as the tractor beam that had been chasing me came to a stop on the Enderman and sucked it up.

I continued to make my way through the horde, some of the Endermen that had witnessed me messing with the others starting to screech. I looked over my shoulder, screaming as I realized there was a tractor beam right on my heels.

“Run, Jesse!” The amulet screeched, taking control instead of waiting for me to answer and running as fast as my body could do.

I skidded to the left, an Enderman that had been in front of me screeching as it tried to smack me with its long arms, two more teleporting beside it. The beam landed on them. I ran and ran, Ednermen teleporting just behind me, screeching and getting caught in tractor beams. 

“Yes! They’re falling for it!” I grinned, still running. I skidded to a stop and began running in another direction to avoid another tractor beam, which instead landed on another Enderman, causing it too to start screeching as it was sucked into the air.

Spotting an Enderman wandering about near a still tractor beam, it’s back to me. I made my way towards it and shoved it, causing it to stumble into the tractor beam, turn around, and screech at me in pure, bubbling rage. It looked up a second later, just before it went soaring into the air.

Letting out a small sigh of relief, I continued running through the horde, coming to a stop when Axel ran up to me with something in his hands. “Axel, are those snowballs?” I asked incredulously.

“Yeah, I found them near the cave!” Axel said, holding out some, “Here!”

As Axel ran off to anger some Endermen of his own, I turned to some standing a few feet away, minding their own business. “All right, let’s see how you like this.” I aimed and threw a snowball at them, just as a tractor beam started closing in. 

Without even turning around, the three Endermen teleported, reappearing right in front of me, screeching and shaking. “Uh oh!” I muttered.

The tractor beam that had been closing in came to a stop on the Endermen, and, seizing my chance, I made a run for it as the tall monsters were sucked up. I dodged another tractor beam with a yell, just as an Enderman that had been chasing me teleported on that spot, right into the beam.

I glanced over my shoulder as it was sucked up before turning forwards again, only to see yet another tractor beam heading towards me. “Shoot!” I dodged to the left, and the tractor beam instead landed on another Enderman.

Passing a row of the monsters, I looked up at them, causing them to start screeching, right before a tractor beam moved over them. “That’s right!” I yelled, as more and more Endermen teleported closer to me, only to get caught in the tractor beams, “Come and get me!”

I spot Reuben and move to run alongside him. “Reuben, can you give me a little help?” The little pig oinked in agreement.

An Enderman standing in front of a tractor beam was minding its own business before Reuben moved to stand right behind it, unnoticed, as I ran up to the monster.

With a yell, I shoved the Enderman right in the chest, causing it to trip over Reuben and land on its back right in the tractor beam.

The Enderman sat up and screeched at me before looking up as the tractor beam shifted slightly to cover all of it, and it was sucked up. “Nice one, Reuben!” I said, and we both turned and ran off in opposite directions.

Two Endermen appeared dead ahead, but this time I didn’t swerve to the left or right. Instead, I ran straight towards them before slipping down and sliding between the two monsters, narrowly avoiding their long, black arms. A tractor beam washed them in a purple glow, and they barely had time to look up before they were being pulled towards the sky.

I ran, narrowly taking a turn in front of another one of the tall monsters, which got sucked up by another tractor beam that had been chasing me. I kept running, my eyes narrowing when I spotted another tractor beam in front of me. I dodged it, and two Endermen accidentally teleported into it and got sucked up. 

Smiling, I made my way out of the horde and up the stairs to where the statues were, the others doing the same.

“Jesse, look!” Olivia shouted as I and Axel jumped down, landing beside her. “It’s working!”

I looked to where she was pointing, showing a large hole in the side of the main Witherstorm. “That hole’s big enough to get inside of!”

“Now we just need to find you a way up,” Axel said.

“Or build you a way up,” Olivia said, eyes lighting up as an idea struck her.

“That’s it!” I exclaimed, spinning around to face them, “Everyone, empty your pockets! Let’s see…” I pulled out a Redstone block and some cobblestones. “I’ve got redstone and cobblestone from Ivor’s armory.”

“I have fireworks,” Axel said, “And TNT from Boom Town.”

Olivia pulled out some repeaters and pistons. “I’ve got pistons, and repeaters.” She replaced the pistons with a slime block, “Some leftover slime from the maze.”

“Oh, and I still have that minecart!” Axel said, a minecart now sitting behind him.

“That’s gotta be enough to make something, right?” Olivia asked, rubbing the back of her head, “I mean, if we use the TNT on, say...”

“Guys, check it out.” I exclaimed, “We use the pistons and some Redstone to build a flying machine. It will be just like Ivor’s barge, except vertical! Then when I’m high enough, I ignite the TNT and blast myself into the Witherstorm!”

Axel laughed, “Heck yeah! I love that idea!

“So what are we waiting for?” Olivia asked, “Let’s hurry up and-” she gasped, cutting herself off, “Look out!”

The Witherstorm had spotted them, and one of its tractor beams was heading straight towards them. Olivia, Jesse, and Reuben jumped out of the way, but Axel wasn’t quick enough and was lifted into the air with a startled scream.

“Axel!” Olivia yelled. She grabbed a hold of his foot in an attempt to pull him out, but she was too far into the tractor beam and began to rise off the ground herself, “Whoa!”

I leaped forward and grabbed onto Olivia’s foot, struggling to stop myself from being lifted as well. I tugged and pulled, using all my weight, but I couldn’t get them out, and the tractor beam wasn’t planning on budging anytime soon.

Suddenly I heard Lukas’s voice yell, “Hey, Witherstrom!” he yelled, “Over here!”

The tractor beam moved away from us and to the fireworks that Lukas and the Ocelots were setting off, causing us to fall to the ground roughly.

“Fireworks!” Olivia exclaimed as Lukas continued to shoot more and more, “Good thinking, Lukas!”

“Now let’s hurry up and build this thing!” Axel urged.

“Eyes on me, you great big bully!” Lukas yelled, jumping up some stone so that he stood up on a little hill, raised above the others, and continued to shoot fireworks at the Witherstorm.

Edward had come up from behind them with some kind of weird bow that was horizontal instead of vertical, loaded with a very large firework. “Strike! You are OUT!” He shouted before releasing the firework, it split off from 1 to 3 to more and more until a good 30 fireworks were homing in on the WitherStorms, blinding them.

Quickly we built the contraption to get us up to the hole as quickly as we could considering the current circumstances. “Quick, climb on!” Olivia said, “And Jesse... I know you can do this.”

On the cliff, Lukas twisted around to look at us. “So do I.”

“We all do,” Axel added.

“Thanks, guys.” I said from atop the building, “It means a lot.”

Axel grinned. “Now go demolish that Command Block!”

Olivia pressed a button, and the Redstone block I stood on started to rise, revealing the slime blocks under it. Reuben squealed, leaping into my arms as the TNT began to flash. “Reuben!” I gasped, startled, “This is no place for a-” The TNT exploded, sending both me and Reuben flying into the air, “-PIIIIIG!” I screamed, Reuben, squealing in my arms as we flew straight towards the Witherstorm, straight towards the hole in its body, and straight towards the Command Block.

I screamed as I bounced off of the Witherstorm’s dark purple, fleshy insides, landing painfully on the lowest point, which went out almost like a path, a gorge inside the monster. I looked up and saw the faces of those who had been sucked up throughout the Witherstorm’s journey around the world glowed a purple-white color, frozen in a look of horror and fear stuck into the walls.

“This is so creepy, and disgusting.”

Groaning, I sat up, giving Reuben a stern look but not seeming all that mad. “Reuben, you shouldn’t have surprised me like that.” Reuben gave an apologetic oink, looking down. I looked around, noticing our surroundings fully. “On the other hand... I’m kinda glad not to be here alone.”

I climbed to my feet as the whole place shook and trembled, Reuben sniffing at some sort of glowing mushroom. “Just stay close, okay?” I told him.

Reuben ran ahead a little, sniffing about to try and catch the Command Block’s scent. I followed at a much slower pace, looking up at two of the bodies, one boy and one girl. “Whoa... I recognize these people.” I muttered.

I passed them, coming to a stop a little ways from Reuben, who stood waiting for me. I looked up at another withered citizen, this one looking almost as though he were sticking to cobblestone, his mouth open and glowing eyes wide. A shiver wracked my spine, and I quickly turned away from it.

“So that’s what happened to all the people who got trapped inside the Witherstorm. It’s what happened to Gabriel...” The amulet muttered, sounding like it was choking up at the mere mention of Gabriel’s possible time here. “No wonder he can’t remember anything…”

I had barely moved away from the withered man before the whole place gave a violent shake, as though sensing there was something there that shouldn’t be.

“Whoa, what’s happening?!”

The Witherstorm turned, sending me and Reuben falling and hitting the walls before coming to a stop on another pathway.

I sat up, Reuben climbing to his feet. The little pig came face to face with a withered man with a mustache and a blood-stained apron, his mouth open and his purple eyes wide with frozen terror. It was the butcher from back at Endercon.

Reuben gave a terrified squeal, spinning around and sprinting away.

“Reuben!” I yelled, stumbling to my feet as the place continued to shake violently, “Wait up!” I made my way after him, jumping up a block before the Witherstorm started shaking and turning again.

I yelled as I hit the wall, causing me to hit the one right next to it before slamming into the ground. I groaned, climbing to my feet as my body ached, only for my eyes to widen a moment later.

For right in front of me, just past a withered girl, sat the Command Block, under some sort of archway.

But I had barely taken a few steps before the place started shaking again, and I took off on a run towards the Command Block, not wanting to lose sight of it. As I reached the withered girl, however, I tripped, landing flat on my face. Thankfully, there was no more turning.

Reuben came running up to me, making a concerned noise. I looked up, still on the ground, and my eyes widened. 

“Whoa…” 

The Command Block sat on raised ground, and the archway looked a lot like the Witherstorm’s tentacles. We appeared to be at the very heart of the monster, in a wide room, the ground littered with purple dust, almost looking like redstone dust, and the walls dotted with withered people reaching for freedom they couldn’t quite get in time.

I got to my feet, still gaping, and with Reuben slowly made our way towards the structure. “There it is.” The place shook slightly, but not enough to cause me to fall or stumble.

I stopped at the bottom of the raised floor, my eyes solely on the machine that had changed my life over the blindsided mind of Ivor’s revenge against the Order. “We meet again, Command Block.”

I drew my pickaxe, its enchanted blade glowing dimly, my brow setting in determination. “Now it’s time to destroy you.”

“This just seems too easy.” The amulet spoke just loud enough to reach my ears, “Keep your guard up, Jesse.”

I hummed in acknowledgment and jumped up onto the raised platform, leaving Reuben on the ground. I raised my pickaxe as I approached it, and without a moment’s hesitation, I slashed at the Command Block. 

White sparks ignited upon contact, the Command Block cracking but not breaking. The Witherstorm roared, and I ended up stumbling as it started to shake. The archway broke apart into six tentacles. Reuben started squealing in fright as the whole place kept shaking violently.

“What the-” A tentacle flew towards me, and I felt myself duck in the nick of time. But with the constant shaking and the movement of the duck, I stumbled backward and fell off the platform as it rose higher into the air. More tentacles appeared from the walls.

“Reuben, I think we made it angry,” I muttered.

From the wall, another tentacle appeared, slashing towards me and Reuben. We jumped out of the way just in time, running to the other side in an attempt to get away from it, only to skid to a stop a moment later as yet another tentacle appeared right in front of us.

It tried to whack at me, but I slammed into the ground, narrowly avoiding it. “Aww, great…” I groaned, looking up at where the Command block now stood on its much higher podium.

“Reuben,” I started, my pickaxe drawn, holding it like a sword, as said pig whined in terror and moved closer to me, “Whatever happens, we have to destroy the Command Block! You understand?”

At that, Reuben started squealing angrily, jumping on the spot as it turned into the tentacle from before, almost like a pig’s version of a barking dog. I gave him a small smile in return before turning to the other tentacle that was trying to get me.

I slashed at it with the diamond pickaxe, cutting it right in half and leaving the top bit to wiggle about on the ground like a giant, disgusting black worm cut in half.

“Whoa!” I breathed, looking at my pickaxe in newfound awe, “Why didn’t I always carry an enchanted weapon?” I laughed in relief a little.

At Reuben’s squealing, I turned to the other tentacle. “I’m coming, Reuben!” I cried out.

Much like the previous tentacle, this one swung and swished about, but I was quick to chop off its end, leaving a mere stump. “It’s doing everything it can to protect the Command Block.” I shouted, running around to the raised platform the block sat on, “Which means I have to do everything I can do to destroy it.” I finished determined.

“Awesome weapon, don’t fail me now,” I mumbled before I jumped up onto the platform, turning to the tentacles on either side of the Command Block. 

One tentacle came flying towards me, and I ducked to avoid it. A second tentacle took a swing not a second later, only to get slashed in half by the blades of the enchanted superweapon, quickly followed by another tentacle as it tried to take a hit at me. I chopped up another one before it could even get that close.

I turned to the cracked Command Block and hit it again, sending more sparks flying and the force of the block causing me to fall onto my back. 

The whole place shook again, the Command Block damaged but not destroyed, and I screamed as the Witherstorm turned upside down. I smacked against the walls, rolling about, before landing on my back on the once-ceiling, the Command Block above me and a gaping hole right below it.

“Holy moly!” I gasped, getting to my feet as Reuben ran up to me, looking up at the upside-down Command Block. “This thing won’t die!” I groaned and looked about before looking down at Reuben. “Okay, new plan.”

“Is it a good plan that won’t get you killed?” the amulet asked weakly.

“I’m gonna climb up there,” I continued to explain, turning to a wall, which I’d be able to climb the blocks to get up, “And use one of those tentacles to swing towards the Command Block.”

“DO YOU HAVE A DEATH WISH?!” it exclaimed in response.

“Just trust me on this,” I answered as I jumped up onto one of the blocks before turning around to face Reuben. “Stay here, Reuben.” I said firmly, “I mean it this time.” 

That said, I started making my way up the walls, jumping from block to block and passing a few more withered people. 

Upon reaching a high place, I grunted as I leaped towards it, pulling myself up. Coming to another high ledge, this one completely black, I leaped up towards it, grabbing onto the edge. 

I slipped slightly but was able to pull myself up. However, not a moment later, the Witherstorm gave another roar, causing everything to start shaking again and for me to spread my arms in an attempt to keep my balance.

The ledge I stood on came to life, blinking open a single purple eye and gnashing large teeth. I screamed as I fell from the new Witherstorm head, hitting the ground below it. This is so not fair!

After processing what just happened, I got to my feet, gaping as another Witherstorm head appeared on the other side of the room, two tractor beams igniting from their eyes and searching about for the intruders, us. “Where did that come from?” I gasped.

I widened my eyes even more and leaped to the side to avoid a tractor beam, quickly running to get away from it. Reuben sprinted up to me, squealing. “Reuben, I thought I told you to stay put!” Reuben gave a loud squeal, turning as both tractor beams made their way towards us.

“Watch out!” 

With a gasp, I moved to avoid one, skidding to avoid running into the second before rolling just under it, reaching the edge of the large hole. I glanced over my shoulder at it. It was a long, long way down.

A tractor beam landed on one of the tentacle halves, lifting it into the air and up towards the head. I watched it for a moment before my eyes turned to the Command Block, covered in large cracks. One more hit and that should be gone for good. 

“Wait a second.” I said, my eyes probably sparking as an idea formed in my head, “I know exactly how to get up there!” I looked up towards the closest Witherstorm head, “The tractor beam!”

“Are you insane?!” 

At my declaration, Reuben gave a loud squeal, looking at me with wide eyes.

“Hey, you!” I yelled. I look over at Reuben. “Just watch my back, Reuben. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be counting on you.” I looked at one of the heads and shouted, cupping my hands around my mouth to make myself louder, “Bet you can’t catch me!” I taunted, and the tractor beam landed right on me.

I screamed as the tractor beam lifted me into the air, the sensation causing my stomach to drop, Reuben squealing in fright below me. 

I was lifted up and up and up, towards the Witherstorm’s hungry mouth, but as I reached it, I raised my pickaxe and slashed at the monster, splitting its eye and rendering it useless as that purple dust I saw earlier dripped out of the eye and splattered onto my clothes a little.

The head hissed in pain, slouching and barely moving for a moment, allowing me to be able to climb up onto it. 

Before me, the tentacles swished to and fro, the Command block just behind them. I looked down, and the head I was on continued to hiss and spit, moving side to side in a weak attempt to throw me off. 

I looked down at the height I was at and the large hole I could fall into if I wasn’t careful. “Why did I have to look down?” I groaned to myself mostly.

I looked towards the Command Block, but it was still too far away for me to reach. Before I could think of what to do next, however, another tentacle grabbed me, pulling me off the tentacle I’d been hanging onto and sending the pickaxe flying from my hand.

It clattered onto the ground next to the gaping hole, I in the meantime, was hanging upside down from the tentacle.

“No, no, no, no, no, no, no!” I chanted, down below, Reuben came up to the pickaxe, oinking. “Reuben, I need your help! Remember how we used to play fetch?” I called out to him.

He grinned at me, perking at the word fetch, turning to the pickaxe. He bounded over to it, picking it up in his mouth. “That’s it, that’s it!” I shouted quickly.

Reuben ran towards the walls with the sword in his mouth, I was watching from the tentacles. “Come on, Reuben, I believe in you!” I shouted, encouraging him. I swung a little too close to the Witherstorm head with the cracked eye for comfort, yelling as the monster tried to bite me as I swung just in front of it.

Reuben jumped up onto one of the higher tentacles on the wall, running along it towards me just below me. “Jump! I’ll catch you!” I called him.

He did so without a moment’s hesitation. I reached out and grabbed Reuben by the hoof, leaving us both dangling above a massive drop. “You did it! I knew I could count on you!” I shouted with pride.

With my free hand, I took the sword out of Reuben’s mouth. “All right. It’s time to put an end to this thing once and for-” The Witherstorm head lashed out, its massive teeth clamping down onto Reuben’s legs, causing the pig to squeal loudly.

“Reuben!” The head pulled and shook, starting practically a deadly game of tug of war, Reuben squealing in terror all the while. “Hold on, buddy!” Reuben started to slip from between the monster’s teeth. 

I felt my heart drop as I lost my hold on his hoof, time seemed to slow as I watched Reuben float in the air for a split second before he started to fall, before it resumed a normal speed as Reuben gave a terrified squeal.

