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For years the Entity has lived in darkness on the edge of creation, stealing fragments of more complete realities for its own world, Nexus. It has waited patiently, but now its desire to possess grows too strong and it readies to expand its dominion indefinitely.

At least, until recently. You see, a disparate gang of heroes has recently found itself stuck in Nexus by various means. Some, like the powerful wizard Astro, the heroic power-couple David and Destiny, and the Herobrine-slayer Tyron Dragoknight were actively abducted by the Entity from their various worlds as curiosities and potential chess-pieces. Yet others, such as the young, Herobrine-supporting General, Kay Mandy, or the Herobrine-slaying Steve Brine and Jennifer, interfered in the Entity's plans, and found themselves facing a far larger conspiracy than they'd ever imagined. Yet others, like the Farlands-dwelling sheep farmer, Fristad; the quarter-demon wizard and taco enthusiast, Warnado; and Fire, inhabitant of a Minecraft-based world created with technology ahead of its time, have found themselves in Nexus by random chance and happenstance.

Initially, rather turned around and confused, those heroes not immediately captured accepted the Entity's hospitality and negotiated with it. But then they discovered the horrendous acts of kidnap and torture and murder the Entity has been conducting across the many worlds. The tipping point came when Kay discovered that Astro, a dear friend of his, was being held in wretched conditions by the Entity. This developed into a full escape attempt and then into an out-and-out battle. After surviving being trapped in an arena and an explosive confrontation with The Ender, the Entity's top captain, the new group of allies at last seem to have reached a lull and might be able to escape with their lives.

The Team:

The Tower:

Others:

I lost balance as my feet touched the floor of the great hall but in a second I was up on one knee, Apotyre raised and teeth bared fierce as any animal’s. The Ender and all her host had been here when we left and I wouldn’t let them try that trick with the colosseum again. But they were gone. The hallway was dim. Only friends remained. For the moment.

Exhaustion crashed into me like a wave and I felt the burns on my back and every other wound on my body. I didn’t both getting up fully and amused myself with the observation that my enemies all seemed to love throwing me into colosseums and death games. First Vechs via Vareide, now The Entity via his Grey Ones. It sure was a hell of a coincidence- Oh wait! The Grey Ones must have read up on me, probably thought they were being clever or something. A just revenge after “eleven years” stuck in my world. Ha! They could have done much worse than that!

Conceptually, I mean. The colosseum was genuinely horrifying. I’d wondered we would make it out of that one. The back of my obsidian chestplate still felt hot where the fireball had caught me, and the skin screeched beneath, as if a million suns had scorched my back. Or, was it where I’d caught the fireball? The pain was messing with me and I could no longer remember if that was a deliberate choice or whether I’d tried to flee and been struck down. Then I remembered who I’d been guarding.

“Astro!”

It felt like my ribs were reaching inward to grab at my heart and wrap their arms about it and make sure it was safe, like a mother guarding her young. My eyes leapt about the room to find the other survivors of the colosseum and our comrades who had been left here. Aside from Astro, I hadn’t known anyone there longer than a week.

It was hard to tell where everyone was. The room was dim and hot. Scorch-marks lined the floor and some walls and the air was still warm. Smoke had discoloured the ceiling. There had been an explosion.

My heart was released a little after I found the wizard at my foot. I’d started this breakout to free him. If he’d died… what would I tell Aaron and the others? Then again, I didn’t know this was the same Astro waiting for me on the border of the Vanilla Craft. We’d only been together for an hour but he seemed older, more cynical and he looked at me as if he knew something horrible that I didn’t.

Steve and Jennifer, the Herobrine-killers, were already up and about, scouting for the enemy. Steve, sword drawn, purple eyes sharp. Jennifer, red-haired and bow ready. Their armour was cracked from the fight - Steve was now barefoot - but they would fight until the last. I thought it was strange that, aside from the cracks, nothing had marked them. They were pristine when they should be caked with blood and soot and sand.

They marched up to join Amanda. Since we’d been teleported away, she had taken up a perch atop a statue of a strange, contorted creature with countless limbs, and who scanned the hallway with scowling eyes. Her crossbow sat in her hands, like an attack dog on a leash.

And of course, Fristad, my saviour. He kept grabbing at the purple-glassed goggles, making they were on tight. He offered me a hand to get to my feet, acting very concerned, but I didn’t buy it. He was hiding something. Anyone who transforms into an Endling at random is not to be trusted. Endlings aren’t to be trusted. Period. I didn’t take his hand, struggled up on my own.

On my feet at last, I turned to find the rest of our group. A pleasant sight did not greet me.

Tyron, the gigantic green furball was acting all jittery and grumbling to himself, probably addressing Kir, his sword. That wasn’t a crazy thing. The sword was sentient - something from their world called “Bluestone”. The only abnormal thing about this was that he was talking aloud. I heard him mention “Freak” and became wary. He could appear at any moment. I also felt a pang of pity. This creature was another Herobrine-killer, said to be a great hero, and now he was ready to stab shadows in the hope of gaining revenge on his torturer.

But there was a more pressing issue. David lay sideways against a castle wall, the floor in front of him blackened as if he had been propelled by a blast. The arm which once wielded his gauntlet was now a mangled stump hanging over his blood-covered abdomen. Destiny stood crouched beside him, holding a hand comfortingly to his cheek. Her ponytail had been cut loose, and the ends of her brown hair were singed, embers grow at the far end.

“Notch, what happened to him?” asked Fristad.

“His gauntlet exploded,” said Warnado, whose arm was wrapped around Amanda. It was hard to tell beneath the darkness of his hood, but his eyes seemed to widen in awe and confusion. “It fired the biggest deadly green ball of lightning I’ve ever seen. It was amazing but I can’t actually believe we’re all still alive.”

“It only killed some of the endermen,” warned Destiny in heartbroken monotone. “The rest teleported away. More will come.”

“All the more reason to get the heck out of here as soon as possible,” said Fristad. “Carry him over here and we’ll teleport out of this place.”

Tyron offered to carry the fallen David. I tried to carry Astro but my burns made it pointless. Fristad and Steve ended up doing it. I sincerely wished Fire was there. The absolute size of that one! He could’ve carried both of them. At least an Ending wouldn’t have been carrying my friend. But he was nowhere to be seen.

Then, our newly united group converged on Fristad and vanished into a dimensional rift.

When they appeared in another space, they were in the familiar room of crowded and stacked furniture. Fristad stumbled, as if dizzy.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Fristad groaned between labored breaths. “This is as far as I can go. The strain of teleporting so many people is becoming too much for me.”

“It’s alright, Fristad,” Steve reassured him. “I recognize this place. The exit to the tower isn’t far from here.”

Our motley gang of the battle-weary, the disarmed, and the gravely injured walked as fast as it could. Considering we had two limp bodies in tow, we made good time.

After several hallways and another two flights of stairs, a large, red carpeted entryway and a double door would have been all that stood between us and freedom… if we had have been alone.

Instead, a half dozen armed guards stood along the edges of the carpet, pulling their swords from their sheaths and bows from their backs as they turned to face the attempting escapees.

Then, Warnado reached into his hood and tossed a cylindrical metallic object without warning and screamed, “FLASH OUT!!!”

Then, a white flash and explosion blinded and deafened almost everybody including half of the escapees. Luckily, the other half of the escapees were not blinded and also none of them were deaf, allowing them to slowly make their way to the exit while the guards groaned with their eyes shut and hands pressed against their ears.

The double door was pushed open, and finally the crew breathed the sweet and pure night forest air.

“Thanks for that, Warnado,” I said. “If it weren’t for that metal canister of yours, we’d probably all be dead.” I paused in thought. “Say, can you get more of those? Seems like they’d be quite useful to have around.”

Warnado didn’t answer and instead asked: “By the way, do any of you know what ‘FLASH OUT!!!’ actually means? Because I don’t.”

I rolled my eyes and took that as a “maybe, but I prefer you not knowing”. I laughed a little. He was a weird kid, but I liked his style.

“We should get going,” said Jennifer. “The sooner we get as far away as possible from the Tower, the sooner we can treat Astro and David’s wounds. And the sooner we can all meet up with Fire in the village alive.”

Jennifer stopped for a moment to stop David’s bleeding with some extra leather she had on hand, then she scouted ahead into the shadows of the forest. The rest followed behind, always careful not to leave more tracks than they had to. Traveling at night was perilous business, with the skeletons eyeing for easy targets and creepers potentially lurking around every corner. Luckily, Amanda and Destiny still had ammo to spare, and the rest were in good enough shape to fight the occasional monster. The group took turns carrying the fallen Astro and David.

Nighttime turned to dawn, Fristad transformed into a human again, and the group came to stop at a place where the tower was long gone from sight, and forest obscured the horizon all around them, leaving no sense of direction except the leaf-screened sun above.

“We don’t have nighttime cover anymore,” reasoned Jennifer. “This is probably the best time to set up camp underground.”

“Did you just say, ‘underground’?” Kay asked with confusion.

“Yes. We are going to build an eleven meter by eleven meter underground living space a few meters beneath the dirt,” explained Jennifer.

“We don’t have time for that nonsense!” Kay said. “We have two injured men in desperate need of treatment, and any hour now the Entity’s henchmen could come looking for us!”

“Don’t you realize we’ve thought that through?” Steve snapped. “It’ll take us a few minutes to build the shelter. I don’t know what block physics and inventory size are like in your world, but they certainly don’t apply here.”

“Okay…” Kay snuck a suspicious glance at the now-human Fristad, before glaring back at Steve. “My apologies if I’m skeptical. I do forget we’re all from different worlds.”

Fristad’s brows clenched in confusion, as he racked his brain for what he could have possibly have done to make Kay angry at him. Steve simply flashed a look of contempt at Kay for a moment before pulling a full-sized diamond shovel from his pocket and proceeding to jump into the dirt-floored staircase that Jennifer had just dug up.

A mere minutes later, Steve walked out of the staircase and beckoned the group inside. The pairs carrying Astro and David, and the rest following behind, walked single-file, first down a dirt staircase, then into a stone hallway, and finally into a barren, torchlit square room with stone and dirt walls.

“I’m going to seal the entrance with pistons,” announced Steve. “When I’m done, the staircase should be able to merge with the grass above with the flip of a lever. Need any medical supplies, Jen?”

“I should have enough,” she said, “but I think someone else should use them. We need to mine more resources.”

“Agreed,” replied Steve. “Any volunteers?”

“I can help dress the wounds,” offered Fristad.

“Your kind shouldn’t be anywhere near a body,” snarled Kay, wincing from his burns.

“What is your problem, Kay?” Fristad turned to face Kay, visibly angry for the first time. “If you have something to say to me, then just say it!”

“I would simply prefer that the wounds be dressed by someone else,” said Kay. “And I am more than willing to do it myself.”

“You don’t trust me,” concluded Fristad, regaining his composure. “You’re worried I’ll hurt you and… your friend. I get it.” Fristad turned to face Destiny, who stared listlessly at the injured David. “Do you want my help?”

Destiny nodded silently.

Jennifer placed chests with supplies, crafting tables, furnaces, and beds throughout the room. She then dug the first stone steps of a downward stairwell in the side of the underground room.

Warnado followed behind her and watched expectantly. “You’re digging a tunnel down into a potentially large and dangerous cave system? Sounds like fun! Mind if I join you?” Without waiting for a response, Warnado conjured a ghostly pickaxe. Amanda soon followed behind.

“I’ll stay here,” Tyron offered.

“Sounds like a good idea,” said Steve, as he pulled down the lever on his finished redstone contraption. In a chorus of hydraulic chugs and scratching stone, the grass staircase lifted and became a wall of pistons, blocking off the light from above.

Steve reached into his magically deep pocket and pulled out a square metal object the size of his hand with a rod sticking out of it. He handed it to Tyron.

“This radio will allow you to communicate with Jennifer and I,” said Steve. “All you have to do is press this button and talk into it. Keep us informed. Do you have a clock?”

“No.”

Steve rummaged his pocket again, pulled out a clock, and placed the clock in Tyron’s remaining large fuzzy palm. “We’ll be back before noon.”

It was a bit after midnight when Peter sat back down at his computer, he had spent the last fifteen minutes eating and drinking, he couldn’t afford to take longer, time on the server passed a lot more quickly than in the real world. He didn’t even want to speculate on how long it had been in Nexus. Longer? Shorter?

After a deep breath Peter laid his hands down, one on the keyboard and one on the mouse. As he clicked the server’s address a numb feeling crawled up his fingers, quickly spread through his arms and finally reached his head. Peter’s eyes closed.

A second later Fire’s eyes opened, they were not green like their counterparts in the real world, they were entirely red and emitted a faint light. These eyes were framed by black, shimmering scales. Not everything was completely different though, Fire’s short hair resembled that of Peter, the only difference being that it was completely white. While Peter was by no means short, Fire was still taller by half.