“REUBEN!” I screamed as he fell through the gaping hole and out of sight, his squeal going quieter and quieter for what seemed like an eternity before suddenly silence was what I heard from the gaping chasm. “NOOOO!” 

With a scream of rage, I twisted to face the Command Block. I felt my face twisted into a look of hate and anger that none would think I was ever capable of.

I saw red .  

I raised my pickaxe, its enchanted blade glinting in the light of the single tractor beam, and I hit the Command Block with a strength I didn’t even know I possessed, my muscles pulsed as a blinding white light erupted beneath my skin in my veins that felt my fire.

The block exploded in a flash of white light, the monster head that still had a working eye went limp, its eye going dark , and the tractor beam vanished. 

The entire being shook and trembled, the tentacles going limp, and I let out a scream as I fell down the gaping hole, down to the ground far below me, down after Reuben. Before everything went black.

It turned out it didn’t go black from lack of consciousness but from lack of lighting. As I continued falling, I saw a vastly approaching blue light, and I felt myself falling through the sky, screaming. I felt myself fall into water, bouncing off the bottom of some kind of lake.

I resurfaced with a gasp, bits of the Witherstorm falling into the lake all around me. I looked about with wide eyes as the sky cleared, returning to its usual bright blue and exposing the sun. 

The Endermen started hissing at the light and teleported away, one by one, until they were all gone.

“There you are!” I turned to the relieved call, spotting Olivia and Axel jumping down towards the lake I had fallen into.

“Jesse, are you all right?” Axel asked, “We thought you were...” His voice turned unnaturally quiet. “I mean, I didn’t think you’d made it.”

“Reuben!” I suddenly gasped, climbing out of the lake, “Where’s Reuben?!” I asked urgently.

“I thought he was with you,” Olivia said, looking startled. Behind them, Lukas came running up, grinning widely.

“You did it, Jesse! You actually did it!”

Before anyone could speak again, a small cry met my ears, I felt my eyes widening. Axel frowned. “Hey... do you guys hear something?”

I looked about in search of the noise, and after a while my sights landed on Reuben, lying on his side a little ways away, his bright pink skin turned horribly pale. 

“Reuben!” I screamed and ran towards him, the others watching with looks of shock. I came to a stop, looking down with wide, horrified eyes.

Reuben gave a little cry, his small chest rising up and down as he struggled to breathe properly. His bones were snapped and broken, some even reduced to nothing but sharp little fragments that poked from his skin.

“Oh no...” I heard Olivia mutter as I felt all my senses settle on my boy, my friend since I was little, who was in pain...

Reuben raised his head to look at us, his eyes locking with mine. “Reuben...” I felt my voice was small and pitiful. The little pig gave another whine, and I knelt beside him, speaking softly. “You’re a hero, you know that?” I sniffled, looking down at him.

“You just helped save the world.” I waited for an answer, but my little pig didn’t seem to have the energy to give one. “Come on, Reuben. Say something.” I felt my voice wobble and waver, placing my hand holding one of his hooves.

Reuben tried to get to his feet, but he’d barely placed his hoof down before he fell back onto his side, letting out more little whines. 

He looked tired, more than anything else, as though he’d just spent the whole day rolling around in mud and water, chasing bugs and eating flowers despite the times I kept telling him the flowers would upset his stomach.

“It’s okay, boy.” I whimpered, my voice but a whisper, thick with the tears I refused to let fall. I reached out, placing a gentle hand on my little pig’s side. “I’m here.” I clenched my eyes shut. “I’m here.”

Reuben gave a small, weak whine at that, his eyes not straying from mine. Then he laid down and went still.

Me and the others stared with grim eyes, watching as little glowing green lights started to surround him, starting slowly from his back legs before traveling up his torso to his head before he puffed into smoke, leaving nothing but a raw pork chop behind like any other mob…

I looked down at the ground sadly before taking the pork in my hand and getting to my feet. I didn’t say anything, just stared at it.

“Jesse, I am...” Lukas shook his head a little. “I am so sorry.” I turned my head away from Lukas, closing my eyes in an attempt to keep the tears at bay.

I didn’t respond, staring down at the spot my friend had been moments before. I felt a strong, calloused hand clasp over my shoulder. I turned and saw Gabriel had returned, his eyes much clearer than before as he pulled me into a hug.

I saw many more gather around, people from many towns and backgrounds, Endercon attendees, Redstonia students, what looked to be griefers from BoomTown, and what even seemed to be Endermen in the very back a good distance away with heads down as if mourning.

I hid my face in Gabriel’s shoulder and let the tears flow…

I’m sorry, Reuben… You truly were a hero to us all…

Chapter Text

Soren POV

Jesse was looking at the monument that had Reuben’s banner with sad eyes before turning to Axel as he came up to them, although neither said anything. 

They all turned around as cheers erupted from a massive crowd behind them, cheering and waving in celebration of their victory.

Jesse, their friends, and my own friends walked past the crowd towards a stage, giving the clapping people smiles, although Jesse's and Olivia's looked a bit shy. 

The crowd closed the pathway as the group got up onto the stage, Jesse made eye contact with that Lukas fellow, who stood in the crowd with the other leather jacket-wearing friends along with that new kid. 

Over the past week, from where I have been watching them, I have noticed the anomalies getting along as something akin to how a parent would adopt a child, I wouldn’t be surprised if that was what happened sooner or later.

I also saw how the Mooshroom has taken a liking to the young boy, per the unofficial law that if the pet likes the person, it is ok to hang out with them.

Lukas smiled at Jesse widely, giving them an encouraging nod. Jesse returned Lukas' smile before turning back to the cheering crowd. 

Gabriel looked over at them, a sad smile on his face. “People used to look at me like that once, Jesse. Having my memory restored has been both a blessing and a curse.” He covered his mouth, his voice going low so almost no one else could hear, but I had an Enderman nearby so I could still hear. “Perhaps they deserve to know the truth about the Order. All those lies we told them...” he glanced at the crowd. “Maybe I should finally come clean.”

“You're right.” Jesse said, putting their hands on their hips, “They do deserve to know.”

Gabriel looked at them for a moment before giving a single nod and walking to the edge of the stage, causing the cheers to intensify, and raised his hand to signal that he was about to speak. 

The crowd went quiet after some shushing, and they all waited expectantly, probably expecting some sort of grand speech about the battle.

“We all owe a great debt to Jesse and their friends.” Gabriel began, “But I owe a debt to you people as well.” Ivor put his hands on his hips, watching the warrior intensely. “Which is why... There's something I want to tell you. About the Order.”

The crowd gave him looks of confusion. Gabriel looked over his shoulder at Jesse, who gave him a nod. “The Order of the Stone... is not what you all believed.” He said, turning back to the people, “We were... frauds. We used the Command Block to falsify out legacy.” 

Cries of shock and outrage erupted all throughout the plaza. Gabriel's eyes met Ivor's, who gave him a small nod. The warrior looked down at his feet, his shoulders slumped in shame. “We were no heroes.”

“So it is time for the world to celebrate new heroes!” Gabriel announced, looking over his shoulder at Jesse and their friends, “Real heroes.” The four grinned at him, a butcher put his hands on his hips, a disco guy was giving Gabriel a sour look. No one said anything, no one cheered or even shouted at him.

Jesse came forward and patted Gabriel lightly on the back, the warrior looking a bit sad. Without a word, Ellegaard and Ivor got off the stage, and the crowd returned to their new heroes, starting to cheer again. 

Jesse gave them a small smile. “Thank you! Thank you, everyone. I know you think I'm up here because I saved the world or something. But the truth is,” they looked towards Petra, Olivia, and Axel, “I didn't do it alone. Far from it. You see, I had my friends with me. There was Olivia… Axel... Petra...” Jesse looked down at the crowd. “Lukas…”

“They stood by my side, right from the start. Well, they made fun of me when I deserved it,” they shrugged. “But that's just how we are.”

“Dang right we are!” Axel shouted in excitement.

“It's crazy to think my friends and I started out in a treehouse...” Jesse continued, “And now we've been to some of the weirdest places in the world! I mean, come on.” Jesse laughed, “We went to the Far Lands!” 

At that, the crowd started cheering again, whistling and clapping and throwing their hands above their heads. “There was this gigantic wall and a huge maze and a model of the Ender Dragon that... well,” they glanced over at their friends, “You just had to be there.”

“But when all is said and done,” Jesse spoke again, the crowd going quiet again, “You know what really mattered?”

“My hero,” Jesse pointed to the monument, “Reuben the pig.”

“He may have seemed like just a pig to most people,” Jesse continued, as the people looked over at the monument, “But he was so much more. At the end of the day, he saved us all.”

Jesse fist pumped the air. “For Reuben!”

The crowd started cheering and clapping again. Jesse did another fist pump, as down in the crowd, a Disco Dude started dancing for some reason. Gabriel and Ellegaard grinned at each other, and the former gave the latter a nod. 

Grinning widely, Ellegaard climbed back onto the stage, moving to stand in front of the young hero. “Jesse,” she pulled out a nether star, handing it to them. “This Nether Star is all that remained when the Wither Storm was destroyed.

Ellegaard gestured to a structure made out of iron, gold, obsidian, and stained glass behind the stage. “Would you please do the honors?”

Jesse nodded and made their way up the stairs to the top of the structure, the crowd cheering behind them. Lukas is was grinning excitedly, having made said structure. “This is gonna be so cool…” he apparently whisper-yelled.

Everyone watched as Jesse reached the top of the structure, a blue block of stained glass in the very center. Taking out the Witherstorms Nether Star, they placed it on top of the glass, starting to back away with wide eyes as it started to spin faster.

Then all eight blocks of stained glass burst into colored beams of light, shooting up into the sky like beacons. There was white, blue, green, and in the very center, purple. Jesse looked up at it in amazement, the crowd cheering and hollering. 

Gabriel climbed up onto the stage as well, Ellegaard going back into the crowd. He turned to them, holding the Order's amulet above his head. “My friends!” Jesse turned towards him, their eyes widening when they settled on the amulet. “I am now pleased to introduce to you…”

Gabriel turned around and walked to the bottom of the lit structure, handing Jesse the amulet, only the green and white gems dark. Jesse took it hesitantly after a moment, obviously having no idea what was happening. 

Gabriel turned back to the crowd with a grin, knowing damn well what was going to happen. “The new Order of the Stone!”

With those final words, the Amulet gems burst into bright lights, glowing intensely in Jesse’s hand, the colors that the beacon emitted burst in long trails from each gem.

The purple wrapped around Jesse’s arm that pulsated with a bright glow. The rest went further away with the red circling around Olivia resembling a trail of redstone, the green making a bee line for Axel emitting quick bursts along its trail like TNT, and blue first wrapped around Petra’s new sword before going down her arm.

White, however, went right through the crowd, people ducked to get out of the way, unsure of the bright line before it circled around Lukas’ head like a coil. His friends looked at him with confusion, surprise, awe, excitement, and jealousy from one.

After the trails of color reached their respective person the Amulet started vibrating, and floating out of it was the very thing I spent 8 hours getting it in just for it to go to waste.

“TNT ignites like that of the creeper, Redstone glows in the mind of the knowledgeable, the hand builds things of dreams of impossibility, the blade shines in the sun, and the heart leads them all to glory!” It spoke, raised into the air like a phoenix, its golden skin gleaming, adorned in jewels and treasures of centuries past.

Everyone stared up at the being before them as the trails of color gleamed brighter and brighter before a large flash of light erupted from the amulet, blinding everyone in the town.

“Frauds replaced with the true, lies revealed, and many truths to come. Welcome to the new age!” I heard it shout before the light vanished, and the Amulet now glowed all gems in varying brightness, with the middle glowing the brightest, Jesse glowing the brightest.

After a long silence anticipating something more, the crowd started cheering once again. Jesse waved the amulet above their head, a lapis blue streak ran down from the hand to the shoulder in the hand they held the amulet in.

Olivia now has one of her own in red on her dominant arm, Axel, Petra, and Lukas got the same treatment and were all looking at their new markings with curiosity.

Jesse lowered the amulet and hopped off the structure. I was going to look away before that voice spoke in my head.

“And so it was,” said the voice as Jesse held up the amulet again, “That a new Order of the Stone was born.” Axel, with his arms crossed, and Olivia, with her hands on her hips, “One whose adventures were only just beginning. For though the world had been saved, and the Command Block destroyed...” Jesse lowered the amulet. “There are many more worlds than just this one.”

I sighed, knowing that one day I will have to see an old friend one day, one I am not excited to meet in the slightest.

I took one final glance at them, Ivor seemed to be scanning the crowd, perhaps looking for me, and so I took flight, my newfound limbs catching the wind, carrying me far from here, far from Ivor, far from the New and Old order.

Far from anyone and my mistakes.

Gabriel POV

I snuck away from the crowd, going backstage and away from the town, the voices grew quiet as I went deeper into the forest. I fiddle with the unopened letter in my pockets, the rough paper texture grounding me.

Finally I found what I was looking for, an empty clearing that let the sun in through the dense trees in a perfect circle. 

A pond gently ripples as leaves gently fall in, the orange leaves crunch under my feet. The tree’s had been green when this all started but now they were falling and in oranges and browns, shriveled up and dead.

I approached the stump that had been spared like the rest of the place, I sat down and took a deep breath before pulling out the letter. I ran my finger along the edges at the crumbled paper, I tenderly opened it afraid that if I handled it wrong it would rip and his last words would never be able to be read.

To Gabriel,

You know me Gabe, I suck at words and think they are stupid sometimes, but, I’ll write this for you cause holy shit I would not be able to say this out loud.

I… Like you damn it, 

I don’t know why but there is something about you that ignites my heart like a batch of TNT or whatever. 

Nether you might be the first and only one that has done something like that to me, maybe it's that whole kindness thing you got going on, or the courage bravery thing- 

NOT IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW.

Just, fuck I hate having to explain things in words sometimes and now is sometimes.

I will hopefully give this to you in person one day, I hope that you return my feelings.

I understand if you don’t want to be with me, I mean I am a bit of a handful as I have been told but you mean a lot to me.

Hopefully love, Magnus; Greatest Griefer in your life.

I moved the paper away from my lap as I noticed tears falling down my face, afraid it would ruin the paper and tear it. I felt my throat close a little as I shook a little.

He loved me.

This was his confirmation, all the jokes with a flirtatious undertone to them during our first days of the order, how I would catch him looking at me when he thought I wouldn’t notice, when we met here for the first time, and his final words…

If only I could have told him I love him too…

Chapter Text

Aiden POV

“Aiden go gather berries, Aiden only you can get these, Aiden the item ID won’t work you have to go find them in the stupid creepy woods in the stupid creepy cave.”

I scoff to myself as I slapped a branch out of my face, even after the WitherStorm was destroyed, we had returned back to how things were before in a way. Of course there were some changes that we had to adapt to.

For example, some kid named Radar was living with us now, a bald man that resembles that warden thing we saw before finding Soren comes by every once and a while now, and we have all figured out that if you hear noises coming from Edward’s room, no you didn't.

And don’t get me started on how much Lukas is hanging out with the New Order of the Losers.

I was fine with them for a little bit, don't get me wrong, it's the fact that they’re acting like they are better than everyone else!

A few positives, in my opinion, is now that our old house was destroyed, we got to build a new one for ourselves this time instead of inheriting from my mother, and I get to have my own bedroom that isn’t also the kitchen now!

We also kind of got credited for stopping the WitherStorm so now I have some proper fans, I even saw some people sew Ocelot faces onto their clothes. Maybe I should start a clothing line of those things, I was the one who sewed them on in the first place.

My brain is getting off track. I was sent out to gather berries because the universe hates me and has taken the form of my friends or something. Gill wanted berries to make pies urgently and just couldn’t wait for morning, of course.

‘But Aiden, how will I make these pies in time for the function if I don’t start before 4 AM?’

Rustle .

What the nether was that!

I quickly turned around to face the direction of the sound, the torch I had in my hands glowing dimly, not helping me figure out if that was an animal or a dangerous mob. I continued staring at a parting in the trees, waiting for something to move or at least make itself known through sound at least, it was far too quiet for comfort right now.

“Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me~”

…What…

I snapped my head up above me to see where the sound came from, it was grainy and faint, the high pitches louder than the low with the sound of instrumental music.

“A town to keep me movin', keep me groovin' with some energy~”

I turned behind me as the sound suddenly moved from above to behind in a snap, this was getting freaky…

“Well, I talk about it, talk about it, talk about it, talk about it~”

Is it getting louder?... Or closer?...

“Won't you take me to~”

I pressed my hands to my ears as the sound got unbearably loud. I blinked and saw something staring at me through the bushes that seemed to be emitting the music.

“Funkytown?” The thing sung more as the crackling got more apparent, as if the recording was made from one that had been recorded 7 other times, distorting the audio, its mouth looked stitched up with what I really hope wasn’t bloodied string.

The thing honestly looked like a fucked up wool stuffed doll with 3 button eyes, tears in its leathery-looking skin that seemed made out of a fluffy white substance like wool, and iron holdings exposed in the places that weren't covered up well enough, like the arms.

I took a cautious step back when it stepped out of the bushes, on all fours, it walked to me with uncanny ease with its sharp metal hands and mannequin-like legs. It kept playing that song, making my skin crawl, before it took a lunge at me, and I ran off screaming.

I ran and ran the way I came back to the house with the thing hot on my tail as I cried out for help, the thing letting out some piercing screech as it chased me all over the forest before I came to the horrifying realization that I lost my way.

Despite this, I kept running, running, running, running. My legs didn’t want to move anymore, but I kept running. I was NOT dying today, damn it!

But, just my luck, I tripped over a root and fell flat on my face. I grunt when I make contact with the ground, stunned and dazed. This was it, I am so dead.

Lukas, I cheated at so many more games than just Monopoly.

Gill, I love your cooking, but I hate mashed potatoes. I just didn’t have the heart to tell you because you got so proud of yourself when you made it.

Maya, that time when the tree behind our house exploded when we weren’t looking, that wasn’t Edward it was me.

Edward, I was never afraid of fish. I just never wanted to tell you otherwise you would try and find something else to throw at me to get me to shut up.

I clenched my eyes shut, just accepting my fate as the thing got close to me, the hairs on my neck raised as I felt it looming over me. Maybe if I stay perfectly still, it will think I’m dead?