Fire shook his head, transitioning between the real world and the server had always been a transformation, from Peter to Fire, from human to Mencur-Besh. Though as he thought more on it, with what he had seen in the last days he wasn’t so sure how real or how imaginary each of his worlds really were.

Fire’s sister Shadow had been waiting for him on the server. She looked different from Fire yet at the same time they shared some patterns. For example Shadow too had red eyes and black skin, though hers was still the human variety as opposed to Fire’s scales. Her hair was white as well, but very long. She also was very short compared to Fire, and, to be fair, compared to a lot of people in the real world.

“Ready to pack the bags?” she asked.

Fire nodded.

In reality ‘packing the bags’ was a gross understatement for what the two did in the next two days, they turned their storage rooms inside out in search for the most spacious enchanted bags they had. They packed thousands of building blocks of many varieties, though also copious quantities of food, this time not limited to dried and salted meat since they could magically preserve what they took with them.

Fire also got to work on emptying tanks of potions into flasks and brewing new potions where he had nothing stored. The potions were large in variety, basic potions like healing or speed were there in large quantities but he also took more exotic things like contact narcotics, you never knew. Fire also crafted and enchanted several Ender Eyes, he had something special in mind with those.

On the day of their departure they picked out their weapons, Fire’s armory offered no small choice. The halberd he had obtained in Nexus would remain in his base, while it definitely was a fine piece of smithing, it couldn’t compare to his own best weapons.

At the very back of his armory was a display case that housed exactly one weapon of each type, the exception being daggers, which came in a set of two. The weapons on display here were no ordinary steel weapons either, they were made entirely from diamond. While their crystalline nature made them beautiful in its own right, the weapons were otherwise plain and without decorations, above everything else they were functional. On the server making diamond weapons was no easy task, it took years for them to crystallize and without the right technique they would be worthless. The weapons he had here were mastercrafted; he had had a hand in their creation himself. Not just the weapons themselves were of the highest quality but also their enchantments. They didn’t need further magical sharpening, they could split rocks easily on their own, though when looking more closely at the blue crystal a faint dark red glow was visible. A black flame lived inside those weapons that would latch onto anything cut and burn out its life force; akin to a deadlier and more persistent Fire Aspect enchantment.

Fire opened the display case slowly. “Didn’t think I would ever use those. But with the stakes being what they are I’d say we’re all-in here.”

He took a sword, a mace, two daggers and finally a halberd. Shadow didn’t need much in the way of weapons, she was an ascended mage. She wordlessly took the last object in the case, a smooth red-golden ball of metal. As her fingers touched it it seemingly liquefied and slithered up Shadow’s hand, then manifested again as an arm band.

The armor Fire chose was made of a dark metal, called firesteel. It was a combination of high quality steel, obsidian and blaze powder that needed to be woven in specialized forges. The resulting armor was light, flexible and highly protective.

As they were leaving Shadow also took several pieces of enchanted jewelry, those were intended to serve as large reservoirs of life force she could use to cast spells.

The bags they had packed on the day before were now bundled to a backpack that Fire put on over his armor. Some of the bags were also in their inventories, since Fire had confirmed those would work in Nexus as well.

The two siblings walked down the stone corridor side by side, they said nothing until they reached the elevator that would take them out of the base.

Fire double checked his bags and inventory. “So, we have everything?”

Shadow said: “We should.”

They stepped onto the elevator and slowly started rising upwards. Once they reached the top, they stepped out of the tiny wooden hut that disguised the entrance to the base, Fire in a crouched position.

Shadow said: “I can take us directly to the first tunnel, a two-person teleport is manageable. It was near Drysprings, right?”

Fire gave her thumbs up.

Shadow took a deep breath and concentrated, white glowing runes appeared on her skin while she gathered up the life force for her spell. Those runes were one part of what made her an ascended mage. A few moments later Fire felt a violent jolt, suddenly they weren’t standing in the jungle anymore, they now were only a few steps away from the tunnel.

Fire routinely checked if everything was still where it belonged, both in the sense of luggage and body parts. Shadow was a very capable mage, but you could never be too sure with teleports. After coming to the conclusion that everything indeed was where it was supposed to be he moved towards the tunnel.

Shadow asked: “This is where it is?”

Fire answered: “Yes, you might be able to feel a slight energy flow. Just give it a bit more power and it’ll open.”

After a short flare-up of Shadow’s runes, the dimensional rift was made clearly visible, she had much more power at her disposal than Fire had when he was world hopping.

“Hold on, let me try something…” Fire muttered.

He took one of the Ender Eyes he had enchanted from a bag and carefully moved it towards the top of the tunnel, it started slowly floating into it and then disappeared.

“We’ll see if it worked when we’re on the other side.”

Fire went first, Shadow followed right after. They emerged at a familiar place, to Fire at least. They were in the middle of a plains biome, exactly where Fire had entered the tunnel when he was on his way home. So the tunnels were consistent, at least this one was. He also noticed, very much to his satisfaction, that he was still connected to the Mencur-Besh’s mental network. It had worked, the Ender Eye he placed in the tunnel got stuck between the worlds and was now acting as a transmitter. He would now have to place an Eye in each tunnel all the way to Nexus. That way he could still be connected to his own world to see if anything changed there. That and in an absolute emergency he would be able to call for help.

Shadow looked around. “So there really is more out there…”

Fire nodded. “You can imagine what I felt like when I discovered that Nexus was not the work of the admins.”

They started walking, there was still quite a journey ahead of them.

“Stay still, Kay,” insisted Tyron, applying some bandages to his back.

“You’re squeezing half the air out of my chest!” Kay muttered. “Lighten your grip a little…”

“Sorry, is that better?”

“Yes, now can we please get this over with and tend to Astro’s wounds?”

“Please stop yelling,” said Fristad.

Fristad and Destiny were both preoccupied physically and emotionally. Destiny was more visibly reserved, staring sadly as she brushed a wet cloth across David’s gaping wounds. Fristad, meanwhile, seemed to be in pain, perhaps even afraid, despite having no emotional connection to the stranger he tended to, and despite having no wounds from the deadly escape attempt.

In time, the wounds of the incapacitated David and Astro were cleaned and dressed. Destiny held her hand on David’s good shoulder. His face was unusually pale.

“I can only speak for myself, but I think the overnight journey from the tower has taken its toll on us,” said Fristad. “There’s no point in us all staying awake at once. We have a long journey ahead of us tonight.”

“I agree,” said Tyron. “Personally, I could use some food right about now. Assuming there’s enough to go around...”

“Knowing what I know now about Steve and Jennifer, I wouldn’t be surprised if we had lots,” said Fristad.

Tyron opened the chests one by one. “You guessed correctly.”

Tyron pulled out four large steaks from the chests. They were passed around between the four of the awake comrades and they began to take bites out of it, Tyron simply chomping away with his razor-like teeth. Kay and Fristad shared a startled look before Kay’s brow furrowed confrontationally again.

Fristad and Destiny ate the meat calmly, but Kay was tentative, surveying the group with a mixture of sadness and suspicion. At least in part this was due to the lack of obvious cutlery. However, after three false starts he did begin to chew away like the rest. He was startled; it was damn good stuff.

“Wow,” He laughed. “This is so much better than what I’m used to! I’ll have to compliment them when they come back.”

“You must have low standards,” remarked Fristad, surprised.

Kay seemed to forget who he was talking to for a moment: “I won’t deny that. Last thing I really ate was something Fire prepared that must’ve had a cliff-face worth of salt in it. Aside from that I usually eat his cooking, and that’s possibly worse.” He gestured to the sleeping Astro, who rolled over as if on queue.

Fristad chuckled at this. “Well then, we’ll have to fix that!”

Kay smiled ruefully, evidently remembering his prejudices somewhat. “We shall, once these guys are safe.”

“Agreed,” said Fristad.

Once he finished his steak, Fristad’s expression suddenly turned sour. “I… really need to get some sleep. Who’s staying up?”

“I will,” said Tyron.

“I’ll stay awake a while,” Kay agreed, looking around for his armour and the other pieces of clothing he’d taken off in the process. “I’m burned but I’ve been long dead if I can’t fight in this condition. I’ll give you some company for the first leg at least.”

Fristad looked toward Destiny, with a look of sadness and sincerity in his eyes. “I think you should sleep too. Emotions take their toll. More than we like to admit.”

She nodded, face empty and eyelids drooping. She stood up and walked over to David, to whom she, cat-like, curled up. A few moments later she was asleep.

Fristad walked slowly towards the beds on the other side of the room, seemingly reluctant to sleep in spite of his tiredness. As he slid under one of the red covers, he lay with his eyes open for a while, before closing his eyes with a sigh.

The hall was tarnished, littered with bodies and dust. It wouldn’t be like this for long so The Ender decided she had better take it all in while it was still there. It was that damned General according to one of their officers, the dog-faced one. He had gone as far as Astro’s cell and then overpowered his escorts. They didn’t know whether that was his intent the whole time or whether it was a split-second decision. Either way, they’d released a goodly chunk of the prisoners, who had in turn released more prisoners, who had in turn caused havoc throughout the Tower.

Her arm throbbed slightly. She looked down and saw singed scales and was reminded of David’s little trick with the gauntlet. Killed several of her best soldiers. They would not be easily replaced. She could hardly go back to the homeworld, cap in hand, and ask the other generals to reinforce her. She was walking on thin ice with them. They were still intent on conquering the Nether back home and didn’t see the startling range of possibilities out here, in the speckled, shifting mass of creation. They had defeated the humans and the other lesser beings. The Overworld was theirs. Going to the Nether was an old pipe-dream of a grudge and pursuing it would yield no profit.

The Entity had arrived and she had seen two paths. Her people could go and conquer all creation, or they could spend the next thirty years baiting pigmen into traps, clearing out castles and melting away into nothingness.

She knew her path was the one who would truly please the Ancestors…

“Need a potion?” Freak asked, drawing up beside her and waving a pink vial.

The Ender smiled and took it and grunted as her wounded scales reshaped and became bright and new.

“Thanks.”

They turned around and began to wander toward the huge, open door, which seemed to droop outwards as though ashamed. They’d blinded the guards and walked right through. It was an embarrassment.

Freak spoke first as they walked onward: “The Ape is just about done clearing out the East wing. A few rogue Testificates found their way into the armory, but they should be dealt with. Bul will probably be with us any second now, shrieking wildly no doubt-”

At that moment a man shrieked wildly: “What was that?!”

He looked flustered, his suit all crumpled and covered in dust and blood. This was Marinus Bul, the Entity’s steward and/or legal representative. He had been responsible for the negotiation. They should have just taken the Eye and the Crystals.

“The General betrayed us,” The Ender answered flatly. “We’ll deal with them soon enough.”

She hadn’t received word from Silver. The Grey Ones had demanded they be allowed to deal with Kay Mandy personally and they proved impotent. She was ashamed they had once been her own soldiers. Age had broken them. Now she would have to deal with that group herself.

Bul didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. For once, absolutely no words seemed even in the vicinity of his tongue.

“Looks like our master’s troops are back,” sighed Freak. He pointed to a long black line marching along the horizon.

“Good, it’ll be more lucid.”

She grabbed the arms of Freak and Bul and teleported up to The Entity’s chambers.

Sure enough, there it was. Bronze-coated and red-eyed, the Entity sat in its throne. She had tried to gain its attention earlier, but it was spread thin in a raid on World 32. It had manifested five times in that battle and there were several other manifestations Night-knows-where. This was as close to a prime meridian as the Entity had. Was this the first body it took? Who had it been before its influence? Maybe this was someone it had once cherished. Maybe there was no body in there and this was its most pure and undiluted form beneath the armour. The Ender didn’t care.

She cleared her throat. Its head lifted and stared right at her.

A voice stripped of emotion and which echoed no matter what volume it spoke at sounded: “Yes?”

“General Mandy’s part has departed. They have severely reduced the prison population. In particular, he took his friend and his former cellmates, leaving us deprived of-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But I thought we were-”

“The raid on World 32 was a success. The Wizard’s college is under our control.”

“Oh,” The Ender nodded, a realisation creeping through her until: “So, you decided to go ahead with that plan.”

“Yes. In spite of your objections.”

“And you-”

“We now have procured 527 new magic-users. I estimate 487 will survive the march home. Maybe 500 exactly if you adequately prepare at the primary work-site.”

It began to pick at the ends of its white gloves, starting to edge them slightly closer to coming off. It never fidgeted, so this was a calculated and deliberate threat. Its red-glass eyes bore through her and though she’d never seen it show any emotion beyond interest or apathy, she was certain it was furious with her now. As close to fury as this constantly swirling husk was capable. The incoming light of dawn seemed to shake with fury on every part of it. The rubified eyes, the bronze seam. All seemed caught up in the restrained blaze. The Ender struggled not to quake before it, then it twitched and she felt herself released from its gravity.

“Yes, sir,” The Ender bowed her head. “I’ll be right on it.”

“Excellent. After that, you are to immediately set about relocating the General and his fellow escapees. Freak, Bul,-stay. Discussions… are necess-ary.”

Bul shot her a snide, cruel look as she left. Freak furrowed his brows and became interested in the floor, but otherwise showed no opinion.

She left the room quicker than intended. She teleported away as though an arrow had been fired at her, and even as she walked away and began to bark orders in Endish tongues, she could hear the twang of bowstrings, and the whistle of wind through feathers.

She had to prove her worth, fast.

I feel an intense, dry heat. Each breeze seems to burn my skin as it passes by. I open my eyes and am greeted with a great contrast of light and dark. To one side, cavernous cliffs of red stone cast shadow upon sharp rock piles. To the other side is a great, flat sea of shining, churning magma.

I have a strong conviction in my mind that this is the Nether I know from books. Yet, somehow, I feel as if I have been here many times before. There is a sense of solitude here, as if the rocks beneath my feet belong to me. And yet, I feel a growing fear building within me. And it’s not the monsters.

Perhaps the magicians put me in another one of their experiments, to force me into a dangerous situation. Perhaps a situation which forces the Book to take control…

I look around me. The cliffs are so barren and red. There is nothing resembling life except the occasionally two-legged porcine corpse.

I feel a wall with my hands for a sturdy grip, hoping for a way out somewhere beyond it. But then, my arms twitch in surprise, tearing loose rock, as a familiar voice echoes just behind my head.

“There is no need to do that.”

I turn around as fast as I can, and see the figure which I recognize as a manifestation of the Book. In spite of all the negative feelings I felt when I heard that voice, the moment I see the figure, I feel relieved.

I smirk knowingly. “It’s good to see you again.”

“Is it?” the figure replies with glee. “I was hoping you would say that.”

The figure conjures a dagger and puts it in my palm.

“Ever since you crafted the enderman armor, I feel like we have established a special bond, one which transcends speech. I want you to prove it to me.”

A cow appears before me. A sudden fear grows within me, begging me to stop, but nevertheless I plunge the dagger into its neck. The creature howls and turns to white smoke before I can process the motions, the memories so fleeting I feel as if I have done this hundreds of times before. The habit of obedience. The habit of trust. I hate it.

“Why did you kill the cow, Fristad?” says the Book, testing my motives.

“Because I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.”

“Do you understand what that implies?”

“It means I will do anything for you, even things you don’t tell me to do,” I say, “Do I really have to say it? Why must you put me through this? I’ve already endured so much suffering just to prove my loyalty to you. If you have any mercy at all, then please, don’t make me kill people as senselessly as you made me kill that cow!”

“Do not worry, Fristad,” says the Book. “If I really wanted you to kill people, I would forbid you from feeling remorse. However, there is something I wish to forbid. From now on, you are forbidden from protesting my desires. Do you have any objections, Fristad?”

Suddenly, I feel as if a piece of myself is torn from me and shoved into a bubble. The bubble seems to buzz with anger and fear, screaming repeatedly “no” and “resist” and “wake up.” But in spite of the strong feelings this bubble feels, I can no longer act upon them. I can only respond to the Book with silence.

“Of course you cannot act upon those feelings. As much as you may still feel attached to those feelings, Fristad, you must understand that they do not matter. They are simply distractions!”

My fellow escapees from the tower appear in a circle around me, from the armored Steve and Jennifer, to the wary girl, to the mage which Kay considers a friend. All stand before me, awake yet still, as if stuck in a stupor. I fear for their safety, yet can only stand and watch.

“One of the people who stands before you will become under your control: a friend to you and I, just as we are to each other. You get to choose which one… but not now.”

The people vanish.

“I will wait until tomorrow evening before requesting your decision. If you do not state a person, or for any reason protest or resist the decision, you will be forced to endure pain and terror far beyond anything you have experienced before.”

I feel a hint of happiness and excitement from the Book, as if it looks forward to punishing my disobedience.

Then, the figure and fiery world around me vanish. I am still, suspended in darkness.

“You are no longer forbidden from protesting my desires. The consequences are yours.”

The light of the torches was dim but constant, scarcely flickering so much as waving. It was strange to me; too perfect and too impenetrable. My eyes were heavy and my back ached badly as I fumbled with the straps of my breastplate.

“By Jeb,” I whispered to the green man, Tyron. “My back is gone. Sorry about snapping at you back there, it really bloody hurts.” I bent over chuckling in agony and he seemed to smile.

“What happened to you that messed your back up so much?”

“Two large fireballs were thrown at me. I knocked one away and had to block the other one… with my back.”

“Ouch,” Tyron winced.

“In hindsight, I probably should have just dodged it but that wasn’t nearly heroic enough.”

Tyron laughed.

“Nah, I get you,” he nodded. “I did some crazy things in my time as well. I’ll have to tell you about them some day.”

“Why not now?”

His face went very serious a moment. “I’ve got to find out if they meant anything.”

I remembered a phrase being touted recently. It was coined by some journalist when describing the Thaumic crisis, saying it was like being “kicked in the soul”. Tyron had just reminded me of that kick, and how harsh it had been, and who the kicker had been.

“I understand,” I gave up on fiddling with my breastplate, set it aside and placed a hand amidst the fur on his arm.

The silence was long, but there was a comprehension in it, an understanding.

“So, what’s with our little sword-friend?” I hoarsely muttered. “He’s been awful quiet.”

“Hello!” It chirped. “Kir! Kay: new friend?”

I laughed loudly at the shock of it but then covered my mouth. David shifted his fevered brow slightly but didn’t wake.

“Friendly little thing isn’t he?” I beamed. In my head I accepted its offer of friendship. The colours within my mind lit up and my mood with them. It was pleased.

“Yes, he’s a vein of bluestone. It’s a sentient rock. Don’t know what I’d do without him. We’ve been through it all - the dragons, Herobrine, the First and now this.”

I nodded.

“And what about you?” Tyron asked, the slant of his eyes taking on a more friendly angle. “You and Astro?”

I deliberated, thinking back over it all. If I could tell Warnado and if I could tell Fire, I could tell him.

“I won’t say we go way back, but it feels that way. Met him about four years ago now in Zine Craft - wealthy Craft in the Old Continent. He helped me out after I got into legal trouble, helped me build an airship…” I felt myself even then getting lost in the nostalgia but pressed on. “Then - it’s complicated. My house was blown up, I was arrested for treason and then I ended up working for…”

I looked him in the eyes and was terrified at what the reaction would be. “Listen, I know this is not viewed as a good thing to do in interdimensional circles but I assure you, it is fine where I come from. At least, it is now. It should have been before too but it’s complicated.”

“Oh come on,” Tyron waved a hand. “I’m sure it’s not that bad.”

I felt my cheeks going red and realised the thickness of his claws.

“Well, I don’t think it is. I’ve just mentioned it and at least two people I’ve met so far have been rather appalled when I mentioned it-”

“Is it embarrassing?”

“No.”

“You didn’t become an exotic dancer or something?”

“What, no!”

He laughed voicelessly at my indignation. Kir seemed to find it hilarious.

“Then what is it?”

I breathed deeply. “I became a general of Herobrine in a war against Notch.”

Silence.

“Not good,” Kir seemed agape at this.

“Thats - fine,” Tyron stared off into the distance, teeth gritted.

“I know he does genocidal things across other worlds but this one is different. I swear. We didn’t even want to go to war. Israphel started it-”

I kept trying to project images of what happened to Kir, but I did it way too fast and the response was “Slow, slow!” I was panicking a little so I just kept going. Jeez, what happened to my nerves? I needed to get back in command of something.

Peacetime was ruining me. Hah! “Peacetime”.

“Okay, seriously, slow down. Kir’s trying to relay it to me, and I can only keep up so well.”

“Sorry”. I slowed my mind apologetically.

A long pause as Tyron’s face contorted as if he were sucking something close to a million lemons. Then, at last, speech.

“I have no clue what you’re trying to communicate. All I can piece together is that this Herobrine seems totally different to the one I killed. That’s enough for me. Different strokes for different worlds I guess. It’s cool.”

“Oh thank Jeb,” I laughed, no longer caring too much about those sleeping. “I was terrified for a second. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I really need to fall asleep now. I am dying. It’s a pleasure to meet you though.”

“And you too,” Tyron shook his head, looking as if I were the most singularly strange thing he’d ever seen. Excellent, I was winning ground back from Fire and Warnado in the aggressive quirkiness department.

I saluted and collapsed back onto a bed on the other side of the room, only half-aware of having walked to it. And I settled into my usual slate of strange and unsettling dreams.

They walked through the different worlds quickly, only stopping to eat, drink or to place Ender Eyes in tunnels. The only other stop they made was in the world where Fire… Claw had killed the hunters since they wanted to inspect the scene once again. The blood was still on the ground but the bodies were gone, so was the satchel of diamonds Fire had left there.

They finally arrived in the small, distorted clearing in Nexus. It was in the middle of the night when they came out of the tunnel. Fire could still feel his connection to the network, weak and full of static, but it was still there. They quickly left the forest and went to the road, from there to the town. Before his departure Fire had made sure that his room would remain reserved for some time. They arrived at the tavern without further problems, after greeting the owners, Fire and Shadow went upstairs. Fire laid down on his mattress and Shadow magically projected one for herself.

The next morning Fire checked a small apparatus he had built, a bit of redstone hooked up to a clock. According to the redstone charge, significantly less time had passed in Nexus than Fire had spent on his journey. He had assumed something like this but this was the confirmation, time passes differently between worlds.

Shadow woke up, stretched and yawned. She asked: “So, we’re supposed to look for somebody, right?”

Fire answered: “I overheard some talk about a prophet and his congregation being near here. They also talked about his guard called Steve. Now, with everything being Minecraft based around here, Steve should be a fairly common name, I even ran into one in the Tower. I do remember Kay talking about a Steve as well, who may or may not be the same Steve as this prophet’s guard. Anyways, we go out and find them, we’ll probably meet someone who has a bit more insight into the situation at hand.”

Shadow got up and yawned again. “Good plan. Now excuse me while I finish waking up. Haven’t actually slept in a few months.”

Kay, Amanda, and Warnado reluctantly woke up that evening, as the whole group prepared for a full night’s journey through the forest. Even Astro was finally awake, and able to stand with assistance. Kay was glad to have him back.

The same could not be said for David, who still needed to be carried by the others. Destiny grew increasingly restless as the night went on. She squeezed David’s hand, telling him that everything would be alright.

Another night turned to dawn and the group made camp underground once more. Tyron and Jennifer carried David into the room and set him down on a bed which Steve had placed, to try to make him more comfortable.

“He’s not looking very good,” said Jennifer, “or sounding very good, either. He’s barely breathing.”

“He’s strong…” Destiny insisted. “I know he is. He’ll overcome this, just like he always does!”

“We can’t just stand around and do nothing!” said Tyron.

Astro raised his hand from where he sat. “I can help him.”

Kay turned toward Astro with a look of disbelief. “Not in that condition!”

“He’s far worse off than me. I can’t just sit here and watch him die. Help me up, Kay.”

Destiny’s sad eyes stared softly at David’s closed lids.

Astro approached slowly, his arm over Kay’s shoulder. He bent over the bed, rested an arm on the sheets, and placed his hand on David’s chest. He closed his eyes and his brows furrowed in concentration.

Suddenly, David gasped, and his eyes opened.

“David!” said Destiny, a tear falling from her eye as she smiled.

“You’re alive,” David said, eyes watering in happiness. His voice was whispy and faint, as if the words themselves had run some distance and were about to collapse. “The gauntlet…”

“It’s gone,” said Destiny, eager. “The endermen, too. They’re far away now. We’re safe.”

“That’s wonderful. I can’t wait to… I’m so…”

David’s voice trailed off and his eyes closed.

Astro winced in pain. Kay grabbed him before he could collapse onto the bed.

“There’s no time!” insisted Tyron. “Is there anyone else that can help him? Warnado? Fristad?”

Warnado stood frozen in place, staring at David.

Fristad shook his head in sadness.

“Warnado?”

Warnado broke eye contact. “I can’t.”

Destiny continued to stand by David’s bedside as the others, at a loss of what else to do, finished building the underground bunker and planned out their shifts. As many of the others went to sleep, Destiny stayed awake.

She whispered to David, still smiling faintly, recounting all the times they shared together:

“Do you remember that time we were running by those bluffs… I pushed you off and grabbed you, and we were flying over the ocean? Or maybe that one time we were fighting alongside each other… they stabbed me in the back, and I was trampled. The others assumed I was dead… but you didn’t, and you fought through them and pulled me out? Or the cave?”

“We’ve always been there for each other” she said, “and I’m still here for you.”

Doubt flashed through Destiny’s mind as she wondered if David could hear her. His face looked strangely still. Destiny pressed her fingers against David’s neck, and then burst into tears.

An hour later, as Destiny’s tears went dry, it became clear that David was gone forever. Kay walked up to Destiny and put a hand on her shoulder, consoling her.