“Get back off from him, you screwed-up doll reject!” I heard a feminine shout accompanied by the sound of an explosive blast causing something to go flying through the air above me before the sound of metal hitting metal clanged, forcing my eyes open subconsciously.

Above me the monster was looming above me with a circle-shaped hole between its eyes. I scrambled out from underneath it as it fell forward, crashing into the spot I was in previously.

I turned my head to look at where the voice was coming from. Standing there with some kind of long metal tube with a wooden handle was a young lady in a purple pinstripe suit with very wide shoulder pads, long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, and tan skin.

“Are you right, sir?” The lady asked, walking up to me, putting the strange item on her back strap, and extending a hand to lift me up.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine thanks to you.” I thanked her, taking her hand and standing to my feet, I towered over her, but to be completely fair, I tower over most.

“No problem, those things have been showing up around here. What are you doing around here anyway? Are you one of those migrants from out southwest?” She asked me with a raised eyebrow, her arms crossed over her chest, looking up at him.

“Yeah, buddy of mine wanted berries, and I got looossssst- oh crap…” I trailed off, opening my bag and cringing, looking at the crushed berries inside, the red juicy insides splattered inside the sack I had brought with me. “Damn it.”

“Do you want some berries, sir? I have a couple of bushes by my house you can have, I wouldn’t trust the forest right now.” She offered with a smirk, “It will cost you, however.”

I internally sighed, of course it would cost something. “And what exactly do you have in mind?” I asked hopeful that it wouldn’t actually cost anything valuable or be impossible to do-

“How about your undying loyalty until you die? Maybe even a lack of being able to question me, perhaps?”

“...You gotta be fucking kidding me.”

“Why would I kid about that?”

“You want me to basically sell my soul to you for a couple of berries .”

The lady in front of me’s smirk fell, narrowing her eyes at me. “I also saved your life by the way, so you already owe me for that.” She pointed out with the smirk coming back to her face.

“No,” I stated firmly, “That is a ridiculous request to ask someone! You look like you are 14 probably, and you are asking for me to basically be your yes man!” I exclaim, raising my arms up above my head at the almost comical situation happening right now.

Her smirk fell again, this time it didn’t seem to be returning anytime soon as she gripped her hand around the metal part of the object she used to shoot the monster with and pulled a movable part back and let it snap back forward before pointing the hole at me.

“You got 10 seconds to accept my offer, buddy. You are all alone out here, far from anyone that could help you. Now hurry up before I put an iron ball in your chest.”

“...Maybe we can come to a compromise…” I offered ignoring the voice crack I let out since I was at the moment terrified for my life, her eyes narrowed further, clearly not liking my answer. Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck, come on, think, Aiden, what can I do to get out of this mess?

“Gotta make a move to a town that's right for me~” NOT WHAT I MEANT, NOT WHAT I MEANT!

The lady scowled, pointing behind me as another monster started to creep out of the bushes. She fired a shot at the creature, knocking it down with a hole in its chest. More and more started climbing out of the bushes, the songs overlapping each other making my brain hurt as I backed up.

The lady kept firing and firing until the shots stopped and she started backing towards me, walking backwards as well as they closed in on us.

“I’m out of ammo…” She whispered when she got closer to me, the monsters closed in on us more and more. Damn it, I wish I had remembered to bring weapons with me…

When all hope seemed lost, a faint drum started sounding out behind the monsters slowly getting closer, the louder it got, the sound of a guitar started sounding as well. Then out from the treetops, arrows started flying towards them, accompanied by a very familiar trident.

“Some folks are born made to wave the flag, Hoo, they're red, white and blue~”

More guitar played as the trident started rising from the back it was impeded in flying into the hand of none other than Ed himself with sunglass lens cover probably slapped onto his usual ones with his usual trench coat discarded so his stupidly fancy poet shirt was much more visible with his vest still on.

He was flanked by a bunch of mysterious people in black suits, fedoras, and thick black visors that covered their eyes. These strange bunches all had enchanted weapons ranging from bows and crossbows along with swords and axes.

The music, of course, was coming from Edward while they all wreaked havoc on the monsters like he was a jukebox. Arrows and orbs of green covered the area, absorbed into the ground after a set amount of time, but the quickly falling and growing numbers kept the grass a glowing green sea.

“And when the band plays 'Hail to the chief' Ooh, they point the cannon at you, Lord~”

“Can you cut it with the anti-war song that everyone plays for some reason in battle?!” One of the ones in black shouted while slitting the throat of one of them.

“I’m only doing this because you hate this song!” Ed yelled back, sending his trident through 3 different monsters like a skewer, driving into their hearts and killing them almost instantly. After a grueling long battle, there was only one that seemed to remain. 

Edward came up to us, snatched the weapon from the lady’s hands, and loaded it up with what looked like a red cylinder with a gold end, which he slid into the pipe, did the thing the lady did where he moved the movable piece and shot the last monster in the mouth, sending cotton flying everywhere.

After a long beat of no talking, the music slowed to its end, leaving us in an almost peaceful silence if we weren’t all staying quiet to be sure the last of those were gone…

“Holy shit...” Ed sighed, looking at the weapon in his hand with actual thought now and looked shocked, “Is this a fucking shotgun?!” He exclaimed, looking at the item, which I now know is called a shotgun, whatever that is supposed to be.

As a response to his question, one of the people in black audibly said, “YOINK!” taking the shotgun from his hands and had it disintegrate into dust. “That’s where that went.” Edward stared at the person in shock before ultimately deciding not to bother questioning it and turned to look at me.

“You okay bro?” He addressed me casually like he didn’t just participate in a massacre. I blinked up at him, unsure what to say, until the lady spoke up for me.

“I saved his life, and he won’t give me his undying loyalty!” She complained, pointing an accusing finger at me with the other hand on her hip. I gave her the coldest glare I could muster right now.

“You want me to give you that for some BERRIES. ” I pointed out, pointing a finger back at her and turning my head back to Ed, “The berries I got were crushed from me running from those things, and she is trying to basically sell my soul to her!”

Edward honestly looked like he wanted to be literally anywhere else right now, letting out a tired sigh. Without a word, he slinked up to the lady standing a foot in front of her, towering over her. “You are Stella, aren’t you.” He grumbled.

“How the nether do you know my name-” Stella gasped, taking a step back with a look of poorly disguised fear on her face.

“Shut up.”

Stella smartly kept her mouth shut as did I, the tension between the two was intense when that blue glow that resided in his mouth and eye holes vanished, leaving an basically pure black inside. 

What was more horrifying was the lack of the glow let me see inside a lot more, it was as if there was nothing inside his head except for a brain suspended in nothing and a bundle of 7 tentacle tongues nestled inside near his mouth.

No teeth, no eyeballs, no muscles I could make out, no nothing .

“I’d suggest you pick your actions wisely in the future. Your future is one of manipulation and blackmail, and if you do that to the wrong person, it will certainly be your doom . I have no reason not to save a lot of people the trouble and end you and simply replace you with someone better.” He growled as Fred’s voice, I think, was getting a lot more clearer than his.

“Fine, whatever freak!” Stella shouted, backing up more before turning around and taking off running to the woods. Edward continued to stare at where she left before the blue glow came back and he turned to me.

“We should go home, we can just have Gill make something else if we can't find berries on the way back.” He broke the silence, grabbing my arm a bit harshly pulling me along back to our new home.

It was silent for a large part of the trek back. I wanted to ask him what that whole thing was about, but I just couldn’t find the stupid words to figure it out. The leaves crunched under my shoes as we moved through the trees until we found some start of a stone path back to the main trail.

“I apologize for my outburst, I do not like her.” Edward decided once more to break the silence, giving me something to work with finally. “It’s an irrational rage, Fred enhances it. I do not know how to properly explain it.” He clarified, as if he needed to explain himself a bit more.

“I was wondering about that…” I started pressing my lips in a thin line. “I was honestly worried you’d kill her or something, it was honestly kinda terrifying,” I admitted, scratching the back of my neck. “But if you tell anyone that, I will call you insane.” I added, pointing at him with narrowed eyes.

This, just as planned, caused a chuckle to escape his throat. “Nice try, shortie, that don’t work on me.”

“The grammatically correct way is actually doesn’t-” A voice came from behind before Edward backhanded them into the bushes and continued walking like nothing happened, pretty sure it was one of the people from earlier.

“Who was that?” I asked, watching the bushes, expecting them to spring back out.

“10000W, Or, as I like to call him, Wheatley knockoff.”

“...Who is Wheatley?”

“… Don’t worry about that…”

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

“Thank you for letting me rent this book, Mrs. Millar.”

“Oh, it's no problem, Jesse, not many were going to check out this particular book anyway, the legend is practically lost to time amongst you youngins.”

I was at the library checking out a book from the librarian, Mrs. Millar. I was honestly here for an entirely different reason, but when a book fell from the shelf onto my head and opened to a page about Herobrine, I of course had to check it out.

I held the worn leather book in my hands, the pages were wrinkly and showed its age, seeming to look like if I looked at it wrong, it would crumble into dust.

After Mrs. Millar wrote my name on the little table in the front under the cover. I waved goodbye and made my way out of the library and to what will hopefully soon be the Order Hall. We made a deal that the town already here could integrate with the town we were building in return that we up their defenses by building a proper wall around the conjoined town and other official stuff.

Also, I’m pretty sure that me and my friends being the Order of the Stone might have been a factor as well, with famous people, tourism, and all that pizazz.

“Hey, Jesse!”

I turned my head to look at Radar, who was quickly approaching with a bunch of papers in his arms, he was still wearing his usual outfit and was being trailed by some birds walking behind him in a line.

“Uh, hi Radar…” I called back as he approached with the usually flying horde following behind him, “You seem to have some friends back there.” I pointed behind him, amused as he turned around and shooed off the bird, causing them to fly away.

“These birds have been following me around, it’s getting a bit creepy…” Radar muttered, turning back to me, “Oh!” He gasped, straightening his posture and adjusting the papers in his arms. “I remember what I was coming here to talk to you about. Olivia wanted to know when you wanted to start setting up the Nether highways to connect to here and Redstonia, and Axel said he wanted to fix the placement of BoomTown’s portal, something about being in the sky and vulnerable to potential TNT blasts.”

I was about to answer his first question before he continued, “People also want to know when to expect plots of land to be distributed so they can build their own homes instead of bunking 14 people a house. On that note, the neighboring towns of Silverkeep and Norbury wanted to open trade negotiations, saying they can give building materials in exchange for food in Silverkeep and use of the nether highway for Norbury.”

“Radar?”

“Gabriel left this morning and also wanted to give you a message saying he was going to be traveling, so any questions about the Amulet you have to go to Ellegaard, as Ivor is gone as well, saying he was going to search for Soren.”

“Radar.”

“On the note of Soren, the Followers of Soren want to let you know that they have been starting to be harassed by some people who call themselves the Followers of the Four Freds that have been steadily making their appearance around here. I’ve seen them bowing to Edward and his new boyfriend a couple of times along with me for some reason, but that could just be because I hang out with them the most, also-.”

“Radar!”

That got his attention as he flinched from my shout, cutting him off his ramble, which he seems to have a habit of doing the more I hang out with him.

“Sorry! I should just give these to you. They have the information on them. I was simply parroting what they wrote a little.” Radar apologized, placing the absurd stack of papers into my hands on top of my book, which I hurriedly made sure didn’t fall from the sudden weight.

“Thank you Radar…” I sighed shakily, looking down at the papers. I was going to talk again before a voice yelled from a bit away from some person in white cloaks with a black heart with the top left a dark red color. It was like Edward’s pupils, but the red was in a different spot.

“It’s the Fred of the Sky!” the person yelled with more white-cloaked individuals popping out from behind them.

“Well, it was nice talking, Jesse, but I have to go, bye!” Radar squeak running off with the cloaked people following close behind. 

Out from between the shockingly growing crowd, Edward came running with his boyfriend in his arms, bridal style, lifting up Radar by the back of his jacket with a tentacle, followed by people of similar cloaks, only with colors of black and blue, respectively, with hearts with the red at the bottom right and bottom left, respectively.

There was another group, but they didn’t seem to be chasing them exactly, more of calmly walking around in green cloaks with their hearts being red in the top left. 

They don’t seem to be the ones having a problem with the Followers of Soren, it seems, since I could see the purple robes mixed in with the green cloaks, their dragon half masks on their heads making it extra obvious it was them instead of some other group.

This will probably be a problem for future Jesse, however, I am present Jesse and don’t want to deal with this right now because I want to do my reading, which means these papers need to be looked at ASAP.

I made my way to the Order Hall, the exterior walls of the Order Hall constructed out of granite and polished granite blocks. The roof of the building is still being worked on since gathering quartz blocks takes a long time. 

I entered, passing the several large windows made out of light blue stained glass held up by obsidian support beams, I walked on the red carpets that cover the floor. The chandelier resembling the amulet that Lukas made was suspended above me from the roof of the building.

I made my way to the east wing, where we had our dorms, balancing the papers on my knee so I could pull the door handle down and bump my door open the rest of the way. I sighed in relief, setting the papers down on my desk as the evening sun beamed down onto them from my window.

This is going to take a long time…

After an agonizing hour of reading and writing signatures, I finally got to the final paper, placing it in the done pile on the side of my desk and finally setting down my quill feather with a sigh of relief, leaning back in my chair.

The sun had started to set even more now, and the beginnings of stars began to sparkle in the sky, the clouds in the sky were appearing. Maybe it will rain tonight. 

Everyone that lives here at the Order Hall, which is really just my friends plus some extra people, had returned from wherever they went for the day, with Olivia and Axel returning last since they were in separate towns and had to walk a long way back from the nearest nether portal.

Figuring that now's as good a time as ever, I opened the book, starting with the first page. This book contained not just information about Herobrine it also had information about other things like the Ender Dragon, someone named Null, some dude named Steve and his various colored variants, and an entity called Entity 303.

Despite the gruesome descriptions and such, while the rain and wind picked up outside, I continued reading, lighting a lantern when it became dark so I could continue reading.

I felt a chill crawl down my spine reaching page 37, it displaced a giant white eye, empty and devoid of anything, but that wasn’t what creeped me out. What did was the words on the page.

“It has been theorized that Herobrine stole the eyes of those that see him, as most who state they have seen the figure from the corner of their eyes are found with their eyes missing soon after.” I muttered, reading the page aloud to myself, “The ones that are extra curious are later found on some kind of gold netherrack structure that carries an eternal fire and red stone torches.”

“I may not have much time myself…” I continued reading, “Perhaps writing this has condemned me to share their fate. I know if I don’t get prosecuted by the hands of Herobrine, I surely will by P.A.T.A…” P.A.T.A?... haven’t I heard that word before?

“I hope that with this spell it will still be able to be read by the mortals of this world, if perhaps as a warning of the dangers of this world that are hidden from the unseeing eyes… We die in the dark so that you may live in the light…”

Crash!

I screeched and flinched when the sound of lightning struck outside, startling me, it took me a bit to calm my breathing back down to a reasonable level with my eyes closed.

I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up as I felt something watching me, forcing my eyes back open looking around my room.

I almost had a heart attack thinking some laundry on the chair I hadn’t put away yet tricked me into thinking it was a person. 

Pounding heart rate aside, I turned back to the book this time, full out screaming when I saw maybe 20 something eyes peering at me from the desk, knocking my chair back. Screw that!

“NGAHHH!” I heard Petra’s battle cry bursting into my room, gold sword in hand in her pajamas and bunny slippers, it would be hilarious if I wasn’t terrified out of my mind, scrambling to get behind her.

“There are eyes in my desk!” I explained, pointing at the desk, only for my finger to waver, now realizing that the eyes were gone.

Petra gave me a concerned look before grabbing my arm. “You’ve done too much work and are tired.” She sighed, pulling me along to her room and pushing me onto her bed. “Go to bed.”

“But where will you sleep-”

“I’ll take the couch or something, now sleep. ” She cut me off immediately, glaring me down with her arms crossed stubbornly.

Knowing better, I reluctantly took the offer, knowing that if I tried to get out of the bed, she could bench press me into the sun, so I laid my head down on the pillow as sleep overtook me surprisingly fast.

Maybe it was just my imagination…

Chapter Text

Radar POV

Oh gee, oh my!

“Vessels of Freds, please give us guidance!”

“Come back in 5 to 10 business days!” Mr. Edward’s Fred shouted back as we continued to escape the cloaked people chasing after us. I was currently dangling in the air by the back of my jacket as I and Mr. Gordon were carried away.

“Eddy, they are gaining on us!” Mr. Gordon exclaimed, pointing behind us, as yes, they were gaining speed and quickly getting closer alarmingly.

I felt my heart race before the world became very distorted and nauseating, our surroundings seemed to bend around us like I experienced back during the Wither Storm before we returned to the white mirroring space I had been at before!

As we fell, a powerful gust of wind blew me out of Mr. Edward’s grip, sending me flying away from them. I heard him shout my name before I fell through a hole, and it closed behind me, plunging me in near darkness.

I quickly got back up, the dead grass beneath me poking at my skin when on the ground when it seemed to almost crumble underneath me. I looked around, noticing the towering trees and rough soil made up the majority of the ground I was standing in.

Was I in a taiga biome?

The trees were a lot closer together than what I was taught they were supposed to be, though, you can barely see between them except for more trunks of bark. It was concerningly dark around me, so that could also be a factor in me not being able to see between the trees.

I heard a rustle around me like something was moving, I turned around to where I heard the noise to find nothing before a coo sounded right behind me. I jumped, letting out a squeak in response to finding yet another bird behind me!

Its head cocked to the side, staring out at me, letting out another coo, I heard another not from the bird in front of me, and I turned to see 17 more birds to my left… More and more birds arrived to my right and all around me, some on the ground while some were up in the trees, all staring at me creepily…

“Um… Hello?...” I greeted the avians with a little wave, the birds did a chirp in unison before some of the birds parted to the side, making a clear path as if telling me to go that way, marching on the ground.

Now, if you had told me I would be taking that path the birds wish me to go on, I would call you crazy, but at this moment I walked between them through the trees, following the little clear ground I had that wasn’t invested with birds.

The parting led me to a circular clearing of trees where the trees closed heavily around them, compact, with absolutely no sky above me, covered by the canopy of trees.

Inside the circle, right in the middle, was a mossy stone statue that seemed to be of very old origin. The face was carved in a shocked expression, adorned in robes with bird-like wings behind its ears.