The whole group ascended to the surface, where they helped carry the body some distance from the shelter. Steve dug a hole with an iron shovel, but it was far too big. Tyron and Fristad ended up digging it in the pouring rain which burned orange in the light of the declining sun.

Steve looked about himself sadly, then went off and fashioned a tombstone from a sign. This only lasted a few seconds, and the others were still digging, so Steve stood uncomfortably beneath the shelter of a tree. Kay was stood beside him, still too wounded to be of much help in the digging. Astro was propped against the tree, barely conscious, bleared eyes floating about Destiny.

“What was his full name?” Steve asked after a long silence, spinning the sign by its handle.

“I don’t know,” Astro sighed without looking at him. “That’s strange... He told me quite a bit about himself back at the Tower. Didn’t mention his second name.”

“No clues?” Steve pressed, eyes pained.

“He said he was reincarnated from a guy called Carter,” shrugged Kay.

“David Carter? Sounds about right.”

“I didn’t say that was his name.”

“Then why tell me that?”

“I don’t know. I was thinking perhaps they had the same last name.”

“Okay. What was his last name?”

Kay looked at Steve earnestly: “You’ll have to ask her.”

He nodded at Destiny, who stood staring at the growing grave. The rain was pelting down on her.

For a second Steve thought of calling out to her and asking, but he couldn’t conceive a way of saying it. He would always come across too casual or falsely interested. Hi! What’s the surname of your dead lover?

“David it is.”

Jennifer and Amanda came back with a large bundle of flowers, and wordlessly handed it to Destiny.

Warnado was sat in the branches of another tree, staring down at David’s body.

As Destiny watched the body of David be set into the grave and the dirt be filled on top of it, Destiny couldn’t help but feel as if the man she loved was being buried alive, and felt like she should stop them. But she didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Her lover’s death felt so sudden… so senseless. Destiny hated the endermen for taking him away. She hated the tower. She hated this dimension.

The soil above David was smoothed out, and the grass replaced. Destiny walked up to the patch of grass whose seams were barely visible, and scattered the flowers atop it like flour or like dust.

When evening came again those who remained resumed their journey.

As the moon shone high above them, the trees thinned out, and the grass became long and crackled under their feet. The shadows of scattered buildings against the starry sky could just barely be seen at the edge of the horizon, along with a faint orange glow. As the shadows of the buildings rose, the group began to step over rows of crops and pass by sleeping cows and horses.

They then stepped onto cobbled roads, passed the first dimly torchlit buildings, and scouted out an inn.

One building in particular looked promising. It was three stories tall, and the first story windows and half-open door shone with a welcoming light.

Kay stepped into the entryway and looked around. In front was a short staircase with steep steps. To the left was a door, locked. To the right was a dining area, mostly empty. A few cups and plates were left on the tables, and a couple benches were knocked on their sides. In a far dark corner of the room, four shadowy humanoid creatures with glowing red eyes sat around a table playing poker.

Kay beckoned for Tyron to follow him as he walked toward the shadowy group. As they got closer, they could see that the creatures wore dark clothes which matched the color of their skin.

“Excuse me,” said Kay, “would any of you know where I could find the innkeeper?”

“He’s asleep,” replied one of the creatures, “but you can talk to the guy in the kitchen.” The creature pointed to the doorway opposite the front windows.

“Much obliged.”

Kay and Tyron entered the kitchen, where a man stood at a table, reading a book as a pot simmered over a fire.

The man at the table turned around. A brief flash of annoyance went across his face before he composed himself. “You here for lodging? For food? Or…?”

“Nine - eight of us are just looking for a place to stay the night,” said Kay.

“You have money?”

Kay looked to Tyron, as if suddenly realising the absence of a loyal friend.

“I’ll go get Warnado. He has some,” said Tyron.

Tyron left the kitchen, and a moment later Warnado entered.

Warnado reached into his pocket and squinted in concentration. The kitchen man reached his hand out expectantly, only to have his hand covered in raspberry jam, with the glint of gold coins beneath the sugary slime. The man’s eyes widened in a mixture of disgust and surprise.

“Don’t worry, it’s just raspberry jam,” said Warnado.

“Um…” the man replied. “I think this is enough. Hold on a minute.”

The man rid himself of the jam as best he could with a rag, then left the room. He returned with a handful of keys, which he placed in Kay’s hand.

“Your rooms are on the third floor, nearest to the end of the hall. You can stay until noon, then you have to pay up again. But please…” the man added with a groan, “use clean coins next time.”

Warnado nodded absentmindedly.

The group walked up the stairs. Tyron and Steve struggled the most to keep their feet on top of the narrow steps. There was a curved pattern wallpaper on the walls in relatively good condition, and the banister’s carved design was intact and varnished. But the wooden steps creaked like they were a century old, and it was doubtful that they could sustain the weight of so many people for long.

As the doors to the bedrooms were unlocked, each of the travelers eagerly crawled into the beds and drifted quickly into nighttime sleep… except for Destiny, who lay awake, brooding David’s death.

When I closed my eyes in the tavern and rolled over into peaceful sleep, I did not expect to see so soon after. It wasn’t that I woke up - it was as if my eyes had never closed. Instead I had simply changed the scene I was looking at.

I was in the cave I had slept in several days before, when I had been among friends. It was nighttime. Beyond the ledge there was only fog.

I ruminated on this place of safety I was parted from. Before fate had ensnared me in another adventure. But now I had not even the rewards of earlier quests. No friends. No money. Not even a title that was worth a damn.

I felt very tired, older than my years and rather feeble urge to cry.

Then, I realised I was not alone. I turned, elated. But it was not Him. I should have expected that. Herobrine has made silence a habit.

Instead there was a radiant woman clad in white. Grey eyes. Pale skin. Slender as well. Quite attractive. If I didn’t know better, I wouldn’t have thought she were real.

She spoke:

“You must be Kay.” A warm smile smouldered on her face. Her voice was faintly ethereal. “It’s about time we talked.”

“Yes I am,” I answered warily. “Who are you?”

“Sorry,” she responded, the smile not fading. “Rude of me, especially when you desperately wanted to see someone else. I am the Lady of Dreams.”

She paused. I got the impression this was supposed to be reassuring if not impressive.

“I’m still waiting on a name.” I cracked an impatient smile to hurry her on.

“I’ve no name but my title.” Still that smile. It was genuinely affectionate, but I couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. “My kind don’t have names.”

“Yes,” I cocked my head. Was she trying to withhold information? “And let me guess: are you here to contact me in my dreams to encourage me along on my quest? Possibly dictate to me what that quest is? Perhaps you aided one of my comrades in a previous quest. Actually, you don’t work for the other Steve, do you?”

She seemed confused.

At first I felt presumptuous, but then felt my mind being searched. I could have stopped her quite easily but I left that information open. It was better hold onto that card for the ideal moment.

“No,” she said, seemingly unaware that I’d detected her efforts. “I don’t know him personally, but our goals are perhaps similar.”

“Then, you should know I was reluctant to help him.”

I felt the searching again. Again. I didn’t try to stop her. She was hurrying. Something had placed her under pressure and she was in a rush to converse with me, possibly with someone after.

“Yes, I assumed.”

“So, have you enough information to convince me, or do you need to read my mind again?”

“Yes.” The smile was gone. A more grave and worried air took over. “Thank you, I was wondering if you’d say something. Sorry about such a rudimentary method; I’m in a hurry.”

“I can imagine.”

She breathed deeply before beginning: “I won’t pretend to know the situation; I’m not from here. I just sensed a troubled soul who might do with someone to talk to. It’s my job, so to speak. I don’t know what’s happening in this strange little world. I’m not sure I want to know. I do want to know what happened to you.” She smiled sincerely and reached out a hand. “I’ve helped a lot of people this way; let me help you too.”

I was rather tempted in that moment.

“I’ll think about it,” I said.

“Is it really that difficult to trust me?” she laughed.

I sat down on a rock and laughed too. I thought about it as I did so, looking at the spring. I tried toying with the speed of the flowing water - something small she might not notice. It slowed to a crawl. Good. I was at least part-way in control here.

“Well, is it?”

I looked up from the spring.

“Yeah, actually,” I said unapologetically, letting my accent slip into Thaumic brogue.

With that I expelled her from my mind. It was as though she slammed through the cave wall and shattered the world like glass. I felt myself slip between the cracks and into empty spaces that nightmares flowed through readily. Hamish’s split face, the Endling hordes before Zine’s walls, the cold I’d felt after I took a bullet for Him in Arcadia, the ashes of all my homes and more were in prominence.

But most of all, I was cast back to the last moments of the battle for Zine Craft. Not Notch’s death. Not Jeb containing Israphel. Instead, I remember how Israphel used the Eye to open the End and shatter half the city. As dragons burned the sky and the screams of thousands rose through the smoke, I fell through the cracks between worlds. I floated in that silent realm and I stared into the searing dark and in it I felt a power, a presence, older than Herobrine or Notch or Israphel. And I thought I felt it reach out towards me, to take me and consume me.

That night I kept coming back to that blackness, and imagined the horror lurking within.

And this dread lasted every second of that night. Each moment felt like a lifetime, and I believed I’d be an old man by the time I awoke, sweat on my brow and my breathing leaden.

As they walked the streets they got even more strange looks than Fire had gotten when he was traveling alone. It was understandable though, the people were used to humanoid creatures with vastly different looks. Abnormal humans like Shadow were still a rarity, although some of the looks were definitely not ones of distrust or aversion, the opposite was the case. Shadow turned to Fire and smirked, confirming his observations.

At random they approached a woman. Fire asked: "I have heard rumors about a prophet, do you happen to know where he is?"

The woman was a bit surprised by being asked something like this by someone like Fire but then she answered: "Yes, he preaches on a tall hill to the east of here, I've been there a couple of times myself. Most of what he says is nonsense but occasionally there are things he foresees that actually happen how he said, if you interpret them a bit more loosely."

Fire thanked her and then continued moving.

Shadow asked: "Where exactly is 'east' in Nexus?"

Fire pointed. "That way. The cardinal directions are based off the Tower's four main wings. They become more useless the further you move away from it since less and less people know about them. I think I have actually seen that hill on the map the Ender showed me, it should be a few hours away from here, assuming we would travel at normal human speed, I think we'll get there a bit faster."

"Let's go there then."

They took the quickest way out of the masses of the town they could find, then turned east. A lot of the way would be plains but the hill itself was surrounded by a dark oak forest. Fire could tell that Shadow was quite excited about the entire situation, he would be too if he hadn't been at the negotiations personally. The Entity's presence alone was imposing, it clearly was nothing to be easily messed with. He was worried about the implications of what he had found out so far about the Entity's expansion plans. He'd have to find out more sooner or later, the prophet was a first step in that direction.

I feel aware of my surroundings, but my eyes are closed. There is an unplaceable chorus of chattering voices playing in one of my ears, quiet enough that I could easily ignore it and go back to sleep.

Part of me wishes that I could. But a larger part of me recognizes I have a role to play, that we’re all trying to figure out how to get back to our own worlds. And I’m certainly no use to anyone if I’m just laying around in bed!

I sit up and open my eyes, then flinch away at the unexpected blinding light of the window.

Then, I remember with dread another role I have to play… a promise to the Book I must fulfill. I don’t know the girl’s name. I wish I never find out, but I know that once it’s all over, I will know a lot more about this girl than just her name.

I feel a comforting feeling… and a brief moment of happiness. For a moment, it numbs the sensation of dread.

“It will be easier if you don’t resist me so much,” the Book insists, with benevolence that nearly feels genuine.

But I resist it, drawing from seemingly emotionless memories of morality. Then the dread returns.

I slide my legs off the bed and shove aside the faded quilt blanket. Now, where the heck are those voices coming from?

A made bed, a sealed door, and two flights of stairs later, and it seems the source of the commotion was just the inn’s dining area. I quickly recognize Kay and Tyron chatting at one of the tables, with Steve, Jennifer, and the others sitting there too. Jeez, I must have overslept!

I sit at the empty end of their bench and find myself sitting across from the quirky magical boy who calls himself Warnado. That’s a hard name to forget. But the girl I dread to see is sitting right next to him. I try not to think about that.

“Would you like some soup?” Warnado asks. “It’s on me”

“Sure, Warnado.”

Warnado stands up and walks away. Dreading the idea of engaging in conversation with the girl I’m supposedly about to enslave, I turn toward the rest of the table and see Kay’s friend sitting next to me, turned away, in what appears to be a very engaging conversation with Kay and Tyron. Seeing no good way of entering their conversation, and knowing how strange it would look to stand up from the table and find other company, I decide that the only reasonable way to counter the Book’s sole presence is to talk with the girl herself.

“You never did tell me your name,” I remark to the girl.

“Amanda,” she says, “and I actually don’t know your name either.”