The most interesting thing, however, was the yellow glowing orb in its hands. It illuminated the surroundings like a lantern or torch but much brighter than both, it shimmered, and a brighter yellow swirled inside it.

I looked at the orb in awe, looking behind me to see the birds had closed off my only exit from the clearing. I sighed, hesitantly taking a step to the statue, pausing in my step at a faint voice that echoed and rasped like the window.

“Radar…”

I felt a shiver run down my spine at the rasping voice as the orb seemed to almost glow brighter with the voice.

“The water has already begun to flow… The caves echo in celebration… but the sky has been as quiet as the earth…” The voice spoke all around me yet not all at the same time. 

I gulped down a nervous lump in my throat, feeling a tingling sensation run through my body. I felt myself walk forward more to the statue before me despite better judgment telling me to run.

“Bring the sky out of its slumber, let the sun rise high and proud into the sky in all its power, take the orb .”  

I reached a tentative hand into the outstretched hands of the statue, cupping the orb like an offering. I brought my fingertips to the surface, feeling the heat coming from it before hesitantly brushing it against the surface.

I gasped as this caused the orb to almost glow brighter, blinding me as I put my free hand to my face to cover my eyes from the glaring light.

The sound of birds of various species crowing, cawing, cooing, and hooting erupted around me as if in celebration as I grasped the orb in my hand, plucking it from the statue's hands and looking down at it in awe.

The glow was not as bright now in comparison to before as it pulsated like a heart in my hand, the yellow shimmering substance swished and spiraled inside it like a potion bottle.

I held it in my hand for longer, basking in the warmth it gave off, before I felt the world bend around me again, plunging into the white, mirroring void. As I fell, a horde of birds came from other cracks as well, making me dizzy from the mirror-like effect on them.

They surrounded me as I cupped the orb in my hands, worried it would be lost if I let it go, the birds sounded circling around me like I was inside a tornado of birds. 

Below me a small circle cut appeared at the bottom of where the last of the birds were as it got bigger and bigger until I could make out a cloud below me.

I screamed, falling through the hole and finding out I was in the sky!

“Oof!” I grunted, falling onto the surprisingly solid cloud, my knees hurt now because of it.

I groan, pushing myself into a sitting position with wobbly hands, considering, oh, I don’t know, I AM IN THE AIR WITH THE GROUND VERY FAR BELOW ME!

“Hey kiddo, why are you still mortal?” I heard a voice sound in my head, making my heart stop, and looked around for Mr. Edward or Mr. Gordon since they are the only ones I know that have that- “They aren’t here man, it's just you and me. Chill the fuck out.”

I blinked my eyes while still looking around, when I came to terms that it was only me here, I said aloud, “Are you… Fred?” I asked nervously, awaiting an answer.

“Damn right I am. Woke me up from my nap for this nerd, so why haven’t you put the orb on something already?”

“...Huh?”

“Geez, no one told ya, you put the thing on something you have to keep with you on the regular, man, like your glasses or something?”

“Like Mr. Edward’s trident and Mr. Gordon’s eyepatch? Those have gems on them.”

“Yup, Bullzeye. Now come on and hurry the fuck up. I want us to look awesome already.”

“Fine!” I groaned, taking my glasses off and putting the orb on top of them, and waited, that is the only thing I have right now that I would have with me near constantly.

…

…

…

“Nothing is happening.”

“Uh… Crush it over the glasses?”

“WHAT!?”

“I DON’T KNOW IT LOOKS LIKE A LIQUID MAYBE IT’LL WORK!” I sighed, taking the orb in my hand and squeezing at it, it squished weirdly enough. It felt disgusting when it started oozing on my hand and onto my glasses. “Alright, now put them on without cleaning them.” I hate this so, so much.

I held back an involuntary gag when I felt the ooze touch my face. Placing the glasses on my face, I could barely see through the lenses as… Nothing continued to happen.

“Got any more ideas- AHH!” I ended my questioning in a shout as I was blinded by a bright yellow light from my glasses, my body felt on fire, and I had a splitting headache with a sharp pain behind my ears.

“Ow! Ow! Ow! Hurts, that really hurts!” I exclaimed before everything went from yellow to white and then to black…

“...r…”

“...R…….a……d…….a……r……”

“Ra……d……ar……”

“Ra…dar…”

“RADAR!”

I jumped awake, gasping for breath as if I haven’t breathed for years, my chest rose and fell quickly as Mr. Edward was leaning above me, staring at my face, shaking me violently.

“Radar, why are you blue? ” He asked me in shock, continuing to shake me with some other people surrounding me. I think I’m back in Beacontown? I see Jesse, so I assume I am. “You look like a bird. Why? Why do you bird? Who told you to bird!”

“Eddy, honey, sweetie, maybe if you stop shaking him, he will actually be able to answer instead of you going crazy.” I heard Mr. Gordon say behind Mr. Edward, pulling him away from me. 

“He shouldn’t be bird! Why is bird?! Did a Fred tell him to bird?! Make him un-bird Gorey!” Mr. Edward continued to exclaim, squirming in Mr. Gordon’s hold. Mr. Gordon gave me an apologetic look.

“He’s just tired after you were gone for so long…” He explained, awkwardly adjusting his grip on his boyfriend, “You were gone for a whole day, and the whole…” He made a vague gesture at me, “...New look you got going on might have short-fried his brain a little.”

I blinked up at him looking down and gasped at what I saw, my normal tawny skin was covered in feathers of a similar color with blue pastel tips at the ends. My shoes seemed to be discarded, and talons took their place.

My fingers were replaced with wingtips, and my clothes were different too, my green jacket was now a shawl that had a fluffy trim on the end that was cloud white. I also had those puffy pants that tie around the leg at the end.

Thankfully, after feeling my face, it was not replaced with a beak but still felt really weird, it felt like instead of my lips, there was a circular hole in its place.

This was going to be hard to get used to…

Chapter Text

Gabriel POV

“Gabriel!”

I let myself smile despite the occasion as one of the new youngins from the new order of the stone approached me. “Ah, Axel, It's nice to see you again.” I called back as he ran at me until he stood in front of me.

“Did you get my letter?” He asked me as I pulled out the paper in question from my bag, looking at the messy, large handwriting that told me to come to BoomTown.

“Yes, yes, I did.” I answered him with a nod, shoving the paper back into my bag, my sword jostled slightly, hanging off my back as I did so.

“Awesome! Come on, we worked very hard on this and thought you would want to see it!” He announced, bounding off with a quick follow-me gesture, which I did.

We passed through town, passing by griefers who all waved to either me or Axel, luckily they figured out that now was a good time not to target their shenanigans at us. I heard of how this town crowns their king and frankly do not want to deal with cleaning gunpowder and egg yolk off my armor later.

Navigating past blast holes and debris, Axel led me behind town down a cobblestone path marked in the sand, the path ended in a grass plot that had young, new grass out in the middle of the desert with an manually made river beside it, probably to keep the grass watered in the harsh environment.

In the middle of the plot of grass, there standing loud and proud with stone statues of various griefing tactics surrounding from a distance around the grave of the statues inspired body, Magnus’s grave stood in the center, basking in the attention of the statues as if watching over it.

I felt my heart ache at the sight, it was so beautiful even in such an unlikely environment. It was obvious the care that went into this, and I couldn’t help but feel the beginning of tears well up in my eyes.

Because there he was…

“Surprise…” Axel spoke sympathetically, yet trying to keep up the previously cheery atmosphere, “I thought you might want to be the first one to see it that wasn’t a builder, no one in Boomtown knows of this yet, but I am gonna set the ground rule of no griefing around here.” He explained.

I approached the stone with a heavy heart, the grave was freshly dug compared to the grass since the dirt still seemed fresh, his dying items more than likely buried underneath.

“Which reminds me, do you want us to make a bench to sit by him or-”

“The grass will do just fine.” I cut him off, trying to be polite about it as I looked at the tombstone engravings, ‘Magnus, the true king of Bo0mtoWn.’ with Magnus’ signature spelling and all, he always had an interesting way of spelling things, it was one of his many charms.

“Yea, yea…” Axel mumbled, the air very awkward now, before he wordlessly left me alone after giving me a pat on the back.

I don’t know how long I stayed out here, but it must have been a long time, as the sun had set, letting the cool air take over the usual desert heat from the sun. I took a deep breath, gripping my hands on the bottom of my helmet.

I let my hair fall from the bun-like position I kept it in under the garment, letting my locs fall down my back with a few stray braids falling over my face as my head dipped down, brushing against my untrimmed and slowly regrowing beard that hadn’t gotten proper care in a long while.

I ran my finger along the engravings of the words in the stone, wiping away stray dust from the cutting around it onto the tips of my fingers.

This was one of many reminders that he was gone for good, yet unlike every other one… this one gave me an almost sense of comfort.

Maybe it's because I know his body will be safe here and isn't anywhere else I couldn't get to with ease.

Maybe it's just the peaceful atmosphere it gives off here with hints of his chaotic energy, or…

As I felt the tears that had been welling up in my eyes fall, I gripped my hands around the sides of my armor while I sat in the silence with the moon shining on me, casting a shadow onto the gravestone.

It was like this place was the only place getting rain as I looked up at the rain clouds encasing above the grass despite it being a desert biome, there weren't any clouds anywhere else aside from purely above us.

The candles atop Magnus' grave didn't seem bothered by the water and continued to blaze on brightly in the rain as well.

… I may not be the most superstitious of people, Ivor beats me in that regard many times over, but maybe his ghost is here trying to make me feel better?

I think I like that explanation more…

Chapter Text

Mozo POV

My dad is gone.

That’s the first thing I thought of when I woke up, that it was cold and my person was gone. This will not stand.

I jump from the big bed my person sleeps in at night and clop onto the ground, “Dad!” I cried out nudging the big gate open with my head stepping out to the rest of the big house.

I stepped onto the soft ground, the big two leggeds call carpet muffling the sound of my steps as I continued to call out for my human, “Dad?”

I spotted one of my dad’s friends in the eating place and walked up to him to inquire about my father’s absence. “Where is dad? I want my dad, where is he? Tell me now or I will head butt you!”

Aiden POV

“Moo, Moo moo moo, mooooo! Moo moo moo moomomoo MOOOOOOO!” What is this cow yelling about…

Mozo POV

This human is of no help, I shall journey on my own!

I huff before trotting out the next big gate and out into the world outside the new home, I followed the path I see the humans take a lot thinking that is where my father went.

I trot down the path flicking my ears to any sudden sounds as my hoofs click clack against the grassless dirt before I hear a sound, is it pig friend?

I walk to the bushes going through the leaves to see a group of pigs! “Hello!” I greeted the group, “I have a pig friend!  I don’t know where he went, do you know anything about him?”

“No little one,” One of the elders answered with a gruff voice, “I am sure none of my pack know of you or your friend. I apologize.”

“That’s fine!” I respond, “He has a big poster in the two legged town so maybe if you see it you could find him, I miss my friend but I’m sure he will come back!”

“Got’cha!”

The pigs squealed as a scary two legged suddenly appeared from the bushes as we all ran around screaming, “Stranger danger!” I screamed before I felt something wrap around my stomach and I got pulled into the air leaving my limbs dangling in the air.

“You may not be a pig, but I sure I can simply sell you as exotic steak!” The stranger spoke with a scary grin on his face, I shouted louder squirming in his hold trying to free myself from the brown vine around me!

“Dad! Help!” I cried louder and louder each time and saw the scary stranger start to look angry at me. He opened his mouth maybe about to say something before intense rain began to pour down above us in the blue sky.

“What the-” The stranger started to question before a scary sound appeared in the air with a bright light struck the ground and in its place was dad!

“Father!” I cried with glee as he came charging at me, scaring the stranger into dropping me and caught me in his arms as I giggled happily.

“If you pull a stunt like that agaaaain~ I will turn you into a pig, cook you myself, and sell your parts to your wife who will not even know it's you until it's too late…”

“By Gathar’s Hatchet it’s you again!” The stranger shouted, “That’s it I am leaving this town!” He shouted before running off as fast as his two legs could take him.

“Dad!” I squealed in excitement, sticking my tongue out in happiness, dad looked down at me with that blue glow coming back to his cool mouth and eyes.

“Come on champ, let's get you back home. I was worried sick of you young man.” Dad sighed, holding me to his chest and taking me back to the big house…

When we got back to the big house I was placed onto the shaved stump that dad likes to draw at and tilted my head watching him take something from one of the moving parts.

"This is to make sure I can always know where you are, okay Mozo." Dad said slipping something round around one of my neck that practically vanished from my fur covering it. "There, my dapper little boy." He smiled at me picking me up and placing me back on the big bed. "Speaking of dapper, we got a party to go to in about 5 hours so lets figure out what we are both going to wear!"

Chapter Text

Aiden POV

“...I’m not ready.”

“Oh come on you’ll be fine!”

I turned to glare at Edward’s stupid perma grin standing outside of a portal with instead of obsidian it was of way too expensive materials with the usual purple glow now a gently pulsating multi-colored mess, as if to purposely flex on anyone who comes across it.

“I’m not sure if I should go through there, I’m normal-”

“Boo fucking hoo you are boring, I don’t care you’ll be fine.” Edward sighed, popping a hip and rolling his pupils, “You want to find love or whatever but no one in this town piques your interest. The only thing I can think of is if you go mingle with my buddies, I’ll be nearby if things get dicey.” He ended in reassurance with Mozo at his feet in a little tuxedo mooing in agreement.

“...This is a horrible idea Ed…” I groaned before it ended in a yelp as I got pushed on through the portal, the world spun and spun around and around. The world was revolving around me it seemed before I felt myself face plant onto something that felt like a cloud.

“Oh dear! Are you alright?” Said a voice that sounded… way too… familiar-

“SOREN?!” I shouted in surprise, lifting my head up to see what I think is soren, the hair and voice sure match but the rest barely does!

He has a pair of fucking dragon wings on his back in a royal purple, his skin looks scaly black with a purple tint, his hair is still ginger but everything else I swear is black and purple, black and purple, then purple and black!

He also has HORNS , big twisty horns poking out from his hair with- is that a ring with a potion bottle shaped diamond?!

“Soren what the hell happened?!” I asked rightfully confused, why does everyone else get the cool powers and looks but ME! This is so UNFAIR! “Is this why you ran off like a coward? Because of this?!”

“You have wings that pierce your skin like it’s paper when suddenly growing and we can talk about what I did or didn’t do!” He exclaimed offendedly, placing a hand to his chest of what I am almost certain is fancy pants fabric!

“You just got here and are already arguing with- SOREN?!” I heard Ed fall from the sky in a hole in the sky that I now notice and landed easily staying upright on the cloud thing we were on, “No wonder you have a whole religion now, you look the part!” He chuckled awkwardly coughing into his hand.

“ OH GREAT, more of my past has come to haunt me!” Soren scoffed raising his arms in the air and letting them quickly drop back down to his sides, “What next, Fred going to tell me-”

“I told you that you were going to be special!” Fred and Soren said at the same time causing probably Fred to blink in surprise.

“See what I mean, I’m leaving.” Soren sighed, turning to walk away leaving us be.

Edward sighed and lifted me up until I could stand on my feet, brushing off cloud fluff from my clothes as it seemed to like clinging to my jacket the most which was a pain in the ass to get off, like a very sticky glue.

“Oh my fishy boy~” 

“We really need to think of better pet names- Hey Gorey!~” I heard Ed mutter under his breath before his voice raised in a high pitched giggle tone addressing his boyfriend, wiggling his fingers doing that weird double jointed bend giving the illusion of his fingers being like noodles.

I stepped away from him as his boyfriend practically fell into his arms, they are so weirdly healthy it feels off. Almost every other relationship I have observed has been awful.

That Romeo dude killed Fred who was his lover apparently, Maya and Gill are denying it so much it puts Lukas, Petra, and Jesse to shame for their denying points. My parent’s sucked my whole life, hell my old neighbors had issues with the wife murdering her husband!

To see two people genuinely love each other openly every time they see each other as if they just got together for the first time is… honestly kinda sweet. BUT! It reminds me of why I am here in the first place, to get with someone!

I will do this!... 

…By standing at the drink table holding a red cup until someone interacts with me! That’s how it works in books.

I made my way to the drink table, eying all the beverages available that wasn’t just straight up alcohol, which apparently wasn’t much. I grabbed a red cup I saw on the table cloth next to what I think is fruit punch about to pour myself a drink before I felt a cold hand wrap gently around my wrist.

“That isn’t fruit punch for you normals, this is a safe fruit punch.” A soft androgynous voice spoke from behind me guiding my hand to a different bowl, I blinked at the gesture as the void black hand moved away from my wrist.

I looked up and my eyes met a pair of pure red ones, I couldn’t figure out any other facial features aside from that and the creamy white hooded robes that loosely wrapped around themself while leaving room in the hood for their red eyes to peer through the leftover overhang of the fabric.

The eyes glowed softly as well and were near perfect ovals that blinked by squinting to lines then reshaped back to ovals, like how I drew those flip book characters as a child.

I blinked dumbfounded as the strange one moved away. They didn’t even look like they were walking, just gliding on the ground, watching them move away to a group of people that looked nearly identical to each other in various colors.

“Hey slugger.” I yelped, jumping a little when I heard Edward speak up behind me pouring some alcohol into 2 shot glasses, “You being socially awkward over here?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.

“So what if I am, I don’t know these people and hadn’t even met a very large majority of them until now!” I retorted glaring at his stupid face before deciding to ask him something, “On that note, who is the one in the white robes with red eyes?”

“Uh… 303?” Edward responded unsure of himself before pointing at the one I was just with, “You mean him right?” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah that is 303, why do you-” Edward was about to ask before his eyebrows raised and his smile seemed to get wider. “Oooh?~ Someone get your attention?~” He asked, wiggling his eyebrows.

“...Maybe-” I started before I quickly got cut off.

“Oh this is glorious, come on!” He gasped, yanking me by the arm dragging me away from the drink table and, to my both horror and awe, got dragged to 303… “Oh 303! I got someone to introduce you to!” Edward shouted pushing me forward to him causing me to trip a bit about to fall flat on my face.

However I got caught and now I wish I did fall flat on my face because I could feel my face heat up out of embarrassment with 303’s hands gripped onto my shoulders keeping me from falling any further.

“Are you alright?” He asked with that soft spoken voice helping me to stand again with a tilt of the head in questioning.

“Yeah,” I sighed, turning to Ed, “No thanks to you.” I scowled, directing my annoyance at him. He didn’t seem to be affected and stuck out one of his tongues and slithered off again, probably back to his boyfriend.

Now we were just standing awkwardly as the other people 303 were talking too sneaked off leaving us to ourselves.

“Come along, I know a quiet place that won’t put much attention on you.” 303 spoke to my breaking the silence and beckoning me to follow, which I did after my brain took its sweet time to process and figure out what to do.

We ended up going through some kind of doorway covered in vines until we were in the middle of some kind of galaxy room that seemed to have no gravity! I flail my arms around very out of my element before 303 gently grasped my wrist again and pulled me along.

“You looked uncomfortable and that you might need a break from the gathering.” He explained as we reached a sorta stopping point in the middle of this dome of stars that surrounded us now, “My proper name is Entity 303, but most simply call me 303 for convenience. What is your name?”

I blinked processing this before answering his question, “My name is Aiden, you- uh- you are hot- I MEAN - your name is cool!” and I fucked it up. “Sorry! That just slipped out by accident I was thinking of… uh… campfires! Yep, because those are hot!” Smooth .

I wanted to die right then and there when I heard him chuckle in response to my fumble. “I’m sure you were, Mr. Aiden.” He chuckled softly bringing a hand to what I think is his face covering a mouth I could not see.

“Please do not call me Mr. Aiden, just Aiden will do fine.” I tried to politely correct him, rubbing at the back of my neck, you’d think with this seeming to have no heat would be a little colder than I feel right now…

I don’t think I can regret coming anymore.

“Sun is shining in the sky, There ain't a cloud in sight. It's stopped raining everybody's in a play, and don't you know, It's a beautiful new day! Hey, hey!”

After what felt like hours of idle talk we decided to rejoin everyone else, we came back to everyone singing along to a song on the jukebox. Some were sitting off to the side tapping their feet, while others were dancing around the middle around the jukebox.

Edward and Gordan were spinning in circles round and round going all over the dance floor almost constantly on the move, the seemingly random movements from each other would probably look absolutely random with anyone else but with them it’s like they complete each other near perfectly.

If they had a moment where they pushed each other for dramatics they quickly came back to each other like sources of water, near unable to be kept apart for long before joining together again. Edward’s glimmering shoulderless blue dress and Gordan’s equally similar crop top and short shorts did not help their case.

Lukas is rubbing off on me.

I saw others on the dance floor of course as well, a ginger lady that 303 told me was Alex, and one of the men that looked identical to other ones was dancing with her named Steve. 

She wore a soft minty green dress while the man wore a blue suit minus the jacket leaving him in just the vest thing with white collared shirt.

I think they were doing some kind of tango dance as well dancing along to the beats of the music, the woman doing a couple fancy twirly spins with her dance partner holding her hand up letting the dress flow elegantly.

Radar was here too now, he wasn’t with us before but is now sitting on the sides with another person on a pair of beanbags. 

The one he was with rubbed their finger on some weird thin gray brick swiping up and down it and tapping it at times as well, they had to adjust their glasses a few times that were large and squared on their face with an attempt to groom their blonde hair.

Speaking of the other men identical to one another who are called Red Steve, Blue Steve, Green Steve, and Herobrine. Or, as I was told by 303, Ruby, Berry, Grape, and Herobrine. I saw them in the corner drinking their lives away going nuts on the drink table.

Overall it was chaos but chaos I could actually handle now.

“Running down the avenue, see how the sun shines brightly! In the city, on the streets where once was pity- Mister blue sky is living here today! Hey, hey!” 

There were some other ones I hadn’t seen here earlier like a group that looked significantly older, maybe 50’s? I don’t know but they look old.

They were standing in a corner sipping wine glasses looking out across the room, the one in the middle in a purple suit kept glancing at the dancefloor but I couldn’t tell if they were looking at anyone specifically. They all seemed very judgmental aside from the shorter one in green and gold robes.

“Oh for the love of the owner…” I heard 303 groan next to me as I noticed what looked like a skeleton in a tuxedo walking towards us.

“Who is that?” I asked 303 unsure if this was a bad situation or a good situation.

“My ex… ” Alright, so it's a bad situation.

“Well if it isn’t the iron to my sword, been a while hasn’t it!” The skeleton chuckled coming towards us reeking of alcohol, “You wanna hit the dancefloor like old times?” 

“Fuck off dread, your name gives me the same emotion you give any poor sap that you think you have a chance with.”

“Oh come on you know you missed me-”

“The only thing I am missing right now is when you weren’t bothering us.”

“Just give me a chance-”

“To what? Make some poor pvp pun and hope it makes me swoon you again? You’d have better luck playing wonderwall.”

“I have more material than just pvp puns!”

I was about to step in before 303 grabbed my wrist and pulled me along to the dance floor away from Dread, “Work with me here, You should hopefully make him take the hint that I am not interested.”

I was confused on what he meant before I felt myself being spun round before being dipped, I feel like I am in a romance novel right now as the music continues playing in the background.

“Hey you with the pretty face, Welcome to the human race! A celebration, Mr. Blue Sky's up there waitin'. And today is the day we've waited for! Aa- ha!”

I clumsily moved my feet to the beat of the percussion in time with 303’s, I felt the hairs on my neck rise everytime my boots got a little too close to his for comfort but 303 seemed to be largely unaffected.

The creamy white robes swished around as we spun around, the ends rising slightly to show void black paws that look soft and fluffy like a cat! While I was mesmerized I held back a yelp feeling myself be dipped again looking into his eyes.

Those blood red eyes that stared into mine felt like they pierced right into my soul, judging me before softening as I felt a hand on the back of my head tangling in my brown hair.

“Mr. Blue, you did it right. But soon comes Mr. Night creepin' over, Now his hand is on your shoulder. Never mind, I'll remember you this, I'll remember you this way!”

I felt the hand lift my head slightly as 303’s head lowered slightly, my brain was all warm and fuzzy as the world around us became irrelevant. The song seemed to be close to its end as the distance between us closed more and more, the air between us felt like bolts of lightning crackling with energy.

And then, the distance was no more.

“Hey there Mr. Blue, We're so pleased to be with you. Look around, see what you do. Everybody smiles at you…” the song sung as I felt lips against mine, I could feel a fluffy fur like hair rub against my face as it was stuck inside the hood giving us makeshift privacy. Like no one was around but us.

The instruments finally make their final sound and that is our que to separate while my lungs positively burn for air, stopping the kiss from lasting for the rest of my time…

“I wasn’t too forward or misread the situation was I?” 303 asked hopeful to be wrong, I smiled up at him happy to make that hope true.

“I was afraid I was making the same mistake, glad to know I wasn’t.” I answered feeling like I was on cloud 9 smiling like a dork probably. 303 chuckled with me joining in before I was raised back up to fully stand since the light headedness might have just been that all the blood was rushing to my head.

And as the final notes we pull in for another, matching the other couples around us, I honestly wish this could continue forever…

“ Please… turn… me… Ooooveer~”

Chapter Text

Gordon POV

“M-Mr. Warden, Prisoner X has been contained again.”

I looked up from the papers to look at my new assistant, Sonar I think it was, who was standing at the door in standard associate attire with… even more papers…

“How do you have more papers…” I was exhausted because I had been pretending to do these papers for the past couple of hours because Sonar kept coming in and out of my office. I hate the fact that my usual door is broken, so I can’t just use the stupid level to keep it locked. They probably have some kind of importance, but not one I care about at the moment.

“Y-Yes sir, the other associates insist they speak through writing rather than speak to you directly still,” Sonar explained, I blinked at them before remembering what happened with the last assistant.

“Right, they don’t want to risk being blown into a wall at massive speeds, I assume.” I sighed as Sonar looked at me with a look of confusion.

“What do you mean?” They asked, raising an eyebrow and tilting their head, so clearly no one told them, so I’m not going to.

“You’ll find out one day.” I shrugged enjoying watching the new assistant gulp nervously from afar, however, due to my heightened hearing it was like being right next to them rather than 10 feet away.

“… Right…”

“Well, go on now, I will call for you when needed.” I quickly waved them off, waiting for the door to close and the footsteps to reach what I think is around the staff kitchen area in the hallway a couple of 50-something feet away before looking under my desk. “You can come out now, sweetheart, no one is coming now.”

I watched my boyfriend slink out of his hiding spot under my desk, uncurling from around my knees and from his position pressed up against the top of the desk to avoid anyone noticing him from underneath.

After a bit of maneuvering, he got out and straddled himself on my thighs, looking down at him with that permanent smirk of his, “My neck hurts from being like that for so long, darling.” He sighed, giving my lips a tender lick before resting his chin on the top of my head.

“I am not surprised, what I am surprised about is that you could fit like that, Eddy.” I lightly giggled, wrapping my arms around his waist as we cuddled at my desk. He decided to be clingy and sneak down here again to see me a few days after the party.

He had been here for a couple of hours and hid under the desk when Sonar came in shouting about how Xara escaped, and then afterward they ran back out and just kept coming back, over, and over, and over.

Now we can finally be alone again, it's nice like this. Domestic even. Sure, if we were up on the surface that would be better, but this will have to do with the lanterns hanging above us casting shadows upon his body.

He had not bothered to dress up when he came down here and was actually wearing a silk robe that draped off him and onto me with a satin nightgown. So clearly he had just woken up before he came down here.

I felt his legs wrap themselves around mine. The hooves that had replaced my previous stick figure legs clopped against the flooring. The slimy tentacles that made up his legs tickled my legs a little, snaking into the crevice where the outer bone met the skin.

“You really are spectacular, you calm my restless brain to the point I could stay like this forever…” He sighed, bending his neck, so his neck wrapped around mine like a snake, nestling his face into my neck.

“You really are a charmer.” I sighed, bringing my hand to his chin, gently scratching at the scaly skin. I felt his muscles relax in response, emitting a small clicking sound from him as well in his throat, which I could feel on the back of my neck.

“You play a dangerous game Gorey~” He sighed, raising his head to look me in the eyes, that purple flush prominent against his cyan skin, “You know how I can get…” He cooed, letting 3 of his tongues snake out of the mouth hole, pressing against the edges of mine.

“Like I am any better.” I pointed out blowing a small light blue soul onto him, causing him to giggle.

“You ass– you know that tickles!” He giggled as I blew a few more to tease him more, causing his giggles to morph into a full-on fit of laughter he tried to keep quiet. “You make me get us caught if you- Eh haha ehaha yehaha!” I interrupted him by blowing yet another one onto his face.

I was going to blow another one onto his face again before his tongues made a barricade against my mouth, I felt my face heat up while my eyes stared into his stunned.

“Honey, I love you, but I don’t like my laugh, and you keep bringing it out.”

“I like your laugh.” I pointed out, my voice muffled by the tongues sealing off my mouth hole.

He was going to say something before the door suddenly opened to my office, and we froze, I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t notice the sound of distant footsteps approaching, “Mr. Warden, how do I work the-” …shit.

I turned my head to the right and to my horror saw Sonar standing there staring at us.

“… We are in so much trouble…” I heard my Fred mumble as we continued staring, Edward joined in on the staring contest we have found ourselves in. I am actually so done for…

“M-MR. WARDEN!” Sonar gasped before suddenly taking charge and straight up tackling my boyfriend, knocking him out of the chair and by extension me!

“SONAR!” I exclaimed in shock as they began wrestling poorly with my Edward.

“CEASE YOUR ATTACK, MORTAL!” Edward hissed, throwing Sonar off him and into my desk.

“THERE IS A MONSTER IN THE WARDEN'S OFFICE!” Sonar screamed running down the hallway, Me and Edward both shared a look before he went into one of the cupboards to hide while I went after Sonar.

I caught up to Sonar and quickly tried to do damage control, “Sonar wait it's fine, this is all a misunderstanding there is no-”

“Monster?”

I felt my heart drop and turned around to see Romeo hovering behind me. He was glaring at me with a perked brow, questioning me, and also probably daring me to try and lie to him.

Damn him for being sexy and horrifying…

“Admin!” I stammered looking up at him, “There is no monster, my new assistant must be seeing things- B-But I came after him to-”

“Silence.”

“Silencing,” I mumbled, directly my gaze to the ground.

“Now, explain what you saw.” Romeo directs his attention to Sonar, I am done for, goodbye cruel world, I'm about to become more Fred than I thought.

“There was a giant blue monster that trapped The Warden to the chair! It had its limbs wrapped around him and its neck was wrapped around his neck!” Sonar started to explain, but Romeo didn't need any more information to know who the monster was…

In but a few taps to the console only a few could see, and a teleportation command was executed in the console window and Edward was now here, “Is this the monster you saw?” Romeo questioned Sonar.

“Yes, that is the monster!” Sonar gasped, pointing a finger at him.

“Thought so,” Romeo sighed letting Edward drop to the ground bringing a hand to the bridge of his nose, “Gordon, you're fired.”

… What?

“What do you mean, fired?” I asked, surely this is some kind of prank, right? I was expecting maybe getting killed or something but FIRED?

“I'm not allowed to kill you, if I demote you your boyfriend would just break you out almost immediately, and I can't deal with you anymore.”

“… So that's it?”

“Yep, go, you aren't allowed here anymore. You are lucky you weren't reported to HR.”

“We don't have an HR-”

“Then I would make one specifically for this purpose.”

“But-”

“Just get out.”

I looked at his face trying to see if, I don't know, he was in his hissy fits or something, perhaps even a slight smirk to betray that he was joking.

I saw none of that.

“Fine, FINE. Let's see how long keeping your prisoners in check will last!” I exclaim, stomping to Edward and grabbing his arm. “Get us outta here, I don't have stuff to bring with me that would matter.” I scowled, Edward looked sympathetic but agreed to my request, and in a blink, we were back on the surface.

The sun was setting, so my eyes didn't hurt as badly as it does during the day. The landscape was wet with dew, so it must have rained a few moments before.

“Hun,” He started cautiously, “Are you gonna be okay?” He asked, the corners of his smile downcast into a guilty frown.

“Sweetheart, don't blame yourself.” I sighed, feathering my fingers along his arm, “Romeo is just probably throwing a tantrum and will come to his senses when things go to chaos.”

“But what if he doesn't?”

“… Then I get to hang out with you more often, silly.” I thought up, snickering when I saw the corners of his mouth come back up almost instantly.

“Holy shit you're right!” He gasped in delight picking me up and spinning me around making me feel dizzy. “Come on, let's get you back to my place, preferably in my bed.” He teased, holding me bridal style as we headed back to his place.

Chapter Text

Maya POV

“Gill, what are you doing?”

“Discovering the perfect way to make a cake the size of 5 Edwards.”

I sighed looking at him in disbelief, I get that there is going to be a bunch of people eating tonight as the first official founding day, but come on.

“Gill, are you seriously going to make a single cake 15 blocks tall?” I pleaded, looking at his confident face, “How are you going to decorate it?” I pointed out watching him surround himself with millions of crafting tables, an array of Redstone surrounded him as well with dispensers and pistons and- 

Ok, I’m just going to be blunt, I don’t think he knows what he is doing.

“Firstly, those dispensers are not set up correctly, nor is the Redstone. Secondly, crafting tables don’t make something that pops out of a dispenser.” I also pointed out as Ed was walking on in.

“Yeah sorry dude the crafter update ain't coming anytime soon, I came before that.” He awkwardly chuckled, moving around with an awkward gait, oh boy.

“Edward, what are you hiding now?” I sighed, causing him to stop in his tracks.

“Nothing…”

I was going to press further before something shifted from the inside of his trench coat and out peaked the head of… a child.

“… Edward… Who is that…”

His pupils shrank, blinking at me as if in shock before looking down at the child and then back up at me, “Uh, meet Maxson…” He chuckled awkwardly, avoiding my gaze as my eyes flickered between him and the small child with white hair and a chubby baby face that looked maybe toddler age.

The kid came out of hiding fulling and more just kept coming, and coming, and seriously how many kids can he hide in there…

“… And also meet Clementine… Ringo… Arthur… Brendan… aaaannd abbot.” He continued as more and more white haired children came walking out, waving at me politely.

“How did this happen…” Gill groaned, looking up from the crafting tables to see what was going on, only to see the small army of children.

“HE WHAT!” Aiden shouted once he got home from wherever he was hours before. We are now in the living room with everyone that now lives in the house, plus Petra, all staring at Edward in shock.

This was also included by Gordon who was holding Mozo like a lifeline, staring at the small children minus Abbot clinging onto Ed. ”Hun, are these all the kids you have or are there more I should know about…” He asked, looking at them all warily.

One of the more braver ones, Clementine, detached from Edward and wandered over to Gordon. She looked to be maybe 5 years old dressed in a fancy red dress, she didn't have glasses, but she had white hair that was fluffy and down to her shoulders.

“Are you new dad?” She asked bluntly while pointing an accusing finger at him, “Is dad dating you?” She continued interrogating him, surprisingly serious for what I am pretty sure is a 5-year-old.

“Um… Yes?-” Gordon answered, unsure how to react before she cut him off quickly.

“Pay up.” Clementine cut him off bluntly, holding out her hand expectantly.

“Mine is at a lower price, pay me!” Ringo piped up, practically launching off Edward and to Gordon, nudging Clementine to the side.

“Mine is at a discount!” Brendan shouted following Ringo.

“I’ll strike ya a deal, you give me sweets, and it counts as payment to continue dating our dad!” Arthur shouted.

Maxson and Abbot didn’t seem to be interested in joining in on their sibling's attempt at getting some kind of monetary value out of Gordon, They are definitely his kids…

“These kids are not acting like normal kids…” Gill whispered to me looking at the little group with a wary look, “They should be still learning how to do the ABC’s, not doing sketchy salesman tactics like Edward…” He pointed out.

“… You don’t think the salesman thing and weird sports announcer talk is hereditary, do you?” I asked, unsure myself whether I believed it or not. It shouldn’t be scientifically possible, but then again, Edward shouldn’t be scientifically possible.

“I don’t know, but he said he didn’t even know they existed until a couple hours ago, meaning he can’t have influenced them passively since he wasn’t around them long enough in their earlier development to make them copy him yet.” Gill muttered, looking at the children to finally stop hounding Gordon for money in return to continue dating Edward…

… Because he caved and gave them all iron ingots plus candy.