“Fristad Heltz,” I tell her, “from Veridale of the Farlands. I’m an animal farmer.” I decide to talk longer, to stall until Warnado comes back. “I have a farming partner named Jonas. He’s an enderman halfblood, believe it or not. And my best friend. Aside from that, I’ve had a pretty ordinary life. Perhaps too ordinary, for some.” I motion to the motley group sitting with us. “Although I guess there are some aspects of my world that aren’t so ordinary to people from other worlds. Even something as simple as the food I eat. It seems people from other worlds have fundamentally different ways of cooking!”

Warnado returns and places a bowl of soup and a spoon in front of me. The smell is unusual, but still makes my mouth water.

“Thank you, Warnado,” I tell him, before immediately diving my spoon into the soup, only to spit the first spoonful out as I realize it’s very, very hot.

Amanda bursts out laughing.

“See?” I tell her, pointing at the soup, “like that!”

“Is there something wrong with the soup?” Warnado asks.

“Depends. Is it normal in this world for soup to be this hot?”

“...Probably?”

“We have to go, Fristad,” someone says to me. I look up, and it’s Jennifer.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“Everyone’s leaving the inn because of someone called ‘The Prophet.’ It seems important. It might tell us something important about this world.”

I resist the urge to sigh, and stand up from the bench, momentarily glancing at the unfinished soup before following the others out of the inn.

“The Prophet speaks again!” someone proclaims ahead, just audible through the din of an excited village crowd. “An era of darkness is upon us!”

I look at Jennifer with confusion, and she responds with a sympathetic nod.

Steve walks up to her. “It’s not far from here,” he tells her. “I think we should visit this prophet, and see what he’s all about.”

“I agree,” says Jennifer.

“Warnado’s found a carriage that can take us.”

We maneuver through the crowd to a carriage at the edge of town, one of many. As carriages load up and depart, some people run toward the moving carriages and climb onto them, while many others travel on foot.

Just ahead of us, Warnado hands the driver of a large carriage a sum of coins, and opens the carriage door.

I climb into the carriage just behind Jennifer. Destiny and Tyron sit across from me. A couple townspeople enter behind Warnado before the door is closed and the town drifts off behind the edges of the carriage windows.

“So… who exactly is this ‘Prophet’?” Steve inquires from the townsperson sitting across from him.

The townsperson, a man wearing a thick, coarse-fibered vest, with a goatee in need of trimming, turns his gaze toward Steve. “No one truly knows who the Prophet is or where he came from. All I know is that he speaks the truth, as handed down from the gods of many worlds.”

“Gods of many worlds?” the other townsperson replies skeptically. “I don’t think I’ve heard that explanation before.”

“How else can it be explained?” the goatee townsman responds rhetorically. “We all come from different worlds, each worshipping our own gods, and now our people and our worlds have been brought together. Surely that must be the will of the gods.”

“So that’s why there are such abrupt changes in terrain…” Steve responds with realization.

“What about this ‘era of darkness’ that the Prophet is predicting?” I ask. “Any idea what that’s all about?”

“It could be anything,” the other townsperson says. “That’s why I want to hear more of what he has to say.”

“Let’s not beat around the bush. An era of darkness is never good news,” says the goatee townsman. “The wrath of the gods, certainly, but beyond that I don’t know. This combined world is new. There cannot have been enough sins to justify the punishment of the gods. Perhaps this future of darkness is the work of evil gods who have taken control.”

I try to make myself more comfortable in my armor, despite the jerking movements of the carriage over bumpy terrain. I really wish there was some way I could take it off.

“Do we know if this era of darkness is connected with the champion?” the other townsperson asks.

“What? The one who will command the forces of life and death?” says the man with the goatee.

“Yes, that one.”

The man strokes his goatee and thinks for a moment. “You may be on to something.”

“I certainly hope it’s the case. If something bad is about to happen to our world, I hope there would be someone who could stop it.”

I find the man’s theories distinctly unsatisfying. Another hero’s prophecy? All predicted by some man that no one knows, who answers to gods engaged in some unknown battle for good and evil? There has to be a more concrete explanation. Gods don’t give hints when they want something that badly from mortals. At least… my gods don’t.

As the carriage continues onward, Kay engages liberally in conversation with his fellow riders, his mage friend following suit. Every once in a while the mage’s eyes lock with mine before he turns away his gaze a moment too soon in discomfort. It seems that whatever feelings Kay has about me have been passed on to his friend. The Book brushes across my mind a sense of intrigue and suspicion toward the mage, feelings that I do not disagree with.

The sound of echoing voices begins to come in through the carriage windows. The voices grow louder until the carriage starts to slow.

Then, the voices suddenly go silent. And in the place of all the voices which went silent, the cry of a single voice is barely audible.

I leave the carriage with the others and find myself at the back of an incredibly large crowd on the side of a rocky hill, with a small but dense forest around it. At the top of the hill stand two people, seemingly the source of the single voice crying out.

I have to focus in order to hear the words of the lone voice, and even then they are not completely audible. One moment, I hear bits and pieces of a story of brothers and sisters engaged in a feud. Another moment, I hear a broken analogy of throwing different sized stones against a wall. Yet later, I hear a story about a creature - what kind exactly I cannot say - laying still at the base of a waterfall. On and on the voice rambles stories, with seemingly no connection between them. There is something almost anxiety-ridden to the voice’s pitch, as if at any moment its speaker could collapse dead on the ground. But over time, I develop a hunch, a guess, to the voice’s distant and uncertain words. It revolves around a single theme, and that theme is… “sleep.”

Not all the stories seemed to be connected to it. As far as I could tell, they were almost all detached moral proverbs. But every once in a while, I would catch a word that stood out of context, which I could not identify at the time. “Rest.” “Death.” “Sleep.” “Dream.” And then every once in a while, I would catch pieces of a story that did not seem to have a happy ending. Natural disasters and murder, generally. These stories would usually end abruptly. The voice would then pause for a moment… and then return to the proverbs.

I look toward the furry green man standing next to me, who calls himself Tyron, and give him a look of confusion. I do not want to disturb the crowd of people in front of me by talking over the distant voice, but I hope I can get some assurance that I’m not the only one who hears something dark and disturbing from that voice on top of the hill.

Tyron notices me a moment later and nods toward me, his annoyed face seemingly saying, “Tell me about it.”

Eventually my mind starts to drift and lose focus from the distant voice. Why are we all at this hill, anyway? More importantly, why are we all here, people from many different worlds, in the same world? Is this a common occurrence? No, it can’t be normal. That wouldn’t explain the abrupt changes in terrain that Steve mentioned earlier.

Which leads me back to the same existential questions: Why here? Why now?

Could the Book be somehow connected to all this? No, that can’t be the case. Steve and Jennifer seemed surprised when I told them about the Book, and they seem like honest people.

That just leaves that one mysterious criminal stronghold we escaped from, with an unexplained interest in the artifacts possessed by Steve, Kay, and Jennifer… and an unexplained desire to establish contact with other worlds…

If the prophet is right about an era of darkness coming upon us, could it not be the work of the gods at all? Could that criminal organization really be powerful enough to attract the attention of the gods? And the gods brought us all here to fight it? No, that’s ridiculous. That would imply that the gods are too weak to handle their problems themselves.

After I disengage myself from my thoughts and listen closely to the words of the distant voice again, the words eventually trail off into silence. The crowd begins to dissipate and echo with indistinct chatter. I follow Tyron and the others back to the carriage, where we encounter a pair of unfamiliar visitors.

One is tall and covered in formidable, sleek black armor from head to toe. The other, about half the size, wears a black robe clinging closely to its form. Long, straight white hair hangs out of its hood. Its skin, just visible beneath the hood, is nearly the same shade of black as its robe, and its eyes glow red. And the creature, despite its size relative to the tall armored one, stands with confidence, with a hardness to its gaze that could almost be perceived as a subtle sense of superiority.

“Can I help you?” Kay asks the two black figures cordially.

“Hello Kay, I wondered when I’d run into you again,” says the figure wearing the heavy black armor.

“So soon?” says Kay, “and you aren’t immediately threatening to kill me or arrest me? Not that I’m complaining, of course. I’m more than willing to discuss our differences peacefully in spite of what happened at the Tower.”

“Oh, you must think I’m one of the endermen from the tower. Sorry about that. This should help you recognize me.”

With that, the armored figure lifts the helmet off their head to reveal a white-haired, scaled black face with red eyes. I recognize him as the enderman hybrid who gave me that painful healing potion and sat at the table during the conversation with the tower’s crime leaders.

“Fire!” proclaims Kay. “You took your time! Oh who am I kidding? By bloody Notch it’s a relief to see you again.” He reached over to clap a hand on his shoulder, but could only reach his forearm. “Who’s your robe-wearing friend?”

“That’s Shadow, she’s my sister.” He pauses, seemingly remembering something. “I went on a voyage through different worlds back to my own in order to get some supplies, she decided to come along.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Shadow. I must admit I’m a little jealous you get to come here of your own accord. Enjoying the scenery?”

With a smile Shadow replies: “Oh, the scenery is interesting, if a bit abrupt at times. The ambient magic is also a lot stronger than I’m used to.”

“Oh, so you must be a wizard of some kind?”

Fire answers instead of Shadow: “I told you about her before we met Warnado, remember?”

“Of course, I apologize. It is a bit difficult to keep track of everyone given all the interesting characters we’ve met lately. Which reminds me…” Kay pauses for a moment. “David didn’t make it. Wait, I don’t believe you’ve met him. Don’t bring it up around Destiny. But yes, to make a long story short, we met a few people in the Tower, and on the way out… things got a bit chaotic. There may still be some unsavory characters searching for us.”

“I guess we have some catching up to do,” surmises Fire.

“We all do.”

With two more members added to our motley group, we each step up into the carriage. Fire looks around intently, evidently intrigued by all the unfamiliar faces.

“That was definitely a thought-provoking speech,” the more skeptical villager chimes in.

“I’ll say,” I tell them. “Subtle references to sleep? Random stories of earthquakes and homicide? All hidden within a cryptic series of religious proverbs? No wonder everyone’s crazy about this guy. I really hope he’s wrong.”

“The Prophet is rarely wrong,” insists the speculative villager.

“How can you know that?” asks Steve.

Shadow chimes in: “The longer you listen the more becomes clear, at first you notice words and concepts, with time it’s entire sentences that are quite often relevant to someone in the congregation.”

“I’m guessing you’ve met with a good fraction of all the people who came to this congregation and asked them about it?” I question sarcastically.

Again, Shadow smiles. “I have spoken to most people who come here regularly, I have ways of being in more than one place at once. Though, none of them have yet figured out the grand revelation behind the words.”

I raise my brows in intrigue and perhaps a bit of fear. “I guess I’ll take your word on that.”

“You have the grand revelation then?” Kay smiles wistfully.

Shadow replies: “I never said that, I have not spent a great amount of time here after all. It might also be that we’re missing some critical pieces of information.”

Kay stares at the sun shining partially through the window of the carriage: “We Thaums have a tradition called the Generational Story. Different generations of the same family continue the same story with faint alterations. Genuinely, you reach a major plot point, and it switches generations and the major plot point we just saw is recontextualised. That speech is probably tripe, much like most Generationals, but could we consider the proverbs are all linked in some way? At the very least there must be a common theme or motif?”

Fire explains: “Multiple in fact, you already know about ‘sleep’, which seems to be the most common one, other ones are ‘growth’ or ‘twilight’ for example. The Prophet never repeats anything he says so there will be a point where enough of whatever he knows is revealed to piece everything together.”

“Is that so?” I say mildly.

Despite my skepticism, I can’t help but notice how Fire and Shadow seem so sure of themselves when they talk about the Prophet, despite being only briefly familiar with his existence. It’s as if they know something that I don’t, and I want to find out what that is.

“Pardon me for being skeptical,” I continue, “but how can you be so certain that the Prophet is telling the truth?”

Shadow says: “Normally we wouldn’t be so quick to trust but the Prophet is the only existing source of any information about this world, as far as we can tell there are no natives, at least none that we’ve met. It also strikes me odd that some of the prophecies do happen as foretold, in a frequency that can’t just be random chance.”

The speculative villager interjects. “It happened to me once. How did it go exactly? Ah, yes! The Prophet said, ‘large will crush small, and the small will shatter like a raining sky.’ Just a few days after his fortelling, the very thing happened after I fell a tree. It got stuck perched over a group of shorter trees, and when I freed it, it broke them under its weight and the sky rained with their splinters! If you want I can tell you about a few more that happened to some friends of mine if that wasn’t enough.”

“One is fine,” I reply, feeling somewhat frustrated with it all. Whatever knowledge Fire and Shadow have, they aren’t going to share it so easily. But that knowledge isn’t enough. We still wouldn’t know how we got here, or how to get out. And I’m still stuck with the Book.

Even as I remember it, its presence flashes briefly across my mind, reminding me of my dangerous duty to take control of Amanda. Her face is just one of many riding in the carriage. How long would it take for people to notice?