“I’m this close to moving in with you guys, Petra…” I heard Lukas groan as Petra patted his back sympathetically despite the amused smile she was trying to hold down twitching onto her lips.

“Are you two together?”

Me, Gill, and everyone else that had not noticed Abbot sneak up out of nowhere all let out a scream. We looked down at the boy with barely any hair on his head, but the mohawk style of remaining hair was also clearly white and fluffy as well much like the rest of his siblings.

He was staring up at me unblinking, his face blank of expression, making him look like a very scary child.

“Holy f-” Aiden was about to swear before he met the swift slap of a fish to the face.

“Um, we are not a thing-” I quickly tried to explain before he cut me off, this seems to be a common theme with them all.

“Why not? You are tied to each other, the sight tells me so-” Abbot spoke before getting cut off by Clementine poking Abbot’s shoulder. He seemed startled by this, and after an uncomfortable silence, his face scrunched up as if about to cry.

“Oh no…” Edward sighed, standing up to approach Abbot, but before he could reach him he burst into an ear-piercing cry, causing us all to wince and Gordon to tense at the sound, trying to cover his ears to block it out. I think this is times where he doesn't like having super hearing.

Abbot only got louder while Ed tried to calm him down. The ground was starting to shake and the shadows in the room seemed to grow and move as if alive, taking the shapes of screaming people and terrifying images.

“Abbot, sweetie, what's wrong?!” Edward asked, unsure what to do in this situation as he kept crying hysterically, “Uh, uh, uh, are you hurt? What’s bothering you? Is something wrong with your shoulder?” He asked, running out of ideas to figure out what the cause of the crying was.

“She touched me with her icky germs!” Abbot wailed, pointing at Clementine as Edward deflated.

“Oh, thank the gods he’s just a germaphobe…” He sighed, typing something into the air and some type of cloth manifested into the air floating between him and Abbot, “Do you want a rubbing alcohol rag? It hasn’t touched anything but the air, so it's sterilized and has no germs.” Ignoring airborne things but I will not be mentioning this.

Abbot paused in his wailing looking at the cloth with teary eyes before taking it and pressing it against the area that Clementine touched, once he stopped crying completely the shadows retreated and all was relatively normal again.

“Ok, so we now know not to touch Abbot.” I sighed while Edward levitated Abbot off the ground, pseudo holding him but not touching him. “And he is also magical, why isn’t this a surprise…” I added, gesturing to the walls that now had weird looking runes on them now.

“That wasn’t me, that was Maxson.” Abbot objected, pointing at Maxson who was standing still, politely sitting by the couch.

"It was startling, I apologize." A disembodied voice spoke out in a deep voice all around us yet nowhere at once as Maxson did various hand gestures, we all jumped at the sudden voice while Edward looked up at the ceiling.

“Is that Kevan Brighting!? WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!” He shouted up at the sky, the voice responded.

“He is my voice, Maxson told his father.” The voice spoke when Maxson made more hand gestures, “For sign language can only get me so far, Maxson continued.” the voice continued to speak for Maxson.

“The British are infecting this world, can't yee haw around here anymore!” Edward exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air and retreating back to his room, with his kids and boyfriend following.

…

…

“So, are you going to talk about the whole ‘tied together’ thing that child just said?”

“Maybe later.”

Chapter Text

Jesse POV

I am tired, and wet, and cold, and wet, and agitated, and did I also mention wet?

I was finally back in Beacontown after a misjudged portal location, I went through and on the other side of the portal was in very cold water and the water broke the portal. So I thought that I was close to Norbury, right? Wrong. 

I ended up in a place called Mooji lake and had to stay in some town called Stanmore.

Which was very far from Norbury.

So I had to walk from Stanmore to Norbury, and then I had to go back to Stanmore because I forgot something. Then after that, I go back to Norbury and they at least let me ride in a carriage.

Until it broke down, and I had to walk the rest of the way, and it rained.

So now here I was, walking through the construction of the soon-to-be new gate. We built it up enough to tear down the temporary cobblestone walls we built up around the place, about time too Lukas kept complaining saying it didn’t look good even though it got the job done.

“Hey Jesse! How have you been- What happened?!” I heard Olivia call out to me from up top of the wall, supervising the construction of the wall’s gate system. She was in her black jumpsuit today covered in redstone dust with stretchy gloves made of chicken skin if I remember correctly.

“Portal mishaps.” I said bluntly as she jumped down and stood in front of me.

She stood in front of me awkwardly before speaking, “At least you are here now, there have been some… issues…” She started vaguely before a very pitchy voice came from behind me.

“Excuse me!” The voice shouted, advancing towards me, I turned to see Stella a bit away. Great, I get back from an unscheduled adventure to come back to stuff like this.

“I take it she has another petty issue…” I groaned while Olivia looked at me with a sympathetic expression.

“It is certainly not petty!” Stella scoffs, turns out her hearing is still intact despite how much she screeches like an enderman at any little inconvenience.

She has been on a streak as of late, ‘That surely can’t be safe for a house!’ ‘This place has the organization of a pig stead!’ ‘I want a bigger plot of land than everyone else!’ ‘That builds colors are horrendous. I want it gone!’ Anything she can think of, she has complained to me about.

She was also getting trailed by Radar, I’m honestly not sure what to make of friendship, but it's one I really don’t think he should be a part of. I brought it up with him once, but he told me to trust him, so I am.

Also told me to not tell his dads either, something about Edward hating her guts and has tried to keep him away from her for a reason neither will disclose.

Back to reality, I was zoning out from her ranting. Once she got to us, Olivia’s eyes looked equally glazed over, glad to use the excuse of ‘she needed to supervise the Redstonia residents working on the gate’ to leave me to my mental demise.

“And then they are all surrounding me saying I'm going to the underneath or whatever that is for corrupting a Fred, what does that even mean?!” Her voice cut back into my ears, zoning back into the present.

“Sorry, could you repeat that?” I asked, pressing my mouth into a thin line at the glare she gave me in return.

“Were you seriously not listening? I was talking about the rampaging cultism that is taking over the town!” She squawked, raising her hands up into the air and letting them drop for the dramatics.

“They aren’t so bad…” Radar meekly started before Stella snapped her head his way causing her blonde hair to swish from the sudden movement.

“You only say that because you get all the gifts from them, and they worship you, which FYI is super weird.” Stella scoffed for the umpteenth time since this conversation started.

“Well… It’s mostly dad’s specific followers that have been doing most of the bad stuff-” Radar got cut off again but not by Stella, rather it was the shouts of a fight breaking out a couple buildings away.

“Watch it, dragon worshiper!”  

“You are the one that needs to look where you are going, seafood lover!”  

“Wrong denomination, I'm obviously underground sect!” 

“Right, my bad, you all look basically the same, mole rat!”

I looked back at Radar and Stella with a tense smile, “I’ll be right back…”

I started running to the source of the shouting to come across a full on brawl in the center of town! It seemed one of Soren’s followers and one Fred follower in black robes were kicking and biting trying to overcome the other.

Dust was getting kicked up and flying everywhere as some stepped out of houses and shops to look at the spectacle like a sheep to wheat, some were even trying to fight the ones trying to break it up!

“What is going on!?” I shouted causing everyone to freeze and turn to look at me, some rightfully looked ashamed while others just awkwardly looked away and walked off.

“This heathen called me names and ran into me!” The Fred follower exclaimed pointing a finger at the Soren follower, whose face opened with a gasp.

“You instigated it, both instances were your fault!” The Soren follower gasped with a hand to the chest glaring at the other.

I sucked in a big breath, letting it back out with a sigh, this was going to be a long day. “I really couldn't care less about how it started, what matters is how it was handled. You can’t just fight people in the middle of the street, both of you.” I explained, bringing my arms to my chest, giving them both a disapproving parent look.

And like a charm it worked and they both apologized and walked off, being mayor feels less like an actual mayoral job and more of a babysitter with extra steps at this point.

“Sick town you got here short stack!” A voice I was not expecting to return sounded from behind bringing a jeweled hand onto my shoulder.

“What are you doing back?” I asked, tilting my head to look up at the redstone eyes, the gems glimmered in the light blinding my eyes as they blinked at me with a redstone dusty smile.

“I found out that after all this time out of that amulet, that I’m actually just straight up bored!” The Amulet- I seriously need to ask his proper name at some point- looked back at me crying out a clearly fake tear of lapis.

“… And this is my problem, why?” I asked just wanting to go back to my bed and knock myself out, “I don’t see why you are back now?”

“Well, then you are stupid!” He barked, slapping my back playfully, antagonizing a sore I didn’t know I had, “Come on hero, let's go on an adventure!” He chuckled, grabbing my arm to pull me along to wherever he wanted to take me now.

I got tugged around before we ended up in the main room of the treasure room before he spun me around to face me with a grave expression on his face.

“Alright, I’ll cut the bull. I need you to put me back in that amulet and when the authorities come you don't know shit.”

“What did you do.”

“Questions for later hop to it!” He ignored the question, pulling me to the pedestal that the Amulet was stored on. I tugged back however, taking my arm out of his grip and narrowed my eyes up at him.

“No, I want to know what you did and why you are hiding from the authorities. ” I pressed firmly furrowing my eyes up at the being before me, “Talk or I won't hide you.”

He looked at me with a look of shock on his face before it fell, “I… am being framed for a crime I very much did not commit… I have been framed for embezzlement.”

“WHAT!?”

“IT WAS JUST A COUPLE OF GOLD I SWEAR!”

“What classifies as a couple gold.”

“17 bags of blocks.”

“…”

“…”

“That is not a couple of gold.” I pointed out in increasing horror, I am an accomplice now, sweet baby Reuben…

“Yeah well too bad, you agreed to help me now help me.” He smirked, grabbing the amulet, thrusting it into my hand. “Now say ‘I cast this spirit into the item my hand holds until I or its future owner commands its freedom’ just like that.”

“… I cast this spirit into the item my hand holds… until I or its future owner commands its freedom…” I reluctantly parroted as the amulet glowed and pulsated, the room got blinded with light again, and he was gone.

“The coppers are coming!” I jumped when Ed burst through the door to the treasure room full on running towards me, “Hide this!” He shouted before dumping a bag into my hand, “Be careful with him!” He added before dashing off.

“…him?” I asked out loud looking into the bag and saw a straight-up baby drowned zombie inside that gurgled up at me with its glowing light blue eyes, whatever this parental instinct he developed is it has to stop.

“Hey Jesse?…” I then saw Radar fly through one of the unfinished windows flapping his arms to take flight with the help of the tiny wings on his head, “On the topic of things needing to be hidden, can you hide something for me too?” He asked politely.

Before I could even open my mouth, Radar beamed, “Perfect, you are the best!” He said with his usual voice cracking before he handed me a glowing thing that was shaped like an ender eye but has the look of a grass block?

And once Radar went back out the window, I felt a tap on my shoulders and turned to see Gordon standing behind me awkwardly.

“Hey, can I hide a gift for my boyfriend with you? It's not supposed to exist due to the laws of the universe…” He asked, holding something behind his back.

I don’t even bother to speak anymore and just nod. He then pulls out an item that had a long iron bamboo shaped barrel and a handle on one end, with a spyglass on the same side but on the top instead of the bottom.

I wordlessly stuffed the item into my inventory bag and watched him sink through the ground. I was going to snap at the next person who came through the door before I saw who it was and realized that maybe snapping at someone who clearly doesn’t look normal was a bad idea.

“According to files, you have history with a wanted criminal of P.A.T.A, and it is advised you speak now.” The newcomer demanded, dressed in a black leather suit with some kind of mask with a snout and bulbs on the side that distorted the voice.

“Uh, what wanted criminal?” I asked, trying to not grit my teeth together or show hesitance as the stranger stared me down, face hidden by the mask on their face.

“Ebeneezer Wolf, reports say that he was in your amulet for a time.” They stated bluntly, so that's his name. “Has he been in contact with you in the past 72 hours?”

“No officer, we have not spoken for weeks and I don’t know where he is now.” I told them confidently, they looked at me and when I thought they saw through my lies they nodded, typed something into the air and were teleported out of the treasure hall.

One by one everyone that had asked me to hide something came back, aside from Edward, I had to give his item to his boyfriend and saw his face fall when he looked inside to a look of pure disappointment.

“The things I will put up with for this man…” I heard him sigh while walking off with his now I’m pretty sure 7th kid since living up here. The drowned gurgling inside the bag as it tentatively stuck its head out of the opening, staying out of range of the sun to not burn.

As for why Edward couldn’t get his bag from me…

“I DIDN’T DO ANYTHING THIS TIME, I SWEAR IT!”

“Likely story.”

“OH WHAT? CAN’T A GUY HAVE A HOBBY ANYMORE?!”

“We found items discontinued by this version of the world, your hobby is highly illegal and shouldn’t be possible, so you are being taken into questioning.”

Let’s just say I don’t think he’ll be back for a while…

Chapter Text

Ivor POV

“Why must you continue pestering me.”

“Just answer the question of whether you love our god or not, old man!”

I groaned rubbing at my eyes in irritation, I have had some kid tailing me since I left the house asking if I was in love with his god, whoever that was I really do not care. I don’t have feelings for anyone that is a god of any sort, even if I did, why would I say yes to a question like that.

“Why are you so pressed on my answer about this?” I asked, not bothering to look at the kid I’m speaking to.

“Becaaauuuse my friends think you don't and that the part about you in the book of builders is false!” He complained, continuing to tail me, “I wanna prove them wrong!” He declared confidently.

“Well I’m not religious so they are proving you wrong.” I sighed, hoping that would stop this nonsense.

“Not like that! I mean, like the dating kind of love!” He reiterated, still trailing me despite my displeasure, what the nether is this kid talking about.

You know what, if I just lie and say yes, then maybe it will leave me alone.

“Ohhh, in that case, sure I do.” I sighed, rolling my eyes while I was faced away from the kid, and turns out my plan worked as he shouted an enthusiastic yes and ran off to a group of similarly dress people nearby.

“I told you he is in love with Soren!” I beg your pardon?! Since when was HE a god?!

I was going to confront that little twerp before they all scattered off when the sound of horns sounded. Everyone looked towards the direction of the sound, and to the collective horror of everyone around, it was a group of villager looking people with gray skin and crossbows.

There were also some in blue starry robes, some with iron axes, and some were clearly witches. Their large beasts charge through the in progress gates like it was nothing.

People started screaming and running around, causing more chaos as they marched more into the town, their leader shouted through some kind of horn. “Where is the blue squid man!”

“Oh, you are such a bitch, universe.” I heard Jesse grumble coming out from behind me somehow, “He isn't here right now, come back later!” She shouted back, walking out into the open like an idiot hoping to get shot.

“When is later?” The leader shouted back.

“I don't fucking know???” So Jesse has been having a bad day because I don't think I have heard her swear this much before, normally far more family friendly. “He's in custody or something since yesterday, I don't know what's going on anymore!”

“We demand a definite date and time!” One of the witches shouted back in native witch, a bit of a hobby I picked up a long while ago that comes in handy now.

“I don't understand what you are saying, just go back to where you came and ask some other time!”

“I genuinely can't tell if you are bordering mobist or not.” A voice echoed from above in the sky before a redstone flying machine pushing a cage came into view, with the squid-ish-man-I-forgot-the-name-of sitting inside in a petty pout.

“Are you the blue squid man? The one that took the drowned in after it was rejected by the parents that we have heard about?” The leader asked, pointing a finger at the man in the cage.

“Yeah, that's me, what do you want? I'm not giving back that kid if that's why you are here.” 

“Oh no no no, we came to offer you more!”

“Pardon?”

“Yeah, some adventures slaughtered a whole group, and we would be glad if you took their orphaned kids off our hands!” The leader continued talking as ‘blue squid man' seemed torn between horror and intrigued maybe? Reading mouth corners from afar is hard, ok!

“… Alright, hand them over.” He sighed, squeezing past the iron bars like he didn't have bones until he stood in front of the group, tapping the tip of one of his tentacles on the ground.

One of the witches handed over a blanketed basket and after exchanging it to him, they waved goodbye and walked back out the gate that was now toppled to the ground.

… I think I'm just going to call it a day and pretend this is all a fever dream, I’ll wake up and realize none of this happened…

Gordon POV

He got more man.

He got more, what?

More kids.

I put my face in my hands and let out a loud groan from where I was sat in the living room surrounded by children all playing a game I don't understand the rules of.

“Your Fred told you too, huh.” Radar sighed, continuing to draw in his sketchbook.

“Regrettably, yes.” I answered without lifting my head back up to look at him, “Him finding out he has kids really gave him baby fever or something, I guess.” I dryly chuckle as the drowned, who I have taken the liberty of calling Porter, gurgled in my lap, drawing a picture.

“Are we going to be getting more siblings? Maxson asked his second father.” The disembodied voice spoke from above, I looked up to see Maxson looking at me with wide eyes.

“Yeah, you're getting more, apparently…” I sighed, looking down at him, hoping my mood wouldn't get picked up by the small being before me.

It worked, granted he did get distracted by Edward coming in through the front door, “I got more kids!” He giggled while setting a large basket on the floor, “I don't even know what they look like yet, but I know they will be soooo cute!”

Now, I will admit, I was startled when the blanket was pulled back and the most absurd combination of mobs were inside. It's not everyday you see a witch, a skeleton, 3 of those gray skinned villagers that can either do magic or usually shoot and stab people with crossbows and axes, and a baby Warden. The warden will be my new favorite child.

“This one is mine, I'm calling them Rufus.” I declared lifting the child up in my hands holding it up high, the little warden made a quiet groan with its little stomach pulsating calmly. I think I understand his baby fever thing now. 

I set the baby back down before I got in a state of never putting it back down again. Afterward, I then looked at the rest of the kids, which were all getting the ‘1 per tentacle special’ causing them all to giggle. Ed was struggling to stay standing with only 3 tentacles holding him up with the other 5 holding children.

“Hun, they are so cute!” He squealed, giving wide eyes, the pupils practically blocking out his blue glow.

“Sweetheart, you are gonna fall if you keep that up.” I pointed out taking the skeleton from his grasp and slowly started taking the kids from him so he doesn't do something stupid and fall flat on his face.

“I don’t get how you put up with me sometimes…” He sighed, slinking his way to the couch, waiting for me to join him.

“You can be an idiot, sure, but you are my idiot.” I declared, taking his chubby face into my hands, massaged his neck with my thumbs.

“Oh, you betray me so.” He deadpanned trying not to let out that little purr he does when he gets all happy and relaxed, I won't let that stand, however. I moved my left hand downward until I got to a knotted muscle and pressed in on the knot.

‘Jackpot’, I thought as I heard his joints pop like crinkling paper and like clockwork his eyes widened and subconsciously stretched out like a really long noodle. I continued to massage his back, making it pop even more at his joints with the slightest bit of pressure. After a while he was full on purring and kneading into the couch high on the endorphins that get released when you crack a joint.

I listened to Maya talk about it one time while I was on the couch, pinned by him while he was sleeping.

“I wonder if you got cat in you or something, you certainly act like one sometimes.” I chuckled, ruffling up his hair through the veil, before I got tackled and flopped right on top of me while still purring. “Really?” I sighed, not mad in the slightest, and giggled when he stuck out his tongues at me. I shook my head and wrapped my arms around his waist, and we just laid there for hours after…

Back to Ivor

“And that’s why the great dragon says that you should never put carpet in the kitchen of your builds, or else you will be committing a sin and going to the End’s void.”

Claps

What the fuck did I get myself into, this is totally a cult!

Everyone in the all-purpose temple near Beacontown all began to dissipate out the doors. All dressed in the same purple robes with either paper mache dragon masks lacking jaws or ones made up of iron and gold with eyes of ender in its pupils. 

I got bold and told a random follower that I, quote unquote, ‘Was enlightened’ and snuck in using a cloak and robes I got from one of the high ups. I simply said, ‘Oh yeah, I want to learn the ways of Soren.’

It was just weird, point-blank, just an odd sermon.

First, me and a couple of others were beckoned into a side room, where we were debriefed on the etiquette in the main worship room. Some were of their religion specific, while others were just straight up rules for the building they were renting.

Next, we had dragon breath poured over our heads in the form of a baptism, apparently.

And then the main event started, reading from some kind of book made with apparently enderman skin. There was a ritual dance too, but I didn’t attend that one and instead stayed behind and asked for a copy of this strange book, got one, and got out as fast as possible.

The very second I got out of sight, I took the robe and mask off and stuffed it into my inventory in case I ever needed it later. I took the book from my bag and dragged my finger along its spine.

“Alright, let's see if this will give me a clue on where you ran off to, ‘great dragon.’” I mumbled to myself, opening to the first page, and began to dissect the words like a fish. It looked fairly new, and these people had not been here prior, so I know he was in contact with at least someone since he ran off and vanished again.

Chapter Text

Lukas POV

“Hey guys, mind if I hide out here for a bit?”

“Please tell me you didn’t do something illegal and are on the run too…”

I froze, caught off guard by Jesse’s statement, looking them over as they slowly blinked at me with huge bags under their eyes. “Why do you think I did something illegal?…” I asked, confused and concerned that that was their first reaction to me asking an innocent question of staying at their place.

“People keep coming to me to hide because they either committed a crime or were framed, even though the thing they were framed for was something they actually did.” Jesse deadpanned bluntly, their voice was rough with a lack of sleep and exhaustion.

Oh.

“No, I didn’t commit a crime, we just discovered why Ed went on a mass adoption spree, and I am waiting out the rest of the week here.” I explained vaguely.

“… What is the reason Lukas…” Jesse asked warily, “Is he why there is a gnarly storm starting to form?”

—

10 minutes prior in the ocelot living room

—

“I AM GOING TO FIGHT THE SUN!”

“Edward, calm down, it will go away eventually.”

“Guys, why do I smell blood? What happened?”

“Aiden, it might be best to get out for a while.”

“Why? It can't be- oh my stars he’s still having the thing isn’t he…”

“SON OF A-”

“Yes, yes he is.”

“Yeah no I’m out, I’m not dealing with him for an entire week, his boyfriend can deal with being used as a chew toy.”

“I’ll deal with what now?”

“Don’t worry, we’ll bring you watermelon you can pacify him with through a fishing rod that will last 30 minutes per watermelon. Also heat the heat pad in his room over the fire, and try not to set it on fire. Maya took a long time making that.”

“WHY THE FUCK DO I STILL GET THESE?! GORDON, GIVE ME YOUR ARM, I NEED TO NOM YOU.”

“I THOUGHT YOU WERE JOKING ABOUT THE CHEW TOY THING!”

Back to the present

“Yeah, you could say that.” I sighed while I was getting let inside when rain started coming down, by the time I was led to the bedrooms the pitter-patter of rain hitting the roof came crashing down in intense amounts in buckets.

At the rate the weather was going we might even get a whole flash flood, the windows were obscured by the rain coating it in absurd amounts of water. The hall was light with redstone lanterns and torches, heating the walls and floor to a comfortable temperature.

My shoes clack against the quartz floors which echoes in the sparsely furnished rooms, Jesse was wearing slippers so theirs were muffled and quiet. Boots on the other hand are loud.

“The guest rooms don't actually have beds, so you’ll have to share my room tonight, or Petra’s.” Jesse sighed before Petra came out of her room having overheard them.

“Actually it’s going to have to be your bed tonight, my window was open, and I didn’t realize it until it was too late…” Petra nervously chuckled as I noticed water seeping out the bottom of her door and the bottom of her pants were soaked.

“… I am going to scream if something else happens.” Jesse groaned before Ivor burst into the hallway soaked in rain and holding a book in his hands.

“I got a new adventure for you to do!-” Ivor started excitedly before Jesse let out a genuine scream, dropping to their knees like they were physically wounded by Ivor’s announcement. “Sheesh, I thought you would’ve been more excited.”

“Ivor, later.” Petra shooed him off before picking up Jesse effortlessly like a sack of potatoes and taking them back to their room, with me following closely behind. “Aaaaand down you go.” Petra groaned, dropping them onto their bed with a flop.

“I just want one day where absolutely nothing happens, is that truly too much to ask…” Jesse groaned into the sheets face first on the bed while Petra and I crawled onto the bed next to them.

“Come on, you are the hero in residence, of course you can’t get one day where nothing happens.” I tried joking, nudging their shoulders trying to lighten their mood, it didn’t seem to work too well because in response they just groaned in agony.

“Jesse, sleep. I know very well you haven’t been sleeping properly.” Petra sighed, dropping a pillow on their head and then making her way to the top of the bed closest to the wall, I didn’t want the end farthest from the wall, so I joined her.

“I can’t believe you guys are excluding me from the cuddle sesh in my own flipping bed.” Jesse huffed, wiggling their way between us, moving like a worm until we were lined up against the wall forming a pile when we had to gather blankets and pillows around us like a fort when the temperature started dropping.

It's what friends do, after all. Yep, all we are is friends. Nothing about this is making me feel any kind of way.

…

I could get used to this, though, for no particular reason.

Chapter Text

Big Hank POV

“I go on strike.”

“Why?”

I stare at friend, why? I tell why!

“That not our boss, new one bad. Go on strike.” I huffed while Henry rolled head, “You hate too, don't deny.”

“What we do? We just grunt, we not supposed to think.” Henry pointed out crossing arms. “If we strike we get destroyed probably.” Henry argued raising his arms in the air. 

We both in Warden office, or was Warden office because newbie ain’t it. “Golems! I need your assistance!” Newbie shouted at us while captured person fought newbie.

“Don't help, not worth.” I muttered to Henry crossing my arms in defiance staring down at newbie. “Let just go.” I sigh, I turn, and I walk. I walk away from old office with friend Henry following, past food room, past mushroom room, and out the gate.

“Where we go now?” Henry asked looking up at big walls.

“We go find boss.”

“I don’t think we will find the boss.” Henry told me bluntly after we had been walking for a long while, strangely enough the farther we got from that Sunshine Institute the more I have been able to properly think.

I could actually process things in full, colors weren’t dull, sounds were less muffled, I started being able to feel the ground beneath me and the walls against my hand when I ran my fingers along the bricks!

I wonder if that place was… I don’t know, numbing me from my true potential? I wouldn’t put it past The Admin to do that if it would discourage escape from inmates.

“I’m optimistic.” I shrugged, wow, I said a complicated word! Optimistic… “I know he isn’t dead, just out here somewhere.”

“Which makes him as good as dead at this point.” Henry rolled his head.

“Well if you think this is pointless you can just go back!” I huffed determined.

“Hell nah, I’m not going back to a place where I can’t smell!” Henry squawked, which he had a fair point beside an annoyance I have now.

“How come you can smell now! I can’t!” I complained while Henry gave a smug chuckle, “It isn’t funny I want to smell things too!”

“Maybe because I was made earlier than you.”

“ By 1 second!”

“Still counts.”

I was going to continue arguing before we both heard something, is that… giggling?

“You hear that too?” Henry whispered to me facing the direction of the sound, I nodded silently, “Let’s go check it out…” He decided to walk towards the source of the sound, with me following suit…

Gordon POV

“I'm worthless…”

“Sweetheart no you're not.” 

He looked up at me, his cheeks were even more puffy than they usually are, covered with tear streaks of black inchor that fell from his eyes and continued to fall.

“I don't deserve you, or the kids, or my friends, or anyone. I'm a horrible person…” He whined while biting into a juicy watermelon as his chest heaved and shuddered, he was in the fetal position on the couch clung onto me like after the party a couple of days ago.

“No, no, you're not. Babe you are the best thing to ever happen to me.” I quickly fought back on the thoughts he was thinking, holding him close while he shook like a hyperactive puppy.

“But I hurt you…” He wailed bringing up what happened moments prior. 

He bit down too hard while he was trying to gently press against the skin of my arm and broke the skin. In his hormonal high, freaked out and proceeded to bite down at the tiny hole thinking it would stop the flow in a blind panic.

This, of course, did not work, and I had to bandage myself, and he started hysterically crying while chomping down watermelon after watermelon with a heat pad practically scolding his scaly skin. I noticed because it was getting red and steam was coming out, and I had to take it away until it cooled down a bit.

“I feel like shit…” He grumbled as well while he teethed on one of the throw pillows.

“Can I do anything to make you feel better?” I asked rubbing at his back, “How about I make you some cake?”

“Ice-cream.”

“…what?”

“I must be internally cold yet externally hot, not internally and externally hot nor internally and externally cold. So I want ice-cream.”

“Dear, I don't know what Ice-cream is. Nor where to get it.” I explained which earned me an agonized groan in response.

“Just go to Grocery Outlet Bargain Market!”

“I don't know where that is, and I don't think that is a real place.” 

“It's real!”

“Ok, ok, I'll go get you Ice-cream.” I admitted defeat, raising my hand up as a peace gesture before getting up and opening up the terminal.

OS booting up….

Powered on.

Connecting to online services…

Connection completed.

Welcome, Anomaly_D!

<Anomaly_D> @everyone Guys, what is ice-cream?

<SportsAss1> Is that some young people nonsense?

<SportsAss2> Is it creamed ice or something?

<Anomaly_D> I don't know, he won't elaborate and is talking about getting it in some place called “Grocery Outlet Bargain Market”?

<OttoIsBestBoy> Let me check something.

<OttoIsBestBoy> Atlas says a place called Grocery Outlet Bargain Market is in a portal in the portal hallway, grass blocks and hay bales with blue middle.

<NetherAd> WhoPingedMeTenor.gif

<NetherAd> oh for fuck’s sake, I'll go get him some damn ice cream, hang on.

<Entity303> OK do you hate him or not you are giving so many mixed signals!

<NetherAd> Oh piss off herobrine knock off, I'm only helping him because we are synced up and he's my warning sign.

<Anomaly_D> Wait, what's the warning sign for?

<NetherAd> You are literally dating him, and you ask that, my guy he is on his period.

<Anomaly_D> Like the punctuation mark?

<NetherAd> … I kept you trapped in that place for too long, huh. I'll let him explain it if he feels like it.

“Hey Ed, what's a period?”

“A normal bodily function that makes sure you don't get the preggos because getting the preggos is taxing on the body, it knows this so it goes nuh uh and casts that out with the rest of your insides for about a week if you are lucky. However, my ass has Elher Danlos Syndrome, so I end up in a hell every month for a little over a week with consistent heavy bleeding and fucks with being able to do just about anything.” He explained.

“Oh.”

“I've been told my pain scale is at a 7 out of 10.”

“ Oh.”

“I want more watermelon.”

The sound of teleportation interrupted me and I turned and saw the admin holding a container of something in his hand with giant letters that said Ice Cream. “Here's your damn ice cream.” He looked just about as bad as Edward.

“You.” “Oh piss off Fred I want my damn ice cream.” “He probably poisoned it!”

“Wrapping is still on.”

“Just hand over the damn ice cream.” “Any funny business and you are getting a melon to the head.”

The Admin floated his way to the couch and dropped the container like a hot potato and watched as Ed started tearing open the lid and started devouring the white cold looking stuff that I guess is ice cream inside.

“… Do you want anything?” I asked, awkwardly watching The Admin float idly in the middle of the room, he gave me a slow blink delayed between eyes before giving a flopping nod.

I nod in return and head for the kitchen to go get some molten lava cake, which was made with actual lava. I brought it out in its obsidian container and handed it to The Admin.

He was less rabid in his eating than my boyfriend but just looked incredibly depressed about it.

Seriously, he started ugly crying mid-way through the cake, and he's getting his lava tears on his lava cake and this is becoming too much lava.

“I’m friendless…” He mumbled mid mini bite, this really is the duality admins huh. We got big bite aggressive and tiny bite depressive.

There is another, it's called high as fuck.

… Thanks, Fred…

Boing!

Oh, well at least he isn't crying hysterically now, I guess… “Bzzzt, Eee-eee-eee, click click click whistle Eee-eee-eee-ee!” He's just making dolphin sounds on the ceiling now after he launched himself off the couch.

“Shut up you animal…” The Admin groaned before he yelped, feeling him fall from the ceiling and land on top of him, screeching “Don’t you poke me with that sharp a– nose you twat!” He shouted before a full wrestling match broke out.

… I’m just going to go check up on the kids and let them sort this out.

I spun myself on my hoof and stepped out of the house to the front yard where the kids and Big Hank and Large Henry were hanging out- Wait what?

Clementine was climbing Big Hank in her bright red overalls, Abbot was dressed to the nines in doctor scrubs floated off the ground to not touch the grass close nearby. Everyone else was further away, watching him warily.

The monster babies were all in a special playpen enchanted with anti sun magic so the ones that burned in light wouldn't be set ablaze, with large Henry keeping watch intensively, leaned forward to tower over the crawling children.

“UM…” I hummed loudly, causing both the prison golems to look up at me, “HOW… DID YOU GET UP HERE?!” I asked with my voice raising up an octave because they are NOT supposed to be here.

“Papa! Look at the new friends! They came in through a hole in the air!” Clementine gasped, giggling while she hung off Big Hank’s arm, “This one is fun to hang off of!”

“That's… Great sweetie, um, Hank and Henry can you come here for a moment.” I responded with a crack to my voice. The kids all had varying degrees of complaint, but Hank and Henry both eagerly came on over to me, leaving heavy footprints in the grass they stepped on.

I peeked into the living room and sighed in relief, finding that The Admin was gone and gave a little knock on the front door, “Hey hun!” I called out, wincing when he groaned in pain, “We have unexpected guests I think you should see!”

“So help me if it's those cultist fanatics I will pull a real god and smite them also help me-” He started his rant, wobbling to the front door before his eyeholes went wide in shock. “Gorey, is that…”

“Big Hank and Large Henry? Yeah, it's them.”

He just stared at the golems towering over the door, looking between the both of them and me, sighed, and walked back to the couch to flop down face first, “I guess they can stay if they babysit the kids or something…” He groaned, voice muffled by the couch cushions.

Before I could ask them both to watch the kids, they were already walking away back out the front door. 

I internally smiled at the sight of them getting back to mingling before walking back to the couch and sat down beside Ed. Butterflies practically fluttering in my stomach watching him rest his head in my lap, fully worn out and looking incredibly tired.

He looks so much more peaceful in his sleep. The glow in his eyes and mouth dims slightly, the tip of his pupil hides at the bottom of his eyes, his muscles, and his legs wrap around anything it can. When it can’t do that, they wrap around themselves into a coiled spring.

It’s nice, I don’t think I would trade this for anything else in the world.

“I told you I was a bad parent.”

“Edward, go back to sleep, we are not starting this again.”

Chapter Text

—

Aiden

—

“So, why are we stalking Gill”

“I don’t trust this new guy.”

I looked at Maya who was beside me holding a spyglass in hand with a deadpan look on my face, “Why do you not trust the new guy?” I asked.

“I don’t know, he just gives douchebag vibes.” Maya whispered, not even looking to face me, while she just continued to watch Gill like we have for the past 9 hours. I was on a date with 303, but then Maya crashed it saying: Gill is hanging out with some guy as friends but the guy he’s with gives bad vibes, help me stalk him’ in the middle of a restaurant.

So now here we are, me, 303, and Maya all in a bush watching Gill having a picnic with his new friend, you know, like totally normal people do on a Thursday afternoon.

“How is he giving douchebag vibes, Maya? So far, we haven’t seen him do anything douchey for the past 9 hours.” I whisper yelled, growing irritated because I’m hungry, I’m tired, and this is a waste of time.

“Shush! He’s pulling out a guitar.” Maya whispered, I peeked through a gap in the bush and saw that he in fact got out a guitar from his inventory, the shape materializing from a glow of white in a flash.

“I know we haven’t known each other for long, but I think I am in love with you and just had to write a song about you.” He told him with a smile while Gill was starting to look uncomfortable, yikes. 

“Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you~”

“Wait a second…” 303 muttered, leaning over my shoulder to look at the duo, their beautiful red eyes boring into the two.

“By now, you should've somehow realized what you gotta do, I don't believe that aaaannnnybody feels the way I do, about you now~”

“That sounds way too familiar to be original…” 303 mumbled to themself, suddenly as invested as Maya into this, who was scowling at the man and his guitar grasping the spyglass to the point her knuckles were turning white. "Actually yeah, thats one of the songs Ed brought over on those discs..."

“I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now.”

“There is no way…”

“Because maybe… You're gonna be the one that saves me… And after all…”

“Surely not…”

“You're my wonder wall.”

“That isn’t a mortal!” 303 shouted bursting from the bushes charging for the duo with us close behind, their cloak flowing in the air poofing outward making them look like a ghost with the tattered look of the fabric did not help their case.

The guy swore and took off running while Gill got up and moved out of the way just in time to not get trampled by 303 lunging for the guy and making them both crash to the ground, “What is going on!” Gill asked, sounding more pissed than anything.