The loosely affiliated group of dimensional strangers departed the carriage at the village, slightly larger than before.

“Any idea what we’re doing here back at the village?” asked Warnado.

“Well, it only seemed like the logical place to go since there would be other carriages moving through here and villagers who could offer us valuable information,” said Fire. “I already know about the geography in this region thanks to my ‘information trade’ with the Ender, but that knowledge can always be expanded upon. But aside from that, no, there’s no reason for us to be at this village specifically.”

“We might as well stay here for another night to rest,” suggested Steve.

“Agreed.”

The group weaved through the crowd and arrived back at the inn, and entered. The dining area was bustling with activity, evidently from the carriage passengers which arrived before them.

“It’s pretty crowded in here,” Kay noted. “Let’s hope the rooms are still available.”

“I can make it happen,” Warnado assured him.

“Don’t waste all your money in one night,” Kay warned. “Steve and Jennifer can always just use their superhuman strength to dig a cellar.”

“That’s probably going to be in violation of multiple zoning laws,” said Warnado, as he walked away into the dining hall crowd.

Kay frowned and walked over to Astro to confer with him. “That kid still confuses me sometimes. Any insight on that new girl, Shadow?”

“It’s... more the lack of insight,” said Astro. “The girl is completely devoid of any magic or life signs. Even a rock has something resembling energy. But this? It’s the complete lack of energy. I can’t explain it.”

“Could it be that Shadow is masking her power somehow?”

“If that’s true, she’s not doing a good job of concealing that she’s doing it.”

“Good point,” said Kay. “I’ll go talk to her, see what she’s hiding.”

Kay walked over to Shadow. “So, Shadow, have any interesting backstory you want to share?”

“If it’s about my lack of life signs, no I am not masking them, they are just not there. It is one of the effects of the ritual that made me an ascended mage.”

“Ah, I see you overheard my conversation with my buddy Astro. It’s all nonsense to me, but what sort of wizard are you? Clairvoyant, maybe? Airbender? Blew the words over to your ear? Open portals in the world to creepily stare at folks? I’ve seen my fair share of unusual powers, and if there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that you never can tell what a wizard is capable of. So, which was it then?”

“Where I come from, what I did is called Ender magic. What I just used was a magical ear, nothing more. Reading minds undetected is usually harder. But I also do get that question a lot, so part of it was expectation. I’m not sure if you want to know about my full range of capabilities but they can be described briefly. Before my ascension I mostly did summoning and telekinesis, after it… anything became possible. Anything except for rewriting the laws of reality, that is reserved for gods or local equivalents.”

“I see. I’m sure Astro would be fascinated to hear all about it.” Kay did his best to conceal his mix of surprise and disappointment. “Sorry to be curt, but I’m just going to report.”

Kay walked back toward Astro.

“It seems like Shadow isn’t holding anything back,” said Kay, “opened up to me about her ascension ritual and everything.”

“Ascension ritual?” asked Astro for clarification.

“It’s some ritual where she lost the outward appearance of life in return for some very strong magicking powers. Actually, now that I think about it, sounds like something with a lot of negative consequences; maybe I’ll ask her about it. She can hear us, by the way…” Kay glanced briefly in Shadow’s direction before continuing. “Anyways, she reminds me of Fire in a way. Powerful and knowledgeable. She could be a valuable contributor to our… what are we, exactly? Should our group have a name?”

“It’s only been a few days, Kay. It’s a bit early for those sorts of things.”

“True, although it’s never too early for a boost in group morale. Although staying at the inn one more day will probably do us all good, assuming the Entity’s henchmen don’t barge into our bedrooms in the middle of the night.” Kay’s eyes darted warily at the door with a look of suspicion that conveyed first-hand experience. Then he turned back to Astro. “Hey, look! Warnado’s back!”

“I told you I’d make it happen,” said Warnado smugly. “Although, to be fair, it wasn’t that hard. I never gave him our old keys back.”

Warnado tossed a key each to Kay, Astro, Shadow, and the others.

Kay stored the key away and glanced at the front door of the inn a bit restlessly, before procuring a harmless grin. “I’m going to see what there is to do in this little village. Maybe chat with the locals about current events, find a pub, that sort of thing. Anyone care to join me?”

“I think I’ll stay behind and talk with Shadow for a while,” Astro said. “There are some questions I want to ask her about her magic.”

“Me too,” Warnado responded eagerly.

Kay avoided glancing at Destiny and Steve as he worked out in his mind who next to recruit on his little day expedition. “Fire! Tyron! Care to join me on a little village reconnaissance?”

Fire said: “Sure. I did arrive a bit before you but most of the time I was busy brewing a potion or hopping between worlds. Never really explored the village.”

“Sounds like a good idea,” Tyron agreed.

“Excellent!” said Kay, starting to feel a bit more positive. “Fristad! What about you? Interested in checking out the village with us?”

“I… haven’t decided yet,” replied Fristad, his voice distant, as if distracted.

“Okay then. Feel free to look for us if you change your mind. We’ll probably be in the nearest pub, so ask about that with the locals and you’ll come across us,” said Kay. He turned toward Fire and Tyron. “Shall we?”

Kay, Fire, and Tyron walked out the door and into the village streets, which were still crowded with people who had arrived from the hill of the prophet, although at least now there was enough room for the three of them to navigate without constantly having to bump into people.

Kay scouted the facades of the nearby buildings and pointed out a building he spotted as they walked around a street corner. The three of them headed toward it.

“So, Fire,” summarized Kay, “you’ve been hopping between dimensions the past couple days, and brought that mage girl Shadow back with you - she’s your sister, correct?”

“Right,” said Fire.

“Your real sister?” Kay asked, with a gesture toward Tyron that inquired as to whether it was okay to tell him.

“Yes, she is human and in fact my biological sister in my other world,” Fire answered bluntly. Tyron looked confused. “I’ll explain another time.”

“I just wanted clarity. Thanks… And I told you about our somewhat chaotic escape attempt from the tower, and our journey through the forest using Steve and Jennifer’s quick assembly underground bunkers?”

“You didn’t tell me how it all got started,” said Fire.

“I guess I didn’t,” said Kay. “After our negotiations with the Entity, Warnado and I decided to explore the tower. After passing through some large halls and odd rooms filled with junk, we found ourselves in the tower’s prison. That’s where we found Astro, Tyron, Destiny and David...” He trailed off. “They were a tad imprisoned.”

“The Entity was not as kind to us at first as it was to Kay and the others,” said Tyron. “One minute we’re in our own respective worlds, the next we’re being abducted, taken into the tower and detained in a cell. Later, this guy called Bul somehow knows all the major events of our lives and tries to recruit us into one of their nefarious schemes. When we refuse, they send us back to the room, we fight to escape, but end up beaten and detained in the prison.”

Fire said: “Interesting. After I travelled to one of the first worlds beyond Nexus I noticed some deformations in the surroundings. That and what I learned from the Ender lead me to believe that Nexus is absorbing other worlds, or rather has absorbed worlds in the past. For some reason it stopped. Your worlds must have been very close to Nexus, which would explain your surprising transition.”

Kay nodded. “We broke them out, of course. In fact, Warnado broke a goodly chunk of the prison to help cover our escape. That’s when Warnado and I made ourselves enemies of the Entity, along with Steve, Fristad, and Jennifer, who joined us during the escape. We fought our way first through the usual armored guards, and when it was clear we weren’t going to give up easily, the endlings got involved. We just made it out of there alive, thanks to Fristad and Warnado. With the exception of David, as you already know.”

At this point, the three of them were standing at the counter at the back of a bustling tavern. Kay spotted a woman with two hands full of empty glasses marching behind the counter and waved to her to get her attention.

“Tyron, you want anything? Fire, any special requests?”

“Not this time, I’ll just get whatever you’re getting.”

“Same,” said Tyron.

Kay turned to the woman. “What kind of drinks do you… oh, never mind that! Just get us three of whatever those guys over there are having,” Kay said, pointing over to a group of five people at a nearby table who he assumed knew a bit better what they were doing in this dimension.

The woman nodded and left, still holding the empty glasses.

“So, when you said you might still have ‘unsavory characters’ following you, you meant the Entity’s endermen,” Fire concluded.

“Unfortunately,” Kay responded.

“I just remembered something,” said Tyron. “There’s one other thing that happened while we were at the tower. Fristad had experiments done on him by a group of wizards using some machines.”

“Fristad…” Fire mused. “He wasn’t in the Entity’s records. Perhaps they did experiments on him to fill the gaps in their knowledge. Do you know what kind of experiments were done on him?”

“He didn’t say,” said Tyron.

“Notch only knows what it was. Invasive surgeries on house guests sounds like the sort of scheme the Entity would be involved in,” Kay noted with disdain. “He and the Silhouette sound like perfect bedfellows. The more I learn about the two of them, the more I dislike them. But as far as I know, they’re our best chance of getting back to our own worlds. Aside from Fire, maybe. And that Prophet guy, assuming your Shadow’s right and he’s not just spreading a bunch of standard mad-wannabe-messiah-preaching-on-a-hill nonsense. Speaking of which, Fire, do you have any new ideas on how we can get back to our worlds?”

“I’m afraid not. The only reason I was able to return to mine was because of the mental connection I have to other Mencur-Besh, I was able to use it as some sort of dimensional compass. Some of your worlds might be close enough to be mapped by the Entity’s scouts but I wouldn’t consider them safe since you already got taken to Nexus once.”

“What do you mean by ‘close’?” asked Tyron. “Do the people in your world have some sort of dimensional knowledge, like a map or something?”

“In my world we weren’t even aware that other worlds even existed up until I was transported to Nexus, we just have some research on our laws of physics that could be applied to the fact that they do exist. And yes, worlds can be ‘close’, just with an added dimension. As I said, I have found distortions in the terrain directly next to Nexus, which has lead me to believe that Nexus may have been ‘stealing’ parts of other worlds at some point.”

At this point, three glasses of an unknown, light-colored alcoholic beverage thudded onto the table in front of Kay, Fire, and Tyron. The bartender inquired for payment, and Fire presented a small bar of gold, which seemed to satisfy her.

Kay took a sip of a glass. “Well I certainly am not going to stand around and wait for nothing. The Prophet may be one of many local oddities - might be wise to ask around. Or perhaps there are others with valuable information about the Tower. Actually, the latter is quite promising. Warnado did break that whole prison. It’s likely we’re the first to arrive in this town, and others will follow.”

“You have a point,” agreed Fire. “Although, if enough prisoners arrive in this town, it is likely that the Entity’s soldiers are not far behind. I won’t have to hide because I helped them with one of their issues, all of you though...”

“Could be killed? Get thrown into a dungeon never to see the light of day? Get tortured painfully for a very long time before being fed alive to a pack of rabid dogs? See our loved ones abducted and used as leverage to force us to do horrible things?” replied Kay. “All within the realm of possibility. Honestly, It’s more fun that way; to win knowing what could have happened if you didn’t.”

“That’s rash and irresponsible,” responded Tyron.

“You can leave this village any day you want, Tyron,” Kay replied, smiling in playful defiance and taking another sip of his drink, which he was starting to enjoy. “Can’t blame you. I, for one, would think twice about getting involved in one of my schemes. Speaking of which… I’m still working on one. Need more information, though. Nothing concrete, just a hunch. Even a pleasant little town like this is bound to have some dark secret somewhere or another. I just need to look in all the wrong places.”

Astro looked from left to right. Shadow was beside him, while Warnado stood at a slight distance as if to observe them. The inn was still bustling, with people occasionally weaving through the foyer and between Shadow and Warnado.

“Shadow, we’re both quite learned wizards,” Astro began, “I think it would be beneficial for both of us if we discussed our abilities more in depth. How about it?”

“Yes, I would like to learn more about your abilities as well,” said Shadow.

“And Warnado?” Astro added, a bit reluctant but well-meaning.

Warnado’s head perked up at the sound of his name.

“A mutually beneficial exchange of magical knowledge and abilities? Sign me up!”

“Then let’s head up into one our rooms,” suggested Astro, “so we don’t have random people eavesdropping on our strengths and weaknesses.”

Shadow nodded in agreement, and the three of them headed up a narrow staircase and into a room, with Warnado closing the door to the room behind him.

“I am going to cast a spell which blocks sounds from coming in and out of the room,” Shadow proposed. “It should prevent mundane attempts at listening in.”

“Go ahead,” said Astro.

Shadow glanced for a moment toward the door of the room, and a white rune came into existence on the surface of her lower cheek, glowing briefly before fading imperceptibly into the blackness of her skin. Suddenly the unconsciously audible rumble of the outside crowd voices, street carriages, and occasional bird chirps ceased to be heard, leaving only the sounds of Astro and Warnado’s breaths. Shadow, who lacked breath or even a heartbeat, made no sound at all. Astro could not help but be unsettled by this, in spite of his previous knowledge of Shadow’s lack of life energy.