“We were stalking your friend because Maya asked for backup for the past 9 hours.” I explained simply while 303 was interrogating the poor dude.

“How do you know that song? What are you? What are you doing with the mortal? Speak in the next 10 seconds, or I’ll snitch and call PATA on your ass.”

Instead of a proper answer we were met with the guy bursting into a puff of smoke and in its place was- oh great it's him.

It was Dreadlord, 303’s ex.

“Heeeey, long time no see…” He started before getting picked up and flung over the hill.

“And don’t you come back, cheater!” 303 yelled after him while flipping him off, a gang of birds caws and fly away from the impact zone, turned back to us, and stuck out their hand to Gill, “Hello, I am dating your friend.”

… I mean, that’s one way to introduce yourself.

“Oh, I didn’t know Maya-” 

“Oh no, I’m dating Aiden, don’t worry, I’m not a homewrecker.”

“…what is that supposed to mean-”

“Never you mind that, I will not elaborate further, as we have a date to go back to.” 303 said with a smirk in their voice before taking my arm and pulling me down the hill, leaving Gill and Maya to their own devices while we ventured back to town. “Oh owner, I misread the room didn't I…”

“Nah, everyone knows they like each other except for each other.” I reassured them with an awkward grimace. The trees were growing further away quickly as we walked to town, until we went from forest floor to dirt roads and finally cobblestone streets.

The night was practically here now, so the town was lit up with lights and guards were out manning the gates and walls, bows and arrows at the ready for some unsuspecting monster who would be walking to the lights.

“You know, there is another party coming up, after Beacontown founding day is done.” 303 brought up in a conspiracy whisper, “You could come and meet me at the drink table again~”

“I don’t think I can meet you for the first time a second time, Eni.” I huffed in amusement, “But, I’ll see if I can make it. What time?”

“Couple days from now, there is apparently another- Oh wait, I’m not sure if you have been told about the whole Jesse thing yet and if I am allowed to tell you since I’m not supposed to know…”

“Of course there is a Jesse thing I don’t know about, they just had to be soooo special huh, buncha power drunk losers if you ask me.”

303 looked at me with a tilt to their head, causing their hood to dip one way to expose more of their lovely face fur that was as black as a void. “Why do you say that?” They asked.

“Jesse has been stealing Lukas’ attention, and he basically always stays at Jesse’s place now, them and their little group have been taking all the cool loot in temples and stuff leaving nothing for us when we get there minutes after they leave, and we don't even get credited with helping stop the WitherStorm! It’s always ‘Jesse is our hero, Jesse is the best, Jesse can do no wrong, Blah blah blah blah’ They mention Lukas more than me, Gill, and Maya COMBINED!”

“What about Edward?”

“He gets talked about enough because he’s an ‘admin’ or whatever, with all his cool powers and cool looks and his stupid little cult he has with his boyfriend and son or whatever Radar is at this point!”

“Hey, hey, hey, calm down.” 303 gasped, taking my hand and placing it on their cheek, it was nice and soft like an Ocelot, their red beady eyes stared into me intensely yet softly. Damn it all, I flexed my fingers to scratch against the fur still feeling very angry, mind you, but a little less, intensely.

“Sorry, that just all came out.” I apologized leaning into their embrace, I always love how they are one of the few people that I am more than ok with being in bodily contact with. Most would give me the ick no matter how much I get to know them, not 303.

“Hey, you needed to let that out, rather me than someone it would be directed at.” 303 shushed me, “Let’s just go back to your place, yeah?” 

“Can’t, that’s Ed’s house for another couple days.”

“Aiden, just make him move out at this point if he is seriously keeping you all out of the house.”

“That’s just how it is, we kicked him out once, and we had to go on a whole mission to find him last time. He was all the way in Boomtown somehow! I got a cool shirt out of it, but it was still a pain to figure out where he went through every traveling adventurer and wandering trader.”

“Yeah, well he’s an admin now, he can deal with it, nether he can build himself a whole mansion he can move out.”

“We don’t have to go that far!”

“Well, he can at least let you back into the house!”

Before I could protest further on how that was a terrible idea, I felt myself fall. A blink later, and we are in the house again, there were some black and purple golems now and all the children in the house in one room at the moment all eating some food.

“Ok, Ed, you are one of my best buds, we’ve made fun of the old builders more times than one, but you need to move into your own home.” 303 declared, crossing their arms stern and firm.

“Oh ok.”

“You have so many kids now, you are an admin now, and- Wait what?”

“I said ok, I’ve been meaning to move out anyways, I was going to wait a bit before I found a really cool looking temple to live in, but I guess I might as well do it now.” He shrugged while everyone else looked at him like he was crazy.

“When were you going to tell ANY of us this!” Gordon asked wide-eyed and shocked, “Unbelievable! Why wasn’t I told this before?!”

“I still need to fix it up, and it was going to be a birthday surprise!”

“Now I need to make a couch so you can sleep on it at the new place.”

“But-”

“No buts, go pack everything.” Wait what!

“Hey, you don't have to leave immediately!” Please don't leave yet, please don't leave yet, please don't leave, yet, I don't need you guys going now too! Why are all my friends starting to leave me?!

“Hey Sweetie, I think we should stay a little longer, I haven't checked the place out yet in full. I mean, imagine if there is something dangerous in there we hadn't gotten rid of and one of the little ones got wrapped up into it.”

I refocused myself back at the moment and saw how Ed was looking at me, damn it, right, mind reading, he heard everything… I can tell this got relayed to Gordon too by how they are both side eying me with furrowed eyebrows.

“Well, when you put it like that, I can see how that would be a problem… Alright, you and I are going to this temple tomorrow. The kids will stay here with Hank and Henry, and we are going to do a very thorough investigation.”

“Yes Gorey…” 

“And what does this not include, dear?”

“Not getting distracted by bodies of water and shiny things and not falling into holes by previous distractions…”

“Exactly, now Aiden, take your buddy to your room and go hang out or something. We will make sure none of the kids bother you, Right, dear?”

“Yes hunny… no sending children to spy…”

“Good, you are still sleeping on the couch, but I will join you on it.”

The rest of the conversation droned out muffled by the door as me and 303 went to my room, sitting on a beanbag that Maya made, feeling my body relax as I sank into the plush chair. I was going to stay awake for longer, but I felt myself fall asleep mere seconds later.

—

Edward the next morning

—

“I’m so sorry we have to leave the kids with you, you’ll have Hank and Henry with you, but they still need supervision.”

“Abbot eats apples at exactly noon with applesauce and apple juice that are all in the ice room ready to be served, Ringo and Brendan will need help tying shoes when you leave for the park today, Make sure Calli and Porter need to stay in the shade, and you need to put water on Porter or put him in water while he is outside when he starts crying.”

Gill and Maya blinked at the start of my instructions, “Ed-” Gill started before I cut them off accidentally because I still had more to say.

“Jacky, Ava, Boris, and Wanda are all going to probably start crying at noon too because that is their nap time. Make sure you put them in the bag of holding, BUT DON'T CLOSE IT! If Clementine gets hurt at the playground or at anytime today make sure she has a bandage or something applicable and make sure she doesn’t take it off before it heals, and please make sure Maxson doesn’t pick any fights with the kids at the playground either, their parents already hate me as it is the last time they played some military game or whatever, and he took it a bit to seriously and broke some kids arm.”

“Edward.”

“And since I am leaving Mozo here, just make sure he doesn’t run off trying to find where I went again. And Rufus is mostly easy to handle except for that if they start crying it's probably because they are overstimulated from the noise and need to be put into a nice quiet environment, that means bag of holding again but still DON'T CLOSE IT has a noise-canceling effect on it that makes it silent outside, but you can hear them inside.”

“We get it Ed, we can handle them, don't worry.”

“And Fred here, we can not stress this enough that you should NOT close the bag of holding all the way you will suffocate them if you do, and they need good airflow and an easy way to access them otherwise if something happens to them inside the bag for whatever reason you can address the issue as quick as possible.”

“I closed it on Aiden ONE TIME, I won't make the same mistake twice!” Gill exclaimed, while I felt Gordon start grabbing my arm to pull me away from the doorway.

“Eddy, Fred, I love you both to death, but please stop stalling. You gave them a 7-page book on everything they need, just go and investigate this temple you found.” Gordon sighed while grabbing our hand and dragging us from the front door.

“But-” I started before Gordon pressed his hand on my mouth with squinted eyeholes, the pupil split in half down the top with the heart shaped pupil leaving it just a triangle- wait does mine do that too?

I’ll figure that out later.

I grasped Gordon's hand tightly while my spare hand opened up the command window and entered the teleport command with coordinates inside along with both our users and executed the command prompt.

The world fell before me and I could feel myself be torn at the seams of my atoms and reconstruct at my destination. I moved my pupils upward to avoid the nauseating landscape that usually accorded, until I felt the mossy ground beneath my legs tentacles and drew them back down.

“Woah…” Gordon gasped, causing a wonderful, warm feeling to burst through my chest as I looked out at the landscape before us.

Glow berries draped down from the cavern roof above, holes in it casting a sunny warmth on the water below. A couple waterfalls that fueled the lake at the bottom poured from one of the walls out of a statue of a human face with face tentacles.

Kinda looks like those prismarine colossi Romeo has back in his temple.

Moss and clay climbed along the walls with the moss making it far higher than the clay, spores dripped from above from large blue flowers that littered the ceiling nestled between berries and moss.

And the center of attention was the towering temple, an ugly combo of prismarine, reinforced deepslate, and nether brick made up the structure and stained-glass. Seriously, did the builders of this not have a stroke making this?!

I know what I am changing here. That is for sure, those walls have to go.

The windows on that note were dark, and didn't seem to have any light source inside for that matter, which was mildly concerning because that means there might be monsters lurking inside in its dark corners.

“What is this biome?” Gordon asked, pulling up the command box to pull up the information tab, “A lush cave?”

“One of the few lush caves not glitched to the point it puts the farlands to shame.” I pointed out looking down at the lake at the bottom of the cave, there were a lot of fish and axolotls inside all swimming around with the axolotls eating the fish.

“You jump in there Edward, so help me…” Gordon sighed before spotting something from afar, “What’s that blue glittering stuff over there?” He asked, pointing at a wall by the temple. I was confused what he was talking about before I saw the sculk littering an entrance into the cave.

“Not the first weird cave thing Gorey, look behind us.” I pointed out the netherrack and magma blocks built in a way that looked like it was exiting the nether portal itself, with some crimson and warped covered netherrack.

I then also pointed to the lake itself, which was almost bottomless, that lead to an inactive portal down there when I first swam in it. Then I pointed up at the suspicious portal looking structure in the room made of some material the information tab couldn’t identify.

“So what? Are you saying this cave has multiple different portals or something?” Gordon asked, a bit concerned.

“Potentially, if I had to guess portal up there is the Ather that is inactive, behind us is the nether, I haven’t found an end portal, there is another portal in the water really far down that is also inactive, and I wouldn’t be surprised if that hallway with sculk had a portal to the deep dark or some kind of deep dark biome was in there.”

“… Maybe we should check that out then.”

“Good idea.”

I picked up Gordon, and we made our way down the little hill cliff we were on and made a beeline for the sculk. 

And what do you know, there is another portal right there made of reinforced deepslate.

However, a slight issue, this one was active.

“What do you think is on the other side?” Gordon asked almost in a trace, looking at the moving swirls of milky white souls, not unlike what was in the glowing bits of Gordon’s mouth and stomach. “We should check it out…”

I was going to warn him against it, but it was of no need when Gordon touched the mist. It practically ran away from him and broke, imploding on itself until it became a tiny speck of dust before poof, gone completely.

“Maybe we aren’t allowed to go through that yet…” I let out an awkward laugh, walking carefully to Gordon when he hadn’t moved from the same spot he had been standing, frozen like a statue. “Hun?”

“Huh? Oh right, yeah. Let's just go back.” Gordon hummed suspiciously before quickly turning back around to the large open area of the cave, I was quick to come along behind giving one last look at the now inactive portal and went for the temple entrance.

It towered above us both, surprisingly with large doors that seemed to be lever activated. The problem was I don’t know where the lever in question is, and the doors are closed- nevermind I found it.

I flicked the lever down, and the sound of redstone and pistons creaking back into function after perhaps years and years of not being used and not being taken care of filled the air. After 17 minutes, it finally opened all the way.

“Looks like we will have to either fix the redstone ourselves or get someone else to do it.” I sighed, walking through and flinching when the door apparently wasn’t done opening and did another click of the pistons!

I heard Gordon snicker behind me, but I ignored it and walked inside the first room, the stained-glass cast light on the walls and lit up drawings painted on the walls. There was an elegant looking ugly yellow carpet on the ground with elegant patterns on the edges going up the stairs. The contrast of the carpet against the floor and walls was not it, though.

But I was correct, there were no light sources in here outside what comes in outside.

Grrr

“Oh, zombies” I sighed, hearing and spotting the zombie before I heard a hiss- “SPIDER!” I darted back out to Gordon and hid behind him spotting the monster that crawled from hell, that temple is now belonging to the spiders now, not ours, the spiders!

“How are you this scared of spiders???”

“I never liked the creepy little things, Gorey kill it please…”

“It is not even a quarter block big, that is probably 9 centimeters!”

“That is 9 centimeters too many- OH FUCK, IT'S GETTING CLOSER!”

“Ed? ED!” He called out before I dove into the water on impulse to get away from the monster. Zombies? I’m fine with them. Skeletons? Very nice. Enderman? We chill. But SPIDERS? Ab-so-lutely NOT!

—

Gordon POV

—

“So you are sure the spider is gone?”

“YES. IT IS GONE. GET OUT OF THE WATER.” I exclaimed, near done with the back and forth of ‘is it gone? Are you sure its gone? What if there is more?’ for what feels like years!

Ask Radar to send some birds down here, birds eat spiders, right?

… You know, that might work.

OS booting up….

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Connection completed.

Welcome, Anomaly_D!

<Anomaly_D> Hey Radar, are you busy at the moment?

<Anomaly_E> Nope! What’s Up?

<Anomaly_D> Can you send some birds to our coordinates to eat up spiders?

<Anomaly_E> Um… I Guess… How Many Do You Need?

<Anomaly_D> As many as possible.

<Anomaly_E> Alright, See You In 9.2 Seconds!

That was… strangely specific-

And in about 2 seconds after I thought that, a portal appeared with an absurd hoard of birds flying out and taking off into the halls! And after the birds flew out for about 7 seconds, Radar stepped in. “So, is this the new place?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to investigate it, but we keep getting distracted.” 

“Radical?” Radar responded with, “That's what Fred says, at least.” “Actually, in this case you are supposed to say sick dig, but that works too.” “On a side note, birds say they got all the spiders.”

“You hear that, Ed!” I called out to the water, “Spiders are gone.” I told him watching him hesitantly pop his head up from under the water before bursting out from underneath, splashing water everywhere.

“Sweet! Let's go then!” He exclaimed as if he wasn’t metaphorically shaking in his boots over a small spider, grabbed my hand and went back inside, pulling me along with now Radar following behind.

There was an elegant looking Red carpet on the ground with elegant patterns on the edges going up the stairs. It looked really nice and contrasted with the floor and walls well enough, I’m sure.

The walls actually had a concerning amount of cracks in it now that I looked close enough, might have to replace it with some replacement bricks or another block. Mob loot littered the floors ranging from spider silk to bones to zombies with birds grabbing it all and flying away.

“Which way should we go first?” Ed asked, looking down at me, unsure which way to go first with so many options.

“Let's go left.” I decided and with a nod we set off left of the main entrance and came across various different rooms from a chapel room, a dining room, a kitchen, and a ballroom for the more notable rooms. It circled back around to the main entrance.

Then, we went up the flight of stairs and got to the second floor. The second floor held a throne room, a library with hundreds if not thousands of books, a room of furnaces and crafting tables, one that was dedicated to brewing, and a music room. Ed freaked out over the various instruments.

Then, we went up the last set upstairs and found where the bedrooms were, They were huge! One looked like the master bedroom with a 3 bed set up made up of the colors Red, Blue, and Cyan, a bathroom attached, and a balcony.

Others had a similar set-up with some moderate size, lacking a connected bathroom, however still had balconies. A majority had the 2 bed set up, but there was one that had a 3 bed set up and a connected bathroom to that had a Purple, Red, and Green set up.

What was more interesting was some had engravings on the doors in enchantment language that seemed to be names, what was weirder was that the engravings had full names.

The master bedroom had my name on there actually, and Ed’s, and someone else that started with a first name R.

“Your last name is Hindman?” Ed asked, muffling a snicker with his hand.

“As if yours is better, Whitlock.” I teased back, letting out a laugh when he stuck his tongues out at me. “Who’s R. Sinclair?” I asked- Wait. What? Ooooooo that might be Romeo~ “Fred says it might be Romeo.”

“How come he gets the shortened name out of everyone here???” Ed asked while I was mentally going, ‘oh my, he shares a bed with us?!’ “I mean come on, we got Radar’s full name, The kids have their full names, and- WHAT IS HE DOING HERE?!”

“What? What’s up?” I asked, coming over to the door Ed was staring at. It was the second room with the 3 bed set up and the first last name of the owner was crossed out, but the first name seemed to be intact.

“That’s Hadrian! Why does he have a door here?!”

“… Are you sure its-”

“Mevia and Otto are underneath his name.”

“Ok, maybe it's not a different Hadrian, then.”

And moments later chaos ensues in the general chat.

<Anomaly_R> @SportsAss1 @SportsAss2 @OttoIsBestBoy WHY DOES A DOOR IN MY SOON TO BE HOUSE HAVE YOUR NAMES ON IT.

<SportsA$$1> What?

<SportsAss2> We are in the middle of a game fuck off.

<OttoIsBestBoy> What do you mean by our names being on a door in your home?

<Anomaly_R> *User posted a screenshot* Your names are written in enchantment on my door.

<OttoIsBestBoy> Oh my!

<SportsAss1> Well it isn’t my problem now it is!

<Anomaly_R> HEY!

<Anomaly_R> DUDE!

<Anomaly_R> TURN OFF YOUR DO NOT DISTURB I WASN’T DONE YET!

<Anomaly_R> GET BACK ON THE MAT YOU COWARD!

Connection Terminated....

I think I’ll just turn off the chat for a bit.