Then, Shadow took in a breath in preparation to speak. “That should do it.”

“Since we’re in a soundproofed room, I’ll ask the obvious question, Shadow,” said Astro. “Why aren’t you breathing? Or, more to the point: given your lack of any life signs or energies whatsoever, how are you still alive?”

Shadow explained: “I exist in a state of equilibrium, I do have energy inside of me but of opposing elements so to the outside it looks like I have none at all. Though, you are right in your questions, I am technically not alive, neither am I dead nor undead. I lack most things that a normal human needs, like blood or a metabolism in general. All of my muscles are actuated by my magic and when I eat something it is also quickly broken down into energy.”

Astro’s brows rose. “That’s… interesting. Right, ‘elements’ … How do those work in your world?”

“Magic is a single uniform force in my world, able to influence almost all aspects of reality, rewriting reality itself is not something we can do though. It can also take on different forms that only influence certain aspects of reality but are easier to handle, these forms are called ‘elements’ in my world. For example the Air element gives its user control over both wind and lightning. The opposing force to Air would be Earth, though that name is not indicative of what it actually does, Earth is used to alter the caster’s own body.”

“Okay, that makes sense,” said Astro. “Our concept of elements is much the same but is purely academic - it doesn’t really have any practical application anymore. It’s just a matter of knowing what you have available. Magic-users don’t really engage in elemental specialization and just go with what they find easiest or most enjoyable.
“The main difference between users is the source of their power and its limitations. In my case, I was born with it. There are also Thaumaturges, who use a material known as thaumium as a magical fuel source. Thaumaturges are mostly pretty rudimentary in terms of the magic used - very military-focused and really just like having firepower. There’s academic debate as to whether they aren’t just particularly advanced and aggressive enchanters but we don’t need to get into that. And then there are the administrators and moderators…” Astro trailed off. “Servants of the True Court, appointed by Notch - well, Jeb, now - and granted power from the Wells. They sort of run things, at least when they’re not bickering amongst themselves and spreading war and misfortune in the process.”

“Moderators?” Shadow inquired.

“Yes, why?” Astro asked.

“I need to explain another peculiarity about my world first. The world I entered this one from is artificially created, it can be accessed from the world where I was actually born. That world is one without magic but highly advanced technologically. There are other artificial worlds but none are as advanced as the one I came through. The ones creating and managing these worlds are known as admins, their assistants as moderators.”

“An artificial world inside another world, connected to this world? Sounds advanced alright. So what’s so special about these moderators of yours?”

“I was simply intrigued that the word exists in both of our worlds for different yet similar roles. At this point I can imagine that the overlap is actually fairly big, though with something like magic we may have different words for the same underlying force.”

“Yes, it does seem that way,” said Astro. “So, you basically have all these opposed elements inside of you, doesn’t that mean you can just use whatever sort of magic?”

“The element known as Ender is actually what allows you to do anything, though it is harder than using the specialized elements. It’s the difference between setting and healing a bone with your mind and letting specialized magic do it for you, there are also things that have no corresponding special element. As for me, I have access to both the easy and specialized magic and the difficult and flexible magic.”

“So you’re a magical generalist, sort of like me. We likely share quite a few abilities. We could learn a lot from each other,” said Astro.

Astro turned toward Warnado. “What about you, Warnado? How does your magic work?”

Warnado shrugged. “I don’t know. I just use it when I feel like it.”

“Do you at least know where it comes from?” Astro asked.

“It runs in the family,” Warnado said tersely.

“Is that why you have that cute part demon-looking face?” asked Shadow.

“How did you know that?!?” Warnado responded with embarrassed irritation.

Shadow chuckled. “The spell hiding your face actually proved somewhat difficult to circumvent without breaking it, it lacked any patterns usually found in spells of trained mages.” After a short pause she added with a sly grin: “But don’t worry, your cute part demon-looking face is safe with me.”

“So, Warnado, you can use some illusion magic, if that’s the right word for it in your world,” Astro surmised. “I’ve also seen you conjure tools and weapons a few times… and occasionally food, which is actually impressive. But it’s hard to grasp the extent of this ability: whether you can only do those pre-determined things, or if you can also use magic more flexibly.”

Shadow remarked: “There is actually something in my world that could be at least similar to his state. When someone discovers their magical potential, their life force gains a will of its own and when presented with the right situations it will apply its power in a way that somewhat lines up with its owner’s will. Magical training consists of fusing your life force and your will together so that eventually the power is completely under your control.”

“Supposing Warnado does have that form of magic,” Astro mused, “how could it be uncovered?”

“To be precise, I wouldn’t call it a ‘form’ of magic as much as a state of control or lack thereof, I’m pretty sure that this can occur with a variety of power sources,” clarified Shadow. “But to answer your question, the best way to uncover it is through training.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be able to provide that sort of training, would you?” Warnado asked.

Shadow smiled. “Depends. There are specific magical abilities which would help the training advance at a reasonable rate. In particular, the ability to sense spells as they are being cast around you. This would allow the apprentice to adjust their spells to match the spells cast by the teacher. This helps especially in the earlier stages, when the apprentice is still learning how to form a spell properly and control its flow in order to conserve energy.”

“I can do that,” said Warnado. “Well, I wouldn’t say I’m an expert of telling the difference between a necromancy spell and the magical effects of outrage-inducing clickbait, but I’m sure I could manage.”

“So,” Shadow said. “How about you try casting a spell, any spell you have cast before and would recognize.”

Warnado clears his throat. “Alright then, here goes nothing.”

Warnado stretched his arm out and a light blue light spread outward from his palm into a shape of a ghostly, translucent battleaxe.

“Great,” said Shadow. “Now, I want you to close your eyes, and pay attention to the magic coming from me. When the magic stops flowing, tell me what you felt.”

“Okay,” said Warnado, as he closed his eyes.

Shadow opened her hand, and the same light blue light poured out from her palm and expanded to form a battleaxe just like Warnado’s.

“That’s my battleaxe!” Warnado proclaimed.

“Yes, that’s right,” said Shadow. “What about this now?”

Shadow opened her other hand, this time not energy came out of her palm but solid stone, growing into the exact same axe that her other hand was holding.

“Some sort of earthbending,” Warnado answered. “Like, stone appearing out of nowhere.”

“You can open your eyes now.”

Warnado opened his eyes.

“It seems you do have some ability to sense magic coming from others,” observed Shadow. “You are best at recognizing spells you are familiar with, but have the ability to determine the structure of unfamiliar spells. That’s a good start.” The ethereal and stone material of the battleaxes in Shadow’s hands crumbled and returned to her palms. “For now, I believe I have a good sense of you and Astro’s magical abilities. Astro, are there any additional questions I can answer about my abilities?”

“I am satisfied,” said Astro. “And you?”

“I am sure there is much we can learn about each other’s abilities, but for now yes, I think this is a good start,” Shadow said.

“I do appreciate the candor that you and Fire share. It’s refreshing,” admitted Astro, reflecting sorrowfully of the many secrets he had to worry about, a fact of his life best left unsaid.

“I imagine this will be the first of many future fruitful exchanges of magical information,” concluded Shadow. “Any further words before I take the sound barrier down? Or perhaps I could leave it up for a while.”

“No need,” said Astro.

“I could do with a bit of action right now,” responded Warnado.

A rune flashed on Shadow’s face, and the muffled cacophony of the crowded village returned.

Jennifer knocked on the inn door cautiously. “Destiny, are you in there?” she asked.

When there was no response, Jennifer sighed, opened the door, and went inside. Steve and Fristad stayed just outside of the door, looking into the room with worry.

Destiny lay on the bed on her side, with her arms curled around her knees, staring outward silently. Her face was red and wet with tears.

“Thinking about David?” Jennifer asked.

Destiny nodded.

“You cared about him very much,” Jennifer said.

Destiny sniffled and nodded eagerly, as a new tear streamed down her face.

“It’s not easy, losing someone you love like that,” Jennifer acknowledged.

“You don’t understand!” Destiny said. “We weren’t just close. We were inseparable. We fought in wars together. Our love stretched back so far and so deep that it was before we even existed. We were literally predetermined.”

“I may not understand completely, but at the very least, I get you’re hurting and I know hurt,” said Jennifer, her voice becoming firm. “And there are two things you can do in that situation. You can either be by yourself, and try to figure out how to deal with the pain on your own, or you can reach out for help, knowing that people maybe don’t understand completely what you’re going through, but usually have the best of intentions.”

“Thanks, I guess, but I don’t really need some generic advice about how to cope with loss. It should be pretty obvious I’ve already chosen to deal with it on my own.”

“Okay, then,” said Jennifer, tone flattened by offence. “If you want to deal with it out on your own, then I won’t ask about it again. Actually, the real reason I’m here is because I wanted to ask if you’d like to join us for some scouting of the land around the village. Steve is coming along,” Jennifer pointed out the door toward Steve’s back. “He’s my usual partner in crime; I’ve known him for years. And that just past him is Fristad. He’s…” Jennifer hesitated for a moment, thinking of how to describe Fristad without mentioning that mysterious book. “...from a different world from ours. But he’s pretty nice once you get to know him.

“So what do you think?” Jennifer continued. “Want to blow this village potato stand and explore the outdoors?”

Destiny gave an exasperated sigh. “If David were here, he’d say yes, so I guess I’ll go.”

“Great!” said Jennifer, with a wide grin.

Steve, Jennifer, Fristad, and Destiny descended the inn stairs and entered the streets of the village. Their appearance and demeanor were sufficiently different, that if one saw them walking separately, one would never suspect they knew each other. Steve and Jennifer walked with the sense of purpose and physical fitness only experienced adventurers could have, and their bulky, full suits of iron armor gleamed like new. To be fair, in this case, they were rather new, although Steve and Jennifer had already spent several days mining underground. Fristad walked with somewhat less grace, still not used to the weight of his new black diamond armor, and his eyes stared out cautiously through the holes of his helmet. Destiny walked more or less normally. The tears on her face were starting to dry and her cheeks losing their redness, but there was still an intense look in her eyes, as if she was searching desperately for someone hiding in the distance.

“By the way, Destiny,” Steve began, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, would you like some new iron armor? We still have a surplus of iron left over from our mining trips the last few days.”

“Thanks, but I’m fine,” Destiny replied in a rushed voice.

Once both the village and the surrounding farms passed behind the four explorers, Jennifer advanced ahead and began to zigzag between various landmarks, crouching down to a stone here, feeling the bark of a tree there. Meanwhile, Steve whistled a favorite tune that he used to sing with his friends back at home. When his song ended, he turned toward Fristad.

“Do you have any songs you like from your world, Fristad?” Steve asked.

“I’ve got a few,” said Fristad.

“How does one of them go?” Steve encouraged.

“Like so,” Fristad said, as he began to whistle a tune.

“That sounds nice,” Steve said, after Fristad stopped whistling. “Is it some sort of classical music?”

“I don’t know,” Fristad said. “I learned it in school when I was a little kid.”

“That’s interesting,” Steve said. “Back at home, me and my friends used to make songs together, mostly just for fun. We even went through a phase where we invented a bunch of musical instruments to go along with them. Well, ‘invented’ is probably the wrong word. Most of them were based off of musical instruments that already existed, and the rest were sufficiently terrible that we discarded them afterward and never spoke of them again. What about you, Destiny? Do you have any favorite songs?”

“Sorry, I’m not in the mood,” said Destiny.

Steve and Fristad continued their conversation for a while. But then, out of the blue, Steve sprinted away from Fristad, cheering triumphantly.

“Steve, what are you…” Fristad trailed off.

“Finally, another cave!” Steve proclaimed.

“What are you so excited about?” asked Jennifer. “We already have plenty of resources.”

“Yes… but do we have diamonds?” Steve asked rhetorically.

“I thought we already established that this part of the world doesn’t have any,” remarked Jennifer.

“That may have been true in the last spot we tried, but remember, this dimension is a patchwork of many other dimensions, some possibly with diamonds. We got lucky that first time after all, got enough for Fristad’s armour. Even a few could help us patch up the armour that got smashed up in the arena!”

“You’ve got me there I guess,” Jennifer replied in realization. “But don’t get excited yet! Let me take a look at it. We don’t know if this cave even goes anywhere.”

“Trust me, I know the beginning of a big cave system when I see one,” Steve insisted, already pulling some torches out from his pocket.

“Even cave systems from other dimensions?” Jennifer grinned. She approached the wall at the beginning of the cave, cupped her hand, and leaned her ear against it. Then, she picked a rock off the ground and threw it down into the abyss, listening to the sounds of the echoes as it fell.

“You’re right, that is a big cave!” Jennifer said.

“Alright then, let’s go!” Steve said.

“Now, hold on…” Fristad said. “Don’t me and Destiny get a say in this? After all, you’re basically asking all of us to go into a dark cave full of monsters on a whim.”

“Let’s go in the cave,” Destiny replied deadpan.

“I... guess I’m outnumbered,” Fristad said.

“Hey, you’re the one wearing enchanted diamond armor!” Jennifer pointed out. “We have to catch up to your level of armor protection.”

“Yea. Don’t remind me.”

“You’re falling behind, guys!” Steve said, his voice echoing in the mouth of the cave up ahead. Already, the entrance to the cave was lit with splotches of torchlight.

“We better catch up to that guy,” Jennifer said, smiling and shaking her head. “Or else… who knows what trouble he’ll get into.”

The three caught up with Steve in the cave tunnels. Already, the tunnel they were in was massive.

“These tunnels are mined out completely,” Steve noted. “Someone must have been very careful to clean up all their torches when they left. Or maybe they just carried one torch with them the whole time? Seems inefficient.”

“The musings of a guy with infinite pocket space,” Fristad declared.

“I was starting to get the impression that it’s the exception rather than the norm,” said Steve.

A few cave turns later, and the ground ahead of Steve gave way to a huge ravine.

“Wow!” said Steve, peering down into it. “I’ve seen quite a few ravines in my time, but this one is massive. I can’t even see the bottom. It seems to be covered by some sort of unilluminated fog.”

As Steve observed the ravine, he reached back into his pocket to pull out a water bucket, then placed the water source against the cliff face. The source expanded into a veritable flood of water as it poured down into the ravine

“I’m dropping into the ravine to take a quick look at what’s down there. Would anyone like to join me?” asked Steve.

“Are you sure that’s wise?” asked Fristad. “A deep ravine from another dimension is bound to have dangerous monsters.”

“It’s only a quick look,” argued Steve. “Besides, any diamonds we find are going to protect us from danger in the future.”

“I’ll stay up here,” said Jennifer. “If Steve does find something dangerous, we always have the radio.”

“I don’t have a death wish,” said Destiny. “I’ll stay here.”

“Very well,” said Steve. “I’ll see you all in a short while, which is significantly longer than a jiffy, but hopefully less than twenty minutes.”

Steve jumped down into the ravine, just in front of the stream of water, and his iron-armored body hurtled down until it vanished into the fog.

As Jennifer led the way into a closed-off cave, Fristad couldn’t help but look back behind him and wonder if Steve fell to his death.

“Hey guys,” Steve said, about fifteen minutes later, startling Fristad and Destiny. He was gluing through the water and back into stone. His armour was lined with cracks.

“How was the ravine?” asked Jennifer.

“Not bad,” said Steve. “I found enough diamonds for all of us. I also got a couple ender pearls, a half-stack’s combined of creeper, skeleton, and zombie drops, and restocked on redstone.”

“Huh?” Destiny looked at him as though he had just insulted a dear family friend.

“Okay, even for you that seems improbably efficient.” said Fristad.

“Yeah, it was a weird ravine,” said Steve. “Oh, and I almost forgot, I found this strange, glowing, blueish purple ore.” Steve reached into his pocket and pulled out a sample of the stone, which had an irregular, wrinkled shape. “I have no idea what it is. I haven’t seen this kind of ore in my world before. Any ideas, Fristad and Destiny?”

“No clue,” said Fristad.

Destiny shook her head to convey the same, now looking less offended after realising Steve actually did what he said and this was just sort of normal for him.

“I’ll add that to my list of unsolved mysteries, then,” Steve mused, as he slid the glowing rock back into his pocket. “Anyways, now that we have diamonds, shall we continue our survey of the surface?”

“Sure,” said Jennifer, grinning. “But save some treasure for me next time.”

Steve, Jennifer, Fristad, and Destiny returned to the surface, and as they continued exploring they would occasionally stumble upon a lone hut. Sometimes when Steve would knock on the door, there would be no answer. Other times, its weary inhabitant would open the door from the other side and answer politely, but beyond that the inhabitant would reveal little. But nothing in the course of that trip could compare to the mystery that still hung over everyone’s heads: How did they all get here?

In the mid-afternoon, Steve and the others stopped by the village to sell some of their extra resources. The crowds had died down at this point, the quantity of pedestrians, merchants and cobblers more closely representing the number of buildings the village could sustain. In the distance, Steve swore he could hear Kay yelling about something.

***

They were traveling in the woods when they heard a crack ahead of them. Steve gestured for a halt and looked ahead. Destiny crept up behind him, crystallising an icicle in the palm of her hand. Jennifer followed suit and drew her bow. Fristad lingered behind, watching nervously.

They crouched behind some bushes and saw a zombie meandering through the forest, blood dripping down its chin, flesh dry and peeling. A sick shade of green had set in across the back of the head and neck and was beginning to spread through the arms.

It was turned away. Destiny saw a gauntlet on its wrist. She gasped and it began to turn at the sound.

She didn’t see its face before the icy blade brained it. It slumped to the ground, half its scalp missing, raising the gauntleted hand as if pointing to something before falling over and twitching.

She ran up. Steve tried to stop her but she pressed through his grasp. She had to make sure it was dead. She owed him that. She plunged a spear of ice a metre long through its chest. Blood spattered everywhere.

She looked around. A man in black robes stepped out of the woods, a book of spells in hand. Several zombies surrounded him. He looked quite annoyed.

“What did you do that for? I had it tamed-” A blade of ice struck him in the shoulder and the other zombies burst into flames as she pointed. She hadn’t felt that much power coursing through in ages.

Another spear formed in her hands, still roasting from setting his entourage alight. Steam hissed and she felt pain but she didn’t care. Just as she was about to hurl it at him Steve gripped her wrist. She looked back and he seemed profoundly disturbed. He seemed to be feeling ill. Perhaps it was the smell of burned flesh.

“Destiny,” Jennifer called from behind.

She too looked disgusted. Physically repulsed as she stared at the body. Fristad had turned it over. It wasn’t David. There was a gash the size of a canyon through its already-decaying face, but even with that it was plain this had

She glanced at the necromancer and opened her mouth. He was terrified, clutching the icicle as it melted into his blood. Some halting sounds came from her throat but nothing felt right so she just closed her mouth and walked back off in the direction of the inn, occasionally stopping to scratch at the blood on her jeans.

The hall was tarnished, littered with bodies and dust. It wouldn’t be like this for long so The Ender decided she had better take it all in while it was still there. It was that damned General according to one of their officers, the dog-faced one. He had gone as far as Astro’s cell and then overpowered his escorts. They didn’t know whether that was his intent the whole time or whether it was a split-second decision. Either way, they’d released a goodly chunk of the prisoners, who had in turn released more prisoners, who had in turn caused havoc throughout the Tower.

Her arm throbbed slightly. She looked down and saw singed scales and was reminded of David’s little trick with the gauntlet. Killed several of her best soldiers. They would not be easily replaced. She could hardly go back to the homeworld, cap in hand, and ask the other generals to reinforce her. She was walking on thin ice with them. They were still intent on conquering the Nether back home and didn’t see the startling range of possibilities out here, in the speckled, shifting mass of creation. They had defeated the humans and the other lesser beings. The Overworld was theirs. Going to the Nether was an old pipe-dream of a grudge and pursuing it would yield no profit.

The Entity had arrived and she had seen two paths. Her people could go and conquer all creation, or they could spend the next thirty years baiting pigmen into traps, clearing out castles and melting away into nothingness.

She knew her path was the one which would truly please the Ancestors…

“Need a potion?” Freak asked, drawing up beside her and waving a pink vial.

The Ender smiled and took it and grunted as her wounded scales reshaped and became bright and new.

“Thanks.”

They turned around and began to wander toward the huge, open door, which seemed to droop outwards as though ashamed. They’d blinded the guards and walked right through. It was an embarrassment.

Freak spoke first as they walked onward: “The Ape is just about done clearing out the East wing. A few rogue Testificates found their way into the armory, but they should be dealt with. Bul will probably be with us any second now, shrieking wildly no doubt-”

At that moment a man shrieked wildly: “What was that?!”

He looked flustered, his suit all crumpled and covered in dust and blood. This was Marinus Bul, the Entity’s steward and/or legal representative. He had been responsible for the negotiation. They should have just taken the Eye and the Crystals.

“The General betrayed us,” The Ender answered flatly. “We’ll deal with them soon enough.”

She hadn’t received word from Silver. The Grey Ones had demanded they be allowed to deal with Kay Mandy personally and they proved impotent. She was ashamed they had once been her own soldiers. Age had broken them. Now they were Glibby’s problem.

Bul didn’t seem to know what to do with himself. For once, absolutely no words seemed even in the vicinity of his tongue.

“Looks like our master’s troops are back,” sighed Freak. He pointed to a long black line marching along the horizon.

“Good, it’ll be more lucid.”

She grabbed the arms of Freak and Bul and teleported up to The Entity’s chambers.

Sure enough, there it was. Bronze-coated and red-eyed, the Entity sat in its throne. She had tried to gain its attention earlier, but it was spread thin in a raid on World 32. It had manifested five times in that battle and there were several other manifestations Night-knows-where. This was as close to a prime meridian as the Entity had. Was this the first body it took? Who had it been before its influence? Maybe this was someone it had once cherished. Maybe there was no body in there and this was its most pure and undiluted form beneath the armour. The Ender didn’t care.

She cleared her throat. Its head lifted and stared right at her.

A voice stripped of emotion and which echoed no matter what volume it spoke at sounded: “Yes?”

“General Mandy’s party has departed. They have severely reduced the prison population. In particular, he took the wizard Astro and his former cellmates, leaving us deprived of-”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“But I thought we were-”

“The raid on World 0032 was a success. The Wizard’s college is under our control.”

“Oh,” The Ender nodded, a realisation creeping through her until: “So, you decided to go ahead with that plan.”

“Yes. In spite of your objections.”

“And you-”

“We now have procured 527 new magic-users. I estimate 487 will survive the march home. Maybe 500 exactly if you adequately prepare at the primary work-site.”

It began to pick at the ends of its white gloves, starting to edge them slightly closer to coming off. It never fidgeted, so this was a calculated and deliberate threat. Its red-glass eyes bore through her and though she’d never seen it show any emotion beyond interest or apathy, she was certain it was furious with her now. As close to fury as this constantly swirling husk was capable. The incoming light of dawn seemed to shake with fury on every part of it. The rubified eyes, the bronze seam. All seemed caught up in the restrained blaze. The Ender struggled not to quake before it, then it twitched and she felt herself released from its gravity.

“Yes, sir,” The Ender bowed her head. “I’ll be right on it.”

“Excellent. After that, you are to immediately set about relocating the General and his fellow escapees. Freak, Bul-stay. Discussions… are necess-ary.”

Bul shot her a snide, cruel look as she left. Freak furrowed his brows and became interested in the floor, but otherwise showed no opinion.

She left the room quicker than intended. She teleported away as though an arrow had been fired at her, and even as she walked away and began to bark orders in Endish tongues, she could hear the twang of bowstrings, and the whistle of wind through feathers.

She had to prove her worth, fast.

A cow appears before me. A sudden fear grows within me, begging me to stop, but nevertheless, I plunge the dagger into its neck. The creature howls and turns to white smoke before I can process the motions, the memories so fleeting I feel as if I have done this hundreds of times before. The habit of obedience. The habit of trust. I hate it.

“Why did you kill the cow, Fristad?” says the Book, testing my motives.

“Because I thought that’s what you wanted me to do.”

“What happened to you that messed your back up so much?”

“Two large fireballs were thrown at me. I knocked one away and had to block the other one… with my back.”

“Ouch,” Tyron winced.

“In hindsight, I probably should have just dodged it but that wasn’t nearly heroic enough.”

Tyron laughed.

“Nah, I get you,” he nodded. “I did some crazy things in my time as well. I’ll have to tell you about them someday.”

“Why not now?”

His face went very serious a moment. “I’ve got to find out if they meant anything.”

The next morning Fire checked a small apparatus he had built, a bit of redstone hooked up to a clock. According to the redstone charge, significantly less time had passed in Nexus than Fire had spent on his journey. He had assumed something like this but this was the confirmation, time passes differently between worlds.

Shadow woke up, stretched and yawned. She asked: “So, we’re supposed to look for somebody, right?”

“Do you remember that time we were running by those bluffs… I pushed you off and grabbed you, and we were flying over the ocean? Or maybe that one time we were fighting alongside each other… they stabbed me in the back, and I was trampled. The others assumed I was dead… but you didn’t, and you fought through them and pulled me out? Or the cave?

“We’ve always been there for each other,” she said, “and I’m still here for you.”

As the moon shone high above them, the trees thinned out, and the grass became long and crackled under their feet. The shadows of scattered buildings against the starry sky could just barely be seen at the edge of the horizon, along with a faint orange glow. As the shadows of the buildings rose, the group began to step over rows of crops and pass by sleeping cows and horses.

They then stepped onto cobbled roads, passed the first dimly torchlit buildings, and scouted out an inn.

One building in particular looked promising. It was three stories tall, and the first story windows and half-open door shone with a welcoming light.